1 nation, 1 language? Nonsense, says Hadi

The PAS chief calls on Malaysians to rejoice in their multiculturalism.

SEREMBAN: The idea of enforcing the use of a single language in Malaysia defies common sense, according to PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

Speaking at a PAS dialogue with the Malaysian Federation of Chinese Associations here yesterday, Hadi said Malaysians should be proud of the multilingual character of the nation.

“When you have so many languages, you enrich the different languages,” he said. “I believe there are certain terms in the Chinese language that you can’t find in Arabic. Then there are certain terms used in English that you can’t find in Chinese or Malay.

“This allows us to share terms between languages, resulting in the enrichment of the different languages.

“The idea of a one-nation-one-language policy is nonsense.”

Hadi was responding to the chairman of the Negeri Sembilan Chinese Assembly Hall, Lau Chee Boon, who asked him to state PAS’ stand on such a policy, which has been proposed by various politicians through the years.

Among the other groups represented at the dialogue was Dong Zong, the United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia.

“Islam accepts all languages,” Hadi said.

“To have an official language is not a problem, but I don’t see any problem with every community using its own language.”

He received a loud and sustained applause when he said: “There is a nothing wrong with teaching your children with mother tongue.”

A Dong Zong official, Soh Ti, asked Hadi to state PAS’ opinion on the proposal by certain quarters that the number of Chinese and Tamil schools should be controlled.

“This is not right,” he said. “When the population of a certain race increases, when your children increase in number, the number of schools must be increased.

“Otherwise, how would you cater to the increase in the number of students?

“If there is a need to have more of these schools, then we should increase their numbers.”

Hadi received another loud applause when he explained that Islam does not prohibit anyone from loving his relatives, his tribe or his race, but condemns those who victimise others in the name of race. “That is a sin,” he said.

Hadi assured his audience that the welfare of Chinese and Indians, including their education systems, would be preserved if Pakatan Rakyat were to take over the federal government.