More to being a citizen than language skills

It might have worked 25 years ago but people today will not tolerate baseless rules that dictate one's eligibility to becoming a citizen of this country.

COMMENT

Twenty-five years ago, my mother applied for a change of name. Born a Muslim to Muslim parents, her name was however recorded as Nisha A/P Osman instead of Nisha binti Osman. The officers at Tabung Haji who were processing her application to perform the Hajj, advised her on getting her name changed, and she was adamant to do precisely that.

Upon consulting with the relevant officers at the Penang Registration Department, mom was given an interview date. She was told an officer would be assigned to make sure she was deserving of the title “Binti”. Mom tried explaining to them that she was a Muslim by religion as stated in her birth certificate as well as in her identity card. However, according to the officers, there were procedures to follow.

The thing is, mom wasn’t really worried about the interview or even the questions, for she was knowledgeable in many matters, including religion. Mom was worried about only one thing – the language used to ask those questions.

You see, the officer at the registration department mentioned that fluency in Malay was a priority in having her application accepted. And mom, having studied only in Tamil schools in her younger years, had outstanding proficiency in Tamil, but not in Malay.

As it got closer to the interview date, mom took to walking around the house with Malay books in her hands as she brushed up on the language. She cooked with the books opened by her side. She sat in front of the TV during family time with the books on her lap. She swapped her afternoon nap time for reading the books and even sat alone past midnight perusing the books.

One time, I remember her ordering me to ask her general questions in Malay.

“Apa nama Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang?” I asked.

“Nyamuk…” she whispered to herself.

“Nyamuk?”

“Kohsu (mosquito in Tamil). Koh Tsu Koon!” she answered.

I remember laughing at her memorisation methods. So accustomed was she to having her brain process everything in Tamil, mom had even memorised the former chief minister’s name in Tamil.

Finally, the day of the interview came and she bravely marched to the Penang Registration Department with her heart in her hand.

“Boleh cakap Bahasa ke?” the officer asked after sweeping her off into the interview room.

“Boleh.”

“Orang Malaysia mesti boleh cakap Bahasa.”

“Insya Allah.”

“Kita test tengok. Cuba sebut 10 nama bunga dalam Bahasa.”

Later that day, after a lot of huffing and puffing, mom successfully had her name officially changed to Nisha binti Osman.

Although mom was very proud of herself, I remember her voicing out her frustration at being forced to go through a series of questions to prove her fluency in Malay in order to be recognised as a Muslim female.

“What is the link between being good in Bahasa and having a “binti” in my name?” she asked.

Today, some twenty-five years later, I find myself asking the same question after reading how a law professor is urging the government to only grant MyKads to Malaysian children proficient in Malay.

What is the link between citizenship and being fluent in Malay?

Seriously, are we moving backwards to where we were some 25 years ago?

As much as I love our national language and as much as I think that every Malaysian should proudly learn our national language, I do not think we should be defined by our linguistic skills. And neither does fluency in Malay dictate patriotism – because if it did, every Bangladeshi, Myanmar and Nepalese who is fluent in Malay and has a soft spot for Malaysia would deserve citizenship.

Citizenship is a fundamental right of every citizen. You don’t get to evaluate a person’s patriotism and loyalty based on their level of fluency in the national language. You don’t get to set interviews to judge how deserving a person is to be recognised as a citizen.

You don’t get to make a mockery of a citizen’s fundamental rights.

Twenty-five years ago, people like my mom might have been more polite and willing to toe the line by obeying every rule and regulation no matter how ridiculous. But mind you, people today are no longer made of sugar and spice and all that’s nice – try forcing some baseless rules upon us and watch us shovel it right back in your face.

Fa Abdul is an FMT columnist.