The Rough Road Towards Bilingualism

A Kadir Jasin

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EDUCATION Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister, met scores of bloggers for a friendly exchange over dinner at Sime Darby Convention Centre on July 20.

The exchange, as expected, centered on the abolishment of the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI).

Muhyiddin was obviously aware that most of the bloggers present were generally against the decision. He was right.

Many spoke against the decision and to Muhyiddin’s credit, he took pain to explain the reasons and rationale for the tough decision.

Although the bloggers might not be totally convinced of the Minister’s explanation, but my own feeling is they are willing to given him the benefit of the doubt and the chance to prove his point and make good his promises.

I am thus happy that a few days later he announced plans to absorb pre-school education into the national education system with the intention of boosting the learning of English at an early age.

He was reported as saying that the exposure to the language at that level would be advantageous. I cannot agree more.

I am reminded of how quickly Muslim children learn to recite the Al-Fatihah at the age of three or four. I am sure the same applies to learning and understand the English nursery rhymes, which is a good start in learning a foreign language.

The problems, as the bloggers told Muhyiddin, were not with the policies or the good intentions they carry. In the post-independent history of national education, there was never the shortage of good policies and good intentions.

The problems lie with the “hangat-hangat tahi ayam” attitude, the tendency to put political mileage and financial gains ahead of these lofty policies, the lack of professionalism and commitment among the implementers and the inability to bridge the urban-rural gap and the gap between the rich and the poor.

The Minister was warned that if not wisely implemented, the new policies, including the award of scholarships based on meritocracy, would lead to further widening of the rural-urban rift and the rift the rich and the poor.

The bloggers were merciless in attacking what they saw as the hypocrisy and the lack of professionalism among key officers in the Education Ministry who failed to warn their political bosses of the failure or the lack of success of major policies, including the PPSMI, until it was too late.

These apple polishers and “cari makan” officers had done more harm than good to the their political masters in the long run in addition to the sins of ruining the education system.

Muhyiddin was told that unless he employs the best people to assist him and the best teachers to spread the gospel of world-class education, he could still end up as the Prime Minister but leave a legacy of failure as Education Minister.

He was told that out of more than a dozen Education Ministers, five had so far risen to the post of Prime Minister and yet world-class education continues to elude us. In fact, at the tertiary level, the world ranking of our public universities has been on the decline.

As a parting shot, the bloggers said they are willing to “compromise” on the abolishment of the PPSMI on condition that a better system is introduced to make future Malaysians truly bilingual.

But they said they would not comprise on the need to rid Umno and the Government of corrupt politicians, in particular those who had been found guilty of money politics by the party’s own court. Several names were mentioned.

All in all it was a good meeting and I once again thank the Deputy Prime Minister, his media officers and political advisers for taking us into confidence.

I am happy that my younger blogger friends, some of whom are young enough to be my sons, spoke their mind out without fear or favour.

I know some of them are taking risks with their employment and their economic future, but this is what it takes if we believe in the higher ideals and if they do not want their generation and their children’s generation to slide back to the dark days of poverty, inequality, ignorance and subjugation.