HIGHER Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad must explain what has been done to upgrade the quality of more than 2,500 “kangkung professors” as described by Tun Arshad Ayub last year, said veteran politician Lim Kit Siang.
During a press interview last year, Arshad, a highly respected figure in the academic world, said that more than 2,500 Malaysian professors have still not attained the desired quality standards required of the academic profession.
“Kangkung professors” is a term coined by the late Professor Syed Hussein Alatas to refer to professors who are “devoid of knowledge to the core” and whose claim as scholars and thinkers are deemed most undeserved.
On this matter, Lim said that it is a matter of great concern that “kangkung professors” – without upgrading their academic qualities – are assuming increasingly important national roles.
“The immediate national challenge is to raise the standard of education at all levels in the country for both the students and the teaching staff,” he remarked.
“However, there are people who want to divert attention from this issue by demanding the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools by falsely claiming that the existence of such schools is a source of disunity in plural Malaysia.”
Lim said the first condition to Malaysia becoming a world-class nation is to have a world-class education system including a system for more than 2,500 “kangkung professors” to become qualified and meritorious professors.
“The criticism of Sarawak Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah that civil servants should be encouraged to use ‘good English’ instead of being penalised for it is another example of unhealthy trends in the country,” Lim noted.
“The Cabinet at its meeting must countermand the directive of Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali to the Public Services Department to (JPA) consider corrective and punitive measures to enforce the use of Bahasa Malaysia in the civil service and other government-related agencies including government-linked companies (GLCs).”
Last Wednesday (May 25), Mohd Zuki said that JPA needs to look into corrective and punitive actions that can be imposed on those who deliberately take lightly Service Circular No. 1 2020 on empowering the use of the national language in public service.
He said that this was because in the civil services the move to strengthen the Malay language as the main language among agencies and civil servants had always been top priority, and insisted that the purpose was not to intimidate but to ensure that the Malay language is not taken lightly as the national language.
“The Government should be worrying about the decline of the standard of English among Malaysians as English is the language of science, Google and globalisation,” Lim commented on this matter.
“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob should make a policy announcement as to what the Government is doing to raise the command of English among Malaysians so that Malaysia can have a workforce with a high proficiency in English.” – June 1, 2022
