Malay or BM (Bahasa Melayu) is a language originated from Sumatera, Palembang(Indonesia). BM existed for a thousand year and is used by countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei. BM is a compulsory language  for all malaysians. As a student in malaysia, we need to learn BM in order to 'survive' . I didn't say that i was forced to learn BM. It just happened that, BM is a very important language in Malaysia. Being a student, we need to learn BM and to sit for tests. Many subjects were being taught in BM, for instance, science subjects, mathmatics, geography etc... The scienece and mathematics are no longer taught in BM. It's in English now.
In daily life, BM really come in handy. BM seems to be the language that brings people of different races together as a whole. Even though we have our own mother tongues (chinese speaks cantonese, indian speaks thamil), when we come togther BM is the language we use to communicate with each other. In other words, BM helps us to understand and prevent any unneccessary mislead about people of other races. I can't imagine the Malaysia without BM. 
So, i guess you will need to know BM too. Who knows if you get the chance to visit malaysia one day. <img alt="" src="/FCKeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/regular_smile.gif" />