Outspoken Chinese educationist movement Jiao Zong vice chairperson Loot Ting Yee today called on activists who support Tamil education to organise themselves systematically to defend their mother tongue.

At a book launch organised by the Group of Concerned Citizens and Malaysian Tamil Educational Research and Development Foundation in Kuala Lumpur, Loot expressed his desire to see the Indian Malaysian community establish a 'Dong Jiao Zong' of their own to defend Tamil education.

Loot, a well-known defender of Chinese education, criticised Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for "forgetting that Malaysia is a multiracial country and that Indian and Chinese Malaysians have contributed much in nation-building".

Be fair to all

"These two races had worked hard to construct railways, ports, roads and laboured in estates. We also fought for independence.

"Mahathir tries to deny the contribution of both Tamil and Chinese education. He should be fair to all in education," he told malaysiakini after the launching of the booklet, The Cry , in the presence of some 80 people, at a Kuala Lumpur hotel.

The Cry explains how the government's move to use English in teaching Maths and Science may impact on the poor to their detriment.

Jiao Zong (the United Chinese School Committees Association Malaysia) and Dong Zong (United Chinese School Teachers Association Malaysia) known collectively as Dong Jiao Zong have always been supportive of other groups who insist on their right to mother tongue education.

The movements have been vehemently attacked by various quarters for their stand against the language switch.

Government ministers, including Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and mainstream dailies in particular Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian have joined in the fray to label the movements as "extremist and chauvinistic".

State-run Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) recently started airing a five-minute segment entitled Bahaya Cauvinisme (Dangers of chauvinism) during prime-time news on its two channels, which portrayed the movements as "anti-Malay, anti-national and unpatriotic".

Survey results

Meanwhile, DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang, who was present at the launch, revealed that Malaysia was lagging behind in mathematics and science, based on the findings of international surveys on the comparative educational standards of students in these subjects, as against their counterparts in other countries.

Lim said the results of TIMSS-R (Third International Mathematics and Science Study Repeat), released in November 2000, showed that Singapore emerged first in Maths and second in Science, while Malaysia was placed 16th and 22nd respectively out of 38 countries.

He added that although Singapore had issued a statement on the key findings of the study, Malaysia had remained "totally silent in the past two years since the release of the results".

In the light of the dismal results, he urged the Education Ministry to convene meetings of parents in all primary schools whether national, Chinese or Tamil to explain its decision to use English to teach Maths and Science.

PRM vice president R Sivarasa, who was also present, said the controversial move has diverted the attention of Malaysians from the real issue, which is unemployment of Malay graduates due to their incompetence in the English language.

Sivarasa, a lawyer, said the Barisan Nasional government education policies are the "real culprit" behind the fact that some 40,000 university leavers could not find jobs.

"What happened to this issue? It is illogical to say that learning English is the answer. We must first ask why the government policies failed," he said.