By CC Pung
Justice of Peace , Tokoh Wartawan Sabah and Labuan. His dose of philosophical musings.
Talking to a friend about the story of a Malaysia–trained engineer who couldn’t land a job because, according to his own social media post, he couldn’t speak English.
Not having read his post in full, I can at best only speculate that he was blaming his potential employee for discriminating against the likes of him.
This man claimed to be a ‘first class honours’ graduate of a local university.
His story raises multiple questions.
And all the answers are clear for all to see, including humble me.
How did he go through his course and received such good grades and yet couldn’t handle English? Who graded him?
Is he a product of over zealousness about our national language and misplaced bias about acquiring a foreign language?
A universities Malaya-trained lawyer friend of mine told me that students pursuing degrees in professional disciplines like law, engineering and medicine must rely on resource materials which are almost entirely in English.
It’s easy to speculate that the students final papers were in English.
Therefore, the story of a supposedly academically brilliant declined employment pits a poser on the credibility or legitimacy of his degree.
This case is a microcosm of the scenario of tens of thsounds of unemployable graduates in Malaysia.
Yet, our society condoned chauvinistic groups who speak bad about learning English (they called it the language of kafir colonisers) or Chinese (the language of pork eating pendatang).
In the real world. English and Chinese are international languages vital to literature, trade, knowledge and diplomacy.
There are more reference and research materials in these two languages than in Malay.
Every other technological or scientific term in Malay is an adaptation of English words. There’s no shame. Bahasa Melayu is evolving.
Open up your mind. Stop the denial.
Editor: The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of Talantang.
