I used to love the now scrapped Far Eastern Economic Review. One of my favourite columns was one where the journalist scoured Asia and recorded the assortment of sign boards and other notices. The mangled English made for some comic reading.
But who would have thought that it was a foretelling of the mess that was to be on the doorsteps of Malaysia as well.
A classmate of mine who attended a local university, and with well-grounded English from his days in St Joseph’s School, told of his course-mates from Kelantan who asked him to write on a piece of paper, in English, to inform their course teacher that they (the Kelantanese students) were forfeiting their project which was to be delivered in English.
At least in some of these countries they never had the benefit of an Anglophile heritage. Ours is one of self destruction. English was one of the best things the British could have left behind for our nation. Yet, we persistently went about destroying it, on the pretext of patriotism .
Each of the main characters on both sides of the political divide, the Anwars, the Mahathirs, the Najibs and the played their part in this destruction so it is not one where one side can condemn the other.
Some of our ministers had tried to compare our country with Japan, saying that if they can make it with Japanese, why can’t we with Bahasa? Well, for one the work ethics of the two peoples are glaringly different. Second, their adherence to the Japanese language, overlook the enormous cost in the process, translating books, magazines and all printed materials to the language. Further, Bahasa is constantly changing, and the ever upgrading leaves those who are not up to the language, including the Bumiputras behind.
Last week, I wrote about the Chinese community’s love affair with education and their worry about the rainy day ahead. So whatever language you throw at them, they will eventually survive, even master it.
We and the Little Red Dot started out nation building at about the same time. Yet, fifty years later the distinction could not have been greater.
Malaysia went about protecting the national language as if to speak English is to be disloyal or supportive of the former colonial master.To protect the rural Bumiputra, and on the argument that to teach them English would slow down their catchup on the economic step ladder, we downgraded English and made Bahasa compulsory.
Meanwhile across the Causeway, the paternalistic leader that he was, Lee Kuan Yew decreed that English was the main language and peoples mother tongue, be that Malay or Chinese. Or Indian, would be their second language. Vernacular schools were scrapped and these languages were downgraded as second language. No one could say he was bias as the vernacular schools included Mandarin and dialects were scrapped. Official communication was made in English.
Because of his strict and unbiased implementation, Singapore does not have much issue about language, nor the linking of language to the cohesion between races. It was and still is an economic issue. All official signages at MRT stations or elsewhere are in four languages, English first, then Madarin, Tamil and Bahasa. When you get to Singapore, you get the feeling of dynamism and a country in unison.
Fifty years on, the Malays speak as eloquently as the other races. Indeed, I imagine that some of them would be ashamed to see how their cousins had lagged behind, even though distanced not more than one kilometre across the strait.
In Malaysia however, we are still cajoled to believe that Bahasa is the way to economic leadership and using English would disrupt racial unity. No less from a character such as Rais Yatim, one who had done PhD in law in English. With his English education, I believe he has no less trouble interacting with any other races. Yet he argues that use of English would hinder the interaction of races. It is almost imperialism at its worse, trying to deprive the young generation of English when he had the best of it.
Fifty years on, we have many of the middle-aged as well as the young ones, totally illiterate in English. Not surprising with Federal ministers as myopic, or is itself serving in protection of their children, as Rais.
It is a crying shame that a simple matter such as the Chief Minister’s shift of the policy to allow English to take a more prominent place should arouse such objection from the Federal side. It is this kind of hypocrisy that has led this proud country of ours to this abyss of education ignominy.
This nation had wasted billions on flip flop education policy, ending up with generations of illiterate (as far as English is concerned) and now they are trying to turn the abysmal English standard around with further billions of ringgit, yet they are against the using of English in official letters as encouraged by our Chief Minister.
When Malaysia was in the throes of economic battle with the NGOs over the health benefits of oil palm, or when our tropical timber was under attack by overseas groups, our delegations in these public relations battles were weakened because of personnel who lacked eloquence in the English language.
Now we hear of our local graduate doctors who are finding life without English a handicap to the practice of their profession, so much so that they are leaving their profession.
So what was to protect the weak has now weakened them further, yet our politicians still swear by it.
But let Sarawak lead. IF it is right, we will do it. Let me digress, similarly, the recognition of UEC. Let Sarawak attract the best of the UEC students to Sarawak civil service and let them charge Sarawak’s move towards attracting more Mainland
Chinese monies. Let West Malaysia invest their money in education, we pinch the best they have!
Hasn’t Singapore had the best for pittance for far too long? We raise our kids only to push the best to Singapore because we do not have the best thinkers helming our country. Go to any large Singapore hospital and there you will find a Sarawakian doctor, and in many cases heading the specialist department. In many cases, our best were pushed abroad by our indifferent policy.