Like Sdr Ismail, I, too, want to thank you Michael for yor constructve contribtion.
Correct me if I am wrong. I thought you missed my point that we should use those "too foreign langages" (presumebly as a medium of instruction?).
All that I sugessted was, we should, nay, must learn and be proficient in English, but, at the same time, must ensure that BM remained the No.1 language of the country, in accordance with the wishes and aspirations of "strugglers" for Malaysian independence.
So many people "fought" for BM's use and application in all fields, culminating in the birth and establshment of Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka, and the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, (where the main medium of instruction is Bahasa Malaysia, but allowing English to be used where one is not proficient in BM).
As I said, UKM has proven beyond doubt that using BM was no handicap in attaining the highest academic qualification in the world, including Ph.D's and medical qualifications. (Most of the UKM scholars understand English, but may be poor orally, perhaps due to environmental factor that I mentioned in my earlier comment).
If those countries I mentioned earlier could also succeed in attaining similar acedemic success using their own languages, why could we not stick to using BM as a medium of instruction, and English be made a subject and compulsory to pass (written and oral) all major local examinations?
This could, not only save costs on what we already spent to put BM as a language of Malaysian unity, but also in spending more to bloster its use, just for the sake of science and mathematics.
Besides we could also save in term of books, teaching personnel retraining, and the importation of foreing English teachers.
Mind you, BM was one of the flatforms of merdeka's obectives and the pride of Malaysian, especially Malay nationalism then - to have one country, one language and one nation.
The hard foght struggle to put BM in its proper place as an instrument of Malaysian unity, has now almost come to naught, as a result of the recent policy reversal use of BM.
I categorically repeat that English is an importlant international language, especially in this era of ICT, technological and scientific development. But, English is NOT the only language that could bring us progress and unity, as proven by countries that I mentioned.
China has mandrin, India has Urdu, Japan has Japanese, Indonesia has Indonesian, Korea has Korean, Latin Amercan countries have Spanish/Portugese, Middle Eastern Countries have Arabic, the German, English, etc. all have and use their own languages as the pride of their nation. Must we sacrifice BM for the sake of "progress?" Didn't some of these "progress" too? - And China using Mandrin would be the next nation to watch in terms of "progress and development."
Should we swith English to Mandrin then to "chase progress?"
Nor is English an alternative to unifying Malaysian. If this is done, we are reversing the history and denying one of the main objectives of Malaysians' independence struggle - to unite Malaysians - through ONE COUNTRY, ONE LANGUAGE, and ONE NATION,
But, BM as the language of uniting Malaysian must not, and must never be relegated to a mere second language. That was what everybody fought for before merdeka - let's have a pride in our own.
You might want to learn something about English as a tool to subjugate the mind. Just a reminder, less we discount the effect English had on the way we think, one way or another, consciously or not.
