ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the relationship between economic growth strategies and the development of language and education policies. Malaysia’s economic growth has been fuelled by the continued inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the manufacturing sector. Several surveys indicate that Malaysia’s comparative advantage in attracting FDI has been the provision of political and social stability. This chapter argues that Malaysia’s dependence on FDI does not allow the government to adopt assimilation or multiculturalism in a pure sense. The adoption of assimilation or multiculturalism would augment ethnic tensions and threaten political and social stability. Therefore, language and education policies must have an ambiguous character, incorporating Malay cultural dominance and the recognition of non-Malay cultures. Moreover, the nature of language and education policies must fluctuate to maintain political stability. This chapter also examines the fluctuating nature of language and education policies caused by the shift from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge economy. In this shift, the government had to expand skilled labourers and improve English proficiency. This shift required the government to diminish Malay cultural dominance and depart from the soft assimilation approach. This necessity suggests that the nature of language and education policies cannot ensure consistency; instead, they naturally fluctuate.
