SINGAPORE: Malaysia is at it again. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has recently proposed making Malay or Bahasa Melayu the second language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to “elevate Malaysia’s national language (to) the international level”.
This is not the first instance that Malaysia has proposed using Bahasa Melayu as an official language in Asean. Former prime minister Najib Razak made a similar proposal in 2017, but no Asean-wide agreement resulted, as other member states clearly did not share the same aspirations.
Given this situation, Ismail Sabri believes that “there is no reason why we cannot make Malay one of the official languages of Asean”, and plans to discuss this matter with other Asean leaders and to seek support from the Malay-speaking countries. It is worth noting that English has remained the de facto language of Asean since its founding in 1967. This was codified as article 34 of the Asean Charter, which states that the “working language of Asean shall be English”.
In the unlikely event that Asean decides to entertain Malaysia’s proposal, it might open the way for a proliferation of similar requests to pour through the floodgates. There were earlier proposals or attempts to promote Indonesian as an Asean language, most recently in 2020. As early as 1987, Malaysia and Indonesia had jointly proposed that either Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Indonesia be used as Asean’s official language.
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