Students told to speak English<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The governor of West Sumatra has urged the
\neducational authorities to force university students to speak
\nEnglish on campus on at least two days a week.<\/p>\n
Governor Hasan Basri Durin told a gathering in Padang over the
\nweekend that English had become more and more important in the
\nage of globalization, but that only few Indonesians could speak
\nit well.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the
\nUniversity of Bung Hatta, the governor said that in many parts of
\nthe world English determines many people's future.<\/p>\n
\"Only those with good English are successful in their career,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Indonesians' Achilles heel today is that their knowledge of
\nEnglish is far behind Malaysians and Filipinos, he argued. \"This
\nfactor has caused the Indonesian economy and education to lag
\nbehind those of the two countries in some respects,\" Hasan said.<\/p>\n
Citing an example, the governor said that in the 1970s the
\nstandard of Malaysian education was far behind Indonesia's, but
\nnow the standard of its universities has significantly improved.<\/p>\n
\"This has been made possible by the people's ability to speak
\nEnglish. They had better opportunities to further their studies
\nat universities abroad.\"<\/p>\n
Hasan said that more than 60 percent of lecturers in Malaysia
\nhad master or doctorate degrees, and this fact had also helped
\nboost the standard of universities there.<\/p>\n
\"Malaysia has also got study programs which have not been
\nintroduced in Indonesia,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hasan said that the West Sumatran businessmen in his party on
\nhis trip to Malaysia and Singapore recently lost the war even
\nbefore the battle had started, because their English was too poor
\nto enter into negotiations with the hosts.<\/p>\n
According to the governor, the fact that Filipinos speak far
\nbetter English has resulted in a number of Filipino managers
\nbeing employed in Indonesia. (tis)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-told-to-speak-english-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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