News Legal/General News MCA slams Mukhriz's suggestion to abolish vernacular schools 
| MCA slams Mukhriz's suggestion to abolish vernacular schools |
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| Tuesday, 02 December 2008 02:06am | |
 ©The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission) by Shannon Teoh KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 - MCA president Datuk Ong Tee Keat has wasted no time in condemning Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir's suggestion to abolish vernacular schools. "Mukhriz is just one of the many who are now repeating the same polemics that are a few decades old, simply because of the advent of their party's poll," the Transport Minister said. "It is saddening because politicians cannot think out of the box," he wrote in a blog posting. In a press conference in Parliament today, the candidate for Umno Youth chief in the March party elections said that all schools should teach subjects in Bahasa Malaysia except for language subjects. He said the proposal to have one unified school system could help address the problem of non-Malays misunderstanding the concept of "Ketuanan Melayu," or Malay Supremacy, which has become a source of tension between Malays and non-Malays. Mukhriz argued that such misunderstandings were a result of a lack of national unity, which he blamed on the existence of vernacular shools. Also in Parliament, MCA vice president Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said there was no reason to change the education system as the current one was accepted by all. "The present system is still the best to ensure unity and harmony in our multiracial country," the Health Minister said. He added that it was an old fallacy that vernacular primary schools caused unity problems. He reasoned that at secondary level, the students were still able to integrate. "He might not understand that teaching in your mother tongue is more effective at the primary level," Liow added. Comments (6)
EXERCSE IN OVER-SIMPLIFICATION?
written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, Tuesday, December 02 2008 10:11 am
PEOPLE LIKE MUKHRIZ ARE THE REAL CAUSE
written by Ding Chu Teck, Tuesday, December 02 2008 10:45 am It is definitely not vernacular schools that are the cause of racial polarisation, but politicians like Mukhriz who stir up racial issues are the real culprits causing racial tension in the country.
Mukhriz takes his cue from Mahathir
written by Rishwant Singh a/l Amarjeet Singh, Tuesday, December 02 2008 10:47 am This statement from Mukhriz is actually a repeat of Mahathir's recent speech which if I am not mistaken can be found on Mahathir's blog. If you listen to Mukhriz carefully, many of his ideas are actually that of his father's.
Poem for Mukhriz
written by Annou Anselm a/l Joseph Xavier, Tuesday, December 02 2008 11:59 am
Lingam Correct
Just leave our students alone
written by Chong Siew Ean, Tuesday, December 02 2008 05:17 pm
Our government should just stop politicising our education system and leave the job of educating our younger generation to the professionals (teachers).
how BN destroyed our education system written by Alex Tan Ken Seng, Tuesday, December 02 2008 06:23 pm
Barisan Nasional politicised our education system so much the last 20 years, they forgot the role of the Education Ministry i.e. to educate (in the widest sense) our young! Write comment
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Circular No 231/2010: 2nd Asia Pacific Regional Forum Conference
Jerlun MP Mukhriz Mahathir is absolutely right that racial polarisation is the problem, but he is dead wrong when he identifies vernacular schools as the cause. If it is, pray show us the link.
Racial polarization threatens the very social fabric of our young country. Why has it been allowed to fester and intensify? Why? For what? And who benefits?
Vernacular schools have existed even before my birth in 1950. As I grew up in the 1960s, they continued to exist. In my English-medium mission school in Penang, students mixed ever so freely in the class and on the field. In our state of innocence, we never knew our difference!
Indeed, we left school and built on the bonds forged during the carefree days of our youth so much so that we stayed in each other’s home and even know each other’s family members when we travel outstation.
I feel sad for the students of today. Their experience will never equal ours – all because of racial polarisation.
The powers-that-be must muster the political will to emerge from their denial syndrome, identify the causes of racial polarisation, and take immediate measures to forge a truly coherent and cohesive nation of Malaysians on the foundation of eternal values inspired by righteousness, - not self- righteousness.
Confining myself purely to Penang, I see schools with a great heritage such as Penang Free School (which produced among others our prince and premier Tunku Abdul Rahman, the former Raja of Perlis, and even Generals for India) going to pot.
Why are such schools losing their character? Is our education policy or its implementation inimical to the character of such schools? More pointedly, is our education and other policies or their implementation linked to racial polarisaton?
No over-simplifications, please! Oversimplification is one of the pursuits of the propagandist. Ask Dr Goebbels.
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng