Argumentative essay: The lack of practice of Malaysian values and the spirit of being a good Malaysian
The
lack of practice of Malaysian values and the spirit of being a good Malaysian
especially amongst the younger generation have become recent issues.
The development of the
country will inevitably involve the development of the current younger
generation who will eventually be taking over the leadership of the country in
the future. It is important for them to have a high sense of enthusiasm to
value, spirit and love their country continuously so that the country’s
generation to come is a generation filled with vision and patriotism. According
to Cambridge Dictionary (2018), patriotic means showing love for your country
and being proud of it. Unfortunately, nowadays many of the younger generation
have very low values and the spirit of being a good Malaysian. This is a norm
among younger generation who were born after independence because these people
never feel the difficulty of life in the days before Malaysian was formed.
Since the spirit of patriotism is influenced by the environment, the practice
of patriotism carried out by each of the generation after independence is not
equal to the one practiced by the generation who lives during the colonial
period. This phenomenon is also a major issue in Malaysia as young people have
a lack of sense of patriotism said Sitti Hasnah Bandu, Abdul Razaq Ahmad, Mohd
Mahzan Awang (2015).
I completely agreed that
Malaysian especially young generation are lack of value and spirit being a good
Malaysian. Since the values and the spirit among them is decreasing over the
time, this write up will be discussing on the lack of practice of Malaysian
values and the spirit of being a good Malaysian especially among the younger
generation issues. The objectives of these argumentative essay are to identify
whether the issues are relevant, to discuss the challenge and to give suggestion,
relevant reasons for each suggestion and view on how to implement the values
among Malaysian. Rukun Negara, Malay language and volunteerism will be
exemplified in this writing.
Firstly, Malaysians
especially young people do not memorize but even more critical who do not know
the existence of the Rukun Negara. Unit Pemodenan Tadbiran dan Perancangan
Pengurusan Malaysia (2018) defines the Rukun Negara as the country's pledge to
be the guideline in the effort to build Malaysia and the nation. The Rukun
Negara is as follows; Belief in God, Loyalty to King and country, Supremacy of
the Constitution, Sovereignty of the Law, Courtesy and morality. Mohd Abdullah
Mohamed Yusoff (2017) stated that in terms of memorizing and pronouncing it is
not a problem, that's what we call the Rukun Negara as lips service. What we
want is a form of practice, and the practice must come from our soul, from our
heart. This is what we failed. There are some challenges for Rukun Negara
adoption, firstly, the history education is seen as an unpleasant subject for
the present generation who sees history full of past facts and no importance
for now, History education also failed to raise awareness and subsequently
failed to instill patriotism into the students despite being taught since early
school. Additionally, highly popular electronic social media and close to
younger generation such as Facebook, Tweeter, blogs, WhatsApp and others have
widely spread and occur incorrectly and sensitive issues including questioning
and insulting monarchy. The use of social media without control and ethics also
contributes to the eradication of Rukun Negara. Lastly, the factor of free
speech without limit makes all sorts of values pervade easily in the present
generation. Unbridled independence can lead to abuse by some parties to commit
seditious, contemptuous and propagate hate understanding to the public in
general. The slogan of liberty proclaimed is no more than a weapon to tear away
the social contract that has long been adopted in this country. Many are
affected and begin to eradicate Rukun Negara's appreciation. Mohd Abdullah
Mohamed Yusoff (2017) mentioned that the educational factor, the influence of
social media and unlimited voices are among those that contribute to the lack
of appreciation of the Rukun Negara, thus making a big challenge for future
state leaders to build a nation that is well-established and harmonious.
To increase the value and
spirit in term of Rukun Negara, the government is suggested to create the Rukun
Negara Foundation to revive the loved to the country among the people. The
founding of the foundation can examine the approaches that need to be taken to
improve the practice of the people, especially the younger generation, as well
as guidelines in policy formulation. The adoption of the Rukun Negara principle
and understanding of the Federal Constitution should start from the pre-school
level and should also continue to the university level with more interactive
methods. All parties need to be exposed to the Rukun Negara and the country's
history so that they understand and respect the rights, beliefs and practices
of Malaysians from various religious and multiracial backgrounds. It also helps
students understand the process of nation-building and constitution so that
they can learn from history and not repeat mistakes that cause the nation to
become colonized. for the early stages of schooling, the exposure should be
creative in order not to be boring and easy to understand by young children as
written by Zuhayati Yazid (2018).
Secondly, Malay Language
was marginalized. Before that, the Malay language was respected for all races
and all the people in any matter especially at official functions. Indeed, we
are not denying the use of other languages, but if rationally thought, our
leader once had the right to establish unity through the Malay language. There
are many cultures of our nation today especially young people who are involved
with western influences. The Utusan Online (2017) has stated that we see
developed countries such as Japan, Korea, China, including the western
countries of Germany, France, Italy, Russia, the Netherlands and Portugal, the
governments of these countries, including their leaders, are not at all
glorifying foreign languages in everyday life causes his people to love their
own country's culture. The Malay language has not been fully functional
although it is the official language of Malaysia. There are still challenges
that must be taken to elevate this Malay language into the hearts of all
Malaysians. The Malay language is still seen unable to carry out its role in
total due to some of the challenges faced by such policies implemented by the government
still have not been able to raise this language to a higher level. Then the
challenge of globalization succeeded in lifting English to the hearts of the
whole world. Furthermore, the attitude of Malaysians who often ignore and
underestimate the national language skills as mention by Siti Nor Azhani Mohd
Tohar, Adlina Ab Halim (2013).
The Government plays an
important role in upholding the national language through the strengthening of
its policies. The policy should be implemented more strictly in ensuring that
the national language can be upheld by all Malaysians of various races and
languages and layers of society. However, as mention by Siti Nor Azhani Mohd
Toha, Adlina Ab Halim, Ku Hasnita Ku Samsu (2017), the clause 152 (1) of the
Federal Constitution is very open and this causes the status and position of
the language in this country to be interpreted differently. This is because
there are some who try to fight for a language other than the national language
in the education system by taking into account the exceptions in clauses 152
(1) (a) and 152 (1) (b) which do not prohibit anyone from using or teaching
other languages and rights the Federal Government and the State Government's
rights to continue the use and study of other languages. This shows there is
still a weakness in terms of government policy in upholding the national
language among all Malaysians. Globalization that makes the world of borderless
causes humans from all over the world to interact either real or virtual.
Therefore, to facilitate the adaptation process to this era of globalization, English
language empowerment is seen as a marginalization of the Malay language which
began in the 1990s, the language policy in the national education system has
undergone a drastic change due to globalization pressure. External factors have
been highlighted as a challenge in upholding the Malay language, but in fact
what is more important is the attitude of Malaysian citizens to uphold the Malay
language. The Malay language is seen as a language that has no commercial value
and the use of English is more visible to differentiate the status of an
individual with this other individual.
The
Malay language as the national language is already enacted in item 152 of the
Federal Constitution of Malaya (1957) and the Federal Constitution of Malaysia
(1963). The implementation of this act was done through the National Language
Act 1963 and the 1996 Education Act, as mentioned by Fariza Md. Sham et. al.
(2018). In parallel with that, my suggestion, one guidelines need to be created
for the use of Malay language in every organization in Malaysia. It is
recommended that these guidelines should cover aspects of writing
correspondence and email, writing papers and reports, regulatory writing,
procedures and work processes, posters, announcements and advertisements,
meeting management, organizing events including seminars, conferences,
workshops and colloquium, preparation of forms and oral communication, as well
as official affairs with the chief, co-supervisor, supervisor, guest and all
others include telephone conversations. This guideline will be able to support
the policy of the Ministry of Higher Education which has emphasized on efforts
to uphold the Malay language. Second, it is necessary to establish a special
body to monitor and enforce the use of Malay among the people. Enforcement
measures, the ongoing monitoring of the use of Malay language should be
established. This effort should be made honestly and sincerely by all layers.
Malay language courses need to be increased and enhanced to produce people who
are well informed in Malay and need to cultivate pride, love and loyalty
towards the Malay Language which is the language of the country. Therefore, Malay
language recovery campaigns and programs should be implemented on an ongoing
basis. In addition, all relevant parties are encouraged to plan and organize
activities that can nurture Malay culture.
Thirdly and last example
is lack of volunteerism. They are active participants in various
non-governmental, youth organizations, school, colleges, universities and even
home for the elderly and orphans, as well as other social welfare centres.
Volunteers act as a resource of help and support for individuals, families,
services and institutions. Through volunteering, these young people enter
various social environment and encounter people living in different social
circumstances. Through addressing the needs of communities, groups and
individuals, volunteering prepares youth towards developing pro-social
behaviours in their journey towards adulthood. Volunteering motivates young
people to continue to get involved in community-oriented volunteer activities
even when they become adults. Unfortunately, a recent report in The Star
highlighted that there is not enough volunteerism among Malaysians. Amanda Yeap
(2017). Other challenges that led to the lack of value and sprit of good
Malaysians was the lack of involvement in volunteer work. Various reasons such
as not joining the volunteer program due to inappropriate times, tiredness
after work and focus on family members and do not know how to become volunteers
and not knowledgeable. Utusan Online (2018) reported in this challenging era
demanded more experienced, knowledgeable and skilled volunteers. Having looked
at the motivating factors globally, factors such as altruism, participation
factor, opportunity to learn new skills, employability and recognition should
be used as appealing factors for the government, voluntary organizations,
teachers, parents and youths to attract new youth volunteers and to sustain
existing ones. Malaysian government had announced that year 2013 would be
declared as Year of Volunteer to instill the spirit of volunteerism amongst
youth and have allocated RM100 million seed money for IM4U volunteer program.
This step and the government promotional activities of volunteerism are most
welcomed to empower the youths in giving back to the society. The website also
builds to provides information as to the list of voluntary organizations,
latest volunteering events and activities as well as it helps to register new
volunteers online. Promotion as to the volunteer program alone is not
sufficient. Funds granted for youth volunteerism projects should also be made
known to inspire other youths to come up with their own ideas and initiatives.
Aside from government initiatives, voluntary organizations should be made
attractive so that it appeals to the volunteers and promotes self-confidence
for the organization as well. The disparity between advance and ordinary
volunteer one is too wide and should be narrowed done by providing proper
support for the organizations. The function of media and technology should also
not be denied in making volunteerism appealing to the youths.
To target volunteer
audiences, we must understand how to effectively use the digital communication
media. The current lack of consistently provided web-based information and
application processes and the under-use of social networking, such as Facebook,
for keeping volunteers updated, is clearly showing as a disconnect with Gens Y
and Z. Those who are in the influential circle with youths such as teachers,
parents and peers should play their role as well. Teachers should enhance
volunteerism spirit in their students and parents should strive to change this
negative perception. Youths should also be inspirational to their other peers
as well. Several issues need to be addressed in creating young wiling
volunteers as well, like reassuring their confidence through offering peer
ambassadors and mentors, accessing their influencers, adapting the length or
regularity of their volunteer role to address their transient time commitments,
addressing their access to transport, and understanding how young people prefer
to communicate. Although there are studies on the involvement of students in
volunteerism, its importance as well as influential factors, there has yet to
be a study on how to analyze these and come up with a model to further enhance
the spirit of volunteerism among youth in our country. A model of which how can
we utilize and encourage the volume of students that we must be involved in
volunteerism in line with the aspirations of our leaders should be created.
Building a youth volunteerism empowerment model would help in capitalizing the
number of 1.2 million university students that we have into giving back to the
society and to mould quality human capital for the nation. This model can be
used as a reference for the Ministry of Higher Education as well as Higher
Education Institutions and volunteer. Mardhiyyah Sahri, Khairudin Murad,
Asmidar Alias, Mohd Dasuqkhi Mohd Sirajuddin (2013).
In
conclusion, I once again agreed that the lack of value and spirit to be a good
Malaysian issues has increased. The examples given are too basic that should
not be neglected or underestimated by the people of a country to avoid undesirable
things such as leaders and people not united, no integrity, the country does
not develop well, unstable politics, external parties will be interfering in
the country administration and worst sovereignty can be challenged as well easy
to be colonized. Various parties need to play their role and responsibility. Combination
of the people and government both parties will produce positive things.
Organizations, institutions and media should also encourage the people through
their respective platforms. Finally, as the people and the government of
Malaysia, the love spirit of the nation needs to be strengthened so that all
the people are always in peace, harmony and prosperity, the country will become
a strong, developed and stable nation. As a citizen, we should feel lucky to be
part of a sovereign and independent nation. Proud to be Malaysian.
(2,961 words)
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