Kuala Terengganu - Almost 25 percent of Malay families in Singapore are found to be more at ease speaking English than their own mother tongue at home.
Singapore Malay Teachers Union president Dr Bibi Jan Md Ayub, who disclosed the matter, said it was a worrying phenomenon with most Malay parents encouraging their children to speak English at home.
"The absence of any effort to reinforce systematic usage of the Malay language has resulted in more Malay families in the republic not using their mother tongue and this situation has posed a major problem to the teaching and learning of the language," she said when speaking at an international seminar on the Malay language in the communication era of globalisation here today.
The seminar is organised by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) with the cooperation of the East Region Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and the Malaysian Malay Language Education Association (PPBMM).
Meanwhile, a member of Parliament from Patani in South Thailand, Senator Dr Worawit Baru Ahmad Idris, said the teaching of the Malay language in his country was also not systematic and lacked attention from the government.
He said that despite no formal learning in Malay language, but only used by children in religious classes, the language had yet to perish in Thailand because it was still spoken by the Thais.
Worawit said Malaysia should be the prime mover to promote Malay language in Asia.
A representative from Indonesia, deputy vice-chancellor of student affairs at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Profesor A Chaedar Alwasilah, said he was worried with the tendency among government leaders in the country to use English as a medium of language.
He said there were attempts to eliminate Malay language by the western world who claimed that the language was not applicable in the development of science and technology.
"In Indonesia, the knowledge culture continues to be neglected to an extent that it hampers efforts to elevate the Malay language," he added.
Former DBP director-general Dato A Aziz Deraman said many people had a negative perception of those who fought for the Malay language and accused them of rejecting English usage in education.
"We do not reject English as a language for knowledge, but the value and status of the Malay language have to be preserved and maintained because it is an official language in the country," he added. (Bernama)
Source:
http://www.mysinchew.com (December 4, 2008)