COMMENT | So Senate president Rais Yatim has whacked local English place names such as Ukay Heights and Ainsdale as "disgusting". And he then subtly racialised the issue by likening it to local Chinese adopting English names.

Rais (photo above, right) was adding to Padang Rengas MP Nazri Abdul Aziz's recent remarks in Parliament that Kuala Lumpur has “lost its identity” as more areas and buildings have adopted English names – Hampshire Residences, Pavilion KL, Quill City and MyTown. Was Nazri implying that it is private (non-Malay?) developers who have been less enthusiastic, or patriotic, about the Malay language?

Are these two politicians playing language politics to score popularity points? Well, well, well… perhaps both of them should first ask why the Umno-led national government (which they have both been part of) named two key places in Kuala Lumpur as KL Sentral and KL City Centre? And why is Putrajaya trying to imitate New York City by calling its areas “Presint”?

I have long been sad to see the dilution of Bahasa Malaysia (BM). I grew up learning Ilmu Alam and Ilmu Hisab in school, only to later see the authorities change them to Geografi and Matematik. Perusahaan captured the “usaha” (effort) of factory production, but no, it was junked for industri, another pseudo-English word.

In other words, from a young age, I was being told that the Mat Salleh language was somehow a better symbol of progress than Malay.

Malay words 'tak glamour'?

It has gotten worse since. In Shah Alam, the most “Malay city” of Selangor, there are big road...