Great discussion with Sang Suria yesterday.
First and foremost, we defined what is meant by ‘vernacular’.
- Kamus Dewan - relating to or a language or dialect commonly spoken by the members of a particular group or a community in a society
- Oxford Fajar Advanced Learner’s English-Malay Dictionary - language or dialect spoken in a particular country or region, as compared with a formal or written language.
From this two interpretation, we can sum up that ‘vernacular’ means the non-formal language that is commonly spoken by a particular group of people in a society. Language systems for the Indians, Chinese, Malays and other minorities were considered as vernacular languages back in the British Occupation. Why? The formal language back then was the English Language because the British were in power over Tanah Melayu. (I rule your country, therefore you must use my language!)
People like Chin Peng fought for the democratic rights - the equality of languages and culture as contained in their Anti-Japanese Nine Point Manifesto in 1943 and the Eight Point Programme in 1945. Of course it wasn’t a successful move.
Two years later, in 1947, Pusat Tenaga Rakyat (Putera) and the All-Malayan Council of Joint Action (AMCJA) combined efforts to formulate a document called “The People’s Constitutional Proposals for Malaya.” The Malay Language emerged as the national and official language, replacing English during the post-independence.
The Chinese and Tamil languages faced discrimination. The Alliance and BN did not promote a healthy growth for the languages. (Racist freaks!) (I rule your country, therefore you must use my language!)
We didn’t really touch on this side of the story in yesterday’s discussion. We talked more about experiences for those coming from vernacular schools. I didn’t even utter a word at all because I’m not from any vernacular school and didn’t know what to protect whether is it detrimental to national integration.
See, my primary and secondary school are of the national schools. During primary education, un/fortunately, I was the only Chinese in the whole school of hundreds of pupils. I got along very well with Malay and Indian friends. I can even speak the language without flaws, as if I’m a Malay.
Secondary education was a little hard for me to adapt to. Why? The school that I went to is a multicultural school, Malays, Indians, and Chinese were mixed together in a classroom. In fact, I faced difficulties to speak Mandarin because I have not learnt it. Family members speak English to me since childhood. Of course the language barrier wasn’t a big problem because I picked up the language quite fast. (I broke the rules of Critical Period Hypothesis. Haha.) Then I got along very well among Chinese friends.
Indian friends are not a small amount too. I used the English Language to communicate with them, sometimes BM. Not as bad though. I used three languages in school. It was cool.
To answer the question “are vernacular schools detrimental to national integration?” YES! Why must we segregate the people according to races? National schools can give the best of national integrity when everybody is mixed together. Put in vernacular languages into national schools as electives. Anybody can take up extra language subjects. Want to learn about the History of the Chinese Language? Make it as a subject in school! I think there won’t be any objections, maybe there are. Nobody will ever know the answer if there aren’t any actions taken. Maybe this could be one of the agenda in upcoming Rancangan Malaysia.
There are a lot of factors which can counter that argument too, such as family upbringing. Parents are the ones who shape their children’s mindsets. “Cina tu makan babi, haram tau, jangan pi kawan ngan mereka.” “Malay people are lazy, they are the criminals, not a good friend to be with.” “Indians are dark, dirty and smell of Indian oil, don’t go near them.”
Did you ever hear this before? I bet you guys did and kept quiet about it. Parents therefore send their children to vernacular schools just so that they can mix with their own kind. What can we do? These mindsets are permanently set in the minds of everyone since young. How do we erase these mindsets? Not an easy task. We should all bring the People’s Constitutional back alive again, where we regard everyone is equal. We filled in forms with “bangsa Malaysia” instead of Melayu, Cina, India, Lain-lain.
