All the Malay and English newspapers, except one, gave
it banner headlines. And so they should. It was one of the most important
speeches the Prime Minister gave in 1993. It announced a significant shift in
the Government’s policy on the use of English as a medium of instruction in the
universities. Once again Dr Mahathir showed quiet determination not to allow
sentimental pieties over language to be a dead weight that slows down the
country’s march towards the dream year 2020.
The commitment to the total use of Bahasa Malaysia (Malay Language) in
every area of learning, especially in science and technology, has turned out to
be problematic. Shortage of qualified teachers capable of teaching in BM, of
competent translators who could make available essential texts existing only in
English – these are among the major factors that have made a slight change in
strategy necessary, without, however, compromising fundamental commitments and
principles or the sense of national pride.
Permitting the use of (or a return to) English as the
medium of instruction in such technical subjects as medicine, engineering and
computer science is the logical thing to do under the circumstances. The
language is already there, part of our colonial inheritance; what is needed now
is to make that particular inheritance whole and healthy again, and to undo the
damage done to it (a serious decline in standards mainly) by fanatical
nationalistic enthusiasms over the decades since Independence. And to do this
without feeling any guilt, of being assailed by the sense of having betrayed
our sacred identity as Malaysians (for the chauvinists, “identity as Malays,”
no doubt). The slogan Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa
(language is the soul of the nation) does have a degree of truth in it, so long
we are not too literal or rigid about both “language” and “soul.”
The Government’s decision may be entirely pragmatic in
its motivation. The concern behind it is the pursuit of progress. In
particular, the target of the fully developed, highly competitive nation
respected by the world in the year 2020. It has become a compulsive ritual now that
every time a good word is said about English, immediate assurance about the sacred
status of the National Language is given. No one wants to be misunderstood,
least of all a politician, and on such a sacrosanct matter too. It has happened
before (remember last year, when the Prime Minister’s very faith in BM was questioned?) – and there’s no
guarantee it won’t happen again.
So the Prime Minister again gave his assurance and to
make double sure, his new Deputy also gave his. “In 1993,” he said, “we are
more confident of the strength of Bahasa
Malaysia (note, he said “Malaysia”
not “Melayu”)… There should be no
cause for concern if we want our younger generation to
improve their English.” Anwar even reminded Malaysians that the Nineties are
not like the Sixties – that decade of tension when he was a troublesome student
leader in University Malaya. (Remember?). Outside the area with which the Prime
Minister’s speech was immediately concerned, the place of Bahasa Malaysia as the first language of the nation is secure –
even if only in the public sector, not the private. This officially-sanctioned
return of English for a specific practical purpose is not only not a threat to
the status of Bahasa Malaysia; it
will also, said the Prime Minister, benefit the National Language itself in the
long run.
The idea that giving English its proper and necessary
place in our life can even help BM is something new in Dr M’s thinking and
public utterance on the question of language. “We are of the opinion,” he said,
“that once we emerge as a successful race (nation?) our language will also be
successful and will gain respect.” This opinion was echoed by a number of
academic and public figures - the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Universiti
Pertanian Malaysia (Malaysian Agricultural University) being one of them. So
“success” is the keyword – key to everything, including the attainment of that
position which compels the respect of the entire world.
The reactions from the academics and intellectuals to
Dr M’s speech have been generally favourable. A few voiced anxiety that the
move would be at the expense of Bahasa
Malaysia. A group of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturers wrote a very
pertinent letter to the New Straits Times
(January 1) saying that, while they are not opposed to the necessary shift
in policy, it’s not enough for the Government to do just that. The whole
education system, they rightly say, needs to be reformed, particularly as it
applies to the teaching of English Language vis-a-vis the “Soul of the Nation.”
Successful Malaysia in the 2020’s with have her “soul” expressed in BM, helped
not a little by a judiciously pragmatic use of the world’s lingua franca and
most convenient means to economic and technological competitiveness. But what
kind of “soul”? And will this Malaysian soul be expressed in purely secular
material terms? If you asked the president of Gapena he would probably say,
absolutely, yes – i.e., if he could forgive the Mahathir government even that
minimum role granted to English.
I have argued in this column more than once that
English was playing and would continue to play an important role not only in
our relations with the rest of the world, but within our own multi-ethnic
society. And that role is by no means merely economic, scientific or
technological. After more than three decades of independence, and despite the
National Education Policy, English is still used widely in our country. And
what’s important, that use cuts across ethnic boundaries. Now, with the slogan
or motto Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa in mind,
would any unblinkered Malaysian say that our “Malaysian soul,” however
ill-defined and ambiguous it may be, can only be expressed in the National
Language? A language belongs to those who speak it. It’s as simple as that.
Given this fact, and that language communicates experience and is capable of
transcending the boundaries of the culture of its origin – given all this, then
the English we speak in Malaysia today belongs to us. It’s our English; along
with BM it expresses our “soul,” with all its contradictions and confusions, as
much as our social and material needs.
The idea that true nationhood is impossible without a
native language to express the sense is not always true. Just look at Ireland.
Much of the spirit of her rebellion against England was expressed in the
English language. Ireland in fact made the language of her colonial masters her
own, and defined herself in that language. In the process, she produced some of
the greatest writers in English. Though Ireland and Malaysia do have certain
things in common (most of them not very nice), the two countries are very
different otherwise. For one, unlike the virtually dead Gaelic (the native
language of the republic), BM is very much alive. Unlike poor Ireland,
therefore, we Malaysians have more than one language in which to express our
“Soul.” Isn’t that all the better?
5 January 1994
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