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MALAY
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ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE
As one of the very few non-communist broadcasters in Malay, the BBC
Malay Service received an unexpected bouquet a few months ago from a group of Malaysian-Chinese politicians who visited Bush House. The reason they
attached so much importance to the Service was that they felt the Malay-
speaking population of Peninsular and East Malaysia were becoming increasingly
blinkered and cut off from beneficial outside influences. The politicians
pointed to the steady deterioration in knowledge of English since English
started being phased out as the teaching medium in schools in the 1970's,
and to the steadily increasing government control of the media in Malaysia,
particularly the Malay Press. As Chinese Malaysians (among whom the standard of English is very much higher,) this group was particularly concerned
that the trend towards communal politics and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism
would lead to greater racial tension, and they made a plea that the BBC
should increase its broadcasts in Malay to counter the growing isolation
of the Malay-speaking community.
With only 15 minutes of live transmissions in Malay per day, the
profile of the BBC Malay Service is inevitably not very high, but awareness
of the service is certainly there, particularly among Malaysian
government officials and politicians who readily agree to be interviewed
in Malay either in London or on the telephone from Malaysia.
Links with Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) have strengthened recently,
not only in terms of Malay Special Projects tapes we send them and
special telephone link-ups with regional stations to enable Malaysian
students to talk to their families, but also with the planned renewal
of a scheme, lapsed for a number of years, for the secondment of RTM
broadcasters to the BBC Malay Section. Previous Secondees who reached
very senior positions in RTM when they returned home are now retiring,
and the stock needs to be replenished.