As we celebrate this second anniversary of International Mother Language Day in Malaysia, we note two serious challenges to mother tongue education in Malaysia - the anglisization of Malaysian schools and the broken promises to build more SRJK schools.

Recently, under the rationale of coping with globalisation, the previous Mahathir Administration decided to implement the teaching of science and maths in English. The mother language sectors in this country, whether Malay, Chinese or Tamil, do not accept the premise that globalisation means Anglisisation.

In fact, Latin is spoken by more people in this world. Futurists have already pointed out that the Chinese language will be spoken by more people than the English language. But we do not accept this premise either. Long before China arose as a world economic power, Dong Jiao Zong had consistently stood for the promotion of all mother languages in the world, including those of minorities and indigenous peoples. As the Unesco Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity proclaims: "As a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature."

We therefore call upon the new prime minister, if he sincerely wants to right the wrongs of the previous administration, to reverse this misguided policy which we believe is opposed by also the Malay-language sector in this country.

No more broken promises

The second challenge is posed by the continual broken promises of the BN Government to build more SRJK schools and support mother tongue education. During the 1999 general election, the BN Government promised to build six new Chinese primary schools and move 13 more schools.

The statistics speak for themselves. In 1957, with the population of the Malaysian Chinese half of what it is today, we had 1342 Chinese primary schools and 86 Chinese secondary schools; today, there are only 1286 Chinese primary schools and 60 Chinese secondary schools. (Kua Kia Soong,ed. "Mother Tongue Education of Malaysian Ethnic Minorities", DJZ Higher learning Centre, 1998:72)

If we go by the Local Government Ministry's Town Planning Guidelines of one school per 7500 population, in 2004 there is already a shortage of 103 Chinese primary schools in the Klang Valley alone. By 2020, there will be a shortage of 203 Chinese primary schools in the Klang Valley.

According to the Selangor Structure Plan, 120 schools were to be built between 2000 to 2005. By end 2003, 96 schools had been built but these are all SRK schools with only one Chinese primary school.

For the country as a whole, between 1999 to 2003, 342 SRK schools have been built with only two new Chinese primary schools and one Tamil primary school.

When it comes to financial allocation, the Education Ministry does not give us the breakdowns for different streams of schools. But this should give us an indication: For 2004, the government allocated RM6 million for Chinese primary and the former SMJK secondary schools in Selangor. In the same year, 37 new SRK schools were built in Selangor. At a cost of RM10 million per school, that is easily RM400 million.

Demand for these

Clearly, the mother tongue education lobby in this country must demand that the new administration:

  • Build more SRJK schools by making a concrete commitment and allocation to build a specified number of SRJK schools by the next election;
  • Abrogate the policy to teach maths and science in English in the primary schools;
  • Reopen Damansara SRJK school;
  • Ensure fair financial allocation to all schools irrespective of language stream;
  • Positively help the mother language development of the indigenous peoples in the country
DR KUA KIA SOONG is principal of New Era College. The above is a speech at the second celebration of International Mother Language Day in Malaysia on Feb 21.