Speak English,
it’s okay!
It won’t make you any less Malaysian, says Mahathir
Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad said the notion that
learning and mastering English makes a person less
Malaysian is not true. Speaking to Bernama last
Tuesday, he said language nationalists had spread
the view that to learn English was to be disloyal
and unpatriotic. “They think that just being able to
speak Malay, makes you a nationalist and that is
wrong,” he said when asked on the poor standard of
English among many Malaysians, especially the
Malays.
It has been reported that the teaching of English in
public schools and universities here is not good
enough to meet the challenges of the knowledge-based
economy. He argued that a “true nationalist” was
someone who had mastered the knowledge and skills
needed to compete against the rest of the world. He
warned that that “the world is not going to learn
Malay in order to understand Malays.”
Dr.Mahathir denied that there was a lack of English
content in the education system due to the switch to
Bahasa Malaysia. He said a bilingual emphasis had
existed since the switch in the l960s. He admitted
that the government was producing teachers who were
already not good in English, and would have to get
teachers from elsewhere or retrain the teachers to
speak better English…
(The Star newspaper Friday
29, December 2000)
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Officials
handicapped by poor command of English
Kuala Lumpur :
Some Malaysian government officers are so weak in
English that they are unable to attend meetings
conducted in the language and cannot be sent abroad
for courses.
The Chief Secretary to the government Tan Sri Abdul
Halim Ali said this on Monday when he urged these
officers to overcome their handicap by attending
English-language classes.
He said that these officers’ work was being affected
by their language problem. “If our officers do not
have a deep understanding of English we will lose
out,” Bernama quoted him as saying.
Quote:
‘Not all of them are from local universities, some
had studied overseas , like in the United States,
for three years and yet could not speak English when
they returned.’
(Chief Secretary to the government Tan Sri Abdul
Halim Ali)
He was speaking at a lecture on national development
policies in the new millennium organized by the
Malaysian Linguistics Society on Monday.
Asked whether this language weakness affected
government dealings, Tan Sri Abdul Halim said that
the problem had not reached serious proportions
However, Such officers would not be sent overseas on
government business.
He also said that those who were weak in English
came from both the local and foreign institutions of
higher learning…
(Straits Times, Wednesday,
February 25, 1998 )
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Mahathir
stresses importance of English language
( By Kalimullah Hassan)
Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Dr.Mahathir Mohamad yesterday said the English
language was still an important language. Speaking
to newsmen after chairing an Umno Supreme Council
Meeting, Dr.Mahathir, who is also Umno president,
said, during his recent trip to Indonesia for the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit, he found the use
of English widespread there.
“I was invited by a private television
channel and interviewed in English. Even on
Indonesian television, there are courses in English
for the people,” he said. He said he briefed the
Supreme Council on this. Although he did not add
further to this statement, an Umno Supreme Council
member said the Prime Minister stressed to members
that they should not agitate for a ban on English
language, or its use in the country…
(New Straits Times
September 8, 1992)
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Learning English is
important in this era of rapid Globalisation -
(By Lee Lam Thye)
It has been reported that English could be used in
Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara proceedings some time
in the future. Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tun
Dr.Mohd.Zahir Ismail said the idea had been mooted
to improve the command of English among the
representatives.Now, the National Language Act and
the Dewan’s standing orders do not allow Members of
Parliament to use English, except to quote special
references.
Zahir said at the closing of the
31st Conference of Speakers of Parliament and state
Assemblies in Kota Kinabalu that the idea of using
English was discussed and he suggested that a time
be allocated for it to be used during sittings...
What is more worrying is that the
standard of English today is too low to cope with
the changes in information and communication
technology and serve the country’s future
needs. Arresting its decline in schools is a matter
that must be given top priority if the younger
generation is to keep pace with the reality of
to-day’s environment.
The government has recognized the
problem as the Education Ministry has set up a
special committee two years ago to study the problem
and make recommendations to check the decline…
Promoting English does not
jeopardize the importance and use of Malay as our
national and official language…
It is time for all Malaysians to dispel the notion
which regards English as a western or colonial
language. Above all, we must accept the fact that
learning. English does not and will not make us less
Malaysian.
(New
Straits Times, Monday, June 10, 2002 )
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WHAT ENGLISH
MEANS TO ME - Soraya Dean (Model
– actress)
Quote:
I traveled a lot in my youth and now for work, so
English for me is an important tool of
communication. It is spoken almost anywhere.
Essentially, English is my first language and I also
speak Malay and bits of French and Spanish. Being
able to speak well in a certain language requires
confidence…
I have met people who were reluctant to converse in
English because they were not confident enough. But
at the end of the day, practice makes perfect and I
feel that one should learn to communicate in as many
languages as one can, especially English.
(The
Star Newspaper, Malaysia Friday, January 11, 2002
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Chief Minister
Adnan: Competence in English essential-(By
Ridzwan Abdullah– news@nstp.com.my)
Kuantan:
Having a good command of English is essential and
crucial to acquire knowledge in the world to-day.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said English
was also widely used in the diplomatic and business
circles, thus increasing competitiveness in the
global market.
He said the Pahang Government was fully behind the
Government’s decision to promote the language in
schools.
“Such a more augurs well for the pupils to grab the
opportunity and master the English language,” he
said after handing over sponsored copies of the New
Straits Times to the heads of 11 schools in Pahang
under its NST-Newspaper in Education (NIE) programme…
(New Straits Times,
September l5, 2002)
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BAD ENGLISH IS
BAD BUSINESS, Warn investors
( American chamber of Commerce says Malaysia must
lift its English standards or risk losing overseas
investment)
(Reme Ahmad in Kuala Lumpur)
(This article is very long so we avoided putting it
here)
(New Sunday Times, May 12,
2002)
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Meet Malaysia’s rock star of the English language
Singing a rap song, Chong whips his audience into a
fervor in a road show to motivate them to learn good
English
Quote:
“ I find learning English a little easier now
because of the way he talks to us. He is very
entertaining and handsome too.”
Quote:
The Malaysian government will lose 75 per cent of
its civil servants who are proficient in English by
2005 and it was time those in service be sent for
periodic language courses, the Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Department said on Saturday.
Datuk Seri Dr.Rais Yatim said this was crucial so as
not to lose the nation’s foothold in international
diplomacy.
“About two decades ago, the command of English by
the diplomatic corps was commendable. Sadly, when
the current group begins to retire, we will lose our
grip in the international arena.”
(The Straits Times, Monday,
November 4, 2002)
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MASTER
ENGLISH, urges Dr.Mahathir
‘Don’t be pseudo-patriots and refuse to learn
because the reality is that we need to be conversant
in English. We will not be sacrificing anything but
we will be getting something more.
Stressing that mastering English would not be at the
expense of Bahasa Malaysia, Dr.Mahathir said: “I am
a nationalist and I am one even though I am saying
this in English.”
“We need to acquire skills and we cannot do so with
just Bahasa Malaysia. While we should preserve the
national language, we need English to progress.”
He said the Chief Secretary to the Government would
be asking all government departments to organize
English courses…
(New Straits Times, Friday,
May 30, 2003)
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MASTERING ENGLISH ‘MUST BE A NATIONAL PRIORITY”
A 400.000-strong group of teachers, students and
professionals blames the achievement gaps in IT and
business on poor knowledge of the language.
Kuala Lumpur:
The 400,000 strong Federation of Peninsular Malaysia
Malay Students wants the mastering of the English
Language among students to be made a national
priority.
Its president, Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim, said the
government should have English-medium schools right
from pre-school to provide a strong foundation in
the language. The Sun newspaper reported.
He said what was needed at present was the political
will and the people’s participation to correct a “
mistake of history.”
In an interview with Bernama here, he said the
national education system had failed to provide
opportunities for students to master English. This
had left them lagging behind in business and
information technology internationally.
He urged all groups to be rational and not emotional
and not label every effort to enhance the use of
English as unpatriotic and non-nationalistic.
He said he had traveled all over the country and met
students and parents who were generally disappointed
with the prevailing situation.
English had been neglected by the education system
because the country did not have enough English
language teachers, particularly in rural areas, he
said…
(Straits Times, Friday,
November 24 ,2000)
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The bane of poor
English - (By Suryana G.Mohamad)
Surely graduates can expect to be proficient in
English after three years in university? Not,
according to Lee King Kong, the senior director of
Stamford College. “This could be a controversial
statement, but I have observed that many Malaysian
graduates are not up to standard,” he says.
‘Comparing the standard of English 30 years ago,
there is much room for improvement,’ he added.
Admitting the issue is complex, he said examples of
poor English could be found everywhere.
“For example, the frequently used term ‘free gift’
is incorrect because all gifts are of course free!”…
(New Straits Times –
Education – Tuesday, August 7, 2001)
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