I refer to the letter Vernacular schools and unequal rights .

I'm also a product of a Chinese vernacular school, yet apart from speaking and writing fluent Chinese, I'm also conversant in Bahasa Malaysia and English.

I remember in my childhood days, when we had the Rukun Tetangga neighbourhood activities and children of all races mixed freely even though some of them attended vernacular schools.

So it piques me to hear some blaming vernacular schools for racial tensions. Vernacular schools have never barred bumiputeras from enrolling into them unlike Mara educational institutions. If vernacular schools are to be blamed, so too must the Mara institutions.

There can be no denying that the younger generation these days don't seem to mix as freely as the former generations, but given that vernacular schools have already existed for a long time, I think it's highly unwise to blame today's polarisation on education.

Take the US for instance, a country that practises freedom and has a far more complex racial buildup. Anybody who has visited the US will come to agree that the races seems to live together comfortably. Can this be attributed to the absence of vernacular education there?

Another example are the Chinese Indonesians. Most of them don't even speak their mother tongue, nor do they even carry Chinese names anymore, yet come any major political turmoil, they are targeted by the majority. Is this due to vernacular education?

The truth of the matter is that polarisation in Malaysia is caused by the discriminatory practises of the government - especially after the NEP - rather than vernacular education.