YOURSAY ‘First because it excludes non-bumis and secondly UiTM uses English.’

David Dass: What Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said is correct. The loss of English language, the decline in standards of education, the failure of the system to ensure integration and the failure of the system ‘to turn out people of principle and who value reason'.

It was ironic that his speech was made at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM). First because it excludes non-bumiputeras and secondly UiTM uses English as the medium of instruction.

Universities throughout the world excite the idealism of young people and inspire them to do things to change the world for the better. Undergraduates are often the harbingers of political and social change.

There was a time when our students took to the streets to clamour for change. But after the Universities and Colleges Act, student activism disappeared. Now students have become like the adults of our country. Passive, self-centred, apathetic - apparently not bothered by or concerned with the injustices within the country or the problems affecting the world.

Anonymous_4031: Language bigots are dragging the nation down; and have been doing it for three decades, so much so that our standard of English has sunk very low indeed.

Those who deny our children to acquire knowledge and later get jobs are doing a great disservice to these children, while their own children get an English education in international or private schools where the medium of instruction is English.

Wg321: It is very common to see a Chinese speak to another Chinese in English in their daily life or similarly an Indian speak to another Indian in English.

You can never find a Malay speaks to another Malay in English because they think it is anti-national or snobbish to do that. The Chinese and Indians never have such attitudes.

In the one-race UiTM, it is no use studying English if you don't use it in everyday conversation because of the above reasons.

In order to be successful in business you must know and speak the language of your customers. The Chinese and Indians have this advantage over the Malays who only speak their mother language.

Negarawan: Ku Li is one the few voices of reason remaining in Umno. His keynote speech in UiTM touching on the low standard of English prevailing in the country and racial polarisation is timely, as well as courageous in view of the elements of bigotry within UiTM.

It is hoped that Ku Li will lead and drive reformation within Umno, although it is very challenging due to the sea of extremism and corruption plaguing Umno.

Pemerhati: Umno, of which Razaleigh is a part, is responsible for the sharp drop in the standard of not only English but also in almost all other areas.

When he was part of the government, he and Umno actively pursued and implemented discriminatory and racist polices which have brought about the current pathetic state of affairs. Now these apartheid-like policies continued to be pursued and implemented with vigour and in addition deliberate efforts are being made by Umno to split and polarise the ethnic groups.

Razaleigh and Umno know that the continuous slide in standards can be halted by treating all Malaysians as equal citizens and by getting the best people to work in the public service without considering their ethnicity.

That is something Razaleigh and Umno will not do and hence the rot will continue.

Swipenter: What is the verdict of most of our local graduates? 1) poor communication skills and 2) poor problem-solving skills.

These two are interrelated and not separate problems. So what we produced are many "robot graduates” and sub-standard/quality graduates who need retraining.

Millions are allocated for retraining courses and here the cronies get another bite at the cherry after having set up sub-standard higher institutions of learning to produce this kind of graduates.

Not Smart: Ku Li, you could be wrong about our current education system and the level of English of bumiputeras. Do you know that our DPM cum Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is going round the globe bragging about our education system and inviting them to learn from us?

Do you know that some surveys released had indicated that Malaysia is rated quite well in comparison with some European Union countries?

Ku Li, you only say such things at convocation ceremonies and when being conferred a honorary doctorate. Why don't you raise this in the Parliament?

Are you a sincere bumiputera to help your own kind? Don't be a hypocrite as there are already many around. Please do something to help them in the name of Malaysia as this is your last term.

Jesse: UiTM is a prime example of an institution that polarises the people where only bumis are admitted and then become a forum for spewing bigotry and religious hatred - all at taxpayers’ expenses.

It should be admitting some non-bumis in at effort a national integration and if nothing else, give bumis some competition. In its early days, most of the academic staff were non-bumis participating in a national effort to lift the bumiputera status but we now seem to have clowns teaching young minds to be bigots.

How Umno led by the likes of Dr Mahathir Mohamad lost the plot and the bigger picture, breeding bigots, religious extremists and robotic graduates who regurgitate government propaganda.

Doc: I think that in the English paper of the SPM examination, if one can answer the question "write down your name here" correctly, he or she can sure get an "A".

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. Over the past one year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now .