Ministry of Human Resources will set a new rule to prohibit the requirement for Mandarin speakers in job vacancies in order to increase employment opportunities for Malays and Indians, said deputy minister Abdul Rahman Bakar. [Utusan]
Honestly, how often do we see jobs requirement that requires Mandarin speaking ability? You are not likely to find more than 10% of the job vacancies on Star or NST that has the requirement… so what is the big fuss about?
Besides, the Malay papers and the minister should think it in broader way… why do people want to hire Mandarin speakers? Most of the time it’s about profit, profit and profit!!!
We are facing globalization these days - Malaysian business can’t survive by doing business with Malaysians only. We need to find business overseas, and Bahasa Malaysia is often useless in this case. English is the primary requirement for that, and considering the rising of Chinese market, Mandarin speakers are in high demand.
Not only Mandarin is needed when selling stuff to China; we often need to purchase things from China… and again having Mandarin speakers are a definite advantage to protect our interest.
Also, the government and some Malays need to cut their mindset that it’s Chinese companies that wanted Mandarin speakers… it’s not true at all. Chinese people are the most stingy businessmen, they won’t simply hire Mandarin speakers for racial sake, it’s all about MONEY and PROFIT!
Just yesterday I read from Star Classifies that DRB-HICOM is hiring Mandarin speakers; I can’t remember HICOM being a Chinese company. Correct me if I am wrong… isn’t HICOM half owned by Malaysia government?
My first formal job was for a Japanese manufacturer; they required me to speak Chinese because I would have to travel to China quite often to assist the branch there. My brother work for an international firm; Chinese speaking is not a requirement but is welcomed because they conduct businesses worldwide… in fact any extra lingual ability is an added advantage.
So, Mr. Abdul Rahman Bakar, Ministry of Human Resources and some dear Malaysians… think twice before trying to discriminate against Mandarin speakers; the requirement is there because they are needed, not because they are wanted. Before pointing fingers on people that can speak multiple languages, consider learning one or two instead.
If a job requires communication in Mandarin or with countries like China, Singapore, Taiwan, of course Mandarin is required! It’s better that employers state it in the job ads than for the applicants to discover that they need to know Mandarin during the interview or worse, on the 1st day at work!
Do people complain if an employer ads Bahasa Arab in job vacancies because the person needs to liaise with counterparts in the Arabian countries? No!
Knowing more than BM & English is always better than not.
I doubt these people really understand what business is? Mandarin is getting important or not nowadays? I think the Education Minister should tells them the answer. He just visited China recently, he should knows.
It has political motive for this issue. We have many things need to pay attention urgently; however our Government prefer to pay attention on Kacang Putih. What a shame.
YeinJee, I undestood and respect your noble intention to make this country a better place but do you think this page will make Malaysia better? I hope so but I really think the government will never care what we write here.
p.s. I am sorry…i know this is not a right place to say this (but i don’t know where else).
This is not the only issue.
Have you register to vote in the coming election?
Make your vote count instead.
Butterfly… I am not trying to change the country one handed; I just want to help changing it bit by bit. This post for example, is likely to read my some Malays, which I hope they could understand that the Mandarin requirement is needed and not racial biased… making changes to a few is good enough (at the moment).
YeinJee, what’s wrong with prohibiting putting Mandarin requirement in the job vacancies ad? Don’t make it as a big issue, we are living in Malaysia. If those company want to hire Chinese so do it …don’t make a fuss over this trivial matter…
arisha… you wrote as if I am a trouble maker here. It’s not me that want to make this a big issue; it’s some politicians instead.