A couple of years ago, I encountered some problems with my car tyres - so I took it to my mechanic, Seng, to get them changed. Unfortunately, Seng was occupied, so he assigned one of his workers to attend to my car. Not comfortable with someone new working on my car, I made my worries known.
“Seng, pekerja you tu okay ke (Seng, is your worker any good)?” I asked.
“Baguih baguih. Dia hor, cepat belajar punya budak. Gerenti tarak problem punya (He is good. He is a fast learner and there will be no problems),” said Seng.
“You janji punya ha (I am taking your word for it).”
A few minutes later, a Malay man in his early 20s walked up to my car and drove it into the workshop. As the car was parked over the pit, ready for the tyres to be changed, he got out of the car and began speaking in Cantonese to his boss. I was surprised to witness a young Malay man speak the Chinese dialect with such ease.
“Kakak tak nak pergi minum-minum dulu? Lagi sejam lebih baru siap (Sis, don’t you want to go and have a drink first? It may take an hour or so),” the Malay mechanic told me while checking on my car.
“Nak tanya sikit boleh? (Can I ask you something?)” I said.
He nodded.
“Adik memang dah lama belajar cakap Kantonis ke? (Have you always been fluent in Cantonese?)” I asked.
He laughed.
“Saya orang Perak kak, Sebelum ni tak tahu cakap Kantonis. Tapi dekat sini boss pun Cina dan customer kebanyakannya Cina, jadi saya pun belajarlah (I’m from Perak. I wasn’t able to converse in Chinese prior to working here but my boss is a Chinese and most of our customers are Chinese, so I had to learn the language),” he explained.
Amazed, I asked how long it took for him to be able to master the language, to which he claimed five months.
“Lima bulan saja? (Just five months?)” I was in disbelief. “Saya belajar cakap Tamil sejak lahir pun masih tak lancar (I can’t even speak Tamil fluently though I’ve been learning since birth).”
The Malay mechanic laughed once again.
I then asked him about his education background.
“Saya sampai SPM saja, kak. Lepas SPM saya belajar repair motosikal dan kereta dengan kawan-kawan di Perak. Masa mula kerja dengan Seng pun, saya kerja tak bergaji, saja ambil peluang nak belajar. Bila dah pandai sikit, baru Seng upah saya kerja (I studied up to SPM. After SPM I learned repairing motorbikes and cars with my friends back in Perak. When I first joined Seng, I worked for free because I had a lot to learn. Only when I was good, Seng started paying me for my work here).”
I was impressed with the young Malay boy. In my eyes, he was in a class of his own.
Language requirement isn’t discrimination
Recently, the Education Minister Maszlee Malik defended the matriculation quota system in Malaysia which supports a 90 percent Bumiputera intake. According to Maszlee, if Malaysians did not want the quota system, then job opportunities should also not be denied to Bumiputeras on the basis of language requirements.
I do not think there is anything wrong having language requirement in the job market. I also do not think there is anything wrong with Bumiputeras being denied job opportunities due to language requirements.
Why?
Simple. Language is a job skill.
It is acceptable for people applying to work in Japanese based companies to be required to learn Japanese; people applying to work in German based companies to be required to learn German; companies engaged in business dealings with China and companies with a majority Chinese customer base to be required to learn the respective languages/dialects.
This isn’t rocket science.
When a graduate, who does not have knowledge of a certain language that is considered vital in a company, applies for a job, although he or she is a privileged Malaysian Bumiputera, it is not wrong to turn away his or her application. In other words, language requirements should be acceptable.
However, what is not acceptable is attempting to justify a 90 percent Bumiputera quota on matriculation intake by claiming that Bumiputeras are denied job opportunities on the basis of language requirements.
If an ordinary mechanic with an SPM certificate is able to master a new language in order to further improve his chances in the job market, why is the education minister stopping other educated Bumiputera youths from doing the same?
If a young man from a kampong in Perak can work for free in order to educate himself and learn his trade; and at the same time pick up a new language or a dialect which could make him excel in his work – why do some Bumiputeras need special quotas to compete in the job market?
After all, wasn’t it just five months ago when our education minister said that his ministry was committed to seeing Malaysians mastering a third or fourth language?
Why then isn’t the education minister encouraging Bumiputera youths to equip themselves with languages which could give them better chances at job opportunities, instead of discriminating agaist the non-Bumiputeras in the pretence of protecting the Bumiputeras?
Let us not forget, even foreign workers seeking employment in our country such as the Bangladeshis, Nepalese and Burmese are making efforts to learn a new language to equip themselves for the requirements of their jobs.
Does this mean our Bumiputera achievers applying for a place in matriculation are worse than the foreign workers we take in to pump our petrol, wait our tables and guard our homes?
I don’t think so.
Sadly, I think our education minister does.
FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a director, a struggling producer, a photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot. - Mkini
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