Malaysia is made up of 68.6 percentage of Bumiputera, 23.4 % of Chinese, 7.0% of Indians and 1.0% of others (Department of Statistics Malaysia, 2016). In this diversity, different mother tongues are spoken and used, thus, a common language ensures the communication between the different ethnics. In current situation, Malay Language (Bahasa Malaysia) is still the national language of Malaysia and English is learned as a second language. How et al. (2015) described Malay Language as a national symbol to enhance national unity. Meanwhile, English is learned and accepted as a second language in Malaysia. Omar (1992) states that English can be considered as a primary language in Malaysia but a lesser primary language compared to Bahasa Malaysia. This indicates that both Malay Language and English Language play vital roles in Malaysia. 

Multilingual Malaysia

In some private international schools, English is the medium language for teaching all subjects. Meanwhile, in the Chinese Private schools, Chinese remains the medium language for most of the subjects. In informal situation, most of the Malaysians are able to use a few local dialects and mother tongue predominantly. Hence, it can be said that most of the Malaysians are multilingual. Lew (2014) states that Malaysians not only speak the official language, Malay but most of them are also fluent in English. Lew (2014) further added that Indian and Chinese in Malaysia are able to use their mother tongues and dialects fluently too. In addition, there are a number of indigenous languages spoken by the natives in both Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. The well-known indigenous languages include Iban Language and Kadazan Language. 

MBMMBI Policy in Malaysia

Upholding the Malays Language and Strengthening Command in English (MBMMBI) is the current language policy that is implemented in government school. It is no doubt that in this current situation, MBMMBI is the best language policy which can upload the national language and at the same time strengthen the mastery towards the international language, English. MBMMBI was first introduced in year 2009 by the Ministry of Education and it is implemented in current education since year 2010. MBMMBI aims at upholding the Malay Language and concomitantly strengthening the English Language to cultivate a society with effective communication skill, promoting unity and to increase the competency level in the international platform Ministry of Education (2014). 

MBMMBI is very similar to bilingual policy as both Malay Language and English language are equally focused. A good bilingual policy enhances the development of heritage language and academic English (Yamat et al, 2014).  In MBMMBI, the status of Malay Language as the national language can be further fortified as it is used in teaching all school subjects except for language subjects. At the same time, different initiatives are taken to enhance students’ mastery towards English Language. In addition, Dual Language Programme (DLP) which is an effort of MBMMBI was introduced in year 2016. DLP can be viewed as an initiative to improve students’ mastery towards English Language.   

 MBMMBI focuses on Malay Language and English Language. However, this does not mean that the mother tongue of other races such as Chinese and Tamil are abolished. MBMMBI states that Chinese Language and Tamil Language are still being used as the instructional language in Chinese Primary School, SJK (C) and Tamil Primary School, SJK (T). 

As a conclusion, MBMMBI not only upholds the status of Malay Language as the national language of Malaysia but also helps to enhance the mastery towards the important international language, English. At the same time, the status of mother tongues and other indigenous language are not influenced. 

REFERENCES

Department of Statistics Malaysia. 2016. Current Population Estimates, Malaysia, 2014- 2016.https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/index.php?r=column/ctheme&menu_id=L0pheU43NWJwRWVSZklWdzQ4TlhUUT09&bul_id=OWlxdEVoYlJCS0hUZzJyRUcvZEYxZz09. [20 December 2017]

How, S.Y., Chan, S.H. &  Abdullah, A.N. 2015. Language Vitality of Malaysian Languages and Its Relation to Identity. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies 15(2):119-135. 

Lew, J. 2014. 9 of the World’s Most Multilingual Countries. https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/9-of-the-worlds-most-multilingual-countries. [ 3 January 2018]. 

Ministry of Education. 2014. Dasar Memartabatkan Bahasa Malaysia Memperkukuh Bahasa Inggeris. 

Omar, A.H. 1992. The Linguistic Scenery in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 

Yamat, H., Mustapha Umar, N.F. & Mahmood, M.I. 2014. Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the English Language Policy: An Education Reform. International Education Studies 7(13): 197-205. 

Written by Ting Suk Hua