Bahasa Melayu still sidelined – academician

KUALA LUMPUR: The status of Bahasa Melayu as the national language in Malaysia has yet to be upheld accordingly despite the country celebrating the 60th anniversary of its Independence this year.

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Comparative Literature lecturer Prof Datuk Seri Dr Md Salleh Yaapar said this was due to the implementation of diglossia (use of two languages) policy on national-stream schools in 2003.

“Through this policy, the national language which has been nurtured for almost half a century was instantly ‘robbed’ of its rights and also its status as the language of knowledge,” he said.

Md Salleh said this when presenting a resolution working paper titled ‘The Obligation to Uphold Bahasa Melayu as the National Language’ at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) here on Wednesday.

Also present were national laureate Dr Lim Swee Tin, the Institute of Malay World and Civilisation (ATMA) director, Prof Dr Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin and the Federation of National Writers Associations of Malaysia (Gapena) chief I, Datuk Zainal Abidin Datuk Wira Borhan.

The outcome from the resolution working paper will be brought and handed over to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the 2017 Cultural Congress in April.

“Subsequently, the diglossia situation exists not just in schools and public universities, but it also creates the ‘language apartheid’ phenomenon.

“It is a situation where the foreign language of English is highly regarded and respected, while Bahasa Melayu is being looked down and placed at a low level on its own land,” said Md Salleh.

The academician, who is also DBP Board of Governors chairman, said it was now very crucial for the government to focus on upholding the status of Bahasa Melayu.