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As stated in the National Language Acts, Jawi, or the Arabic script of Malay, is an alternative writing for the Malay language. Therefore, speakers of the Malay language are expected to be able to read Jawi fluently. Unfortunately, this is not the case; even those who are able to read the Qu’ran fluently, are not able to read the Jawi script fluently despite the fact that both are written in the Arabic script. Past studies have shown that many languages of the world have gone through spelling reformation, among others, to increase the literacy rate among their speech communities, and to revitalize the writing system. Thus, this conceptual paper proposes the necessary steps towards reforming the existing Jawi script. This should begin with conducting a scientific study to support previous studies that suggest that the current Jawi spelling system is complex, causing more and more speakers of the Malay avoiding to use it. This article proposes the use of a psychological-based language-processing software and the eye tracking machine to quantitatively analyse the reading process through reaction times and reading duration, fixation count, fixation duration, and visit counts. The findings can then be supported qualitatively through readers’ gaze plot dan heat maps along with verbal data obtained from retrospective interviews conducted on the participants. If data from both analyses confirm that the current Jawi spelling system results in difficulty in reading Jawi, this article proposes a spelling reformation to take place – using the spelling reformation approaches used not only by other languages of the world, but also those that were used in the reformation of previous and the current Jawi spelling system. Spelling reformation is an ongoing process and is vital not only to improve the literacy rate among speakers of particular languages, but also to revitalise their writing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic writing is one of the genres of writing which considered complex as it requires high language skills and the appropriate methodology in its production. One of the skills required is paraphrasing skills. However, paraphrasing is not an easy task especially if it involving a third language. Students may make various forms of errors in paraphrasing which need full attention, understanding, and techniques. Therefore, this study aims to identify the forms of mistakes and the weaknesses of students in making Arabic paraphrases, then, proposing method to address it. This study is a qualitative study and using samples taken from students' final coursework in the subject of Arabic for Academic (BAA4022). The corpus of the study involved 50 samples randomly selected among the students of the semester I session 2020/2021, Faculty of Major Language Studies (FPBU) and Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences (FPSK), Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM). This sample was analysed using the content analysis method. The finding shows that the main errors of students in paraphrasing are comes from the semantic aspect due to weakness in understanding the original reference text. In addition, the errors from grammatical aspects, especially in the use of al-idhofah, the use of dhamir and fi'il are consequences of the weakness in mastery of syntax and Arabic morphology. Both of these forms of weaknesses affect the quality of paraphrases made especially in the aspect of semantic completeness. Thus, this study is hoped to provide enlightenment and helps teachers and students in strengthening the quality of writing academic papers in Arabic Language through the use of accurate and correct Arabic paraphrasing techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One method for disposing of old, damaged, or misprinted Qur’an pages is to burn them. Recently, there have been cases of al-Quran mushaf disposal management that do not comply with the maqasid of al-Quran text disposal as stipulated in established guidelines. Furthermore, the number of damaged al-Quran manuscripts is growing, making the collection site increasingly limited in capacity. To save money and space, it was discovered that some institutions in charge of disposal have delegated this task to unauthorized parties, such as non-Muslim parties, which disposed of al-Quran text at paper mills. Therefore, this article discusses the perspectives and evaluations of religious scholars on the methods used by Malaysian institutions to dispose of al-Quran text. Document analysis and interviews with the State Muftis of Selangor, Kelantan and Terengganu were used to collect data. It was done through semi-structured interviews and descriptive analysis. According to findings, the Malaysian government has implemented several methods. One method used is to burn it to ashes, bury it, and then wash it into the sea. Many authorised institutions carry out disposal in accordance with the established guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In academia, dictionaries have become a daily commodity beyond the common yet relevant uses of spelling and meaning checks. Relying on data collected from 107 EFL learners through an opinion poll in the Saudi context, this paper investigated how such learners utilize dictionaries in their English program during their university studies. Findings showed that learners use electronic and paper-based dictionaries for limited purposes beyond the spelling and meaning check. Besides surveying the dictionary type (online and paper-based), the study argues for some uses on a broader approach rather than spelling words and their meanings. It construed dictionaries as special tutors that help second language learners develop a multitude of skills, including spelling, vocabulary, grammatical usage, pronunciation, and semantic features of the target language, e.g., synonyms, antonyms, polysemy, collocations, and the like. The study theorizes the dictionary not as an add-on but as an essential language learning source of English language programs tailored to dictionary-based tasks across the curriculum to respond to sustainable language education.

The 15th Malaysian General Election (GE-15) took place on 19 November 2022 successfully. This time the general election was held a year earlier than the 5-year maturity period on 16 July 2023, which is the date of the swearing-in of members of Parliament for the 14th term. The GE-15 results show that there is a pattern of voter support based on a specific geographic location. Therefore, the purpose of writing this article is to analyze voter support patterns based on regional factors. Based on data analysis of the GE 2022 results, observations in the field and analysis of secondary sources such as journal articles and conference papers, the findings of the study show that PH continues to dominate the West Coast region of Peninsular Malaysia as well as in Sabah and Sarawak in urban and semi-urban areas with ethnic mix and Chinese majority, PN controls the East and North Coast regions as well as a small part in the West and South of Peninsular Malaysia in the rural areas of the Malay majority, namely in the East Coast Peninsular zone, namely Kelantan, Terengganu and East Pahang and Central Pahang; North of the peninsula, which is Perlis and Kedah and Penang Seberang Prai North and Central, North Perak, Central Perak; the western part of Peninsular namely North Selangor and West Selangor as well as West Melaka and South Melaka while BN remains in power in the rural areas of central Peninsular Malaysia but with a shrinking number of seats. Therefore, regional influence also affects the voting pattern and needs to be taken into account by the relevant parties to implement campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]