Mind the translation Part 3

I first posted Mind the translation! in which I explained that SMRT's notice 'Berhati-hati di ruang platform' was incorrect and did not at all convey the meaning it intended. I then took a photograph of the notice on a train in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I posted the correct translation used there in this blogpost: Mind the translation! Part 2. 

I thought that was the end of the matter until one day, as I was travelling on SMRT's train in Singapore, I noticed to my amusement that SMRT had changed its 'Mind the gap' notice to this:

Is SMRT really that dumb? What they did was merely to expunge 'platform' from the sentence. In my earlier two blog posts, I explained very clearly why the sentence was wrong. Merely removing 'platform' so that it reads 'Berhati-hati di ruang' does not solve anything. It can only be translated as 'Be careful in the space' which has no meaning.  In that first blog post, I explained very clearly what the preposition 'di' meant. If you say 'Berhati-hati di ruang platform', 'di' is best translated as 'on'. E.g. 'di lantai licin' = 'on the slippery floor'. But when you say 'di ruang antara meja dan kerusi', it means 'in the space between the table and the chair'. Because of this, 'Berhati-hati di ruang' can only be translated as 'Be careful when in the space' which is meaningless. 

From my observation, ever since the publication of my first blog post, 'platform' seems to have been removed from all notices in Singapore trains. That's a waste of resources and effort because the corrected version doesn't mean anything. The linguistic error has not been corrected at all.

SMRT should just eat humble pie and adopt the same sentence used in Malaysia which conveys the full meaning in perfect Malay grammar: 'Awas ruang antara platform dan tren'. I am not sure if you can substitute 'Berhati-hati' for 'awas' without having to add a preposition - here is where I have to confess that my knowledge of Malay grammar is sadly imperfect. 'Awas' is definitely a transitive verb - that much I know. However, if SMRT is uncomfortable with using precisely the same sentence as that used in Malaysia, they can always change it slightly, e.g. to 'Awasilah ruang antara...' 

Whatever they do, merely erasing 'platform' from the sentence is one stupid mistake.