A post that I have made some time ago had elicited a comment from a reader and it went like this:
- Dilah Says:
May 15th, 2006 at 10:38 am eI like this post of yours.We don’t learn this kind of history in school.But, help me verify one thing. I remembered years ago when I was in Primary School, History was taught in English.But then somewhere in 1990s(?), the medium of instruction for that subject was changed into Malay?Why is that?Is it a sign that our education medium of instruction will go that direction in the future?
Yes, there was a switch in 1997-8 if I am not mistaken. History was switched to Malay, and basically, from Primary 1-3 the medium of instruction was Malay. School children are not exposed to English until they are in Primary 4.
The reason for the switch was mostly political unfortunately. There is supposedly a fear that one day Malay will not be utilised anymore and it might go extinct because everyone is speaking English. The argument was that Brunei is a country "berteraskan dengan konsep Melayu Islam Beraja" therefore the education should be conducted in Malay.
The truth is, the system switch will have devastating effects on those involved with it, and there is a lot of parties involved with it. First of all the students, who has less chance of aquiring the language to native like competence (argue with me on this all you want, I have studies to prove that age is a factor in learning a language), the English teachers who had to deal with non-English competent students, who are under pressure from teachers of other subjects who find that their students are not competent in English to be successful in the subject and turn them into great speakers of English. The Ministry of Education is also affected because it is under pressure from the government to produce good quality, well rounded individuals who speaks at least two languages, the government who are suppose to employ the students, and Brunei, the country who will be run by them. Can you imagine a minister who cannot speak English?
I believe also, that Brunei is following the footsteps of West Malaysia, a country which is using Malay as its medium of instruction in national schools and is experiencing some considerable amount of success. However, their purpose was supposedly to unite all cultures (as we all know, Malaysia is a melting pot of many many cultures) under the same language. English is only learnt as a subject.
Of course we are now seeing the negative effects of this switch. By the time they are in Form 1, they are expected to learn pretty much everything in English. With only three years of limited exposure to English, this can prove to be an extremely challenging feat. A lot of students cannot cope with the sudden influx of difficult language. Furthermore, the English O'level results has not been lower than ever.
I personally believe policymakers should change the policy back to parallel bilingualism like how me and you used to have. Malaysia is already regretting their decision on a Malay-medium instruction. Especially because Malaysia striving on its very business-oriented economy which cannot operate without good speakers of English. Many are unemployed despite their degrees and diplomas and they are in danger of a power shift.
Malaysia's policymakers are taking measures to remedy this. They are now taking slow baby steps in incorporating more English in the curriculum, for example in subjects such as Science. Moreover millions of Ringgit Malaysia were set aside to retrain the non-English-speaking-unemployed.
But for them the damage is done. For us, it is not. There is still time. Restore parallel bilingualism, abolish sequential.
UPDATE: I have a paper on Bilingualism in West Malaysia if you are interested on reading up on the details mentioned in the above post. Click here to download.
iammaurina 
I have seen some West Malaysian with very poor command of English you might wonder what were they doing in their English classes back then. To them speaking English is like betraying their mother toungue. Some of them very narrow minded and racist.Don’t believe? Stay in KL and observe. U can see the Chinese are very very Chinese, as well as Malays and Indians. They like to segregate and there is no the so called ‘racial harmony’ that they like to boast about. It’s all bullsh*t.
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Yeah, it is all to do with the education really. For example, the Chinese went to Chinese schools. The government refuse to give any subsidies for the Chinese schools because apparently they are a “transient community”. And thus pluralism. The politics of the country does not do much to help the situation either.
However, who am I to judge. The only reason why the many cultures in Brunei bond together is because it is such a small country and you are bound to bump into one another at some point in your life. Truly no man is an island.
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when i was at school, it used to be 4 years of primary education in Malay and then you take an exam to determine whether you go to an english stream (prep 1 to 3) or stay on in the malay stream (darjah 5 & 6) before taking the primary certificate examinations which was a bit wasteful as by the time you learn english, you spend an extra year in primary school. when i was in UK, i met the first batch of Malaysians who just passed through their whole school life in malay educated medium and i really pity them, they were struggling then especially in our law courses. for me, it’s the language of the knowledge which is important. if knowledge language is in english, then english it is. we live in too small a world, you have to be practical – languages play important roles in knowledge and in culture. being bilingual or trilingual will even be better – you have the knowledge language as be able to communicate in the languages of your country and your region.
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The Dwibahasa system began in 1985, and has slowly been implemented over these 20 years. And now we’re beginning to see the effects. I have a friend who teaches upper primary classes, and she says that some students at that level have problems with sentences like “Divide this-number by that-number, then subtract another-number”.
Hell, Malaysia has decided to switch Science and Maths education to English, simply because they realize if they persist with the stupid everything-Malay policy, their students will be left behind in a world where everything is increasingly English.
Malay will never be overtaken by English as long as we realize that it is an inherent part of what it means to be Bruneian. That kind of identity cannot be erased, and there are so many speakers anyway. Malay is definitely important as an identity and as a inalienable part of our culture, but to rob our kids of the ability to function is English is to rob them of the opportunity to function in the real world. And don’t go telling me Brunei is the real world. For most Bruneians, ours is a country of luxury and anyone who argues with that is severely deluded. Perhaps that is why Malay is so promoted here? If we’re so satisfied with what we have, why leave? And if we never have to leave, why learn English?
But the oil won’t last forever. And sooner or later, you’re gonna run into a white guy.
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Then another question needs to be asked.
If everyone feels very strongly that English is extremely useful and an important part of our educational lives, then, why is it not incorporated in the curriculum more?
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Well, simply because of the underlying fear that it’ll overtake Malay.
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Another question:
Why switch History(of all subject) to Sejarah when we have to continue studying it in English in secondary school?Wouldnt it be better to have the same medium of instruction(see the case for Maths, Geo and Science)?Sejarah and History is totally different, vocabulary-wise.
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Apparently the argument was because Sejarah is a Bruneian subject and what better language to tell such language but Malay. Perhaps also, theoretically, Sejarah will elicit the most discussion amongst students thus making us supposedly more fluent in it. No reasons have ever been published to my knowledge as are most decisions involving our education system (other than an obscure piece of newspaper article). Like I said, reasons are most usually political rather than educational.
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Believe it or not, America is having a similar crisis with English: should it be the national language or a common unifying one.
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