WORLD RESPECT FOR MALAY LANGUAGE IF MALAYSIA SUCCESSFUL, SAYS MAHATHIR

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad
says the Malay language will only be respected by the world if Malaysia is able
to achieve a higher level of success.

He said to build a great nation, Malaysians must first be open-minded to
embrace technology to gain knowledge and information in various languages,
especially English, before Malaysia could put the Malay language as the language
of knowledge and be respected in the eyes of the world.

"As much as we want to be proud of our own language, we must realise that
others may not see the importance of studying the language if it is seen as not
useful to them.

"In order to do so (for the national language to be recognised), Malaysia
must be successful and must have access to knowledge, which are mostly available
in English...then others will learn our language," he said in his public
lecture on the "Impact of Technology on the Future of Higher Education" in
conjunction with Open University Malaysia's (OUM) 10th anniversary, here,
Tuesday.

Dr Mahathir reiterated his stand that learning English as well as other
languages did not mean that someone was not patriotic of his mother tongue.

"Learning English does not mean we are being unpatriotic. We learn other
languages to gain knowledge because we want to be highly respected...once we
have the knowledge, we can make use of it to better ourselves, no matter in what
language it is," he said.

Citing the Greeks, Chinese and Arabs, Dr Mahathir said as they reached their
pinnacle, more people became interested to study their language, especially to
understand their civilisations.

"In the world today, education is the most essential factor in building a
successful nation," he said.

He urged higher learning institution students to be more creative and make
use of modern technology to develop better systems that could benefit more
people with easier access to knowledge and information.

On another issue, Dr Mahathir expressed caution about allowing
undergraduates to be involved in politics, out of concern that they might
neglect their studies if they spend too much time on politics.

When referred to the current leaders' involvement in politics during their
student days, he felt their involvement was not in "real politics" but more in
student activities.

On Monday the government indicated that it was willing to hear out views
from all parties on allowing undergraduates to be active in politics.
-- BERNAMA


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