As a parent with two young children, I want the best for my children’s education. I want them to grow up as citizens of a global village, learning different languages instead of confining themselves to merely Bahasa Malaysia or Mandarin.
This is why, as a parent, I support the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE). If possible, I want out children to also pick up other languages – Tamil, for example, so that they can communicate with their Indian friends, besides German, Italian, French and Greek, but this is something that I would leave to them depending on their ability to learn a foreign language.
If they are confined to only speaking a single language, I would be disappointed with them – because it means that they are unable to fathom the wealth of knowledge in other cultures and civilisation, apart from their little coconut shell.
I would all our ministers, including the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, to not send their children overseas or to international schools. Children of education ministers should remain in the national schools and continue their education in the public universities because the syllabi are all taught in Bahasa Malaysia.
I would also urge Najib and Muhyiddin’s children to speak only Bahasa Malaysia, since we are all proud of the national language. If they, as children of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, cannot show good examples as authentic Malays, who would have respect for their parents? In fact, their parents have failed badly in teaching their children to be Malays who, under the constitution, speak Bahasa Malaysia, adopt the Malay culture and are Muslims.
On the contrary, if Najib and Muhyiddin’s children speak good English, or educated overseas, how then does this reflect on their parents – that they have failed to implement the policy that they are so passionate about, within their own family? Or, are their children no longer Malays because they speak foreign languages?
If my memory serves me right, it was former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad in his heyday in the seventies, who pushed for Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction in schools. What has become of the nation today is largely his fault – and it is already too late to build up the standard of our English, while other developing countries like China and Vietnam are encouraging their citizens to learn English.
Languages are basic tools for communication. No one has total ownership of any language or words contained therein. It would be so narrow-minded of any particular individual to claim ownership of words in a language, and restrain others from using them. This, unfortunately, is the situation in our country. After 54 years of nationhood, we are still having closed minds. We are still oblivious to what is happening around the world. We are literally still ‘running around naked’ in our own little village, forgetting that there is a global village out there.
The answers given by Muhyiddin are simply too shallow. If, after ten years, the teachers are still unable to teach in English, there is a serious problem, not with the language but with the teachers themselves. It is either that they do not have the aptitude to teach or they are simply not the right candidates to be trained to teach Mathematics and Science in English; why, then are we still keeping them?
Sometimes, when I hear answers like those given by Muhyiddin, it makes me wonder who do we have in positions of power? Does it make any difference if we put Lat there in his place!
I, for one, would prefer now to appeal to the Opposition. If the present government cannot change its way of dealing with the views of the people, perhaps, the only way that we will see a real transformation in this country is when people vote a new government into power.
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