LETTER | I am not sure vernacular schools are protected by the Federal Constitution. I shall leave it to judges and constitutional experts to decide on this. I am also not sure questioning the existence of vernacular schools is seditious. I shall again leave it to the lawyers and judges.

What I am concerned with is myopic and dumb politicians who are willing to say anything to appease their constituents and hopefully to gain political power someday. I am referring to the call by a PAS politician to shut down vernacular schools and that Mandarin should never be allowed to become the second language in this country.

How much more animosity do we want to create in this country? How much more do we want to further divide and dissect this country? Since when learning another language is the root cause of disunity and a disadvantage to a country?

Why not we look at many other countries with a single major language and religion? Do they have the national cohesion and unity that we expected? If they are not, why is it that we are always harping on the same old issue in Malaysia again and again? We have hundreds of factors causing disunity in this country, but somehow the factor that stands out must be the existence of vernacular schools.

We killed English, the language that would have provided this country great advantage in terms of access to information, knowledge, and mobility. Instead of regretting it, some dumb politicians think they have not done enough damage. Now they want to kill Mandarin, too, precisely at the time when China’s economic and political power is on the ascent. Talk about dumbness.

I can never understand the vindictiveness portrayed – shut down the vernacular schools and stop Mandarin from becoming the second language. I thought any enlightened leaders or politicians would have ask our people, regardless of racial backgrounds, to learn more Mandarin starting from now. Instead they prefer to make our people ignorant, uncompetitive and insular.

I think some politicians don’t understand what “earning a living” is about. They don’t understand the underlying factors driving competitiveness, productivity, investment and export. Maybe, these politicians have not earned a single ringgit in their lives before. Maybe, they are full-time recipients of political donations and welfare payments.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.