Language in Malaysia has long been a sensitive issue especially when it comes to education and achieving national goals. If every ethnic group desires an education system that pleases the group then it will not bode well for a nation of ethnic diversity.
It would just be insupportable, for instance, if Indians or Chinese living in Australia or Canada were to demand for Tamil or Chinese medium schools to be set up in these countries. Malaysia should unite the various races through a single progressive education system.
English plays an important role
If truth be told, as compared to the English language one must admit that the Malay language has yet to develop into an international language in the sciences, commerce and educational milieus. But this cannot be an excuse to belittle the language. It still has its primary role in the Malaysian context to unite the people of all ethnic groups. The mother tongue does have its role.
A language has both social and commercial functions. As far as culture is concerned, it’s always the native language of every ethnic group that becomes inherently functional and conspicuous in their life. From daily conversations to songs and dances the native language plays an important expressive role. The language here is actually the soul of its people.
We see this phenomenon in all ethnic groups in the country. There are over 100 variants and dialects of languages in Malaysia. It also happens in a country like India where the ethnic diversity is vast. Over 300 variants of languages are spoken in that nation. Despite trying hard to make Hindi the common language English has become a more commonly understood language in the country.
The reason is English plays an important role in the economic and educational domains. They have found it more convenient to use English as the language for education and business. Nonetheless, ethnic groups in India speak or use their respective ethnic-language for social and cultural purposes.
English-medium schools
Singapore started off by having vernacular schools in the state after leaving Malaysia in 1965. This was to please the various ethnic groups in the state. But the leader – seeing the divisive factor in this equation – was wise enough to also have English medium schools. This was indeed a very far-sighted idea by their leader.
Despite all the initial fervour for vernacular education in Singapore, almost all parents ended up sending their children to English-medium schools without any coercion from the state.
The proclivity for vernacular schools tapered off. Parents realised that it has to be English if their children were to achieve good and internationally recognised education. This could be done in Singapore as the British government had left a valuable heritage – the English language for the people to adopt. It’s the same with most Commonwealth countries, including Malaysia.
Singapore’s education system today is one of the best in the world. In schools all ethnic groups study in English but they are also encouraged to learn their mother tongue. Singapore today sees the culture of the Chinese, Indians and Malays well-preserved despite having English as the language for education.
The Jaffna Tamils of British influence in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) of those days too benefited from the English language. The product of which saw the Jaffna Tamils far more advanced than the other ethnic groups in Sri Lanka at the time. Many of those Tamils who now reside in Malaysia and other parts of the world are very successful citizens.
The English language has made them able to access knowledge far better than those who were handicapped by only knowing to speak and write in their mother tongue.
English widely taught in schools
Of course there are other factors in life other than English that can make a race successful, such as adopting a positive value system, hard work, progressive education and a stable political system.
The Japanese and the Koreans are diligent people who also adopt a positive value system. They too have the genetic predisposition (based on scientific studies on intelligence and ethnicity) of being a successful race. They are able to succeed even without having English used as the medium of instruction in schools and universities.
But they are still aware of the importance of English. Many are now English-educated or have exposure to English education. English is widely taught in schools in these countries.
Mandarin will soon become an international language but China has embarked on an ambitious programme for at least 200 million Chinese to be able to speak English by 2030. English is being taught in schools as a second language and the nation is opening up more universities where English is used as the medium of instruction, especially in the sciences. At the moment some selected universities are teaching the sciences in English and this has drawn many foreign students to study in the country.
Almost all major hotels and organisations in China conduct English courses for their staff. China is now the second biggest economy in the world and besides Mandarin, English is given prominence in the economic and educational sectors.
Of course learning Mandarin is always an asset to all nations. Like it or not, Mandarin will soon become an international language together with English.
The English language cannot be ignored
As for now all international transactions are generally done in English – the international language. Thus the English language cannot be ignored as a language for commerce and international communication. It is also a language widely used for tertiary education throughout the world. Over 90% of academic stuff – from books to e-journals – is written in English.
The internet is filled with over 90% reading corpus in English. Almost all technological gadgets come with manuals written in English.
As for Malaysians why stick our heads in the sand if progress is what we aspire for? Teaching and learning of English as a second language in the country has not been effective at all. The most the country could produce today are those who could speak Manglish – an indecipherable mixed language of English words and mother tongue – and they could write nothing intelligible in the language after years of education.
Even RTM encourages Manglish over their radio programmes when the government expects the people to speak “Queen’s English” by deploying teachers from overseas to teach in schools here –spending millions of taxpayers’ money with little benefit to Malaysian students.
Billions of ringgit has been wasted on plans to make Malaysian students proficient in the language by engaging consultants and foreign “expertise” when this has achieved minimal results. Malaysian students in general do not have the resolve to learn English, unlike the Europeans. The flip-flop education policy too has further exacerbated the problem in making students grasp the English language (functional English) through the teaching of Science and Mathematics in the language.
Teach English across the curriculum
One wonders how most Indian taxi drivers in the cities could speak impeccable English despite many of them not having much formal education – and they are very knowledgeable too! On the contrary, we have students going through eleven years of basic education and another four years of tertiary education who cannot even speak basic English.
They cannot even a string a sentence in proper English in the written form after graduating. They just cannot perform and think in this language of science and commerce and they call themselves university graduates!
The country’s education system has disappointed the people just because we have inept leaders that are not really experts in education coming up with ad hoc policies just for political expediency. Paying consultants millions of ringgit to uplift the standard of education and the English language in the country is a futile effort. It’s a sheer waste of taxpayers’ money.
Instead why not just adopt a simple approach? Teach English across the curriculum by bringing back the English medium schools or at least reinstate the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. Make this option available to all students. This would be the best way to make our students acquire the English language and at the same time grasp the content material in the sciences. – November 16, 2013.
* Dr Moaz Nair reads The Malaysian Insider.
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