你有马来朋友吗？Do you have any Malay friends?

看到升上小学四年级女儿的马来文课本，可以肯定全国华小学生对於马来文这一学科的总体表现，多年来都处於不理想的水平。再从独中学生的入学资料来看，马来文科真正优秀的华小毕业生，毕竟是偏少数的。 从学生的角度去瞭解，都知道绝大多数的华小学生，从小就对马来文这一学科没甚么兴趣。这个问题源於多方面，如果是跟学校有关的话，那么华小和独中的教育环境过於单元化是一个事实，这个情况在独中尤其明显。 如果从社会的角度来看，在华社中许多人口口声声重视马来文，到处看到补习班在教马来文，然而，马来语文的应用范围，仍然只限於政府部门，其他领域大体上都没有到达必须要使用马来文的地步。因此，如何让人去重视马来文，这根本就是违心之论。 未认真实践跨族群工作 更甚者，华社从来没有欣赏过马来文化，甚至还听过有人把马来文化视为“低位文化”，相对於“高位文化”的中华文化。试想想，华裔子弟从小到大，就从来没有被教育如何尊重和瞭解马来文化，加上我国教育制度的偏颇对华文教育所造成的消极影响，纵使华裔家长对马来文有所重视，也只不过把它当做是一个重要但没有甚么价值的学科而已。 再加上我们这个多元种族的国家里，各族人民都有自己的生活方式，大家学会在忍让中各自生活，反映在华小和独中，我们並没有看到华裔子弟和其他种族的子弟有甚么令人讚赏的交融教育。因此，我们的孩子，包括我自己，从小都没有知心的马来朋友，这种情况在西海岸从北到南的华社尤其明显。 写到这里，想起手机里的通讯录，儘管有上千个名字，然而真正属於好朋友的马来人，竟然没有一个。想想自己大半辈子生活在这片国土上，竟然没有结交过马来朋友，这样的生活圈子还真是狭小啊！ 我们华校一直在努力提昇马来文的考试成绩，然而並没有教会学生去欣赏马来文化，我们的子子孙孙將来都要在这片国土上求生存，然而我们在跨族群工作上並没有去认真实践过，到后来你还是你，我还是我，跟我们擦肩而过的人，还谈甚么跟他们交融呢？（光明日报／好评‧文：王增文） 2016年1月19日发表于马来西亚光明日报《浑忘春秋》专栏 Seeing my daughter’s Standard 4 Bahasa textbook, I can be sure of the general performance of many Chinese vernacular school students, which has not been ideal for many years. And looking at the enrollment data of Chinese independent school students, there are not many Chinese vernacular school students who really excel in Bahasa. From a student’s perspective, we know that most Chinese vernacular schools students do not have much interest in Bahasa since they were kids. This problem stems from many aspects, but if this problem has anything to do with schools, then it’s because the environment of education offered by Chinese vernacular schools and Chinese independent schools are too homogeneous in nature. This is a fact and the problem is particularly evident in Chinese independent schools. From the society’s perspective, there are many in the Malaysian Chinese community who claim that they understand the importance of Bahasa: the many tuition classes that are teaching Bahasa. Nonetheless, the use of Bahasa Malaysia by the Malaysian Chinese communities is still largely confined to government departments. Other sectors or in general the community has never really reached a stage where they have to use Bahasa. Thus, how can these people actually appreciate Bahasa? They are contradicting themselves. No serious effort to fulfill works in transcending race The Malaysian Chinese community has never appreciated the Malay culture, there are even some who view the Malay culture as one that is inferior, as compared to the superior ‘Tiong Hua’ culture. Just imagine, Malaysians of Chinese descent, since young have never been taught to respect and understand the Malay culture. In addition, the unfair treatment to Chinese schools by the education system has caused much resentment. Therefore, even when some Malaysian Chinese parents understand the importance of Bahasa in Malaysia, they merely treat it as an important subject but one that provides little practical value. In our multi-ethnic society, every ethnic group has their own lifestyles. We learn how to live with each other with tolerance. Reflecting on Chinese vernacular schools and Chinese independent schools, there isn’t any integration education that we can be proud of. It is because of this, that our kids, and myself included never had a close Malay friend since young. This situation is particularly obvious in the West coast, from the North to the South. Writing to this point, it struck me that I have thousands of contacts on my hand phone. But really, there is none that belongs to a Malay friend that I can consider close or intimate. I think to myself, spending half my life on this land and yet I have zero Malay friend. My circle of friends is indeed very small! Our Chinese vernacular schools have been trying to improve the exam performance of Bahasa Malaysia, but they never encourage students to appreciate the Malay culture. Our children and our grandchildren are going to grow up on this land (tanah air), but we never give it a serious thought on improving inter-ethnic relations. In the end, it’s still you are you and I am me. We are only ships in passing. What is there to mention about racial integration?