Jawi Script: The Arabic Alphabet That Writes Malay — History, System and Its Position Today

On a stone inscription found in Terengganu, Malay words are carved — not in the letters we use today, but in an Arabic script adapted for Malay sounds. The inscription, the Terengganu Inscribed Stone (Batu Bersurat Terengganu), bears the date 702 Hijrah, commonly equated with the year 1303 CE.

According to UNESCO, the stone is the earliest evidence of Jawi script in the Islamic Malay world of Southeast Asia. It is a sign that the Malay language was already being written, read and used for matters of governance in Jawi script more than seven centuries ago.

This article describes Jawi script descriptively: what Jawi is, where it came from, how its writing system works, what its legal standing is, and where it is used today.

What Jawi script is

Jawi script is a writing system that uses Arabic letters to write the Malay language. It is written from right to left, like Arabic script.

Its important distinction is that Jawi is not simply Arabic script. It retains the Arabic letters, but adds several new letters for Malay sounds not found in Arabic. Among these additional letters are:

Malay sound	Jawi letter
ca	چ
nga	ڠ
pa	ڤ
ga	ݢ
nya	ڽ
va	ۏ

The spelling conventions of Jawi Malay are standardised and documented by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) through the Pedoman Umum Ejaan Jawi Bahasa Melayu (General Guidelines for Jawi Malay Spelling), which sets out letter forms, writing methods, and the method for marking vowels, diphthongs and consonants. In other words, a text in Jawi script is read as the Malay language — not Arabic — even though its letters are mostly Arabic letters.

Where Jawi came from

The development of Jawi script is closely tied to the arrival of Islam in the Malay Archipelago. As Malay society embraced Islam, the Arabic script that came with the religion was absorbed and adapted to write the Malay language, gradually replacing earlier scripts that originated from Indic scripts.

The Terengganu Inscribed Stone is the earliest surviving marker of this process. According to the Department of National Heritage (Jabatan Warisan Negara), the inscription found near Kuala Berang, Terengganu contains a proclamation related to law, written in archaic Jawi script. These early features of Jawi — as noted in research published by DBP — were not yet standardised: many letters were undotted and vowel marking was inconsistent, unlike the tidier spelling system that came later.

After that era, Jawi developed into the script of administration, correspondence and religion in the Malay courts, including during the era of the Melaka Sultanate. Royal correspondence, laws, literary works, religious texts and Malay historical records were written in Jawi script for centuries.

How the Jawi writing system works

Several features distinguish how Jawi functions from Rumi script, which is based on the Latin alphabet:

• Direction of writing — Jawi is written and read from right to left.
• Letter forms change — like Arabic script, many letters have different forms depending on their position in a word (initial, medial or final) and whether they connect to the adjoining letter.
• Vowel marking — Malay vowels are marked using certain letters (such as alif, wau and ya) according to prescribed conventions, rather than with separate vowel letters like a, e, i, o, u as in Rumi.
• Additional Malay letters — letters specifically devised for Malay sounds, as listed above, allow Jawi to spell Malay words accurately.

Because of these features, a text could be spelled in various forms in earlier times, before the standardisation of Jawi spelling was refined through DBP’s official guidelines.

Jawi’s legal standing

The status of the Malay language as the national language is established under Article 152 of the Federal Constitution. That article states that the national language shall be in such script as may be provided for by law made by Parliament.

That law is the National Language Act 1963/67 (Act 32). The provision that directly addresses the matter of script is Section 9, which provides:

The script of the national language is the Rumi script, provided that this does not prohibit the use of the Malay script, better known as Jawi script, for the national language.

This provision establishes two things at once: the official script of the national language is Rumi, and the use of Jawi script is not prohibited. Legally, the two scripts exist side by side.

Jawi’s use today

The shift of official focus to Rumi script has not erased Jawi script. It continues to be used in various contexts:

• Islamic education — Jawi is taught in Islamic Education subjects in schools, and the reading materials for that subject widely use Jawi script.
• Khat art in the language curriculum — a khat (calligraphy) writing art component has been introduced into the primary school Malay Language curriculum (KSSR) as a language-arts component, as contained in the Curriculum and Assessment Standard Document (DSKP) issued by the Ministry of Education Malaysia.
• Religious and cultural use — Jawi is used in many religious materials, traditional publications, and artistic activities such as khat art.
• Heritage and manuscripts — historical research, old Malay manuscripts and national heritage documents require the skill of reading Jawi. The Terengganu Inscribed Stone itself was declared a National Heritage on 31 July 2009.
• Signage and official emblems — some government agencies, religious institutions and states use Jawi on signage, letterheads or emblems, alongside Rumi script.

The principal institution that coordinates the development and advancement of the Malay language, including aspects of Jawi script, is Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, a statutory body under the Federal Government.

Common misconceptions

“Jawi script is the same as Arabic script.” Jawi uses the Arabic letters as its base, but adds specific letters and its own spelling conventions to write the Malay language. A Jawi text is read as Malay, not Arabic.

“Jawi script is no longer legally recognised.” Section 9 of the National Language Act 1963/67 stipulates Rumi as the script of the national language, but expressly states that this does not prohibit the use of Jawi script.

“Jawi is only a historical relic and is no longer used.” Jawi is still used in Islamic education, khat art, religious and cultural materials, and certain official contexts.

What’s next

To understand the constitutional standing and historical shift of the Malay language’s script from Jawi to Rumi, see Bahasa Melayu. For the historical background of Malay correspondence, see Melaka Sultanate, and for the context of Islam’s constitutional position as it relates to Jawi’s heritage, see Article 3: Religion of the Federation.

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This article is classified as sensitive content (3R+1: religion) under NegaraKu.md’s editorial policy because the subject of Jawi script is closely tied to Islam and has previously been a matter of education policy debate. It is written to remain descriptive — reporting what Jawi is, where it came from, and how it is used — without evaluating or interpreting policy, and is held as a provisional draft pending human review.