“Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words.”

- Rumi, 13th century poet

COMMENT | As reported in the press, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (Upsi) associate professor Azizah Zain expressed worry over “the growing trend of urban pupils using English as their main spoken language” saying that could undermine the “nation’s cultural identity”.

I assume she is including Malay pupils here and not just the non-Malays.

Could someone tell me what “nation’s cultural identity” means because I thought Malaysia was truly Asia?

The academic talked about English threatening the role of Malay as the national language, pointing out that Malay is the cultural identity of this country.

“Children who grow up more comfortable in English may lose touch with the values and nuances embedded in the Malay language,” Azizah reportedly said.

What values and nuances are embedded in the Malay language? More importantly, what values of the...