SHAH ALAM, Dec 14 (Bernama) -- Malaysians have an extremely important role of mastering English to acquire knowledge at a faster pace to ensure there is no 're-colonisation' of the country, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.Without a good command of English, the former prime minister noted, the people would not acquire knowledge quickly.
He said this would, in turn, open doors to those knowledgeable to dominate and influence them, either directly or indirectly.
"English is the language of the Knowledge Age. Countries which do not master English will not only be left behind but risk being colonised, either directly or indirectly.
"Without knowledge, countries will be oppressed and even invaded," Dr Mahathir told reporters after delivering his keynote address entitled, 'The Leadership and Policy Components for the Knowledge Society: A Proposed Best Practice for Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) member countries at the 17th Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS) conference.
The conference was opened by the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah at a hotel near here.
The four-day conference which began on Monday, is jointly organised by IAS, Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel) and International Islamic Academy of Life Sciences and Biotechnology.
Dr Mahathir said that only by mastering English, could the people in this country acquire knowledge at a faster pace so as not to be left behind by development.
He said, the people would not lose their identity by seeking knowledge in English.
"English is not only for English people but (it is) a universal language. I am not an Englishman but I speak English," he said.
Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir said the current leadership was "ignoring success" by abolishing the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) and reverting to Bahasa Malaysia.
"I don't think the government understands the importance of English as a language of knowledge when they decided to switch from English to Malay (in teaching Science and Mathematics)," he said.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government had decided to reverse the PPSMI policy and revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools, and Chinese and Tamil in vernacular schools from 2012.
The PPSMI policy was implemented in phases, beginning with Year One, Form One and Lower Six students in 2003, under Dr Mahathir's administration.
Earlier, when delivering his keynote address, Dr Mahathir said knowledge was expanding rapidly, especially in science, and books and writings on this subject were in English.
He said that possibilities were there to override past beliefs in the field of science, which could not be done in geography and history.
"Knowledge in science is not static, unlike geography and history where facts are structured and limited.
"In science, we can always go back and question the scientific principles and decide whether they are right or not," he said, adding new discoveries were coming out in torrents in English.
tunku : it is sad that the government don't understand this when they scrapped away the PPSMI.so disappointed at muhyiddin.majority out there wants PPSMI, only fools are against it.
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11 comments:
Yes those ministers who oppose PPSMI are a bunch of BLOODY FOOOLS,especially Fuad Zarkashi and Nazri Najis.
Unfortunately we have been colonised with borrowed words from English. Why can't Standard Guru Malaysia be Piawaian Guru Malaysia and all the program-program and aktiviti-aktiviti that are being introduced be called rancangan-rancangan and kegiatan-kegiatan. We are just fooling ourselves. BM in his original form is a beautifful language. D
DPM keeps saying that the decision to abolish PPSMI is muktamad. Many parents saying they want to have the option to continue PPSMI. Tun Mahathir once in awhile publicly critised the cabinet decision. I think he cannot tahan but have to bring this up in a international level conference. But cabinet continues to keep quiet. This we are worried that a surprised will be sprung at the 11th hour that that muktamad is definetely muktamad. My concern is the children. They are the victims
Salam:
When you have Minister that dont have foresight, that dont have the brain and the mentality and they dont seek the advised of the senior. The end result, the people will suffer. They make mistake when they change Bahasa Melayu to Bahasa Malaysia, that is the biggest mistake. Do the Chinese or Indian have Mandarin Malaysia or Tamil Malaysia as their language? Isnt it the used of bahasa Melayu strecth wide from Sri Lanka to Taiwan and even in Surinam in South America. Its a pity mistake after mistake, changes for the worst and the flip flop makes things worst. PPSMI is a short sightedness of DS Najib dan Muhyiddin Yassin. This will be their biggest mistake and the generation to come will lose out, all because of their 2cents worth of thinking. I do hope they realised this and undo the mistake. We want a bold, brave and wise decision for the goodness of anak2 bangsa.
And the biggest joke is that chinese and tamil schools take a lower standard BM paper for UPSR. This is really contradicting especially on the efforts to uphold the status of BM. Isn't it so obvious that this is political and very short-sighted ?
So when Dr Mahathir initially forced all subjects to be taught in Malay he must be a fool right?
Your words not mine.
PPSMI is a failure, you can learn Science and Technology in any language as long as the mathematical foundation is strong. You can never understand this stuff because perhaps you do not even know the difference between a derivative and an integral. Go learn up and comment.
balaci kj,
kalau ppsmi tu failure, tak dak lah peningkatan dlm pencapaian upsr dlm sains dan math.hang ni memang la beruk upahan kj.
Newspapers reported that there were more As in Science and Maths in recent UPSR results and every year it had been reported but when the decision to drop PPSMI, no one want to comment further positively. Only concerned parents are voicing out. Parents know how well the children do or not. Politicians and nationalists just talk and threaten each other
Dear Tunku,
We all understand the value of English. Here I must congratulate YAA Tun for making the correct diagnosis of the illness but unfortunately his prescription -teaching maths and science in English is flawed.
I am given to understand that in a certain national school in Sarawak
the Headmaster has directed that all activities ouside the classroom should be conducted in English.
There is even a better system where a certain country runs all its primary schools in the national language with english as a compulsory subject followed by secondary and tertiary education with english as the medium of instruction and national language a compulsory subject.
As Malaysians we must all be able to speak or national language. But we must not do it at the expense of learning other languages. I have said this many a time. Language is only a tool and we must not spend our energy to try and turn it into an ideology. Ramalx
Anonymous 8.57 pm I am not sure whether you are referring to the Philippines. I was once told that they start teaching in Tagalog in primary school and along the way some subjects are being taught in English and then completely in English. I doubt this will work in Malaysia with so much politicking. Even to continue to teach 2 subject that is science and maths is so much of a hassle. Worse still the BM paper in UPSR for chinese and tamil schools are of lower standard. I strongly believe that continue to teach science and math in english and the other subjects in BM will see more children be strong in BM and English. In any system, there will some be at the disadvantage. Again, we are not only talking about the children but the future of Malaysia.
Please have a look at what Brunei DS is doing in the field of education.Ramalx
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Tun Dr. Mahathir:
Sesungguhnya tidak ada yang lebih menyayat
Dari melihat bangsaku dijajah
Tidak ada yang lebih menyedihkan
Dari melihat bangsaku dihina
Malique:
Aku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Aku pasti bukan aku seorang saja yang nampak
Ada juga bercadang bertanya tuan punya
Tapi bercampur risau dengan tak tergamak
Nanti dikata tak bersyukur, dikata tak sedar diri
Jadi aku menyendiri, memerhati dan akhirnya mengakui
Yang kita sendiri
Membiarkan Bunga Raya melayu ke kanan
Dan dibiar bunga tak cantik mekar di kiri
Aku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Tanah air kita yang punya
Kita siram, kita baja tapi angin api kita lupa
Mereka merancang masa menjilat bangsa
13 harimau bertukar menjadi mangsa
Kita lupa nenek moyang kaya-raya
Jangan sekali-kali digadai harta-bendanya
Ku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Ku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Ku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia
Ya... tapi apa guna tak hilang di dunia
Kalau kewujudan tidak dirasa
Petah berbahasa kudrat tak berjasa
Orang berbudi kita hanya tahu merasa
Selalu lari bila dirapat
Selalu malu bila soalan diaju
Selalu segan memberi pendapat
Rela mengikut dari meneraju
Belum nyanyi sudah bersorak
Suka berjanji dalam borak
Bukan kata tak ada otak
Cuma tak berfikir di luar kotak
Ku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Ku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Ku lihat layu dalam Melayu
Aku jadi sayu
Bunga menangis dia mendayu
Mahu jadi cantik tetapi ragu
Aku merayu
Bangunlah semula hidup kembali
Jangan tunggu matahari mati
Cepatlah mekar sebelum terlerai
Perjuangan kita belum selesai
Perjuangan kita belum selesai
Perjuangan kita belum selesai
Tun Dr. Mahathir:
Perjuangan kita belum selesai
Kerana hanya yang cekal dan tabah
Dapat membina mercutanda Bangsanya yang berjaya
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