Whither Bahasa Melayu? (updated)

What is happening to the Malay language? Where is it heading?

Old Malay language pre-Malacca era is heavily influenced by Sanskrit and would not be understood by the modern Malay speaker. A form of the modern Malay language as we know of today only became South East Asian lingua franca from the 15th century. The arrival of traders as well as missionaries from India and the Middle East during the heyday of the Malaccan Empire further developed the language through the adoption of Arabic, Indian and Persian words into the Malay vocabulary. The vocabulary is further enhanced with words from the Portuguese language after their invasion of Malacca in 1511. The structure, grammar, and spelling and to a certain extent the pronunciation of the Malay language is very much influenced by the languages of the Colonial powers that used to rule the region, English and Dutch. The development of modern day Malay language, including the modification of the Jawi spelling system can be attributed to Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad, better known as Za'ba, a prominent Malay language scholar of the 20th century (ref: http://www.bahasa-malaysia-simple-fun.com/history-malay-language.html).

In Malaysia, the Malay language has been called by many “names”; Bahasa Malaysia; Bahasa Melayu and even briefly in the 1970s, Bahasa Kebangsaan. The guardians of the Malay language (I presume Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, DBP) seem to not be able to decide on one name for the language. The indecision does not stop at the name of the language but also extends to spelling and vocabulary.

I see no need for the following words to be part of the Malay vocabulary;

• Bajet
• Informasi
• Diskusi
• Destinasi
• Aspirasi
• Komunikasi
• Prestasi
• Komuniti
• Memori
• Kompromi
• Demonstrasi
• Dekorasi
• Transformasi
• Pelan
• Aplikasi

When we already have;

• Belanjawan
• Maklumat
• Perbincangan
• Tujuan
• Harapan
• Perhubungan
• Pencapaian
• Masyarakat
• Kenangan
• Persetujuan
• Tunjuk Perasaan
• Hiasan
• Perubahan
• Rancangan
• Penggunaan

Why is the spelling in the Malay language so inconsistent? What is it now? Teladan or tauladan? How do we spell “station” in Malay? Stesyen or Stesen? There should be consistency in the structure of the language because one cannot be expected to master a language when it keeps changing all the time. It is especially hard for the children when the Malay language they mastered for UPSR for example, is no longer applicable when they sit for their PMR three years later.

What happened to the days when new Malay words were created from existing Malay words like "pawagam" for panggung wayang gambar or "kugiran" for kumpulan gitar rancak? That is what innovation is all about, creating new stuff, not by "stealing" stuff and tweaking it.

No doubt at 500 odd years old, the language is still relatively young and still developing. But the development of the language should be made when there is a need for it, for example new words added as a result of new discoveries or adopting an internationally accepted term to describe a certain item. There is no need to replace existing Malay words with English derived words under the guise of developing the language.