English and the linguistic ecology of Malaysia

The Southeast Asian region is undergoing rapid social, economic and cultural change brought about by movements of capital, people and ideas within and beyond the region. The dynamics of independence, nation‐building and globalization have had an impact on most of the nation‐states in the region, many of which attained independence only in the second half of the 20th century. This paper focuses on the development of Malaysia's language ecology within the context of nation‐building, its embedding in the Southeast Asian region, and the global challenges it seeks to meet. Malaysia's languages are an essential component of the nation's ability to communicate internally in a multilingual country and externally to the region and the world. The interplay of English with Malay and other languages, and the tensions that arise and call for responses in education and other domains like the law in the wider multilingual situation are also discussed.