KUCHING: Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hazmah has slammed PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang for saying those who push for the mastery of English are stuck in a colonial mindset.
The Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice president was quoted as saying in Free Malaysia Today (FMT) that being good in English does not mean someone has a colonial mindset.
“Islam advocates believers to acquire as much knowledge as possible. Being proficient in as many languages as possible would enable better communication with the rest of the world.
“Don’t be a katak bawah tempurung (an ignorant person),” he said.
Abdul Karim thus said it was unfortunate for PAS to have a leader with such a shallow mindset.
He said that he was not surprised by Abdul Hadi’s comments about English as it came from the same person who made disparaging remarks about Dayaks in 2009 when he said only loincloth-wearing Dayaks voted for Barisan Nasional (BN).
Meanwhile, Abdul Hadi in his column in the PAS organ Harakah, said those who encourage the use of English at the expense of the Malay language do so because they are still trapped in a colonial mindset.
He also said Malaysians seemed to be embarrassed to use their national language and placed greater importance on English.
