 The local ethnic Malays speak the Malay language , while the language primarily spoken by the local Chinese is Mandarin Chinese . The Chinese community is represented by several dialect groups : Teochew , Hainanese , Hakka and Hokkien . The Indian community mainly speaks Tamil , Malayalam , Telugu and Punjabi . The English language ( or <unk> ) is also used considerably , albeit more so among the older generation , who have attended school during the British rule . 
