'Then after Dr Mahathir, it(PPSMI) was switched back again to an all Malay system. That was the nail in the coffin. The Malay language does not yet have the capacity to be the language of science. It is also not yet a fully "modern" language in that it does not have the vocabulary or the 'language history' to express complex ideas or modern ideas as efficiently. Compared to say Chinese, Japanese etc.'
'There is no word for psychology in Tamil, Malay or Urdu. That is why in Pakistan and India, the language of science is still English. Imagine if India dumps English and reverts to Hindi, Tamil etc. Will they be able to produce as many scientists and computer programmers? I dont think so'
Tuan Syed OTSB
This was followed up by another outstanding post which should shake up many more Malays by blogger Tuan Syed of OSTB fame:
As Tuan Syed has a habit of archiving his posts after a few days, I have taken the liberty to copy paste parts of his comments here:
My(OTSB) comments : I disagree with some points. Here are some notes from the CIA World Fact Book about Malaysia:
Population : Malay 50.1%, Chinese 22.6%, indigenous 11.8%, Indian 6.7%, other 0.7%, non-citizens 8.2% (2010 est.)
Religions : Muslim (official) 61.3%, Buddhist 19.8%, Christian 9.2%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 1.3%, other 0.4%, none 0.8%, unspecified 1% (2010 est.)
The Malay / bumiputra Muslims make up 61% of the population. Non Malays make up the balance ie 37%. Just the Malays alone are 50.1% of the population. The bumiputras also include non Muslim Ibans in Sarawak and non Muslim Kadazan-Dusuns in Sabah.
Economically the non bumiputras namely the Chinese and to some extent the Indians hold a large chunk of the economy. Most importantly (for the economic health of the country) the non bumiputra economy is more market oriented. It is independent of subsidies, licensing, APs etc. It has to compete, it is therefore much healthier and contributes to the health of the economy.
The Malay and bumiputra economy is still independent of market forces. It does not compete much. Hence this is an inherently unhealthy economy that cannot sustain itself in the near term or the long term. This has a bearing on what Zaid has said.
There will be a dichotomy. The Muslim economy will lag behind (as it does in all Islamic countries). The non Muslim economy will stay afloat and prosper well.
As an example I believe the Chinese per capita GDP will eventually become multiple times the per capita GDP of the Muslims. And it cannot be stopped. There are some reasons for this. There was some hope that the Muslim economy - during the time of Dr Mahathir as PM - had a chance of behaving normally, along with the rest of the world. The education system had just been switched back to PPSMI.
Then after Dr Mahathir, it was switched back again to an all Malay system. That was the nail in the coffin. The Malay language does not yet have the capacity to be the language of science. It is also not yet a fully "modern" language in that it does not have the vocabulary or the 'language history' to express complex ideas or modern ideas as efficiently. Compared to say Chinese, Japanese etc.
The Chinese in Malaysia are now the beneficiaries of a fantastic explosion in science, technology and modern thinking in the Chinese language oming out of China. Discussion in knowledge subjects is very robust in China. All Chinese speakers all over the world benefit from this, including Malaysian Chinese of course.
China is about to become the largest economy on earth because of their absorption of knowledge. Surely Chinese all over the world will also be lifted by this tide. A Chinese aircon technician simply searched YouTube (in Chinese I think) to see how a window unit is hung outside apartment windows 15 floors off the ground.
The Malays (AND THE MUSLIMS ALL OVER THE WORLD) do not have access to such modern and science based thinking in their respective languages.
Not just Arabic but Urdu (Pakistan), Pushtun etc cannot yet convey complex ideas and modern thinking in large enough quantities.
Just imagine a hypothetical situation where someone says that the rituals that you perform did not exist in reality. They were created along the way by some village fellows.
Now how should you reaact?
3-5-6 is one way. 3-5-6 is 3 years jail, RM5000 fine and 6 strokes of the rotan.
Or you can kill the people who suggest this. ISIS style or Saudi Arabian Wahhabi style.
These are not modern methods. These are very backward methods of "not arriving at the truth".
You will never arrive at the truth. Or defend the truth even if you have already found it.
The modern method is to ask for proof, to show proof, to be able to demonstrate your proof. That is the modern method.
And when people show you their proofs for their side of the argument, then you should be able to listen intelligently, answer their questions intelligently and prove your case intelligently. The key word is 'intelligently'.
Did you know that according to the Quran, being unintelligent is one of the traits of satan? Here it is :
Surah 4:76 "..feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan" ("..inna kayda al shaytani kaana daeefan).
Satan thinks he is cunning but satan is actually 'daeef' (Malay also 'daif') or stupid.
Ergo, putting it another way, being consistently stupid (and thinking you are clever) is indeed satanic.
So how do you know (I am talking directly to you dear reader) that you are cunning, stupid, intelligent, not intelligent, satanic or otherwise? The same applies to me and everyone. How will you know?
The answer : You must be able to engage in intelligent conversation. Without getting excited. Without getting angry.
Without 3-5-6 or 'I kill you' (ISIS style).
How can you say, "if you disagree with me about some belief system then I will jail you, fine you or rotan you?' Or worse 'I will kill you'?
Is that what you call intelligent? And you think you are very cunning as well?
Surah 4:76 "..feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan" ("..inna kayda al shaytani kaana daeefan).
Well the purpose of this walkabout is to tell you that the Chinese people, the Japanese, Koreans, Singaporeans etc have adopted a very Islamic method of gaining knowledge - they engage in intelligent discussion. They have adopted the Quranic method. Intelligent discussion is a very, very modern concept. That is why they are progressing.
The Muslims unfortunately do not have as much easy access to intelligent discussion. Hence they are doomed.
It becomes worse if the languages spoken by the Muslims around the world have not expanded their capacity to express complex ideas and modern scientific thinking.
There is no word for psychology in Tamil, Malay or Urdu. That is why in Pakistan and India, the language of science is still English. Imagine if India dumps English and reverts to Hindi, Tamil etc. Will they be able to produce as many scientists and computer programmers? I dont think so.
And all over the world, English is the super highway to knowledge. It has surpassed German, French, Chinese etc. And it is getting even more stronger.
At a time when English is getting stronger, we have decided to dump English for Malay (and lagi bodoh, for Arabic).
All this is only possible in Malaysia when there are little avenues to dicuss things intelligently. So the Muslims remain poor. The non Muslims particularly the Chinese and also the Indians, who have better access to knowledge-languages (Chinese, English) will be economically better off.
Then we have had two Prime Ministers after Dr Mahathir who did not know a hole in the ground from a hole in their heads. For 12 years and still counting, since 2003, our country has suffered the worst leadership crisis in the world.
And since the Malays are so dependent on the government (whereas the Chinese and Indians are not, well not as much) they have also suffered from the weak leadership. Hence the Malay or Muslim economy has suffered.
And the worse fate of course has befallen those Malays and Muslims who support the PAS. For 20 years or more Kelantan has been ruled by the PAS. That State is so backward, economically and socially that the people have become numb. They are so numb that they do not even know they are backward.
There is absolutely no way you can have any kind of conversation with them anymore, let alone an intelligent conversation. The sad thing is they are not even close to Islam.
So the point where I diverge from Zaid is that the non Malays will be better off just by their own. A point will come where they will be fully independent of the Muslim political power. Once the oil revenues dry up (they will) the Muslim political power will become subservient to economic power again.
We thought that Felda's owning hundreds of thousands of acres of land will be strategically good for the Malays but even there they are making losses....... (truncated)
Population : Malay 50.1%, Chinese 22.6%, indigenous 11.8%, Indian 6.7%, other 0.7%, non-citizens 8.2% (2010 est.)
Religions : Muslim (official) 61.3%, Buddhist 19.8%, Christian 9.2%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 1.3%, other 0.4%, none 0.8%, unspecified 1% (2010 est.)
The Malay / bumiputra Muslims make up 61% of the population. Non Malays make up the balance ie 37%. Just the Malays alone are 50.1% of the population. The bumiputras also include non Muslim Ibans in Sarawak and non Muslim Kadazan-Dusuns in Sabah.
Economically the non bumiputras namely the Chinese and to some extent the Indians hold a large chunk of the economy. Most importantly (for the economic health of the country) the non bumiputra economy is more market oriented. It is independent of subsidies, licensing, APs etc. It has to compete, it is therefore much healthier and contributes to the health of the economy.
The Malay and bumiputra economy is still independent of market forces. It does not compete much. Hence this is an inherently unhealthy economy that cannot sustain itself in the near term or the long term. This has a bearing on what Zaid has said.
There will be a dichotomy. The Muslim economy will lag behind (as it does in all Islamic countries). The non Muslim economy will stay afloat and prosper well.
As an example I believe the Chinese per capita GDP will eventually become multiple times the per capita GDP of the Muslims. And it cannot be stopped. There are some reasons for this. There was some hope that the Muslim economy - during the time of Dr Mahathir as PM - had a chance of behaving normally, along with the rest of the world. The education system had just been switched back to PPSMI.
Then after Dr Mahathir, it was switched back again to an all Malay system. That was the nail in the coffin. The Malay language does not yet have the capacity to be the language of science. It is also not yet a fully "modern" language in that it does not have the vocabulary or the 'language history' to express complex ideas or modern ideas as efficiently. Compared to say Chinese, Japanese etc.
The Chinese in Malaysia are now the beneficiaries of a fantastic explosion in science, technology and modern thinking in the Chinese language oming out of China. Discussion in knowledge subjects is very robust in China. All Chinese speakers all over the world benefit from this, including Malaysian Chinese of course.
China is about to become the largest economy on earth because of their absorption of knowledge. Surely Chinese all over the world will also be lifted by this tide. A Chinese aircon technician simply searched YouTube (in Chinese I think) to see how a window unit is hung outside apartment windows 15 floors off the ground.
The Malays (AND THE MUSLIMS ALL OVER THE WORLD) do not have access to such modern and science based thinking in their respective languages.
Not just Arabic but Urdu (Pakistan), Pushtun etc cannot yet convey complex ideas and modern thinking in large enough quantities.
Just imagine a hypothetical situation where someone says that the rituals that you perform did not exist in reality. They were created along the way by some village fellows.
Now how should you reaact?
3-5-6 is one way. 3-5-6 is 3 years jail, RM5000 fine and 6 strokes of the rotan.
Or you can kill the people who suggest this. ISIS style or Saudi Arabian Wahhabi style.
These are not modern methods. These are very backward methods of "not arriving at the truth".
You will never arrive at the truth. Or defend the truth even if you have already found it.
The modern method is to ask for proof, to show proof, to be able to demonstrate your proof. That is the modern method.
And when people show you their proofs for their side of the argument, then you should be able to listen intelligently, answer their questions intelligently and prove your case intelligently. The key word is 'intelligently'.
Did you know that according to the Quran, being unintelligent is one of the traits of satan? Here it is :
Surah 4:76 "..feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan" ("..inna kayda al shaytani kaana daeefan).
Satan thinks he is cunning but satan is actually 'daeef' (Malay also 'daif') or stupid.
Ergo, putting it another way, being consistently stupid (and thinking you are clever) is indeed satanic.
So how do you know (I am talking directly to you dear reader) that you are cunning, stupid, intelligent, not intelligent, satanic or otherwise? The same applies to me and everyone. How will you know?
The answer : You must be able to engage in intelligent conversation. Without getting excited. Without getting angry.
Without 3-5-6 or 'I kill you' (ISIS style).
How can you say, "if you disagree with me about some belief system then I will jail you, fine you or rotan you?' Or worse 'I will kill you'?
Is that what you call intelligent? And you think you are very cunning as well?
Surah 4:76 "..feeble indeed is the cunning of Satan" ("..inna kayda al shaytani kaana daeefan).
Well the purpose of this walkabout is to tell you that the Chinese people, the Japanese, Koreans, Singaporeans etc have adopted a very Islamic method of gaining knowledge - they engage in intelligent discussion. They have adopted the Quranic method. Intelligent discussion is a very, very modern concept. That is why they are progressing.
The Muslims unfortunately do not have as much easy access to intelligent discussion. Hence they are doomed.
It becomes worse if the languages spoken by the Muslims around the world have not expanded their capacity to express complex ideas and modern scientific thinking.
There is no word for psychology in Tamil, Malay or Urdu. That is why in Pakistan and India, the language of science is still English. Imagine if India dumps English and reverts to Hindi, Tamil etc. Will they be able to produce as many scientists and computer programmers? I dont think so.
And all over the world, English is the super highway to knowledge. It has surpassed German, French, Chinese etc. And it is getting even more stronger.
At a time when English is getting stronger, we have decided to dump English for Malay (and lagi bodoh, for Arabic).
All this is only possible in Malaysia when there are little avenues to dicuss things intelligently. So the Muslims remain poor. The non Muslims particularly the Chinese and also the Indians, who have better access to knowledge-languages (Chinese, English) will be economically better off.
Then we have had two Prime Ministers after Dr Mahathir who did not know a hole in the ground from a hole in their heads. For 12 years and still counting, since 2003, our country has suffered the worst leadership crisis in the world.
And since the Malays are so dependent on the government (whereas the Chinese and Indians are not, well not as much) they have also suffered from the weak leadership. Hence the Malay or Muslim economy has suffered.
And the worse fate of course has befallen those Malays and Muslims who support the PAS. For 20 years or more Kelantan has been ruled by the PAS. That State is so backward, economically and socially that the people have become numb. They are so numb that they do not even know they are backward.
There is absolutely no way you can have any kind of conversation with them anymore, let alone an intelligent conversation. The sad thing is they are not even close to Islam.
So the point where I diverge from Zaid is that the non Malays will be better off just by their own. A point will come where they will be fully independent of the Muslim political power. Once the oil revenues dry up (they will) the Muslim political power will become subservient to economic power again.
We thought that Felda's owning hundreds of thousands of acres of land will be strategically good for the Malays but even there they are making losses....... (truncated)
(truncated).......I have to rest my case here. This is getting beyond belief.
I do agree that the Government really need to recall the PPSMI, the Malays need to be forced to learn English, this is one of the best way for them to learn English and unlock the mountains of technological knowledge expanding at quantum speed throughout the world.
Terminating the PPSMI was one of the major disasters wrought on our nation by the Najib Cabinet besides repealing the ISA, EO etc.
Recalling the PPSMI is the Islamic way to make Malay Muslims competitive and not object of ridicule by others.
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