It is ironic that while some schools in Britain where no one can escape from being exposed to the English language are pioneering the teaching of Mathematics and Science in the mother-tongues of ethnic minorities till the pupils become fluent in English, Malaysia is moving in the opposite direction.

The Malaysian government is defying all the established studies done on this area by some of the finest minds on education. And to date we have not seen the research papers by our scholars that prove the policy to teach Maths and Science in English in primary schools will succeed in increasing the competency of English among Malaysian children.

On the contrary, this move will affect many Malaysian children negatively because of its pedagogical problem. And those most adversely affected will be children from the rural areas and low-income families. An example is that of Tamil children from low-income families.

Contrary to popular Indian Malaysian middle-class perception that Tamil schools are a bane, they are an important social institution for these poor children who may otherwise not have any education at all. More than 80 per cent of the Tamil schools are in rural or inaccessible areas, serving mostly the children of plantation workers. The average household income is below RM700, with the parents having to take on two or more jobs to make ends meet.

Thus, these parents do not spend much time with their children, teaching them, motivating or enhancing their creative skills. Neither can they afford to send their children to kindergartens nor for tuition classes after they start schooling. For these children, going to Standard One is their first formal learning experience and Tamil is their immediate communication tool.

By not teaching basic mathematical and scientific concepts in this language, these Tamil children will find it extremely difficult to grasp complex knowledge, will lose interest and may drop out of school earlier. There is already a dropout problem among poor Tamil children. They quit school to help their parents at work or dropout for factors such as coming from broken homes and other social problems.

For political mileage

Though an Indian Malaysian example is cited because of my familiarity with the community, it is safe to assume that rural Malay children and Chinese pupils from low-income families will face similar difficulties in learning Maths and Science in English in primary schools.

What is foremost an educational issue has been politicised and distorted by vested interests and the mainstream media. Given this situation, we have seen heated discourses on this subject in the past few weeks. This has created a moment where the true quality of a leader can be seen: a contest between responsible leadership accounting for the welfare of all and the politically ambitious leader who is prepared to trade anything for his political mileage.

Among the interesting reaction is that from the leadership of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). It is particularly interesting because of the pattern of leadership it has provided that can be witnessed through out the history of Indians in Malaysia.

About 150 years ago, the Indians in Malaya were a powerless lot under British colonialism. Amid their misery, a few kanganies (overseers) were profiteering by assuming community leadership and abusing the labour recruitment process for the benefit of British planters. Thus, besides the British colonial masters, the Indian "leadership" at that time shamelessly exploited and cheated their own kind.

Frustratingly, very little has since changed. Today, some modern mandores in the form of politicians continue to speak half-truths, deceive the community and use mobster tactics. They trade with the rights of the community, certainly not for the people's progress but to secure for themselves some political rewards.

Nothing captures this dimension of Indian Malaysian leadership better than the actions of MIC president S Samy Vellu at the gathering of about 600 Tamil school headmasters and parents in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 10. It was an excellent opportunity for the interested groups to discuss freely and rationally the proposal to teach Maths and Science in English in Tamil primary schools and provide honest feedback to the government.

Pre-planned event

Instead, this opportunity for democratic engagement on a matter of great importance was transformed into a baseless emotion-driving drama of the leadership, forcing itself and its decision on the community. It turned out to be just another pre-planned event to merely rubber stamp the decision of Samy.

Headmasters and parents present were requested to toe the line: that is accept unopposed the proposal made by the government, a proposal made overnight without proper study, social impact assessment or public discussion.

The atmosphere at the event was so unhealthy that a parent who articulated his concerns on the English plan genuinely and smartly and who was eager to speak at the symposium, walked out of the room, shaken with fear. The atmosphere created by the speakers forced the parent to withhold his researched views.

Samy Vellu's most outrageous statement was when he implied that children who go to Tamil schools end up as criminals, citing the example of three youth who died in police custody recently. It was an unbuttoned lie, of course. According to the lawyer representing the three families, two of the youth attended the national Malay-medium primary schools.

In any case, the schools these three youth attended is not the issue. Neither was it ever proven that they are criminals. They died under controversial circumstances, especially the third youth whose body was found floating in the river a few days after he was taken into police custody.

Any community leader should be alarmed over the mysterious deaths and make representations to the Attorney-General's Chamber to order an inquest or a judicial inquiry. Instead, the MIC president was conjuring absurd links to the deaths in order to bulldoze though the proposal to teach Maths and Science in English.

Sheer opportunism

It is this nature of leadership that prompted another anguished father to repeatedly remark outside the meeting room: "Who are these Tan Sris and Datuks to decide on my children's future? They do not send their children to Tamil schools. I send my children there and I should have the right to make the decision. But I am unable to give my views.."

Why would the MIC president go to such length? It is sheer opportunism to get some "safe" parliamentary and state seats to contest in the general election, an immense political and economic profit for those who get in. In return for the perks, he needs to demonstrate that he is fully behind the Barisan Nasional leadership and will deliver the Indian Malaysian "consensus" on any issue by any means. He knows that if he dissents, there are two other political opportunists waiting on the margins ready to take over the MIC's role, certainly not for the better. Anyone observing the ludicrous responses of PPP president M Kayveas and IPF president MG Pandithan to Gerakan's statement on the English debate will have to throw their hands up in desperation and conclude "this community is a gonna...!"

What these politicians ignored is the social impact of the plan on the majority of Tamil schoolchildren who are from poor homes. Neither was there a concern for their welfare and educational future.

To complicate matters, the English-educated Indian Malaysian middle class has jumped on the bandwagon, postulating that these children will grow up to be IT experts and rocket scientists just by Tamil schools teaching Maths and Science in English from Standard One. Such views betray their total ignorance of social realities, living conditions of the Tamil poor and the importance of imparting knowledge to these children in their mother-tongue in their early years of schooling.

The government has for whatever reason confused the issue of improving proficiency in the English language and teaching of Maths and Science in schools.

Whims and fancies

No one in Malaysia is going to argue against learning English and increasing competency in the language. Every Malaysian is aware that in the age of globalisation, the English language is important. In fact, many people said so even when the government changed the educational policy and the language of instruction in institutes of higher learning in the 1970s. But it is essential to keep the improving proficiency in the English language separate from teaching of Maths and Science in primary schools.

And Indian Malaysian leaders should not only think of their political career and blindly support every whims and fancies of a government that very often does not engage democratically with its citizens.

Whatever the outcome of the current debate, it is crucial for the Indian Malaysian community to address one core issue: the quality of its political leadership. Unless the present leadership, within and outside BN, takes concrete steps to discard its self-serving mandore -attitude or the community elects principled and people-centred leaders, it will never be able to overcome its current social ills with self-respect and dignity.

And all Malaysians, especially the ruling party politicians, have to ponder what is the often-touted clich Vision 2020 or attaining developed status about. Is it merely about putting up the world's tallest towers and building a beautiful administrative capital? Or having the democratic space to discuss crucial issues affecting our lives without being labelled as chauvinists and extremists? We certainly cannot be a progressive nation when people who are genuinely concerned about the future of their children are threatened with arrests under the Internal Security Act.

S. Nagarajan was formerly a journalist and currently a research student at the Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research, Universiti Malaya.