Language policies, national development and

the role of English in post-colonial

Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong

Tang Wing Yu, Mary

Dissertation, MA English Studies (1999)

ABSTRACT

In any society, language can be used as a powerful device to unify different

ethnic groups or as a tool of division. Language policy plays an important role in

political development because it can be used as an instrument to develop national

identity. In Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, all former British colonies, the post-

colonial governments' language policies not only affected the development of their

national identities immediately after decolonization, but also influenced their cultural

balance, social stability, education system and economic advancement.

Of the three regions, Hong Kong is different from the others, since it is not a

country; rather, with the handover in July 1997, it became an important city within

China. It became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) and also one of China's

open doors to world trade. So in the case of Hong Kong a good balance between

gaining a new national identity and playing its part in the world is important in the

eyes of the Chinese Government.

This paper will provide a description and analysis of the changes in language

policies in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong's new governments in the post-

colonial period. The principle focus of this thesis will be on how the different

approaches to language policy planning and management in Malaysia. Singapore and

Hong Kong have affected their national development in the 1990s, I shall also discuss

Joshua A. Fishman's language planning theory as an illustration of the impact of

nationalism on language policies. My conclusion is that the impact has been

beneficial to the national development of the three regions.

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Colonial governments' language policies and their effects in Malaysia,

Singapore and Hong Kong 1
2.1. Language policy and its effects in colonial Malaysia 2
2.2. The language policy and its results in Singapore from 1819 to 1963 ..4
2.3. Language policy and its consequences in Hong Kong from 1842 to July 1997-5

3. The change of language policies in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong

after decolonization . ..7
3.1. New governments' official language policies 7
3.2. Educational language policy 13
3.3. General language policy..... 20
3.4. Language Management in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong
—an overview ....23

4. The development of nationalism and its impact on the language policies of

Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong ..24
4.1. The importance of developing nationalism 24
4.2. The impact of nationalism on language policy and national development 25

5. The role of English in the three former British colonies.. 31

6. Conclusions.. . 35

Bibliography... 37
1. Introduction

With the handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1997, the

British colonial age ended in East Asia. Like Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore are

former British colonies which gained their independence in 1957 and 1963

respectively. As English has been a prestigious language in all British colonies, its

high status and functions in the colonial governments and the western culture it

carried have been deeply rooted into the daily lives and minds of people in Malaysia,

Singapore and Hong Kong. Once the colonial era had ended, post-colonial

governments sought to create new national identities and to inspire a sense of

belonging to the newly created sovereign states. At that critical moment, adopting a

new language policy and instituting effective language policies was crucial to the

agenda of the new rulers. It also affected the national development of these regions.

Cultural balance, social stability, education system and economic advancement have

all been greatly influenced by national language policies down to the present day.

In this thesis, the post-colonial role of English will also be examined, for English

is still a major lingua franca in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. English has

helped the three former colonies to open their doors to the world, which is beneficial

to the present governments. I think its functions will continue to direct the

advancement of Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong towards the 21st century.

2. Colonial governments' language policies and their effects in Malaysia,

Singapore and Hpng Kong

Before exploring the language policies of the post-colonial governments in

Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong and how they affect the development of their

societies, the historical background and the language policies of the colonial

governments will be discussed first.

2.1. Language policy and its effects in colonial Malaysia

Present-day Malaysia was a multilingual region long before the British

government colonized it in 1870. A number of different languages had already existed

(Omar, 1995: 157) in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak. Under British

colonial rule, a great number of Chinese and Indians were allowed to migrate to

Malaysia, and together with the local Malay, they formed great labour force for the

rubber plantation and the opening of tin mines (Pennycook, 1994: 81). This benefited

the British colonial government but these new immigrants did not mingle well with

the local Malay community. The new immigrants created their own educational

system. They used their vernacular as language in schools and they planned their own

sets of school curriculum which was different from that of the local Malays (Omar,

1995:161).

Seeing that education could ensure the supply of educated manpower for the

colonial government and the commercial economy (Rudner, 1994: 281), the colonial

government encouraged the expansion of vernacular schools, that is, the Malay,

Indian and Chinese schools. English schools were also introduced to the people in

urban areas. These English schools were set up to create a class of elite "grounded in

anglophone thought and values"(Rudner, 1994: 293). They would help the colonial

government in administration and in turn the British government could understand the

situation of the masses more directly. Of all the schools, the vernacular schools grew
most rapidly from 85 schools by 1882 to 189 schools by 1892 (Pennycook, 1994: 82,

85). However, the promotion of vernacular education, especially the Malay language

education in rural areas, did not aim at improving the poor living standard of the

peasants. Vernacular schooling for Malays mainly aimed at keeping the local Malays

in villages as good farmers or workers. On the one hand, they were unable to get

benefits from the growing economy after being educated. On the other hand, the

schools taught them "the disciplines of industry, punctuality and obedience to

authority"(RjKlner, 1994: 290) which trained them to be better labourers. They helped

to activate the colony's economy.

The government was also afraid that the encouragement of English education

would produce a "discontented class" who might aim to climb the social ladder of

Malaya. These people might threaten the supply of local manual labours and create

anxiety in the community (Platt, 1980: 117-121). Moreover, providing vernacular

education could remove the resentment of the colonized people towards the colonizer

(Platt, 1980: 117-121). So the colonial government was aware of the danger of

providing too much English education and supported the vernacular ones.

Nevertheless, the policy of limiting access to English and the promotion of

Malay elementary education led to explicit class differences and ethnic conflicts.

Malays were unwilling to send their children to Missionary schools (English schools)

because most students in Missionary schools were European immigrants, Chinese,

Indians and Malay "royalty and aristocracy** (Straits Settlements, 1870). The

difference in religions was also a barrier for local Malays to enter Missionary schools,

for the local Malay community professed the Muslim religion ( Omar, 1995:158), so

parents rarely sent their children to Christian Missionary schools.

 Students in English schools who were proficient in English soon enjoyed the

advantages of elite status. For instance, due to the rich resources in English, the elite

comparatively gained more knowledge in science, law, medical field and global

business when they communicated with foreign merchants, etc (Straits Settlements,

1870). While the local Malays remained in poverty in rural areas, Chinese, Indians

and Europeans dominated in business and gradually in political domains. Their high

status sharply divided them from the Malay ethnic group. Ethnic conflicts, the uneven

distribution of power, knowledge and wealth had a deep impact on the decision-

making of the Malaysian government after Malaysia was independent in 1957.

2.2. The language policy and its results in Singapore from 1819 to 1963

The British colony of Singapore was established by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819

(Platt, 1980:98). Like Malaysia, the colonial government invited large waves of

Chinese and Indians to Singapore as labourers to develop its economy. Singapore

became a multilingual and multiracial region under British government. The colonial

government also promoted English Education for small groups of elite and vernacular

education for elementary level of education to achieve their goal of effective ruling.

The elite could work in the government and communicate with the masses.

Nonetheless, the unrest and anti-colonial feeling in mid 1950*s changed the

approach of Singapore colonial government. At that time China was newly governed

by the communist party. The great proportion of Chinese living in Singapore became

politically active in Chinese nationalism and communist's revolutionary ideas

(Pennycook, 1994: 227-228). To stop the riots and the resentment to. colonial'rule, the

government imposed a new language policy. After the 1956 Singapore Legislative
Assembly, English was made a compulsory language and Malay became the second

compulsory language that students had to learn at school. The four main languages:

Chinese, English, Tamil and Malay would be used as medium of instruction in

vernacular education. This policy downgraded the status of Chinese as an academic

language, but greatly increased the use of English and maintained people's loyalty for

Singapore (Pennycook, 1994: 227-228).

The spread of English and the implementation of multilingual policy in

Singapore can both therefore be seen as political weapons. They were chosen to fight

against China's nationalism and communist ideology. English could unite the

different ethnic groups and consolidate the colonial identity for Singaporeans. At that

time English could play its role as a neutral medium of communication among the

different races. This functional feature of English has continued to affect the language

policy of the decolonized Singapore since 1963.

2.3. Language policy and its consequences in Hong Kong from 1842 to July 1997

In the early years of Hong Kong's colonial history, the colonizers had little

interest in English among the residents who were mostly fishermen, while the ruling

class were mostly traders (Boyle, 1997:3-6). Later the government promoted English

as the medium of education on the ground that English could "act as a bond of union

between the many thousands of Chinese who (had) made (Hong Kong) their residence

and the handful of Europeans by whom they governed" (Boyle, 1997:3-6). Thus,

English was first offered due to the notion of social bonding.

In fact, Cantonese and English were the two most important languages in Hong
Kong. English has been the de facto official language of Hong Kong since 1842.

Chinese became Hong Kong's co-official language with English in all domains except

the law in the Official Languages Ordinance in 1974 (Johnson, 1994:178). In practice,

"Chinese" was deliberately made vague, it is not clear whether "Chinese" means

spoken Cantonese, written Chinese or both. In the modern era, most of the Hong

Kong Chinese spoke Cantonese, though other varieties of Chinese dialects were also

spoken. They included CMuchow, Szeyap, Hokkien, Hakka and Shanghainese.

Numerous village dialects were also spoken by the older generations. Among these

dialects, Cantonese served as the lingua franca among the Chinese in Hong Kong

(Luke & Richards, 1982: 48). The pragmatic function of English as the language for

international trading became more important as time went by. Like Malaysia and

Singapore, the Hong Kong colonial government's language policy only aimed at

enlightening the few through English; nor was mass vernacular education

emphasized in the beginning. The more highly educated local elite started to fill the

lower ranks of civil service and jurors in the law courts (Gibbons, 1982:121). Some of

this elite made money through trading overseas. So English was associated with

wealth, better job opportunity and ruling power.

Until 1971 Hong Kong government offered nine years compulsory education to

students from primary one to secondary three. The government adopted a laissez-faire

language policy, individual schools could decide their medium of instruction. Both

English and Chinese could be chosen to teach any subjects with English and Chinese

as compulsory subjects. Since English comparatively offers better job opportunities

and it is a language of high prestige in Hong Kong society, parents demanded English

education for their children. Since schools were left to choose their medium of

instruction, more and more schools shifted to become Anglo-Chinese schools using
English as teaching medium. In 1960s 57.9% of Hong Kong schools were teaching

through English, 42.1% were Chinese Middle schools. In 1980's only 123%

remained Chinese Middle schools and 87.7% became Anglo-Chinese schools

(Gibbons, 1982:121). The colonial government's laissez-faire language policy in

education created an environment in which parents sought English-medium education

for their children and this trend has continued to the present-day, in post-colonial

Hong Kong. This demand also affected the language policy of the new government

after 1997.

3. The change of language policies in Malaysia* Singapore and Hong Kong after

decolonization

According to Noss's definition (Noss, 1971:25), there are three types of language

policies: official language policy, educational language policy and general language

policy. I will discuss the language policies of Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong in

these three dimensions.

3.1. New governments' official language policies

Official language policy is a government's recognition of the languages to be

used and the purpose of using those languages (Noss, 1971:25).

a)\ Constructing National Identity through National Language

Malavsia
 Colonial policies continued to affect Malaysia after it gained independence.

Before 1957, the British government viewed Malaysia's development mainly in

economic terms, political, social and educational planning were not emphasized.

There was little or no long term planning for the future. The idea of Malaysian

nationhood was weak (Ozog, 1993: 64). So in 1957 after becoming independent, the

new government put considerable effort into developing policies which would help to

contribute to the idea of nationalism.

One of the new policies was to select Malaysia's national language. Since the

language policy of the colonial government created a large gulf between the English

educated, mostly Chinese, Indians and upper class Malays, and the local Malays who

received vernacular education in Malay, discontent spread among Malays because

with the limited access to English education, better job opportunities and wealth from

trade were cut off from them. They suffered from poverty and lack the chance to

climb the social ladder.

To change the low status of Malays and to ease the conflicts among different

ethnic groups, the newly independent government made Bahasa Malay the national

language of Malaysia (Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia) (Omar, 1995: 159).

This gave a national identity to the 52% Malays and indigenous peoples, 38% Chinese

and 10% Indians at the time of independence (Omar, 1995:160). Malay became the

language of the national anthem and the language for inter-group communication. It

was also the symbol of nationalism. The government hoped that with the

identification of the Malaysian citizens and the national language, the feeling of love

and loyalty for Malaysia will be created. However, the language planning of Malaysia

not only focused on promoting national language, other languages also had their
communicative function reallocated.

Singapore

Like Malaysia, Singapore is a multilingual and multiethnic nation. After gaining

independence in 1963, the new government planned to adopt new language policy to

develop a new national identity. They also aimed at maintaining communicative

integration among different racial communities so that the people from diverse

backgrounds could interact especially when they worked together. So building a

supra-ethnic and modernized national identity was the goal of the new government.

Singapore adopted a policy of "pragmatic multilingualism" at that time (Kuo &

Jernudd, 1994:28).

i. National Language

Having been part of the Federation of Malaysia, when Singapore became an

independent republic in 1965, it assigned Malay as the national language. From that

time onwards Malay played a formal ceremonial role. But its role as a lingua franca

declined when the new government put the main emphasis on promoting English as a

lingua franca.

Hon

In the Annual Review of Applied Linguistics (1993/94), Robert Keith Johnson

commented that language planning was only a recent phenomenon in 1990s in Hong

Kong. There was no overall plan, central agency or advisory body which was
responsible for developing a long-term plan under the rule of the former government

(Johnson, 1994:191). In contrast to Malaysia and Singapore, Hong Kong did not

become an independent state after decolonialization. It became a Special

Administrative Region (S AR) in China. The national language of China is Putonghua

and written Chinese. But since Hong Kong is a SAR, the SAR government does not

have to adopt the same policies as that of Mainland China. Hong Kong people also do

not identify themselves with the Chinese in Mainland China. Over the past few

decades, with the success of Hong Kong as one of the leading financial centre in the

world's economy, a sense of Hong Kong Chinese identity has developed. Hong Kong

people see themselves as modernized people, distinct from other groups of Chinese

(Bond, 1993). In addition, according to the general principles Article 5 of the Basic

Law (1990), it is stated that "the previous capitalist system and way of life shall

remain unchanged or 50 years." Therefore Putonghua is not immediately assigned as

the national language that Hong Kong people must all speak. It will be most likely

gradually introduced into the education system and it is predicted that Putonghua will

become more and more important in the 21st century.

b) Official Languages

An official language is the language which the government uses in official

conditions, for instance, official ceremonies, the writing of law, in the law court and in

government department as a medium for daily activities (Cooper, 1989: 100),

Malaysia

English is the official language of the former colonial government,..it is

'' ' ' • • • • ' ' • . ' • • • ' ' ; : ' '." , . • ' • •' ' " '•' • . •• • • ' • ' ' 10
maintained by the new government as Malaysia's official language "until 1967 in

Malaysia 1973, in Sabah and 1985 in Sarawak" (Omar, 1995:161). Malay then

became the sole official language of Malaysia, but English has remained important in

the legal domain.

Singapore

Since the government desired to develop a supra-ethnic national identity to serve

the government's vision of social, economic and cultural development, four languages:

Malay, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and English were selected as official languages and

they were to be treated equally. The Singaporean government encourages a continuing

adjustment of language policy to cope with any changes in the communicative

situation of Singapore (Kuo & Jernudd, 1994:30).

L Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese was chosen as the language to represent all Chinese which is

the largest ethnic community, over 75% of the population. Since the majority of

Chinese have their own dialects and Mandarin is not their mother tongue, a Speak

Mandarin Campaign was launched in 1979 (Gopinathan, 1994:70). The Campaign

was highly successful and the government's goal of making Mandarin the lingua

franca of Chinese Singaporeans has been reached though English and other Chinese

dialects are also used as home languages. Mandarin was promoted further because it

has become an important trade language which helps the access to the expanding

market of China.

11
iL Tamil

Tamil was selected to represent the Indian community. Although the position of

Tamil as an official language is relatively weak, efforts have been made to promote it

among Indian Singaporeans (Kuo & Jernudd, 1994:29). The official status of Tamil is

now still recognized by the government to balance the power of the other ethnic

groups.

iii. English

English was regarded as a neutral language for inter-group relations by the

language planners and it was chosen as the administrative language after

independence. English was widely used throughout the society under the pragmatic

implementation of the new language policy. The government chose to promote

English because from societal perspective, it was necessary for the growth of

economy as it is "a working language" (Kuo & Jernudd, 1994: 31) which helps the

smooth function of the society. It is the main language in higher education,

international trade, modern industry and technology. From individual perspective,

English activates social mobility and economic gain. In fact, the wide use of English

has marked a shift in identity from an ethnic one to a national one.

Hong Kong

In the Basic Law Article 9, it is stated that "(in) addition to the Chinese language,

English may also be used as an official language by the executive authorities,

legislature and judiciary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region." So both

' ' •"••. . ' • • • • ' : • •• '.'• ' . ' , , ' • ' " '• '• ••• ••. ' .' . • • 12
Chinese and English are assumed to be the official languages of Hong Kong after the

handover.

3.2. Educational Language Policy

Educational language policy is the policy which concerns what languages will be

used as the media of instruction and as subjects taught at different levels of public and

private education (Noss, 1971: 25).

Malaysia

L Main medium of instruction

In status planning, the most frequently made decision is the determination of the

medium of instruction for the nation. The Malaysian government saw the importance

of bilingual education system because it could help to build up nationalism and it

ensured the development of the country for it enriched the communicative ability of

its people in the long run. The early independent government introduced Bahasa

Malaysia as the main medium of instruction in local schools. This policy was to

consolidate the status of national language. There were also other media of

instruction.

Thus, till now two types of schools exist in Malaysia. They are classified in

terms of their media of instruction. National schjelMf (Ozog, 1993: 63) are schools that

use Malay as the medium of instruction in all subjects. English is taught as a

compulsory language. Those that use other languages as media of instruction are

: :
'• •' ' • ,' ' ' ' '. ' - ' •• . • • : . ' '• ' ' "-.- . , ' is
called national type schools. Chinese and Tamil are the media of instructions in these

schools. Malay and English are taught as compulsory subjects. However, the English

schools attended by elite in the colonial periods have all been converted to national

schools from 1970 to 1985 (Omar, 1995: 161-162).

iL Tertiary Education

At tertiary level, Malay is still the main medium of instruction. English is the

other medium of instruction at universities. Since students especially science students

should have the ability to interact with co-workers in their profession around the

world and lecturers from foreign countries are often invited to teach certain subjects

such as Engineering, Law, Medicine, etc. The use of English as a medium of

instruction has shown an increase. In December 1993 the Prime Minister made an

announcement saying that academic institution should teach in English freely

especially for the science classes (Omar, 1995:162).

The open attitude towards English education shows that Malaysia's language

policy in education is a pragmatic one. For instance, foreign universities' branches are

allowed to be built in Malaysia through the link-programme such as University of

London (Omar, 1995:162). Students are also sent abroad to study in English speaking

countries. There students with their foreign experience become important asset in

Malaysia's national development. New technology and science will be brought into

Malaysia and the country can have a focus when they consider their future plan.

ill. Second Language

14
 Though English is not adopted as official language anymore, it is reassigned as

the most important second language of Malaysia. English is the language of the

former colonial government and its prestigious status has once created conflict

between Chinese who studied in English schools and Malays who learned through

vernacular language. After the racial riot in 1969, English came to be regarded as a

barrier to Malay's social and economic advancement. As a result, the Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamad claimed that "the Malays were forced to oppose and cast aside

the English language" (Pennycook, 1994:195).

However, the policy of abandoning English was not successful, it was not easy to

remove English from the education and administrative structure as English had

already been embedded in these two systems. Furthermore, the decline in the passing

percentage of English in the 1990 high school exam (SPM) alarmed the government.

It dropped 8% compared to that of 1989. (The Straits Times, 12 March, 1991.) So

Mahathir Mohamad warned that "in this modern era, knowledge of one language only

(was) insufficient, and the English language (was) recognized as an international

language" (The Straits Times, 9 March, 1991.) (Pennycook, 1994: 217).

Under the threat of economic recession, Malaysians have realized the need to be

proficient in English to break through the ice of poverty and start to participate in the

world's economy. So it was ironic that on the one hand the new government cast out

English, on the other hand, English had to be promoted as the most important second

language in Malaysia.

The new role of English has made the acquisition of English by Malaysians an

important social issue. English teaching is now compulsory for students aged 6 to 11.

:; ; ;
•••••'•• • • . . ' .•.: ' ' ' • • • ;• ' ' - • . ' •' •. "is
For further studies at local universities, English is a compulsory subject to take. This

policy aims to ensure Malaysian students' level of proficiency in English so that they

can use English comfortably as a tool in their profession and interaction with other

people of the world (Omar, 1995: 161). The government hopes that mastering English

can help to further improve Malaysians' living standard.

iv. POL Policy

Besides promoting the national language, the new government gave recognition

to the linguistic heritage of different racial communities. Mandarin Chinese and Tamil

can be media of instruction in the national type schools. Whereas in the national

schools, there is a school subject called Pupils' Own Language (POL) (Omar, 1995:

163). Chinese, Tamil or other local languages may be taught in schools. So far there

are three POLs, they are Chinese, Tamil and Iban, an indigenous language spoken by

the Iban in Sarawak. They can be studied till the school certificate level (Omar, 1995:

163).

v. Foreign Languages

Foreign languages are taught in the national schools if the languages can be used

to gain knowledge. So Arabic, Japanese and French are taught as school subjects and

this policy is highly flexible as it will add any language to the list of third languages at

school (Omar, 1995:163).

Singapore

16
/. Medium of education

Singapore's education system can best explain the government's intention in

language planning. Before 1965 there were at least four independent school systems

and each had its own language as the main medium of instruction. After 1965 the

Ministry of Education included the schools of different language streams into a

national system. Under the system, all schools follow standard curricula and English

became the medium of instruction in all classes. From 1987 onwards all primary one

students had to use English as the first language under the unified national school

system (Pakir, 1993:77). At tertiary level, the main medium of instruction is English.

iLOther languages taught as subjects at schools

Like Malaysia. Singapore adopted the policy of bilingual education. All students

are required to be instructed in the first language and one of the official languages.

Students are expected to choose and study their own ethnic language as their second

language (Gopinathan, 1994:32). Students must meet the minimum language

requirement before they can be admitted to university.

Hong Kong

L Medium of education

As I have mentioned before the colonial government adopted a laissez faire

approach to the medium of instruction before July 1997, but it did not mean that it

ignored the developments in Hong Kong's linguistic situation. In fact, throughout

• • ' ;.' ' • • , •:.'" ' ' ' : ' • . • ' ' • - . ' ••.. • • -•' ' • . , ' •• • ' ' ,'' ' • 17
1990s the British government started to investigate and evaluate the language

proficiency of Hong Kong people. These evaluation and the follow up proposals

greatly affect Hong Kong's educational language policy after 1997.

In 1990, the Education Department set up a working group to review the

language improvement measure of 1989 and put forward some new language policy

proposals in Education Commission Report No. 4 (ECR4) (Johnson, 1994:189). It

recommended that students should be taught in either pure English or Chinese in class.

It highlighted the negative effects of code-mixing in English and Chinese, arguing that

teachers should reduce their reliance on code-mixing instructions in class. The report

also reaffirmed that most children, about 70%, benefited more from learning through

their mother tongue. The government approved these measures in 1991.

But there was no movement towards Chinese medium of education in the 1992 -

Education Department statistics. At that time 90% of Hong Kong schools claimed that

they were English-medium, schools, 6% were Chinese medium schools and 4% said

they were dual stream schools, that meant some students were in English medium

class and some in Chinese medium class (Johnson, 1994: 189).

In July 1994 the working group of Education Commission conducted a report on

Hong Kong people's language proficiency to identify the areas where more explicit

policies could be implemented to reach the goal of enhancing language proficiency. It

commented that the phenomenon of 90% students attending secondary schools that

claimed to be or were English medium was driven by parents because they knew that

opportunities in further education and careers in government and business sector

depended greatly on English language proficiency. This report supported ECR4*s

IS
approach to the medium of instruction, that is, offer English medium for the students

who were able to cope and have a clear cut use of Chinese for all the others (ECR4:

23). Mother tongue education was repeatedly recommended because teaching and

learning would generally be more effective if the medium of education was the

student's mother tongue.

Due to the above recommendation, from September 1998 onwards, the SAR

government made all schools except 114 secondary schools shift from English to

Chinese medium of instruction. The exceptional 114 secondary schools were allowed

to continue keeping English as the medium of instruction. English is still taught as the

compulsory second language subject in all schools.

iL Tertiary Education

All local tertiary education institutions emphasize both English and Chinese

language skills of their students. As they recognized the importance of producing

"very high quality bilingual manpower" (UPGC interim report on the level of higher

education, 1994), English will continue to be the main medium of instruction and

Chinese and Putonghua will also become the other media of instruction at university

level.

iiL Putonghua

The Education Commission Report No. 6 (ECR6) released in December 1995

made recommendations on promoting Putonghua through education. In (F)2.59 of

Language in Education, the government had committed an annual recurrent provision

. - . ; "" ; • •- ' ' ' : - ' • ' ' - ' • -'. - ' - ' ' ,. ' ' • • ' •' . • ' '• ' . 19
of 10 million dollars starting from 1996/97 to expand the teaching of Putonghua in

schools. In fact, in 1995 Policy Address, the government announced its aim to

promote Putonghua in education by developing a new Putonghua curriculum for

Primary 1 to 6 and Secondary 1 to 5 students.

From 1998 September onwards a recurrent grant for primary and secondary

schools which offer Putonghua will be provided. And the government planned to

include Putonghua as an independent subject in the Hong Kong Certificate of

Education by the year 2000 (ECR6: (F)2.59). Starting from 1996, secondary schools

now generally offer one hour of Putonghua education per week (Bruche-Schulz,

1996:296).

iv. Biliteracy & Trilingualism

In January 1999 the Education Commission released a review of academic

system aims of education consultation document called Education Blueprint For the

21st Century. In 3.4(B) the new government stated that "school education should

enable every student to acquire a basic level of competence in knowledge and skills,

including biliteracy and'trilingualism." Here biliteracy means students should be able

to read and write in English and Chinese and express themselves orally in English,

Cantonese and Putonghua. The SAR government starts to show its own clear

language policy in education which is different from that of the former colonial

government.

3.3. General Language Policy

20
 General Language Policy can be defined as the unofficial, but often government

approved or monitored, language policies adopted in mass communication, mass

media, business and in contacts with foreigners (Noss, 1971:25). The General

Language Policy of Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong in business sectors and mass

media are as follows.

Malaysia

In some high professions such as banking, financial, medical and legal

professions, the use of English is more common than that of Malay (Omar, 1992: ch.

3, 4, 5) because English gives access to the knowledge in these fields.

In the domain of mass media, the four main languages, Malay, English, Chinese

and Tamil have their own channel in the government's radio service, newspaper and

electronic media (Omar, 1995: 164). As for television programmes, the government

service has two channels, TV1 has programmes in Malay and English. TV2 offers

programmes in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil including news in all four

languages. Due to the import of entertainment and general knowledge programmes

from the USA, UK, Australia and Canada, the time for English programmes takes up

more than one-third of the total broadcasting time of the two government channels.

TVS and Metro Vision are private channels. They provide news in Malay and English

only, but there are entertainment programmes in Malay, English and Chinese (Omar,

1996:525).

Singapore

The Singapore government has promoted the use of English and Putonghua in

;
' • • ••' •'•"' '•• ' ' ' •• '' ' ' ' • " •" •'• "• . ''. : • •'. • 21
local and international business sectors. Through this policy, Singapore has become

an attractive business and financial centre for international investments because it is

easy to gain access to various levels in the society and business sectors.

The mass communication networks reflect Singapore's policy of multilingualism.

All four official languages have their press, TV programmes and radio channels. This

network is designed to carry programmes in various languages to reach the

linguistically diversified population (Kuo & Jernudd, 1994: 34). But the language

distribution in television broadcasting is not even. Though all four official languages

are available on the three Singapore Broadcasting Channels (SBC), English and

Mandarin programmes have more than 80% of TV broadcast hours because of the

consideration of viewship ratings. However, subtitle services are available. English

subtitles are supplied in non-English language programmes and English language

programmes are also provided with Chinese or Malay subtitles (Kuo & Jernudd, 1994:

34 -35).

Hong Kong

English has long been the essential language of international business and

financial services in Hong Kong. Starting from 1980s China gradually opened her

market to the world and Hong Kong businessmen have been quick to respond to this

chance. Many companies moved their production sectors to Mainland China and

business activities become active. Putonghua became another important business

language in Hong Kong.

Cantonese, Putonghua and English programmes are available-in television and

22
radio broadcast. Television broadcast is mainly through two Cantonese channels, two

English channels, Cable TV and Star TV. CNN and CBS news are available for

businessmen and professionals. But English channels are not as popular as Chinese

ones. To attract a larger Chinese audience, most of the programmes except news

report have Chinese subtitles (Pennycook, 1994:7-11). There is also short Putonghua

news before Cantonese news report in one Cantonese channel.

3.4. Language Management in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong—

an overview

Malaysia

The language management of Malaysia aims to be flexible, instead of solely

raising the status of Malays through choosing Malay as national language, the

government re-adjusted the direction of the early language policy and compromises

with different races to maintain harmony among her ethnic communities. Her

language policy is also a pragmatic one because the government has made use of the

instrumental nature of different languages to balance racial conflicts, develop the

spirit of the nation, education system and future economy.

Singapore

Singapore's overall development strategy can be seen through her language

policy. As Singapore government is a government which believes in planning,

language planning contributes a part of national development planning. A highly

pragmatic approach is chosen to develop Singapore into an advanced nation in science,

• ' .- ' ^ ' • • "." ' • ' ' •'•• . • ' • ' - .". • '' ' . 23
technology and commerce. The pragmatic approach allows flexible changes to the

modifying societal and economic conditions and is an effective and efficient way to

implement language policy.

Hang Kong

After returning to China's sovereignty, Hong Kong's language situation has not

changed much. The SAR government is trying to apply pragmatic language policy to

enhance the language proficiency of Hong Kong people especially in English and

Putonghua as the proficiency of these two languages will affect trading and the

technological advancement in the coming century. Putonghua is the national language

of China and promoting Putonghua can help to link up the people of Mainland China

and Hong Kong. National spirit can also be further instilled in the later generations to

reinforce the national identity of Hong Kong people.

4. The develppmeiit of nationalism and its impact on the language policies of

Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong

4.1 The importance of developing nationalism

From the above discussion, Malaysian, Singaporean and Hong Kong SAR

governments aimed to make use of language policies as a tool not only to develop the

nations' prospects but also to uphold nationalism. In Fishman A. Joshua's definition,

nationalism is "the organizationally heightened and elaborated beliefs, attitudes and

behaviours of societies acting on behalf of their avowed ethnocultural self-interest"

(Fishman, 1972:5). If a nation plans to develop nationalism, "it is first necessary for

:
•' '' ' • • '' " . • " • • "' " ' ' • • .•'• ' ": • '• •'• . ' . •' ' , '- •. • :
• ' • ' 24
(her) populations to become convinced that they possess in common certain unique

ethnocultural characteristics (which are) over and above obvious local variations and

subgroup differences" (Fishman, 1972a: 5). These similarities among different ethnic

groups are of importance to the nation's political unification, that is, "a wider bonds

that can draw the rural, the urban, and the regional into a broader unity: the

nationality" (Fishman, 1971: 3). Fishman suggested that unification is one of the three

emphases which characterize nationalism. The others are authentication and

modernization. Authentication is "the stress on the ethnic uniqueness and cultural

greatness of the nationality" (Fishman, 1971:4). Modernization is "the enhancement

of the position of the nationality in the rapid changing world" (Fishman, 1971:4).

After the colonial rule of the British government, creating nationalism is a key factor

which will greatly affect the future life of the people in the three ex-colonies.

4.2. The impact of nationalism on language policy and national development

Malaysia

After Malaysia became independent, there were two obstacles on its road to

unification. One was the place of the Chinese and Indian peoples and their languages

and the other one was the position of English in this multilingual nation (Ozog,

1993:65). The Chinese showed their desire to have citizenship and political power in

1969 as they celebrated the victory of opposition parties over the Malayan Chinese

Association (MCA) in the national elections (Pennycook, 1994:190).. A riot broke out

between Malay and Chinese. This led to an increase in the demand of Malay

nationalism because, it exposed the underlying racial tensions in the society. In order

to restore national unification and ease the racial conflicts, The malaysian government

'• ' • • ' : ' " . ' : • ' • . .- - . . • ' . , • ' • " •'•• •' . ', • •' ' ' . " •.'" ' 25
recognized Malay as the sole national language. This national language policy quickly

balanced the great differences between indigenous Malay and other ethnic groups.

Malay became the main medium of education in schools. The Malaysian government

saw her peoples' need for a common national identity and unify the nation through

adopting national language policy.

At the same time, English was made the second language of Malaysia and it was

regarded as a necessity for the economic and industrial development of the country.

English became a compulsory subject in all primary and secondary schools, some

subjects at universities were also taught in English to ensure that Malaysians could

communicate well with experts and businessmen all over the world. Here, the

Malaysian government tried to enhance the position of Malaysia in the world by

encouraging her people to get access to information about the world and increase their

competence in economics and finance. The hope is that this will improve the standard

of living and promote the economic development of the country. Therefore, the policy

of promoting English in education and mass media shows the government has not

sacrificed the modernization of the people and the country for the sake of promoting

national language alone. Modernization is also a significant national goal to achieve.

Malaysia has not ignored the recreation of unifying authenticity. To rediscover

the ethnic uniqueness and cultural greatness of Malaysia, the government chose to

recognize the cultural heritage of individual ethnic communities (Omar, 1995: 165).

Her language policy is an inclusive one and no language is excluded. For instance,

Malaysian Chinese and Tamil have their own national-type schools where Chinese

and Tamil can.be used as media of instruction. And Pupils' Own Language (POL)

classes are available in the national schools. Malay, English, Chinese ami Tamil all

;
' •• ' ' • '• ' ': . • • .' ' "•. ' • ' • ' ' ' ' • ;
• . " •. • ' • ' • •. • '26
have channels and print in the media. Thus, the language policy helps to evolve

harmony among different ethnic groups and their unique cultures are respected in the

society. When a nation is unified, authenticized and modernized, the harmony among

various races will create a stable society which is the foremost important condition for

nation building especially on industrial and business development. However, since the

Chinese in Malaysia are comparatively richer than the Malays and Chinese continue

to send their children abroad to further their studies to maintain their prestigious

positions in society, the harmony among different races is precarious.

Singapore

The Singapore government, like the Malaysian government, emphasizes 'nation-

building'. But it has a different strategy. The Singapore government believes in

planning and planning is like a guiding ideology to almost all the implemented

policies including its language policy. As a small city-state with little natural

resources and few job opportunities, after it became independent, Singapore had tied

itself with federated Malaya for two years, from 1963 to 1965. Malay was then

selected as national language.

Owing to the change of national goals, Singapore separated from Malaya and

became a sovereign independent state. Though Malay was Singapore's national

language, confronted by political and economic uncertainties, Singapore saw the

importance of further developing her export-oriented manufacturing business to draw

foreign investment (Tickoo, 1996: 436). A pragmatic approach in language planning

was chosen by the government. They found that high proficiency in English would

benefit Singapore most as it would help the communication in international trading

27
and industry. English can also became a working language to link up workers in
i

different sectors. Therefore the policy of promoting knowledge of English plus a

further language has been central to the government's policies. (Fakir, 1993: 73)

Singapore's language policy leads to the success of the country as it opens

Singapore to world business and the rich asset of knowledge since English offers

access to all kinds of resources including medical treatment, science and technology.

Singapore's position is greatly enhanced in the world and it is now recognized as one

of the most modernized and successful nations in Asia.

English was also planned to unify different ethnic communities in Singapore. It

is the lingua franca for inter-group and intra-group communication. In Singapore,

English is a neutral language completely depoliticalized from its British colonial

origin. The wide circulation of English makes it a language which reduces ethnic

tensions and it helps to build a "supera-ethnic national equilibrium in a multilingual,

multi-religious society" (Tickoo, 1996:441). Thus, Singapore's national goal as a

culturally supraenthnic nation is reached and Singaporeans are well unified.

With the wide spread of English, Singapore government is aware of the

continuous language shift to English in the younger generations and the danger of

Western cultures threatening Singapore's Asian cultures identities as English allows

more Western thoughts to flow in Singapore (Pakir, 1993:82). To preserve her unique

Asian cultural heritage and multi-racial features, Singapore government controlled the

ideologies in media, newspapers, periodicals, etc. The government also instilled some

Asian ideologies in different ethnic groups. For instance, the Speak Mandarin

Campaign was launched in 1979. Mandarin was promoted because of its rich

:
". '• •'• • ' ' - ' • - , • ''' ' ' : • • ' V ' •' • ' . • ' ' ," " ' 28
resources in Chinese culture and its pragmatic function in China's opening market.

Confucianism was promoted to Chinese as it was a principle that stressed "loyalty,

Western conformity and family values5' (Pennycook, 1994:251). These values were

explicitly different from some Western cultures such as having freedom to criticize

the governing authority openly, individualism, casual sex, etc. Under the Singapore

government's top-down centralized ruling method (ScMffinan, 1996: 1) and language

policy, Asian cultures and moral standard are carefully maintained in the society.

Hong Kong

The government of People's Republic of China upheld her national unity and

territorial integrity by adopting one country two systems policy and this policy will

remain unchanged for 50 years according to the Joint Declaration in 1984. The

language policy of China will not be adopted in Hong Kong. The new government

saw that though many agencies were doing a great deal of work related to language

proficiency, their efforts were not guided by clear goals, clear policies or systematic

evaluation and feedback (Report of the Working Group on Language Proficiency,

1994:36). The report recommended the government to set up an advisory body called

Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) to formulate

monitor and evaluate language policy to provide the levels of language proficiency

Hong Kong need to sustain its role as an international financial business centre in

China and the world (Report of the Working Group on Language Proficiency,

1994:37).

According to the advice in ECR6 in 1995, the Educational Department should

publish its advice on the appropriate medium of instruction in 1997 for adoption by
:
'.' • • • '. -' • . ' . - ' - • • • : • ' . •' • - - . ' .' .. •• • 29
schools in 1998 (ECR6, 1995: xv). Influenced by this recommendation, the Hong

Kong government decided to implement biliteracy-trilingual policy. Cantonese

became the main medium of instruction in 300 secondary schools and 114 schools

remain as English medium schools. English is still a compulsory subject in all schools.

Putonghua is also encouraged.

This inclusive language policy attained the needs of Hong Kong people. Hong

Kong is a society where two or more languages are used, but most people are

confined to one of the languages of the society, that is Cantonese. About 99% of

Chinese residents in Hong Kong speak Cantonese and about 70 % claimed to

understand English (Report of Working Group on language Proficiency, 1994:10).

Therefore intra-group monolingualism exists instead of mutilingualism or

bilingualism (Fishman 1972b: 106). Bilingualism or trilingualism only occur among

educated elites, officials or businessmen. So by enforcing biliteracy-trilingual policy,

English can continue to become a pragmatic language for international business and

so does Putonghua. With the gradual introduction of the national language and the

maintainence of Cantonese as the lingua franca of Hong Kong, this policy helps to

unify the heart of Hong Kong people with their motherland China.

As for the emphasis on authentification, Hong Kong like Singapore is an

international city dwelled by people of different races. Hong Kong is a highly

westernized city, all kinds of Western ideas flow into Hong Kong through English in

mass media, foreign companies, etc. Capitalism and materialism are the common

ideologies that dominates different races. The idea of democracy, equality and human

rights are also widely spread. The above ideologies were strictly banned in China but

since the SAR government still-adopted the laissez faire policy of the former colonial
V
'.-• " ".'•' ' • ' ' ' '• • ' ' ' ' '' • ' ' '"' ' ' . ' • "' . • ' ' " • •' " • : '•: 30
government, it shows that the new government will respect the Joint Declaration and

keep Hong Kong's comprehensive cultures. Hong Kong will continue to be a society

where Eastern ideas and Western ideas meet.

Though Putonghua is not popular in official meetings, both the SAR government

and Chinese government do not jump to build the cultural greatness immediately after

the handover. As China is now adopting open market strategy, Hong Kong's past

glory in business world and unique culture will be respected and preserved.

5. The role of English in the three former British colonies

After discussing the new language policies and the impact of nationalism on the

language policies of Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, it is apparent that English

is an influential factor which will greatly affect the nation-building, modernization

and advancement of the three regions.

/. Domain of Education

Among various public domains, English is essential in Asian education strategies.

It is the present main medium of instruction in all schools of Singapore. It is chosen as

a compulsory second language in Malaysia and Hong Kong. English is also the main

teaching language in their tertiary institutions. It implies that the later generations of

Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong will be able to master English and like students

of western countries, they will be exposed to the rich ideological properties and

scientific assets associated with English education,

iL Domain of Law

'•' • • ' . • . . '•• ' • •'. ' ':," • "'• • '; ' . • • ' ". ' . • ;
•" ' ' • . :
'31
 English is still active in the domain of law. The ideology of British Law and the

proceeding procedure are important to Asian region because it is well formed and has

experienced amendment through centuries of applications. English as a legal language

remain established because of the complexity of replacing English with any other

language and a sense that other languages such as Chinese and Malay are not yet

ready to express the principles of common law. For example, in Malaysia, the laws

are published in English and the commercial courts are still conducted and recorded in

English (Fishman, 1996: 630). In Singapore English is the medium of administration

and courts.

As for Hong Kong, the Joint Declaration implied the language situation of Hong

Kong, in clause 3.3 it is stated that "the laws currently in force in Hong Kong will

remain basically unchanged" and in Annex 1 it is written that "in addition to Chinese,

English may also be used in organs of government and in courts,./' The colonial

government responded pragmatically to Annex 1 of the Joint Declaration and started

to translate the law into Chinese. In 1986 a bilingual drafting team in the Legal

Department was set up to translate the laws. In 1988 a Bilingual Laws Advisory

committee was established to advise the governor on the Chinese translation of the

laws. Nowadays, Hong Kong still uses English as the language in court, interpreters

are provided at the court. There is an attempt to use Chinese in court after July 1997.

In the future, Chinese may gradually be used in court together with English. In fact,

western legal concepts are also instilled in Asians' mind through English,

iLDomain of Mass Media

32
 English channels are important channels in the mass media through which

information all through the world can be provided for people in the three regions. For

instance, in Malaysia, TV2 and TVS broadcast one-hour programmes on the world

business in English and both of them discuss financial and business situations in

Malaysia and other countries (Omar, 1996:525). Local and regional business journals,

Malaysian Business or Asian Wall Street Journal, are also in English (Omar, 1996:

524). Nonetheless, English cannot replace vernacular languages channels because

they are the main sources of local news and entertainment.

iiL Domain of Commerce and Industry

English is the bridge between international and Asian business sectors and it is a

main language for communication in tourism. So English is essential to bring wealth

into Asian region. English can be seen as a material asset to those Asian societies in

which it is widely used.

iiL Domain of Science and Technology

Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong put great effort to consolidate their leading

positions in the global financial market and international business. But the Asian

economic storm in 1998 alarmed their governments. The economic crisis brought a

fresh current of economic thinking to the three regions— it is time to create an

Eastern Silicon Valley in reference to California's Silicon Valley which aims to

develop computer production technology. By shaping the countries as world-class

centres for innovation and technology, the three governments hope to recover quicker

from the present economic recessions and path the way to the future economic

success.
;
• • . .'-V • • • ' ' ' " • . " ' '' •' - - - "• ' - - - - . ' - ' • • 33
Singapore

Among the three regions, Singapore is the frontrunner. In 1998 Singapore

government announced the establishment of a Science Garden which will focus on

science and technology study and development. 2.9 billion US dollar will be spent on

the project and she plans to make Singapore become a "Wisdom Island" (Ming Pao, 8

July, 1999.).

Malaysia

On 8th July 1999 Dr Mahathir officially launched Cyberjaya, a project of building

a Multimedia Super Corridor, which is expected to be an Asian base for foreign

information technology companies (South China Morning Post, 10th July, 1999,).

On 9th July 1999, he opened the Multimedia University and the government hopes it

will turn out to be information technology entrepreneurs (South China Morning Post,

10 July, 1999.). It is estimated that MS 2.2 billion will be spent on building the new

Malaysia's Silicon Valley. When we look back, this project is not a hasty decision, it

is part of the Malaysia's Vision 2020 campaign (Hamid, 1993: 271-326). Malaysian

government calls for wider use of technology in all sectors of the economy and it is

hoped to. nurture the growth of domestic technology-based small and medium sized

industries. Foreign investment will also be encouraged to bring in new technologies

and expertise (Hamid, 1993: 279-280). Malaysia plans to enter a new age of high-

technology and science in two decades.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a slow starter in the race to new technology but Hong Kong is

: ; :
. ' •. ' " • ' :• • ' ' ' . ' • ' . : • ', • •' , • • . . •"' ' •: . ' • 34
taking sustained speed, the Commission on Innovation and Technology, an official

advisory body unveiled a report on how to prepare for a Cyberport on 5th July 1999.

The report proposed that the Financial Secretary should head a new policy group with

a top advisory body, employ full-time scientists to support secretariat and more

university programmes should blend science and business together. The report also

encouraged university-industry partnership to conduct more research on high-tech

industry. The government hopes in 3 to 5 years, Hong Kong will change into a

technology hub (South China Morning Post, 6 July, 1999.)-

Compared with Singapore and Malaysia. Hong Kong has its shortcomings,

because the language skills of the workforce is fading but its regional competitors in

the technology market have better educated workforces. They have language skills

which fit them to work in this English-language industry. So the education system

should solve the vexed question of English teaching and learning in the near future to

cope with the societal need of hi-tech industrial development (South China Morning

Post, 6, July, 1999.). Thus, the literacy in English is a decisive factor for the

prosperity of the three regions in the next century.

6. Conclusions

After .decolonization Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong's new governments

reallocated resources and adopted new policies to develop their education systems,

ensure social stability and encourage the growth of economy. Of all the policies

implemented, I agree with Fishman who said that language policy plays a crucial role

in the building of nationhood. It includes unifying different ethnic communities to

pursuit the nation's goal; authenticating the uniqueness of ethnic culture and

modernizing the nation to rise its position in the world,

• - -' . • •• ' ' , . ' ' ' ' ' • ' ''. : - . ' • .35
 On the whole the language policies in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong are

subject to pursuit supra-ethnic societies such as the inclusive language policy of

Malaysia by setting up national-type schools, enforcing Pupil's Own Language

programmes in all schools and allowing access to Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil

in mass media. Singapore has four official languages and the Biliteracy-Trilingual

policy of Hong Kong government. With the high potential of China joining the World

Trade Organization(WTO) (South China Morning Post, 10 July, 1999.), the pragmatic

language policies of the three regions will bring more opportunities for their people to

develop Asian and global businesses.

Besides becoming a facilitator in technological scientific advancement, English

trading is seen as a mixed blessing in the search for authenticity. English links

Malaysia, a country which is aware of racial conflicts; Singapore, a highly top-down

controlled country and Hong Kong, a city in China adopting laissez-faire policy to the

global business and technological world. These three regions are expected to continue

their pragmatic approach in language planning in the 21st century. A successful

language policy is a chief element to transform Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong

from British colonial exporter of commercial goods into innovative Asian hi-tech

stations which will benefit not only those who axe proficient in English but also to the

whole population in general

Apart from the high-tech dreams, Malaysia and Singapore still have to be careful

in balancing Asian culture, ethnic conflicts and religious tension especially within

their governments. As for Hong Kong, since China is adopting open market policy,

Hong Kong's role in China's economy has to be made clear in order to have a focus

36
to further develop Hong Kong. I think the governments of Malaysia, Singapore and

Hong Kong need to explore the ways to maintain their political stability, economic

competitiveness and their status as modern Asian societies as they enter the next

century.

37
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