Ethnic contestation and language policy in a plural society: the Chinese language movement in Malaysia, 1952–1967

Abstract

The Chinese language movement was launched by the Chinese educationists to demand the recognition of Chinese as an official language to legitimise the status of Chinese education in the national education system in Malaysia. It began in 1952 as a response to the British attempt to establish national primary schools teaching in English and Malay to replace the vernacular primary schools. It picked up pace when the Chinese educationists managed to garner political support for their demand. But the Chinese educationists decided to halt the movement prior to the election of an interim local government following political promises to safeguard Chinese education. Unfortunately, subsequent developments did not live up to their expectations, leading to the revival of the movement, which reached new heights prior to the enactment of the National Language Act in 1967. But the movement was strongly contested by the Malay nationalists affiliated to a language action front.