Excuse Me, Please Be Considerate When You Complain

This will be a picture-less post as I'm ranting about something.


You know, recently I read a letter from the NST newspapers and I stumbled upon this article. 

I REFER to the report "Sabah, Sarawak teachers to be sent back" (NST July 19).

My daughter will be sitting the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah this year. She did poorly in Science when she started her Year 6 this year.

When her performance started to decline, I took the opportunity to meet her Science teacher.

Earlier, my girl had told me that the teacher was from Sabah. Upon meeting him, I was shocked to find that he could not speak in English at all. How can a teacher who cannot speak English teach Science in English?  

We are really going backwards in our education. This is more evidence for why the teaching of Science and Maths in English was no longer possible.

I had no choice but to teach my girl personally as much as I could, and she has since improved.

I believe teachers from Sabah and Sarawak should be sent back, as the students there can better understand them. We cannot afford to use our students to teach the teacher English.

Wow, sounds like 1Malaysia spirit eh? 


So, to the author, are you trying to say that you're underestimating our English? I welcome you to the Land Below the Wind, where even the Kadazans and Dusuns are able to speak decent English, where many of us are able to study in English spoken countries like England and Australia and many of our families speak English as our mother tongue. 


And you were just making one understatement only by seeing ONE Sabahan teacher?


And, by the way, are all West Malaysian teachers teaching good English at the same time too? Regardless their origins, be it East or West Malaysia, we both have the same flaws, don't they? You're just being one-sided, as you are judging one rotten apple instead of the whole teachers' pool in our education system. 


Last but not least, THINK before you complain. Just because people like you assume that we are still living on trees and whatnot doesn't mean we are incompetent in English! We are polite and humble, so treat us the way you love to be treated. Do some good research on us, or do care to visit us before you judge our English proficiency! 


Many of the present day West Malaysians are knowing the East Malaysians' world better when compared to the past. It's a good thing, and thank God so far I did not bump into some narrow-minded people who still assume us that we are still living on trees.  


Yes, when Sabah and Sarawak just entered Malaysia, my elder generation do face those problems, but now, I don't think I have any problems interacting with West Malaysians here. Instead, I do managed to get to know many nice friends here in KL. Cheers.