NOV 16 — Teaching science and maths in English was a bad idea from the start. Let’s be honest here; — half our teaching force, especially in the rural areas, can barely speak English, much less teach in it.
Yet the impassioned parents fighting for it really do want the best for their children; it will be tough on those who were learning the subjects in English to suddenly face sitting the examinations in Bahasa Malaysia.
At the same time, I can understand the nationalists’ anger. Germany, Japan, Korea all teach their children using their respective national languages.
But the problem here is the perception that Bahasa Malaysia is not seen so much as a national language as it is the language of the Malays.
The rejection of Bahasa Malaysia is not so much about the language but rejection of the insidious racial indoctrination that continues to go on. It is patently ridiculous that groups like Perkasa treat Malaysia not as a melting pot of various cultures but as “Malay-sia”, the country of the Malays.
This spectre of the Malay supremacy agenda looms over much of our political landscape. I blame political small-mindedness. “The Japanese don’t need English!” so say the “Look East” camp. Then why were English teachers so much in demand over there until a supply glut happened?
If poor English standards don’t matter, then why do our politicians send their children abroad for studies? There is a simple fix to our horrible public education system: Force all members of parliament and state assembly representatives to send their children to public schools and universities. Make it a condition of office — if a politician is elected, then his or her children must be enrolled locally or face a punitive fine for each year spent abroad.
Right now the politicians in power don’t care because they don’t have to worry about their children’s future. Malaysian parents have to worry not just about the rising cost of education but slipping standards.
A friend who teaches English told me about the Universiti Malaya interns at her institution who were trained to teach English but haven’t even mastered the rudiments of grammar. Said friend decided against doing her Masters at UM after seeing the “excellence” of their graduates.
The simple truth that parents discover for their children is that they do not need Bahasa Malaysia to succeed. Not if they go abroad. And even here, the wealthy and the upwardly mobile are fluent in English.
Bahasa Malaysia should unite us, but it doesn’t. It is not so much a language as it is regarded as something to impose on non-Malays; rejecting it is not anti-patriotic, but a rejection for what Umno stands for.
Until race-based politics is dismantled, there is no hope for the national language.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
