Article 152: The Six Clauses That Define Malaysia's National Language

Read Article 152 alongside the rest of the Constitution and one cross-reference stands out. Article 161(5) opens with the words “Notwithstanding anything in Article 152,” and then allows a native language in current use in Sabah or Sarawak to be used in native courts and for any code of native law and custom. The national-language article, in other words, sits in a document that names its own exceptions to it.

Article 152 is usually summarised in one sentence — Malay is the national language. That sentence is accurate but incomplete. The Article itself runs to six clauses: Clause (1) carries two provisos that expressly protect other languages, and Clauses (2) to (5) manage a transition away from English. This article sets out that text as published in the Federal Constitution.

At a glance

Provision	Article 152, Federal Constitution of Malaysia
Heading	”National language”
Part	Part XII — General and Miscellaneous
Core rule	Clause (1): the national language is Malay
Savings	Clause (1), provisos (a) and (b): other languages may still be used, taught and learned
Related provision	Article 161 (Sabah and Sarawak) preserves some English-language and native-language uses beyond the general transition

Clause (1): the national language, and its two provisos

The operative text of Clause (1) reads:

“The national language shall be the Malay language and shall be in such script as Parliament may by law provide.”

That sentence alone is the whole of the “Malay is the national language” rule. It does two things: it names the language, and it leaves the script to be set by an ordinary Act of Parliament — not fixed in the Constitution itself. (Parliament exercised that power through the National Language Acts 1963/67 [Act 32].)

The same Clause then carries a proviso in two parts, introduced by the words “Provided that”:

• Paragraph (a): “no person shall be prohibited or prevented from using (otherwise than for official purposes), or from teaching or learning, any other language.”
• Paragraph (b): “nothing in this Clause shall prejudice the right of the Federal Government or of any State Government to preserve and sustain the use and study of the language of any other community in the Federation.”

Read together, Clause (1) sets a single national language for official purposes, and in the same breath rules out any reading of itself that would ban using, teaching, learning, preserving or studying any other language outside those official purposes.

Clauses (2)-(5): a ten-year transition for English

The Clauses that follow all open with the same phrase — “Notwithstanding the provisions of Clause (1)” — and all revolve around a single anchor date: Merdeka Day, defined elsewhere in the Constitution as 31 August 1957.

Clause	What it covers	Transitional period
(2)	English may be used in both Houses of Parliament, in every State Legislative Assembly, and for all other official purposes	10 years after Merdeka Day, and thereafter until Parliament otherwise provides
(3)	The authoritative texts of Bills, proposed amendments, Acts of Parliament and federal subsidiary legislation shall be in English	10 years after Merdeka Day, and thereafter until Parliament otherwise provides
(4)	Proceedings in the Federal Court, the Court of Appeal or a High Court shall be in English (with a proviso allowing untranslated evidence if the court and both sides’ counsel agree)	10 years after Merdeka Day, and thereafter until Parliament otherwise provides
(5)	Proceedings in subordinate courts, other than the taking of evidence, shall be in English	Until Parliament otherwise provides

None of these four Clauses displaces Clause (1). They describe how English continued to be used for specific official functions after Malay became the national language, and each leaves the door open for Parliament to end that use by ordinary legislation.

Clause (6): what counts as “official purpose”

Clause (1)‘s proviso turns on the phrase “official purposes,” and Clause (6) defines it directly:

“In this Article, ‘official purpose’ means any purpose of the Government, whether Federal or State, and includes any purpose of a public authority.”

This is the definition that determines where the Clause (1) proviso applies (private, non-governmental use, teaching and learning of other languages) and where it does not (the business of Federal or State government, and of public authorities).

Article 161: the Sabah and Sarawak provisions

Article 161 points back at Article 152 by name — because Sabah and Sarawak, which joined the Federation on Malaysia Day (16 September 1963), were given their own timeline.

Article 161(1) provides that no Act of Parliament terminating or restricting the use of English “for any of the purposes mentioned in Clauses (2) to (5) of Article 152” can take effect, as regards the cases listed in Article 161(2), until ten years after Malaysia Day. Those cases are: the use of English in either House of Parliament by a member for or from Sabah or Sarawak; the use of English for proceedings in the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak, in a subordinate court in either State, and in the Federal Court proceedings identified in Article 161(4) — appeals from that High Court, and references under Article 128(2); and, under Article 161(2)(c), the use of English within the State in the Legislative Assembly or for other official purposes, including the official purposes of the Federal Government.

Article 161(5) goes further and applies specifically to native languages, not English:

“Notwithstanding anything in Article 152, in the State of Sabah or Sarawak a native language in current use in the State may be used in native courts or for any code of native law and custom, and in the case of Sarawak, until otherwise provided by enactment of the Legislature, may be used by a member addressing the Legislative Assembly or any committee thereof.”

Common mistakes

“Article 152 bans the use of other languages.” The text does the opposite in Clause (1)(a): it expressly protects using, teaching and learning any other language, and it only restricts substitution for Malay in official purposes as defined by Clause (6).

“The Constitution sets Jawi or Rumi as the script.” Clause (1) leaves the script to be set “as Parliament may by law provide” — it is not fixed in the constitutional text itself.

“English disappeared from Malaysian courts and Parliament in 1957.” Clauses (2)-(5) built in a ten-year transitional period after Merdeka Day, and for Sabah and Sarawak, Article 161(1) blocked any Act of Parliament restricting those English-language uses until ten years after Malaysia Day. Some uses continue “until Parliament otherwise provides” rather than ending automatically.

What’s next

For where Article 152 sits within the wider document, see the Federal Constitution of Malaysia. For how Article 152 connects to the National Language Act and the history of Malay as a written language, see Bahasa Melayu.

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This article is classified as sensitive (3R+1: race) under NegaraKu.md’s editorial policy because its subject is the constitutional national-language provision. It is written to be strictly descriptive — reporting the clause text as published, without commentary or interpretation — and is held as a draft pending human review before publication.