Localization: ms_MY represents Bahasa Malaysia now
I’ve never been a big fan of localization, especially in the Malaysian context. After all, Malay (ms_MY) is a bit of a sham. The proponents choose to believe that Bahasa Melayu is spoken in Singapore, Brunei, and Indonesia, and is rather an important language. Till the proponents realize that Indonesia has a rather thriving population speaking Bahasa Indonesia (granted, for technical terms, ms_MY and Bahasa Indonesia are quite similar). Singapore speaks English, while acknowledging BM, Tamil and Mandarin as national/official languages.
For a language that is spoken by at most 30 million people, most of whom can converse (i.e. read, write, speak) in English well, I find the translation effort a waste of time. Granted, there are a handful of stubborn people that refuse to go global, and learn to converse in English in Malaysia, because they believe the national agenda to be all important – these are the exact folk that will be left in the doldrums in the much touted K-Economy. Its okay, I’m sure the government will find some way to bail them out while oil money is still hot.
My purpose of this blog isn’t to bash the Malay language or translation efforts. Its to announce that I finally see a glimmer of hope as to why the translation might make a tiny speck of sense. Its not Bahasa Melayu or Malay. Its Bahasa Malaysia. For something that’s been around since last April, I wonder why it hasn’t taken on further?
“The Malay language belongs to Malaysians of all races and not just the Malays. The term Bahasa Malaysia would instill a sense of belonging,” Zainuddin told The Star yesterday.
Of course, Malaysia should look upon Singapore when it comes to recognizing national languages… The article also blames Anwar Ibrahim, the ex-DPM who had an affinity for backsides, for the change when he was education minister, back in 1986. How timely. If this is for national unity, I’m all for it. I then see the value in ms_MY. Translate away to Bahasa Malaysia!
Technorati Tags: ms_MY, localization, bahasa malaysia, bahasa melayu, malay, language, national language, malaysia
Hmm…very controversial to make a comment…
Malaysia for Malaysian ! thats my principle