Not necessarily so, says Raja Zarith, the wife of Johor Tengku Mahkota.
It has nothing to do with us being any less nationalistic or patriotic.
Raja Zarith, who is a Royal Fellow, Faculty of Language Studies and Linguistics, UKM, holds an MA (Oxon) in Chinese Studies.
She has her own column "Mind Matters" in the Sunday Star.
Using English Doesn't Make One Less Patriotic
BANGI: Having a good command of the English language does not make a Malaysian pro-British or less patriotic, says, Raja Zarith Sofia.Rather, she said, fluency in English and a strong command of it was necessary in the 21st century, whether in daily life, at social gatherings or at work.
“It has nothing to do with being pro-English or pro-British, or with glorifying our colonial past.
“It has nothing to do with us being any less nationalistic or patriotic,” she said when delivering a lecture entitled Going Global: The Use of the English Language in 21st Century Malaysia at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia here yesterday.
Raja Zarith said she chose to speak on the topic as she felt it was an important and timely issue.
She said Malaysians must consider the ability to converse in English an advantage.
“We don't have to fear the English language. Studying English as a language won't change us from being Malaysians to being pseudo-English or pseudo-American,” she said.
She said having a good command of English also meant Malaysians would be able to transmit and convey their knowledge about themselves as a society and as a country to people from other countries.
She said this could be done through writing articles, papers, academic and non-academic books and novels about heritage, culture, religion and the arts.
"We can also share and exchange our views about national and world events with foreigners who use English as we do, that is, as a means of communication and as a global language," she added
Read Nuraina A. Samad's entry on "The English Language, Patriotism and...Bloggers" here
