In Malaysia, we often hear people say I am Malay, my mother tongue is Bahasa Malay; I am Chinese, my mother tongue is Mandarin; I am Iban mixed with bidayu, mother tongue is Iban.
However, in the normal country that are not mother tongue for each citizen. Yes, I am saying Malaysia is a abnormal country. The real ideology behind mother tongue is a setting to distinguish citizens and immigrants. Imagine you are from French occupied zone Algeria come to France, then the immagration officer will ask you what your mother tongue is.
However, if the immgration officer saw is a French person come back to french then he will not ask what is the mother tongue. The more we try to strengthen our mother tongue the more we become alien in our country. That is why Singapore is lucky, because they put four languages as official languages. Once the language becomes an official language, then the government will continue to preserve and use the language so you will see different languages at Singapore sign boards. Therefore, in Malaysia's case, Malay is a group which should not be considered to have a mother tongue. The reason is simple, the Bahasa Malay is official language, if their still shout to strengthen the Bahasa which will also make them feel as a alien in Malaysia society.
Therefore, now is the time to increase the language as an official language. Some people may argue that increasing the official language is an act to challenge Malay special rights. This is nonsense, because the purpose of government is to serve the people. By increasing the official language meaning that the people can be served by the government in a more easy way. Unless you believe that people are slaves and owned by the government, you will oppose this idea.
Nowadays with the rise of left wing ideology, the concept of mother tongue has been spread around the globe. No doubt, this has become a great tool to those left wing politics parties. By emphasizing on these mother tongue issues, the political party can create a sense of "WE and THEM". This is a good tactic to attract new immigrants or some people with big love all over the globe. However, the end of this mother tongue policy would be a catastrophe. Since a certain language is specially selected and taken care of with government resources thus this will create resentment among other languages users. Bias and discrimination may grow in the community.
The best way to ease down the tension created by language is by market. Allowing different language teaching in the school can satisfy different needs coming from the people. However, the school system often holds tight at the hand of the government, and sometimes the education department doesn't even allow for opening a new private school. Nowadays language is more than the word coming from the mouth, but how many people realize this? Hehehe
