Just what is the official name of our national language? After obtaining independence, the government immediately declared Malay as our national language whereby its original name was of course Bahasa Melayu.

However, in the early 70s, Bahasa Melayu was renamed Bahasa Malaysia in order to identify it with all Malaysians. The latter was used until a former national leader renamed it Bahasa Melayu.

He claimed that the term Bahasa Melayu would help the Malay language achieve the status of an international language.

This move, naturally received resentment from certain parties as they felt that the name Bahasa Melayu appears to be identified with one race only. To this day, Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Melayu are used inter-changeably.

Some do not mind using Bahasa Melayu while others prefer to stick to Bahasa Malaysia. I am very confused by the simultaneous usage of the two terms. Can someone please clarify?