Zam, Chinese are trying to put food on the table

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FREE YOURSAY ‘What ails this country is not language, but social re-engineering.’

Zam: Chinese in self-isolation mode

Quigonbond: Chinese-medium schools are more successful than national schools (sekolah kebangsaan). Instead of attacking the Chinese as ingrates and in need of assimilation, former minister Zainuddin Maidin (Zam) would do better to question why more people are flocking to Chinese schools.

The Chinese community cannot help but fight for this, not because they don't want to integrate, but because there is no better alternative. Is it wrong to want the best for their children?

They are integrating fine in all other aspects of life - at work, in business and in sports. Unfortunately, Zam decides to play the racial card here. So shameful.

Rick teo: Zam, oh Zam, you are old enough to be a grandfather but till now you have still not learnt the realities of life. The Chinese are a very practical and realistic race. They will even study Urdu if that language will bring food to the table.

But Bahasa Malaysia and Urdu will not put food on the table. So the Chinese, being practical as they are, study only to fulfil the requirements, but not to fully master it.

The only languages that will put food on the table now are Mandarin and English and that is why the Chinese are paying full attention to them. In a few more years, Mandarin will perhaps even overtake English as the language of commerce and technology.

So, the pendatang are studying not because they want to cling to China but the realities of life dictate that in order to survive in this dog-eat-dog world, you just have to master the language that will put food on the table.

Iiiizzzziiii: I think this character is missing the point. Other Chinese in other countries learn their respective national languages and are able to integrate into mainstream society because everyone is equal. There are no such things as special privileges, ketuanan Melayu, Islamic religion, etc. So, what is the point of learning Bahasa Malaysia when you are being oppressed simply because you are not a bumiputera?

What ails this country is not the language barrier and I am very surprised this Zam character, who was a minister before, did not understand the root of the problem. The root of it is the failed social re-engineering, the brainchild of Umno.

There are many gifted and talented Malaysians all over the world, except in Malaysia. Why is that? Why should there be a quota system in the education system?

Why do top students, non-Malays, fail to get a place in local universities to pursue their dream courses? Instead, universities from other countries offer them scholarships. Something is very wrong here.

Anonymous #70881335: Zam may be right to say that the Chinese and Indians should be more fluent in Bahasa Malaysia. But, more important, one should also be better in English.

Anonymous_ABG: Generally, the Chinese and Indians speak and write higher quality Bahasa Malaysia than the Malays. Even the Indian Muslims speak well pronounced BM. The Chinese and Tamil schools were established very long before BM schools, BM was hardly a language then.

Waktamnoko: He was telling it as it is and what it should have been. I wonder why some Chinese are so peeved and just cannot accept the truth. After all, maybe in another three to four decades the Chinese population may be only less than 10 percent of the total population.

Then, we may even have to do what Indonesia did. Abolish all vernacular schools and just have one common language - Bahasa Malaysia.

That was why Chinese Indonesian Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) and others were able to rise and be accepted politically. People like them were Indonesians first in everything they do. Maybe what Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently said may be the reality by that time.

Not Smart: Zainuddin, you are really behind time. The recent urging for the Chinese community to learn BM makes no sense and appears to be malicious. Look back into the UPSR; PMR; and SPM results of this community, especially those achieving Grades 1 and 2. It is a requirement to obtain a credit in BM in order to qualify for the top grades in these examinations.

Most of them who did not learn BM some 57 years ago are peacefully resting in their graves after contributing their toil to develop the nation to what it is today. The examination results speak louder that your lies. Don't make propaganda without facts.

David Dass: I would agree that we seem to be three races, each travelling his or her own path. But I am not sure whose fault it is. Malay schools, as some have said, have become Islamic schools. Mission schools cease to exist but in name only. The leading schools of yesteryear no more hold their attraction.

English schools used to be attractive schools. Standards were high. English is an even more important language today and we have consigned it to a low value subject.

China has acknowledged the importance of English for knowledge and global competition and have targeted 300 English language proficient Chinese. They claim to have achieved their targets.

I am not sure that Chinese and Indians cannot speak Malay, The older ones perhaps. But those who have gone through national secondary schools can speak Malay.

Perhaps Chinese entrepreneurs who interact with Umno politicians cannot speak Malay proficiently. Many would have gone to Chinese secondary schools. But there is a flaw in Zam’s thinking. He wants the Chinese to lose their Chinese identity as a precondition to losing their pendatang status.

Why? Why can't there be unity in diversity ? Indonesia has altered its position. They recognise the strength of the Chinese as entrepreneurs. Why can’t we recognise their strength? Why don't we learn from them ?

Why don't we make our schools attractive for all? Why don't we recognise the importance of English and make all our schools bilingual? Or trilingual? Or quadrilingual? Many Chinese and Indians already speak two or three languages.

liujinzhong: Why would non-Malays get serious studying BM when they are unlikely to get government jobs?

Anonymous #20513663: Also, this whole debate is missing the woods for the trees. There are an estimated six million non-Malaysian citizens in our country now. That's almost as large as the number of Malaysians classified as 'Chinese'. Certainly more than those classified as 'Indian' and more than the Orang Asal.

About half, if not more, of these non-citizens are illegal. Many of them will stay in Malaysia. Their children cannot go to school. Like rural students from 'vernacular' schools, they are are a natural 'talent pool' for criminal gangs to draw on.

What are we doing about this? We are on the US State Department's blacklist for human trafficking. We are not a party to the UN's 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. We have some serious population and security problems, but our ministers are still stuck in the 'British Malaya' of Anthony Burgess and Somerset Maugham.


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