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See what your other Uygur brothers say about it !
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From: TudiH@aol.com
The Jewish people recovered their language reportedly
starting from a single person that left to use it. Is not that
inspiring? They use their old cript
even though it is not more suitable for computer than the Uyghur script. Many
of the residents of Israel came fromcountries where the Roman scrirts are
used. It would have been very convenient for them to use Roman.
I went to school when the roman alphabet was in use. Therefore, I naturally feel
more comfortable with Roman alphabet, specially since I am now living in a
country where I use roman script. If we are free to make a choice for ourselves,
I would definitely choose roman alphabet without hesitation. Because,
adopting Roman alphabet not only be more convenient but it might promote
integration with other Turkic peoples. But, are we free to choose whatever
is good for us? Do the Chinese want us to integrate with Turkic world? No, they
might have a different game in their mind. It is not secret that we are
only allowed to do whatever is perceived to be good for Chinese
government. They introduced the Roman alphabet in order to make it look
like the Chinese pinyin rather than the Arabic. In early 80's, as China
was attempting to join the world after decades of self isolation, it
implemented a brief period of relative liberal policy towards
minorities. They allowed them practice their religion and pursue
their culture and traditions. Uyghur intellectuals, most of whom were
educated in the old script, took avantage of that policy and reintroduced the
Arabic alphabet. In the same period, numerous articles and
books about Uyghur history and traditions were published with this new Alphabet.
Many of those articles and books carried pictures of pages from centuries old
Uyghur books. In a society where there is not much left to remind you of
your different past, those scribles on those pictures serves as powerful
inspirations. I remember when I fisrt looket at a picture of a hand- writtin old
Uyghur sript in high school. I wondered why he wrote this, what kind of a
person he was, what he was thinking when he was writing this, what was the
society and people like at his time. Before that, all I saw was books
about Communism, Mao Stedong or Chinese history. I thought our ancestors did not
know how to write just like the most adults around me. I did not like the Arabic
script much personally, but it is one of the few reminders of our
different past. Just by looking at the script we use, people can tell that
we are different from Chinese. The silent script is more convincing than a
thousand words. It is conflicting feeling to see the new attempt to
introduce the Roman alphabet again. Sure, it is more convenient for
adopting new technology. But, we can not forget that our people are
struggling really hard to keep their identity. What is our priority? Technology
or our identity? I can understand why our Turkish brothers supports the
Roman Alphabet. But, they have to remeber that what we have in
common. It is not the alphabet which binds us, it is our identity, and
that is what is at stake here. If the Japanese and Chinese can adapt the
tens of thousands of characters to computers, why can not we adapt the 32
letters? The Japanese and Chinese did left at the stone ages because of
the difficult writing system.
We need continuity, a social structure with a stable base. If we bend
around
all the time, we might get detached from our base. Turks, Kazaks, Uzbeks,
Azeris, Kyrgyz and Turkmens have control over their future, they have the
freedom to fix things if it does not work out as they planned. But, we do
not have that luxury today. We have to look over our shoulder every
step.
If one day, we gain control of our destiny, I would be the first one to
advocate the Roman alphabet. But, for now, I would rather keep what we have
been using for centuries.
Turdi
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See what your other Uygur brothers say about it !
