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Lost in Translation, Found in Mid Valley
By Mihar Dias November 2026
Kopi lovers of Malaysia, relax, put down your cups. We have a new national emergency. A kopitiam chain, Oriental Kopi, was caught serving menus without Bahasa Malaysia, and the nation did what it does best: it got its huha on. Keyboards were sharpened and Facebook warriors deployed. Somewhere, a man who last used the word "sekolah" in 1968 declared the language under siege. (I left school for college that year).
Then I took a stroll through an upmarket mall in Mid Valley and found the real scandal.
A megastore had a handsome "We're Hiring" stand, with a clever little door in place of the "i", which is the closest thing to a job opening in the whole design. Beneath it: English, then Chinese. Four positions, four salaries, eight perks, three WhatsApp numbers and a QR code. Bahasa Malaysia? Not a syllable, not a "dicari", not a "sila hubungi". The national language wasn't merely missing, it was apparently never invited to the interview.
Let us admire the sign's priorities. It promises a five-day work week, commissions, career development, uniforms and medical reimbursement. It does not promise one word in the language of the country in which it is hiring. Perhaps the "Penolong Penyelia" didn't fit on the board. Perhaps "Juruwang" was too many letters. Perhaps the budget for translation went on that lovely door.
Then there is the "up to". Assistant Supervisor, up to RM5,000. Cashier and storekeeper, up to RM2,300. In recruitment English, "up to" is a mountain peak you may photograph from the car park. Everyone who has read an advertisement knows the number you start with sits several valleys below the number in red. Mid Valley indeed.
But here is my cynical confession: I find the sign almost refreshing. It is honest. It has a target audience, it speaks to them, and it wastes no ink on anyone else. Our kopi menu crusaders at least gave us a clear villain. A hiring sign that quietly decides who should apply is harder to shout at, because it doesn't offend our sentiments, it merely edits our opportunities.
And I suspect that is why the outrage is so selective. A menu is easy to hate. It is cheap, visible, and best of all, free of consequence. Nobody loses a livelihood over untranslated nasi lemak. Languages in advertising are a pleasant theatre for patriotism, performed loudly at lunch and forgotten by dinner. Meanwhile the by-laws on signage sit politely in a drawer at city hall, as far as I know, like an elderly aunt nobody wants to upset.
So by all means, let us fight for Bahasa on menus. Let us also fight for it on hiring boards, where it might actually help someone get a job instead of just a teh tarik. Otherwise our national language is in danger of becoming what every Malaysian public virtue eventually becomes: compulsory on paper, optional in practice, and furiously defended only when the cameras are on.
Until then, I will be applying for the Assistant Supervisor post. Up to RM5,000. I'll let you know how far up "up to" goes.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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