A Letter to POLITICAL WATCH MALAYSIA

There are recent moves to pressure the authorities to have the teaching of the Sciences and Mathematics revert back to Bahasa Melayu from the current use of English. This is indeed a very bad idea and move as such.

There are great advantages, in the usage of English to teach, for the following reasons :-

the original source of all the information and knowedge drawn upon is almost entirely from books/documents prepared in English. It is therefore a sheer waste of rakyat's resources (government people, time and money) to undertake the translation, etc., etc., etc.

upon any student pursuing tertiary education, the reference materials are all usually in English and the students are severely handicapped when they are only familiar with foundational terminology in Bahasa Melayu.

upon moving into the working world (private sector), the language of communication used in the commercial world is English. Here again, the “handicapped” need to work hard to gain competence, if at all they are selected in the interviews. It is most often the Malay who gets left out because the Malay is usually less (or not) competent in the English language as compared to a non-Malay.
The less than competent in English just cannot grasp or participate in commercial/international exhibitions, conferences and business discussions. In fact being poor in English is worse than being “wrongly dressed for the occasion” in the matter of confidence in oneself prior to a meeting or a presentation.
The Malays of the school system before 1970 were at par if not better than their non-Malay classmates, in the use of English in verbal or written communication. There are so very many examples amongst the “senior citizen” retired civil servants or politicians. So many of them are even better than the average citizen of England, Australia or the US, in using the King's (or Queen's whichever) English.

Any senior ranking UMNO politician minister (both present and past) would privately (NOT IN PUBLIC THOUGH ???) agree that a complete working knowledge of English is critically essential.

This is confirmed by no less a personality than Mahathir himself. He had throughout his quest for position, power and domination allowed the position of Bahasa Melayu to be what it had been solely because to downplay Bahasa Melayu's importance would have been politically suicidal. However, when he no longer desired that “station in his life” anymore, he pushed so hard to put back the use of English in teaching particularly in the Sciences and Mathematics. This is admittance of the importance of English and this move of his is now to ensure a better future for the coming generation/s of this country. He has “admitted” he has crippled this nation's younger generations. He, Mahathir, was not denied the benefit of competence in the English language, but he chose and worked to deny his junior countrymen this benefit during his 22years in power and also during the years before his ascension to power. Quite a “criminal” attitude and behaviour. Would you not agree??

in the Law and in legal matters, is not the English version to be the final reference/confirmation. What is the effiency??? Why waste time and money in “duplication” when you cannot duplicate perfectly. More people wastage, time wastage, money wastage and all this at the rakyat's expense, such expenditure more so unnecessary now with food crisis and other yet to come crises impending.

It is said that the rural Malays cannot cope with the change to English. Incidently, I studied at the Royal Military College from 1967 till 1970 and the majority of my Malay friends there, from all over the country, were also from rural areas. Surely the rural then was far more ULU than it is now AND YET these rural Malays could become “best of the best”, so to speak.

Perhaps, the present crop of teachers find it difficult to teach in English, having been groomed in Malay. I do recall that in the early seventies, the teachers then were all groomed in English AND YET worked on it to switch. Surely what was good for the goose should be good for the gander too!!! The benefits today are surely VERY OBVIOUS. The switch in early 70's had NO OBVIOUS BENEFITS, the results of which are clearly seen today.

Surely the use of English to teach the Sciences and Mathematics is the better solution – CONFIRMED BY MAHATHIR AT A POINT IN HIS LIFE (the greatest thing he ever did) WHERE THERE WAS TRULY NO PERSONAL AGENDA OR BENEFIT, BUT A GENUINE CONCERN FOR THE COUNTRY AND ITS FUTURE GENERATION/S. HE DID NOT DESIRE TO CONTINUE TO HANDICAP THE YOUNG AND TO PUT THEM AT A DISADVANTAGE IN A VERY COMPETITIVE WORLD.

The people who do not want this change are those who want an easy way out and want to use pressure tactics to force their way upon the “politician” authorities. CAN WE ALLOW THESE HIGHLY IRRESPONSIBLE PEOPLE TO FURTHER HANDICAP THE YOUNG AND THE CHILDREN OF OUR BELOVED COUNTRY. These youth/children are the future of this country and will be the ones who make or break the nation.
Surely the RESPONSIBLE ONES WHO LOVE THIS COUNTRY AND ITS YOUTH/CHILDREN CANNOT ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.

It is possible to start a movement/campaign that puts across the message that if we want a successful “future Malaysia” with an extremely capable young generation, then the TEACHING OF ENGLISH PARTICULARLY IN THE SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS is an absolute necessity.

We must have this “movement” highlight the irresponsibility of those want regression by reverting the teaching of the Sciences and Mathematics from the “efficient” English back to the “inefficient (global perspective)” Bahasa Melayu. These irresponsible people intend to “handicap” the coming generations

simply because they are plain lazy and are pandering to their own selfish interests. They have nary a concern for the future generations of our country – these future generations who will make Malaysia TRULY BOLEH, TRULY JAGUH ANTARABANGSA AND NOT JAGUH KAMPUNG.

Finally, as the past experience has shown, the greatest losers, I believe will be the Malays, particularly the majority who are not amongst the elitist group. The elite Malays will ensure that their offspring obtain the competence in the English language. The non-Malays “traditionally” too ensure, by their own efforts, that their offspring obtain the competence.

The naked truth is that these “Use Bahasa Melayu” pressure group/s are BETRAYING/DESTROYING THEIR OWN KIND.

Can you, Sir, do something to prevent this “treachery” from succeeding. I do look forward to your kind consideration on this matter and your action thereafter. I thank you, Sir.

- Chandra Kumar