English and Malay language and literature in Malaysian education

Abstract

The paper reviews the policy and approach to literature as a teaching subject in the British colonial days, the new position taken under the newly independent Malaya, and the rethinking about its position and roles in the last two decades of Malaysia. The shifts in philosophies and approaches from one period to another would be examined to see the soundness of their rationale. Some sense of national worldviews and psychological make-up vis-a- vis Malay language and Malay literature on the one hand and English language and English literature would be attempted. Finally, attempts will be made to come up with some principles and guidelines that might accommodate what appear to be two contradictory demands for national identity and international understandings- demands for local values and global humanities. The more appropriate stand to adopt would be to assume that these two are not mutually exclusive; rather, they are complementary and supplemental.