English or Malay? We really need both, with Malay to the fore

 

The prime minister recently lambasted 

elites

, a group of people that apparently includes those born in London, for their obsession with the English language to the detriment of our national language.

First, allow me to establish my credentials: I wasn’t born in London, regardless of whatever lies I may have told earlier, neither am I a member of an elite, as apparently the elites don’t drive fourth-hand cars or buy their clothing at bundle stores.

Now, let me dive into this debate the way I always do, in English (admittedly a rather elitist perspective) while also bashing the elites and all and sundry!

This language issue has been a toxic staple of our politics for a few decades, and looks set to continue. It’s become so polarised it’s almost impossible to claim a reasonable middle ground without raising the ire of the two extremes.

I certainly speak a lot of English, both at work and elsewhere. It’s a very useful tool that opens up the world for me, especially through the internet, literature, science and commerce.

Give our young the right tools

When educating our young, it’s critical we give them the right tools and not just cram their brains with stuff they hopefully can regurgitate at some point. Unfortunately, the latter method seems to be what passes for education in our country of late.

And not just in the national education system either. The vernacular and the international schools, while better at helping kids get a job (which has a value all of its own for sure), don’t do a better job of 

educating

 their charges either, if one assumes education is about preparing somebody to be a rational, resilient, responsible and kind person.

We live in a fracturing education system, what with Sarawak choosing – wisely I’d say – to go it alone by being more pragmatic about what they teach in their schools. Certainly, many other states (or territories!) are looking at them with some envy.

That we need to reiterate the importance of English is tiresome. The reason some of us keep doing this is that we know how important it is to future generations, especially those who have ambitions beyond just working with the government or becoming religious teachers.

‘Tahi minyak’ intellectuals

Detractors of this position don’t do themselves much favour by having their points argued by what my mother would call 

tahi minyak

 intellectuals – 

tahi minyak

 being the rather useless burnt residue left after you’ve boiled coconut milk into coconut oil.

These 

tahi minyak

 characters hallucinate and invent histories and legends to make themselves out to be heroes of the Malays while helping to dumb down the entire education system for all.

One thing these 

tahi minyak

 heroes have in common is they don’t live in the real world. They’re all ensconced in the comfortable world of politics or academia where the name of the game is to go one up on your competitors by pushing ever more silly or unreal or downright racist positions.

If people who love all things English or British are called Anglophiles, I’d beg to not have my name in that roster. While there are many things I admire about the British, there is an increasing number of things I loathe about them, especially in their current declining days.

But I wouldn’t join the other group, the 

tahi minyak

 whom I would name as 

Angloviles

 (you heard it here first, folks), whose knee-jerk reaction is to oppose anything related to the former colonial power, even if perhaps they’re closet admirers, or perhaps even born in London.

A common tongue

Here’s where it gets hard. We also need to have the Malay language in the position of prominence. A simple argument is that it’s the language of these lands, and has been so for centuries. It would reek of neo-colonialism at best, and downright racism at worst for anybody to come in and belittle it.

It’s important for us to have a lingua franca that allows for easy communication among our local peoples. Malay is already the common tongue for most of us (except perhaps for the London-born). Let’s cement its position as such.

In broader terms, the Malay language is already the first or second language of over three hundred million people in the region, a number that is growing. Malay is certainly the largest regional language in Asean, and looks set to become a global language as Indonesia grows to be a top global economy over the next few decades.

We would then be in a position to take advantage of being both an English- and Malay-educated nation, on top of our command of many other important global languages such as Mandarin and various Indian languages. Not many other countries can claim to have so many polyglots (and no, it doesn’t mean people who have many wives – though perhaps that too!).

A global language

Malaysians shouldn’t be leading the charge for making Malay a global language – Indonesia should. We’re clearly the smaller sibling in this matter, and must accept that, and work with our bigger sibling rather than dictate to them.

I know that some tahi minyak wallahs (that’s Indian-English. We’ll see if we can get 

tahi minyak

 into the English vocabulary as yet another contribution into the English language from the Malay language) would object to us taking this humbler position.

We really need to work with our Indonesian cousins to have a common approach to using Malay – I’ve once suggested the new name of Bahasa Nusantara – as a regional language. Doing it without them is a guarantee of failure.

Memo to the PM

This is where political will needs to come into the picture. If we really want to progress as a nation and boost the Malay language, some pragmatic and decisive leadership from the top is in order.

We really must have a dual-language education system, something that many nations already have. We are already a nation of multilingual speakers, so we are starting from a position of advantage.

I’m not an expert on the education system (though most who blab about it aren’t either), but it is do-able and certainly not impossible. While it’s not too late, time is running out.

So Mr. Prime Minister, here’s what you need to do. Revamp the education policies to ensure English is a skill we all have, while Malay continues to be a core language without having it thrust down people’s throats against their will.

You’ll need to upset the elites – which is easy in politics because numbers matter and elites, especially London-born ones, don’t have it. If these elites care more about London, then that’s where they should return. But if they think the UK is the future, they’ll need the services of an expensive Harley Street psychiatrist.

For too long, we’ve abdicated our fight against the 

tahi minyak wallahs

 who only see language as a political game they can win because they’re the ones with the numbers. They’re the reason why we’re here, struggling to make the jump to being a developed, progressive country.

I debated whether I need to translate this piece into Malay to make my point, Mr PM, but I thought no need lah. I heard you punya English pun not so bad kan? So, if you don’t want us to be a half-past six country, please think about this, yah? - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.