Elected representatives who cannot speak Malay

“Dan hari kemudian, dia terbang dengan kapal terbang um... dan juga apa... argh... di... di helikopter... dan menteri besar turun di situ. Sultan Abu Bakar pun turun di situ.

“Datuk Seri yang Dipertua, ekonomi kita mundur... dari kedudukannya... pada dua dekat yang lalu. Rakyat sudah hidup di sebuah negara... yang terbulu-bulu…”

“Itu ketua-ketua kampung yang dilantik, seolah-seolah nak lawan dengan penduduk di sana… banyak elok, bahasa saya banyak elok. Belum ada cacat cela lagi... tetapi sekarang yang duduk sebelah saya pun ketawa macam orang gila itu macam.”

I do not make these up. They are actual dialogues spoken by three elected representatives at Parliament and a state assembly.

One of them is a minister, who also happened to get the name of the Sultan wrong.

How on earth do these people get elected into Parliament and state assemblies? I think the hawkers selling food on the street speak much better Malay than them.

Don’t get me wrong. We should not disallow people from serving the rakyat as politicians (leaders and members of a political party) if they cannot speak Malay.

It is okay to be a politician who cannot speak Malay well. Some constituencies are made up of voters who speak Mandarin, Cantonese or Tamil.

Politicians need to reach out to these voters and speak in their language (which is not Malay).

This is understandable because politicians ought to listen and serve the people in their areas. If politicians speak Malay, they would not be able to connect with voters who do not understand Malay.

But here is the crucial difference: While it is okay to have politicians who cannot speak Malay well, it is of paramount importance that elected representatives (assemblymen and MPs) are able to speak Malay.

Why? It’s simple. You need to be able to read and speak Malay if you want to perform as an elected representative.

Politicians and their supporters can function without the mastery of the national language because their task is to relate to the voters.

On the other hand, elected representatives cannot function in Parliament and state assemblies without the mastery of the language because their task is to participate in the deliberative process in the legislative chamber, which is conducted in Malay.

Think about the following scenario. An overwhelming portion of the proceedings in Parliament and all state assemblies are conducted in Malay.

The bills are prepared in Malay. The Hansard (official record of Parliamentary proceeding) is written in Malay.

The MPs and assemblymen debate in Malay. When they want to use English, they often have to say “dengan izin” (with permission).

Though the Speaker is usually lenient enough to allow occasional statements in English, there is no way the MP or assemblyman can conduct a full debate or speech in English, let alone other languages.

If these people speak barely passable Malay, can you expect them to fulfil their responsibilities as MPs and assemblymen?

Outside Parliament and state assemblies, they may rely on their team of researchers, speech writers, and personal assistants.

But once inside Parliament and state assemblies, they have to be able to conduct a proper debate on their own. They have to be able to ask good questions, give an effective speech, listen and participate in the proceedings in the house.

Fact is, no one will take you seriously if you stammer and use “bahasa pasar”.

Regardless of whether the elected representative is from the government or opposition, the other side will struggle to understand his/her speech, laugh and chide the elected representative for poor usage of Malay, and they will not take his/her points seriously.

I, myself, will not entertain anyone’s comment if they cannot even spell. It is forgiveable to commit grammatical mistakes here and there, but if the elected representative cannot form a single proper sentence in Malay, he or she cannot perform effectively in the house.

If they cannot read and understand Malay, that is even worse. You cannot participate in a debate if you don’t understand the language of the debate, let alone the contents of the debate and the necessary skills to debate effectively.

But let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s assume that they are able to read, write, listen, and understand Malay but are not able to speak Malay well. Then they must learn and practice to do so.

Since a great number of those who cannot speak Malay admired the late Lee Kuan Yew, they could follow his footsteps in learning a new language.

Lee was English-educated but he wanted to be able to speak Mandarin and Hokkien because fluency in those languages allow him to reach a wider, more receptive audience.

He has personal tutors and consistently attended lessons. His son and current Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, said that Lee’s final scheduled appointment was his language lesson.

Even at the age of 91, he was still learning to speak Mandarin. (And by the way, he was not taking Malay lessons because his Malay was originally better than his Mandarin)

The point is that there is no excuse for not being able to speak Malay if you are an elected representative.

I am not blaming them for not being able to speak Malay as much as for not making an effort to learn and speak Malay.

They have every chance and resources to do so and yet, they make no attempt to improve after so many years. After all, we are not talking about a bunch of teenagers living under their parents' roof.

A note to future and aspiring politicians: the best investment you can make is to improve your Malay.

Not only you can reach out to wider audience, you are also able to carry out your responsibilities and function effectively in Parliament and state assemblies.

Other languages matter too, of course. There is no better shortcut to win the hearts of voters than to speak their language, be it Malay, English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tamil or Iban.

We have to understand that the responsibilities and obligations of an elected representative are not confined to his/her constituency.

He/she is a part of the legislative chamber, either Parliament or state assembly. As elected representative, he/she is placed under the watchful eyes of the national media and the people at large, not merely the voters at his/her constituency.

It is an embarrassment to both houses and the party to which that elected representative belonged to if he/she stammered through a speech given in Malay.

Or worse, he/she might decide to sit quietly, refuse to participate in the debates, and say nothing for fear of embarrassing himself/herself.

Surely then, he or she has failed to perform the duties expected of an elected representative and lawmaker.

The Parliament and state assembly are legislative chambers that pass and amend laws.

Each member of the house is expected to be able to participate in the deliberative process.

That is the point of having a Parliament in the first place! If you can’t contribute to the deliberative process, give up your seat to someone who is able and willing to.

Lest this article be construed as a criticism directed at certain racial group or political party, we should note that some of the best parliamentarians in this country are non-Malays from the opposition parties.

Elected representatives such as Gobind Singh (Puchong), N.Surendran (Padang Serai), Lim Kit Siang (Gelang Patah), Anthony Loke (Seremban), the late Karpal Singh, and the late Tan Chee Khoon consistently participated in the debates and deliberative process.

In fact, during Thursday’s parliamentary sitting, Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan) praised Gobind Singh as a first-class MP for always asking reasonable questions and giving speeches with solid content.

We have yet to mention the utility of the Malay language as the language of national politics. Both Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional are coalitions made up of different parties and ethnic groups.

We need politicians and elected representatives who speak Malay to mediate between these parties and reach out to a nationwide audience.

Every political party has to screen their candidates and emphasize the fluency of Malay. The party ought to held its elected representatives accountable and ensure that they perform in the house.

To do so, they have to be able to speak Malay well. For elected representatives who cannot speak Malay, they must make an effort to improve.

They have everything to gain and nothing to lose by doing so. If they cannot even do that, they should just give up their seats. It is that simple. – April 10, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.