Abstract:

The aim of this study is to examine the development and the implementation of Malay medium policy in the Malaysia Education System, and it’s relation to Fishman’s model and multilingual society. This study using interviews with persons directly involved in the process of education in Malaysia examines a number of scholarly publications and other primary sources of information. Historical study is chosen as my research design. As a plural society, nation building or national integration (Ibrahim, 1986) is considered of the utmost importance in Malaysia. Fishman (1968) developed the concept of nationalist-nationist functions of language in nation-building. Since independence, the Malaysian leadership has believed that education is critical for national integration. It is generally believed that schools inculcate the child with values and facts, which are supportive of national ideology. The present study focuses on the process of development and the implementation of Malay medium policy in Malaysia. The performance of Malay-medium of Instruction universities (UKM, UTM and UPM) at post-graduate level is amazing. They have proven the ability to get Masters and Ph.D or degree in medic specialist from overseas and local universities. There are thousands of Malay language theses from public universities in science after 1990 and this indirectly shows the ability of Malay language in education and that it has world class standard. The Malay scholars have created a lot of terms in biology especially for animal and tree name. A part of beetle are being named with Malay words such as Arthrotus hijau, Atrachya hitam, Dercetina bopeng, Itylus biru, Ophrida kuning, Monolepta merah, and Sphenoraia tompok; and other words such as Sarawakiola ajaib, Medythia bukit, Monolepta cantik, Nadrana dwiwarna, Podontia jalur, Pseudosastra indah, Monolepta kenit, trichomimastra kurnia, Xenoda lapan, Paleosepharia lawa, Metrioidea molek and Liroetiell warisan; and from words that originate from the name of a place such as Aplosonyx pahangi and a name for a Malay man such as Arcaries ismaili.

Keywords:

Language Policy, Multilingual Society, Nation Building and Nationalism.