Deputy Education Minister Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin today poured cold water on the expected alternative implementation to the language switch, saying it would complicate the current curriculum.
He criticised the four Barisan Nasional Chinese component parties which reportedly came up with the alternative proposal and said they should have consulted the Chinese Malaysian grassroots before making any decision on the matter.
"A leader must come down to the people. How many leaders (in the four parties) went down (to the people)?" he said when met at the Parliament lobby.
The deputy minister urged the parties to consult other quarters, including education movement Dong Jiao Zong.
Dong Jiao Zong is the collective name for the United Chinese School Committees Association Malaysia (Dong Zong) and United Chinese School Teachers Association Malaysia (Jiao Zong) which had opposed the language switch and was later branded as "extremist" by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Yesterday, malaysiakini learnt that the four BN parties are expected to propose at the ruling front's supreme council meeting Thursday, an extension of the timetable of Chinese primary schools to accommodate the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English.
Under the said proposal, school hours for Standard One will be extended from the present 1,350 minutes (or 45 periods with 30 minutes each) to more than 1,400 minutes of classes per week, which is still within the maximum range of 1,500 minutes per week permitted by the ministry.
No time
Abdul Aziz, who scoffed at the viability of the proposal, said: "First, do they have enough time or not? Second, not all schools are having one session. Many Chinese schools have two sessions. So when are they going to implement it? At night?"
"Then the complication will come. Malays will also say they want extra classes," he added.
He urged the four BN parties MCA, Gerakan, Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) to forget the policy that would only "burden the children".
"If you don't want it (the language switch), you say no! If you want it, you say yes! Don't just keep on giving excuses. We don't have much time left," he stressed.
On a news report ppublished today that the Chinese-based parties would only agree to the language switch on the condition that the government increases the number of Chinese primary schools, he said:
"They have gone off-tangent. They should tackle it subject by subject. They are talking about another demand, which is not fair."
Abdul Aziz said while the Malaysian government is tolerant and open to compromises, he warned that certain quarters should not "go beyond the limit" in their demands.
Asked whether he meant the alleged 'condition' by the BN Chinese-based parties, he replied, "Yes, if they are allowed (the condition), they would have gone beyond the limit."
No condition
However, another ministry deputy minister, Hon Choon Kim, denied that there was any 'condition' requested in the first place.
"MCA never asked to increase the number of Chinese schools. Don't mix up the issues. I am an MCA central committee member, I know we never talked about this," he said at the same venue.
"(This stipulated condition makes us look) like we are putting pressure on the government. We are inside BN, we love BN, we fight the opposition like mad, how can we fight among ourselves?" he told reporters.
Hon declined to comment on the expected proposal or divulge the names of the educationists consulted so far.
He said any decision made by the four Chinese component parties will come from a "purely academic angle" and not politics.
Meanwhile, the ministry parliamentary secretary Mahadzir Mohd Khir also refused to comment on the expected proposal.
He merely said that the ministry was well prepared, whatever the final decision made by the government.
One-week deadline
Last Tuesday, Mahathir, who is also BN chairperson, said the front's supreme council meeting had unanimously agreed on the language switch and that the new policy would be implemented as scheduled next January.
However, he added that the four Chinese-based parties were given one week to deliberate on the method of implementation in Chinese primary schools.
The four have reportedly met twice last week to discuss this. They met again this evening at MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik's office in Putrajaya.
The four had intended to propose classes for the two subjects in English after school hours. However, this was shot down by the Education Ministry which stipulated that the classes must be in the formal timetable.
