Letters

Boost visibility of BM in international affairs

LETTERS: I refer to the article 'How many Malaysians speak BM as comfortably as they do English?' (NST, March 1).

It is undeniable that the recent announcement by the prime minister with regard to the use of Bahasa Melayu (BM) "at every official function it is involved in, including at international meetings" sparked another round of debate.

While most of the debates centred on the rhetoric of pride and strengthening the national language, perhaps it is time for this matter to be looked at in terms of boosting the visibility of BM in the eyes of the world.

Such an effort by the government could be the first step in making BM a more prominent and preferred language in the world. It could be an indirect way to promote the language to other people.

Just look at how the English language has penetrated almost every country in this world as it maintains its steady visibility especially in the world of sports and entertainment. Prominent sporting events like the English Premier League and the Olympics and streaming platforms such as Netflix and Disney+ continue to use English as their main language.

Korean language, on the other hand, become one of the fastest growing language in the world last year. This is thanks to its increasing visibility as it rides on the success of K-Pop music groups such as BTS and Blackpink and buzzy drama series such as Squid Game, which has garnered immense following.

When a language's visibility is heightened, it will add relevance to the language, thus compelling more people to approach and learn the language as they feel the push to learn it to understand these contents.

With increased visibility comes value. It will show the world that BM also has values in the world's conversation. It is not just an obscure language spoken by a tiny group of people.

And by the way, 300 million speakers of BM are not small by any means; it even surpasses the estimated number of French speakers (280 million), Arabic (274 million) and Russian (258 million) which are named among the six official languages in the United Nations. Just imagine the untapped potential of BM when its visibility in the world is boosted.

The notions of pride, having a collective identity and nationalism have always been tied to efforts of strengthening BM and convincing people of its values.

But that remains a rhetoric, and as hard as it is for us to admit, not every Malaysian can feel this rhetoric or cares about it, especially the younger generation.

Perhaps now is the time for us to be more practical and realistic in our efforts to strengthen and preserve BM, especially in this digital era, where visibility is key.

The government's effort in using BM in international official correspondence is a step in the right direction, and to outright reject and undermine it is unwise.

It is also a major disservice to the beloved national language. We have to start somewhere to get anywhere.

MOHAMAD SYAFIQ YA SHAK

UiTM, Perak branch


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times

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