NICOL DAVID (‘JAGUH KANGKANG NEGARA’ AND ‘TOKOH TUNJUK SELUAR DALAM NEGARA’) AND OTHER NON-MELAYU DEMEAN BAHASA MEL.AYU BY REFUSING TO SPEAK IN THE LANGUAGE IN MELAYU TELEVISION PROGRAMS.

…AND HOW

NON-MELAYU IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR FORCE THE OTHER

MELAYU TO SPEAK IN ENGLISH.

By Mansor Puteh

Nicol David, spoke a few sentences in Melayu, in a thick accent, which sounded like she deliberately did it, before breaking into English should not be invited to appear in any Melayu program on television.

She has not shown any respect for the national language. She is Chindian, with Indian-Chinese parentage.

What ‘hero’ is she?

          She is a bad hero, or no hero at all, especially for the Muslims who disdain watching women who habitually like to bare her body.

          No wonder there are some Melayu who describe her at ‘Jaguh Kangkang Negara’ and ‘Tokoh Tunjuk Seluar Dalam Negara’.

This is what she does to get her fame and fortune, playing squash which is a game that is unIslamic, which no sane Muslim women would want to take part in.

Why must there by admiration of her if she had won numerous awards playing the sport? There should be none coming from any sane Muslim.

          The other non-Muslim women, a Bidayuh from Sarawak called Pandelela Rinong (Another Jaguh Kangkang Negara’ and ‘Tokoh Tunjuk Seluar Dalam Negara’), is even worse. She bares her body more than Nicol, yet there are many Muslims who admire her.

          How on earth could any sane Muslim admire and adore such a woman and wanted to watch her perform during the London Olympics when she was almost naked, during Ramadan?

          But at least she speaks mostly in Melayu, unlike Nicol who does not speak Melayu well or at all, who even forced the host of a Melayu television program to give her answers in English when the questions posed to her were in Melayu.

She should have been invited to appear in the show. And if she still wanted to, her answers should have been blanked so that they appear in the translation in Melayu.

          In fact, there are many other non-Melayu men or women who would answer questions in English when they are asked in Melayu and in Melayu programs on television.

They do not know how crude they can be. And worse, how stupid they are for not being able to speak in Melayu, which is the national language.

In fact, the situation is worse, in many government agencies where one can see one non-Melayu sitting in a crowd of Melayu who forced all the Melayu staff to speak in English.

          So how can anyone think the non-Melayu deserve to be absorbed into the workforce in the government agencies or ministries if they are not conversant in Melayu?

There are some non-Melayu who are exceptional cases; they who can speak and write well in Melayu.

          But the great majority do not. And they are the problem. They cannot be offered jobs in the public sector because they seem to ‘hate’ the national language’ and if they are offered posts or jobs in them, they would force everybody especially the Melayu to speak with them in English.

They are not qualified to join the workforce in the public or government sector.

          In fact, those non-Melayu who are qualified to join the public sector, must promise to take classes in Melayu so that in a year’s time they must be conversant in the language.

          If they fail to do so, they would be sacked, or their appointments not confirmed.

It is strange how they would speak in English well, despite living in the country, when there are many foreigners who can speak in Melayu better despite them having lived in the country barely a few years.

This boils down to attitude. They think and want everybody to think that by them speaking in English, they are more superior to the Melayu who do or who choose not to speak in English.

          They who do not speak in Melayu are also telling more things about their personal attitude and that of their community.

          It is bad when they do not make it an effort to learn how to speak and write in Melayu better when it is a well-known fact that the Melayu language is on of the easiest languages anyone can learn.

The reason being it uses the Roman text, where those who want to learn the language can immediately read what they are seeing.

Now they only need to know what the words they see mean.

          It is not like learning Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin, Tamil or even Greek which use alien text.

          So what excuse do Nicol and the other non-Melayu working in the public sector have for not being able to learn Melayu and speak in the language with their Melayu colleagues who are around them, and in public as well as on television anyway? None.

          So how could the non-Melayu claim to be discriminated for promotions when they do not write or speak well in Melayu?

          They have themselves to blame.

          Besides, why must a non-Melayu head a university or any government agency, for instance, when the majority of the staff are Melayu?

          Can one have faith in non-Melayu by offering them senior posts in strategic agencies, such as the police and army and others, where they can use their authority to undo a lot of things that benefit their own communities.

          No wonder the Chinese government of Singapore does not even allow Melayu to become pilots in their air force.

          One also does not know just how many Melayu who are employed as pilots in their national airline, the Singapore Airlines (SIA).

          There are some Melayu who are staff of the airline, but one does not know how many Melayu pilots are there flying their planes or control towers at Changi International Airport.

          There are many Melayu who are pilots of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia and other local airlines. 

          But there are some Melayu who would not allow the non-Melayu to force them to speak in English, so they force the non-Melayu to speak in Melayu instead. And it works.

          The non-Melayu in Malaysia must not be allowed to have their way all the time, they have to blend or assimilate, or they are seen as the New Immigrants to add to the ‘pendatang’ image they keep.