Let me first disqualify myself, as I am no expert in the Malay Language. I am a Eurasian of Portuguese, Chinese and of highly probable Indian & Malay decent. I took Malay as a Second Language in School and had actually failed at it.

Does ‘Hati’ mean ‘Heart’ or ‘Liver’? Here’s my take on this topic.

I read an article in the Straits Times (Singapore) some years ago (maybe in 1987) that the Malays actually feel with their ‘Liver’. It was written by a Malay whose name I can’t remember. He said that it was only translated to ‘Heart’ in English so that English speakers will be able to understand better what was meant. However, this method does not explain accurately how the Malays actually think. Moreover, a lot of Malays now, especially those who are English Educated, believe that ‘Hati = Heart’ thus losing their own heritage by adopting the western thinking… this is sad. Although the English feel with their heart, when they want to express deep feeling, they say ‘from the bottom of my heart’ which the Malays are actually doing when they say ‘from my liver’. I hope this will be corrected so as not to lose our eastern heritage to the west.

There is a old Malay saying which goes ‘Bagai hempedu lekat di hati’ which refers to ‘Deep affection’. The literal translation is ‘As the spleen sticks to the liver.’ This saying alone tells us that ‘Hati = Liver’ because the spleen definitely does not adhere to the ‘Heart’ but to the ‘Liver’.

I am still looking for articles on ‘Hati = Heart or Liver’ so please send it to if you come across it. Thanks. ~ Pereira G A

Two, I wonder what reason there can be for such associations arising? The liver is an anonymous organ, its location and purpose a mystery to most people, even today. Emotional distress, however, is quite clearly experienced in or around the heart! And the ‘internal voice’ of reasoning naturally seems to be located within the head - although perhaps only because it is so closely linked to the visual field (I wonder if the self-image of the seat of reason is different in people who have been blind from birth?). And you would think it an easy enough observation that the reason (but less so the emotions) are impaired by a head injury, but not by a chest injury. There must be a reason for these identifications of the various organs, but I can’t guess what it is.

Third, some years ago I read a doctoral thesis on the phenomenon of ‘amok’, which mentioned that the berserking episode of bloody revenge is typically preceded by a long period of eccentric and depressed behaviour, often involving retiring from the community, squatting at the edge of the jungle in total silence (or howling, gibbering incoherently) for hours or days on end. This behaviour is known as ’sakit hati’ - a special use of the term.