Find more creative ways, highlight positive examples to encourage greater use of BM

 

From Ong Kian Ming

First, I would like to state my strong support for the national language, Bahasa Melayu, as the main language of communication in the country.

When non-Malay political leaders such as Loke Siew Fook, Steven Sim, Howard Lee and Gobind Singh are seen to be fluent and comfortable in communicating in BM, it is a good signal for bridge building between the different communities in Malaysia.

I have had the experience of engaging and communicating in BM regularly with my former constituents in Bangi, which was a 51% Malay majority parliamentary seat, which I won by nearly 69,000 votes in the 2018 general election. Since 2022, I have conducted many interviews in BM and have appeared on the popular podcast, Keluar Sekejap, where I discussed many political and policy related issues in BM with the co-hosts, Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan.

Within this context, I would like to clarify my tweets issued yesterday where I wrote:

“I’m not sure why PMX @anwaribrahim must target certain groups when highlighting the importance of BM as the national language. I’m quite sure many people in the corporate world in Msia communicate in English because that’s the usual practice, rather than the fact they grew (up) in London.

“Why not propose new ideas to enhance the usage & understanding of BM through new channels such as podcasts? My own usage and thoughts in BM has increased after listening to @keluarsekejap on a regular basis. Why not tender out a radio licence for the equivalent of @BFMradio in BM, as an example?”

(In reference to his speech that was given at the launch of the National Language Month 2024 at the Ipoh Convention Centre on Oct 6. )

My tweets were reported in FMT on the evening of Oct 6.

I am sure Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim didn’t mean to call out the many Malaysians who do not necessarily see themselves as part of the 

elite

 group who grew up in London but who nonetheless use (at least some) English in their workplace on a regular basis.

This would include the many thousands who work for multinational companies in Malaysia and the many public listed companies, especially those which have international customers and operations, academics in public and private universities who teach in English and the support staff who deal with international students, civil servants who have to engage with their foreign counterparts in English, tour guides and taxi drivers who have customers whom they communicate with in English, just to name a few.

By calling out those who speak and use English at the 

elite

 level, many other 

non-elites

 may feel that they are also being unfairly targeted by Anwar’s remarks.

Those who are using English in different settings in Malaysia may be doing so for other reasons and not because they are undermining the use of BM or that they look down on the use of BM in official settings.

Most annual general meetings of public listed companies are done in English, partly because many of the financial reports are presented in English and because of the presence of foreign shareholders. Many academic proceedings and international conferences are done in English because of the presence of foreign speakers and participants.

This is not to say that there may be some Malaysians who are not so comfortable or fluent in communicating in BM. There are many reasons for this and would require another context to explain fully.

But rather than focusing on the negative, wouldn’t it be better for the prime minister to prose some new and creative examples to demonstrate the importance of the usage of BM?

For example, MekYunn, a Chinese Kelantanese, has gained a large following (including among the Malay community) on social media because of her proficiency in BM as well as Kelantanese (or ‘kelate’) and has been a good ambassador for the country in many of her engagements.

James Ng, or more popularly known as “bossjames” has leveraged his social media presence with different types of engagements in BM to grow his motorcycle business.

A friend of mine, Mike Chu, who runs an outdoor and sporting goods company, based in Ipoh, regularly features his products and runs campaigns using BM as his mode of communication.

Comedian Douglas Lim regularly produces short skits in BM which are enjoyed by people from all communities.

The many sponsorship deals garnered by the Keluar Sekejap podcast shows that there is a lucrative commercial market in the production of good quality content in Malaysia (mixed with some English).

Rather than presenting a negative narrative, wouldn’t it be much better for the prime minister to highlight positive narratives which can encourage and incentivise others to use BM because it is in their interest to reach the wider BM speaking community, and not because it is being forced on them?

Maybe it’s time for the prime minister’s team at PMO to show him some of these positive examples on social media so that he can present these narratives instead. - FMT

Ong Kian Ming is the Selangor DAP treasurer and a former deputy minister for the then international trade and industry ministry.

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