A photograph of the Malay version of the comic circulated online last night speculating the book has been banned because it described the character Ultraman King as ‘Allah’.
The original text seems to be an excerpt of an English-language biography for the character Ultraman King (right) that was taken from an Ultraman fanpage.
It describes the character as being “considered to be, and respected as, the ‘God’ or Elder of all Ultra heroes”.
However, Google translates the word ‘God’ into ‘Allah’ when translating from English to Malay.
Instructing Google Translate to translate the first seven sentences in the fan page into Malay yields the exact same words as those in the comic, except that the Japanese characters do not appear in the latter.
Using a rival machine translation service, Bing Translator, yields a similar but slightly different result, but the word ‘Allah’ remains.
'Children may confuse Allah and Ultraman'
The Home Ministry was today reported to have confirmed the reference to ‘Allah’ was the reason for the ban.
“It’s stated that Ultraman King is Allah, so that is wrong for Muslims because Allah is not Ultraman King.
“We have banned that because it can create confusion among children who read this caption…
"They might think Ultraman King is Allah which is wrong for Muslims because Allah is not to be visualised in any way,” the ministry’s Publication and Quranic Texts Control Division secretary Hashimah Nik Jaafar told The Malay Mail Online today.
She was also quoted saying the rationale was that it would “alarm public opinion” and not that it would be ‘prejudicial to public order’ as gazetted.
The ban is also limited to the Malay translation of the book only, and is not a blanket ban on the popular 1960’s superhero, she added.
The move comes in the midst of controversy over the use of ‘Allah’ for ‘God’ in the Malay language Bible, which certain conservative Muslim groups claim is an attempt to confuse and proselytise to Muslims.
Google Tranlsate strikes again
When contacted, Google Malaysia public relations chief Zeffri Yusof declined to comment on the matter, directing Malaysiakini to watch a video on how Google Translate works.
The video explains that Google’s translations are based a computer programme’s comparisons of many human-translated texts in search for patterns.
“If you find offensive or wrong translations, the Google Translate itself has an interface for you to say that this translation is not good.
“You can give direct feedback on Google Translate itself. We really encourage people to do that, and the more people do that, the better it becomes,” he added.
This is not the first time the use of Google’s translation service had landed its users in trouble.
This Valentine’s Day the Department of Islamic Development’s (Jakim) botched English translation of its 2009 Valentine’s Day sermon - provided by Google via a third party - was widely circulated and ridiculed on the internet forcing Jakim to remove the page on the same day.
Netizens joked that among others, Valentine’s Day (Hari Kekasih) ended up as ‘Belong Day’.
Even Malaysia's Defense Ministry was left red-faced in 2012 when it's use of Google Translate resulted in mangled English appearing on its official website.
Among the blunders include description of dress guidelines for ministry staff that prohibited “clothes that poke eye” - a direct translation of the Malay phrase menjolok mata, which actually refers to revealing attire.
Google Translate pitfalls also marred an official visit by a foreign head of state, during then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s welcoming ceremony in Putrajaya in 2011.
A giant billboard greeting Wen in Malay and Chinese found numerous errors in the latter version resulting from it being done via automated translation.
The Prime Minister’s Department later admitted that the error was due to time constraints that led to the usage of Google Translate without checking the accuracy of the results.
Msiakini news
more.....................
A brief history of Ultraman
PETALING JAYA: Ultraman has been around for 48 years. The original Japanese television series was actually a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q which was produced by Tsuburaya Productions, a pioneer in special effects.
Although the first Ultraman series only lasted 39 episodes, it created a huge fanbase across the world resulting in several sequels, spin-offs, remakes and adaptations.
Sometimes referred to as the Original Ultraman, his duty was to defend Earth from sinister aliens and monsters.
In Ultraman’s universe, the only Earth organisation that was equipped to handle alien/monster attacks is the Science Special Search Party (SSSP), a special police force equipped with high-tech weapons and facilities. The organisation is also referred to as the Science Patrol or the United Nations Scientific Investigation Agency.
The Home Ministry on Thursday issued a ban on the publication of Ultraman The Ultra Power, which was said to contain elements that threatened public order.
A photo circulated on Facebook allegedly shows an extract of the publication, which contains a reference to Ultraman compared to “Allah or all the Elders of Ultra heroes.”
According to the statement by the Ministry, the prohibition gazette was effective from Feb 18 following Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
“It is an offence under subsection 2 of Section 8 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 for any person to print, import, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, distribute or possess the prohibited publication for any purpose,” the statement said.
The statement added that those convicted of such an offence shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine not exceeding RM20,000 or both.
Victoria Brown
No comments:
Post a Comment