What Did You Say, Mother?

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How Language Planning Policy is Killing Cultural Diversity in Malaysia

Malaysia was formed 55 years ago when Malaya, Singapore, Sabah(formerly North Borneo) and Sarawak combined to form a federational constitutional monarchy and stood under one flag. After the separation of Singapore, the remaining 3 region had developed together to become on of the most culturally diverse nation on the planet. The ethnic goups in Malaysia collectively grouped into four categories, the Bumiputera, Chinese, Indian and "others", those who don't belong in the former categories. The Bumiputera consists of the Melayu people native of Malaya and aborigines from Sabah and Sarawak, which includes the Kadazan, Bajau, Murut, Iban and so many other smaller ethnic groups. According to Ethnologue, "The number of individual languages listed for Malaysia is 136. Of these, 134 are living and 2 are extinct. Of the living languages, 112 are indigenous and 22 are non-indigenous. Furthermore, 11 are institutional, 6 are developing, 7 are vigorous, 95 are in trouble, and 15 are dying.".

The Mother-tongue-less Minority

The numbers might not demonstrate how bad the situation is so let me reiterate from a minority standpoint. I am a Bajau Malaysian. My mother tongue is the Sama-Bajau language, an ancient language that doesn't even have a script and nearly impossible to write and read in Latin script, which is mainly used in Malaysia. However, I could not speak more than a few morsels of Sama. Why? Because since early childhood, I have only been taught the Malay and English language. Even now, I can express myself better in English than I can in Malay, let alone Sama.

This situation is true to almost all Malaysian born since the late-90's, especially those who are not a member of the Big Five ethnic groups, the Malays, Indians, Chinese, Iban and Kadazandusun. Since the founding of Malaysia, it was established in the Constitution that the Malay and English language are the official language of Malaysia, the latter doubling as the National Language. After that, the National Education Policy's language planning policy enforced the usage of the Malay Language in teaching all non-language subjects in Malaysian schools starting in 1983. This encouraged parents to start teaching their children Malay at home to avoid a language barrier in their education. However, this had lead to the decrease of the use of minority languages and even their death.

The Man in the High Tower

The fate of minority language had never been addressed seriously by the government, who consists of the Malay majority. In a tone deaf response, the Ministry of Education formulated curriculum for two native language, Kadazandusun and Iban, which, unsurprisingly, is the language spoken by majorities in Sabah and Sarawak respectively. It is oxymoronic, trying to save a thriving language. Meanwhile, the other languages continue to be ignored. it is not something impossible. In fact, South Africa, a country that is considered as undeveloped by most of the world's population, afford to give the choice for its students to learn in 11 different native language according to their preference.

Closing Arguments

Language is an important part of culture. If a language is dead, it means the culture it belongs to dies as well. This precious treasure that had been Malaysia's pride can be lost forever if the mentality of the governing agencies does not change in the near future, Malaysia would just be another country with nothing special to offer. Worse than that, minority citizens will lose their identity. These rigid and over-standardized human products of Malaysia's unequal Language Plannng Policy will have no chances of surviving in the culturally diverse globalized world we now live in. Therefore, I urge the relevant authorities to reconsider and rethink the importance of teaching mother tongues no matter how minor it is. I also urge parents of the minority to take matters to their own hand and start teaching their kids their native language at home. This way at least, we can try to save the dying Living National Treasure that is cultural and language diversity.

Thanks for reading. This is my first foray into heavier topics, so please excuse me if my research is not accurate or my arguments is not solid. If you have an experience in this type of writing, please feel free to criticise and comment on my piece. Also, if you are a fellow Malaysian, feel free tell me how you feel about this topic in the comment section below.

References

-Ethnologue report for Malaysia. Ethnologue. Retrieved 11 July 2018