Language Of Science

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blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M 1. UMNO nationalists wanted the Malay language to be widely used and rank pari-passu with other world languages. But there was also a suspicion that the support for the Malay language was not because of nationalism but the desire for easy acquisition of educational qualification. Obviously using Malay as the medium of instruction was easier than English.
2. But a number of the Supreme Council members were more concerned that education should produce young Malaysians who could contribute to the development and progress of the nation.
3. The ideas thrown up ranged from maintaining Malay as the only medium to switching back to resuscitating the English schools.
4. In the end a hybrid solution was accepted. The medium would be Malay for all subjects except for science and mathematics.
5. Everyone agreed that the modern world of technology and innovation required good scientific knowledge. Besides science is not static. New knowledge is being presented all the time.
6. Mathematics is also seeing newer and more sophisticated application all the time.
7. By comparison geography and history may lead to research and new discoveries, but the basic data hardly ever change.
8. Research and development in science see new discoveries and totally new applications. Unless one has the capacity to follow what is happening in the scientific field, one will be left behind.
9. Research and development may be done in any language. But almost all research are translated into English for information and study by people of different languages in the world.
10. If a scientist wants to acquire the latest scientific knowledge, knowing English would make this possible. But if one has no command of English, then one has to wait for a translation to one’s own language.
11. This is tedious and time consuming. The translator must be conversant with the particular area of science, and understand well the English language and the Malay language. Not many people can have these attributes. Even if they do, the burden is such that they would not want to spend their life doing this work.
12. It must be obvious to everyone that today’s science is quite different from the science of only four decades ago. Not so very long-ago radio broadcast required a big building full of numerous expensive equipment and staff. Today a small gadget that can be carried in the pocket can both broadcast and receive radio and television messages.
13. From the big broadcasting station to the mobile phone in numerous system changes and power that was breath-taking has been achieved. The knowledge about broadcasting had changed repeatedly. New means of communication had been researched and developed until today wires are no longer required to send a message to the other side of the planet or to the moon and other planets.

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