Malaysiakini.com（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
(1) All about science and the Malay language, 13 January 2009
by AB Sulaiman
Saad Hashim in his Malaysiakini article “Bahasa Melayu can be turned into a global winner” had a great time chiding and demonising those of us who prefer the use of English over Malay to seek knowledge, science and technology.
I would agree with this writer up to the point that some segments of Malaysians have been giving too much faith, trust, preference and use of English for our mental and material development.
Where have we placed our patriotism, nationalism, and sense of nationhood? What is so good about English and whatever is wrong with Malay anyway?
Just look around us on the world stage, the Japanese learning science and technology in Japanese, the Koreans in Korean, Italians in Italian, Germans in German, the Chinese in Mandarin, and the Indonesians in Indonesian Malay!
So it is proven beyond any shadow of doubt that English is not the only language that can undertake this task. We Malaysians should gain knowledge in Bahasa Melayu, our own indigenous language.
I would disagree with him on four interrelated dynamics listed immediately below, and by doing so, to share my thoughts and worries over this very important but contentious issue.
(a) The meaning of science, of which there can be two: One, the understanding of nature by way of the thinking process involving analysis, hypothesis, and synthesis. Two, the products of this thinking process.
(b) Words are more than just an assembly of alphabets or characters. They represent the sum total of human experience.
(c) The Malay language is an under-equipped and underdeveloped storehouse of human knowledge.
(d) The timing of the absorption and adoption of scientific and technical knowledge into Bahasa Melayu.
Definitions of science
I begin with the two meanings of science.
Judging from the writer’s deliberations, he equated science with items like the Bunsen burner, chemical actions and reactions, maybe; the principles and laws of physics, definitely. Indeed, the entire gamut of modern technology, surely. This is a normal, common and popular enough perception of science.
But it may surprise him and many others like him that these items are not science per se. These are in actuality the products of science.
Science has a second more appropriate though lesser known definition. It is understanding nature and this can be done by a string of thinking processes (i) of analysis past wisdoms, (ii) of creating hypothesis on their truth and viability, and (iii) of coming with some synthesis of conclusions and “products”.
I quote two classic examples here to illustrate the process, the first involving Copernicus and the second Galileo.
Copernicus inherited the wisdom inherited from ancient times that the earth is the centre of the universe with the sun and the other planets like Mars and Neptune revolving or rotating around it.
Through a great deal of theorising, followed by empirical testing and observation, he proved that it is the earth and the other planets that rotate around the sun. He debunked an old wisdom which turned out to be a myth!
Galileo inherited the wisdom that light objects fall at a slower rate than heavier ones; that a solid metal ball for example would fall faster than rubber ball. He too found this to be a myth.
Again through observation and experimentation, testing and calculation, induction and deduction, checking and re-checking, he offered this new scientific conclusion and product: rubber and metal, or any mass or object all fall at the same rate. He too debunked an old myth.
The scientific method
Both these towering intellectual giants have been the early contributors to the thinking and reasoning process, also known as the scientific method. It is a method of investigation featured by testing and verifying any hypothesis and theory to ensure that any conclusion or product is free from personal and cultural biases.
Galileo particularly insisted for all observations and experiments to be documented to make it easier for others to undertake the same experiment or observation at anytime anywhere.
Predictable results and available avenue for falsification are two additional and major admirable features of science and scientific thinking.
By practising science (or scientific thinking), both Copernicus and Galileo have helped develop the process of conceptualisation and intellectualisation, of drawing a clear line between truth and falsity, myth and reality, fact and value judgment or personal and cultural biases.
They helped usher the development of the era of Enlightenment, the era of a complete change of human thinking and an explosion in the level of human knowledge.
This era in turn bought along with it the following:
(a) Creative thinking, leading to deep theoretical constructs and conceptualisation.
(b) Imaginative thinking, where the human roams from the smallest worlds of the atoms and bosons to the largest worlds of the planets, galaxies and the vast expanses of the universe. No subject is sacrosanct. No subject is taboo.
(c) Scientific thinking where no new knowledge is accepted as truth unless it is fully accepted as one by all segments of the human community, and where all truth are always governed by predictability and subjected to falsification; at any time by any person.
(d) Literary thinking, where the human mind through its authors and writers develop the concept of the novel.
They in turn usher the following:
(e) Development of science and scientific knowledge.
(f) Development of technology. This is the conversion and application of the products to some forms of “tool” for humankind to use; like the microscope, television, cars, aeroplanes, even guns and bombs.
(g) Development of modern intellectual life. We can name any subject for study today, like economics, psychology, modern medicine, sociology; we can name any modern inventions we take so much for granted today, like the microscope, photography, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine; all of these began and were developed after the scientific revolution.
(h) Development of modern recreational life i.e whatever games we humans play today like football and badminton were conceptualised and formed during this era as well.
(i) Development of political life, like democracy and the democratic life.
(j) Development of the modern money economy featured by the joint-stock company, the factory system, the market economy, even of colonisation and world trade.
The conclusion at this juncture is that the entire human civilisation we live in today has been enjoying the products or fruits of good solid scientific thinking, made possible by the thinking process of the scientific method and applied into modern “tools” in the form of technology.
The role of words:
All of these developments are forms of human experience, and in turn dependent upon:
(a) Identifying the new found knowledge (i.e. ideas, concepts, and physical objects) and the awareness of its existence.
(b) It has to be given a label or name to isolate it from another item of knowledge. This label comes in the form of words.
(c) It is shared with others by way of communication, or by language.
(d) It is recorded by way of writing.
I would amplify upon them herewith by delving into the psychology and role of words.
Words are more than just an assembly or arrangement of the alphabet. They represent the sum total of human experience to their intended meaning.
To illustrate, let’s take the word “television”. Most of us must have heard if it, used it, and are addicted to its programmes. We enjoy television; we have a lot to say about our experience with it.
A huge number of us mankind live on television, either as manufacturers, mechanics, salesmen, or producers, actors, presenters of its programmes. There can be many more lives dependent on television in one way or another. Television is part and parcel of the human experience. So this word exists to most people.
But there can conceivably be some tribes in the remotest depths of the vast Amazon jungle, or in the deep corners of the Kalahari Desert for example who have not heard, seen, or even imagined “television” before. To these people this word, this experience, this ubiquitous communication and entertainment tool, does not exist at all!
Similarly, take the word handphone (or mobile- or cell-phone). Though it is popular all over the world, there can be some people or groups of people in some remote corners of the world who have not heard, seen or use it even today. To these people the ubiquitous cell-, mobile- or handphone too does not exist!
Limited Malay words
My definition of words serves to highlight the point that the Malay language is suffering from a shortage and deficiency of words, indicative of the fact that it is utterly deficient in human experiences.
This is to say that it has plenty of words reflecting (and “experiencing”) human sentiments (like kasih and malu), names of flora and fauna, of natural objects (sungai and gunung), even of spiritual or theological concepts (like halal, dosa, pahala). There are also conceptual words to cover human experience, like love and pain, joy and anger.
But such physical and conceptual words are limited, revealing the limited experience of the Malay culture.
A patently obvious deficiency of words in this language is centred in modern concepts, and in scientific and technical words.
Concepts are words and ideas that exist only in the mind. They are words like imagination, relaxation, and thousands of others like them.
Malay is barren with modern concepts (like conceptualisation, system, rule of law, imagination) and new scientific (e.g. gravity, virus, bacteria) and technical words (e.g circuit, affidavit).
Scientific and technical words of course label human experience in these fields.
It does not take a genius to summarise the prevailing situation:
(a) Malay is a weak language relative to the level of human knowledge that exists in the world.
(b) It is particularly deficient in conceptual scientific and technical words. The world of today however is very conceptual, scientific and technical.
(c) A huge amount of borrowing and injection of technical words and modern concepts is required to put Malay at par with other languages.
(d) It is at breaking point for being weak and having to absorb a huge amount of words and concepts in a very short period of time. It is suffering from what Alvin Toffler, a management guru and futurist, termed as information overload.
Translation a mammoth task
The writer might be aware of the acute deficiency of Malay conceptual, scientific and technical words, thereby of the very limited experience of Malay culture in the idioms and nuances of modern life.
The government certainly is aware of this and has created the Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to give Malay a jump-start to boost the language. Its principal role evidently is to upgrade the Malay language to be at par with other modern languages.
In this way it can assume its role of uniting the people and educating our younger generations in our own indigenous and “mother tongue” language.
In the event the following factors are to be taken into consideration:
(a) The mammoth task of translating or imitating conceptual scientific and technical words from foreign ones into Malay.
(b) The probability of achieving any modicum of success in this ambitious Herculean effort.
(c) The point that in this frenetic world the level of human knowledge doubles every eight to ten years, as claimed by some human psychologists.
With these factors in mind let’s do some basic postulations:
(a) Assume that the level of scientific and technical book available in Malay is at 10.
(b) Assume that this level in English or any other language is at 100.
We are now at the beginning of the new year. Based on the above notional figures we need to translate 90 new books in the course of the next ten years to be at par with any other scientific language.
By the end of the next ten years we would be able to lift Malay to the 100 level.
Or so we’d like to think. The truth however is not as simple as that, for:
(a) The intellectual infrastructure of Malay is limited so translating 90 books represents a 900 percent increase! I do not believe this is possible despite the massive, concerted and heroic efforts of the Dewan Bahasa.
(b) The number of books in the foreign language at the end of the next ten year would have doubled to 200 in any case.
(c) The absolute gap or differential between the two gets exponentially larger in the ensuing years!
Fundamentals just too weak
All said and done Malay will not be able to succeed in this catch-up game. Its fundamentals are just too weak for such an ambitious project.
We are living in a speedy world. Blame it on the computer, or on whatever. But the human civilisation is moving and changing so very fast that as they say we have to keep on running in order to stay still.
The case is the same with language. The English language (in this case) is moving so fast that we have to run to be abreast with the wealth of knowledge it can offer us. Time and timing is not on the side of the Malay language – it did not absorb conceptual scientific and technical words when these were first coined and to do so now is to me an exercise in sheer futility.
“Bahasa Melayu can be turned into a global winner” is thus potentially a myth in the making.
It is with this awareness that some of us who have shown preference for English over Malay.
It is not that we love Malay less but that we are acutely aware of the alternative at hand, of knowing English can give us far better advantages as a medium of communication, of knowledge, conceptualisation, scientific and technical learning and advancement.
We want to catch up with human experience directly through this language. We do not have to wait until it is translated into Malay, for this day may never come.
Learning from knowledgeable quarters
To conclude this little tale, I have one very important observation to make. Let’s put it this way. If I want to learn about motor mechanics today I’d enrol in a motor mechanic school where I’d be taught by some qualified and experienced teachers, people very knowledgeable about auto mechanics.
I certainly will not learn it from my neighbour and peer who is also about to enrol into the same school to learn the same subject.
Now many of us in this country want to (or have to, in this fast and furious conceptual, technical and competitive world) learn about concepts, science and technical words. We do not want to do so via the Malay language for it is also in the process of learning them usually from English. So we go directly to the source – the English language.
(2) Maths, science: Reveal findings, Hisham told, 10 January 2009
Education Minister Hishamuddin Hussein Onn today came under fire from DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang today for keeping silent over the ‘disastrous results’ Malaysia scored in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) survey for the year 2007.
Timss is an international assessment of mathematics and science knowledge of fourth to eighth grade (Standard Four to Form Two) students around the world.
Lim expressed his disappointment over the minister for keeping silent on the Timss findings regardless of the on-going controversy on the teaching of science and maths in English.
"Hishammuddin had not been shy in immediately going public about the previous findings of Timss in 2003," he said referring to when the minister came out with a public announcement on the matter on Dec 14, 2004.
Then, Malaysia was placed in tenth spot for the teaching of mathematics, scoring ahead of Australia, Britain, the US and New Zealand. For science, Malaysian students were placed in the 20th spot, ahead of countries like Norway and Italy.
"If Hishammuddin could go public within 24 hours on the Timss 2003 findings, why is he maintaining an eerie silence of one whole month of the release of the 2007 findings?" he said.
He said the three assessments Malaysia had participated in for Timms 2007 had been a total disaster and this ‘was a direct reflection on the quality of his leadership as ‘education minister’.
For Timss 2007, Malaysia’s ranking dropped drastically to 20th spot for the teaching of maths while for the teaching of science, the country came in at number 21.
"The proud statement of Hishammuddin in December 2004 has all turned to ashes.
"Did the cabinet give the Hishammuddin the ‘green-light’ to bury the disastrous Timss findings from public knowledge?" asked the Ipoh Timur MP.
‘Dream has to be shelved’
Lim further pointed out that Malaysia’s performance in maths and science teaching should be discussed by making public a national report highlighting the Timss’ Malaysian results and its findings.
After Malaysia's participation in Timss1999, Lim said that he had called on the government to have a strategy to place Malaysia among the world's top five or six nations in the teaching of mathematics and science.
"(However) this dream has to be shelved until Hishammuddin can come out with a satisfactory explanation and solution for Malaysia's dismal performances in both mathematics and science in Timss 2007," Lim stressed.
The teaching of science and maths was reverted to English from Bahasa Malaysia by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The policy is geared at improving students’ proficiency in both the subjects.
Since its implementation in 2003, the move has been hotly debated by different quarters including the vernacular education movements and groups like the Malay Writers Association (Gapena).
Advocates of mother-tongue education have been urging the government to reverse its policy and have the two subjects taught in the national language.
(3) Nothing 'petty' or 'racial' about defending BM, 9 January 2009
by Fudzail
I refer to the writer’s comments in the Malaysiakini report Gapena, think of others too.
There are two different issues here, but first and foremost, the same ‘petty racial issues’ are also being championed by the Dong Jiao Zong, a Chinese education group which has been very vocal against the use of English to teach maths and science in vernacular primary schools.
If the writer sees this matter as being petty and racial, then I would say the same of Dong Jiao Zong.
Teaching maths and science in English will not solve the problem of unemployed graduates unable to secure jobs due to an inability to speak English fluently.
There is a need to improve drastically the teaching of English as a communication language rather than burdening the students to cope with additional comprehension and workload in learning maths and science in English.
The writer is definitely not from the rural areas where predominantly Malay students are already handicapped by poor facilities as well as tools in catching up with those urban students (predominantly non-Malays).
The statistics revealed by the education minister on the PMR oand UPSR exam results show improvements year after year for these two subject but this dubious and doubtful. Can you believe government propaganda which is only to hide their own mistakes and blunders?
Talk to the teachers who are struggling to speak in English, let alone teach in this language. We have developed countries which never used English to teach maths and science and they include Japan, Germany, France, Denmark and Russia.
This while some Third World countries which been using English as the main medium are still lagging behind on all fronts. The question here is, ‘why do we need to teach maths and science in English since we have been successful in producing technical graduates using the Malay language?
What is so wrong in protecting our own language and being proud of it? We are concerned about Malay language being sidelined and dying off as a technical language. The Dong Jiao Zong is right and so are others who oppose this move. We have our democratic right to oppose and we are not stupid.
I am one of those students from the rural areas who was taught in the Malay medium up to the SPM level with very poor command of English. It was an English language intensive course that improved my English tremendously.
I wonder why the same kind of syllabus and methods are not being used in the schools. Why do we need to spend (or rather waste) more money on teaching maths and science in English while neglecting the basic problem of teaching the English language itself?
Why not spend the same amount of our money to improve the teaching of English?
Yes, I am ashamed of Zam's poor command of English. He should have spoken in Malay just like other world leaders who proudly speak in their own national language even if they can speak English fluently.
That's Zam's arrogance in showing off his poor English to the whole world. We were never proud of him anyway.
(4) Maths and science in English: Decision soon, 8 January 2009
by S Pathmawathy & Jimadie Shah Othman
The Education Ministry has studied hundreds of feedbacks from various parties and the cabinet would be making its decision on whether to continue the teaching of mathematics and science in English (PPSMI) in schools very soon, said Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong.
Wee said this today following resistance by Malay language activists who had threatened the government with a mass protest rally if the decision to teach both the core subjects in English is not reversed.
According to the deputy minister,22 research papers have been scrutinised, in addition to five round table discussions and hundreds of memorandums.
“We have taken many views into consideration but now it is up to the cabinet to decide and make the announcement,” said Wee.
Speaking to reporters later, Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein reiterated that the push by certain quarters for the policy to be scrapped would not determine the cabinet’s decision.
“If they want to do something, go ahead but the ministry will not budge on the agenda that the decision depends on the views of all quarters not just certain groups,” he was quoted by Bernama after launching a reality television show in Putrajaya.
Wee added that he was not going to be “engaged in a war of words with them (Malay language activists)”.
Federation of Malay Writers Associations (Gapena) and several other groups had wanted to protest as the movement had given a Dec 31 deadline for the government to explain the issue.
Gapena rally planned for Feb 15
The policy to conduct mathematics and science in English was introduced by the Education Ministry in 2003 and implemented in phases, starting with Year One, Form One and Lower Six.
Gapena said the rally is expected to be held on Feb 15 and dubbed as “152” to symbolise Article 152 of the federal constitution, which states that Malay is the country’s official language.
The writers’ association had also warned of a legal action against the government for not complying with the constitutional provisions and for “killing the Malay language”.
Asked on how the use of English for the subjects would result in the death of the Malay language, the association's second secretary Hasni Abas said: “The action is like a river and it would sooner or later widened out and lead to the extinction in the usage of the Malay language”.
He also said that teaching the subjects in English alone would not improve the progress of the students.
'Improve the method of teaching English'
“The ministry should improve the method of teaching English itself, not increase the usage by converting other subjects to be taught in English,” he exclaimed.
Also against the teaching of mathematics and science in English, an NGO Malay organisation called “Save the Malay Language” secretariat had vowed last month to hold a gathering of 100,000 people in March to petition to the Agong to intervene.
The rally, to be organised by the secretariat, which is now known as the Coalition for the Abolition of Teaching Mathematics and Science in English, was inspired by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) rally in November 2007.
Meanwhile, a Chinese language education group in response to the protests by Malay NGO groups have set a new deadline for the government to respond on the matter by March.
The group which is meeting on Sunday said that they would be organising a series of protests if the government fails to abide by the deadline.
・Bernama.com (http://www.bernama.com)
‘A Moment in English' Boost For Students In Terengganu, 2 January 2009
By Nordin Mohadi
KUALA TERENGGANU, Jan 2 (Bernama) -- Petroleum giant ExxonMobil Malaysia Incorporation (ExxonMobil), which began operations in Terengganu in 1978 has not forsaken its social obligations to the people.
Apart from concentrating on its business activities, that include petroleum and gas exploration and production for the global market, ExxonMobil has positioned its funds in the education sector for the benefit of the younger generation in the state.
ExxonMobil's technical manager for exploration and production, Wayne B. Warwick said the company's move is an investment in the human capital development of youths in in Terengganu.
"With good education, they would be able to improve their life quality and assist the state's socio-economic progress", Warwick said in his speech at the 'A Moment In English' function here recently.
It is an annual function sponsored by ExxonMobil. Warwick said so far ExxonMobil has funded several education programmes in Terengganu and is hoping such programmes would be the gateway to the advancement of human capital development in the state.
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
In the past few years, ExxonMobil's investments in the education sector were on programmes to improve English language proficiency among students in the state.
The close relation between ExxonMobil and the Terengganu Education Department has resulted in various initiatives that benefit both students and teachers in the state.
Among ExxonMobil's major education projects is the RM290,000 contribution for the creation of an English Language Theme Park in Kemasik, Kemaman several years ago.
The theme park is equipped with various tools and facilities for the learning of English language particularly for students and teachers in Kemaman and Dungun districts.
The move was followed by a similar effort in the setting up of another theme park in Kuala Terengganu at the cost of RM350,000 some five years ago.
MOMENT IN ENGLISH
The joint programme by ExxonMobil and Terengganu Education Department, 'A Moment In English' was inaugurated in 2002 and it has been regarded towards improving the level of English proficiency among primary and secondary students.
The programme is a five-hour stage activity fully conducted in the English language.
In his speech at the function, Terengganu Education Director Ariffin Embong said ExxonMobil is on the right platform towards assisting the children to have better proficiency in English.
According to Ariffin, the other corporate bodies should emulate what ExxonMobil had carried out as such educational programmes are crucial for human capital development.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTION
He said 'A Moment In English' has been well accepted by people in the state and it is major contribution by the international petroleum giant for the people of Terengganu.
Ariffin said the programme has enabled participating students to boost their English language proficiency through, among others, story-telling, poem recital, as well as traditional performances like boria, dikir barat and rodat, of which all were conducted in English.
He said the 'A Moment In English' is fully funded by ExxonMobil.
"ExxonMobil's effort is hoped to spark interest in other programmes like that on science and technology", said Ariffin.
Apart from the 'A Moment In English' ExxonMobil had also funded the Terengganu Education Resources and Information Centre (TERIC) as a reference centre for students and teachers.
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