The Learning Teacher

This blog posting in written in response to a local publisher’s view on what is Malaysian Literature in English. He states it is writing from: “anyone who lives in or who has lived in Malaysia and has a unique perspective of what we are all about”. I do not subscribe to such a view.

While compiling a bibliography of Malaysian literature in English, which was eventually published in 2001 (Petaling Jaya: Sasbadi Sdn. Bhd.). I had to decide who to include and who to leave out. This was the stand I took  and state in Introduction:

The works cited in this Bibliography are by writers born in Malaysia, some of whom may be residing overseas but their writings continue to portray a Malaysian world view.

Essentially I believe that Malaysian Literature in English is literary works by Malaysians. Let us be selfish and claim ownership for ourselves. Non-Malaysians, including foreigners who live in Malaysia, who choose to write about Malaysia and Malaysian life or their experiences in Malaysian should not be considered to be part of Malaysian literature in English. It may seem a little flippant to allow any Tom, Dick, Harry or Mary into our literary canon. We have many good Malaysian writers and we don’t need to depend on Others for the development of Malaysian literature in English.

What irks me most is when people label Malaysian English as Manglish. When we allow the Malaysian variety of the English langauge to be called Manglish we are reducing it to a mere sub-standard variety of the language. There is no denying that there is a very vibrant and dynamic spoken colloquial variety which can be labelled as Manglish. There is also the educated or standard variety of Malaysian English. Both these varieties are points on the Malaysian English continuum.

Malaysians use the different sub-varieties of Malaysian English for different purposes and in different contexts. Manglish or the non-standard variety works well in informal contexts among Malaysians while standard Malaysian English is used in more formal contexts. Manglish would be understood among Malaysians while standard Malaysian English would have international intelligibilty and a bigger audience. Manglish would be understood by those who speak the languages Malaysians incorporate in Manglish. There will be fewer borrowing and codeswitching in standard Malaysian English. 

This blog isn’t my first. I have allowed many things  to get in the way of keeping an active blog and have abandoned my earlier journals. It is my hope that this blog will not have a similar fate. Time will tell. I assign various tasks to my teacher trainees so that they constantly update their learning blogs for me to read. Maybe I should set tasks for myself so I return to my blog with regular postings. Maybe not.  But I will return soon enough. And put into words my thoughts and hope not to regret it!!