The NGO was responding to a statement by Universiti Utara Malaysia’s Professor Dr Zainal Kling on Sunday, who had reportedly said that Malaysian children be required to learn the Malay language before they are given the blue identity cards for citizenship.
“He has obviously confused the issue with the granting of citizenship to migrants.
“While migrants should be subjected to more stringent screening before being granted citizenship – including loyalty to King and country and acceptable command of the national language – it is ridiculous to impose the same linguistic standards on those born here,” Cenbet co-president Gan Ping Sieu said, adding that even convicted hardcore criminals do not have their citizenships revoked.
“There is no reason why those who do not meet language competency standards should be treated as second-class citizens.”
Gan, who is a former MCA vice-president, said the complexity of Malaysia’s social fabric means that some children will be left behind academically, and the learning of languages other than their mother tongue would also be impacted.
“These children may not be academically-inclined, less fortunate in their upbringing, or belong to socially-deprived or marginalised communities. It is heartless to penalise them by denying them of their right for subsidised healthcare, proper education, employment opportunities, financial access and voting rights, among others,” he said.
Gan added that citizenship is sacrosanct and rules pertaining to it are already clearly spelled out in the federal constitution.
He warned that any revisiting of the constitution to open up the topic of how a person is declared a citizen could create racial tensions that the country could do without under our current “fragile environment”.
Clarifying the importance of having a good command of the national language, Gan said the more important issue was how to give every child the opportunity to improve on their command of the Malay language.
“It is every citizen’s duty to enhance their command of the national language. In fact, the national language is a useful tool to promote national unity, so let’s help and not harp on it on purported nationalism grounds,” he added.
Gan also took issue with Zainal over the assertion that only 1% of the population needs to master English for the country to advance scientifically, calling it “illogical”.
“His idea will only deprive our talented children from connecting to the wider world and result in a much smaller pool from which we can harness young talents to become the scientists of the future.
“English is the lingua franca in the fields of science and technology. Even the Germans, French, Spanish, Arabs, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesians are learning English in full vigour, and have resigned to the fact that it is the language of knowledge,” Gan said, adding it was a fallacy to think that mastery of English and a good command of the Malay language are mutually exclusive.
Gan reminded Zainal that many of our national leaders who vigorously promote Malay language speak flawless English.
“Mastery of both languages can, and ought to, go hand in hand.”