THE call by the chief secretary to the government for punitive action to enforce the use of the national language in public service is draconian and regressive, and would see Malaysia fall out of favour with foreigners and international investors, G25, a group of former civil servants, said.

The civil society organisation, made up of influential Malays, said Malaysia will have a lot to lose if there are punitive measures on the excessive use of English.

The group said in a statement today that this “will raise the question on whether the government is trying to reverse the modern trend in Malaysian society in the interests of upholding the stature of Bahasa Melayu as the national language”.

The group was responding to a statement from the Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali for the Public Service Department to consider “corrective and punitive actions” to enforce Service Circular No. 1 2020 on the use of the national language in public service.

G25 said while it supports the role and importance of Bahasa Melayu for creating a united nation between the various races, “there must also be recognition of the importance of English as the universal language of the international community in many aspects of daily life”.

“Malaysia will have a lot to lose if there are punitive measures on those who use English in their official work in government departments because there are many areas in which civil servants may have to communicate and express themselves in English to get a common understanding on the problems and issues they face,” G25 said.

It also cited the Covid-19 pandemic as an example where it said in discussing the virus, Health Ministry officers could analyse a health crisis better by using English because “that is the language of the WHO”, alluding to the World Health Organization.

“Similarly, in analysing the economic issues facing the country, our officers in the central planning agencies can understand each other better if they use English because that’s the language of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank and the economic research institutes, including those in Malaysia.

“If punitive action is strictly implemented in the civil service, how do the officers do their work?” it asked.

G25 said the fear factor in using English “will lead to complications in conducting meetings and writing policy papers on problems facing the country”.

It said this will not only affect Malaysia’s participation in international conferences, the potential loss of knowledge and wisdom gained from these conferences “will hit us the hardest”.

“Such a draconian approach towards punishing the use of English in the public sector will also look hypocritical because the children of the rich and powerful are mostly products of international schools and universities.”

G25 said the proficiency of English would ease Malaysian students’ entry to highly sought after universities in Britain, United States, Australia and New Zealand, adding that back home, Malaysian universities that conducted courses in English have in the past attracted a large number of foreign students and thus, revenue.

“The medium of teaching in Mara university and residential colleges, and in the International Islamic University Malaysia is also English.”

It said Malaysia should consider itself fortunate that due to its colonial past, English is widely used among the population.

“This has been one of the main strengths of Malaysia to foreign investors.

“Malaysians are becoming increasingly exposed to spoken English due to several factors such as rapid urbanisation, the spread of digital communication, and their obsession with local and foreign television sports and entertainment channels.

“Malaysian youth often use English expressions that the ‘oldies in G25’ can’t understand as they have never heard of them in their younger days.

“It’s common in many homes for children nowadays to speak in English with their parents and grandparents.”

Addressing a symposium on Internationalisation of Bahasa Melayu at Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Zuki said the use of the Malay language was in line with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s recent stand on the use of Bahasa Melayu internally and internationally.

Ismail had recently said the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Act, which was introduced in 1959 to promote the development of language and literature in Malaysia, needs to be amended to allow it to better implement laws and regulations on the use of the language. – May 28, 2022.