KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysia professor has called on the government and the national education system to boost its study of literature in all languages. Royal Professor Abdul Aziz Abdul Hamid urged that English literature not be the sole focus of studying literature in the country. He argued that by giving students a look into other languages' literary culture it would help promote the study in the country and foreign languages. “As a Malaysian, we must understand literature not only in English but also other languages such as Russian, Italian and Japanese to understand their cultures,” he told reporters after launching a painting exhibition of veteran solo artist Sivam Selvaratnam at the Universiti Malaya (UM) on Friday. The month-long exhibition, titled “Rapt in Maya”, displays more than 100 of Selvaratnam's paintings to the public. The professor argued that the English culture portrayed in literature “was not like that in the past and it was possible their language and culture would lose importance in the world in the future.” There have also been recent calls to increase learning in other languages, including Malay and Tamil, the largest Indian minority in the country. Politicians have also promised Chinese communities that if they are elected they would erect more Mandarin-language schools in the country.
