Penang Sign Language

Penang Sign Language (PSL) was developed in Malaysia by deaf children, outside the classroom, when oralism was predominant. It is now mainly used by older people, although many younger people can understand it.

History
Penang Sign Language began when the first school for the deaf, Federation School for the Deaf (FSD), was established by the British Lady Templer in 1954. Lady Templer was the wife of the Pesuruhjaya Tinggi Malaya of Malaysia, before Malaysia's Independence in 1957. Deaf students went to FSD, which was ruled by British Special Education, to learn oral skills, not sign language. However, the students would sign by themselves in the dormitory of FSD every night.

In the 1960s, Tan Yap went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. to learn deaf culture and sign language. He brought an ASL book back with him to Malaysia. But Tan Yap's suggestions were rejected by the Government. (Tan Yap now lives in Kuala Lumpur. He is considered the father of the Deaf in Malaysia.)

American Professor Frances Parsons declared that none of the students could speak a perfect sentence. Parsons travelled around the world in 1976 in order to introduce Total Communication and Sign Language to poor schools for the Deaf, in order to better prepare them for education. In the same year, Frances Parsons went to Kuala Lampur to meet with Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the Minister of Education (before he became a Prime Minister in 1981). After a 45-minute discussion, Dr Mahathir agreed with Parsons's suggestions and theory. In the next few days, Dr. Mahathir announced new legislation that obliged schools in Malaysia to teach Total Communication and Sign Language. Manchester-trained teachers were unhappy with the new law and protested Mohamad's decision. As a result, BIM (Bahasa Isyarat Malaysia) or MSL (Malaysian Sign Language) became similar to American Sign Language after 1976.

Further information
For more details on the history of Sign Language and Deaf Malaysia, see the fifty short stories based on the research and interviews of Leon Lim, a Deaf Kedah-born former student of Federation School for the Deaf (FSD) and his collaborative team.