DAP today welcomed Gerakan's stand to reject the government's proposal to teach Science and Mathematics in English starting next year and asked the party to raise the issue at the next Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet should suspend its decision on the language switch until all political parties and education movements discuss the best ways to improve English proficiency among Malaysian students, said DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang.

However, he said Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik should have also displayed "greater humility" and admitted his mistake earlier of describing the Chinese educationists as "chauvinists".

He said all component parties in Barisan Nasional and not just the Chinese-based ones should convene an emergency meeting to take a common position "in the best interests of the young school-going generation".

He also urged Keng Yaik to send copies of the working papers prepared by Gerakan on the language switch to Education Minister Musa Mohamed and other Cabinet members.

"Keng Yaik's revelation has highlighted the unprofessional and most unsatisfactory manner in which the decision was made by the Cabinet with most ministers acting as 'yes-men' and 'yes-women' supporting new policy without fully understanding the issue and the implications involved," said Lim in a statement.

Present proposal to raise English standard

He also called on Gerakan to present a proposal to raise the standard of English in all primary schools at the Cabinet meeting.

Among the related issues to be addressed were the increase of teaching hours for English, training for more qualified teachers for Chinese primary schools, he said.

Yesterday, Gerakan said that primary schools should not switch to English for the teaching of Science and Maths and should instead take other steps to improve the command of the language among students.

The party was the first of the five Chinese BN parties to make an official stand on the controversial language switch.

Last Friday, leaders of MCA, Gerakan, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) had met to discuss the issue for the third time but failed to reach a consensus.

The next joint meeting was scheduled to be held within 10 days from Friday.