Thursday, July 09, 2009

English can be a language of Malaysian unity and teach Sejarah and Agama in English.



Contrary to many an opinion of Malaysian linguistic nationalists, I do believe that English language can be a powerful force of revolutionary change -- and a language of Malaysian unity primarily.

Bahasa Melayu has its own dignity but do not have the power to become a language of postmodern science and technology. In its current form, Bahasa Melayu is being destroyed by its own internal contradictions and suitable only as a language of literature and Malaysian bureaucracy. Everytime it tries to transform itself into a language of science and technology it become closer to becoming yet another periphery of the Center; it becomes subservient to the English Language. Why English language is a lingua franca can be explained by its ease of transformation. Philologists have written extensively on this phenomena.

Bahasa Melayu is fast evolving into a language of Ketuanan Melayu; abused for political reasons. Language is an expression of culture and helps construct the social reality of that culture. The phrase "kedaulatan Bahasa Melayu" is not a necessary slogan. No language has a dimension of Divine Sanctity unless it is pegged to the concept of "kerajaan" or the maintenance of this or that status quo however oppressive it may be. In this case, no race in Malaysia is challenging the dignity of the Malay language. I believe it is merely a political play.

Malay linguists, academicians, and literary figures are now jumping into the bandwagon of defending the "dignity" of Bahasa Melayu. However, they may in the end be bringing the kampong kids back into the kampong when they grow up. Ignore them. Parents wanting to see the progress of all Malaysians must understand the importance of the English Language and to master it while at the same time respect the status of any language including the Malay language.

Parent must demand that schools teach Maths and Science in the English language. In fact schools should also teach Sejarah Malaysia and Pengajian Agama Islam, and also Pendidikan Moral in English. To erode the influence of Ketuanan Melayu and to start thinking of being Malaysian and to start asking critical questions about history, teach the subject in English. It is a liberal enough language to accept many points of view. To achieve inter-religious understanding, teach Agama Islam and Pendidikan Moral in English. It is a language liberal enough to accept religious differences.

Respect Bahasa Melayu but master the English language. The latter is also a language of global unity and of advanced science and technology.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

saya tak guna bahasa melayu atau english...SAYA GUNA BAHASA MALAYSIA.

Anonymous said...

Syabas bro. Azly. There are sadly only a few of your caliber and mindset that can and will propel the kampung kids to the international scene. The politicians especially from UMNO are insincere in their desire to do that less thry lose political control over the enlightened mind rural masses.

Anonymous said...

Good Idea..... Malaysian People are racist in nature,,,, whether Malay , Chinese , Indian ,dll.I agree with you proposal but how to implement. Malaysians have mental blocks. Possible method is only by transforming the latent tendency in the 8th consciousness in Malaysian people. I am now researching at this method. Once I achieved result on my self I will reveal the method to all Malaysians.

Anonymous said...

Agama teachers will feel that speaking English makes a person murtad!

Anonymous said...

Well said and I agree .....perhaps also an idealistic situation...but besides the Malays we also have problems with the Malaysian Indians and the Chinese with their own versions of ketuanan Tamil and ketuanan Cina. It's a no go situation actually....SNAFU

T H E . M A L A Y . P R E S S said...

Agama teachers will feel that speaking English makes a person murtad!

becareful...

Anonymous said...

apa kata ajarkan bahasa melayu dalam bahasa inggeris!

Anonymous said...

so senang kita semua berbahas inggeris dan tak payah berbahas malayu! Kita semua boleh jadi orang inggeris dan bangga dengan inggeris!

kevinlow said...

Saya juga menggunakan Bahasa Malaysia bukan Bahasa Melayu!

JCz said...

Whats wrong with using solely English & forgo BM completely? Its not like theres any M'sian who became successful worldwide because of his prowess in BM. Not to mention that up till now, BM is just a carbon copy of the English language. Out of 100 scientific words that I can find in the Dewan Bahasa & Putaka Dictionary, 99 of them are just simply English words corrected here & there to make it 'feel' BM. For those BM ultranationalist out there, know that your mother toungue is as 'murtad' as the English language itself.

Science in Tamil & Chinese is just another joke. It will not be used anywhere in the world unless its in India or China(Taiwan included). And if theres any M'sian Indian/Chinese who wants to leave M'sia to those countries, then those 2 languages might be useful. But honestly, how often do we see that happening? As I can see, most 'well to do' families send their child to more developed countries like US/UK/Aus.

So, if you want your children to be successful, forget bout BM/Tamil/Chinese in science. It will only be a waste of effort when they start their higher education.

Anonymous said...

Saya malu kepada bangsa seperti Cina, Korea,Jepun, Peranchis, Russia atau orang Iceland atau Denmark. Mereka tidak pernah kesal bahasa ibunda mereka dijadikan bahasa resmi dan Bahasa penghantar di negara mereka. Negara yang disebut tadi semuanya dari aspek pendidikan, teknologi dan kemajuan lebih hebat dari kebanyakan negara yang mengagongkan Bahasa Inggeris termasuk Malaysia.

Anonymous said...

Do Malaysians have the sense of pride? Why are we glorifying English Language? Why not we harness our pride and with relentless effort we
strive to make Bahasa Malaysia as one of the prestigious language in the world instead of condeming it.Sometimes things like flags waving we call for patriotism but what about our own language?

Anonymous said...

Its would be nice to allow parents/students the choice to choose. As it is now, the choice is either using BM, Chinese or Tamil as the medium of teaching.

I wonder why most if not all UMNO's elite prefer international or overseas education for their children? Is it the the use of english, or quality education?

Dragon said...

The whole cabinet who made that silly, rediculous decision made the country look very stupid!Rakyat should decide on this not them as the rakyat's children and the nation would suffer.We had foreigners coming into Malaysia for the sake of learning English, was a good investment. But that will stop then!

Anonymous said...

it is not about glorifying the english language. do we have the correct bahasa terms to use when teaching science ? or it is a near-sounding term that we use when translating to bahasa ? invoice = inbois in bahasa melayu??????

Anonymous said...

Multilingualism is an asset, not a burden. Policy makers should be courageous to return us (teachers and school children) the parting gift that Tun Dr Mahathir gave us - the teaching of English in Maths and Science.

Anonymous said...

apa nak jadi dgn bahasa ibunda kita skrg....sedikit demi sedikit bahasa kita mula lenyap dengan bahasa asing..x slh kita bljr bhsa english tp jngn la sampai ia diberi keutamaan dr bhsa kita sendiri..kita sudah dijajah then merdeka so skrg kita nk blk dijajah dr segi bahasa pula kh........

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