Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Malaysia-related articles
 | The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. |
| Manual of Style (MoS) |
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These guidelines are still being developed. Feel free to improve them, or discuss them on the talk page.
These guidelines cover the style conventions to be used in Malaysia-related articles. Please discuss proposed significant changes at the talk page or by announcing them at the WikiProject Malaysia talk page.
Language[edit]
All articles about Malaysia shall be written with formal Malaysian English, which is based on British English. This shall include words such as theatre (instead of theater), centre (instead of center), lift (instead of elevator) etc., unless it is their proper noun or legal name.
Date[edit]
All of the date shall be written using dmy full format, e.g. 20 June 2021 or August 1945, not April 5 1945, 23-12-2021, 8-30-2020 or January 5th, 1988.
Places[edit]
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia with detailed factual and objective information, not a tourist brochure, thus all places-related articles has to be written in their specific location, not relatives to a more well-known city, e.g.
- Batu Caves is a cave in Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. Not Batu Caves is a cave near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- Johor Premium Outlet is an outlet in Kulai District, Johor, Malaysia. Not Johor Premium Outlet is an outlet near Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
- Bandar Sunway is a suburb in Subang Jaya, Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. Not Bandar Sunway is a suburb just west of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
All place-related articles about Malaysia shall follow the following administrative division convention (town/city, district/division, state/jajahan/federal territory, country) on their lead section:
- Museum ABC is a museum in Pontian Kechil, Pontian District, Johor, Malaysia. (town, district, state, country)
- Temple GGG is a temple in Ipoh, Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. (city, district, state, country)
- RTY is a village in Julau, Sarikei Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. (town, division, state, country)
- Note: For Sabah and Sarawak, only town/city, division, state and country is needed. district (subdivision of division) is not needed (e.g. Sarikei District of Sarikei Division) because it will be too long.
Previously, district-based location was rarely used in Malaysia (e.g. Subang Jaya is straight away located in Selangor, instead of located in Petaling District, Selangor). However, since 2020 after the Government of Malaysia implemented Malaysian movement control order (MCO) to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia, the district term has become heavily and extremely used every single day (e.g. different level of MCO based on the different area of district (instead of town or cities)), thus WikiProject Malaysia shall do its part in promoting these district terms to Malaysian Wikipedia readers.
We shall always want to maintain and retain the country word Malaysia. Please do not use Peninsular Malaysia, East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo, e.g.:
- Gallery XYZ is a gallery in Ipoh, Kinta District, Perak, West Malaysia.
- Waterfall EFG is a waterfall in Kuching, Kuching District, Sarawak, East Malaysia.
For specific Peninsular Malaysia, East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo terms, they shall only be discussed in geography articles about Malaysia, but not to indicate location of an entity/object in Malaysia.
By default, towns, cities and states do not need to be fully written in full name (Kluang (instead of Kluang Town), Kuala Terengganu (instead of Kuala Terengganu City), Perlis (instead of Perlis State), unless there are two similar name within the article (or even within the same sentence) that ambiguity might occur, such as Melaka City and Melaka State, Johor Bahru City and Johor Bahru District, Mersing Town and Mersing District. In such cases, full name has to be written, e.g.
- WWW Street is a street in Melaka City, Central Melaka District, Melaka State, Malaysia.
- QQQ Park is a park in Johor Bahru City, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia.
- Note: For mukim and district, a full name (with Mukim or District) must always be written together inside an article, e.g. Mukim Ayer Masin, Kubang Pasu District. Those entries however may omit the Mukim name in their own Wikipedia article if it has no disambiguation with other similar-name article (e.g. Ayer Masin). All district articles in Malaysia do actually have all of its article names written with District (e.g. Segamat District).
While mukim is officially part of administrative divisions of Malaysia, but it is extremely used to indicate location. It is purely for government-related administrative and political division within the Land and District Office (Pejabat Tanah dan Daerah). Therefore, mukim shall not be used to incidate location, unless the article is about those mukim itself. Articles about Districts in Malaysia do have mukims as their default content, thus mukims are listed inside that (e.g. Pontian District).
Based on ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, every place-related articles in Malaysia must have coordinate and the region should be specified as MY.
Naming conventions (to be checked later)[edit]
Malaysian people[edit]
The naming convention for Malaysian people should all follow Wikipedia's policy on common names. Different conventions apply to Malaysian people of different ethnicity. Many Malaysian names have patronymics instead of family names. In general, people who have names with patronymics should be addressed by their first name(s), and people with surnames should be addressed by their surname.
Malay names[edit]
A patronym is employed by almost all Malays. Article titles should not include bin (Malay for "son of" borrowed from Arabic) or binti ("daughter of"), as they appear in local English-language publications
- {first name} {father's name} (e.g. Anwar Ibrahim, not Anwar bin Ibrahim).
In addition, long Malay names that are shortened when they appear in English-language publications should adopt the most common shortened name (e.g. Najib Razak, not Mohd Najib Abdul Razak). However, the words bin, binti and the full names may be inserted into the first line of the lead section, with the inclusion of honorifics, to be discussed later (e.g. Mohd Najib bin Abdul Razak).
People with Malay names should always be addressed by their first name(s) in the article. Where confusion may occur, it is recommended that the hatnote {{Malay name}} be used.
Members of the Malaysian royal family and nobility adopt hereditary titles in their names, such as Tunku, Tengku and Raja. Such titles should be included in the article title. However, whether to include the title in their patronymic would depend on how they choose to style themselves and how their names usually appear in English-language publications:
- {title} {first name} {father's name} (e.g. Raja Petra Kamarudin, not Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin);
- {title} {first name} {title} {father's name} (e.g. Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, not Tengku Adnan Mansor).
In very rare occurrences, Malay people may carry surnames (although still with a patronymic), such as Albar, Barakbah, Jamallulail and Shahabuddin. The article title should depend on how the person chooses to style himself/herself and how the name usually appears in English-language publications:
- {first name} {father's name} {surname} (e.g. Syed Sheh Hassan Barakbah: first name = Syed Sheh, father's name = Hassan, surname = Barakbah);
- {first name} {surname} (e.g. Syed Hamid Albar: first name = Syed Hamid, surname = Albar; not Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar).
When sorting the article, ensure it does not get incorrectly sorted by the patronymic. Add a comment as shown in the example below:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Najib Razak}} <!--Do not sort by "Razak" as this is
a patronymic, not a surname.-->
Chinese names[edit]
Titles of articles regarding Chinese Malaysian people should follow the usual Chinese naming convention. Chinese names present the surname first, followed by the given name, which usually consists of two words:
- {surname} {given name} (e.g. Lim Goh Tong: surname = Lim, given name = Goh Tong).
The inclusion of the name in the Chinese script is allowed. However, use only simplified Chinese characters as that is the official Chinese language script in Malaysia (e.g. 林宣妤).
People with Chinese names should always be addressed by their surname, unless two people with the same surname are being mentioned (e.g. when referring to Ong Ka Ting and Ong Tee Keat (unrelated): Ka Ting and Tee Keat, not Ong and Ong). Where confusion may occur, it is recommended that the hatnote {{Chinese name}} be used.
Some Chinese also take on a Western personal name, which they place in front of their surname, in addition to their Chinese given name, which they place behind their surname. This leads to the surname being in the middle of the full name, which is perfectly common in Malaysia. Sometimes the Chinese given name is omitted. In other cases, the Chinese given name is placed in between the Western given name and surname. The article title should depend on how the person chooses to style himself/herself and how the name usually appears in English-language publications:
- {Western name} {surname} {Chinese given name} (e.g. George Chan Hong Nam: Western name = George, surname = Chan, Chinese given name = Hong Nam)
- {Western name} {Chinese given name} {surname}
- {Western name} {surname} (e.g. Michelle Yeoh).
When sorting the article, sort by surname, then Chinese given name:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Goh Tong}}
Or if the person has a Western name, sort by surname, then Western given name:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chan, George}}
Indian names[edit]
Indian Malaysians follow Tamil naming conventions, which uses patronymics. The name on a male person's official documents are usually {given name} a/l {father's name}. The abbreviation a/l stands for anak lelaki, which means "son of" (s/o) in Malay. The female equivalent is anak perempuan (a/p) or (d/o). In English-language publications, names usually appear with the father's name initials placed before the given name, but this is not universal.
The article title should depend on how the person chooses to style himself/herself and how the name usually appears in English-language publications. They should not include a/l or a/p:
- {given name} {father's name} (e.g. Subramaniam Sathasivam, not Subramaniam a/l Sathasivam);
- {father's name initial}. {given name} (e.g. S. Samy Vellu for Samy Vellu a/l Sangalimuthu)
The first line of the lead section should address the person in the full legal name, followed by the name used to refer to the person in English-language publications:
- Subramaniam s/o K.V. Sathasivam (Tamil: சுப்ரமணியம்; known as S. Subramaniam) is ...
The inclusion of the name in the Tamil script (or other Indian language) is allowed.
People with Tamil names should always be addressed by their first name(s) in the article. Where confusion may occur, it is recommended that the hatnote {{Indian name}} be used.
Indians who are not Tamils also follow the Tamil naming convention of including a patronymic. For such cases, the patronymic should not be included in the article title. In addition, some Sikhs take on clan names, which should be included in the article title:
- {given name} Singh (e.g. Karpal Singh, not Karpal Singh Ram Singh);
- {given name} Singh {clan name} (e.g. Gobind Singh Deo: given name = Gobind, clan name = Deo).
When sorting the article, ensure it does not get incorrectly sorted by the patronymic. Add a comment as shown in the example below:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subramaniam, Sathasivam}} <!--Do not sort by "Sathasivam" as this is
a patronymic, not a surname.-->
Dayak names[edit]
Dayak people take on a surname and a patronymic. Article titles should not include the patronymic, just as they appear in local English-language publications:
- {given name} {surname} (e.g. Michael Manyin, not Michael Manyin anak Jawong).
People with Dayak names should always be addressed by their surname
The first line of the lead section should address the person in the full legal name, followed by the name used to refer to the person in English-language publications.
Honorifics[edit]
Per Wikipedia policy, honorifics and Malay titles should not to be included in the article title. The exception would be if a particular name is the most common form of the name used in English (e.g. Tun Abdul Razak, not Abdul Razak Hussein). In addition, per Wikipedia policy, styles and honorifics, such as Yang Berhormat ("The Honourable"), should not be included in the text inline, but may be discussed in the article proper or added to the infobox.
The first line of the lead section should include the highest Malay title conferred upon the person and his/her full long-form name, without the style. Avoid including lower-ranking titles in the first line:
- Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad (not Yang Amat Berhormat Tun Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad)
- Dato' Seri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak (not Yang Amat Berhormat Dato' Seri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak)
- Tun Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas (not Tuan Yang Terutama Tun Dato' Seri Utama Haji Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas)
The full list of titles may be included in the infobox.
Places[edit]
Where possible, articles on places in Malaysia use {Placename}. Where disambiguation with a place outside of Malaysia is required, {Placename}, Malaysia is used, if disambiguation between two places in Malaysia is required, {Placename}, {State} is used.
For names of places, geographical features, buildings, roads, etc. we should generally use its English name, unless it is more commonly known by its Malay name. For example, Gunung Kinabalu, Sungai Perak, and Pulau Redang should be titled Mount Kinabalu, Perak River, and Redang Island respectively; Menara Maxis should be titled Maxis Tower;
Institutions[edit]
Institutions such as organisations, government bodies and political offices should also generally use their English names. For example, Polis Diraja Malaysia should be titled Royal Malaysia Police. However, some institutions may have no established English usage due to little attention in the English-speaking world. For example, there is no widely accepted English-language version of Universiti Putra Malaysia.
In addition, some Malay names of political offices may be used extensively in local English-language publications. For example, Yang di-Pertuan Agong (literally "Paramount Ruler", equivalent to "King") is untranslated in English-language publications, and should be left as such.
Vernacular languages and alternative scripts (to be checked later)[edit]
Alternative languages and scripts such as Chinese, Indian or Jawi should not be included in any Malaysia-related article (apart from biographies), both in the text inline and infobox. The rationale behind this was agreed upon here.
Templates (to be checked later)[edit]
Generally, two types of templates are frequently used: infoboxes and navigation. For exclusively Malaysia-related articles refer to Category:Malaysia templates. For infobox usage:
- Cities (including large towns without city status): Currently using {{Infobox settlement}}. Federal Territories also uses this template.
- Small towns and large suburbs: None.
- States: {{Infobox settlement}}
- Article series templates: {{History of Malaysia}}, {{Politics of Malaysia}}
- For other Malaysia-related articles use the standard world-wide templates (infobox) (e.g.: rivers, national parks, conservation areas, mountains, conflicts, airports, films, actors, musical groups, shopping complexes, skyscrapers, train stations, companies, etc.). See Category:Wikipedia template categories.