Abstract
This article seeks to discuss the pressures and forces which define the Malaysian English language debate and suggests that a new social compact involving a renewed commitment to democracy and social justice in Malaysia may be the necessary social context needed to address the increasingly unstable tension between nationalist language concerns and the pressures of globalization. In this article we shall argue that the way to avoid the English language debate from getting stuck oscillating between the Scylla and the Charybdis of nationalist and globalist discourses is to try to move the argument around language to one informed by progressive political economy and democratic theory. This also has the advantage of potentially undermining the politics of social division and cleavage which can derail progressive initiatives such as improvement of English in plural societies such as Malaysia. Keywords: English language; democracy; plural society; globalization; nationalism
Highlights
The recent outcome of Malaysia’s General Election has surprised many academic observers and has heralded much talk about Malaysian, democratic renewal (Hamid 2018, Ooi 2018, Weiss 2018)
This article seeks to discuss the pressures and forces which define the Malaysian English language debate and suggests that a renewed commitment to consensus building, democratic inclusivity and social justice in Malaysia may be the necessary instruments to gut the Gordian knot of the Malaysian English debate: the previously stable but increasingly unstable tension between nationalist language concerns and the pressures of globalization with its impact on economic development and social justice (Shamsul 1996, Shamsul 2009)
In this article we have argued that the way to avoid the English language debate from being getting stuck oscillating between the Scylla and Charybdis of nationalist and globalist discourses is to try to move the argument around language to one informed by progressive political economy and democratic theory
Summary
The recent outcome of Malaysia’s General Election has surprised many academic observers and has heralded much talk about Malaysian, democratic renewal (Hamid 2018, Ooi 2018, Weiss 2018). The core argument in this paper is that the newly minted Malaysian government which has resulted from the 14th General Election will need to frame its efforts to improve English competencies in Malaysia within a broader commitment to consensus building, social justice and democratic values as part of ensuring a sustainable and successful engagement with improving English language competencies. Khalid’s focus on government policy truly addressing disadvantage can be viewed as an opportunity to reframe or inform the English language debate not in what can appear as sterile reiterations of the supposed clash between nationalism and globalization but rather in terms of social justice, inclusivity and economic development for all Malaysians (Salleh 2000) This is especially so once the interrelationship between language competency, employment opportunities and social disadvantage is fully grasped (Lee & Khalid 2016, Lee & Khalid 2009). If issues of resentment over language combine with an ethno-religious backlash against the current multi-racial government in Malaysia this may upset Malaysia’s path to democracy and hinder economic reform (Gill 2002, 2004, Martin 2005, Siddique & Suryadinata 1981, Sua & Santhiram 2017, Tsui & Tollefson 2017c)
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