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Malaysia experienced a major shift in medium of instruction (2002) from Bahasa Melayu to English for the fields of science and technology, which was instituted, in 2003, in a staggered fashion throughout the educational system.
The dilemma of policy change stems from the perspective of the state and that of agents of implementation. They include ensuring commonality of understanding of the reasons for change, (Gill, 2005) the nature of transmission of policy change, (Gill, 2006) and crucially, the attitudes of agents of implementation. All of these are integral aspects for the effective translation of policy to implementation. (Fishman, 1974; Kaplan and Baldauf, 1997; Ager, 2001; Spolsky, 2004)
In this paper all of the above will be examined by analyzing the underlying ideology of the reasons for and attitudes towards change. (Ricento, 2000); (Tsui and Tollefson, 2004) This will include examining the voice of the State, represented by the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, who was instrumental for the change in policy. The State's voice will be juxtaposed against the voices of agents of implementation – the attitudes of the key players in this equation, the members of management and lecturers.
Saran Kaur Gill is a Professor of Sociolinguistics and International Communication. She was a Fulbright Scholar at UPenn and is a member of the UNESCO Scientific Committee on Higher Education. She obtained her doctorate from the University of London and has taught at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia for over twenty years.
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