Veteran educationist Loot Ting Yee today gave in to immense public pressure to revoke his earlier decision to quit his posts in two leading Chinese education associations.

"The decision was made on the early morning...I accept (my counterparts') persuasion and respect the reason that teamwork spirit should be prevail in this case," he said in a telephone interview with malaysiakini today.

The 72-year-old educationist has been vice president of the influential United Chinese School Teachers Association of Malaysia (Jiao Zong) since 1966. He is also a committee member of the Kuala Lumpur Chinese School Teachers Association.

Loot announced Monday he was quitting the two posts from Jan 1 because he had failed to 'defend' Chinese education when the government decided to proceed with the plan to use English to teach Science and Mathematics in all schools from this year.

He had stressed his resignation would not stop him from defending mother tongue education as he would be joining student and other ethnic groups to continue his effort.

"I really don't know how to face myself when Chinese education in this country had come to this stage...vision schools, the closure of the Damansara school, the language switch...all these policies affect the identity of Chinese schools. I had done everything I could but it still happened," he lamented earlier.

He agreed to stay on with the organisations after persuasion from peers.

Asked to comment if his quit announcement had helped highlight the importance of mother tongue education, he said, "I think it brought little impact especially when the opposing voice to the language switch seems to have cooled down. But the most important thing that I would like to say is all of us (ethnic groups) are facing the same problem and we should join forces to overcome it."

More to be done

In an immediate response, Jiao Zong president Ong Chiow Chuen said he was glad that Loot has decided to revoke his resignation.

"We are pleased that he made this decision. He has worked with us for a long time, and undoubtedly we hope he can stay with us to contribute more for mother tongue education.

"For me, Loot's resignation also had warned us especially the Chinese community to be more aware and concerned with Chinese education development in the country...there is still a long way to go," he said.

United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) president Quek Suan Hiang ( photo ) was also glad that Loot had decided to stay.

"I know Loot very well. He is very enthusiastic about his work in education and his decision to resign didn't mean he wanted to withdraw from this circle. He just felt it would be better for him to carry out his task without holding any position (in the education movement)," Quek said.

"It's good he will remain in Jiao Zong. I believe he would never retire from defending mother tongue education," he said.