Nazri should encourage excellence in both English, BM — Baru

KUCHING: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak chairman Baru Bian has yesterday described Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz’s statement calling for Malaysians to stop widespread advancement of English in Malaysia as divisive and shortsighted.

“I am extremely shocked and disappointed to read Nazri Aziz’s statement calling for Malaysians to stop the widespread advancement of English in Malaysia, relying on a Unesco report on language endangerment,” he said in a press statement.

“Singling out the use of English as the threat to ethnic culture and language is misleading,” he added.

Baru emphasised that the report also identifies other factors including external forces such as military, economic, religious, cultural or educational subjugation; internal forces such as a community’s negative attitude towards its own language; and increased migration and rapid urbanisation.

The government, he pointed out, has in the recent years acknowledged the importance of the English language, as evidenced by the setting up of the English Language Standards and Quality Council in 2013 to raise the standard of English in the country, resulting in the Roadmap for English Language Education Reform in Malaysia spanning 2015 to 2025, which forms part of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

In Sarawak, he continued, Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong has been actively promoting the use of English in schools, having encouraged all state representatives to adopt schools in their constituencies for English proficiency programmes and recently instructing that English be spoken during school assemblies.

“These are positive moves that must be supported, as our younger generation is experiencing difficulty communicating in English,” he said.

“Why is Nazri taking an opposing stand on this matter? Was he just playing to the audience at the National Language Month Launch?” he questioned.

Baru viewed that Nazri’s comments which demonised and blamed the English language for the ‘deterioration of the national language’ were divisive and designed to alienate the Malayspeaking population from those who are fluent in English, and to conjure up yet another ‘threat’ to them.

“This is just another subtle attempt to politicise issues ahead of the elections and portray Barisan Nasional (BN)/Umno as the champion of the Malays,” he criticised.

“As the Tourism Minister, Nazri should be very aware that tourists would want to visit countries where communication is not a problem, and that proficiency in English, being the official language of 52 countries, should be promoted and encouraged,” he said.

“Not only that, English is the language of science and technology, and of the internet, business, the arts and learning. It is the language of diplomacy, and we have witnessed many occasions when our diplomats and government officials struggled with the English language on international stage,” he added.

For these reasons, many parents are willing to spend large amounts of money to send their children to international schools just because they want their children to be fluent in English, Baru reminded.

“It is very well for Nazri to speak up for the preservation of Bahasa Malaysia, but doing so by blaming the English Language as a bogeyman is truly shortsighted,” he said.

“He should have encouraged the pursuit of excellence in both languages instead of advocating fighting against the advancement of English in Malaysia. Are Malaysians incapable of excelling in more than one language?” he questioned.

Baru thus urged Nazri to reflect and ponder as to how many children of Umno leaders are studying in national schools and will continue to pursue their education in local universities.

“We know that many have been educated overseas and younger ones continue to be sent overseas. What the Umno/BN government is practising is a dual policy – one exclusively for the affluent and one for the poorer population and rural folks, so that the affluent will forever perpetuate their dominance in politics,” he cricitised.

Hence, Baru encouraged and urged Manyin to press on with the reforms in Sarawak to promote the use of the English language in schools.