No need to point out which publication this write-up appeared in, because some people would not be apologetic enough to admit or oblige to their mistakes. I'll just give my point of view and then leave it as it is for readers to judge for themselves.
The writer and the publisher can also breathe a sigh of relief as I am not out to have a field day nitpicking on small mistakes or poking fun at this person's writing and its publication. I am just trying to share my concern by analyzing what's wrong with this 'bad writing' -- or to put it nicely -- poor use of English.
However, this piece is not a tutorial on grammar lessons for the writer, but just pointing out where the problem lies upon.
First of all, can you figure out what the sentence as per the title of this (blog) entry means?: "No fear for Muslims halal industry has started production".
No prize for the correct answer, but if you are an ethnic Malay it is easy to guess,...right?
But if your mother tongue, writing and reading is basically English, then you might be clueless to what this writer wants to tell you.
If you translate this sentence in Malay literally, it can be understood as: Jangan khuatir, kerana industri untuk produk makanan halal sudah bermula. - easy to understand, ...right?
Even if you translate it in Malay word-by-word: Jangan risau sebab Muslims halal industri sudah mula produksi, it is also understandable, ...correct?
But if the writer meant it that way, I do believe there's a better way to express it, for example: Muslims can sigh for relief, as the industry for halal food production has already begun.
Here, have a look at the whole thing (it is supposed to be a an editorial piece) and see for yourself the quality of the write-up. Try find any other 'errors' as I believe there are also other glaring mistakes/inconsistencies:
No more Halal dilemma
No fear for Muslims halal industry has started production. Now Muslims can make a choice when buying food, clothes, drinks, and other things to consume without any doubt of the production being haram. Muslim now not only trust the halal logo when purchasing products because producers from Halal Devlopment Cooperation, HDC are guarantee halal.
Malaysia has established halal Development Cooperation, HDC since 2008 which coordinates the overall development of the halal Industry and contributes to the economic growth. HDC provides support to businesses by providing branding and promotion of Halal products and industries. It provides training and consultancy services to support Halal certification (http://www.hdcglobal.com).
HDC as a catalyst for the growth of halal not just focusing on food but also focuses on more holistic halal such as feed and farm management, ingredients, manufacturing or processing, research & development, innovation, Islamic finance and even to logistic services.
You might be wondering why halal industry has got to do with logistic service? If we refer the context of halal, it is a meaningful lawful and is the Islamic dietary law that identifies food permitted for Muslims (http://www.ifanca.org). It is safe for Muslims to eat and applied from those product that comply with conditions set out by Muslim bodies.
Halal does not only mean the product is halal based on halal logo but it is the process how the product is being made, manufactured and the delivered. Let say once the product has been manufactured from the factories, the product will deliberately been sent into a lorry and the product will be placed with other products which is non-halal. In this situation, the products are are considered haram. This is because the halal products are placed in the same truck with the non-halal products. Halal products are not allowed to be in the same place with non-halal products.
The Muslims sometimes have the difficulty to trust on the halal logo. There are many claims some of these logos are faked. Thus, it puts the Muslim consumer in a dilemma. Therefore HDC as a halal development body has a multiple role to play not only placing halal logo on the products but ensuring on specific role in every process are in a halal manner. Besides trusting the halal logo, the Muslim consumer could check whether the product has been approved by HDC.
Okay, first of all can I deduce that this writer is basically a Malay reader and writer, but he/she may not necessarily be an ethnic Malay?
Secondly, I can also deduce that he/she not only reads Malay books, newspapers, magazine, writings, literature etc, but also thinks, eats, breathes, talks, and writes in Malay. In other words, he/she probably is an ethnic Malay.
Hence the portrayal by many of the sentences, which reflect a similar parallel of a type of literal translation from the Malay language to English.
English may be his/her second language where it is taught in school and university, but this writer has yet to grasp the (writing) essence of the language, what more be called an English writer who writes for an English newspaper. More so if he/she is to be an editor/editorial team member of a real mainstream newspaper.
Please, do not misconstrue my statements above as trying to demean the writer as if I am out to psycho-analyze him/her. I am just analyzing the writing, hence by figuring out what sort of person, his/her ethnic background and education background is, we can understand his/her writing problem.
Finally, the problem might be due to the publication itself, where there is none or less deliberation done on editing work and 'gate-keeping' before any write-up goes out for print.
But be rest assured, this publication is not a push-button-type-publishing where you can find it in online sites like social networking sites, online journals or blogs. It is a real print publication and its readers are from tertiary level onwards.
So, what does it say about the writer and the publication?
You be the judge.
To the writer and publication team, if they happen to read this, be magnanimous, do not miss the woods for the trees. Go for the message, not the messenger.
Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run. There's still time to change the road you're on......says Led Zeppelin (Stairways to heaven, 1971).
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