Let us move forward with PPSMI

Those who opposes PPSMI are truly one sandwich short of a picnic. This definitely means that I am all for PPSMI because I see the good in what the policy will bring compared to the detractors of this wonderful policy.

Yes, there are pros and cons in everything but if there are more pros than cons in this policy, why should you be the one who would undermine it thus being a traitor of your own race by oppossing it?

This policy is for the good of our people, the Malays specifically and for the Malaysians in general. Think for once. Generally, the majority of the Malays can only converse and write well in Malay. They cannot speak or write well in English, especially the younger generations.

Remember about the graduates who cannot get jobs until now because they cannot answer their job interview well? Don't deny it because it does happen.

Last June, Raja Zarith Sofiah Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah had delivered a royal lecture at the 19th Malaysian English Language Teaching Association or better known as Melta International Conference.

Malaysia in comparison to China and Indonesia which had been catching up fast in becoming more proficient in the command of the English language, had fallen far behind and moving in the opposite direction.

Raja Zarith said that many are reluctant to participate in international conferences due to having no confidence in speaking up and writing reports in English and one of the ways to boost their confidence in speaking in English is by asking them to regularly present in front of the class.

With good command of the language, she said that the language can be used to communicate the peaceful religion of Islam and correct the stereotypes and misconceptions about Muslims and Islam post-9/11.

Malaysian Muslims can then tell the world that we do not prescribe to the doctrine of terrorism.

I want to share this eye-catching article I had found with my readers about a father's positive experience of PPSMI in Math & Science in English.

I provide for you the statistics of the number of pupils who had answered their UPSR exams for the year 2008 and 2007.

In 2008, the number of pupils who answered totally in English for Science are 31.1%. Those who answered in Malay are 16.5% whereas the candidates who answered in a mix of English and Malay are 52.4%.

For 2007, only 18.2% of the students answered in a mix of Malay and English in 2007.

For the Mathematics paper, for 2008 UPSR, 53.4% of the pupils had answered in a mix of Malay and English in comparison to 10.5% in 2007.

A significant increase can be seen in the competency of the pupils in answering the questions in English thus proving that we reap what we sow.

Those students are amongst the first batch of students who followed the PPSMI programme in 2003 from Year 1.

This is such a disturbing news because the world is now being propogated with globalisation which means anyone can enter any country which is now borderless and if you cannot even talk in English, how are you going to compete with those people who can speak in 4 or even 5 languages?

The upper hand will be the other races here because they can speak their mother tongue; either the Chinese language or the Tamil language plus the Malay and English language unlike the Malays who can only speak Malay.

Tun Dr Mahathir had given us a challenge when he proposes PPSMI which means that he has the trust in us that we, the Malays can rise to his challenge and do it with flying colours if we really put our minds into it.

Harimau Malaya had won AFF-Suzuki Cup after 14 years of failure and if they can do it, so can the students provided that they work hard to excel in PPSMI.

In conclusion, it is an understatement to say that pupils cannot learn Mathematics and Science in English effectively because as the Malay saying goes "Melentur buluh biarlah dari rebungnya".