Malay's long use as the dominant linga franca throughout modern Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore is partly responsible for its current status as the national language of all three countries. However, political and economic developments during and since the colonial era have created sociolinguistic contexts, motives, and results of the language's status that are very different for each country. In Indonesia, the policies of the Indonesian nationalists, Dutch, and Japanese converged to promote Bahasa Indonesia successfully as an ethnically neutral symbol of identity and integration. In Malaysia, the selection and promotion of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language was motivated partly by ethnic communalism rather than national unity, but it was also enhanced by British and Japanese policy. In Singapore, Malay serves to express international integration and unity with her two closest neighbors and is a factor in the balance of ethnic sentiments. The status and domains of Malay in the three countries are constantly changing and evolving, reflecting the complexities of the national language question in this area. A five-page reference list concludes the document. (MSE)