English won't affect national identity: NGO

Kota Kinabalu: The Society Empowerment and Economic Development of Sabah (Seeds) is convinced that the re-introduction of English medium government schools in Sabah will not affect the use of Bahasa Malaysia as the language that cultivates the students' national identity.According to senior fellow of the non-profit NGO Dr Arnold Puyok, countries like the Philippines and Singapore have succeeded in cultivating the people's national identity even though English is used as medium of instruction in schools.

"It's possible for English to be elevated as the medium of instruction in government schools without affecting the use of Bahasa Malaysia, which is the official language of the country," he said in a statement.

The senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak said Seed is fully supportive of the call made by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan, recently.

The minister reportedly said that this would help in efforts to improve English language proficiency among students in the State.

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English, he said, was once the medium of instruction in Sabah before the State Government at the time decided to follow the national education policy.

Abdul Rahman proposed the Education Ministry to implement a pilot project in some primary and secondary schools in urban areas, including Sabah College.

Dr Arnold said Seeds welcomed the call as a positive move toward enhancing Sabah's human capital and also preparing the State to compete globally in business and the economic sectors.

"While fed government should be lauded for its efforts in enhancing proficiency among students, allowing the State to make English medium of instruction in government schools will allow Sabah to plan its own human capital development based on the State's unique history, culture and geographical position," he said adding that this is also in line with current initiatives to devolve powers to Sabah.

He also said that in the learning domain, students who understand English have a better advantage over those who do not as information both coming from the conventional and modern means is mostly in English.

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Drawing from personal experience as a lecturer with 15 years under his belt, Dr Puyok agreed that students who have a good command in the language are better prepared for the job market.

He added that English is Sabah's passport for the State, which is already globally famous for its tourism industry, can benefit economically from the 2 billion English speakers from countries where English is an official language. - Leonard Alaza

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