Bahasa Malaysia, not Bahasa Melayu

I'm back in Durham, North Carolina and am once again connected to the online world. Many education issues are on my mind but I'll start with this positive news - the decision by the government to use Bahasa Malaysia instead of Bahasa Melayu. The most recent announcement by the Cabinet was reported in today's Star.

Back in the day when I co-wrote a column with the NST (called 'Chisel and Stone') with my former boss, Steven Wong, now with ISIS, I wrote about the merits of calling BM Bahasa Malaysia instead of Bahasa Melayu since this would give the connotation that the language belongs to all Malaysians.

I think that one can make a rational argument that BM should still be called Bahasa Melayu. After all, it is the 'mother tongue' of most, if not all, Malays. There are few Chinese or Indian households which speak Malay exclusively although there are certainly many non-Malay Bumiputera households in Sarawak and Sabah which do speak Malay exclusively or at least substantially. It is only natural that Malays would consider BM as 'their' language given the history and use of the language.

However, I think the move by the cabinet to make this change is a progressive one for the following reasons:

1) Given that BM is our national language and that all of us, regardless of race, learns BM in school
2) That it would encourage a gradual change in mindset that BM only belongs to Malays to one that BM i.e. Bahasa Malaysia belongs to and should be spoken widely by ALL Malaysians
3) That it shows a more magnanimous spirit on the part of the government to perhaps have a more open and liberal attitude towards issues of national identity (okay, this is perhaps a more optimistic reading)

On the part of the non-Malays (myself included), we should also reciprocate by demonstrating a greater willingness to speak, embrace and use our national language.

(An aside: Wasn't it Anwar Ibrahim who changed Bahasa Malaysia to Bahasa Melayu in the early 1990s when he was the Education Minister?)