Wednesday, November 26, 2008

DR M: MASTERING ENGLISH WILL NOT ERODE IMPORTANCE OF BAHASA MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR, (Bernama) The fear among some quarters in the country that learning and using English would erode the importance of Bahasa Malaysia is unfounded, said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Dr Mahathir said he was criticised by nationalists for wanting the government to continue teaching Science and Mathematics in English, but English was the only language where Malaysians could gain much knowledge in these two subjects.

"Before I stepped down as prime minister, I introduced this system because I felt it was necessary for us to gain knowledge. If we are going to translate all the works of Science and Mathematics into Bahasa Malaysia, then it would take a long time and we would lose out.

"But lately there has been a debate about this and that we need to revert to the old system of using Bahasa Malaysia to teach and learn Science and Maths.

"The Education Ministry is going to decide on this very soon. There are pros and cons to this and I do worry about it. Our people should know how to read, write and speak the national language but at the same time to gain knowledge, they should learn and use English.

He said the amount of new knowledge was coming out "fast and furious" and Malaysians needed to grasp the knowledge, which were mostly in English.

"I hope I can stop the government from going back to using Bahasa Malaysia to teach Maths and Science but I am no more in power. We have to accept whatever the decision although it may not be that good for the country."

He added that the reason that Malaysia lacked teachers to teach the two subjects in English should not be an excuse because teachers could be substituted by computer software, "which is better than teachers sometimes".

2 comments:

  1. "Our people should know how to read, write and speak the national language but at the same time to gain knowledge, they should learn and use English.He said the amount of new knowledge was coming out "fast and furious" and Malaysians needed to grasp the knowledge, which were mostly in English."
    "Before I stepped down as prime minister, I introduced this system because I felt it was necessary for us to gain knowledge. DR.TUN MAHATHIR MUHAMMAD.
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    Semekom....
    Ni yang aku geram sangat ni,orang yang bercakap tentang perkara diatas inilah yang telah mengubah sistem pembelajaran dinegara ini semasa beliau menjadi Menteri Pelajaran sekitar tahun 70'an dulu.

    Siok-siok kami belajar menggunakan bahasa inggeris, diajar oleh paderi2 omputih, bila dia jadi menteri pelajaran..senang-senang diri sahaja dia tukar penggunaan bahasa malaysia sebagai bahasa pengantar diseluruh negara. Demi untuk mempertahankan kedaulatan BAHASA MALAYSIA kononnya...phoodahhh!!

    Kini..suka-suka dia sahaja bising menyindir para lepasan universiti tempatan tiada kualiti kerana kurang penguasaan bahasa inggeris. Baru nak cuci tanganlah ni...mangkuk hayun betul!!

    yalah...better late than never..tapi,tetap juga saya `kutuk' tindakan Tun M itu, yang telah menyebabkan rakyat kerugian `masa dan anjakan pengetahuan'gara-gara keputusan populist itu. Bodoh tidak bertempat!!

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  2. Denakan,
    Seni kutuk mengutuk ini memang biasa. Orang kata tiada kutuk maka tiada lah puji nya. 'Quote from the law of action and reaction'.
    However,implikasi nya masing-masing kena lah tanggung sendiri.

    Namun kesilapan Tun M ketika itu tidak dapat di nafi. Walau macammana pun beliau terpaksa terima hukuman karma nya.Sejarah tetap terlukis jua.

    Berlandaskan ‘better late than never’, kita doakan agar Najib dan Musa Aman di sabah jangan mengulangi hal ini. kerana saperti Denakan tahu, limpahan nya sangat berat untuk generasi kita kini dan masa yang akan datang. Itu pasti

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