In response to the poster 'Good Grief' on 'Malay Is Decomposing And English Gaining', if you notice, the Brunei government has done a lot trying to promote Malay, either language or culture, such examples are like in the school textbooks, in its travel website & tourism, or in sending representatives to international events or expedition, Brunei is careful to choose Malay representatives in contrast with Malaysia and Singapore who promote using different races of people. So why Malay is still 'decomposing' as you stated?

First, as claimed by many, is economy. Overall the total Malay economy is $746 billion. This take into account Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia together total 250+ million people. However, we need to be reminded that Indonesia is not really Malay. I spoke to my Indonesian friends and they said they are Javanese not Malay. Many people mixed them up. Malay constitutes only 3.4% in Indonesia while the Javanese 42% and the Sundanese 15%, though they are language and cultural cousin.

Despite that though, only slightly more than half of the Indonesians speak Malay. They have over 300 ethnic groups and the rural ones have their own languages. Now, we also need to stress that a $746 billion economy is not actually big, for instance, the Netherlands, a country with 16.5 million people, has an economy of $877 billion. Internationally, the Dutch economy is $885 billion. In other word, with everything being equal, people will find it more economically favorable to learn Dutch than Malay. Someone last mentioned that Japanese and German are spoken in so small parts in the world yet people queuing to learn them. Indeed, because the total Japanese economy is $4,910 billion and the total German economy is $3,673 billion. These figures are huge. The global Chinese economy is $5,142 billion, while the Hispanic (Spanish world) economy is $4,300 billion not taking into account 10% of people in US speak Spanish, and the Francophone (French world) economy is $3,094 billion, the Arabic economy is $1,798 billion. And the English global economy? $21,264 billion.

The next factor we have to consider is the wealth. How wealthy are the people who speak Malay? Switzerland and UAE, though small, attract people to learn about their languages and way of life. Why is that? Because there are a lot of rich people there. These people invested around the world and certainly there are a lot of other people and businesses wanting their money. To have more chance of getting their investment, these people would tend to adapt to their culture and languages.

According to the German news website Spiegel.de and the report from British bank Barclays Financial, Singapore is no.1 in millionaires per capita - with 8.5% of Singaporeans are millionaires. This is followed by Switzerland 6.6%. Hong Kong is 5.3%, Kuwait 5.1% and the United Arab Emirates 4.5%, while US millionaires per capita is only 3.5%, they invest around the world and certainly a number of people would like to adapt to their culture and language for their money.

In the Malay world, even Bruneians aren't that rich, maybe the VIPs but not the ordinary people like you and me. Moreover, the rich here aren't that rich like over $100mln, $500mln or $1bln like others stated above. For Malaysia and Indonesia, a huge bunch are low income people. By that, can you really expect people to look up to the language or culture?

If we want to prop up something like language, we must show achievements. Otherwise I don't think we are capable to challenge the social and economic forces, especially the youth.

Comments (6)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

I second that!
written by Golova , November 23, 2009

Well done, Mabola.. you present a well thought out argument here. There will still be people who will disagree that money shouldn't be the basis of cultural and linguistic retention/pride. However with the hard facts presented above, it is hard to argue why - english is the global language, so Brunei needs to emphasize as much importance on it as it tries to do with Malay.

The general public will foremost point the finger towards Ministry of Education. It shouldn't solely be the burden of MoE. They have recently been trying to improve the English reading levels of our children (where it is still common place to find Yr 7 students reading at the level of 7 year olds). This will only lead Brunei to being left further behind in the context of the global economy- oh which we are already playing a sub-peripheral role. That's why,among many other things, the young educated Bruneians looking for greener pastures abroad to ply their trade abroad (in predominantly English-based economies).

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +6

...
written by QT , November 23, 2009

So true but i doubt the facts get into the thick skull of the relevant authority. they just do things their ways with out research. i guess trial and errors is their only way. Beside it does not cost them a dime for the errors made. The money wasted is the government which i think they don't give a damn.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +5

...
written by Mabola , November 23, 2009

The above figures are presented in billions, some people might think, oh... there isn't much differences between 10 and 20 billion. But they forget each 1 billion is a lot! $1 billion is $1,000,000,000 , the total revenues earned by the Brunei government as a whole every year is a mere $7 billion.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +4

...
written by XoneX , November 24, 2009

Well dude.. I guess your eyes are blurred by all the figures. This is like Amway..They presented you with figures and you start to join them...Its actually not the language that can make money but its the brain my friend.. The japanese/indian/chinese they use their own language but the still can make hundreds of billions. No doubt that English is important but we still have our own language that we should be proud of

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: -2

...
written by Denrose , November 24, 2009

XoneX, don't tell me you aren't blurred by the figures? Between a company that give you $2000 salary and a company (whose office has many cultural furniture and portraits) offering you $1200 for the same thing, which you go? Language doesn't produce money but help connect you with those who have brains to make money. Again it is another cultural obsession.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +2

XoneX
written by Golova , November 24, 2009

"Its actually not the language that can make money but its the brain my friend.. The japanese/indian/chinese they use their own language but the still can make hundreds of billions." (XoneX)

Very true. But also, you're pretty much saying malay-speaking economies are not doing as well as the japansese/indian/chinese because we lack the intellect and brain-power compared to them. Culturally and linguistically proud but economically poor (in comparison). That description sounds just about right actually. Why can't we have both? I think we know the answer to that one too.

report abuse

vote down

vote up

Votes: +4

Write comment

Name

Email

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Write the displayed characters

Add Comment