7.1  The Official Language of the Country

Presentation

Do you know what the official language of the country is? The official language of the country is Malay language. Article 152 of the Federal Constitution states that national language is bahasa Melayu (Malay language) and the language shall be used for all official purposes and the people are free to learn other languages.
It means, even though Malay language is the official language of the country, other languages can be taught and learnt in this country. In fact, the government highly encourages its citizens to learn and master more than one language.
Do you know why Malay language was chosen as the official language of the country? It is related to the history of the usage of the language in this region. For your information, Malay language has become the lingua franca since the time of golden age of the Malay Malacca Kingdom.
The language was used by traders from all over the world who came to Malacca for trading activities. In fact, at the time the British colonization, the Non-Federated Malay States (NFMS) had made Malay language as the official language. Interestingly, minutes of government meetings were written in Jawi.
Beside the historical part of the language, the struggle and effort of the Malay leaders who fought for the status of the language before independence also cannot be forgotten. They requested from the British government to recognize the language as the official language of the country as it is the language of the original inhabitant of the country that is Malays. The peak of the success in making Malay language as the official language is the establishment of National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) in 1970.
The status of the national language cannot be questioned by all parties in the country. It is stated in the 1971 Constitution Act (amended). Those who question the status of Malay language as the national language could be accused as committing an offence under the Incitement Act 1948 (Akta Hasutan).