IT is abundantly clear that Bahasa Malaysia is the official and national language of Malaysia, as stipulated by law.
It is a known fact that the majority of Malaysians speak more than two or three languages and dialects, given our multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual society.
However, at primary and secondary school levels, or even in our institutions of higher learning, no alternative foreign languages are provided. At the university level, the likelihood of learning another foreign language is confined to the departments of linguistics only.
With Malaysia strategically having one of the world’s busiest ports along the Straits of Malacca, which brings huge inflows of foreign trade and investments into Malaysia from every region of the world, it becomes imperative that our workforce master other foreign languages, such as Korean, Japanese, and other languages, in addition to English, to be well equipped, like many of your neighbours are.
The pandemic was most telling and an eye-opener to how small the world really is. All societies are interdependent on one another for trade and commerce.
Language barriers invariably become impediments, hence the urgent need to liberalise the study of other languages as options in our learning institutions for the purposes of trade, commerce, and investments.
Since Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took office in November 2022, he has been on a mission to lure and captivate foreign investors to make Malaysia an attractive country.
He has brought in over RM200 billion in investments from his 17 working trips, including to the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, China, and many others.
Investments of this magnitude certainly need local manpower to be able to cope, facilitate, and ease communications between the parties.
In the case of Europe, over 65% of the population on the continent can speak another language other than their native mother tongue.
Multilingualism is fast catching up where children are taught their native language and then exposed to another language, which will make it easier for them, as adults, to conduct commerce and trade, travel, and communicate with their European counterparts given that the European Union recognises 24 national or official languages and EU Parliamentary documents are translated to all EU languages except those not legally binding.
Malaysia must do more to invest and encourage students, youths, and young adults to learn additional foreign languages, particularly one that will help them with their careers and future endeavours in their working lives, while at the same time becoming masters in their national language, Bahasa Malaysia.
Multilingualism is the way forward, and with such grand investments, we must take the proverbial “bull by the horns” and expedite the promotion and elevation of learning new foreign languages. – November 1, 2023
Teresa Kok is Seputeh MP