Four of the five Chinese-based parties which attended yesterday's Barisan Nasional supreme council meeting wanted Chinese primary schools to be exempted from the language switch, said MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik.

Speaking to reporters at his office in Putrajaya this afternoon, he said the parties shared the common view that these schools should continue teaching Science and Mathematics in their mother tongue.

However, he added that the non-Chinese parties in the ruling coalition fully supported the government's proposal that the two subjects be taught in English for Year One, Form One and Lower Six in all schools beginning next year.

"There was a suggestion (from the Chinese parties) whether or not we can have classes in English outside the normal timetable," he said.

The four Chinese-based parties are MCA, Gerakan, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP). The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) supported the move.

Education experts

Ling said that top leaders from the four parties will meet education experts over the next week to discuss the means of incorporating English into the teaching and learning of the two subjects.

The MCA president stressed that Chinese education groups and non-governmental organisations, which have been vocal opponents of the new policy, will not be consulted as "they have no connection with us".

The leaders of the four parties later met for about two hours in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur but refused to comment when approached by journalists.

After the BN meeting yesterday, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said all primary schools would adopt the switch starting next year though modifications for Chinese schools will be allowed.

The premier added that the decision was made with a "100 percent consensus".

Different version

Meanwhile, Chinese dailies today reported a different version, claiming that Chinese schools were exempted from the switch.

Sin Chew Daily 's headline read, 'Chinese schools retain mother tongue for teaching' while the MCA-owned Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press headlines said, 'Chinese schools exempted from language switch'.

None of these dailies reported Mahathir as saying that Chinese schools were not exempted. "We will find a way for the schools to implement the new policy," they quoted the premier as saying when asked.

An MCA source claimed that the differing versions in Chinese newspapers was an effort to " buy time" for the Chinese-based parties to look for other solutions.

The source added that if the proposal to have extra classes in English is accepted by the government, there will be difficulties concerning implementation due to financial and infrastructure constraints.

Forgone conclusion

"Many Chinese schools are run in two sessions (morning and afternoon) to cope with the growing number of students. Furthermore, who is going to pay for the teachers for extra classes knowing that the government's budget for Chinese schools is limited?

"It is therefore a foregone conclusion that the implementation of the language switch will affect all schools, including Chinese schools," said the source who declined to be named.

Malaysiakini also learnt that the United Chinese School Teachers Association Malaysia and United Chinese School Committees Association Malaysia (collectively known as Dong Jiao Zong), will wait for the formal announcement of the five Chinese-based parties next week before making any response.

The movement was one of the more vocal oppositionists to the new policy, leading Mahathir to brand them as 'extremists'.

In August, Gerakan made a counter proposal that the switch should not include primary schools and be confined to secondary schools.

The party also suggested bilingual texts be introduced for Math and Science at primary level.