BM Teacher Advises Students Not To Use Bahasa Indonesia In Exams

0 Sara Smith July 06, 2025

Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter, or Telegram and WhatsApp channels for the latest stories and updates.

A Bahasa Melayu teacher, Cikgu Gja, has advised her students to refrain from using Bahasa Indonesia while answering exam questions, especially in essays.

She explained that while Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Melayu share similar words, their usage may differ.

Cikgu Gja mentioned some examples that the students made. Instead of referring to a hospital as a ‘’hospital,’’ students wrote ‘’rumah sakit.’’ The students also wrote friends as ‘’teman’’ instead of ‘’kawan.’’

@cikgugja
Cikgu bebel bukan suka-suka Tolong ye ibu bapa… Pantau konten yang anak-anak tengok. Sebab sekarang karangan murid penuh perkataan macam : berencana, teman-teman, rumah sakit… Apa yang mereka tengok, itulah yang mereka tulis.
♬ original sound – Cikgu Gja

She advised parents to help monitor their children since many are easily influenced by content from Indonesian YouTubers and this affects their command of Bahasa Melayu.

She reiterated that she wasn’t bashing Bahasa Indonesia which is a beautiful language steeped in culture. However, she spoke up about this because local students need to learn to use correct Bahasa Melayu in their exams following the Malaysian school syllabus.

Many Malaysians on social media agreed with her, sharing that they have come across kids using words such as “kelinci’’ and ‘’speda listrik’’ instead of ‘’arnab’’ (rabbit) and ‘’basikal elektrik” (electric bicycle/e-bike).

Meanwhile, another person questioned why ‘’rumah sakit’,’ a word in the old Malay language, cannot be used anymore. Someone explained that the current Bahasa Melayu follows the standards set by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

However, this language switch made some wonder why the younger generation are easily influenced these days. They recalled watching many Indonesian media in their younger days and never once thought to use the language in school. They only used it playfully while conversing with friends.