Use of English is acceptable

I REFER to the letter “Be proud of Bahasa Malaysia” ( The Star, July 6).

I feel the writer has unfairly criticised the Attorney General’s use of English to address the local and foreign journalists on the court proceedings involving our former prime minister.

The question of the AG not having a good command of Bahasa Malaysia (BM) does not arise in this situation although he might have humbly admitted earlier that he was not very proficient in the language and he was willing to brush up on it.

To put it in perspective, he was appointed AG by the Prime Minister simply because he was the most qualified person to hold the post in view of his expertise in constitutional law.

I am deeply disappointed that the writer questioned Thomas’ appointment as AG and with his remark that anyone who is ignorant of BM should not be a Malaysian citizen or hold a Malaysian passport.

He should not assume that Malaysian citizens are not aware of the importance of BM as the national language which unites all Malaysians.

By and large, if you go anywhere in the country and mingle with the rakyat, virtually everyone is able to communicate in BM.

It is also unreasonable of the writer to expect the AG and ministers to have an excellent command of both English and BM. Honestly, how many Malaysians can live up to the writer’s standard of excellent proficiency in both languages?

Let us be very clear that although there is emphasis on BM, English is also given recognition in the Dual Language Programme (DLP) in the Malaysia Education Blueprint (2015–2025). And we can safely say that most of our students who finish Form 5 are sufficiently competent in both BM and English.

Thus, it is surely unbecoming of the crowd who protested and heckled the AG for addressing the journalists in English. Of course, he could have assigned it to his deputy to do it in BM.

Let us be mindful that we Malaysians are bilingual (many are even trilingual) and that understanding English would not be a problem.

The truth is there have been many instances in the past where government officials, including ministers, used English during official functions, meetings, seminars and conferences.

I guess the AG’s rationale for using English is that it is a high profile case that has attracted journalists from many other countries. Therefore, the message must be explicitly and lucidly put across to them in English as it is undoubtedly the lingua franca of the world.

There’s no argument over the importance in upholding BM as our national language but English is also important for communication in the global context.

I sincerely hope Malaysians will understand the circumstances that required the use of English by the AG. Thomas has not done anything immoral or illegal so please don’t condemn him.