If Deputy Education Minister Abdul Aziz Samsudin's statement on Sunday 'exposed' anything, it is that Cabinet members may not necessarily know enough about their portfolios and related issues when they speak.

Malay daily Berita Minggu in its lead story yesterday quoted Abdul Aziz as 'exposing' the fact that the Chinese education groups which opposed the controversial language switch for Science and Mathematics, have "secretly" been teaching all subjects in English in their Chinese independent schools.

Chinese schools in Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur have long implemented this "secret programme" in the afternoon, after the morning session which is conducted in Chinese, he claimed.

"But when we want to teach two subjects in English, they oppose it although they have done it for a long time. This shows that the groups only want their own race to progress but want to stop the other races from acquiring the language skill," the minister alleged.

Secret, Abdul Aziz had said.

But what 'secret'?

The modus operandi of the 60 Chinese independent secondary schools in Malaysia that have operated since 1960s have never been clouded in secrecy of any kind. What had been implemented or are being carried out are no secrets to many Malaysians as they had been widely reported, at least in Chinese newspapers.

Their doors were always open to students of different races and those interested in finding out more about their schools. There was no underground movement or triad group that thrives at night; only properly registered institutes of education that operate in broad daylight.

Back to the 'secret' business, one thing that isn't so, is that Chinese education groups (read: Dong Jiao Zong) have opposed the language switch proposed by the government recently.

But they have definitely not questioned the government's sincerity in wanting to improve English proficiency among students.

Sincerity not questioned

Abdul Aziz, however, did point out one pertinent fact that is often overlooked by the public Dong Jiao Zong has always been encouraging students in Chinese schools to learn English, the lingua franca of the world today. Many graduates of these secondary schools would do their tertiary studies in technology-related courses in English-speaking countries such as Australia, United States, New Zealand and England, after which they would return to this motherland of theirs to contribute to its economy, vastly so over the years.

Nevertheless, Abdul Aziz must first clear his convoluted thoughts by asking himself: Is Dong Jiao Zong anti-English and chauvinistic as claimed by many Umno leaders or, is it supportive of constructive ideas to promote the use of English?

The group can only fit into either one of the two categories; not both.

More alarming than the deputy minister's state of mind was how the media, particularly the Malay newspapers, amid the controversy in recent months, have been used to suit the interests of Umno whose supreme council decided to teach Science and Maths in English at its meeting in May.

The party leaders have openly called the Chinese education groups "extremists" and questioned why the Chinese community was being so 'difficult' when the Malay community had agreed to the switch described as a sacrifice on their part.

Opposing voices unreported

The voices of opposition from more than 20 prominent Malay organisations and Tamil education groups simply and conspicuously went unreported, though many of them have raised equally genuine concerns over the switch from purely educational, linguistic and sociological points of view.

Even PAS a party seen in Umno eyes as regressive and out of touch with the changing times acknowledged the importance of English, and yet opposed the switch.

"We don't reject any effort to promote the use of English and other languages in this era of globalisation. All languages are good for gaining knowledge," said PAS acting president Abdul Hadi Awang last week.

The party, however, questioned the hasty manner in which the switch was proposed, in that it lacked proper, in-depth viability studies and "did not take into consideration the views of various communities in a democracy".

PAS Youth chief Mahfuz Omar, too, displayed his political maturity by urging all Malaysians in the party organ Harakah not to point the finger at the Chinese community regarding the controversial switch as it was "an issue that transcends all racial boundaries".

Compared against PAS' response, Abdul Aziz's statement was all the more disappointing to Malaysians who would have expected more professional, carefully crafted decisions and less rhetorical speeches from the Education Ministry under the helm of Musa Mohamed, a former academic who had served as a vice-chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia.

His boss and colleagues in the Cabinet did not help much to ease the tension between various education groups and the government.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim had cited the 1996 Education Act two weeks ago to argue that the government has every power to effect changes in the education system. Ironically, his reaction only served to confirm the suspicion of education groups that the government has a hidden agenda against vernacular primary schools.

Warning from PM

As if matters were not bad enough, Deputy Home Minister Zainal Abidin Zin followed suit by saying that the government had no qualms about invoking the Internal Security Act on education groups who made 'seditious' remarks.

All these statements were made supposedly in the name of education.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad warned last week that education groups should not incite racial sentiments using the language switch issue.

"In Malaysia, if somebody does something to fan racial sentiments to the extent of creating unrest, the government will act," he cautioned.

Well said. And the government should keep its word by taking action beginning with its own official, the deputy minister for education, Abdul Aziz. Not arrest him under the ISA, of course we all know how unjust the security law is but to re-educate him about the past and present backgrounds of our education system.

Maybe he'd know then that there are more exposs to be made about the government, not the schools he alleged of 'underground' lessons.

That, he can take from one journalist.

YS TONG is a member of the malaysiakini team.