Pride won't feed your family

'Eighty percent of content in the web is in English. So even language nationalists will have to know English to access this knowledge.'

Ignore English and you'll fall behind

Werewolves: Follow Singapore: teach in English in all subjects in national primary and secondary schools and in universities. At the same time, allocate sufficient time for the teaching of Malay, Mandarin and Tamil as mother-tongue language. Bring in the best teachers.

Do this for 10 years, and Malaysian parents will soon find out that those graduates from national school will outperform those from Chinese and Tamil schools both in universities and also in the job market.

When this happen, more of them will send their children to national schools and this will lead to better national unity and racial integration.

Paul Warren: Why does not someone just ask the employers what they do when they receive an application letter written in Bahasa Malaysia? I know what I do. I throw it in the waste paper basket without even reading it.

I need people who can communicate with me and to be able to communicate to a broader audience. And my customers want it in English. Even when dealing with government departments, including such organisations as Jakim, all communication - and even a meeting I attended - was in English. It had to be, though not for me, but so that we all understand what we are talking about.

Just who are the promoters of Bahasa Malaysia fooling? They convince almost all the Malay population that the Malay language alone will get them far. But they get cheated in the end. Parents who know ensure their children's English is kept well ahead of their BM.

Disgusted_sl: The learning of English not only applies to Malays but also Chinese-educated Chinese. More Chinese nowadays also have difficulties with English. Mandarin alone is not enough, especially in multinational corporations and senior management.

Anonymous: Here's the dilemma: after many years of poor decision-making by our Education Ministry and the prejudice of insisting on emphasis on Malay as the only instruction medium, and the downplay of English language on a nationalistic whim, the people who suffer are the poor and rural folks who have been deprived of an opportunity to learn English, which is the de facto language of communication in the business world.

To teach key subjects in English such as maths and science, the rural folks who have poor command of the language will be lost. The only solution is to allow the schools to choose which medium of instruction to use based on the communities preference; for communities who are inherently weak in English; English should be taught as a second language.

While the urban communities may choose to have their medium of instruction in English. English should be encourage to be used because there is an economic impact to their lives, not because of pride. Pride won't feed your family.

Ttloo: Ignoring English will definitely make you fall behind as the language is use globally and is second to none. China realised the importance of English as all expatriates employed in China must command an excellent level of English besides Mandarin.

In the 50s and 60s, English was the medium of instruction. Irrespective of race and religion, English was used as the unifying language for all Malaysians. Today, only the older generations have a command of good spoken and written English as compared to fresh graduates.

David Dass: It is a case of passion above practicality, emotion before reason and politics before intelligence. In China, they do it in Chinese, in Japan they do it in Japanese, in France they do it in French, and in Germany they do it in German.

Why cannot we do it in Malay? English may not be widely spoken in these countries but many of their engineers and scientists are capable of reading English texts. These countries also have huge and incredibly expensive translation agencies that translate important texts within a few days of publication.

So the short answer is that these countries cannot do without knowledge of the English language. Eighty percent of content in the web is in English. So even language nationalists will have to know English to access this knowledge.

Dr M: Sumpah laknat is Eskay's right

Onyourtoes: Dr Mahathir Mohamad said because Shazryl Eskay Abdullah took the oath because he felt he was right in doing so, while the one who failed to take the oath probably felt they had done something wrong.

It is so funny that you just have to "feel" you are right to take an oath, and that would be sufficient to prove the other party is guilty or wrong. If a person did not take the oath, most probably that person "feels" that he is guilty or wrong.

So much from a statesman, a hero and race defender. Now I understand better why Malaysia is in such deep trouble today.

Dingy: What would happen to a Muslim who took ‘sumpah laknat' even if he had something wrong? Will he be struck by lightning? Or is it that he would face Allah's judgement in his afterlife?

Most Muslims don't fear what happens in the afterlife otherwise they would not cheat, practise corruption, etc. Even PM Najib Razak dared to take an oath in a mosque that he had never met Altantuya Shaariibuu, as mentioned by private eye P Balasubramaniam. What happened to Najib? He is getting popular and happy, isn't he?

AnonymousA: Dr M, don't you know that everybody may swear on a holy book or whatever, but will the people believe you? Do you believe that Najib didn't know Altantuya? If Najib is innocent, why did the PI Bala have to disappear from Malaysia, his homeland?

On the eve of the by-election in Permatang Pauh, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan swore on the Quran that he was sodomised by Anwar, but did it work? Anwar still won big in the by-election.

Anonymous _MN1324: The question that begs to be answered is why PKR and its supporters consider the oath was wrong? Secondly, Anwar Ibrahim has been making fun of the whole situation on his propaganda tour, while the easiest for him, and what will tear down the whole affair, is to take an oath that the sodomy and the video were not true.

Black Mamba: Dr M, not to sumpah is also Anwar's right. Does 'sumpah laknat' makes Eskay more innocent and Anwar more guilty? An accomplice to a murder has sumpah and so did an alleged victim of sodomy. Does that mean they are innocent after the sumpah?

Anonymous Momok: What kind of logic is that? If Mahathir is right, then what is the use of the existence of court? The reason Eskay resorted to the ‘sumpah laknat' is because he is desperate and has to be seen as "righteous".

From young, I was taught never to swear in the name of God, your "yes" is "yes" and your "no" is "no"; anything more is from the devil.

Viewer: Since Eskay admitted he is also in the video, this means that he is a ‘bapak ayam' (pimp). Just because he wears a songkok, it does not make him qualified to walk into the mosque to sumpah.

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