The politics of language education : a case study of West Malaysia, 1930-1971

• Main Author: Kalimuthu, K. Ramanathan
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Native language and education - Malaysia; Education and state - Malaysia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/21840

In July, 1969, the Malaysian Minister of Education announced 'a new education policy' under which English, Chinese and Tamil schools were required to begin the process of conversion to Malay medium instruction in stages, beginning in 1970. This policy to introduce Malay as the medium of instruction took roughly forty years to evolve. The aim of this study is to examine how this was achieved through four phases of politics and government in West Malaysia: (i) The British Colonial Administration, 1930-1941; (ii) The Post-War Colonial Administration, 1945-1954; (iii) The Alliance Government, 1955-1961, and (iv) The Alliance Government, 1962-1971. It was observed in this study that though non-Malay demands for the preservation of their vernacular schools were persistent and consistent they lacked political unity and cohesiveness in successfully pursuing their demands. The Malays, in contrast were initially apathetic towards the language question. They became politicized during the period preceding Independence, however and were able to establish their political supremacy. A consequence of this was that they were able to pursue a communally oriented language policy with great effectiveness so that Malay became established as the medium of instruction. The policy was successfully pursued by a series of Government Ordinances and Acts that were designed to ensure that the provisions of the Constitution with regards to the Malay language were adhered to while permitting flexibility in their implementation. However, it was found that the constitutional contract between the Malays and the non-Malays was an important and integral aspect of the policy making Malay the medium of instruction. Perhaps the most important reason for the successful establishment of the policy lies in the gradualistic and incremental nature in which the policy was implemented. === Arts, Faculty of === Political Science, Department of === Graduate