LANGUAGE is a complex instrument of human communication, learned as opposed to genetically inherited. This fact makes it always a work in progress for as long as it is kept alive by its users. Every language is a received code recognised by the user and is largely influenced by the culture it represents. The more advanced the culture, the more intricate the language because the ideas to be transmitted are more numerous and sophisticated. And Mandarin, because of China's unbroken history that is more than five millennia old, would suggest an incredible medium by which to tap into a rich civilisation. That this country is fortunate to have such strong links to the language, especially when China is again on the rise as a global power, must count as a competitive advantage that should not be left by the wayside.
Of course, the Mandarin of old, with its enormous treasury of characters, spoke of an exclusive elite. However, it is today a simplified modern lingua franca of more than a billion mainland Chinese. As the world's second largest economy and growing, China is important as both market and producer. Trading with it then is a means to mutual prosperity. For a small country like Malaysia aspiring to be a high-income nation by 2020, China's large market is necessary to get into. Doing business there requires a command of Mandarin much more than English. Not surprisingly, Chinese Malaysian businesses have acted as vanguard in the two countries' burgeoning economic ties.
The Education Ministry's pledge to provide resources for the teaching and learning of Mandarin in national schools is beneficial at more than the levels of culture and economics. Language familiarity can enhance connections within the country's racial diversity. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's openness is a recognition of pragmatic trends in the society. An increasing number of Malay children is becoming Mandarin conversant and the ministry's move is to a certain extent merely to meet demand. But a widening embrace of the language also opens the way to more exchange and understanding, and propels the building of a true 1Malaysia. Promoting Mandarin as a third language does not mean that certain interest groups are being pandered to. Rather, it is proffered as encouraging national unity within a uniquely Malaysian milieu of mutual regard and respect.
Read more: The uses of Mandarin - Editorial - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/editorial/the-uses-of-mandarin-1.15893#ixzz1fpVraODD
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