Now, let us get back to my main point today. First, it is vital for us to understand why is English is that important for the non-native English speakers like us. Why is it so important to be able to converse in English in a country which national language is Bahasa Melayu especially when there are still some of us who could not even speak Bahasa Melayu properly even after 57 years of independence? Why must English been given that much of attention? Am I saying that without English, one could not survive? Trust me, I am not.
Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, Malaysian's billionaire could not speak English at first yet he is that successful. But, his story just like his existence, is one in a million. Just because one succeed doing so, it does not mean that the same formulae is applicable for everyone. Especially in the field of education and science where English is the main language used for interaction and the sharing of knowledges. If we want to follow their steps and if we want to beat them, we must first be able to understand their language.
Problem in Malaysia is there are some kind of people, blessed with a rich family, sent to international high schools, graduated from Oxford and Harvard, lead the life of young and sophisticated entrepreneurs and be at the peak of success due to their English fluency. This people come back to Malaysia and claim that it is important for the students throughout the whole country despite their family backgrounds to first be made to speak well in Bahasa Melayu before introducing them to English as to preserve our national language. Little that this people know, they see it in their eye that the use of Bahasa Melayu in daily life is suffering declination because they are the one who speak English 24 over 7 a day. They speak English with their Mom and their Dad. They dine in Western restaurants and they watch Fox TV everyday.
And that does not happen in a house where the father is a rubber tapper and the mother is a home maker. That does not happen in a house where even Astro is too much of a luxury to afford. All that Western's way of life had never existed in a normal people's house. Or to be more honest, that is impossible to happen in a normal Malay house outside the urban area. And by the time those children staying in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru see English as a normal thing, the children in Kampung Kubor Panjang, Kampung Kuala Lanjut, Kampung Charok Chelu see English like a green furry gigantic monster at ready to swallow you with its big mouth and sharp teeth ! Now, is this fair enough?
You get all the chances while we got none. You are already a step in front of us with all the gadgets and facilities you could afford to have. The question is, why must you make us go backward by abolishing PPSMI (the Use of English in the Teaching of Science and Mathematics)? You said that it is our choice to choose whether to use English or Bahasa Melayu as the language medium in the teaching at one's particular school. At the same time, that rich kids of yours went touring the country scaring parent about how English could fail their children in all subjects.
And at the end, all village schools reverted back to Bahasa Melayu while those schools in the urban area, those international schools, those schools which used to be English High School back in the colonial area remain their teaching in English. By the time we go to university, you have no idea how disoriented we are. How left out we had been. And how emotionally despaired we are. You don't tell me at the comments below that I am making fake assumptions, that your children are comfortable with this change. I were the first batch of PPSMI's students back to my Standard 1 and I were the first to experience PPSMI's abolishment too back to my Form 4.
Just how hard Biology is with all the difficult terms and terminologies? Now imagine learning all the basics in Bahasa Melayu and suddenly you are required to learn the advanced one in English. Just one, back to basic! And I am only doing Foundation in Science at private international university. What happen to those from village schools like me that went to study A-Level, the international examination which of course use English?
My dear leaders, I am not that of genius thinker. I am not as clever as you are. I am not as educated as you are. I am not as blessed as you are. But, thanks to God that I had been able to live the life of a village student, I live a life you had never been through. A Malay family in a village would never speak English at home. You do not need to worry about our Bahasa Melayu proficiency, we are the one standing behind our culture, preserving the native's identity of ours while you are not. We are not asking for chance, we are asking for equality. And until then, the progress of this nation would not be that much. Thank you.
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