First of all, I'd like to make it clear that the most disgustingly ridiculous of all those who speak both Malay and English are those who 'interweave' these two languages with the intention of fooling people from out of town into respecting them. Every time I see some goons on national television doing this, I feel like giving him / her a good punch or two (for the later, a slap would do). Don't hate me for this, it's an abomination.
If you want to speak in English make sure it's completely English. Otherwise, forget about it.
Do you know that in 2004, DBP (Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka) and MABBIM (Majlis Bahasa Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia ) actually suggested that Malay Language be made the 'leading' language of ASEAN since more than half of the total inhabitants of ASEAN countries use it? To those of you who do not know this, the incompetence in science and mathematics you have in common is a result of your own ignorance and indolence. Do not put the blame on learning science and mathematics in Malay.
To me, there are two kinds of people who support direly, learning science and mathematics in English. The first: those who received their early educations in English (most likely to be of Malay origin), learned how to 'drink tea' and live like the English, regard themselves as 'above average' and want their sons and daughters to tread the same path.
The second: those who rarely use Malay in their day to day life, consciously or unconsciously regard Malay as a lesser language, use English instead and think that learning science and mathematics in English could be an advantage to their sons and daughters, over the sons and daughters of those to whom English is secondary.
In between are those who follow blindly. These people deserve no group of their own, wouldn't you agree?
Ah. The first one is always the worst or the best. Malays who do not see the importance of preserving their own heritage. Malays who could not answer when someone ask them about the possibility of making their native language as competitive as English, just like what is being done in Europe and other parts of the world. What they could do, however, is making sure that their pathetic, foul-smelling hubbub of supporting English for science and mathematics is discernible. What did they make of 30 people demonstrating that Malay language be treated like it's a national language?
The second consist mainly of ungrateful brutes. It's a social contract and everyone knows it. For the sake of integration, all Malaysians have to acknowledge Malay as the leading language by way of using it and promoting it. Let's say cherish it. And let's not forget that we had several 'integration issues' from the day we attained our independence. You think this concept is outdated? Well, I've heard about China making some aggressive moves in promoting English to their people, but know this; this country was founded upon a principle so different from that. So stop putting China as an example. It makes me want to puke. And I don't know if you ever heard of countries like Germany (Leitkultur) having their own leading culture to ensure integration among their people, countries with lots of foreigners and of richer diversities. This value consensus drew a line they dare not cross until this day, when they have their Mercedes, Porsche, Volkswagen and so forth and are able to make you proud of driving it. Hey, even the Chinese from the mainland.
So until you can prove the Germans wrong, and of course, you, right, I would lift those banners and walk those streets, proud of the 30 comrades who do not forget their history easily.
2 comments:
salam.. bila nak update?
i likes to read your ideas
Dear friend, I have gone through your blog. Interesting, but bear in mind for few things that I'm going to share with you later. First, the lingua franca of science and technology is English. I'm from a personal from the field of science. Do you know it's never an easy job for us to translate a great number of scientific terms into Malay. Especially in the medical field, there are long terms which hardly translate into Malay. Furthermore, they are Latin or Greek. The words only mean something if it is in Latin or Greek. For example, onychoosteodysplasia (malformation of bones and nails), where onycho means nails, osteo (Greek) means bones, dyplasia (Greek) means bad formation.If translated into Malay, it would be "onikoosteodiplasia". How you be able to guess the meaning of this world if they are in the form of Malay wording? Put yourself in the shoes of the scientific students' shoes. Besides, there are tonnes and tonnes of journals, from Nature to Science Direct, local well-known journal like Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health,The Malaysian Journal of Pathology, Malaysian Journal of Economic Study etc, from sciences to arts, they are written in English. There must be a rational, which is to let the foreigners to read our journals and cite our journals. This will help us up in the university ranking. Even Japanese and Chinese would translate some of their papers to English. This is the trend in science, in technology.
Second, Malaysia is a multiracial nation, where Malay, Chinese, Indian and other live together peacefully. So, instead of selecting a language that seems to pro-malay, which we selected Malay previously, why don't we select a language that no being pro to any races, which is English. None of the races in Malaysia has a mother tongue of English. It is to be fair to all the races. This point is very sensitive and political, but this is what I heard from all my lovely colleagues from all races, Malay, Chinese, Indian, and a Murut, who is a orang asli. When I put this topic on to my friends who from non-scientific background, like law, finance, literature, and even performing art, they have the same opinion as what I have, i.e. science and mathematics should be taught in English.
Why not Bahasa Melayu since Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia is putting effort to promote it? Dear friend, you need to know we are far at the back of the West, in term of science and technology. If you really want to strengthen our science and technology, we need to absorb the technology from the West, which we need to communicate in English with them, in order to get their knowledge. When we are as compatible as the West in the sense of science of technology, then you are most welcome to promote our national language for the use in S&T. Look around, we have plenty of natural resources, sadly, we have insufficient of technology to make full use of these resources. What we urgently need now, is the technology, as well as the mind set to spear up our science and technology, to develop the passion to drive our science. We urgently need these, not setting up foolish policies that disturb the progression of S&T in our country. Besides, you have to think, if Malay serve as the medium of S&T in South East Asia, can this step able to bring our nation up? For what I know, in South East Asia, the few best universities, such as University of Malaya, Chulalorngkong University, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technology University, these universities use English (and Thai for Chularlorngkong University) as the medium of education. Again, there must be a reason. So, figure out why? Why the ivory tower select English as their education medium?
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