Kindly allow me to rebut the basic views of Ratha Mativanan on Tamil schools.

Ratha is an example of a social worker who feels needed by the thousands of Tamil parents who send their children to Tamil schools, and therefore, feels that the parents themselves have chosen the Tamil schools and no one should even think of other alternatives that could be made available to them.

Leaving things as they are is an option for Ratha, as clearly Ratha is not one of them. In my earlier letter , I did not mention about closing down of schools. I said that the present system - as it is run - divides Malaysians.

It is implicit that the Malay-only residential schools, the Mara colleges etc. are equally divisive. My argument is that we are about 50 years old as an independent nation, and we should be looking at a single system that allows for the teaching and learning of all the main vernacular languages and literature within the system.

Whether the Malay leadership will accept this is an issue that should have been debated and decided upon by the leaders of the ruling coalition in the true sense of 'consensus'.

Ratha's letter emphasises the fact that the Tamil children - whether they begin their studies in the Tamil schools or in the national schools - generally end up abused by the system at the secondary school level. Most of them end up in the bottom classes.

The various studies cited by Ratha did not mention any superiority of learning in Tamil schools. Despite the numerous efforts of motivation camps organised by various organisations, most Tamil school students still end up below average at the secondary level.

And is it fair to compare these students with the 'forgotten-by-all' Tamil students in the national schools? How long are we going to continue this support for Tamil schools and get emotional about the community's plight?

For me, the Indians are still being marginalised by the system, and as long as the Tamils feel comfortable with that, the government will not do anything but let us be in our own world.

For a person as Ratha - who claims not to be a Tamil - sympathising and patronising the present state of the Tamil-educated community in the country may be a good form of a past time, but it is really painful to be one of them and realise the depressing state of affairs.

If only we had had a better system of education in this country, many more from the Tamil labour class in this country would have moved up the social ladder just as the Malays had done through the present education system.

Prof Ishak Haron had found in one of his studies that the Malay school of yesteryears was aimed at producing farmers who could just read and write while the Tamil school was aimed at producing a literate work force for the estates.

After independence, the Malay schools underwent a dramatic change. But due to a lack of farsightedness by leaders of Tamil community, Tamil schools have remained the same.

As the predominant groups started to emphasise the differences that make them important, the natural tendency for the minority Tamils was to get closer among themselves and to look into their special own features.

This is the main reason many Tamils have a sentimental attachment to their 'own Tamil schools' and can't bear the loss of them. But then, the Tamil school is also seen as a symbol of the community and its standing how many of us are proud of this?

The biggest weakness in this scenario is that the community is simply not in a position to provide the infrastructure needed for their students to get a solid educational foundation through these schools.

Further, our pre-occupation with the state of these schools blinds us to the plight of a big number of Indian children in the national schools - or are they not our responsibility?

If only our leaders think of themselves as Malaysians first despite their own ethnic origins and willingly help disadvantaged sectors and communities in all aspects, we may be able to evolve an education system that is truly democratic and fair.

Otherwise, we'll continue to be divided and some groups will continue to be left in their own worlds to the detriment of national integration. The Tamils be they from the Tamil schools or from the national schools will continue to suffer if we persist with the present system.