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Language policy in Malaysia

Overview

Malaysia formally known as Malaya, is a linguistically and ethnically diverse country located in Southeast Asia. Its current population stands at 32.7 million, and consists of three main ethnic groups: Malays, Chinese, and peoples of Indian descendants. Officially, its ethnic composition is approximately 69.8% indigenous Malay, also known as 'Bumiputera', 22.4% Chinese and 6.8% Indian. The diversity of languages and ethnicities presented real challenges to language policy making.

Since the 1820s, the educational system in Malaysia has been marked by various reforms concerning the role and status of both the colonial language, English and the native language, Bahasa Melayu. These reforms are characterised by two main historical periods, the Pre-World War II era, from 1824 to 1957, and the post-independence era, from 1957 to the beginning of the 21st century.

Following independence, the Malaysian government played a central role in deciding educational policy as any major shift or modification in language policy had to be approved by the government. Post Independence, the implementation of Bahasa Melayu as a national language was considered to be symbol of national and ethnic identity. However, with the rise of globalisation, this presented various challenges and inequalities, resulting in the reversal of the language policy in the early 2000s.

Pre British Colonial Rule, 1824

In the 1820s, education in Malaysia was essentially delivered in a non-formal pedagogy, the education system was religious, and the teaching was mainly based on learning religion and spiritual practices, and learning how to fish, hunt and grow crops in order to survive. Prior to British colonial rule, educational systems already existed in Malaya, indeed religious schools, also known as 'Pondok' had already been established in the state of Melaka by Islamic religious scholars during the 15th century.

Pre World War II, 1824 to 1941

During British colonial rule, the educational system in Malaya was centred around the colonial policy of 'Divide and Rule'. At that time, many Chinese and Indian workers migrated to Malaya. Following this, there was a high demand for education opportunities within the country, and each ethnicity developed their own vernacular schools. As a result, the British colonial government began to structure Malaya's schooling systems to obtain better control over the country. Following the British 'Divide and Rule' policy, four streams of educational mediums of instruction emerged and were established, dividing Malaya's population by ethnicities; English Medium, Malay Medium, Tamil Medium and Chinese Medium.

English Medium Schools

• British education in Malaya emerged in 1816 as the Penang Free School

• Based on British Education Policy
• Selective enrolment for elite groups

Malay Medium Schools

• Malay education emerged with the idea of the Pondok school

• Religious teaching
• informal education
• teaching survival skills

Tamil Medium Schools

• Tamil primary school education emerged in 1816

• consisted of informal education
• teaching Indian language
• Indian teachers and syllabus

Chinese Medium Schools

• consisted of informal education
• Chinese teachers and syllabus

The Pre Independence, 1941-1957

The Barnes Report, 1951

Prior to Malaysian independence in 1957, the British government published the Barnes Report in 1951. The aim of this proposal was to build and reorganised British Malaya's national educational system, by creating a national public school system based on bilingual education. The report recommended that the country should adopt either Malay or English as a national lingua franca. In addition, it suggested that other ethic groups such as the Chinese and Indians, should start attending these standardised bilingual educational systems. The Barnes Committee declared that National Schools that use Malay as the medium of instruction should be prioritised in the funding process. The favouring towards the study of one local language, aimed to encourage the Chinese and Indian to give up their own mother-tongues; Chinese and Tamil. The main aim in doing so was to convert all primary vernacular schools to national schools which followed the bilingual educational system. Although, the British rule promoted the use of the language of the dominant ethnic group, Malay, the end goal was to eventually favoured English in secondary and tertiary levels.

Fenn-Wu Report, 1951

Following the publication of the Barnes Report, concern emerged amongst the non-Malay population, who were asked to give up their mother language by not attending their vernacular schools. In response to this, the Fenn-Wu Report was published in June 1951 by William P. Fenn and Wu Teh Yao. The way in which this report is approached is completely different to the Barnes Report. The main aim of this report was to maintain vernacular schools, and more specifically preserve Chinese schools by improving them by teaching Malay and English alongside of the mother language. They recommended the promotion of trilingualism in Malaya. This was done support the idea of building a national community that would preserve existing multiculturalism. The report argues that Malay would be used as the country's official language, English would be used as a 'business language', and Chinese as a 'cultural language'. In contrast to the Barnes Report (1951), the Fenn-Wu Report (1951) report suggested that vernacular schools should not be converted to systems of national public school. Following this it also argued for an increase in government subsidies and financing, as well as the development of a committee which produces textbooks, based on modern pedagogical methods and that focus on Malaya and preserve Chinese culture. In addition, the report also suggests developing an institution which provides better qualified teachers more specifically improving the service of Chinese school teachers.

The Education Ordinance, 1952

In 1952, the government passed the Education Ordinance as a compromise of both reports. This ordinance takes into account the recommendations of both reports, for instance it maintains ethnic vernacular schools, as suggested in the Fenn-Wu Report. It also takes into account the Barnes Report, when suggesting the gradual introduction of English into Malay Vernacular schools, as well as incorporating both languages into Chinese and Tamil Vernacular schools.

Razak Report, 1956

Tun Abdul Razak suggested a new educational policy, in his 1956 Razak Report. Unlike the Barnes Report, the Razak Report supported the development of mother tongue education and vernacular schools. The Report offers primary vernacular schools for each of the four main ethnic groups, and bilingual (English and Malay) secondary schools. . In addition the report highlights that all schools are government-funded and use a common national curriculum regardless of school type. According to the Report on the Education Committee, 1956, the main objective of this report was to put in place a national educational system which promotes the cultural, social, economic and political development of Malaya as a nation. In regards to making Malay the national language of the country, the Malay medium schools are referred to as 'national' schools. However, it intends to preserve and sustain the growth of the languages of other ethnic groups. Schools which have other mediums of instruction to Malay are referred to as 'national-type' schools.

Post-Independence, 1957

Education Ordinance, 1957

Following independence, the Malaysian government adopted the Education Ordinance of 1957, based on the 1956 Razak Report. The Ordinance presented Malaysia's National Educational Policy, however it did not include every aspect of the Razak report. This resulted in the resurfacing of controversies around education policy and planning within contemporary Malaysia.

End of British Colonial Rule

At the end of World War Two, many former colonies adopted the language of the former colonial powers as their national language. Unlike most former colonies, Malaysia attempted to limit colonial influence and heritage by preserving and developing the native language. In 1957, Malaysia, then known as Malaya, gained independence from British colonial rule after twenty nine years. After independence was proclaimed, the Malaysian government established Bahasa Melayu, formerly known as Malay, as the country’s official language in the post-colonial language planning. Bahasa Melayu, was to be used as an official medium of instruction in governmental functions and in education. It is one of the very few countries which selected an autochthonous language to become its national language instead of English. Prior to this, the English language was the main medium of instruction in education under British colonial rule. In making the decision to alter the colonial language policy, the government aimed to minimise the status and role of English in the process of shaping national identity. As a result English was taught in schools as a second language.

National and Official Language: Bahasa Melayu, a symbol of national and ethnic identity

At the time of the proclamation of independence in 1957, the native Malay people, also known as the Bumiputera represented half of Malaysia's total population. Other ethnicities such as the Chinese and the Indian represented a third and a tenth of Malaysian population, but were descendants of immigrants. The literal signification of Bumiputera in Bahasa Melayu, means the ‘child of the land’, the Malay ethnic group represented native populations. This statement was important in regards to giving the power of the nation to the Malay. Indeed, during this period, Malays granted citizenship to non-Malay; essentially Chinese and Indian immigrant workers, only if they met the following requirements: residential, good conduct and language. As a result non-Malay did not show any form of resistance towards this decision.

Political and Economic reasons

The correlation between the medium of instruction in schools and the access to economic and social opportunities, is an important reason used in explaining the choice of Bahasa Melayu as the official language. Following the British colonial rule, inequalities in terms of educational and employment opportunities emerged. Under the colonial educational system, English schools had mainly been built in urban areas and had a selective enrolment policy. These schools were reserved for the non-Malay and British pupils. On the other hand, Malays attended Malay medium schools in rural areas. In addition, Inequaties were also created in terms of the uses of the languages. English was considered to be the economic language and was reserved for non-Malay people. The separation of ethnic groups and ethnic languages resulted in the creation of gaps of economic opportunities for Malay people. Those who were able to speak English, consisted of a majority of non-Malay people, and mainly consisted of those who attended English medium schools, but also Chinese and Indian workers who commuted to urban areas. This resulted in the rise of frustration from Malay nationalist groups , as non-Malay and British held both political and economic power of their country. Subsequently, Malays promoted Bahasa Melayu as the official language, hoping that it would develop as a language of higher status, as well as increasing economic opportunities for Malay people, offering a higher social and professional mobility.

Challenges

Slow transitional process

Although Bahasa Melayu was promoted as the official language during the post-independence period, its implementation within the educational sector, and more specifically within higher education was a slow process. Universities began to gradually convert to a bilingual system; Malay and English, in 1965. Higher education became fully monolingual eighteen years after, in 1983.

Need for modernisation

In addition, the modernisation of Bahasa Melayu language was another important challenge, and was necessary in developing the national language into a prestigious and intellectual language. As a response, the Malay government, invested 38 million Malaysian ringgit, to put in place a language agency: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, which was responsible for the development and modernisation of Bahasa Melayu. The Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, published literature and books in Bahasa Melayu, and was in charge of promoting Malay literary growth through corpus planning as well as the promotion of the social status and role of the language.

Outcomes of modernising the language and language planning

• the creation of 500,000 new words
• promotion of literary growth and creative talents
• Reinforced the status and role of Bahasa Melayu

Reversal in language policy

In 2002, there was another major shift and reform of language policy. Forty years after Bahasa Melayu had been legislated and implemented in the education system, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, announced that subjects such as sciences and mathematics, would be taught in English starting the first year of primary schooling, and up to (including) tertiary levels of education. Following this announcement, the Ministry of Education recommended, a gradual implementation. By 2003, it was implemented in the first primary year, the first secondary year and the lower six and was eventually carried out at all other levels of education.

Globalisation: the main reason for the reversal of language policy

Globalisation led to the emergence of various challenges for Malaysia's language policy, the main one being:

• the implications of language policy in response to the explosion of knowledge and information

Alongside globalisation, the creation of knowledge and information exploded. The majority of this knowledge was written in English language, meaning that the generations that followed the nationalistic language policy, were unable to understand this information. This led to the emergence of a knowledge gap between the new information that was being generated and the generation of school and university graduates, who were educated in the national language. This required the establishment of a major program of translation from English to Bahasa Melayu, which was undertaken by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and the National Translation Agency. This process was very slow and could not compete with the constant emergence of new knowledge and information.

See also

• Language Planning
• Education policy
• Language education in Malaysia
• Education in Malaysia
• Bilingual education
• Multilingualism
• Monolingualism
• Bahasa Melayu