Johor Sultan says Malaysia should adopt Singapore policy on English in schools

The Johor ruler has criticised Malaysia's education system, saying that English is valuable as a medium of instruction to forge unity. – The Malaysian Insider filepic, June 12, 2015.Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar has taken politicians to task over the state of Malaysia's education system, saying they were in denial over the value of using English as a medium of instruction to forge unity.

The Star today reported the Johor Sultan said Malaysia should emulate Singapore, where the prominent use of English had given the republic a leading edge.

"One thing that we can learn from Singapore is their way of forging national unity via their education system.

“The use of English as a medium of instruction has been effective in the development of the country and uniting their people regardless of race or religion.

"English schools are neutral grounds. We used to have such schools in Malaysia until it was changed. Was there any problem then?" he said in an interview the English daily.

He also criticised Malaysian politicians who are in "self denial” or opted to "play politics with education" saying that they want to be "heroes" of their own respective races.

"They talk about nationalism but at the end, do they send their children to boarding schools in Australia and the United Kingdom to learn in Malay medium?

"I also know of so-called Chinese educationists who champion Chinese education, even insisting non-Mandarin speaking teachers should not be allowed to teach in Chinese primary schools.

“These are the extremists. I know one such leader had tertiary education in Western countries. We have many such hypocrites," he was quoted as saying.

The Sultan said not only did Malaysian children have poor English proficiency, they did not mix with one another across ethnic groups.

This, he said, did not bode well for national unity.

"The Malays go to national schools where the Chinese feel alienated, while the Indians go to Tamil schools. Where is the unity?

“Then some people also want Chinese and Indian universities. All this is driving the races apart. Yet we say we are all 1Malaysia.

"Unfortunately, I see all this as 5Malaysian".

He said the more well-to-do parents sent their children to private and international schools where English is the medium of instruction but expressed worries that this would evolve into a class issue.

"This is all due to the myopic planning and thinking of our politicians.”

He said having an education system based on a single stream for students would ensure a more harmonious society able to face future challenges together.

Having schools with English as the medium of instruction did not mean the national language would be abandoned, the Johor ruler said, as Bahasa Malaysia can still be made compulsory, as well as Chinese and Tamil languages.

"Don’t forget, when English was used as a medium of instruction in schools in the 1950s and 1960s, a pass in BM was compulsory. Even a pass in Mathematics was compulsory to pass the Form 3 exam but now you don’t even have to pass your Maths test!"

Putrajaya had said two days ago the government had no plans to revert the medium of instruction in national schools to English from Bahasa Malaysia.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had said to do so would require an amendment to the Education Act 1996.

“Malaysians generally have the ability to learn and master the (English) language. Today it is the question of upskilling and upgrading the proficiency in schools especially among teachers.

“There are many countries in the world that use their native language. Why should we change (from Bahasa Malaysia) and go back to the old system that is not in line with the current law?” Muhyiddin was quoted as saying by The Sun Daily said in his winding up speech on the 11th Malaysia Plan. – June 12, 2015.