English is Not A Religion!

Most of the points contributed by Singapore's The Straits Times on 14th Jan 2009:-

Till today, there're still Malaysians who think, "Buat apa kita nak cakap bahasa orang lain?"
They see English as part of a Western Culture or more well known as Budaya Kuning.

This is bad. 35% of Malaysian teachers can hardly speak English. The truth is it is high time Malaysians see the mastery of English as a productivity issue, not religious, political or whatsoever. Most of the country's 50,000 jobless graduates can barely sustain a two-minute conversation in English. How shameful!

Malaysia, Truly Asia. We've heard it countless times. According to The Star, Malaysia has the largest Chinese population outside China and Indian population outside India. Also, Malaysia has an ideal Islamic lifestyle outside Middle-East. It is no wonder that Malaysia is "Truly Asia".
But how are we going forward when development is held back by conservative mindsets. Politicians who have studied overseas and are currently serving the country are supposed to inculcate openmind-ness into our country. Till today however, we see little effects. Did they really try? Only God knows.

One wonders how much more time will be squandered revisiting pointless linguistic arguments before Malaysia realises that the country cannot embrace globalisation unless the people at least partially master English.

ps: I dreamt of Yee Hong last night. Wonder how's his busking life going....