Why we chose Chinese school for our children
By Dr Boo Cheng Hau
Foon Yew High School is the one singled out by name by Kulaijaya principal Siti Inshah Mansor who implicated it as a school harbouring Chinese students who do not speak or read Bahasa Malaysia.
It is the only Chinese independent secondary school (ISS) in Johor Bahru. It is also where my two children are studying.
My wife and I had discussed in great length before we decided to send our kids to Foon Yew, which incidentally is my alma mater.
The fact is that I myself speak and debate in Malay with confidence in the Johor state assembly as the opposition leader. Interestingly enough, several special assistants of the Johor Menteri Besar are Foon Yew alumni who deal with the state’s Chinese and Malay communities, communicating in both Mandarin and Malay.
Therefore Siti Inshah’s sweeping statement that non-Malay students from vernacular schools do not speak Malay at all only proves her own ignorance and bias. After all, her non-Malay students understood her racial slurs well enough to assess her half-hearted apology as coming from a “penipu” and a “pembohong”.
She is a classic example of a Biro Tata Negara (BTN) product and how a Malay ultra nationalist like Mahatir Mohamed has ingrained racial prejudice into many Malays. One aspect of this racism is institutionalised towards language policies.
Parent’s personal experience
My wife went to a well-known national school in Johor Bahru and she had a diploma in Malay Studies. Until today, she still bitterly recalls the racist remarks made by many Malay teachers during her years in school.
Unsurprisingly, she was more adamant than I that our children should not be subjected to the same racial degradation in the national schools that she went through.
This racial taunting has been nurtured as a norm over the years by the powers-that-be through the notorious BTN. The authorities have to be responsible for the pathetic state of inter-racial relations in the country today.
The Siti Inshah incident has made me realise how much my wife helped our children make the right choice of enrolling in my old school.
It is where we think not only that they could learn three languages, but more importantly that they are subjected to better discipline without going through the mental trauma of being victimised — some ultra-nationalist Malay teachers utter racist slurs with impunity.
As racial degradation is bad for any child’s self-esteem, I have always been determined to make sure my children do not go through what my wife went through studying in national school.
