The Malay language dilemma
By Sim Kwang Yang
Many commentators have since observed that the recent government flip-flop in the language switch for teaching math and science has been a BN concession to linguistic nationalism.
I had suffered much personally from the policies that emerged from such linguistic nationalism. When I was so much educated in English, I used to be regarded with some suspicion by the old traditional Chinese educationists. Then again, I was refused a scholarship to study medicine in the university on grounds that I could not speak Malay.
When I entered Parliament in 1982, I was delighted to find that MPs from Sarawak and Sabah could still speak English in that august House. Non-Malay MPs would be delighted hearing me speaking English, but UMNO MPs were not pleased. In 1983, a bill was passed to amend the law, disallowing me from speaking in English thenceforth.
Determined not to be shut up thus, I decided to learn the national language Bahasa Malaysia.
It is not a difficult language to learn. It is very logically structured, like English. Besides, the Parliament was a place for learning the language by immersion. Day in and day out, I sat there catching all the phrases commonly used in politics and administration. I had a small dictionary. On hearing a strange word, I looked it up immediately.
