The four Chinese-based parties, especially MCA, should stand firm on rejecting Barisan Nasional's proposal to teach Mathematics and Science in English in Chinese primary schools, said eight key Chinese groups today.

"The parties should maintain their stand on this issue. We condemn any party which takes a position that contradicts the interest of the Chinese Malaysian community," said the group leaders in a joint statement after an hour-long meeting in Kajang.

"The government seems adamant about implementing the switch in Chinese primary schools. Therefore the Chinese community should be on alert and monitor closely the developments," they added.

Consider consequences

Among the groups involved are United Chinese School Teachers Association Malaysia (Jiao Zong) and United Chinese School Committees Association Malaysia (Dong Zong).

Others included Federation of Chinese School Alumni Associations Malaysia, Federation of Alumni Associations of Taiwan Universities Malaysia, Alumni Association of Nanyang University Malaya, and the three Chinese Assembly Halls of Selangor, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan.

Dong Zong chairperson Quek Suan Hiang told a press conference that the eight groups agreed that the language switch would compromise the quality of education and the people's interests.

"Before implementing the switch hastily, the government should consider the consequences carefully," he said.

He said the groups appreciated MCA's reported objection to the language switch at its July 27 annual general meeting and its Oct 18 central committee meeting.

The party, he added, should continue to defend this stand.

Asked if bilingual teaching for the two subjects in English and Chinese is acceptable to the Chinese groups, he said, "We should not divert on our attention from the real issue that we are fighting for, that is retaining mother-tongue for Maths and Science".

Study failure

"The different proposals of a so-called modification to the implementation should not even be raised if this were to mean that the two subjects can no longer be taught fully in Chinese," he said.

Quek said while the government had admitted that its education policy had been unsuccessful to strengthen English proficiency among students, it did not conduct an in-depth study on the reasons behind the failure.

"They don't talk to experts and reflect on the failure. Instead, they just try to change the vernacular school system which has been established, tried and tested to be effective," he said.

When asked, he described Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement last week that certain Chinese schools have resorted to English for the teaching of Mathematics and Science as "confusing".

"There could be several Chinese independent (secondary) schools which do that outside school hours on their own but I don't know of any Chinese primary school that teaches the two subjects in English," he said.

Strong public protests

Apart from MCA, the other three Chinese-based parties which have been given a week since last Tuesday to propose necessary modification to the language switch in Chinese primary schools are Gerakan, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP).

The BN supreme council had decided that no schools, including the Chinese primaries, will be exempted from the controversial language switch which had generated strong public protests since it was first proposed in May.

MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik had said Wednesday that all Chinese-based parties said in the BN council that they wanted mother-tongue to be retained for the two subjects.

In August, 39 Chinese organisations had also jointly declared their opposition on any move to teach the two subjects in languages other than mother tongue.