From G25

G25 Malaysia wishes to refer to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s recent announcement that Malay will be the language used at every official function, including international meetings.

Most participants in international meetings prefer to use the English language, even when their national language is one of the official or working languages of the United Nations. It should also be noted that officials of Asean member states who were not very good in the use of the English language before are now noticeably more proficient than some of our own.

The need for Malaysians to master the English language goes beyond being able to present and converse at conferences and meetings. It would be impossible to meaningfully participate, debate or negotiate if attendees have a poor grasp of the English language and therefore the content of these meetings.

We are very proud of our national language, and its proficiency among Malaysians must be encouraged. However, we should also take pride that our people are capable of speaking more than one language, especially the most widely used language in the world.

G25 recognises that some of our ministers and government officials may not have a good command of the English language.

In such cases, we agree that Malay should be used with simultaneous translation, as a lack of proficiency in the language used could reflect badly on the country’s image and a translation may leave room for misinterpretation.

What is important during international meetings and functions is that we are clear and are understood as much as possible, and can participate meaningfully in such high-level discussions.

Instead of regressing to monolingualism, the government should be promoting the teaching of English as well as other languages, notably Mandarin, in our national schools and institutions of higher learning to ensure that Malaysians and especially our civil servants are multilingual with particular emphasis on a high level of proficiency in the English language.

(Editor’s note: The photograph above shows environment and water minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man at the COP26 conference in November. He spoke in Malay.)

G25 is a group of former senior civil servants.

The views expressed are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.