Keeping in touch more casually via Facebook

I have set up my Facebook a few weeks ago, and I certainly welcome friends to join in. We can now keep in touch in more casual manners. My personal email address remains at jameswongwingon@gmail.com

Promotion of English in a multilingual society

Is the effort to promote English in the English media productive ? Can anyone be an efficacious promotor of English in a multilingual society without mastering non-English tongues like Malay, Chinese or Tamil ?

My command of Malay language pretty alright

My command of Malay language pretty alright

What is my standard of the Malay language ? Well, I scored C5 in Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) in 1979, and that still qualifies me to enter into civil services. I framed my parliamentary questions and prepared speeches in Malay. Occasionally, I still read important books in Malay like the memoirs of Rashid Maidin, Abdullah CD, Suriani Abdullah and Abu Samah. Above all, none of the 10,000 Malays at the election rally in Batu last year booed me for poor delivery in Malay. Boleh pakailah.

Critical causes for decline & fall of languages

Critical causes for decline & fall of languages

Many ancient languages have declined in popular usage or completely vanished because they could not meet the demand of societies for an increasingly wider range of useful knowledge and human experiences. Languages that continue to thrive despite many changes on earth are marked by their willinness and capability to incorporate scientific and technological progress as well as to include the diversity of the users' social, political and economic interaction and experience with others.

Promotion of languages with gentle approach

Promotion of languages with gentle approach

One sure way to make a language attractive to people and the world is to continuously enrich it with knowledge contents as well as moral inspiration. Languages are best taught and learned without any fear.

Mandarin now serves as a functional language

Mandarin now serves as a functional language

When my grandmother first taught me Mandarin, it was still popularly regarded in Malaysia and Singapore as merely a tool to master classic Chinese literary works and for the preservation of cultural values and identity but today it has been amply proven that it is also a functional language of science, technology, modern and global finance as well as international diplomacy. The world has changed and so must all of us.

Learning English happily with no fear or tear

Sharing joy of a Chinese marriage in Sitiawan

On Saturday night, I was in Sitiawan to attend a wedding dinner party hosted by an aunt of my wife to share the joy of her daughter's happy union with a fellow graduate of engineering who comes from Malacca. On my way back to Kuala Lumpur yesterday, I stopped at Cold Stream New Village to meet Ah Keong's father and his neighbours and friends to hear their observations on the political developments in Perak and Malaysia. I also stopped later at Bidor town to enjoy the famous Wan Ton Mee of the 71-year old Pun Chun Restaurant that is still thriving.

Eight decades of CNY celebration in Malaysia

Learning English happily with no fear or tear

One of the important reasons why my sibilings and I did not have the psychological resistance to learning English is that the language was not really that alien to our family and social environment. My father's second elder brother was in fact a proud holder of Senior Cambridge Certificate from the Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) in Ipoh in the 1950s and my parents' coffee shop was frequented in the 1970s by English-speaking customers. Trying to learn singing popular English songs of, for example, John Denver and Joan Baez, provided a positive motive of love for the study of the English language. The hobby of collecting stamps and letter-writings with pen pals from Britain, Australia and New Zealand certainly helped to add the elements of fun and thrill of learning Yingwen, without being forced or threatened by any powers.

All languages best taught & learned with love

All languages best taught & learned with love

Languages are best to be imparted with love. Any languages acquired because of fear would be held in secret contempt, or easily forgotten. At 46 now, I still remember how to recite and write the first Mandarin poems taught by my dear grandmother when I was a very young child.

Reading books to improve language command

Reading books to improve language command

Proficiency in languages is accumulated over a period of time and it cannot be given or taken in a plastic bag instantly. Reading books in the old-fashioned manner is still the best way to improve languages.

English for maths & science policy disputable

English for maths & science policy disputable

In this globalised and still fast globalising world, there is absolutely a fairly pressing need for all Malaysians to upgrade their proficiency of international languages, such as English and Mandarin. However, the better way is to interest and teach children and youths the languages through proper language courses. Using English to teach children and youths science and mathematics not only cannot better the command of the English language because science and mathematics only impart limited knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, but would also lead to the drop of the standards of science and mathematics simply because of the existing proficiency of English language of children and youths. Tear gas is surely not a means to make people to love any languages.

Western classics in Chinese-language editions

Removable assumption in Perak coup analysis

Assuming that only Umno plays the self-conscious and pro-active role in staging the coup in Perak, it has certainly caused very widespread disenhantment with the Perak Palace. There is, however, a school of thought that plausibly suggests that only by removing the 'Umno-only' assumption could Malaysia and the world see the true and full picture.

Root cause of Perak crisis very clear & simple

Kingdom of Malacca inaugurated under a tree

After attending an academic seminar this morning, a friend reminded me during a chat that Parameswara established Malacca under a tree. We were exchanging our personal opinions on developments in Perak.

Root cause of Perak crisis very clear & simple

Root cause of Perak crisis very clear & simple

Despite the seemingly confusing arguments about laws, constitutional provisions and standing orders, the issue in Perak is abundantly clear and absolutely simple : the coup plotters' regime dares not accept the judgement of the people in a fresh election because it knows that the people disapprove the manners through which the regime was set up.

On form & substance of Perak State Assembly

On form & substance of Perak State Assembly

The bureaucrats and cops in Perak who thought that by locking up the official building where the sittings of the State Assembly were usually held and blocking access to it is the most effective means to prevent the Emergency Meeting from being held. But, they have evidently not read the Standing Order. Above all, they have all failed pathetically to differentiate between form (eg. Cathedral of St. Basil in Moscow) and substance (eg. a public toilet in Warsaw where twelve pious Orthodox Christians gathered one day to pray in the manner of Eastern rituals).

Perak Speaker suspends his lawless secretary

Perak Speaker suspends his lawless secretary

According to a well-known constitutional expert Tommy Thomas, the Speaker of the Perak Assembly has the legal power to call tomorrow's Emergency Sitting while Selangor Speaker Teng Chang Khim said that the Perak Speaker can even designate a venue other than the official building normally used, for the Assembly to be held tomorrow in Ipoh. Meanwhile, Speaker V. Sivakumar has suspended the State Assembly Secretary, Abdullah Antong Sabri this evening with immediate effect.

Perak State Assembly secretary' s lawlessness

Perak State Assembly secretary' s lawlessness

It is absolutely clear that the official and formal relation between the Speaker of the Perak State Assembly V. Sivakumar and the Secretary of the Perak State Assembly Abdullah Antong Sabri is one between a superior and a subordinate. Abdullah Antong Sabri is answerable and accountable to no one else except V. Sivakumar, who is his real boss. Abdullah' s statement challenging Sivakumar is a form of lawlessness.

Kok Keong joins legal defence of Perak G' ovt

Quite clear sign of lack of faith in One True X

In Abrahamic and monotheistic religions like Islam, the One True X is very firmly presupposed to be omnipresent (present at all times in all realms), omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful). The One True X, moreover, is said to have efficient as well as efficacious agents, known in English as angels, working for him/her/it and under his/her/its direct command. It follows logically that the existence of governmental offices and regulations claiming to serve the causes of defending the One True X and/or his/her/its messages is ironically a clear sign that there is a very serious lack of faith in the One True X.