Respect and protect Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia (BIM)

LETTER | On Feb 21st every year, countries across the globe observe "International Mother Language Day". Since 2000, the celebration aims to promote and safeguard cultural and linguistic diversity amongst different communities. Malaysia, as a multi-racial nation since its independence in 1957, embraces different mother languages as part of its education, social interaction, media and so forth.

However, there is one particular mother language that remains in a limbo of consciousness; neither recognised nor pushed aside, neither mainstream nor seen as a subculture. I am referring to Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia (BIM).

BIM is the national sign language for Malaysians who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Like any other language, BIM is crucial for their cultural and political identity, heritage, communication, education and everyday life activities.

This persisting limbo situation may be caused by the fact that most of us take for granted our daily communication tools since most of our mother languages are verbalised.

Many would argue that I am simply retelling negative stories and dismissing the fact that many people are more aware of BIM today compared to ten or twenty years ago.

Though I admit there have been efforts to promote BIM such as organising BIM courses for the public and the invention of communication technologies specifically to interact with Malaysians who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, I would argue there is still no substantive and structural reform by the government and society for integrating BIM.

For instance, most broadcasting companies have yet to adopt BIM interpretation services for their bulletins. Moreover, there is no comprehensive system in place for BIM interpretation services by the government.

Another crucial example is in education. BIM has yet to be fully adopted as the lingua franca for the education of students who are deaf; a conflict which I refer to as "the politics of sign language".

If we have an elected official who is deaf in the Dewan Rakyat, is the elected official allowed to communicate through his or her BIM interpreter using BIM? In the Standing Order of the Dewan Rakyat, the terms "Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia" or "Jurubahasa Isyarat Malaysia" are nowhere to be found.

From a legal point of view, the Persons with Disabilities Act 2008 (Act 685) recognises BIM as the official language of persons who are deaf or hard-of-hearing in this country.

Under both moral and legal obligations, we have the duty to respect and protect BIM like the other mother languages in our multi-racial community. That is one facet of a truly inclusive Malaysia.

Happy International Mother Language Day 2020.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.