The English Speaking ruling class of Malaysia - by M Chih
On May 19, 2013, 2 weeks after GE13, Wong Chun Wai's On the Beat column in The Star, 'Bring back English schools' candidly stated the widely established pros of bringing back English medium schools in our country. This was followed by several pro English groups reinforcing Wong Chun Wai's take on May 20, 2013 in the Star (Page 12).
At the bottom of the same page the Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan said' "It's an interesting idea that I think is progressive." Kamalanathan went on to say that, "Due to the complexity of the nation, it would require very detailed dialogue with all the stakeholders before any concrete decision is made."
Isn't this just so typical BN style of addressing the numerous requests for English medium schools over the years? After so many promises by the Education department, the rakyat is curious to know just how many detailed dialogues have the policy makers sat through to assess the pros and cons of having English medium schools in Malaysia.
Perhaps Wong Chun Wai has his hands tied behind his back being the Group Chief Editor of an MCA hence, BN owned newspaper.
He seemed retrained from the way he was skirting around the real issue why our education policy makers have steadfastly refused to offer English medium public schools.
Come on, lets not insult the intelligence of our esteemed policy makers by offering them a long lists of pros on an English medium syallabus. I honestly CANNOT believe that Malaysia's education policy makers are so daft as to be ignorant of the importance of the English language.
So, please everybody, we really must stop implying that our education policy makers are stupid, ignorant or delusional. They are so absolutely not. They know exactly what they are doing.
Let me get straight to the point. First point - for all those ministers and policy makers who are so pro Bahasa Malaysia, how many of their own children attend or attended the Sekolah Kebangsaan? If the very people who adamantly insist that the current Bahasa Malaysia syallabus is the best option for the nation, they should be so proud to lead by example and send their own children to such schools and ultimately aspire to see their children graduate from the local universities. Is this the case? Secondly, even in Malaysia, the top executives in the country's biggest corporations speak fluent English. Bear in mind, as a result of the pro-Bumi NEP ruling since 1971, just about all the biggest and most lucrative businesses across the board are now Bumi controlled. Even rice, flour and sugar are monopolized by Bumi owned companies.
The Malay CEOs, Directors, Senior Executives and senior managment people here speak English fluently. These people grew up aiming to master the command of the English language.
Hence, they were able to further their higher studies later in English speaking countries.
It is a fact that those Bumi students who received full scholarships to get their degrees at the legendary University of Cambridge (England), MIT (Massachusettes Institute of Technology, USA), Columbia University (New York), Harvard University (Massachusettes, USA), and other creme de la creme universities in England and the US were even able to take up such opportunities in the first place because they are fluent in English.
Usually, these kids come from the upper class Bumi families where they speak English at home. When these students graduate, they have a huge head start in their careers. Thus, further widening the gap between them, the elites and the poorer Malaysians.
The government for years has been saying that usage of the English language would lead to disunity and disrupt the peace in the country.
Then I really don't understand why our wealthy ministers can't wait to send their kids off to study in England? Those ministers who have way too much money send their young children to expensive English medium International schools in Malaysia or English boarding schools at primary and secondary school levels.
It is so totally OK for these elite Bumis to embrace everything English to the hilt. These are the very same people who turn around and say go Bahasa Malaysia to all the rest of Malaysians who have to eek out a living. What hypocrites!
As reflected by the GE13 results, the people know exactly what this ruling government is up to. It is not because the policy makers are clueless as to the benefits of mastering the English language.
Clearly, there is a systematic strategy in place that is very sinister and unfair to the rakyat. In July 1969, after the May 13 riots, the then Minister of Education, Dato Abdul Rahman Ya'akub declared that starting January 1970, all English medium schools would be phased out. By 1985, all former English medium schools would become Malay medium schools.
Here's the real reason why the Malaysian government has been so unwilling to offer the masses the option of the English medium education.
The desired outcome of depriving the ordinary Malaysians from mastering a language that even China has made leaps and bounds forward in tackling this English language was to create an overall 2 classes of people - the ELITE, the ones who own and control the biggest and most lucrative businesses in the country and end up ruling the country, and the LESSER HAVE NOTS, those who are impeded by their poor English language skills and consequently end up being perpetually dependent on the government for handouts.
We all know only too well the crippling detrimental effects to a society which has grown accustomed to handouts. This is exactly the poison-laced icing on the cake that Malaysia's BN has been feeding us since independence from the British rule.
What better method to control the masses under the guise of a democratic government than make a selected segment of the population desperate for subsidies? From there on, the ruling party can do whatever their whims and fancies dare to concoct.
Forty-three years later, this divide and rule system has become the bloodline for the BN elitists.
They dictate that the rakyat pay super premium prices for poor quality national cars which have obsolete engines.
They dictate that those who don't know how to ride motorbikes and can't afford the very tinest 800cc super overpriced national cars have no access to a reliable public transport system. (Singapore commuters get FREE MRT services before 7:45am on weekdays)
They dictate that the taxi drivers who slog for more than 12 hours 7 days a week earn less than the consortium companies (Bumi owned of course) that issue the taxi licences.
They dictate that taxi drivers be forced to buy those overpriced 1.6L Proton Saga cars which cannot endure the high mileage racked up without costly repairs.
They dictate that taxi owners pay oh such a ridiculous prices for lousy cars because the taxi drivers are forced to buy cars through the taxi consortiums.
They dictate that the taxi drivers must go to workshops which are owned by the same consortium owners and those workshops are more expensive than non appointed workshops.
They dictate that taxi drivers waste countless hours every day lining up at the far and few Petronas stations that sell the cheaper liquified gas.
They dictate that Malaysians pay through their noses just to get to KLIA and LCCT. By not allowing cabs to pick up returning passengers, the taxi drivers have to work longer hours and the passengers are forced to pay exorbitant cab fares.
Yes, although buses from Sentral to LCCT costs RM9.00, those who do not have their own transport to get to the various pick up points will be slaughtered by the cabbies.
Just on the taxi issues alone, all those ridiculous rates and conditions imposed on the taxi drivers are simply passed on to their passengers. Again, again, the rakyat suffers.
They dictate that the rakyat pay at least 3 or 4 times more for a 2.0 Litre Toyota Camry than what it costs in countries where their exchange rate is 3 times stronger than the ringgit and their country's minimum wage is over USD9 per hour.
They dictate that the poorer Malaysians have no access to proper roads and decent schools (Sarawak & Sabah).
They dictate that Malaysians who can't afford private hospitals have to bear with the few ill equiped public hospitals (Sarawak & Sabah).
They dictate that Malaysians pay for very, very expensive landline telephone & internet services in the name of speed & efficiency.
They dictate that Malaysians pay for overpriced cable TV services (ASTRO - basically, there's only one provider and we all know how weather dependent ASTRO's broadcast signal is).
Malaysians should take note that Singaporeans, who ejoy the SGD1:RM2.50 exchange rate, are delightfully paying less than SGD60 a month for a basic Bundle package of (1) a handphone line with a data plan, (2) home internet wifi (minimum is 30mbps), (3) Digital cable TV (rain or shine, the broadcast is uninterrupted) that offers more channels than our most expensive ASTRO package. Their pre-paid handphone packages would make you drool !
They dictate that it is possible for the masses (who can't speak English) to live in Malaysia at today's cost of living on a minimum wage of RM900 (W Msia) & RM800 (E Msia) working 10-14 hours 6 days a week. The cunning reality is that few employers in Malaysia would pay for overtime. They just allow the employee to clock in later the next day, discounting the fact that the 2 hours overtime put in the previous day is worth more than the 2 hours he can come in later the next day.
Last but not least, they dictate how weak the ringgit has become so that these elite Bumi companies can export their products and services competitively. The point is, weaker buying power of the ringgit and higher cost of living don't affect them and their families one bit because they have super turbo charged earning capacity. Their lifestyles are not even slightly grazed while the ordinary Malaysians' struggles to just live a basic life worsens each year.
So one might ask why on earth would Malaysia's English speaking ruling elite (bearing in mind the posts of the Prime Minister and his Deputy are not contested) want to ruin all the goodness in their rarefied world which they had doggedly built up by implementing unfair policies amidst numerous vehement protests since 1969?
The answer : THEY WON'T. It is in their very best interest to deprive the masses of equal access to the English medium education. Their divide and rule system has become their precious Aladdin's Lamp. They must continue to make the majority of the people ever so more dependent on subsidies and Ang Pows of all sorts.
English medium education for the non-elite rakyat shall remain "an interesting idea which is progressive" as it has been since January 1970 .
Well, at least until many, many more of the lesser fortunate Malaysians wake up from their passive mode, the future can only promise more of the unfathomable easy non-halal money, and magnificently colorful lifestyles in the fast and furious lane for the ruling class in Malaysia.
* M Chih reads The Malaysian Insider.
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