Malay should become a diplomatic standard for foreign ambassadors

Imagine an ambassador being sent to Malaysia and, after years in the country, still being unable to say a few sentences in Malay. Should that be treated as normal?

A viral video of Yemen’s ambassador, Dr. Adel Mohamed Ali Ba Hamid, delivering a speech for Malaysia’s National Day in Malay may look like a small gesture. It is not. It raises a broader question about what Malaysia should expect from the ambassadors posted there.

Many people praised Ba Hamid’s fluency, and the effort deserves recognition. But the value of speaking Malay goes beyond protocol or public relations. Language offers access to a society’s culture, history, emotions and ways of thinking. It can reveal nuances that political reports and economic briefings often miss, including sarcasm, proverbs, humour, religious sensitivities, customs and changing meanings shaped by context.

Other foreign diplomats have also used Malay in public speeches. Brian McFeeters, then the United States ambassador, delivered a National Day speech in Malay in 2022. Such efforts attract attention because Malaysians can read them as evidence that a diplomat is trying to understand them, not merely study the country from a distance.

The commentary presents an ambassador as more than a representative of a foreign government: an interpreter of the country where that ambassador serves. It says an effective envoy should understand strategic interests, Malaysian politics, the sensitivities of a plural society, the national language and the wider public, rather than engaging only political and government elites.