Why Malaysia Must Remain A Multilingual Nation

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Malaysia has just celebrated its 68th year of independence from British rule, although Sabah and Sarawak only became independent with the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
In recent years, there has been much questioning of the core principles that brought us together in our modern incarnation.
A few question the validity or legitimacy of the Constitution, saying that it was imposed on us by the British. Some question the adoption of the Common Law of England as one of the sources of our law.
Some, like former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, question the loyalty of non-Malays because they maintain their ethnic roots - their culture and their language.
ADSMeanwhile, East Malaysians are unhappy about their relative lack of development and their geographical, social, and economic isolation.
This essay seeks to deal with one strand of our country’s past and present, which is relevant to these questions. Our cultural and linguistic heritage.
Malaysia is a tapestry of diversity, with more than 130 living languages spoken across the country. This linguistic richness reflects our unique mix of races, cultures, and histories.
But right from Independence Day or Merdeka, we adopted Bahasa Malaysia as our national language. Malaysians have generally accepted this choice, recognising its role in unifying us as one people under a shared identity.
We, however, retained our multilingual heritage with Malay as the national language and English continuing to play a particularly important role in the country. Here, we make a case for Malaysia continuing as a bilingual or even a multilingual country.
Constitutional, legal framework rooted in English
Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy, governed by the rule of law.
We formulated our written Constitution, the supreme law of the land, at independence. The Constitution encapsulates the bargain reached by the leaders of our diverse nation.
The Constitution also enshrines or embeds the doctrine of separation of powers, where the legislative, executive and judicial arms of government are coequal but independent of each other.
This form of government followed the English model. We adopted the common law system and imported English law, subject to local legislation and usage. This system operates on the doctrine of stare decisis, where judicial precedents guide future decisions.
By adopting the Common Law of England, we anchored our nation to a tradition of justice going back hundreds of years. Many other countries, mainly from the Commonwealth and the United States, also followed the same model.
All judgments of the superior courts of this country are reported in English and sometimes Malay, and decisions from England and other common law jurisdictions hold persuasive authority in Malaysia.
ADSWith more than 100 superior court judges, 300 magistrates and Sessions Court judges, hundreds of prosecutors and legal advisers, and more than 24,000 private practitioners, we have deep knowledge and expertise in our laws and legal system, where proficiency in English is indispensable.
Without it, Malaysia would sever its legal linkages with the wider common law world. Indonesia, which adopted the Dutch Civil Law system, lost its linkages with its source of many of its laws when Dutch language proficiency was lost.
Education and knowledge
English usage is widespread in this country. English is taught as a subject in all government schools, with Mathematics and Science being taught in English in some schools.
At the tertiary level, both Bahasa Malaysia and English are used in public universities, while English is the sole medium of instruction in most private universities. We also have more than a hundred international schools in the country.
This dual system ensures that Malaysian students are globally competitive, capable of engaging with both national and international knowledge systems.
They also have access to textbooks and research papers published anywhere in the English Language. They are not limited to learning from translated material.
More than a hundred thousand foreign students attend our schools and universities because English is used as the language of instruction. The government aims to build that number up to 250,000.
Thousands of our young people also study abroad, most in English-speaking countries. Some study in China and Taiwan, where the language of instruction would be Chinese.
English remains the global language of trade and diplomacy. As Malaysia continues to attract investment and expand trade, the ability to communicate effectively in English is crucial.
Chinese proficiency among Malaysians is valuable, especially in strengthening ties with China, one of our largest trading partners.
Most Chinese children attend Chinese vernacular schools. A sizeable number of Malay and Indian children also attend Chinese vernacular schools.
Tourism and culture
Tourism is a significant contributor to Malaysia’s economy. Tourists from around the world find Malaysia accessible and welcoming, partly because English is widely spoken.
The fact that many Malaysians also speak Chinese adds to our appeal, particularly for Chinese visitors. Multilingualism thus directly contributes to the revenue of the nation.
Besides that, Malaysia is also an attractive destination for retirees through the Malaysia My Second Home programme and for medical tourism.
Science and innovation
In today's world, knowledge is power. Millions of scientific papers are published annually, with the vast majority in English.
Leading nations such as China, Japan, South Korea, and India continue to emphasise English language learning to enable their people to have access to such material and thus remain competitive in research and development.
Malaysia must do the same if it is to participate fully in the global knowledge economy. Today, we have about a hundred major universities and many other degree-awarding institutions. We have more than a million undergraduates at any one time.
With the onslaught of artificial intelligence technology, universities will be hard-pressed to produce graduates required by the marketplace. What will be the jobs of the future?
With English proficiency, we remain connected to the rest of the world and know what is happening everywhere. We cannot be marooned intellectually and academically because of our inability to interact and communicate with the rest of the world.
National pride and global wisdom
We understand and acknowledge nationalism and national pride. Bahasa Malaysia is the language of our national identity, and Malaysians accept its place as our unifying language, but knowledge and wisdom from all countries and societies are the inheritance of all mankind.
Civilisation knows no boundaries - geographical, political, ethnic, or cultural. We learn from each other; we borrow from each other.
We build our civilisation on the backs of earlier civilisations. Knowledge and wisdom are not proprietary to any one civilisation or nation.
We have people who speak many languages. Those languages contain the wisdom and knowledge of generations. Loss of any of those languages would be tragic. Most of us are multilayered culturally.
The great languages of humanity - Greek, Latin, Tamil, Sanskrit, Chinese, and English - are among the oldest in the world. Each carries a vast corpus of literature, thought, and science.
The Oxford English Dictionary alone contains more than 600,000 words, reflecting centuries of cultural borrowing and linguistic exchange.
We should not feel ashamed of leaning on other traditions and other languages. On the contrary, it is through this intermingling and borrowing that civilisation advances.
India, despite its deep civilisational pride, now has more English-proficient persons than many English-speaking countries. Urban schools and universities, and colleges in India use English as the medium of instruction.
English has become the universal lingua franca - a bridge across cultures, a shared tongue of commerce, diplomacy, and knowledge.
By maintaining our bilingual and multilingual proficiency, Malaysia does not weaken its identity but strengthens its connection to the world.
Conclusion
Malaysia’s choice of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language has provided unity. Our proficiency in English, which is also a link language, additionally gives us strength in law, education, trade, tourism, and science.
To abandon bilingualism would be to limit our sources of knowledge, diminish our competitiveness, and isolate ourselves from the world.
To embrace multilingualism is to celebrate diversity, safeguard unity, and secure our future as a confident member of the global community.
Malaysia must remain a multilingual nation with Malay as our national language and English as a strong second language. - Mkini
DAVID DASS is a lawyer, Malaysiakini subscriber, and commentator.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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