REFERRING to Article 16 and 19 of the Federal Constitution, Deputy Home Minister Shamsul Anuar Nasarah said, “The level of mastery of Bahasa Malaysia (BM) for citizenship applicants is given priority because this condition is enshrined in the Federal Constitution.”  

That answers all questions on the requirement to speak BM for foreigners who want to become citizens. BM must become part of their existence. That language must flow in their blood and be part of their dreams. 

This “love” is key to mastering the language.  

Can BM create that kind of appeal for foreigners? For some, yes. For others, it could be a “no”. 

For work and living, I have had the experience of spending time in countries with languages foreign to me: Flemish, English, Japanese, and finally, BM.

I knew how to speak Vlaams (Flemish), yet I refused to speak Vlaams mainly for a few reasons. First, I had no problem communicating using English – my second language – in Belgium. The second reason is a couple of experiences I had at the beginning had made me doubt my command of Vlaams. 

I loved to attempt to speak Nihongo during my brief stay in Japan. Mainly because Japanese people loved my incompetent broken Nihongo. The moment I spoke Nihongo with the Japanese, they would say, “Sugoi des ne”, meaning “Beautiful it is”.

I felt comfortable; I felt love for “Nihongo”.

Maybe Malaysians do not have to say “bagusnya” to bad pronunciations of BM but they could at least ignore incompetent attempts by foreigners to speak the language. They could stop correcting or reminding foreigners of accurate pronunciation.

Dismally, after living in Malaysia for 18 years, I am not fluent in BM.

Why did I fail to fall in love with BM? Could it be partly due to its lack of appeal?

Then who is responsible for creating such an appeal for BM? It is no other than Malaysians.

If anyone encounters rude treatment by any Malaysian or personnel in government offices for not being able to speak BM – no matter whether they are expected to speak the language – that sparks repulsion for the language.

Kind and polite gestures, on the other hand, could make anyone fall in love with the language and the Malay culture of “budi bahasa budaya kita”.

Malaysians prefer English over BM when two different races converse. The preference of multilingual races in Malaysia for English is to break down barriers. Well, there is no barrier to break when a Malaysian converses with fellow citizens.

A lack of confidence in BM was also felt when English was introduced to teach science-related subjects in schools. Albeit, countries like Japan and Germany did excel in science without English. 

That raises the question: Do Malaysians love and have confidence in BM?

I hear a lot of stern reminders of the requirement to speak and write BM for those who want to become Malaysian. But I don’t hear any loving invitation to embrace BM.

If anyone wants to be a Malaysian they need to love as well as speak BM. – December 15, 2023.

Prof Mohammad Tariqur Rahman reads The Malaysian Insight.  

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.