Penggunaan Bahasa Melayu dalam Pengurusan dan Pentadbiran di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Malay Language usage in Management and Administration at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)

• Published in: GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 176 - 197
• Main Authors: Md. Sham, Fariza, Tan, Rohana, Adun, Mohd Najib, Ishak, Azmah, Erman, Hamidah, Hasan, Rohazaini, Sood, Siti Noraida, Bintang, Harun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Malay
• Published: Bangi Nur Hafizah Abu Bakar 26.02.2018
• Subjects: Bilingual education; Data analysis; Higher education; Interviews; Language policy; Language usage; Malay language; National languages; Questionnaires; Respondents; Malaysia
• ISSN: 1675-8021; 2550-2131
• DOI: 10.17576/gema-2018-1801-11

The Malay language as the national language is already enacted in item 152 of the Federal Constitution of Malaya (1957) and the Federal Constitution of Malaysia (1963). The implementation of this act was done through the National Language Act 1963 and the 1996 Education Act. Although various efforts have been made to ensure the widespread use of Malay language in government agencies, official programs as well as in the private sectors, there are still organisations which do not use the Malay language including public universities. The objective of this research is to investigate the use of Malay language in the management and administration of UKM. Questionnaire and structured interviews were employed as the primary research instrument. Respondents consisted of 562 UKM’s management and administration staff. Structured interviews involved ten informants consisting of three categories, which are academic administrators, the management and professionals as well as implementers. A descriptive data analysis on frequency and percentage was conducted for data analysis. Meanwhile, structured interviews were analyzed using verbatim methods. The findings revealed that majority of respondents and informants supported the use of Bahasa Melayu in the management and administration and most respondents and informants also agreed on dual language use for UKM programs internationally. From the aspect on the use of Bahasa Melayu in official affairs in UKM, the study found that the use of Bahasa Melayu was the highest in documents and forms pertaining to administration. Meanwhile there is less usage of Bahasa Melayu in oral communication with clients from outside UKM. Data from the interviews showed that UKM staff fully support the proposal for the preparation of the Malay Language Guidelines on the Administration and Management at UKM. The implications of the study is that the guidelines on the use of Malay language in the management and administration at public universities is a necessity as a strategy to uphold the status of the Malay language.