Fluency in BM the key to national unity Posted on 18 July 2013 - 09:21pm Nauwar Shukri newsdesk@thesundaily KUALA LUMPUR (July 18, 2013): A university lecturer today squarely placed the blame on the lack of national unity on the non-proficiency of Bahasa Malaysia among non-Malays. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia senior fellow, Prof Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong, said it meant little to be called Malaysian if they lack fluency in Bahasa Malaysia. "What does it mean to be Malaysian if you cannot communicate in the national language?" he asked at a lecture at the Teachers Training Institute in Pantai here. He cited the example of 609 National Service trainees in 2010 who could only speak a smattering of Bahasa Malaysia, questioning how that could happen in a country where Bahasa Malaysia is supposed to be the official language. Teo, who is also a member of the National Language Implementation Committee under the Education Ministry, suggested that the Bahasa Malaysia curriculum in vernacular schools be reviewed for students to be at par with their peers from national schools. Last year, the United Chinese School Committees Association (Dong Zong) moved to ensure that all teachers in Chinese vernacular schools had SPM Chinese language qualifications by requesting that the Education Ministry transfer out teachers who did not meet the qualification. "We cannot teach Bahasa Malaysia as though it is a foreign language by using Mandarin or Tamil interpretations and translations. "It is an insult to the language and the Malaysian people," Teo told the audience of teacher trainees. According to him, the implementation of the "Malaysia Negaraku" subject in primary schools was rejected by Chinese and Indian communities because it was to be in Bahasa Malaysia. "It was a 30-minute weekly subject to instil nationalism and promote integration but the ministry had to postpone its implementation because some communities wanted the subject to be conducted in Mandarin and Tamil in their respective vernacular schools," he said. thesundaily.my/news/774348
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 09:20:23 +0000
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