Language barrier to racial interaction, study reveals

By Debra Chong

KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — A significant number of secondary school dropouts with Chinese primary vernacular education have little, or zero, command of English or the national language, according to a study.

Observers say this has created a group of Chinese who only interact within their own ethnic community and points to increasing racial polarisation in multicultural Malaysia.

Education ministry studies have shown that nearly one in four Chinese students has failed to complete secondary school education and their dropout rate is virtually the same as that for Malays and other races.

In the latest survey of 159 schools nationwide last year, the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) found that one-third of students from those schools cannot understand either English or Bahasa Malaysia (BM) when they transfer to national secondary schools.

Another one-third was found to be able to understand only a little bit of English or BM, while the remaining one-third could comprehend fully.(dia cakap lain, kita cakap lain.. ha macam ayam n itik)

NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng told The Malaysian Insider the survey was to find out the reasons for the high dropout rate among the Chinese students required to participate in the “remove class”, a year-long programme to ease their transfer from Chinese primary school to Malay-medium government school.

“Some students are not interested in their studies and play around,” she said, but deferred commenting on the significance of the survey. (betul2... cuma tau jalan2 n buat kacau kat skolah jek)

Retired school principal Cheng Su Chean said there were Chinese students who were fluent in both BM and English and credited it to their wide exposure to different cultures outside school.

“Most of our Chinese children do not have this sort of environment. And nowadays, they do not mix around, not like our time,” said the 68-year-old, who was formerly headmistress of SRJK (C) Pudu in the capital city.(kalau sedari awal kita masukkan pelajar Cina dalam sekolah kebangsaan kan bagus)

“Their interaction is limited. Ninety-eight per cent keep to their Chinese friends and so speak Chinese every day,” she added.

Senior fellow Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute (Seri), Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon, observed that “this is one of the contributory factors leading to racial polarisation”.

“Because of the linguistic barrier, they are not able to interact with their peers in school,” he said.(sebab diorang hanya tau cakap cina, faham bahasa cina, tu yg terbentuk 'geng' kat sekolah tu. namun kredit harus diberikan kpd Pui Sin n the gang kerana mereka berkawan dgn semua org) 

The Penang-based pundit also noted that many of those who came from a low economic class formed the bulk of the drop-outs, which created a vicious cycle as “education was no longer a vehicle for social advancement” due to the language barrier.

“They can’t get into government-sanctioned training institutes, so they don’t even have the basic skills [to get a job],” Toh said.

“Because of this, some might go overseas where they may end up as illegal workers... which could contribute to the black economy,” he added.

Tan Yew Sing who heads the KL-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall admitted that the problem was very serious and the association had set up a committee to look into the issue and arrest the problem.

He said the racial divide has become more pronounced in the last 10 years, starting with primary school education. (yup! orang Malaysia, mesti tau cakap bahasa melayu.. alah.. Bangla tu pun tau cakap melayu.. biru ka..merah ka... mana satu? adik manis...mana mau pigi? hehe...)

“The whole [education] system needs to be revamped... We need to find out how to build up an environment for interaction with people of difference races,” Tan told The Malaysian Insider.