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By Mihar Dias September 2026
Let me start by asking some questions that sound so ridiculous that we often hesitate to ask.
Can you become an American citizen without demonstrating knowledge of English?
Can you become an Australian citizen without basic English?
Can you become a Canadian citizen without knowing either English or French?
Can you become a British citizen without demonstrating knowledge of the language and life of Britain?
And then there is the Malaysian question:
Can you be a Malaysian citizen without being able to speak the national language?
Now, before somebody sends me a WhatsApp message accusing me of starting another language war, let us establish one inconvenient fact.
Malaysia's Federal Constitution already says that a person seeking citizenship by naturalisation must have adequate knowledge of Malay. The National Registration Department also lists adequate Malay-language knowledge as one of the requirements. https://newswav.com/A2609_ZdLMKE?s=A_r73CLY3&language=en
So this is not some new nationalist invention. It is already in the Constitution.
The real comedy begins when we look at the difference between what the Constitution says and what we sometimes appear to believe citizenship means.
Apparently, citizenship can mean possessing a Malaysian identity card, Malaysian passport and Malaysian voting rights while treating Bahasa Melayu rather like an optional software update.
Install it if convenient.Ignore it if inconvenient. Restart the phone occasionally.
Perhaps we should introduce a new Malaysian citizenship category: Malaysian Citizen — Language Not Included.
Imagine applying for citizenship in America and telling the immigration officer: “Sorry, I don't speak English.”
The officer might reasonably wonder whether you had accidentally walked into the wrong country.
The US naturalisation rules require applicants to demonstrate an understanding of English, including basic reading, writing and speaking ability, subject to specified exemptions.
Australia is equally unreasonable. Its government says applicants need basic knowledge of English and must pass the citizenship test, which also covers Australian values and civic knowledge.
Canada gives you a choice. English or French. How considerate.
Britain has its own little inconvenience: applicants for naturalisation generally have to satisfy a knowledge-of-language-and-life requirement involving English, Welsh or Scottish Gaelic, subject to exemptions.
Even Canada, the country famous for apologising before asking you to do anything, says most citizenship applicants aged 18 to 54 must demonstrate adequate knowledge of English or French.
Yet here we are in Malaysia, having a national conversation about whether citizens should actually know the national language.
It is rather like discovering that a person has been a member of the Automobile Club for 20 years but has never learned how to drive.
Or being a member of a golf club without knowing what a golf ball looks like.
Or, in Malaysia, being a member of a political party without knowing what its manifesto says. Actually, forget that last one.
That may be perfectly normal.
The latest debate was triggered by comments from Prof Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong, who argued that proficiency in Bahasa Melayu should be a basic requirement for citizens and noted that many Malaysians might struggle if every citizen were tested. https://newswav.com/A2609_ZdLMKE?s=A_r73CLY3&language=en
That raises an interesting question. If we tested every Malaysian tomorrow, how many would pass?
And before the politicians start demanding a royal commission, perhaps we should clarify what “pass” means.
Nobody is suggesting that every Malaysian must speak like a Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka dictionary.
We don't need citizens reciting Hikayat Hang Tuah before breakfast.
We merely need Malaysians to be able to communicate in the country's national language.
Enough to understand a government form. Enough to speak to a government officer. Enough to understand a road sign.
Enough to know when somebody says “sila tunggu” that it does not mean “please leave the building immediately.”
This is not about race.
It is not about whether someone is Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban, Eurasian or anything else.
It is about citizenship.
Malaysia is a multilingual country. That is one of its great realities.
People should be able to speak Mandarin, Tamil, Iban, Kadazan, English, Arabic, Japanese, French or Klingon if they wish.
The more languages, the merrier.
But somewhere in that magnificent linguistic buffet there should be one common national language.
Otherwise we are effectively saying:
You belong to Malaysia, but you don't necessarily need to speak to Malaysia.
That is where the absurdity lies.
Language is not merely a communication tool. It is also one of the everyday experiences through which citizens share a country.
The American citizen learns English.
The Australian learns English.
The Canadian learns English or French.
The British applicant learns the relevant national language.
Malaysia's constitutional framework has long recognised Malay as the national language.
So why should the principle suddenly become controversial?
There is, however, another Malaysian peculiarity worth examining.
We are very good at making language a symbol.
We argue about what appears on signboards.
We argue about the spelling of names.
We argue about whether it should be called Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Melayu.
We argue about schools.
We argue about vernacular education.
We argue about who is sufficiently patriotic.
We sometimes appear to enjoy arguing about Bahasa Melayu considerably more than actually teaching people to use it well.
That is the Malaysian genius.
We can turn almost anything into a political argument.
Even grammar.
If George Orwell had been Malaysian, he might have written Animal Farm about a national language policy.
The animals would have held three meetings about the meaning of “Bahasa.”
Then formed four committees.Then established a task force.Then appointed a chairman.
Then spent six months discussing whether the committee should be called Jawatankuasa Bahasa Kebangsaan or Jawatankuasa Kebangsaan Bahasa.
By the time they finished, the pigs would be speaking English.
The sensible approach is much simpler.
If citizenship is a serious legal status, then citizenship should carry serious civic responsibilities.
Knowing the national language is one of them.
Not because speaking Malay makes somebody more Malay.
It doesn't.
Not because speaking Malay makes somebody less Chinese, Indian, Kadazan, Iban or anything else.
It doesn't..It simply makes communication between citizens easier. And if somebody wants to become a Malaysian citizen, learning the national language seems like a fairly modest price of admission.
After all, citizenship is not a loyalty card at Starbucks. It is membership in a country.
And membership normally comes with a few responsibilities.Perhaps we should therefore stop asking the wrong question:
“Why should Malaysians have to learn Bahasa Melayu?”
The better question is:
“Why wouldn't a citizen of Malaysia want to?”
And if the answer is, “Because I don't have to,” then perhaps we have discovered the real problem. Not the language.
Not the Constitution. Not the foreigners.
Not the Chinese. Not the Malays. Not the Indians.
Not Sabah. Not Sarawak. Just a rather Malaysian misunderstanding of citizenship:
We want all the rights of belonging to a country without being bothered by the inconvenience of belonging to one.
Welcome to Malaysia..Please take your IC.
Please take your passport. Please take your voting rights. And when you have a moment—learn the language.
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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