This study aims to survey, update, and compare the development of instructional language policies in Malaysia and the Philippines, both of which had experienced being colonized, and since then have been challenged as to their capacity for rediscovering identity and sovereignty. The policies are then examined through the concepts ‘nationism’ and ‘nationalism’: through these parameters the study shall explore how the different policies have fared thus far. It will ultimately demonstrate that an ideal language policy is an integration of both the ethnic values and an overarching framework of values interlaced among the diverse ethnolinguistic groups throughout the nation.