I refer to the malaysiakini report Tamil schools: Report lodged against ex-judge. I am saddened by former Court of Appeal Judge VC George’s statement as it must surely not be made from a position of informed research. It completely ignores the fact that even the United Nations has acknowledged the importance of mother-tongue education by declaring Feb 21 as the International Mother Language Day under the auspices of Unesco.

In fact, when the November 1999 resolution of the Unesco was proposed by the Bangladesh government, Malaysia was one of the UN member countries which gave support to the resolution. The resolution expressly acknowledged that the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness about linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.

Having been one of those who worked closely with Chinese Assembly Hall during the 1980s to campaign for the rights of the Chinese for mother-tongue education, I cannot stand by and see my Tamil brethren’s similar rights attacked without voicing my protest in solidarity with them.

If I choose to be silent, it will invalidate my own stand for the Chinese schools. I am not a product of Chinese schools and stood out like a sore thumb on the committee at the relevant time during our campaign. I joined them because till today, I rue the day my mother gave in to my decision to stop my afternoon Chinese school attendance. I now realise how much damage I did to my own cultural background and heritage.

The only remnant of my mother-tongue which still is a reality with me is that for some strange psychological reason, till today I always revert to speaking mainly Hakka when I am with my sisters. And I am so glad I still have that because when I visited my mainland Chinese cousins in my family ancestral home somewhere in the Guangdong province about two years ago, I could not communicate in Mandarin but could do so in Hakka and it was a very emotional journey to understand my roots and my psyche.

Educators are increasingly convinced of the value of multilingual education and studies have shown that children learn better in their mother tongue. Vigdis Finnbogadottir, Unesco’s ambassador for languages and former president of Iceland echoes my lament when he said:

‘Everyone loses if one language is lost because then a nation and culture lose their memory, and so does the complex tapestry from which the world is woven and which makes the world an exciting place’. I am still trying to make up for my loss of cultural memory and hopefully by the time I fully regain it, I will be a much more interesting person to talk to.