Malay Language Not A Hindrance To Malaysia’s Development

Besut, Malaysia - A professor said on Wednesday the Malay language as a medium of instruction has never been a hindrance to Malaysia's development and proven for more than 30 years as a language of knowledge that has seen Malaysia achieved success in many areas.

The holder of the Malaysia-China Chair in Malay Studies at the Beijing Foreign University, Professor Emeritus Awang Sariyan said English and other languages had never been neglected but used by Malaysians as adding value to the knowledge they acquired .

"It is not impossible with the knowledge acquired through sources in the Malay language, for Malaysia to one day surpass other countries including Singapore in several areas including economy," he said through an emailed message to Bernama Wednesday.

Awang was commenting on the criticism made by Singapore's statesman Lee Kuan Yew in an interview with the New York Times on Sept 1, that the Malay language was only for the school and could not help people in acquiring modern knowledge unlike the Singapore Malays who were English-educated and far-sighted.

On Lee's statement on the "Malay hegemony of the Malaysian people", Awang said the former prime minister of Singapore was never happy with Malaysia due to the dark history of his personal relationship with Malaysian leaders.

"Because of that, he likes to issue controversial statements against Malaysia," he added.

Source: http://www.bernama.com.my
Photo: http://melayuonline.com

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