I Still Believe English Is Important...

I REFER to the letter “Make BM a world class language” (The Star, Oct 17) in which the writer lamented that “it has really become something of a drone to read the many calls to maintain English in the teaching of Science and Mathematics in schools. The same goes for complaints over the lack of good command of English among Malaysians”.

The fact that there are “many calls to maintain English” in our teaching curriculum tells us something about the dire necessity in doing so. Sometimes, we have to face the harsh realities for us to remain competitive and survive in this world.

English is the language of international diplomacy; it facilitates an enormous ease in communication among the diverse world population. Roughly 85% of all knowledge in the world is available in English, more than twice that of any other language.

If you want to be an airline pilot, and fly international routes, you must know English. English is sought after as a second language more than any other language of the world. In fact, there are more people in China who speak English than in the US.

In many Commonwealth countries, English is the official language of the government because it is considered to be a vehicle of valuable neutral expression.

There are culturally no intertwined elements in the English language that require a learner to understand in order to be competent in the language.

The irony of English is that there is nothing about it that makes it intrinsically better than any other language. It is just a circumstance of history that turned it into what it is today. It is a fact of life in the world today that we have to accept in order to progress.

If not, we will be like a fish out of water when we go overseas for visits or attend international forums.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, speaking at the opening of the International Forum on the Creation of Global Citizens on Monday, said: “As Malaysian global citizens, the people must be increasingly globally aware. We need direct access through the best ideas from around the world so we can apply those ideas at home.”

Can the writer explain how we can achieve this if we ignore English as a medium of communication?

For good measure, Muhyiddin summed up: “I believe the future is now. We have to move ahead with the times if we do not want to be marginalized. We have to be in tune with the rest if we want to be the best.

“We must change our ways if we want to survive. We have to accept the fact that the borders are blurring and cultures are merging. We are part of globalization, for better or worse.”