4 June, 2003
Mastery of the English language will not erode Malay culture and religion and
the Malays should not fear for their race because of a foreign language, New
Straits Times Press (M) Bhd group editor-in-chief Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad said
today. English is the key to obtaining knowledge which, he said, was what Malays
needed if they were to become competitive in a globalised world.
Abdullah was giving a talk on "English and Globalisation" at the Student
Leaders' Seminar at the Employees Provident Fund and Social Security Training
Institute here.
"The pride and self-esteem of the Malays does not depend entirely on Malay
culture and Islam. It also depends on gaining knowledge," said Abdullah.
"A nation with high self-esteem, self-confidence and competitiveness will be
able to take what is good from globalisation and throw away the bad. "But to do
this, we will need knowledge." The key to obtaining knowledge, he said, was to
master English and be disciplined and open-minded.
Abdullah said the mastery of English need not come at the expense of the mother
tongue or national language, as English was merely a tool to gain knowledge.
"The reality is that English is the language of the world, of science,
technology, information and communication," he said.
English should be considered the language of knowledge, just as Arabic is the
language of Islam, he added.
Abdullah said globalisation was unavoidable and the Malays needed to raise the
level of competitiveness in order to survive.
"We must raise the level, otherwise not even our political powers can help us."
On some quarters who viewed the use of English as a form of imperialism, he
said: "The use of English will not destroy our culture and religion and replace
it with Western values.
"Being integrated in today's world doesn't mean assimilation into American
culture.
"Mastery of English does not mean that the language will take over the function
of Bahasa Malaysia in Malay culture.
"Like Hang Tuah, I believe that Malays will not be lost from the earth. For sure
the Malays will remain.
"But the question is, what type of Malays? Those who become drivers? Labourers?
Or leaders of this country or in their professions?" Malay culture and language
would be enriched even further if the Malays embraced English as a means to
obtaining knowledge, he said.
"Bahasa Malaysia and our national pride can be strengthened if Malay
intellectualism is raised through knowledge, which will help us get a
competitive edge on a global scale." Globalisation had affected life
economically, politically and cultur-ally, and the Malays needed to be able to
compete in all these areas.
At the dialogue session with the students, Abdullah was asked to clarify what
would happen to Bahasa Malaysia if they were to use English.
He reiterated that speaking English itself would not have any influence on Malay
culture and told the students to master both Bahasa Malaysia and English.