the connections runs deep as you've pointed out. oh, and it was nice chatting with you.

nah, it was a nice read too google-ing about the history of Malay language.

I think this article was well written and it does raise a valid point...imagine the Syrian refugees moving to Europe now and living there , after 100 years their descendants ask the german government yo stop emphasizing the German language and to focus on English ..... Do u think that will fly ??? I admit my BM is not as good as my English or my French but I can speak it and I do try to communicate the best way I can, As a Malaysian we should b able to speak the language of the nation we are born and raised in , after all 100/200 years ago some of our ancestors would have had to live of the mercy of the inhabitants of this land.....it's not too much effort to honor those who took our forefathers in and whose descendants with whom we share this country with .....

Joe mamak's daily routine
8am : bangun, buat kopi, go news site copy and paste news
10am : berak, go news site, copy and paste news. but this time bold some of the words
12noon: makan lunch alone
2pm: f5 f5 for news. copy and paste news. also, become moral police in k. give generic advice.
4pm: tidur, dream about latest news
6pm: reply news tereds he copied. cry when got zero replies.
8pm: eat dinner alone, sambil baca newspaper
10pm: besihkan keyboard and mouse.
12am: pray to newsgods for more news tomorrow.

Au contraire, I thought the article was rather stupid, but emblematic of the mindset that is causing the problems in this country. Language is not a zero sum game: you do not become more or less patriotic just because you speak one language or another. If you want to communicate the best you can, you learn as many languages as you are able to, and an enlightened government can encourage such multilingualism. In this day and age we need to be global citizens and being able to speak many languages opens that door for us.

Thanks to him, i am aware of the news in Malaysia!
Keep it up Joe mamak!

yup.......not as united as you think

Worse without putonghua, if people from one region cannot communicate to the other. Then they will identify themselves not as PRC, but according to regions.

so?

having a common language is just that, having a common language.

rwandan still kill each other despite having a common language.

what goes on in a person's mind and the attitude of the person is entirely different thing.

yes, but people will only start loving each other once they know each other... but how they gonna know each other if they dont know what each other is trying to say?

language is just a tool to communicate........what the person want to communicate about is an entirely different matter.

you can say that it is a catalyst for unity, also a catalyst for disunity.

but it is in fact a catalyst...

like other tools, it still depends on the user...

still, it is one of the useful tools to unite with each other...

just like a parent have no rights over their children, or a company no rights over what their employees need or need not have? in Malaysia, the Government asks it's people to speak the national language. I think it's a fair enough requirement.

tool in itself is neutral.

there's no need to label them with attributes it doesn't carry

with people  having a hard time learning 1 national language.. you want the government to enforce other languages too?   truthfully I support the idea.I agree prags85 comment and yours.. it's just that at it's core the people as a whole can't be bothered to learn too much languages you know? who's going to forfeit the education budget? plus, would the people spend time to learn french etc..? it'd be good if they would, but before global citizens, we are malaysian citizens. unless you believe in Novus Ordo Seclorum 

Precisely! 

Btw, if everyone champions the Malaysian agenda, why the big hoo-haa over the usage of our national language? If we take pride of our country, shouldn't we also take pride of our national identity which comprises our national language? 

For those who take offense of my name calling, please remember that I only called those who do not take pride in our national language as ignorant buffoons. But then again, I guess "Siapa makan cili, dia lah yang terasa pedasnya" 

Cheers! 

Let me tell you something.

You should really take a look at the root why some people are turned off at this.

Don't bother replying back to me. It's something for you to ponder.

let's not confuse ourselves between what ought to be done and how its done.
Multilingualism is the right way to go. Why we can't do it on the other hand is simply a long term consequence of that well intentioned but ill conceived attempt at social engineering we call the NEP. Our country spends so much per capita on education and yet sees so little return. Have you ever stopped to ask why? My parents were teachers. My late grandfather was a state officer. I've seen it first hand: it's all about incompetence and corruption exacerbated by a stupid policy that places ethnicity over merit.

thanks for your reply. I will think more about the issue of broadening the usage of other languages(+BM) in our country.