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By Mihar Dias March 2025
Donald Trump, the world’s most stubborn reality TV star, has once again done what he does best—signing an executive order that leaves America (and the world) wondering if this is satire or reality. https://newswav.com/A2503_lUcXS7?s=A_uFtBIdM&language=en
This time, he’s declared English as the official language of the United States, effectively giving a bureaucratic middle finger to the 350-plus languages spoken across the country.
Naturally, he framed it as a patriotic move for "unity" and "efficiency," because nothing says E pluribus unum quite like telling millions of Americans, “No hablo Español, too bad!” https://newswav.com/A2503_lUcXS7?s=A_uFtBIdM&language=en
Now, while America collectively panics over this linguistic purge, Malaysia is watching from the sidelines, eating nasi lemak and muttering, “Aiyah, first time ah?” You see, we don’t need an executive order to argue over language—we’ve been doing it for free since 1957
Bahasa Malaysia Is Official, But English Still Wins
Malaysia proudly declares Bahasa Malaysia as the official language. It’s the unifying glue of our multicultural society—except, of course, when it isn’t.
The elite send their kids to international schools where Bahasa Malaysia is about as useful as a Latin textbook. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3284858/why-wealthy-malaysians-want-uk-education-and-what-means-malaysia
The corporate world conducts meetings in English, sprinkled generously with lah, bro, and wei for local flavour. And even government officials, when forced to deliver speeches in Malay, will suddenly start sounding like a bad TED Talk in English the moment they encounter a word with too many syllables.
Then there’s our national education system, which flips between Bahasa Malaysia and English faster than a politician switching party loyalties. https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/01/30/abang-jo-laments-flip-flops-in-national-education-policy/
One year, it’s “Teach science and math in English!” The next, “No, we must return to Bahasa Malaysia to protect our culture!” Fast forward five years—“Wait, our graduates are unemployable because they can’t speak English! Back to English, cepat!”
By now, Malaysian students have developed an impressive survival skill: tuning out language policy changes like they tune out moral studies class.
Trump’s Order: A Bureaucratic Nightmare
But let’s get back to Trump’s America, where the new executive order is essentially the linguistic equivalent of a border wall—designed to keep "undesirable" languages out.
Need government forms in Spanish? Too bad. Immigration paperwork in Mandarin? Fat chance. Voter registration in Tagalog? Don’t even think about it.
Basically, if you’re an immigrant who hasn’t memorised The Star-Spangled Banner in perfect English, good luck navigating the already incomprehensible U.S. bureaucracy.
Now imagine if Malaysia pulled a Trump and declared Bahasa Malaysia the only language allowed in government. No more official documents in English, no more multilingual road signs, and good luck understanding your tax forms unless you’ve mastered Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka-approved Malay.
Would it unite the country? Not likely. Would it frustrate the masses? Absolutely. Would certain people ignore the rule and continue speaking in their own languages anyway? Without a doubt.
The Irony of It All
The irony of Trump’s order is that America was built on immigrants, and yet, this move seems tailor-made to make life harder for them.
Meanwhile, Malaysia, despite our constant language debates, has somehow embraced its linguistic chaos as a national identity.
We have an official language, yet English is the language of business, power, and social prestige.
We enforce Bahasa Malaysia in schools, yet private English tutors charge fees high enough to make you consider selling a kidney. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339593294_PRIVATE_TUITION_AND_ITS_IMPLICATIONS_ON_EDUCATIONAL_ACCESS_EQUITY_AND_HUMAN_CAPITAL_IN_MALAYSIA
Our politicians give patriotic speeches about language pride, yet their children are off studying in London, Melbourne, and anywhere that doesn’t require them to sit for SPM.
If there’s one lesson from Trump’s latest stunt, it’s this: language policy is never just about communication—it’s about power, control, and deciding who gets to be included and who gets left out. Malaysia, for all its contradictions, at least understands that multilingualism is a permanent reality.
America, on the other hand, might soon realise that trying to enforce monolingualism in a country bursting with languages is like trying to stop Malaysians from adding lah to every sentence—it’s simply not going to happen.
Mihar Dias 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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