1 Sekolah Untuk Semua: Another Racial Bigot
By Khoo Kay Peng
I feel compelled to respond to an initiative by a group of 'pro-unity' bloggers to campaign for a common education system for all. The proponents are a group of Malay bloggers. I am not sure if they are really 'pro-unity' as claimed by Rocky Bru. We will talk about this in a while.
It is a good proposal to integrate our school systems. A common education system is a foundation of national unity if students of various ethnicity would be allowed to learn the language of their choice.
Education system in US, Belgium, France and other developed countries provide an opportunity for high school and undergraduates to pursue exchange programmes with various institutions from other countries. This is what globalisation of education is about.
Back to this Najib flavoured, 1Sekolah initiative, I have a creepy feeling reading the tagline of this campaign: Satu Sekolah untuk Satu Bahasa, Satu Bangsa, Satu Negara.
I have question for the proponents of this initiative, which bahasa (language)? These language purists are not consistent with their stand. In the age of globalisation, it is suicidal and stupid to suggest that Malaysian children should only be taught the mastery of a language.
Rockybru is trying to link this initiative to the Singaporean model. I don't have a problem with the Singaporean model which is merit-based and learning focused. If we can take out both politics and religion from the schools, a good integrated education system focusing on knowledge and skills acquisition would be proper for our country.
But Rockybru is definitely pushing his luck trying to equate 1Sekolah to the Singaporean system.
This campaign has started on the wrong footing: Blaming disunity on vernacular schools.
"Sekolah Vernakular (SJKC dan SJKT) adalah punca utama ketidakserasian dan ketegangan kaum di negara kita tercinta."
The proponents of 1Sekolah cannot even be truthful about the main problem of disunity and racial disharmony. Why blame the Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools when it was obvious that some UMNO politicians had started the racial blame game? Did you hear any students or teachers from the vernacular schools doing the same? Why is Rockybru keeping his golden silence when a vernacular newspaper, Utusan Melayu, from his media group is keeping up with the tradition of racial flaming?
It is disappointing to see a group of 'pro-unity' bloggers parotting the same rhetoric to cause even more disunity.
