Malay groups join Chinese educationists in rejecting language switch
A number of key Malay educationists have joined their Chinese counterparts to submit an appeal to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad last week asking the government to retract its controversial proposal to teach Mathematics and Science in English.
The one-page document faxed to the Prime Minister's Office a copy of which was obtained by malaysiakini said the appeal was based on the consensus reached at a closed-door meeting attended by representatives from 20 organisations on July 2 in Kuala Lumpur.
The organisations included Malay writers groups Gapena and Pena, Persatuan Linguistik Malaysia, Persatuan Penterjemah Malaysia and Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim), while the key Chinese groups were represented by the United Chinese Schools Teachers' Association (Jiao Zong) and United Chinese School Committees' Association (Dong Zong).
It was learnt that the meeting had mainly discussed why Science and Mathematics are best taught in mother-tongue in both national and national type primary schools.
"The Malay representatives were concerned about a possible decline of the use of Bahasa Melayu while the Chinese groups were worried about the status of Mandarin primary schools. But all of them feel it was inappropriate to use English to teach the two subjects," said an educationist who attended the meeting.
"Furthermore, they felt that the proposed change was too drastic and lacked proper studies," added the educationist who declined to be named.
Among those at the meeting was National Laureate Muhammad Salleh who was awarded the title in 1991 in recognition for his poems, criticisms and literary theory in both Malay and English.
It is learnt that Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) chairperson Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar told the meeting that he was concerned about the impact of the language switch on the Malays, many of whom still reside in rural areas.
Since the onset of the proposal, DBP a statutory body given the task of promoting the use of the Malay language and literature since 1959 had aired its reservations.
Caught in a dilemma
Another educationist close to DBP said the body is caught in a dilemma as it did not want to be seen as opposing the government's policy openly though it disagreed with the switch from a linguistic point of view.
"The Malay newspapers which have a wide readership within the community have also cut down on the reporting of those opposing views," said the educationist who requested anonymity.
He added that DBP is in the process of collecting one million signatures from the Malay community for support.
The signature campaign was launched by the DBP chairperson on May 24 during a one-day forum.
Earlier that month, Mahathir said the government would bring back English-medium schools if the public was interested in the system as part of the effort to arrest the decline of English proficiency among students.
However, the Umno supreme council subsequently decided that English-medium schools would not be revived and instead proposed that Mathematics and Science be taught in English.
Following this, Education Minister Musa Mohamed announced last month the switch would only apply to Standard One and Form One students but a decision on whether it will affect national-type primary schools which use either Mandarin or Tamil as their medium of instruction is yet to be made.
Both Mandarin and Tamil educationists have argued that the switch would alter the characteristics of the vernacular schools, apart from upsetting their smooth operation.
About turn
Malaysiakini learnt that at the May 24 forum, DBP together with nine other Malay organisations unanimously adopted two resolutions pertaining to the proposed switch.
One of the resolutions called on the government to be "more understanding of the weaknesses of Malay students in English, Mathematics, and Science" and urged the Education Ministry to "study the root-causes of the problem".
"The teaching of Mathematics and Science in English will not help solve the problem but will make it more difficult for students to learn the two subjects," the resolution read.
It also suggested that the ministry conduct tuition classes, with the assistance of volunteers, for Malay students after school hours so that they could catch up in the subjects.
The other resolution reaffirmed the status of Bahasa Melayu as the official language and said the institutes of higher learning should promote the use of the language for academic purpose.
Many of the organisations which adopted the resolutions also attended another meeting between Malay and Chinese groups last month.
However in recent weeks, a few of them such as the Federation of Malay Students Union or Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS) made an about-turn and criticised Mandarin education groups for opposing the switch.
In a related development, MCA and MIC will be organising two separate sessions this weekend to hear the views of parents, teachers, and headmasters on the use of English to teach Science and Mathematics.
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