Bahasa Melayu dan komunikasi dalam dunia globalisasi: persoalan keupayaan bahasa Melayu, keutuhan jati diri bangsa Melayu dan ketakatan budaya Melayu

Abstract

This article attempts to examine the capabilities and dimensions of bahasa Melayu (the Malay language) to conduct and administer modern communication, in this globalization era. These abilities and resources of bahasa Melayu are to be analyzed since its inception and cultivation as Malaysia’s national and official languages, and more importantly as the main sole medium of instruction in the nation’s educational system, since her independence on 31st August 1957 from the British. This article also seek to inquire into bahasa Melayu as the main channel o the cultural survival of the Malay ethnic group as well as the perpetuation of their identity, in the circumstances of its feared and anticipated depletion as the Malays’ ethnic/ancestral language, as consequences of the shift to the English language, beginning 2003 when the authorities decided to switch it for the teaching and learning of science and technology subjects/courses in the nation’s educational system. The link between bahasa Melayu and budaya Melayu (Malay culture) both as symbol and force for Malay identity, will also be explored, in the unabridged richness and wealth of Malay heritage as a frame of reference, which could observe erosion and/or loss, due to the contradictory effects from the shift from bahasa Melayu to the English language, a world and international language.