Muhyiddin confused about language

He speaks about 'Bahasa Melayu' when he really means 'Bahasa Malaysia'.

COMMENT

Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has finally bared his fangs and prematurely declared that the teaching of Maths and Science in schools will be in Bahasa Melayu and no longer in English, as it has been conducted for the past decade or so.

He definitely means Bahasa Malaysia, not Bahasa Melayu, which is in the dustbin of history.

Bahasa Malaysia, a work in progress, is Bahasa Melayu plus local dialects and languages plus English.

Bahasa Melayu is an old Khmer dialect plus Sanskrit plus Pali plus Arabic. The Bahasa Melayu used as the bahasa kebangsaan (national language) in Malaysia is the Johor-Riau-Lingga dialect.

The Hindu missionaries made Bahasa Melayu the language of religion. From there, it went on to become the language of administration, education and trade in the islands of Southeast Asia. Hence, it became the lingua franca of the Malay Archipelago. The term “Malay Archipelago” is a reference to the language rather than to any ethnic group.

Bahasa Melayu fell on hard times with the coming of westerners, and in their wake, Chinese immigrants.

In the British territories of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, for example, English replaced Bahasa Melayu. The language of the Chinese took over in the retail, if not wholesale, sector in Southeast Asia and relegated Bahasa Melayu and other local languages to the marketplace. Even so, Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia conducted all business correspondence in English.

Muhyiddin is right if he thinks that students have a right to get schooling in their own mother tongues. This is enshrined in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is actively promoted by Unesco.

However, he is dead wrong if he thinks that only those who habitually speak Bahasa Melayu have a right to get formal schooling in their mother tongue.

Bahasa Kebangsaan

Those who habitually speak English at home have a right as well to get schooling in that language.

And that goes as well for those who speak any number of other tongues at home in Malaysia, namely, Kadazandusun, Bajau, Suluk, Filipino, Bugis and Chinese in Sabah; Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Orang Ulu, Sarawak Malay and Chinese in Sarawak; Orang Asli, Thai, Portuguese, Bahasa Melayu, Tamil and Chinese in Peninsular Malaysia.

To bring all these people together, we have Bahasa Malaysia, which is not bahasa kebangsaan.

The Federal Constitution clearly states that Bahasa Melayu is the bahasa kebangsaan of Malaysia.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. Bahasa Melayu is no longer used in the schools. Its role has been replaced by Bahasa Malaysia and is spoken only at home, especially in the kampungs in the southern parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

Again, when Muhyiddin talks about Maths and Science being taught in Bahasa Melayu, he is actually talking about Bahasa Malaysia which, as stated, is not the bahasa kebangsaan.

Those who claim that Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Malaysia are synonymous will then have to explain why Bahasa Indonesia is not synonymous with Bahasa Melayu. Bahasa Malaysia is not synonymous with Bahasa Indonesia either.

Bahasa Indonesia is Bahasa Melayu plus local dialects and languages plus Dutch plus English. The most widely spoken languages at home in Indonesia are Javanese and Sundanese. “Indonesia” is an Anglicised version of two Greek words, Indos (Indian) and nesos (Islands). The Greeks referred to the South Asian subcontinent as the Land of the Ind (Indus River) and hence India, the Anglicised form.

Another example is Filipino, which is Tagalog plus local dialects and languages plus Spanish plus English.

Kampung kids

If Muhyiddin is really serious about the kampung kids in Peninsular Malaysia getting schooling in Bahasa Melayu, the bahasa kebangsaan, he should stop passing off Bahasa Malaysia as Bahasa Melayu. Bahasa Malaysia only strikes a chord with those who are familiar with other local dialects and languages and English.

The kampung kids in Peninsular Malaysia are weak in English, and therefore, they will continue to be weak in Bahasa Malaysia. What they need is schooling in Bahasa Melayu.

Before Muhyiddin goes ahead with the teaching of Maths and Science in Bahasa Malaysia, he will have to explain why it is not being done in Bahasa Melayu, the bahasa kebangsaan.

He will also have to explain whether the Tamils, Chinese and others in Malaysia, including English speakers, will have the right to schooling in their mother tongues. If not, it will be yet another blot on the country’s human rights record and calls for intervention by the United Nations Security Council, United Nations General Assembly and Unesco.

The Bar Council of Malaya, the Sabah Law Association and the Sarawak Advocates Association should also state their stand on the issue of schooling in the mother tongue and on the issue of bahasa kebangsaan.

The ruling Barisan Nasional, supported by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat, can amend Article 152 of the Federal Constitution to state that Bahasa Malaysia is the bahasa kebangsaan of Malaysia.

However, this is easier said than done.

For starters, the Conference of Malay Rulers will have to be consulted.

For another, those who habitually speak Bahasa Melayu at home in southern Peninsular Malaysia will not take too kindly to their mother tongue being dropped as the bahasa kebangsaan.

The bottom line is that those who habitually speak Bahasa Melayu cannot be forced to study Maths and Science in Bahasa Malaysia. This is where the court should come in and put right a wrong.

All Malaysians have the right to get schooling in their mother tongues. This is a point which has been made time and again by Hindraf Makkal Sakthi and Chinese educationists.

Old Enough To Hang but NOT to Vote

Last Tuesday, an Egyptian court ruled that Egyptians living abroad should be allowed to vote at embassies in upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections, a judicial source said. A little closer to home, six brave Malaysian citizens overseas filed a lawsuit against the Election Commission (EC) asking the High Court to compel the EC to register them as absent voters. As they work in the UK, they had applied to be registered as absent voters to be eligible voters in the coming general election but were instead registered by the EC as ordinary voters, who must return to Malaysia to vote in person. And why?

Bernama reported that there are about one million Malaysian expatriates working overseas as of April this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told Monday. The figure was based on a joint study by the World Bank and the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department.

Thus, it is timely that all Malaysians should pressure the government to allow those Malaysians residing abroad to vote in the country of their residence. Not many can afford the $$$ or time to come back to Malaysia to cast their vote.

According to MyOverseasVote:

Although the EC Chairman, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Yusof, announced on 25 August 2011 that all Malaysians overseas would be allowed to vote by post, the EC has recently clarified to MyOverseasVote that the EC Chairman had never promised that the EC would do so before the next general election. Two months after the announcement was made, the EC has still taken no action to enable Malaysians overseas even to begin the process of registering as absent voters, which usually takes 3-6 months. Overseas Malaysians are increasingly worried that the 13th General Election will come and go while they continue to be deprived of their constitutional right to vote.

According to the Constitution of Malaysia:

Article 16a

16A. Subject to Article 18, any person of or over the age of eighteen years who is on Malaysia Day ordinarily resident in the State of Sabah or Sarawak is entitled, upon making application to the Federal Government before September 1971, to be registered as a citizen if he satisfies the Federal Government -

(a) that he has resided before Malaysia Day in the territories comprised in those States and after Malaysia Day in the Federation for periods which amount in the aggregate to not less than seven years in the ten years immediately preceding the date of the application, and which include the twelve months immediately preceding that date;

(b) that he intends to reside permanently in the Federation;

(c) that he is of good character; and

(d) except where the application is made before September 1965, and the applicant has attained the age of forty-five years at the date of the application, that he has a sufficient knowledge of the Malay language or the English language or, in the case of an applicant ordinarily resident in Sarawak, the Malay language, the English language or any native language in current use in Sarawak.

Article number: 119

119.

(1) Every citizen whom

(a) has attained the age of twenty- one years on the qualifying date; and

(b) is resident in a constituency on such qualifying date or, if not so resident, is an absent voter, is entitled to vote in that constituency in any election to the House of Representatives or the Legislative Assembly unless he is disqualified under Clause (3) or under any law relating to offences committed in connection with elections; but no person shall in the same election vote in more than one constituency.

(2) If a person is in a constituency by reason only of being a patient in an establishment maintained wholly or mainly for the reception and treatment of persons suffering from mental illness or mental defectiveness or of being detained in custody he shall for the purpose of Clause (1) be deemed not to be resident in that constituency.

(3) A person is disqualified for being a elector in any election to the House of Representatives or the Legislative Assembly if-

(a) on the qualifying date he is detained as a person of unsound mind or is serving a sentence of imprisonment; or

(b) having before the qualifying date been convicted in any part of the Commonwealth of an offence and sentenced to death or imprisonment for a term exceeding twelve months, he remains liable on the qualifying date to suffer any punishment for that offence.

(4) In this Article "qualifying date" means the date by reference to which the electoral rolls are prepared or revised, and "absent voter" means in relation to any constituency any citizen who is registered as an absent voter in respect of that constituency under the provisions of any law relating to elections.

NOTE: IT DOES NOT SAY ONE MUST ONLY VOTE ON MALAYSIAN SOIL. Anyway, if embassy staff, government officers and government scholarship holders are allowed to vote at embassies, THAT MEANS IT IS LEGAL. SO WHY NOT EXTEND THIS TO ALL MALAYSIANS RESIDING OVERSEAS? If not, does it seem like it is only for members of an EXCLUSIVE CLUB? Does this scenario exist because embassy staff, government officers and government scholarship holders are under control and thus allowed to vote outside Malaysia? The fact they CAN vote means it IS allowed. Thus, in view of the fact that ONE MILLION Malaysians are working abroad, ALL should be allowed to vote!

Article number: 120

120. Where in accordance with Article 45 (4) provision is made by Parliament for the election of Senators by the direct vote of electors-

(a) the whole of a State shall form a single constituency and each elector shall have as many votes at any election to the Senate as there are seats to be filled in that election; and

(b) the electoral rolls for elections to the House of Representatives shall

(1) Every citizen who-

(a) has attained the age of twenty- one years on the qualifying date; and

So, you can become a citizen at 18, drive at 16, but only vote at 21

2) is resident in a constituency on such qualifying date or, if not so resident, is an absent voter,

*So, it does not say you MUST live in Malaysia to vote (if not so resident, is an absent voter)

Article 119 (3) A person is disqualified for being a elector in any election to the House of Representatives or the Legislative Assembly if-

(a) on the qualifying date he is detained as a person of unsound mind or is serving a sentence of imprisonment; or

(b) having before the qualifying date been convicted in any part of the Commonwealth of an offence and sentenced to death or imprisonment for a term exceeding twelve months, he remains liable on the qualifying date to suffer any punishment for that offence.

Note: Does it say you are disqualified to vote if you live in London? So, why can't 1 million overseas Malaysians vote?

Does it appear that SPR makes up its own rules as they go along? One minute they could say no pondok panas but on the morning of Polling Day, they could allow it. Are rules being changed in an ad hoc manner in a manner which could violate BOTH civil liberties and the Constitution? If so, does SPR appear to be a law of its own? Are laws being made up and goal posts moved at opportune moments?

Article Number: 19

19.

Subject to Clause (9), the Federal Government may, upon application made by any person of or over the age of twenty-one years who is not a citizen, grant a certificate of naturalization to that person if satisfied -

(a) that -

(i) he is resided in the Federation for the required periods and intends, if the certificate is granted, to do so permanently;

(ii) (Repealed).

(b) that he is of good character; and

(c) that he has an adequate knowledge of the Malay language.

(2) Subject to Clause (9), the Federal Government may, in such special circumstances as it thinks fit, upon application made by any person of or over the age of twenty-one years who is not a citizen, grant a certificate of naturalization to that person if satisfied -

(a) that he has resided in the Federation during the seven years immediately preceding the date of the application, for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than five years;

(b) that he intends to do so permanently;

(c) that he is of good character; and

(d) that he has an elementary knowledge of the Malay language.

Food for thought :

One who commits murder at 18 can get hanged. At 17 (minimum age for driving), one can kill someone on the road with reckless driving, while at 18, one can become citizen. BUT, only at 21 can one vote and must only vote in Malaysia and not at embassies like MANY other countries (Indonesia and Philippines included)!!!

Why?

-masterwordsmith

Anwar’s ‘passionate plea’ for change...

Anwar Ibrahim’s choice of a University College London lecture hall for his speech this weekend on behalf of the Al Gore Foundation: “The Struggle for Justice and Democracy in Malaysia”, was hardly coincidental.

He was appealing to the young and to the future leaders, on a platform of reform and a clean government.

Anwar is an international politician. In fact, he has been often criticised for his ability to forge relationships across religious and racial divides.

At the packed hall on the night of Oct 29, he ably communicated with the varied London crowd. The audience was impressed at his knowledge and being able to quote from the Classics, the Quran, Thomas Jefferson and De Toqueville.

But the speaker drew a laugh when he self-deprecatingly pointed out that six years in prison “gives you plenty of time for reading”!

I myself was reminded of Winston Churchill, who gained his own intellectual education through reading during four years of interminable evenings, stuck out on military duty in the backwoods of 19th Century India. Tough times can make you or break you.

Angry Anwar

Anwar gave a wide-ranging and non-scripted speech. But his focus came from what he revealed to have been lengthy conversations earlier in the day with the newly-elected leader of Tunisia Hamadi Jebali.

Jebali’s moderate Islamic party, Ennahda, had just won the country’s post-Arab Spring election. Jebali is clearly a delightful role model for the man who wants to lead Malaysia. A Muslim who has received the support of the majority of his people by pledging tolerance and equality towards all, whatever their race or religion – all following a largely bloodless revolution.

The passion in Anwar’s speech came from his anger towards the constant accusations by those currently in power in Malaysia that he is betraying the majority, because he also wants to see justice for the minority.

The concept of rule by the majority, but respect and equal opportunities for the minority is, he reminded us, at the heart of justice and democracy, his subject of that evening. It is clearly also his ambition for a modern Malaysia:

“Yes, we are better than Zimbabwe and yes we are better than Burma”, he conceded “but I hope that in Malaysia we aspire to more than just that!”

It was a statement that might also have been appealing to De Toqueville’s own core analysis of progress in the matter of democracy, which the 18th century French political writer famously termed as “the Revolution of Rising Expectations”.

Malaysians want more

Malaysians are now expecting more than law and order and calm streets, Anwar suggested. They are demanding to be treated not as children or slaves, but as grown adults with the freedom that entails.

“Let me say what I want to say and feel free to go home and disagree” was his message. Let people have the freedom and dignity to choose what to believe.

It was a gamble. Has Malaysia reached that point in history? That intangible moment when genuine democracy starts to take hold, as opposed to the limited, pretend democracy that Anwar described exist in Malaysia today?

Anwar clearly hopes so and he was taking comfort in the developments in Muslim countries across the Middle East. The audience chortled as he pointed out that when Tunisia shook off their own dictator, the Egyptians next door had pronounced that they were a different system and it wouldn’t happen to them.

When Hosni Mubarak went, the Yemenis said they would not be affected. When Yemen went, the Lybians asserted that Muammar Gaddafi could never be prised from office. Now Gaddafi has gone, the Malaysians are insisting that matters are very different with Barisan Nasional!

Everyone must change

But Anwar did also seem to impart the lesson that will, determination and effort among ordinary folk, including those sitting in that hall, would be needed if change were to come.

Are too many Malaysians just too resigned and too indolent? It will be interesting to see, but Anwar made it plain that he has a clear and considered understanding of the fundamentals of democracy and justice, which would be needed to bring those institutions to Malaysia in fact and not just in name.

His own experiences with the judicial system and in opposition politics facing BN’s economic grasp over the country have clearly been educative. He urged the students before him not to be intimidated and controlled by corrupted institutions. In fact, he related the extraordinary lengths to which BN would abuse their power to attempt to sabotage his and other pro-democracy speaking tours.

In Indonesia, even in Melbourne, Australia, letters will go out to Malaysian students warning them that if they showed up at the speech, their grants and scholarships would be cancelled. What could be more symbolic of Malaysia’s fundamental lack of democracy?

Embassy retracted threat

In Michigan, US, it had also happened at one of his own speeches, Anwar told us. The Malaysian Embassy had sent out the same series of threatening letters to students. However, freedom is keenly guarded in such places. A strongly-worded letter from the university dean, reminding the embassy their action was illegal, produced a hasty retraction.

The students were told they could attend, after all, and for the first time Anwar found hundreds of young Malaysians attending his lecture!

There were also plenty of Malaysians in the audience at University College, but by now this writer was beginning to wonder how many of them were students and how many of them embassy staff, taking down names!

Anwar addressed the latter by saying they were welcome to be there, but if they behaved in an intimidating fashion, there would have to be further recourse to the British “bobbies”.

He explained that earlier in the day, police had been called to his hotel to move on Malaysian “goons”, who had been parked for several hours outside.

NEP only for rich Malays

Anwar outlined the causes behind this repression… the fantastic corruption that has grown up around a ruling clique who have held power for over half a century – one of the oldest regimes in the world.

He outlined the excesses and the hypocrisy. A regime that could arrest and try to cane a young girl for drinking a beer, while the son of one of its leading figures has somehow come by with billions to invest in a whole beer-producing industry in Indonesia!

He defended his desire to dismantle the New Economic Policy (NEP), for which BN has tried to criticise him by saying he no longer wanted to favour Malays. The current arrangement, he pointed out, only favours a very few Malays, not the majority!

“The New Economic Policy is designed to help the richest Malays. But the poorest in Malaysia are the Malays.

“They say Malaysia is stolen by the non-Malays, but I am saying it is stolen by the Malay leaders – RM52 billion last year taken by ministers and their family members.”

The former finance minister exhibited his keen continuing interest in the management of the economy. He had produced a surplus in his last budget, which has not been achieved since he was sacked and sent to prison.

He had written off loans from the World Bank, but BN has subsequently gone back cap in hand – an oil-rich country posing as a developing nation.

Deafening silence

Anwar pointed out the sickening corruption of the Agricultural Fund – or Agricultural Rural Transfer Fund, as it has been re-named. It is meant to help poor farmers, but who got the first grant? The first beneficiary was a son of a minister who received RM250 million.

“It is a crime. It is corruption,” thundered Anwar.

But, although he has raised the matter countless times in the so-called Parliament, no BN representative or ministry has provided a response. Deafening silence. As with the case of the threats to students, this story symbolised the depth of the sham that Malaysia’s “democratic government” has become.

“The fund which is meant to help the poor Malays is stolen and squandered by the Malay leaders”, repeated Anwar.

Therefore, their attempts to accuse him of taking from the Malays and giving to the Chinese, because of his call for equal treatment for all, was doubly deceitful.

They privatised rice, he explained further. This gave a monopoly control to one other BN minister, who promptly sold it to Hong Kong businessmen for RM128 million a year.

That is money being made out of poor paddy farmers, 95% of whom are Malays!

It was an eloquent and deeply felt plea for reform and for the return of honest administration in a country which we all know now tops the world’s corruption leagues.

Campbell must explain

Malaysia is lucky to have an opposition leader with such an incisive understanding of the problems the country faces and what is needed to solve them. However, those who pretend to be democrats and have hired Western PR agents to help them pose as such, will not give up easily.

During the questions session, one journalist asked what Anwar thought of Alastair Campbell’s denials of the stories that he was part of a Tony Blair team hired to brush up Najib’s world image? Anwar replied that he would like to hear more than a denial. He would like to hear what Campbell’s opinions are on the regime in Malaysia.

What does he think of their human rights, election rigging, imprisonment without trial, corruption and compromised judiciary? Maybe we will hear something on Twitter?

Meanwhile, those British in the audience came away from this formidable lecture with a fuller understanding of just how pervasive the repression is, in a country that pretends to be part of the free world.

Malaysians, hopefully, will be left with a realisation that the only way to defeat such oppression is to stand up to it and refuse to be treated like children any longer.- Clare Rewcastle Brown

source:FMT

cheers.

NO WONDER WE ARE MESSED....5 DECADES ON....

I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve Perkatak related stress. Do you discriminate against people who practice Yoga?

Just thinking deeply about the next sponsor for her handbags.

Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out a solution to our biggest problem……my monorail.

I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the EPG and envisioning a new paradigm for CHOGM….minus the irritating irritaTUN!

Ah, the unique and unpredictable circadian rhythms of the sleepy heads!

This is just a 15 minute power-nap like they raved about in the BTN boot camp.

I love sleep. My life has a tendency to fall apart when I'm awake, you know?

"I'm not asleep... but that doesn't mean I'm awake."

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one.

Pardon me, while I take my power nap. My wives just completed their COW (club of obedient wives) modules last night.

A power nap is when you sleep on someone who's weaker than you.

"Sleep is the most moronic fraternity in the world, with the heaviest dues and the crudest rituals.

"Some people talk in their sleep. Speakers talk while other people sleep.

I'm actually doing a Stress Level Elimination Exercise Plan (SLEEP).

The Real Argument in the English vs BM debate

The truth is we are a very small country with a tiny population struggling to compete in an increasingly competitive global environment. Low-end manufacturing is no longer an option for us because we cannot provide the kind of cheap labor that makes it competitive. And we will soon run out of minerals and resources that we can dig out of the ground and sell.

That leaves Malaysia with only one option to be successful in the future and that is in services, particularly higher-end services and higher-end manufacturing as in software. These industries require constant cooperation and engagement with the outside world. An outside world that overwhelmingly communicates in English.

In the midst of all this we are faced with a national argument over the language in which children should be educated in Science and Math.

Malay is still a young language

Malay is a comparatively young language. It lacks the long literary history of western languages and some select eastern languages. The curbs on artistic freedom by the BN government has been to the detriment of the Malay language. The BN government is also fond of banning books which is critical of it. In such repressed environments, artistic talents are bound to wither. Why write if you can’t say what you want?

Malay, therefore, remains a language with a more limited vocabulary as compared to English. Taking English words and adding an ‘i’ is not an ideal solution when you have to do it with too many words, any more than making up outlandish sounding words is. Languages evolve, and cannot be invented like Morse code or Fortran.

Not of course, that English is a perfect language. French is far more beautiful, written and spoken. But English is superbly functional. It does not, for example, assign genders to tables and cars and trees, a superfluous affliction of many languages including Russian, French and Hindi. No, English provides you just what you need and no more.

Malay as a medium of technical instruction is constrained by the fact that the Malays traditionally relied on agriculture and fishing for their livelihoods. There was little need for technical research in such an environment. The average Malay would tend to his field, practice his religion and care for his family. Adventurers were few and scientists scarce. The industrial revolution left then Malaya untouched, other than as a market for western produced goods.

Recognize limitations

Scientific subjects are in a constant state of being globally researched and added to. It is an almost impossible challenge just to keep up with what is going on in any field to any degree of depth. Add the challenge of creating new words to describe the already difficult subject of say, quantum mechanics, and you run the risk of producing confused, rather than productive, graduates.

The Periodic Table itself highlights the dangers of arbitrary translations. Sodium is Natrium, because its symbol is Na, one supposes. And Potassium is Kalium because its symbol is a K. Precisely what is the point of this mixing up of Latin and English? Is there any need to rename the elements?It cannot be denied that the higher the level to which one studies, the more you will have to understand Science and Math in English. By teaching the students these subjects in Malay now, we are merely adding another barrier to the future education of today’s children.

Malaysia simply does not have the population size or industries that will enable us to pump huge investments into scientific research. And why would foreign companies set up research facilities in a country where nobody understands English? It is a vicious circle and it really is time we recognize our limitations.

In a nutshell, we will end up a backward nation

Malay nationalists and activists are of course always worried that Malay as a language will somehow become defunct and superseded by some other language. But the Malay language is hardly going to disappear when every other subject including history and geography is taught in Malay.

Yet this issue has now become political, and as the majority of voters in Malaysia are Malays, it became almost inevitable that Malay would win the day in this argument. It was too easy for partisan NGOs to hijack this issue and make it an emotional one.

In fact, it is not an issue of language against language. Nor is it an issue of Malaysia’s internal politics. It is really an issue of Malaysia’s competitiveness against the external environment.

If we make this switch, it is likely to lead to a detriment in the standards of our Science & Math education, and the quality of our graduates. And that will make us a less competitive nation.

Less competitive nations are poorer nations. And poorer nations are weaker nations which will end up being dominated by stronger ones, including stronger neighbors. And that, simplistic as it sounds, is the more real threat to Malaysia.

Malaysia Chronicle