Brunei Darussalam: Issues of Language, Identity and Education

Abstract

The language and language educational policies of all national governments have a bearing on the linguistic ecologies extant within their nations’ borders. With the increasing and alarming rate of decline of minority languages, in recent years, the issues of language and language education policies have come to be examined in greater depth (e.g. Skuttnab-Kangas 2000; Tollefson 2002; Tollefson & Tsui 2004; Canagarajah 2005; Hornberger 2006; Ricento 2006), particularly with respect to the ways in which these affect non-dominant or minority social groups. Issues include the major forces affecting language policies; how societies use education language policies to manage access to language rights and the consequences of these; and the ways in which states utilize language policies for purposes of political and cultural control (Tollefson 2002, pp. 13–14). This chapter seeks to understand the ways in which Negara Brunei Darussalam’s1 social organization and dominant national ideology impact on Bruneian society. The chapter begins with an introduction to the Brunei context and its physical and socioeconomic makeup, since context needs to be seen as socially constructed rather than a natural occurrence (Kramsch 1993, p. 46); and, it is both instructive and relevant to see the nature of the context, in order to comprehend more clearly its effects on Bruneians. This overview provides a useful backdrop to Brunei’s languages and language education policies and practices, and the ways in which these impinge on the languages, identities and affiliations of Bruneians.