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Media  Statement (2)

by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Petaling Jaya, Sunday): On Friday, 18.11.2005,  Utusan Malaysia’s “Bisik-Bisik”  by Awang Selamat, carried the following item:

Parti Gerakan percaya bahawa para pelajar akan menguasai Sains dan Matematik dengan lebih baik jika mereka diajar dalam bahasa ibunda masing-masing.

Atas sebab itu, Timbalan Presidennya, Koh Tsu Koon tidak habis-habis mendesak supaya dasar penggunaan bahasa Inggeris bagi mengajar Sains dan Matematik, dikaji balik. Kesungguhan beliau telah mengocak semula satu perkara sensitif yang sudah selesai.

Kelmarin, teori Tsu Koon jatuh ke dalam parit. Seorang murid Melayu bernama Noorzaini Nordiana Mohd. Noor yang menuntut di SJK (Cina) Chung Hwa, Jitra mendapat 7A dalam peperiksaan UPSR.

Mandarin bukan bahasa ibundanya, tapi dia mampu cemerlang. Maka teori yang mengatakan murid akan cemerlang jika mempelajari sesuatu subjek dalam bahasa ibundanya, meleset sama sekali.

Anak-anak Cina sudah lama mempelajari segala macam subjek dalam Bahasa Melayu di sekolah kebangsaan, dan mereka cemerlang. Malah, dalam subjek Bahasa Melayu sendiri, begitu ramai yang lebih baik daripada murid Melayu.

Kesimpulan: Teori Tsu Koon penuh dengan agenda politik Gerakan.

Awang - Sekilas ikan di air ....

The next day, Utusan Malaysia (19.11.05), reported under  the headline “Tsu Koon membisu teori bahasa ibunda, pelajar cemerlang”:

PULAU PINANG 18 Nov. - ``No comment,'' begitulah jawapan ringkas Timbalan Presiden Gerakan, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon ketika diminta mengulas bahawa teori pelajar lebih cemerlang jika menggunakan bahasa ibunda dalam pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik yang ternyata meleset sama sekali.

Beliau yang juga Ketua Menteri terus membisu sewaktu diasak dengan pertanyaan oleh media berikutan kejayaan seorang murid Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (SJK) Cina Chung Hwa, Jitra, Kedah, Noorzaini Nordiana Mohd. Noor yang memperoleh 7A dalam Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) yang diumumkan kelmarin.

Tsu Koon ditemui di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa (LTAB) Bayan Lepas di sini hari ini sekembalinya daripada mengetuai misi pelaburan dan lawatan selama enam hari ke Jerman bertujuan meninjau peluang-peluang pelaburan dalam bidang teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) dan industri bio.

I searched the Mingguan Malaysia today for any clarification from Tsu Koon, but there was none.  Is Tsu Koon by his silence admitting that he was wrong and that former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was right when questioning  Tsu Koon as acting in the interest of education or “whether there was an element of chauvinism” in calling for a review of the use of English to teach mathematics and science from Std. One in Chinese and Tamil primary schools.

Tsu Koon, who is Deputy Gerakan President as well as Penang Chief Minister, should not buckle down to pressure and allow the former Prime Minister or the Deputy UMNO Youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin to bully him and to shut him up on what he believes as a matter of principle. (Khairy had warned Gerakan to stop challenging government policies including the use of English to teach mathematics and science so as not to create confusion among the people.)

Tsu Koon owes it to himself as well as all who advocate the restoration of mother-tongue to teach mathematics and science in the first three years of primary school, including Dong Jiao Zong as well as the overwhelming silent majority of the teachers in Chinese and Tamil primary schools,  to speak up to explain that such a stand is taken fully from the educational viewpoint and not for any chauvinistic consideration.

It will be a great disservice to education as well as nation-building if Tsu Koon’s silence is taken as a confirmation that calls for review of the use of English to teach mathematics and science from Std. One in the vernacular schools are purely chauvinistic and have no educational basis whatsoever.

I am prepared to help Tsu Koon with all the expert studies, educational arguments and research evidence as to why it educationally unsound to teach mathematics and science in English in Std. One when the medium of instruction or the mother tongue/home language is not English and that there are more effective ways to promote mastery of the English language, mathematics and science.

Noorzaini Nordiana Mohd. Noor’s excellent UPSR results in getting 7As, including science and mathematics in Chinese,  is commendable but does not debunk the argument that mathematics and science is best taught in one’s mother-tongue in the early primary school years, unless the  medium of instruction is also changed. In Noorzaini’s case,studying in a Chinese primary school, her medium of instruction was Chinese for her six years of primary education.

Before the 70s, Malaysians regardless of race achieved distinction in mathematics and science although these two subjects were taught in English, simply because the medium of instruction was in English. This is why calls are heard for the restoration of English-medium primary schools if the government is not prepared to review  the use of English to teach mathematics and science from Std. One.

            
(20/11/2005)