KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (Mapim) yesterday called on the government not to give in to certain quarters who questioned its decision to scrap the teaching of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI) starting next year.
Its secretary-general, Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, said changing the decision and giving in to the demand of the less knowledgeable group would only cause the government’s credibility to be questioned by the public.
“As such, the government must be firm in rejecting the suggestion made by Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) that the PPSMI be continued after the latter’s survey found that 54 per cent of respondents from 33 schools nationwide are in support of the PPSMI,” he said in a statement here yesterday.
PPSMI should not be based on the JMM’s survey findings because language scholars and experts, following an intellectual debate, had managed to get an in-depth view on the effect of the PPSMI on Malay students, especially those in rural areas.
In fact, he said, the implication of PPSMI on cultural and national identity had also been debated.
Mohd Azmi said the progression and regression of a country did not depend on the people’s proficiency in English, but more on their ability to master knowledge by using their own language like the people in Japan, France, Korea and other countries in Europe.
“The lame excuses given by those who are so eager to deny the potential of Malay language as the language of knowledge showed that they are not confident about themselves and hence, will continue living under occupation,” he added. — Bernama