Myth of Language leading to so-called National Unity

Myth of Language leading to so-called National Unity

By Stephen Ng

In a recent forum, “'Malaysia: A New Dawn', former Minister of International Trade and Industries, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz commented about Education Minister, Dr Maszlee Malik’s slogan ‘Memartabatkan Bahasa Malaysia’.

I would like to add to her rhetoric. To me, promoting Bahasa Malaysia to strengthen national unity is nothing but a myth.

This slogan, based on Shih Huang Ti’s efforts to unite the many kingdoms into one country using Mandarin as the official language has been sung by Umno propagandists time and again for many decades.

This narrow mindedness of people in the likes of Tan Sri Rais Yatim has sidelined English and other vernacular languages. This has destroyed the country’s competitiveness in the international arena.

How can Malaysia be an Asian tiger if its people can hardly speak standard English and communicate with the rest of the world? 

With Bahasa Malaysia, we can only reach out to people in the so-called Nusantara.

With English and the vernacular languages, we can conquer at least two-thirds of the world, but after all these years of promoting Bahasa Malaysia at the expense of other languages, we have become a kampung within a world of mega cities and metropolitans.

Even China has caught up with the rest of the world, with its people capable of speaking good English, compared to our Chinese in Malaysia.

With China fast becoming an economic powerhouse in this region, Mandarin is an important communication tool when trading with the Chinese. Mandarin, Tamil and Hindi are spoken by nearly two billion people or one third of the world’s population.

By all means, Bahasa Malaysia should be promoted extensively. It is embarrassing to learn that one can use the “Read Aloud” App on iPhones for example to read aloud text in Mandarin, but not in Bahasa Malaysia. What is Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka doing about it when we are supposed to be championing the language?

As pointed out by Rafidah, our politicians in Malaysia Baru including Maszlee are still singing the slogan that learning of Bahasa Malaysia will lead to national unity.

Why do I call it a myth? The answer is simple. Look at the way how Malays voted in the last general election. Sixty percent of the country’s population voted in three directions. All speak Bahasa Malaysia and practise the same religion, but where is the unity?

The Chinese, Indians, Dayaks and Kadazan Dusun united together with one-third of the Malays to vote out the old regime, bringing about a new dawn in Malaysia. 

We each speak different languages, yet whenever a ceramah is conducted using the common language, everyone understood, and a bond was created.

In some ceramah, politicians spoke in Mandarin and Tamil as well, yet they were able to rally the different races together to oust Barisan Nasional. If Maszlee is able to speak in Tamil, I am sure he would have used the language as well to woo the Indian voters in his constituency.

So, why after the general election, we see the U-turn, to the point that the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) cannot be recognised until Bahasa Malaysia is given the pre-eminence in these private Chinese schools? This is nothing but an excuse we have often heard from Umno in the past.

Why are we still thinking that Bahasa Malaysia alone will unite the nation when this is just a myth that Umno has believed in for so many decades?

I suggest that if you have time, go and watch a famous sitcom in the seventies, “Empat Sekawan.” Tan Ah Chek spoke in Hokkien, while Wong Ho and Hon Yin spoke in Cantonese. Lai Meng spoke in Hakka, although her mother tongue was Cantonese. 

All four of them understood each other despite using different dialects. In real life, they were, in fact, good friends.  

What united them together since their days in Bukit Bintang was not the language but the fact that they were fellow Malaysians with a common direction in life.

Malaysians have proven that with race, religion and language set aside, we were able to unite in the last general election. 

Can’t we unite ourselves with a common vision to bring Malaysia to the next level, putting aside our differences in race, religion and language, that otherwise would divide us?

I hope after reading my article, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would advise his cabinet to make a paradigm shift if we want to see Malaysia become an Asian Tiger again. 

We have what it takes to trade with the rest of the world using the language our trading partners are most comfortable with. Let us not lose our diversity.

There is unity in diversity. Commonness only leads to Communism.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. After May 9, 2018, he is now involved in contributing ideas towards rebuilding of the nation.