THERE is this rarely heard Malay proverb alah sabung, menang sorak which literally means “losing the cock fight but victorious in cheering”.
To put this in the context of our beloved Prime Minister’s desire to make Bahasa Malaysia as the lingua franca of ASEAN, it was a blessing in disguise that Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob met his match in Indonesia’s Education, Culture, Research And Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim yesterday (April 5).
This is where another Malay proverb surfaces – jatuh air muka (literally “lose face” in English) – whereby Nadiem is spot on to contest Ismail Sabri’s quest to dignify Bahasa Malaysia at the expense of Bahasa Indonesia.
In fact, the former CEO of Go-Jek (Indonesian on-demand multi-service platform and digital payment technology group) statistically backed his claims as to why Bahasa Indonesia merit to be the superior choice.
Through his assessment, Nadiem said the reach of the Indonesian language extends to 47 countries around the world.
Furthermore, Bahasa Indonesia for Foreign Speakers or Bahasa Indonesia Untuk Penutur Asing (BIPA) has been offered by 428 institutions, both facilitated by his Ministry’s Language Development and Development Agency as well as those conducted independently by BIPA activists, governments and institutions around the world.
Malaysians in general are flabbergasted with Ismail Sabri’s incessant effort to dignify Bahasa Melayu at world stage. FocusM has in recent times shared that this can be a futile attempt – if you have economic dominance, people will crawl – if they need to – to master your mother tongue.
With due respect to our PM, many Malaysians wonder if this is an attempt to camouflage or divert attention away from the bigger scheme of things or even to subtly canvass for the rural Malay votes in anticipation of the forthcoming 15th General Election (GE15).
One cannot blame former International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz to argue that the focus on “dignifying” Bahasa Melayu is a backward move that does not help Malaysians to progress in today’s modern world.
“Let’s not misplace our nationalism. Mastery of a language is not the most important thing, but rather what you express and communicate,” she told a recent media conference after presiding over the graduation ceremony of Meritus University, of which she is chancellor.
“English is the recognised international language, so why are we reversing and going backwards by emphasising Malay instead? I do not understand this.
“In the current political climate, leaders are clamouring for Bahasa Malaysia to be empowered and making it compulsory for foreign students to learn the language.
“I am the Safety Review Board chairman of AirAsia X (Bhd) and I have come across cases of communication problems between control tower and pilots. All because the person at the control tower had poor command of English.”
The gargantuan effort Ismail Sabri expended to promote Bahasa Malaysia gave the impression that majority of the Ministers in his Cabinet are inept in their command of the English language.
This is a sad admission given that Malaysia was once a breeding ground for non-native English speakers on par with India.
The overzealous push for Bahasa Malaysia’s supremacy also poses numerous setbacks given that the Government has overlooked other more pressing matters, notably the strengthening of Malaysia’s economic competency at world stage.
A case in point is how instead of having a progressive economic policy, Malaysia tends to come out with regressive ideas such as how the Kelantanese state government is encouraging more young people to take up the trishaw trade which is synonymous with the city.
Recall that he state’s Community Unity, Culture, Heritage and Tourism Committee chairman Datuk Md Anizam Abd Rahman said this was to ensure trishaw riding would be kept alive and continued to be one of the tourist attractions in the city.
This is probably a cover-up to the truth that the state government has failed to address the high unemployment rate of its youth population or even graduates.
“We want young people to get involved in the trishaw trade to ensure it does not become extinct,” opined Anizam who mooted the idea.
“They can also come up with various innovative ways of modifying their trishaw such using battery instead of paddling it manually.”
In an effort to encourage the participation of young people, the state government is ready to provide free trishaw repair services to those who wanted to become a trishaw rider. – April 6, 2022
