DAP's Seputeh MP Teresa Kok has said that the Chinese community "must protest" against the Education Ministry's decision to hike up  the teaching time of Bahasa Melayu in schools to 240 minutes a week under the new education blueprint.

Yesterday, three Chinese groups issued a joint statement claiming they had never agreed to 240 minutes of BM lessons a week, contrary to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's claims that the groups have agreed to it.

The three groups are Jiao Zong (United Chinese School Teachers' Association), Hua Zong (Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia) and the National Union of Heads of Schools.

NONE Since the three groups mentioned by Muhyiddin as having agreed to the formula have openly refuted Muhyiddin, it is clear that he had made a misleading and wrong claim, Kok ( right ) said in a statement today.

"Hence, he should immediately clarify the truth and tender a public apology," she added.

She said that the ministry's proposal went against the wishes of the Chinese community and thus the proposal to raise the teaching time for BM must be withdrawn.

The three groups have said that they had agreed to an uptick of 210 minutes per week for the BM period.

Meanwhile, fellow DAP parliamentarian for Kulai Teo Nie Ching said that boosting the time for the BM period might not necessarily solve the problem of command over the Malay language.

"If the teaching hour is the determining factor of a student's proficiency in languages, the Education Minister must first explain why vernacular schools have fewer English classes but Chinese and Indian students perform better in SPM English," she said.

"As such, we urge Muhyiddin Yassin to review his decision to raise BM lessons to 240 minutes per week in vernacular schools," she added.