Dr M continues to push for mastering English

The former premier pushes for Mathematics and Science in English at the Malay Consultative Council congress.

KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad urged Malays to master the English language as it is the language of the sciences, and that does not make them a traitor to the Malay language.

“If you learn Mathematics and Science in English, would it mean that you are traitor to Bahasa Malaysia (BM)?

“Does it mean that we are not loyal to our language? Our language will develop when we master the sciences and write books in BM in the future,” said Mahathir.

He said this while delivering a keynote address at the Malay Consultative Council’s (MPM) national education congress entitled “Dignifying Malaysian National Education Blueprint 2013-2025″.

He added that BM was not in danger because the community would still use the language in other fields of study and aspects of life.

Mahathir added that he was aware that there were many who disagreed with his view but discarding English language was not an option if one wished to advance in science and technology.

“We cannot have an extreme view on a language by rejecting it simply because knowledge arrives in different language,” he said.

Mahathir added that lovers of the Malay language also cannot rely on translators to obtain the latest development in science and technology.

“A translator must have a good command of English, BM and the specific field of study. We don’t have many people like that.

“And no translator would spend their life translating the sciences.

“Furthermore, development in both mathematics and science is progressing daily,” he said.

Moral values
Mahathir said that the Arabs were at one point of time leaders in the field of science and technology to the extent that Christians were learning Arabic to gain insights into science and technology.

“However in the 15th century, there was an opinion that Arabic was essential only to learn Islam and hence the decline of Arabic as a knowledge based language began,” he said.

Mahathir who first mooted the idea for the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English in 2003 also pointed out the need to inculcate good moral values to the young.

“The schools have to play a role in inculcating moral values to the young because parents especially in urban areas work and only see their children at night,” he said.

Mahathir said the decline of values had contributed to the rise in crime and other social ills.

“During my time, there was only one Malay woman in university (in reference to his wife, Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali) but now Malay men don’t want to go to university.

“We should have research on good values at university level. Unfortunately, we have good values but do not practice them,” he said.