Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
A place at the table for every household's paperwork
Sirih Circle was set up to make document literacy accessible for Malaysian families — bilingual, practical and without pressure.
Back to HomeOur Story
Sirih Circle opened its Jalan Gaya office in 2019 after its founders spent several years working in public administration and plain-language writing across Sabah. The pattern they kept encountering was the same: Malaysian families — particularly multilingual ones — held important documents they could not fully read, did not know how to index and were not sure how to share with the people who might need them.
The name comes from the sirih tradition — the betel leaf circle that marks a shared occasion, a place where people sit in equal positions to exchange what they know. That framing shapes how the sessions are run: no seat at the table is elevated, and nothing moves faster than participants need it to.
Since 2019 Sirih Circle has run bilingual household records introductions, extended family coordination courses and agency consulting engagements across Sabah. All programmes are delivered in English and Bahasa Malaysia simultaneously.
The organisation does not provide legal advice, financial advice or any form of counselling. When participants raise questions that fall outside document structure and vocabulary, they are referred — by name and address — to an appropriately qualified professional. This boundary is observed in every session and is stated in writing before any enquiry form is submitted.
The agency consulting work grew out of requests from district offices that had attended the household introductions. The engagement covers the clarity and structure of published administrative communication; the substance of the information stays with the agency.
Sirih Circle is based at 76 Jalan Gaya, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, and is open to written, telephone and in-person enquiries on equal terms.
Our Mission
To make the vocabulary and structure of household records accessible to Malaysian families, regardless of which language they are most comfortable in.
Our Approach
Equal place settings, no recommended options, no pressure. Document structure and vocabulary only — substantive questions go to qualified professionals.
Our Boundary
We redirect legal, financial and counselling questions every time, with a named referral. This is not a limitation — it is what makes the sessions safe to attend.
The People at the Table
Azlinda Suleh
Programme Lead
Former civil service administrator with twelve years in district record management. Azlinda designed the bilingual index system used across all Sirih Circle programmes.
Raymond Lim
Plain Language Consultant
Specialises in bilingual administrative writing. Raymond leads the agency consulting engagements and the staff workshop sessions on plain writing.
Norizan Majid
Coordination Facilitator
Facilitates the extended family coordination course. Norizan's background is in community education and she maintains the referral network used when questions fall outside programme scope.
How We Maintain Standards
Scope in writing
What Sirih Circle covers and what it does not is stated in writing before any enquiry form is submitted. There are no surprises at the session.
Privacy practice
Sessions are not recorded. Personal documents shared for illustration are treated with discretion. Data handling follows published Malaysian personal data protection requirements.
Bilingual delivery standard
All materials — verbal and written — are delivered simultaneously in English and Bahasa Malaysia. No participant is asked to manage in a language they find difficult.
Named referrals
When a question falls outside document structure, facilitators provide a named and addressed referral rather than general signposting. Participants leave knowing exactly who to contact.
Plain-language audit
All programme materials are reviewed against published plain-language standards before each cohort. Glossary sources are cited and current.
Group size limits
Groups are capped at fifteen for the introduction and ten for the coordination course. This is not a marketing choice — it is what the format requires to function well.
Household Records Literacy in Sabah
Malaysian households hold a wide variety of documents — identity cards, birth certificates, marriage certificates, property documents, insurance policies, pension records and more. Many of these documents exist in more than one language, are issued by different agencies at different times and are stored in different places across the household.
When something changes — a death, a property transfer, a new family arrangement — the household that has already indexed its documents and knows what each one means is in a considerably clearer position than one that has not. Sirih Circle's programmes address that preparation before it is needed.
The bilingual dimension of the work matters in Sabah, where many households navigate between English and Bahasa Malaysia daily, and where administrative terms often have different resonance in each language. Sirih Circle's glossaries pair each term with its counterpart and cite a published source for both, so participants can verify what they have learned independently.
For extended families, the coordination course addresses a gap that sits between document literacy and family communication — the written record of shared decisions, shared expenses and agreed responsibilities. The course covers process and structure; it does not mediate disagreements or provide any form of personal advice.
Find out whether a programme is a reasonable fit
Written, telephone and in-person enquiries are equally welcome. No commitment is required to ask a question.
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