Hero Welcome for Ahmad Ismail?

Datuk Ahmad Ismail, the suspended UMNO Bukit Bendera Division was given a hero welcome by his own division. He was received by kompang troupe, silat components performance. He was given a keris and headdress befitting the state of a Malay Warriors. It defies logic when he is still suspended by UMNO Supreme Council.

The Nature of the welcome was obviously in defiance of the UMNO Supreme Council. UMNO Bukit Bendera will sure find it difficult to get Non-Malay support. Common-sense seems to be lacking in some UMNO grassroots leaders. Political Leaders who make race-related statement from both political divide are plenty in our country.

After 308 elections, there was initial euphoria and optimism that racial politics will be less. I am one of those who think otherwise. In fact 8 months after 308, continuous politicking with racial overtones has become our staple diet.

The road sign in Chinese, Tamil and English in part of the Penang Heritage area, is a classic example of misplaced Malay Nationalism and love of Bahasa Melayu as Bahasa Kebangsaan.

BM as the official language is accepted by all Malaysians. It is protected by the Constitution and no one should question its status. Now if we study other languages it does not mean that we challenge the position of BM as Bahasa Kebangsaan, or if there are road sign other than BM, for the convenience of foreign tourists, it does not in any way mean we do not respect BM.

Malaysia, in order to be competitive when we are a trading nation depending on export, cannot have its people to be monolingual – Chinese knowing only mandarin and Malays knowing only BM. Multilingual is the way forward for Malaysia. One should not be emotional and confrontational on language issues. These issues have been resolved by our forefathers. If it is a question of implementation of the Language Policy it should not be divisive.

BM as the National Language should be an agent of Unity and all Malaysians have accepted it. But do not deprive others of learning other languages. I am sure there are more English and Mandarin speaking tourists compare to Arabic speaking tourist.

发表“寄居论”而被巫统冻结党籍3年的巫统升旗山支部主席拿督阿末依斯迈日前出席他的区会活动时，不但获得英雄式的礼仪恭迎，还获赠象征马来勇士的马来短剑及头饰。一位遭党最高理事会纪律处分，冻结党籍的基层领袖，却被基层视为英雄，这种做法显然是蔑视巫统最高理事的决定。而此动作必定让升旗山当地的非马来选民不满，要得到他们的支持必会难上加难。

308大选以后，许多人都很乐观和兴奋地认为，我国的种族政治会因此减少。我则相反。我也多次公开我的看法。事实上308以后，含种族色彩和种族歧见的政治仍然持续着，似乎已是家常便饭。

槟城文遗区设多语路牌措施被炒作以致演变成争议性课题，就是一个错解马来民族主义和敬爱国语情操的典型例子。

马来文作为马来西亚的国语和官方语言的地位是受到宪法保障，没有人能置疑这一点，而大马人民也接受这项事实。与此同时,人民学习其他语文，不能被视为挑战马来文为官方语文的地位。同样的，为了方便外国游客而在旅游区设置其他语文路牌，更不该被诠释为对马来文不敬。

马来西亚要成为具有竞争力的出口国，我国人民更须加强多语的掌握能力，华人不能只懂中文、马来人不能只谙国语。贯通多语，才能驱动使马来西亚向前进迈进。

因此，我们不该情绪化和以对抗心态去看待语文课题。因为这些问题早在我们先贤时代已有共识和对策。若问题因语文政策的执行而产生，我们决不能容许有偏差。总之，国民不该因语文问题而被分化。

马来语作为我国国语，也是团结马来西亚人民的媒介，大家也这么认同。与此同时，我们不能剥夺国人学习其他语文和语言的机会和自由。我深信，说英语和华语的游客，肯定比说阿拉伯语的来得多。