English regarded as Bahasa Kafir

English, to some is "bahasa kafir", the language used by infidels.  For some, they believe that there is not need to learn English, after all, people in Japan and Korea prosper without the need to master English.

Unfortunately, in the office of a public listed company where I work in Kuala Terengganu, I can identify only five people with university education who can string a sentence in English correctly.  How do people pass their university education, but are unable to speak and write English?

This year, 2016, Terengganu is having a tough time with English based on 2016 UPSR results.  The state's students scored below average. There are 20,341 pupils from Terengganu who took UPSR this year. Only 271 scored straight As, which is about 1.3% only.

As for English, according to state education director Shafruddin Ali Hussin, the lack of mastery of the language in the newly introduced format, particularly in the oral and written English exam, contributed to poor performance. Only 2,189 (nearly 11%) pupils scored an A in English oral exam out of 19,938 candidates who had taken the exam. However, only 1,195 (nearly 6%) pupils obtained A in the written exam, based on NST’s reporting.

On the other hand, 68% obtained the minimum requirement to pass the subject (D), and nearly 11% fell below qualification requirement.

Interestingly, English proficiency in Malaysia has seen a significant drop according to Education First (EF.com). Although this year’s rank is 12, which is higher than last year’s 14, the overall trend isn’t what Malaysia desires.