Dr M : “Malays and Malaysians will be stupid”

Dr M: Don’t forsake English and ruin children’s future

PUTRAJAYA: Parents should think about the future of their children when deciding whether to agree or to oppose the Government’s proposal to make a pass in English compulsory for a student to pass the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, said former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said, English was a necessary component for students to get good jobs once they leave school or for them to go overseas for further education nowadays.

He said if parents continued to reject the importance of the English language in their children’s education, then the future of the country would be at stake.

He also slammed those who oppose the move saying that these people were less concerned about education than politics.

“It is more like politics than education. They are not interested in education or acquiring knowledge. All they want to see is how many votes they can win. So I am afraid the country will go to the dogs,” he told reporters.

Asked about the possibility that the policy on the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English would be scrapped Dr Mahathir said: “I feel very sorry. In future, all Malays and Malaysians will be stupid.”

I would like to add something to the Science and Mathematics in English issue. A few champions of their respective languages (Malay and Chinese) have boldly stepped forward to defend their language of choice.

Once again there is no great altruism, love of their bangsa or love of language involved here. They are more worried about their own pocket. This is a recurring theme throughout human history when one group of humans depends on the support of the masses for anything. It usually involves money.

Please note that the folks who are making the loudest noises against the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English are the same folks who are connected or tied to the book publishers who tend to gain millions of Ringgit from publishing school text books if Science and Mathematics are switched back to the vernacular.

The dewan bahasa folks are well connected to the school text book publishing mafia which basically hijacks the direction of the school syllabi in this country.

Have you wondered why your children’s school text books keep changing so often? New books mean new printing contracts. More money to be made by someone.

Then to decipher the correct ‘approach’ for the new textbooks, the school teachers need to be sent to attend ‘kursus pengenalan kaedah pengajaran baru’ too. That is even more money to be gouged from the Ministry of Education because the same guys who are behind the new text books may also conduct the ‘kursus’ for the school teachers.

And Chinese schools have their own mafia, starting with the school headmasters (or principals?) who have significant say in the choice of text books to be used in their schools. Again big money is involved. There was some scandal about this in the papers a few years ago.

Its all money folks, and also politics. These so called ‘champions of their mother tongues’ all have a larger vested interest.

And the politicians, especially the PAS braders are like the hyenas. They come and feed off the carcasses to gain a few votes. As Dr Mahathir says, they don’t really care about the country’s future. These are traitorous folks.

Lets do an experiment : lets start a national debate if every Malaysian should cultivate at least one pet cockroach in their houses. And then lets see how long it takes for the politicians, especially those from PAS, to latch on to the idea?

It does not matter whether it is English, Japanese or Norwegian but we need a language that can fast track our people into the modern, scientific and technical future. Sorry folks but our beloved national language, bahasa Melayu, has not yet come of age to play this role effectively.

Anyone who disputes this does have the moral right to defend their position. They may have the higher moral ground too. It is a terrible thing to say that our national language is not the language of progress. But let the bare truth and the bare facts speak for themselves : we cannot play “trying to catch up” for ever. It is just not happening.

Malay as a language of rapid scientific and technical advancement is just not here yet. Please do not quote Indonesia as an example. Indonesia is another failed state. In our country an Indonesian woman is more likely to be called a maid. An Indonesian male is more likely to be called a labourer. Indonesia is just not a good example.

We already have a good English infrastructure in this country. We are extremely fortunate in this regard. In the 70s, French was still considered a major competitor to English, especially in Africa and the Middle East. But the advent of the Internet has once again established English as the world’s premier language of business, trade, industry, science and the arts. And the usage of English is now leaping ahead by leaps and bounds.

We must strengthen the use of bahasa Melayu through our education system but the language of technical subjects like Science and Mathematics plus all subjects that require logic and incorporate ever changing new knowledge like accounting, law and economics should also be taught in English.

There are just not enough words, concepts and usage of bahasa Melayu to be the vehicle to impart new knowledge in too many areas of modern human endeavour. It will happen ultimately at its own pace but let us fast track our journey up the learning curve.

This is not the time to experiment, to main-main or to sacrifice our future to fish for votes or make money from book publishing contracts. Lets be serious.

Source: http://syedsoutsidethebox.blogspot.com/2009/06/dr-m-malays-and-malaysians-will-be.html