Recently a leader of the Chinese education movement in Malaysia boldly admitted to an audience at a briefing in Kota Bharu that his son failed to find a job in Singapore due to inability to speak Mandarin. The moral of the story? Speak Chinese if you can, or else the fate of my son may befall you also.

Absolutely no mistake o­n my part. A son of a high-profile campaigner for Chinese education in Malaysia is not educated in Mandarin.

What is going o­n here?

Well, I must first commend that particular leader for his courage and honesty in making known to the public that his son did not receive any Chinese education. As the saying goes: to err is human, to forgive is divine. The leader must therefore be pardoned for not matching his word with his deed.

Given that Umno or any other ill-intentioned Barisan Nasional politician might seize the home truth to launch another media offensive against Dong Jiao Zong, the Chinese education movement, the leader's confession has come to symbolise his enormous courage.

Strangely enough, both Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian have so far failed to pick up this juicy piece of news, not to mention playing it up to please their masters. It is simply all quiet o­n the Umno front. Have these two Umno mouthpieces mellowed after a series of blunders over the Sekolah Agama Rakyat

controversy and the raid o­n malaysiakini ? I certainly hope so.

Different strokes

But the Chinese education movement is indeed full of humbugs, who preach o­ne thing to their target audience and do another in private. Coming from a 'renowned' Chinese secondary school, I remember so vividly the pain that I felt when I realised that many of the respected figures sitting o­n the school committee, who contributed generously and from time to time gave encouraging speeches to remind us of the noble cause to preserve our mother tongue, actually had children studying in Singapore, Australia and even as far as Canada - and their young o­nes did not speak a word of Mandarin.

A prominent leader of the Chinese education movement passed away last year. While paying my last respects, I also sought to confirm with a friend of mine, who held the leader in high esteem, as to whether this leader, too, had not sent his children to Chinese schools.

Embarrassed by my persistent probing, the friend said, "Well, you know, Chinese education in the early days was in a very bad shape, and the prospects were unpredictable. I think it is understandable that he had chosen to send his children to English-medium schools."

I was flabbergasted by his explanation. Hey! Are you kidding? Hasn't the entire Chinese Malaysian community been told umpteen times that fighting for mother tongue education is a high calling, be it in or out of season?

Doesn't the eulogy read that the leader was already devoted to safeguarding Chinese education and culture while still a young man? Shouldn't he then be expected to have the courage of his convictions and set himself an example?

Of course, hypocrites as such are not merely confined to the Chinese community. As observed by Dr M Bakri Musa, a US-based physician and a malaysiakini columnist, many of the so-called Malay political elite urge the community to send their children to Malay schools while their own elite loved o­nes are receiving quality education in English.

In his book The Malay Dilemma Revisited , Bakri thanks his father's far-sightedness in not blindly following the leaders' advice: "My father noticed that while the leaders were loudly extolling these (Malay) schools, they were quietly switching their own children into English stream. My father wisely concluded that until these leaders heeded their own advice, he would continue to ignore them."

Advent of 'Chinese century'

I don't mean to rub salt into Dong Jiao Zong's wounds, but may I be allowed to confess the gleeful joy that ran through my nerves and veins when, not so long ago, some ex-Chinese educationist by the name of Dr Too Chee Cheung called a press conference and deplored in no uncertain terms the hypocritical behaviour of the many leaders in the Chinese education movement.

They had their children educated in English while urging the Chinese community to rally behind their campaign against the government's decision to teach science and mathematics in English.

Dr Too may have done so with a personal agenda, or it was simply an act of vengeance; but what is not to be denied is that a scandalous fact has been made known to the Malaysian public, Chinese and non-Chinese alike.

Personally speaking, I respect the right of each and every person to receive different streams of education, and I certainly do not subscribe to the view that, with the so-called advent of the 'Chinese century', mastering the Chinese language will naturally put o­ne in a more advantageous position.

However, if o­ne aspires to advance the cause of Chinese education in this country, he or she had better lead by example. The people are out there watching, among them the authorities. Remember what Abraham Lincoln said? You can fool some of the people all the time, and all of the people some of the time; but you cannot fool all of the people all the time.

To the BN government, and to Umno especially, the Chinese-based Dong Jiao Zong as a non-governmental organisation is no doubt a pain in the neck. But the humbugs in the movement have been making it all the more difficult to widen its appeal to a wider Malaysian society.

The very presence of these leaders, who cannot even convince themselves of the ideals of preserving Chinese education in Malaysia, o­nly gives more ammunition to their arch enemy, who is constantly o­n a lookout to find fault with the Chinese community.

My advice to them: A heartfelt confession is commendable, but a willingness to step aside is more desirable, for true leadership is o­nly manifested when o­ne's commitment is backed by o­ne's unambiguous action.

JOSH HONG is trained in international politics. While distraught by all the o­ngoing global conflicts, he nevertheless considers reconciling the many paradoxes and differences in human life to be a cause worthy of lifelong pursuit.