Tuesday, August 21, 2007

A blog i posted on TheStar

I do not know whether will this actually come out on TheStar later on but i just wanna make a point... This is basically in response to wat i saw ytd

No more Mandarin as job requirement? No more Mandarin for exam?

I was having breakfast together with a few of my colleagues when I saw this on the TV; the announcers were highlighting the top stories on the day’s newspaper. I felt really disgusted when I saw it. Mandarin is one of the most commonly used languages in the world just like English and French; and somehow it felt like the ministry is trying to demote the use of Mandarin in the country and implying that Mandarin is not as important as our national language. Personally I do not come from a Chinese educated background but even I see and feel the importance of Mandarin in today’s world.

We can see that more and more non-Chinese Malaysia children are enrolling in Chinese education so I do not see how or why having the language requirement could be a disadvantage to the non-Chinese community of Malaysia. If the hiring company is hiring someone to be stationed in China then knowing Chinese especially Mandarin is a must. Of all the countries in the world I strongly believe Malaysian has the best linguistic skills because on average, each Malaysian knows a minimum of two languages, the Bahasa Malaysia and English or their respective ethnic mother tongue. So by stating or even implying that we should not use any other languages for our daily activities diminishes that linguistic pride of a Malaysian.

No comments: