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Conceptualising and Contextualising Malaysian Bilingual Law

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Language Choice in Postcolonial Law

Part of the book series: Language Policy ((LAPO,volume 22))

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Abstract

Malaysia is among a dozen or so common law-based jurisdictions that use a language other than English. Common law, much the largest legal system but cohabiting with Syariah and customary law, functions in two languages. In more populous West Malaysia the official legal medium is the national language, Malay (or Bahasa Melayu, sometimes also referred to as Bahasa Malaysia). English is also admissible in ‘the interests of justice’. In East Malaysia English remains the official medium, but the courts are increasingly open to the use of Malay.

For the individual bilingual, languages co-exist in his/her repertoire, but for the multilingual society, languages do in fact compete for registers, for power, for acceptability, for social status.

Kaplan and Baldauf (1997:236)

Ultimately, language policy is a conversation; a conversation about the communicative abilities, rights and opportunities of a society. Developing such a conversation will be easier and more effective if the aim is to develop explicit, comprehensive and public national language statements in a collaborative and democratic endeavour.

Joseph Lo Bianco (2010:62)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This has since risen to 17,000 according to the Bar Council’s 2016/017 Annual Report.

Cases Cited

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    Richard Powell

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Powell, R. (2020). Conceptualising and Contextualising Malaysian Bilingual Law. In: Language Choice in Postcolonial Law. Language Policy, vol 22. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1173-8_1

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