*This entry is the unedited version of my rebuttal to Datuk S. S Subramaniam's letter Language of Science (StarEducate, 20 November 2011) which appears today in Sunday Star of StarEducate (page 5).
By Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan
Ahmad Kamal, Research Fellow of Assembly of Intellectual Muslim (HAKIM)
I would like to clarify on few contentions raised by Datuk. S.S.
Subramaniam in his letter “Language of the science” (StarEducate, Nov 20).
In that letter he lamented that Bahasa Malaysia as a “new language” is
very slow in coming to terms with modern scientific discourse. This premise is
utterly false because there is no such a thing as Bahasa Malaysia. The correct
name that he supposes to refer is Bahasa Melayu where the root of its
development begins more than 600-years ago especially in the advent of Islam in
Malay Archipelago. If he meant Bahasa Melayu lacks the weight in supporting scientific
discourse, in which this point currently becoming the staple argument for
proponent of PPSMI (The Teaching and Learning of Science and Maths in English),
this is also another red herring.
The richness and prowess of Bahasa Melayu in subsisting subrcientific
discourse can be proven in the long history of Malay civilization. Bahasa
Melayu for the past 600-years has able to carry and produce plethora of
original and indigenous scientific works ranging from medicine, astronomy,
mathematics, botany, craftsmanship, chemistry, and physics that has been
utilized and appropriated to the condition of the livelihood of the Malays in
this region not just at the level of small settlements but most importantly at
the level of civilizational where Malay sultanates were once reign supreme in
this region conducting trades and economic transactions with world super-power
of those days. These achievements could never be possible unless the Malays
through their language Bahasa Melayu, able to convey and develop their own
knowledge system for their civilizational advancement as portrayed in the
history. The proof of their succesess and contributions had been showcased from
February to June this year by Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia in the exhibition
entitled “Al-‘Ilm: Science and Innovation
in the Islamic World”.
Further more, Bahasa Melayu as rightly deliberated by Tan Sri. Professor
Dr. Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas, is also a member of vast network of Islamic
languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Turkish where many scientific key
terms are being shared across among each of them. All these great Islamic
languages have churned out numerous accounts of scientific works that made
Scientific Revolution possible in the West during the Renaissance and
Enlightenment era. Contemporary academic
discourses especially in the West have already acknowledge how indebted they
were to the Islamic civilizations in bringing forth their scientific knowledge
via the translations of the works from its original language bearer which
mainly were Arabic and Persian into Western languages. By altering Bahasa Melayu to Bahasa Malaysia
we have done great injustice to the language itself by cutting its original
root and authority in which it has hinged upon the successes and potentials exemplified
by the Malay civilization in the world history.
On the account of the biasness of policy-makers against English as a
colonial and foreign language, this is not unfounded and unacademic assumption.
Our early policy-makers understood well that Malaysia being a post-colonial
country needs a solid foundation for its national education with its own identity rather than co-opting the
largesse of Colonial British. The
formulation of our national education system is a two-pronged effort not just
about attaining advancement and prosperity in material sense but also in forging
the national unity. This can be further testified through the formulation of
National Culture Policy of 1971. From
that policy ensued more robust development plan that suites our local
socio-cultural milieu that has stood the test of time in extending prosperity
and avoiding calamity of the 1969 though there are still more room for
improvements. Bahasa Melayu definitely is the language where knowledge
transactions should occur especially with regard to scientific and any form of
intellectual discourses in Malaysia because it befits and compatible to local
values within the backdrop of our socio-cultural milieu as agreed through the
formulation of National Culture Policy 1971.
In contrast, modern western science, which transpired through Western
languages notably English, is indeed by nature, exhibiting colonialist tendency. This can be understood by closer reading of a
work written by the father of modern science, Francis Bacon in his Novum Organum. Max Weber the great
German sociologist has also confirmed how modern science that emerged after
Renaissance and Enlightenment has disenchanted the realm of nature that
currently lead to serious problems in the realm of science and extending them further
into the life of modern man. Climate change, environmental destruction,
extinction of species, and series of other global problems have been attributed
to the dominant and imperialistic
tendency of modern science has upon humanity as testified by western
physicist and thinker such as Fritjof Capra in his seminal work The Turning Point: Science, Society, and the
Rising Culture.
Colonialism in the Malay Archipelago has indeed to certain extend,
stunted the development of Bahasa Melayu in becoming the main language of
scientific discourse. Indigenous knowledge that came into fruition under the
aegis of Bahasa Melayu were systematically being displaced by colonial language
especially English, resulting the dominant of Western science over traditional
and indigenous knowledge.
Modern sciences that currently persist in our education system are mainly
drawn from the Western scientific corpus that arose from the experience of
Scientific Revolution in the West in the era of Enlightenment. Though there are
universal benefits and values that we can shared and utilized from the Western
scientific achievements, yet still there are many things that deem incompatible
to our world-view for example on the teaching of Darwinian evolutionary theory
that has been subsumed into various knowledge disciplines such as sociology and
economic. If incompatibility arises, it is due to the incongruence and
unfounded basis that Western science has upon our indigenous sciences, for
example theory of evolution has never been integral to the Easterners
especially among the Muslim whereas the feud between Evolutionist and
Creationist is never-ending in the West.
Currently Western world is in deep intellectual, cultural and
spiritual crisis as manifested through series of unfortunate events in Europe
and United States of America. It is an intellectual and cultural suicide for us
to improve our livelihood by just using their knowledge system without
critically engaging upon their scientific discourse via our indigenous
intellectual lenses. It is such a waste for us not to think on reviving our
very own knowledge system that hinged upon our socio-cultural milieu where
language is one of the main intrinsic foundations in the development of those
indigenous sciences.
Since Bahasa Melayu is the national language of Malaysia, it is our
duty as Malaysians to spearhead the development of the language in acclimatizing it to contemporary
scientific challenges. We cannot just short-change ourselves on the basis of
utilitarianism and short-termism especially with regard to education, which by
default is a value-laden pursuit for
excellence. Malaysia can show to the world the diversity that we have can be
galvanized further not only at level of socio-cultural richness but also
reviving civilizational glory in scientific discourse that fits into the real
needs and purposes of our people rather than blindly following the dictation of
faceless multinational corporations. For that to be realized, one must be aware
upon our national identity that was forged by our forefathers for us to
strengthen and refine in standing against another test of time.