Some non-Malays regard Bahasa as an inferior language
Anyway, the reason many non-Malays do not want to learn or speak Bahasa Malaysia is because they regard the Malay language as an inferior language. Most Chinese consider the Chinese language and education system far superior to the government system, which is in Bahasa. Many also consider English a superior language compared to the Malay language. And these people do not want to learn or speak the Malay language because they are highly educated and too good for inferior languages.
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Many DAP leaders cannot speak Bahasa like a Malaysian citizen should
Lim Guan Eng’s insistence that all government agencies, departments and ministries use Mandarin as its official language (because many Chinese do not speak Bahasa Malaysia) and the Attorney-General Tommy Thomas’s refusal to learn or speak Bahasa Malaysia or the national language is because they regard the Malay language as an inferior language.
It is not that Bahasa is a very difficult language to master. In fact, Bahasa is an even easier language to learn compared to English or French. Bahasa is pronounced the way it is spelt but not English and French.
For example, in English, ‘Leicester’ is pronounced ‘lester’, ‘Slough is pronounced ‘slaw’ while ‘tough’ is pronounced ‘taf’, not ‘taw’. Sandwich is pronounced ‘sandwitch’ while Chiswick is pronounced ‘chisik’ not ‘chiswik’.
Your right to Malaysian citizenship should be tied to your proficiency in Bahasa, like in the UK, and you cannot join the government or become an AG, Judge, MP, DUN, Councillor, etc., if you do not master Bahasa
I personally know Malay boys from Terengganu with a Malay education background who had learned Japanese in just six months when they were sent to Japan by Petronas. And the beautiful thing is they ended up improving their English as well because the medium of instruction when learning Japanese is English and not Bahasa. And these are kampung boys, not highly-educated people like Attorney-Generals.
Anyway, the reason many non-Malays do not want to learn or speak Bahasa Malaysia is because they regard the Malay language as an inferior language. Most Chinese consider the Chinese language and education system far superior to the government system, which is in Bahasa. Many also consider English a superior language compared to the Malay language. And these people do not want to learn or speak the Malay language because they are highly educated and too good for inferior languages.
