Set the record straight on education, BN Chinese parties told
The three Chinese-based parties in Barisan Nasional must make it clear to the government that mother-tongue education, especially in Chinese primary schools, is not the cause of racial polarisation, said DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang today.
Lim was responding to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's opening speech at a function in Penang on Saturday.
Among others, the deputy premier stressed that racial polarisation may be the order of the day if all races go their own way in education.
Abdullah said the possibility seemed real as only few non-bumiputra students joined national schools, adding that four distinct ethnic groups might emerge soon - with a fifth division among the Malays since many are inclined towards religious rather than academic studies.
However, Lim said the deputy premier's remark was "most disturbing" as it was based on the fallacy that the existence of mother-tongue education is the cause of the problem.
"It is not Malaysian-centred mother-tongue education which is the cause of racial polarisation, but divisive national policies which continue to segregate Malaysians into bumiputras and non-bumiputras instead of treating them as one Malaysian people," he said in a statement.
Citing Chinese primary schools as an example, the veteran politician said the government's attitude towards mother-tongue education has varied from time to time.
"Before every general election, Chinese schools are praised by Umno leaders for their good results, good discipline among students and the commitment of teachers - but this seems to be easily forgotten after each election," he said.
Stop sleeping
Lim also criticised Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who was present at Saturday's function, for not pointing out to the deputy premier the misconceptions in his speech.
"With his (Koh's) background and involvement in Dong Jiao Zong (Chinese education groups) before entering politics through Gerakan in 1982, Koh should have realised the fallacy of Abdullah's speech," he said.
The DAP chief said MCA, Gerakan and Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) ministers should "stop sleeping in the cabinet and wake up to rectify at the meeting tomorrow the fallacy that the Chinese primary school system is the cause of racial polarisation".
He said the three parties must also seek representations in the education review committee set up by the Umno supreme council last year to implement an education overhaul.
Lim added it was shocking that two months after the review committee headed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was set up, the three Chinese-based parties in BN have yet to present their stand on Chinese primary schools.
"If the committee is to result in a national education system which will overcome its historic shortcomings and weaknesses in order to be a genuine instrument for national integration, then it must first be a model of national integration in terms of composition and modus operandi," he added.
"But if the committee is not going to be representative of all political and educational views from the full spectrum of Malaysian society, it is then merely a narrow and sectional endeavour to advance Umno political interests instead of reforming the education system."
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