YOURSAY
Discord due to statements and policies that make a mockery of 1Malaysia.
Anonymous #44199885: It is a fiction invented by BN that education in the mother tongue sows discord and promotes disunity. Disunity has nothing to do with education.
Racist statements continue to be given publicity to the young and this influences them - not education in one's mother tongue.
BN should address the dismal quality of education in the national schools. Parents are looking for and demanding a higher standard and quality in education that meets the needs of their kids and future.
Parents are sending kids to study in alternative education systems involving private schools, private international schools, home schooling etc.
Vernacular schools are popular due to the higher standard of schooling as evidenced by the high number of Malays and Indians enrolled in such schools.
In fact vernacular schools are more ‘muhibbah’ than national schools. As for unity, the cause of disunity is rooted in BN, as it continues to support extremism and racist statements and policies that make a mockery of 1Malaysia.
YUNoAnon:
It's nice that Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recognises other races as Malaysians. However, the treatment dished out greatly differs from all the talk. How to forget our identity when you keep reminding us of it? To compound it, you implement policies to separate us. So whose fault is it?
Anonymous_3e79:
Just teach in English and learn another language, be in Bahasa Malaysia (compulsory) and a second language (Mandarin, if you choose). This is done in SIngapore. But make sure that English is the primary medium of teaching.
David Dass:
I am all for a single stream system for all Malaysians. But we have a written constitution which guarantees vernacular school education. And until all Malaysians agree to the amendment of the constitution in that regard, it is the right of each Malaysian to pursue a vernacular education.
There is also a problem with the national school system. Many Chinese have opted for the Chinese school system because it is a better system than national schools.
Whether true or not, anecdotal evidence suggests that national schools have become inhospitable to Chinese and Indians. Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad is quoted as saying that they have become too Malay or Muslim for the non-Malays.
There was a time when national schools were the first choice for many Chinese. That was when they were English schools. English schools were perceived to be superior schools.
If we had sensibly pursued a bilingual system with some subjects being taught in English and some in Malay, we might have succeeded in keeping the schools attractive.
There are other aspects of the old system that we have lost. Mission schools have lost their character as mission schools. It is ironic that in India almost 70 years after independence, mission schools continue to be first choice schools for urban Hindu Indians.
India also continues to maintain English as a major language. It is the medium of instruction in all Indian universities.
Not surprisingly, India has the fourth largest number of scientists and engineers in the world. We have also lost a dedicated corps of Chinese and Indian teachers who made up a significant proportion of the teaching service.
So unless we are prepared to make some fundamental changes in our education system, we will continue to have three streams.
SanctusSanctusSanctus:
I am all for single stream schools with English (neutral language) as the medium of instruction and BM a compulsory subject. It worked for the older generation and there is no reason to doubt why it won't work for the present.
Look at Singapore and you'll know why. There was a time when we had the edge over other countries in the region when English was widely spoken here. But then again it may be too late now as the present crop of teachers, largely, cannot string a proper sentence in English.
English has a definite advantage in the acquisition of knowledge than say BM, Chinese or Tamil.
Ckl0001:
Zahid, your view on the existing school system is simplistic. It goes without saying that we are all Malaysians, otherwise what else are we?
For the sake of unity of the people, the government will have to be very serious about it by not just talking but to take positive actions to promote harmony amongst Malaysians.
To start off, a national forum will be highly beneficial. And should this happen, please do not use the Sedition Act on those who voice out with good intentions.
Malaccan:
What stares at Zahid in the face, without his comprehension is that the quality of the national schools are degrading dramatically, while the Chinese vernacular schools are growing from strength to strength. As an attestation to this, many non-Chinese parents send their kids to these schools.
These vernacular schools are achieving this despite not being fully funded by tax money as they should be. Zahid is ignorant, as Chinese schools are not to maintain ties to the old country, but to retain the cultural heritage.
Zahid fears the weaknesses of BN being exposed and provokes division through raising his party's 'pendatang' scarecrow.
Tne fact is national schools are rife with inefficiencies through skewed political leadership and policies based on race and religion, and not educational needs. The schools are seen as the best place to train minds and control a docile and perpetually obedient future voting bloc.
If the constitution is to be reviewed, let us expand it to include other guarantees for unity's sake.
Mohican:
I am an Indian, and I fully agree with Zaid. There are numerous things, in all honesty, which I don't agree with him. But this call for national school system for all, I fully support but with improvements in the education system, where the mother tongue is an option for those wishing to pursue it.
Anonymous#007:
Zahid, this is seditious and malicious because there is no truth whatsoever to support his call to abolish Indian and Chinese schools.
Why not abolish international schools? Why not abolish Mara schools, boarding schools and Islamic schools/universities, which - based on Zahid's reasoning - also disrupt unity because the racial composition is skewed to one race/religion?
But more importantly, BN should take the lead by disbanding the race/religion based parties within the coalition first, and create a true united BN that opposes all forms of racial and religious discrimination.
And Zahid, you are quoted here as the home minister and you were attending the function as the home minister, so you cannot say that is your personal view.
Fair Play:
Zahid, you still don't get it, do you? The day Umno treat all Malaysians equally as Malaysians in accordance with the provisions of the federal constitution, unity will come automatically. Period.
CiViC:
Don't take us for fools. The real reason the government wants to abolish vernacular schools is to gain total control of education, so that they can brainwash and instill whatever they want into the younger generations.
Ace:
The Chinese and Tamil schools have nothing to do with the current level of disunity. It is precisely racist, narrow minded politicians like these who push disunity to the red zone.
A government cannot talk about unity one moment and the next moment tells one segment of the citizens that they are not eligible for some rights/privileges whilst another group is, because of the colour of their skin.
Also as Nik Nazmi says, many of the vernacular Chinese schools are more multiracial than the national schools.
Chris Wong:
Zahid, Oh Zahid: Actually Chinese vernacular schools are quite multi-racial. The focus is on education, and not on the politics of skin colour. In my daughter's school, about 20 percent in the class are non-Chinese, including many Malay Muslims.
Nil:
If there are Indians and Malays wanting to attend Chinese vernacular schools, give them a chance - for the sake of unity In the future, when all races can be fluent in one another's mother tongue, unity will be automatic. Malaysia may even have a Chinese university - one which will be in the top 100 list.
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