Moderator : Assalamualaikum and good morning to all of you and welcome

once again with Ariff Ashraaf, your host for Forum 1-Malaysia. The topic for
today focuses on relevance of !M". First, let me e#plain shortly a$out what
is !M". !M" means %the teaching and learning of science and
mathematics in English& is a government policy aimed at improving the
command of the 'nglish language among pupils at primary and secondary
schools in Malaysia. The M(MM(" olicy is the policy of the Ministry of
'ducation Malaysia to ensure the usage of Malay )anguage as a medium of
communication in all national schools and secondary schools, and to ensure
that each child can master $oth Malay and 'nglish languages well and
fluently. To discuss this hot issue today, we have invited an esteemed group of
panellists who will shed us with more light on !M", is it relevance or not *
+n my immediate right is the Minister of 'ducation, ,atuk !ri -ulfikri. Thank
you ,atuk for taking time off from you $usy schedule to $e with us today. .e#t
to ,atuk is Mr. Faris /adi, principle of !( "ntegrasi 0empol. Thank you Mr.
Faris for your kind presence. +n my immediate left is ,r. Amar Fikri, as a
linguist and lecture of 1M. Thank you ,r. for your willingness to $e o our show
today and on my e#treme left is rof. Muhd .a2ri a 3hairman of parent action
group for education Malaysia. Thank you rof. for o$liging us with your
presence today. First let me ask ,atuk !ri. ,atuk, what do you think eith the
government action of replacing !M" with M(M((" policy * "n your opinion,
is that relevant *
-ul : Thank you Mr. Ashraaf. Medium of language has nothing to do
with learning. !o this !M" policy should have never seen implemented
$ecause it doesn4t have the relevance in any sort of way. This is $ecause,
first, academic achievement in school is not solely dependent on the choice of
using 'nglish or Malay as a medium of instruction, $ut rather the 5uality of
teachers that schools have today. "t is the duty of teachers to enhance and
facilitate students in their learning, not language. "n other words, the teachers
themselves must first $e complied with the 5uality of good and 5ualified
teachers. "t is then they can teach their students efficiently regardless of the
language used. "f teachers are not e5uipped with pedagogic competency,
student4s learning will surely $e affected.
Moderator : Thanks ,atuk !ri. A great e#planation. !o if "4m not mistaken,
you are saying that regardless of what language is used as the medium of
instruction, the teachers themselves need to $e e5uipped with the 5ualities of
a good teacher right* Then only they can efficiently conduct the learning
process. !o ,r. Amar, do you share ,atuk !ri opinion*
Amar : First thing first, " would like to say that "4m completely 1667 not
on the same page with ,atuk !ri. This is first, $ecause of his weak argument.
"4m afraid not ,atuk !ri $ut you have used the element of red herring in your
argument to persuade viewers to accept your point. 8ou distracted the
viewers from the real issue here which is the !M" and you talk a$out the
5uality of great teachers. .e#t, " personally support that !M" policy should
$e continued as 'nglish language is the glo$al lingua franca nowadays. !o, "
$elieved it is an important and a must learned language. Too many $enefits to
$e talked a$out if students are good in 'nglsh. They can understand and
appreciate the international literature, music and film. Most of the world4s
literally and artistic works have $een written in the language of 'nglish
99999. And where do students can improve their 'nglish language* This
is where the !M" policy should $e the first step in enhancing student4s
language.
Moderator : Thank you ,r. 8es indeed 'nglish is the most important
language nowadays. Those who can4t speak 'nglish will $e regarded as
waste. :enerally these students who came from well educated or ur$an
families will not have 'nglish as their pro$lem. As a result, they can adopt the
!M" policy easily. (ut how a$out those students in rural areas* They speak
their another language everyday. 'nglish sure is a pro$lem for them. rof.
would you like to answer my 5uestion*
.a2ri : Thank you Mr. Ashraaf for your 5uestion. ;e all know that rural
students always have pro$lem when it comes to 'nglish language. (ut that is
the whole point of implementing this policy. To cater the pro$lems of these
rural students, we needed a holistic approach and !M" is the definite
answer. :overnment started this policy in <66= and applied it on primary and
secondary school all around Malaysia. 'very great achievement must $e
started with a small step and this small step would not always $e perfect as
e#pected. Ade lagi point kot ! (ut that does not mean this policy must $e
a$olished. " $elieve the success of !M" are many and even more, if the
policy had $een given the opportunity to complete at the very least three
complete cycles. A$olishing the policy so a$ruptly in <66>, after a mere ?
years of implementation has left 5uantifying its success more
challenging999.. "t does not fair for all of us to say that !M" is a failure "
know that there have $een a lot of research to prove that !M" is a flop $ut
let $e honest here, is ? years enough*
Moderator : Thank you rof. for your uni5ue point of view. !o you are
saying that the policy must $e first applied for a long period of time in order for
us to @udge the effectiveness of it, am " right* "t seems that ? years of
implementation of !M" is not enough and sufficient. !o to our ne#t panel
Mr. Faris, do you agree with what rof. .a2ri said @ust now*
Faris : Thanks moderator for this given opportunity to appear on this
show. rof. .a2ri said that we needed to give more time to !M" in order for
us to fairly @udge the effectiveness of the policy and implying that this policy
must $e continued and should not $e stopped. ;hat can " see here is that
why we should gam$le our child4s future when there are enough proof to say
that !M" is not more than a $ig mistake* Are our child4s future something
that we can simply gam$le*.....
Moderator : Thanks Mr. Faris for your e#planation. " see that you have done
5uite a research on this !M" issue. The num$ers that you mentioned @ust
now is 5uite shocking and this shed a new light for us in understanding the
reality of !M". ,r. Amar, referring to statistics given $y Mr. Faris, do you
anything to say a$out that*
Amar : " also have my own statistics to counter what Mr. Faris said @ust
now. (ut in my statistics, the rural students are not the AvictimB $ut actually the
opposite99..
Moderator : 0ust another shocking truth on this !M" issue. The e#pected
AvictimB, rural students, are actually the AvictorB, $ased on ,r. Amar statistics. "
think enough statistics and num$er. ,ato4 !ri, what are the main weaknesses
that you can see in this !M" policy*
-ul : Actually, there are a lot of weaknesses that you can find from
this policy. (ut " want to highlight only < ma@or points, which are the
vagueness of the !M" o$@ectives and the threat of deporiotising the
national language9.
Moderator : Thank you ,ato4 !ri for your e#planation. Those two points
provided $y ,ato4 !ri must $e taken into account if there is a plan to re-
implement the !M". !o rof. .a2ri, do you think most of parents agreed
the reversal of !M" in <66>*
.a2ri : Thank you Mr. Ashraaf for your 5uestion. ", as a chairperson of
A:', strongly disagree with the reversal of !M" and really hope that the
government will reinstate it $ack again. (ut " only represent my organi2ation,
not the whole parents in Malaysia. " think there is a need to conduct a survey
to indicate the percentage of parents who ought their children to $e taught in
'nglish. "4m sure that the result will $e a unanimous win for !M". (ut again
to $e fair, " think the government can, for a start, convert C7 of primary
schools and >7 of secondary schools into Apermanent !M" schoolsB. 99.
Moderator : " think it is a good idea rof. .a2ri. ;ith this sort of policy,
parents can have choices on what type of language medium they want their
children to $e taught in. !o, Mr. Faris, can you give any reasons on why
!M" should not $e continued*
Faris : Mr. Ashraaf, let me give the ? rationales to the opposition of
!M". " took this rationales from an article written $y a group of renowned
literary scholar like A. !amad !aid, rof. Muhammad /@. !alleh and Anwar
Didhwan. They wrote that:
1.
Moderator : Thank you Mr. Faris for your short e#planation. Finally we have
come the end of our forum for today, where we have shared a lot of new
viewpoints and reality that we don4t even know $efore. "t is common for
something to have its own positive as well as negative effects and these
include our discussion for today. As " recall, our panelists have discussed that
!M" have several $enefits such as it improves the 'nglish efficiency
among students and helps students to appreciate international literature,
music and film. +n the other hand, !M" have several set$acks such as the
lack of depth in its o$@ectives and the threat of depriotising our (ahasa
Malaysia if it is continued. +ur de$ate as Malaysians citi2ens over language
preferences must continue and given full airing so that we can $etter
understand how different communities think and what they aspire for. (efore "
end our discussion, any last word, anyone* Thank you once again to all
panelists and to my dear viewers, don4t forget to tune in ne#t week at the
same time with another interesting issue. 1ntil then, it4s me Ariff Ashraaf
$idding you good$ye and assalamualikum.