Diambang Hari Merdeka ke-53, its sad that some of us can't speak Bahasa Melayu

On 31st August 2010 we will be celebrating our 53rd Merdeka Day. It is very sad and is a crying shame that after 53 years of independence from our former colonial masters there are still among us Malaysians who are not fluent enough in Bahasa Melayu or English to effectively participate in the 2010 National Population and Housing Census of Malaysia.

Read in full from Bernama:

Enumerators face Chinese community’s attitude problem

August 11, 2010

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 11 – Attitude problem among the public, especially the Chinese community, is the main challenge faced by the enumerators in the ongoing Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2010, Chief Statistician and Census Commissioner Datuk Wan Ramlah Wan Abd Raof said today.

She said some of the Chinese residents even claimed that they only spoke Mandarin and not Malay or English language.

“That should not happen because as Malaysians living in Malaysia which had been an independent country for almost 53 years now, they must at least know one of the languages,” she said.

The census questionnaires which comprised 51 questions in four segments were made available in Malay and English language.

The national census has now entered the third and final phase which began on Aug 7 and will end on Aug 22.

The first phase of the census was conducted from July 6 to July 22, while the second phase took place from July 23 to Aug 6.

During the first phase, Wan Ramlah said about 70 per cent of non-response participants were from the Chinese community.

“We’re not being racist in exposing this issue. Even the prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) said that the 1 Malaysia concept means benefits for all irrespective of ethnic and race groups.

“If we want to implement the concept to everyone, it should follow the statistics by race, by ethnic group,” she explained.

Wan Ramlah said she could not believe how the Chinese community could say that they did not understand the census questions because most of them were living in major towns and had every access to education.

“We are afraid that if they did not respond to our census, the community population in the area will be under-counted and the development could not be accurately planned and implemented for the area.

“It goes to the other states as well. If the states did not respond, they are the ones who will be at a loss,” she said.

Wan Ramlah said she had personally faced the “attitude” problem during one of her visits to a particular residential area where a resident purposely released her dogs to chase them away.

She said if the department wanted to take legal action to such an uncooperative residents, they could simply do so as stipulated in the sub-section 17 of the Census Act 1960.

“Most people don’t know about the action that we can take against the uncooperative residents. We can do so if we want to. Legally, we have the right,” she said.

Under the sub-section 17, a resident who purposely gives incorrect information or take out the yellow census list card from his or her residence within a year, could be fined with RM100 or jailed for a month. – Bernama

The fact that some of our citizens cannot speak in the National Language, Bahasa Melayu, is a testimony to the failure of the vernacular school system that segregate our children from young.

I think the Government besides considering to revisit the decision to cancel the teaching of Maths and science in English should also have a closer look at the Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua proposal; The Memo to Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.

If the existing education situation remains status quo, I think achieving common unity among the various races in Malaysia will be a quest for utopia.