MCA Youth has urged Umno Youth education bureau chief Dr Adham Baba to retract his controversial statement calling the government to abolish all national-type Chinese primary schools.

His counterpart in MCA Youth, Dr Wee Ka Siong, told the press today that in a meeting yesterday, the MCA Youth education bureau had agreed unanimously to protest against the statement.

In the protest letter sent to Adham (photo) and made available to the press, MCA Youth stressed that the position of Chinese schools in Malaysia, which is entrenched in the Federal Constitution and Education Act 1996, should not be disputed.

"We regret your stand in this matter and opine that your statement had offended the Chinese community in this country," MCA Youth stated.

"We want to stress that Chinese national-type primary schools are part of the social contract which was agreed upon and practised for more than 40 years."

The same letter also urged Adham to retract his statement and explain his position on the matter.

Police report lodged

The controversy arose last week when his statement which was first posted on Umno Youth's website was picked up by the press.

Chinese Malaysian political leaders from both the ruling coalition and opposition parties objected to his statement.

DAP subsequently lodged a police report against Adham for allegedly violating the Sedition Act.

Initially reported to be unrepentant, Adham was however quoted in China Press yesterday as saying it was his personal opinion and he had no intention to urge the government to close down all the Chinese schools.

"We request Dr Adham Baba to retract his statement. If he had never intended to make the statement, what is wrong with retracting it?" Wee asked.

Meanwhile, Adham has maintained that he had not made any racist remarks. In a statement today, he expressed his willingness to cooperate with the authorities if he had violated any laws.

When contacted later, he refused to say whether he would retract his statement as requested by MCA Youth.

He merely said he would explain his position to MCA Youth when they meet to discuss the matter on Nov 26.