KUALA LUMPUR: Citing examples of ancient civilizations and conquerors, a Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentarian arrived at the conclusion that "English is not an intellectual language that develops the mind and brain".
In today's debate on the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) Mid-Term Review (MTR) in Parliament, Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Umno-Rompin) made this observation with regard to the role of the international lingua franca in building civilizations and fostering global trade.
Hasan pointed out that modern economies like Japan, Taiwan and non-English speaking European countries do not use English in their journey to become developed nations.
He cautioned Malaysians against deifying the English language as according to him, English speakers never created great civilizations.
"(Ancient civilizations) Rome, Persia, Arabia, China and India built their civilizations on their respective languages. English-speakers have never created (past) global civilizations.
"English is not an intellectual language that develops the mind and brain. The Sanskrit language from India is superior. The Urdu and Arab languages are superior. The Chinese language is superior," he said.
During the debate, Hasan had used Bahasa Malaysia while selectively using English words like 'superior' to describe the non-English languages.
The Dewan erupted in laughter when Noor Amin Ahmad (PH-PKR-Kangar) asked Hasan whether there there was a Bahasa Malaysia word equivalent to the English word 'superior'.
Looking momentarily embarrassed, a smiling Hasan looked around sheepishly and asked for a Bahasa Malaysia equivalent to 'superior', to which he then used the Bahasa Malaysia word 'lebih unggul' (more superior) to describe the 'superior' quality of non-English languages.
"When India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was colonised (and the colonisers) used the English language (in those areas that have become independent countries today), they (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) became under-developed," Hasan ploughed on.
Hasan explained that developed economies like Japan, China, France, and Germany advanced themselves without relying on the English language.
"I agree that one needs to know English to sell computers, but computers have never been manufactured by countries that use the language (English).
"Even though one needs to know English to sell cars, cars have never been produced by countries that use English (as their main national languages)," Hasan claimed.
He was earlier debating on the need for Malaysia to emulate the policies and practices of developed countries to progress economically among others.