Malaysia’s Globalization, Educational Language Policy and Nation-Building 53
other major languages and by furthering the language shift. He also notes
that the association of English with modern technology, with economic
progress and with internationalization (one aspect of globalization) has
encouraged people all over the world to learn English and to have their
children learn it as early as possible (1998, p. 77). As far as Malaysia is
concerned, the emergence of such a new sociolinguistic reality is particularly
evident when English was introduced to teach science and mathematics in
2003 at the expense of the Malay language. It was precisely because of this
threat that the government was forced to terminate the policy and replace
it with the MBMMBI policy following intense opposition from the Malay
nationalists who were determined to uphold the Malay language as the
main thrust of the nation-building process. Clearly, the MBMMBI policy
has engaged the Malay language in a diglossic relationship with English.
However, this educational language policy, which is guided by the strategy
of glocalization, may not be able to fend off the threat posed by English
to the nation-building process. While the position of the Malay language
within the official domain is secure, it is the strengthening of English that
will pose a different kind of threat to the nation-building process.
As this chapter has argued, this strengthening of English may lead
to more non-Malay students attending educational institutions that teach
in English, especially the private institutions of higher learning and the
international schools. Given that these educational institutions have already
created an ethnic divide within the Malaysian educational system due
to their predominantly non-Malay enrolments, it follows that increased
non-Malay enrolments in these educational institutions will further widen
the ethnic divide. Critically, this widening of ethnic divide will also result
in the widening of linguistic divide. This widening of linguistic divide
is most worrying as it is straddled between a high-status language and
a low-status language with serious repercussions to the nation-building
process. It is most unfortunate that the dualistic system of education
within the Malaysian educational system has allowed the non-Malays to
capitalize on their preference for English medium of instruction. Such an
educational pathway benefits their career advancement in the private sector
where employment requires a high degree of competence in English as
compared to those who have gone through Malay medium of instruction.
In the final analysis, globalization and the global spread of English
have a profound impact on the educational language policy in Malaysia
with serious repercussion to the nation-building process. The favouring
of English over the Malay language by the non-Malays in Malaysia is