[lg policy] Malaysia: Conducive eco-system needed

[Harold Schiffman]

Conducive eco-system needed

2 November 2016 @ 11:01

THE question of the relevance and significance of Bahasa Melayu has once
again come to the fore as propounded by A. Murad Merican in his column in
the New Sunday Times (NST, Oct 30). He lamented the dismal use of the
national language, which should have been an ingrained and seamless vehicle
of both oral and written communications. But it was, and is, not to be. The
authorities have again and again made efforts to reenergise and revitalise
the use of Bahasa Melayu by having the Bulan Bahasa with its slogans of
Cintailah Bahasa Kita and Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa in an effort to galvanise the
use of this language by all Malaysians, regardless of colour, creed or
race. To emphasise its academic stature and encourage academic works beyond
the normally perceived literary language, the Higher Education Ministry
established the Anugerah Akademik Bahasa Melayu award in 2012. It is open
to all disciplines and thus far, four scholars have won the award. In spite
of these initiatives, the reception to the usage of Bahasa Melayu has
remained at status quo, prompting the author to pen his commentary that
sounded more like a dirge than just an ode to a lament. We have heard the
same tune played over and over again since Merdeka to emplace Bahasa Melayu
as the national language of intellect, commerce and diplomacy with varying
success but not the expected outcome of a premier language that binds the
populace. Before Merdeka, English was the official language of governance,
education and urban and international commerce. Malay held sway in the
rural areas in trading, education (Malay and religious schools) and general
communication among the races. But English was indispensable if one wanted
a good education and a respectable job both in the private and public
sectors. This situation persisted until the end of the 1960s when Bahasa
Melayu was used in governance and education. It was a painstaking effort
but it was not wholly accepted by the commercial and industrial sectors, as
well as certain segments of the populace for obvious reasons. The
government strategy then was to encourage the people to adopt Bahasa Melayu
by making it mandatory for all official communication to be in the
language. It also quickly emplaced Malay as the main medium of instruction
in national schools. The Chinese and Indians felt that such a policy was
deemed to infringe on the rights of their mother tongue and therefore, a
need to preserve them. As a consequence, almost all Chinese and Indian
parents recluse to the vernacular schools. The situation persisted until
today as a sizeable segment of the Malaysian population are still unable to
converse in the national language. Such a situation was allowed to persist
because the government adopted a laissez faire attitude in the
implementation of the national language policy. It was more of a strategy
of motivation than coercion. As a result, even after 59 years of
independence we are still struggling to establish its supremacy simply
because the language eco-system is not conducive to such proposition.
Although the medium of instruction is Malay in institutions of higher
education, it is not supported by the available corpus of knowledge in any
university’s library, which houses mostly works in English. Furthermore,
lecturers must meet their KPI for publications in international journals,
preferably ISI (International Scientific Indexing) rated, which only accept
articles in English that would aid in the ranking of the university. The
population of foreign students, which is an important factor in a
university’s ranking, will be affected if all the degree and postgraduate
programmes were conducted in Bahasa Melayu. Another impediment to the
widespread usage of Bahasa Melayu is that graduates educated in Bahasa
Melayu have difficulty in securing jobs not only in the private sector but
also in some government ministries that conduct international dealings. The
development and vibrancy of a language depends on the socio-cultural,
political and intellectual milieu that support the practice of the
language. Bahasa Melayu currently lacks such support due to not only the
political realities but also the attitude of certain segments of the
society towards the language. Since time immemorial, Malay has been the
lingua franca of the archipelagic nations and very much so in Malaysia.
Notwithstanding the competition from other languages, especially English
which is an essential language in this globalised world, the Malay language
must be preserved and advanced. Its usage must be extended to all facets of
our livelihood. MOHAMED GHOUSE NASURUDDIN, Penang 11 reads

Read More :
http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/11/185211/conducive-eco-system-needed

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