10 theSun | TUESDAY JUNE 16 2009

speak up!

PIC COURTESY OF SOPA

It’s all about

Fernandez and
CitizenNades
receive their
SOPA award
from Simon
Galpin,
director-

seeking the truth

general of
investment
promotion,
Invest Hong
Kong, at the
Grand Hyatt
Hotel on
Thursday.
CITIZENNADES and I honoured our work as
were the first people to “Fresh, ambitious report-
go on stage at last Thurs- ing that made an impact
day’s Society of Publish- on political cronyism. A
ers in Asia (SOPA) Edito- tenacious piece of inves-
rial Excellence Awards tigative journalism in a
ceremony in Hongkong. country where it can be
The award for excel- difficult to do this kind of
lence in investigative reporting.”
journalism was the first However, I explained
one for the night and as to those at my table that
the crew from Shang- over the last few years,
Down2Earth
hai’s Modern Media and especially after Tun Ab-
Hongkong’s The Stand- by Terence Fernandez dullah Ahmad Badawi
a price – legal action by one of the
politicians implicated in the report.
about to approve a parcel of land for a
political party only to discover that letter
letters@thesundaily.com
ard who shared our table became prime minister, While no one has been penalised for it was initially meant for a public
congratulated us, Paul Woodward, there has been a renaissance of giving public land to political parties amenity; the honest policeman who
CEO of media consultants Busi- sorts in how the news is reported in
ness Strategies Group, remarked: Malaysia.
and businessmen, what theSun has
done was to bring the matter into the
arrests a bribe giver but who knows
that his superior officer is living be- Single-school
“We have been hearing a lot about It was Abdullah, I explained, who
theSun. It is pretty remarkable what encouraged the media to expose
court of public opinion.
And in an era where no amount
yond his means and the assistant to
the charismatic politician who knows system holds
you guys are doing.” weaknesses in the delivery system
Others also nodded in agreement and especially crooked officials and
with one of them alluding to the politicians.
of controls can halt the rapid flow
of information – true or otherwise
– those who have avowed to silence
that all’s not what it seems with his
boss’s boy-next-door image.
These are the people who have
best option
“complicated task” of being investi- The only flaw of Abdullah’s olive the voices of reason and shackle and will make a difference to getting I REFER to “Politics be damned, it’s
gative journalists in a country where branch to the media following 22 seekers of the truth will find that they our country back on track again – as English” (June 12). Although I agree
exposes on high-powered officials years of media controls under his are fighting a losing battle. long as they are willing to speak up. with most of the observations, I beg
and politicians would mean the predecessor was that those under In the meantime, there are plenty to differ on a few points. It’s unfor-
end of an organisation’s publishing Abdullah were not on the same of people who are just as disgusted tunate that the writer only views
licence – if they ever saw print in the page with him. Hence the numerous with the levels of abuse, who actu- Terence welcomes Llew-Ann Phang the issue from the materialistic
first place. cautions to newspapers for ally can do something to arrest the on board as the third member of the perspective. No doubt doing well in
In fact judges who gave us our “irresponsible and sensational rot. We have met many – the Land special reports & investigative team. English will give us a headstart in this
very first SOPA award in 2007 for the reporting”. Office clerk who suspects something After five years, it is time for a younger information age. However, there are
reports on Datuk Zakaria Md Deros, The Bandar Utama land aliena- amiss when the names on the land and feminine touch to add more depth other roles a language is poised to
the late Port Klang assemblyman tion story which earned us an honor- title and quit rent receipt are differ- and soul into our reports. Feedback: play in a civilised nation like ours.
who built a palace on low-cost land, ary mention in Hongkong came at ent; the executive councillor who is terence@thesundaily.com Where do we position the Malay
language, which is the national lan-
guage that is supposed to unite eve-
rybody? It will be meaningless to talk

Vision of a bilingual society within reach about taking advantage of globalisa-

comment by
Halimah Mohd Said
MALAY is my mother tongue, the lan-
guage of home and family, the language
in which the most tender of feelings are
expressed, the tongue with which the
harshest of emotions are spewed!
My first two years of formal learn-
ing was in a Malay primary school in
Rasah, Seremban, where I picked up the
rudiments of kira-kira and alam sekitar.
After that it was off to the Convent of
the Holy Infant Jesus Seremban where
my love for the English language and
literature was sown. I went on to read
English literature and linguistics later.
Having taught English language,
literature and linguistics in secondary
schools and at a public university for
more than 30 years, I feel kind of quali-
fied to comment on several unresolved
issues in the national education system,
viz (i) the teaching of English and (ii)
the teaching of maths and science in
English. With these come the attendant
problems in (a) standards and qualifica-
tions of teachers and students and (b)
their performance and results.
The importance of the English lan-
guage must be taken as the given in this
equation. And in no way does this deny
the position of Bahasa Malaysia as the
national language.
I’m a proponent of true bilingual-
ism. What this means is that Malaysians
must be fluent speakers of Malay and
English who express their thoughts and
ideas articulately in both languages.
They must be able to use each language
confidently and consistently at all levels
of discourse. Not in the mumbo-jumbo
of Manglish, bahasa rojak or pidgin!
The vision of having a truly bilingual
Malaysia and of building a truly bilingual
(and even multilingual) society is within
reach in the near future if the right poli-
cies, facilities, training and methodolo-
gies are in place! Topping all of these
is the right attitudes towards language
learning!
Bahasa Malaysia must be developed
in all its uses and functions as the key
to nationalism, unity and integration
– as the medium of instruction, as the
official mode of communication, as the
language of national discourse, as the
channel for research and development,
as a tool for academic advancement.
This must be vigorously and rigorously
pursued at all levels of society.
Running parallel to the growth of the
national language must be an equally
concerted effort to advance the use
of English – the international language
of communication, diplomacy and
foreign affairs; of trade and industry;
of economic development; of scientific
and technological research. If we vow
to make Malaysia an effective global
player in all of these (and more) sectors
we must vow to be proficient and ef-
ficient in English.
The debate about the supremacy
of one language over the other or the
threat that one language holds over
the other is circular and wasteful. The
same arguments have been proffered
over the years. They have become bor-
ingly unproductive and disruptive if not
destructive.
I urged for true bilingualism and sug-
gested pragmatic and drastic ways of
teaching English in a lengthy article in
Utusan Malaysia (May 9, 2002).
Meantime, people are still arguing
and Malaysians have not improved
their language skills. In fact, they’re
getting worse with the advent of new
communication technologies and the
creation of modern language registers
like contracted email and SMS language
– the use of short forms, acronyms and
abbreviations; the mixing of Malay and
English colloquial language and slang.
They are spreading like wildfire.
One has to look at the chats and
comments on Facebook and Twitter;
emails and blogs – to realise the extent
of linguistic deterioration. In a multilin-
gual society like Malaysia the incursion
of mixed languages and language types
is more drastic than in a monolingual
society. How then do we tackle the
teaching and learning of English?
I’d like to offer some pragmatic and
realistic suggestions based on my expe-
rience and knowledge of developments
in this area:
» Use language tapes to improve
listening and speaking skills
This can be done in the school language
labs (if schools can afford them) or on
the student’s own CD player/walkman
(with earphones) for one period a week
under teacher supervision in school,
and regularly under parental supervi-
sion at home.
Students get to hear English spoken
by native/fluent speakers in conversa-
tions and in relevant communicative
situations (asking for information, at an
interview, etc) and they will internalise
the elements of the language – pro-
nunciation, intonation, grammar and
vocabulary – to reinforce learning in the
other English periods. Young people like
to imitate and with good models of Eng-
lish on tape, they get the full advantages
of the language drills which they can
practise in their own time.
The text of the tape can be printed
out and used to teach reading compre-
hension, grammar and vocabulary. In
the University of Malaya in the 70s we
used the SRA labs with tapes for listen-
ing and speaking and printed texts for
reading comprehension and writing.
Copies of the tape and text are easily
and cheaply made for internal use.
I believe this is a cheap and quick
way to improve the English language
proficiency of both the teachers and
their pupils. And it has proven to be
a highly successful teaching/learning
methodology in China.
» Reading and writing skills
Bring back the book report as a weekly/
fortnightly activity in English classes.
Students are assigned a reading
task, preferably a simple reader (start
with short stories and progress to
abridged editions of English classics
and novels).
They submit a written exercise:
(i) paraphrase or summary of the
story (ii) description of their favourite
character/s (iii) phrase/ line/ paragraph
quotations they like lifted from the text
(iv) vocabulary work for new words and
phrases that they come across and how
to use them. To reinforce their speech
and speaking skills, an oral presentation
can be made in class.
» Teach an arts based subject like
history in English
History, living skills and civics offer
teachers and students a wider scope
to use language in all its manifestations
– reading, writing, listening and speak-
ing.
Unlike maths and science which
are formulaic and more expository, the
humanities are a lot more descriptive
and exploratory. They offer a far greater
range of possibilities for language use
than maths and science. The argument
that teaching maths and science in
English reinforces English language
teaching/ learning is a flimsy one.
I’m all for making English compulsory
for SPM because this offers the greatest
motivation for learning the language
and for changing the attitudes towards
it. And it’s not too much to ask for a
pass in the English paper.
The rural schools must be equipped
with the basic facilities and methodolo-
gies that the teachers can handle. Even
if they are not English language special-
ists they can inspire learning and the
right attitudes towards the subject. At
the same time they can use the same
facilities to improve themselves.
They’re worth a try!
Halimah Mohd Said taught in second-
ary schools from 1969 to 1976 and at
the University of Malaya from 1976 to
2000. She is now a freelance writer and
a heritage enthusiast. She has a blog,
ninitalk.wordpress.com. Comments:
letters@thesundaily.com.
tion if at the same time Malaysians
are not able to communicate freely
and with dignity among themselves
in their own language. There will not
be a sense of understanding, caring
and sharing and so there will be no
respect, peace and harmony. The
common ground has been and will
be the national language.
Yes, we are no less Malay, Chi-
nese or Indian by learning English,
but the bigger question is are we
less Malaysian if we fail to embrace
the national language? To blame
the ultra-nationalists for putting
pressure on the authorities is unfair,
because these groups are above
politics. They have the best of inten-
tions and the interest of the nation
close to their heart.
Learn English by all means, but
consider the inherent problems
faced by the rural folk and the
urban poor. We must address their
concerns proactively because they
make up a big percentage of the
population and the future face of the
nation. We can’t be selfish and as-
sume that everybody is on the same
premise and condemn those who
are not able to cope with English.
I agree that we must impress
upon the students that excelling at
English is a serious thing, but not do-
ing well in Malay and other subjects
is also a serious thing.
So, let’s not waste our precious
time discussing whether English
should be made a compulsory pass
in SPM or whether to continue
teaching science and maths in
English. We should instead focus
our energy on the implementation
of the single-school system where
the medium of instruction is the
national language. At the same time
we must undertake concerted ef-
forts to master English as a second
language so that we do not lose out
in the quest for knowledge.
Zamri Mahmud
Kuala Lumpur