BRICKBATS and accolades have met Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s announcement to promote Malaysia’s national language, Bahasa Malaysia, internationally.
Firstly, no one is disputing the fact that Malaysians do hold their national language in high esteem.
But the problem is there is widespread confusion as to what is that national language.
Some politicians and media keep stating that it is Bahasa Melayu. But the more uniting and inclusive thinkers believe that our national language is Bahasa Malaysia.
We need to resolve this label first in our backyard before we start promoting the language globally.
Secondly, as has been pointed out by netizens via social media and news media, the PM’s ambition to table a resolution at Asean to change the article that proclaims English as the common language of the region will cause much suspicion among member nations who uphold the mantra of non-interference so far.
Member nations will and rightly so question: why not their respective nation’s national language? Maybe some may even postulate that since their country has double the population size of Malaysia’s, their national language should be the common Asean language.
Hence, Malaysia is entering troubled waters with its nationalistic proclamation of wanting to make Malaysia’s national language as the medium of communication at Asean events.
Thirdly, in an age and time where communication technology is racing ahead using the English language as the preferred and popular medium of information, infotainment, and edutainment, what would be the incentive for the world to take painstaking interest in a language from a third-world nation that has a mere 32 million population ?
Let us get real. While nationalistic sentiments do count in uniting a multiracial country like ours, selling the story of gloated pride globally will only fall flat, if not backfire.
Fourthly, the fundamental fulcrum that balances human communication is the ability to speak in order to be understood with clarity and ease. The need to translate before comprehension is attained is only born out of acute necessity.
Therefore, while we may gloat at the idea that we are introducing our national language at international platforms where English is the long-established norm, are we not compounding our intentions to be understood clearly, with ease, and correctly ?
Considering the four reasons above, perhaps the government of Malaysia would be wiser to take a more difficult but sensible pathway to promote Bahasa Malaysia globally.
It must be a national policy and not a preferential choice of a prime minister or a political party to promote Bahasa Malaysia globally. Otherwise, each time we change prime ministers or have a political party that forms an incoming government, we will confuse the international communities with our flip-flop changes.
Invest in information technologies and communication media that make Bahasa Malaysia attractively widespread on the information, infotainment, and edutainment highways. Create games and storytelling and promote novelty arts and crafts, spellbinding performing arts and shows, etc. in Bahasa Malaysia that can gain traction in the world.
In other words, make the language an experiential attraction that gains popular buy-ins. This is a long haul. Language popularity is not imposed, enforced, or stubbornly bulldozed. It takes time and investment to build.
Of course, to promote a language globally, a government must be prepared to work with educational institutions to introduce the language as a curriculum. This is possible only when the educational sectors recognise the consistency, longevity, and richness of a language.
Hence, back in our own yard we must first and foremost raise the Bahasa Malaysia quality and content. From our past experiences we know that we are not adequate in this aspect. Dewan Bahasa Dan Pustaka Malaysia must be empowered with budgets and capable human capital to enrich and strengthen the language in order to attain a standard that can be well recognised by the educational institutes globally.
Hopefully our leaders will think through more exhaustively and citizens will rationalise deeply before we go bananas over such announcements of making our national language as the lingua franca of the world. – The Vibes, March 2, 2022
J.D. Lovrenciear reads The Vibes
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