A Chinese education activist today said that legal attempts to challenge the government's decision to close down Chinese primary schools could prove futile.

"The question of suing the government comes at great cost. The last time we attempted this with the Merdeka University we lost," New Era College director Dr Kua Kia Soong told malaysiakini today.

Proposed by Chinese education groups, the Merdeka University was to have Mandarin as the medium of instruction. However, the 14-year lobby ended abruptly in 1982 after the nation's highest court ruled the plans as unconstitutional.

"If we had lived in a normal system we would have won the case, but we don't live in a normal system, so nobody is going to take them (government) to court," Kua added.

Kua was responding to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's assurance last week that the government could be taken to court if Chinese schools were shut down.

"I can tell them their fear is unfounded. The laws in the country in fact disallow the government from taking such action," Mahathir was quoted in the The Star last Friday.

He also said Chinese schools are here to stay, discounting allegations that vision schools were being built to wipe out Chinese schools.

Kua, a long-time activist with Dong Jiao Zong — the United Chinese School Committees and Teachers Association of Malaysia — questioned why the government had failed to build more Chinese schools in Malaysia.

"We do not disagree with different schools having integrated activities but why can't schools of different mediums be built?" he asked.

Gov't ploy

He also called the government's vision school idea a 'ploy' to assimilate schools of other mediums.

"The vision school idea gives no comfort and it gives cause for concern that it may turn out to be a ploy to assimilate Chinese and Indian schools into a single stream," Kua said.

Mother-tongue education proponents have objected to the vision school concept for this reason.

Most recently, the government's attempt to enroll pupils from SRJK (C) Chee Wen into a vision school already built in Subang Jaya created an outcry among parents who had expected another Chee Wen campus to be built there.

The school, originally in Sungai Tinggi Estate, Batang Berjuntai, is borrowing five classrooms from SK SS17 in Subang Jaya for two years until it moves to its own premises, which is part of a new vision school, next year.