LANGUAGE PLANNING AND USE
National-level language planning is necessary in a multilingual society such as Malaysia for various reasons: to enhance efficiency in communication between government and the people, to ensure a common language for education; and to maximize economic opportunity.
Central to government language policy is the constitutionally enshrined position of Malay as the national language. Language planning by the government includes policy determination, allocating for the use of the various languages existing in the country, and developing the national language to ensure that it fulfils all the roles demanded of a modern, vibrant language. Language policy is implemented by ministries, especially the Ministry of Education, and by the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (Institute of Language and Literature). Schools, colleges and universities are also agents of policy implementation.
It is vital that a national language is accepted by the people of a nation. This is done by making it the main medium of instruction in schools and universities, and requiring a pass in the national language to be obtained to receive certain qualifications, and to secure scholarships and jobs. These are just some of the strategies employed by the Malaysian government.
Language planning also affects the media. In the allocation of language use, television and the radio programmes may be measured in terms of the amount of time given to the various languages spoken. This is an important consideration, especially for government-run channels. The length of time allocated to a particular language to some extent reflects the relative position of that language in the country's policy.
The position and size of words in a particular language on a signpost or a billboard also reflects the deemed importance of that language. Hence, in most states of Malaysia, the Malay text in these media is positioned above, and sized larger than, that of other languages. In public places and government buildings only Malay and English usually appear. Private enterprises, however, often add one or two other languages: Chinese and Tamil, in Peninsular Malaysia, or sometimes Thai, in the north, and Iban or Kadazandusun in Sarawak and Sabah, respectively.
Language policy and its implementation have been effective in changing Malaysia's linguistic landscape, and will continue to be so in the future.
