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Mind your language: Thank you, Fazuha Kaifa

By Laych Koh

Most Malaysians have some language insecurity or another. There’s the ethnic Chinese who is an English-speaking ‘banana’. The ethnic Indian who does not speak a word of Tamil. The Malays, Chinese and Indians who cannot speak English. The Chinese, Indians and even some Malays who do not speak fluent Bahasa Malaysia.

Fortunately for most of us, we can hide these insecurities in the folds of our everyday lives, avoid potentially embarrassing encounters, or for the more gung-ho, try to face the problem head on and take classes or speak the language more.

Unfortunately for one Fazuha Kaifa (the online name she originally used), her personal language issues went completely public and sparked controversy. She chose to air them out in public by sneering at English-speaking Malay teachers she knew on social media.

It was not hard to dislike what she wrote – she basically criticised Malays who spoke English and not Bahasa Malaysia to each other, saying they were disrespectful and arrogant to those less fluent. Her post went viral and she became a hashtag, suffering the wrath of many Malaysians who argued that this was a terrible mentality to have.

She subsequently changed her profile names and offered a public apology.

Her post started various conversations regarding language. Many commenters criticised her, but it is evident that many agreed with her too – that speaking English to a person less fluent is mengada or poyo (pretentious or acting in an affected manner).

Critics said her attitude, and those who agree with her, show how regressive the Malay community can be when it comes to learning the global language. In her defence, this also happens in so many ethnic communities who have to grapple with language acquisitions or some degree of language politics.

As previously mentioned, this insecurity and resulting attempts at shaming is also present within the Malaysian Chinese and Indian communities. A Malaysian Indian blogger named Aradhana remembers that she was scoffed at when she spoke English - “Periya vellekaari nu nenepu. (She thinks she’s a Caucasian)”, people said.

Insecurity with languages has been common around the world for as long as generations have migrated and language or education policies have changed in countries. The former cannot be helped, perhaps, but in the case of Malaysia, has the latter intensified the ‘aggressiveness’ against the English language that some commenters have noted?

A country’s policies and the examples set by its leaders can play a big part in shaping attitudes, and the most potent and sorry example of what Malaysia has become can perhaps be seen in this clip, where former Cabinet Minister Tan Sri Rais Yatim mocks a reporter for asking him a question in English.

It is completely cringe-inducing and troubling, considering that his portfolio was the Information, Communications and Culture Ministry and that he spoke perfectly wonderful English to begin with.

Instead of embracing multilingual mastery, which a country like Malaysia would be incredibly well positioned for, we have somehow crept back into our own comfortable silos over the years.

Education policies have exacerbated the problem – with the disaster that is PPSMI (the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English) and decisions that have flip-flopped with every change of the Education Minister. And while the plethora of problems within the education system is another article on its own, I believe what has been happening within the ministry and the system over the years is emblematic of what is happening within the country when it comes to the decline of English proficiency.

As a reporter who covered the education beat a decade ago, I was part of a group of journalists who spent a lot of our time at the ministry and schools. It was common knowledge to us that there were some senior officials who were not comfortable speaking in English. We would try to ask our questions in English anyway, as it was better for our quotes, with less translating needed.

There were also staff and teachers who would not speak to us in English, necessitating conversations in Bahasa. While this in itself was not a problem, it was clear that only the old timers in the education service – whether long-time civil servants or teachers – were very fluent in both languages. As the years passed, many of them retired or were moved around. They were replaced with officials or staff who were considerably less fluent in English. Less English speakers and speaking just slowly became the norm.

We will continue to have cringe-inducing moments à la Rais ‘I-have-changed-my-mode’ Yatim. Several reliable sources have said that our current Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid delivered some at an international forum last year when he read out ‘eh-kwee-ped’ instead of ‘equipped’ several times in a speech that had originally been prepared for his predecessor, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

One can only imagine the horror and bewilderment that audience must have felt, for this is an Education Minister of a country that was supposed to be pretty good at the English Language. I do not think it can get anymore emblematic than that.

These things have not been discussed in public, for it is tantamount to what Fazuha Kaifa called in her post an act of ‘disrespect to those who are not fluent in the language’. But should they be if Malaysians want to bring back our bilingual confidence and multilingual aspirations? Perhaps we should be thanking her for bringing up this subject after all.