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<h2 class="gmail-main-title">Pardon my English</h2>
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<a href="https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/a/21029" class="gmail-author-link">Joe Samad</a>
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<span class="gmail-byline-time">Updated 16 hours ago · Published on 10 Jan 2018 7:00AM · <a href="https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/31502/#comments-box"><span class="gmail-comment-count">2 comments</span></a>
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<p>THE English language is in the spotlight once again when Perak
Menteri Besar Zambry Abd Kadir criticised a badly-written notice in
English that was put up at the entrance of the Perak Tourism Information
Centre a few weeks ago.</p>
<p>Zambry said the incident served as a reminder to everyone that
announcements should be made in Bahasa Malaysia for official government
matters.</p>
<p>There are so many wrongs with Zambry press statement. Surely such
notices are not official government matters. Many foreign tourists
cannot read Bahasa Malaysia and since it’s a Tourism Information Centre,
such announcements should be made in English and Bahasa Malaysia.</p>
<p>Avoiding the use of the English language and sweeping the matter under the carpet is not going to solve any problem.</p>
<p>Ipoh Mayor Zamri Man said that investigations will be conducted and
the offender will be called to give a detail explanation on the error.
Zamri said if there is negligence or an offence is committed, the person
will be reprimanded.</p>
<p>It’s a tough edict on a person who is probably the product of the
confused Malaysian education system. It reminds me of the opening phrase
of a soliloquy spoken in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, “To be, or
not to be”.</p>
<p>Our education policy makers face the same dilemmas, to be proficient
in the English language or not to be, when considering the push for the
Malay language to the forefront in the nationalistic agenda.</p>
<p>What is sad about the situation is that people poke fun of such
mistakes, post it on social media and enjoy a good laugh. I must admit I
used to do that too, but I find it’s getting a bit too much and it’s no
longer a laughing matter.</p>
<p>Bad English is a national crisis that deserves a Royal Commision of Enquiry (RCI).</p>
<p>There was a time when our Ministers and senior civil servants were
educated in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth nations. Many of
them came back speaking with English accents. These days a lot of the
civil servants are graduates of local universities with poor command of
the English language.</p>
<p>The teaching of English in Malaysian schools has been muddled for a
very long time. While promoting Malay as the national language of
instruction, the Education Department let English slide to a dangerous
level. As a compromise, the dual language programme (DLP) policy,
teaching Mathematics and Science in English, was allowed since 2003.</p>
<p>Recently the Ministry of Education is rumoured to be stopping this
controversial policy for several related reasons, namely the poor
performance of students and teachers in applying the policy, and also
political pressure by Malay language activists. It is now confirmed that
the programme will continue, giving much relief to anxious parents and
teachers.</p>
<p>Minister of Tourism and Culture Mohamed Nazri Aziz on the other hand
has called for Malaysians to fight against the deterioration of Bahasa
Malaysia in his speech at the Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan
in 2017. Our culture and national identity will die if we do not
respect our national language, he said.</p>
<p>“We have to protect the national language and stop the widespread
advancement of English in Malaysia,” he said. Nazri has a knack for
being dramatic in his expressions.</p>
<p>Now who is to be blamed for the confused state? On one side we
condemn the deteriorating command of the English language, and on the
other side we are calling for a more nationalistic agenda to promote the
Malay language and culture.</p>
<p>I find no issue on both sides except to say we should continue to
promote a dual language system (DLP) in key subjects. At the very least,
we won’t be left behind in Science and Mathematics at the international
level.</p>
<p>While it’s ok for Ministers and politicians to push for the Malay
agenda, netizens have condemned such hypocrisy as many of their children
are sent to international schools in Malaysia and overseas where they
benefit from English education. The government budget cutback on
overseas scholarship and loans has aggravated the situation further. As
result, there is a perceived class divide between those who have the
privilege and means, and those who have to settle for local education.</p>
<p>An elitist society will develop from such a situation, if it hasn’t already.</p>
<p>Most parents and employers still think English as an important
language for gainful employment and therefore should not be neglected.</p>
<p>The call for teaching English is loudest in East Malaysia where pragmatism overrules emotions.</p>
<p>There is no push for a Malay agenda. Most East Malaysian can speak
Bahasa and English and value English as the language of business and
education.</p>
<p>The late Amin Satem of Sarawak promoted the use of English among the
people of Sarawak, as he felt mastery of the language would allow
Sarawakians to be more competitive and competent on a global stage.
Sarawak has since adopted English as its second official language,
alongside Bahasa Malaysia. Official correspondence for the state
government could either be in English or Bahasa Malaysia.</p>
<p>Minister in the Prime Minister’s department Rahman Dhalan from Sabah
has repeated his support for English-medium schools, calling for parents
and other stakeholders to voice out if they wanted the same.</p>
<p>“I believe parents want their children to master the language as it
helps to create more opportunities for their child in the future.”
Rahman said, adding that his home state of Sabah is willing to be the
first state to have English-medium schools.</p>
<p>The debate for English to be taught on par with Bahasa Malaysia will
continue. There seems to be no end to the arguments. The issue will
continue to be politicised, egged on by Malay language activists.</p>
<p>Hopefully, common sense prevails.</p>
<p>In the case of East Malaysia, English medium schools and the teaching
of subjects in English are part of the demands to get back the state
rights on deciding education policies.</p>
<p>The final argument is not which language, but how to accommodate and
develop teaching English as the second language of the country. We
cannot be “seperti katak di bawah tempurung” (like a frog under a
coconut shell), as English is the universal language for nearly
everything on the world stage. – January 10, 2017.</p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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