PUTRAJAYA: Empowering Malay as the language of knowledge must remain a priority in the national education system.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said improving English proficiency and mastery of other foreign languages were equally important to enable Malaysia to become more competitive internationally.
"Over the past three years, one of the main tasks I have entrusted to the Education Minister is to ensure mastery of Malay as the language of knowledge among all children without exception.
"At the same time, we recognise the importance of English. If Malaysia is to become a great nation, English proficiency must be improved," he said at the Education Ministry's monthly assembly here today.
Present were Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, her deputy Wong Kah Woh, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar and Public Service director-general Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz.
Meanwhile, Anwar said the government did not view efforts to expand foreign language proficiency as at odds with the agenda of elevating Bahasa Melayu.
He said students should be given opportunities to master other languages, including Mandarin, Tamil, Arabic, French and others, based on current needs and global economic developments.
"In a country like ours, what is the harm or contradiction in giving our children enough opportunities to master Chinese, Tamil, Arabic, or choose French and other languages?
"Fifty years ago, when we talked about Chinese language education, including when I was the education minister, Chinese was a language sought mainly by children of Chinese descent in Malaysia.
"But today, Chinese has become an important regional economic language," he said. - NST
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