Founding Fathers or MM kept us apart?

In his years as PM and Education Minister how much more acute and ingrained did it get? Does he suggest that the BTN, MARA institutions, policies in the admission of students to public universities, NEP’s intentional MISimplementation etc in no way contributed to existing obstacles?

The Ice-Cream Seller

I refer to the recent comments by MM about various issues that have kept this nation apart. I usually prefer to hold my own counsel but MM has the knack of stirring the dormant cells within me.

Lets look at some of the points he raised and see if they do justice to what he asserts:

1)More independent Chinese schools will create further obstacles to national unity
By this he ACCEPTS that there exists presently such obstacles. But in his years as PM and Education Minister how much more acute and ingrained did it get? Does he suggest that the BTN, MARA institutions, policies in the admission of students to public universities, NEP’s intentional MISimplementation etc in no way contributed to existing obstacles?

I am not a Chinese and I have my own views about Chinese schools. However, don’t you think if our schools were as good as they were pre-70’s and if our teachers were anywhere as good as those that MM had when he was a student himself, the demand for independent Chinese schools would be as strong? Just go to a government school or university today and compare the atmosphere to that pre-70’s. No soul, no dedication, no sports, all tuition, attending ceramahs, dress code hangups, no role models. Its a sweeping statement admittedly, but not off target – just unpleasant to be made.

2) Recognition of the UEC
Why lament its recognition? Its a damning indictment of the quality of our other ‘RECOGNISED” qualifications that parents opt to send their children to independent Chinese schools instead of to our “kilang” schools.

In my time, the MCE and the HSC (SPM & STPM today) were on par with any O or A Level examination board in the UK. Today, I see some foreign universities give a lower weighting to the STPM compared to the A Levels. In other words A is ASLI!!

You destroy and bastardise our education and yet lament when parents want something decent for their kids. If they sit for the UEC, they are not exactly going to queue up for places in our public universities, so where’s the beef?

3)Vernacular schools being a hindrance towards unity
This statement I can generally agree BUT – weren’t you Education Minister and captain of the ship for 22 years??????? If you had got this righted instead of building the deity that is PROTON, we’ll all be more united and driving much cheaper and better NISSANs, HYUNDAIs, TOYOTAs, KIAs, MAZDAs. After all, they are all LOOK EAST cars!!! (And Syed Mokhtar will have have less debt.)

4) 3 different people and 3 different languages as a consequence of recognising Chinese education.
The Indians make up less than 8% of the population today and not all are Tamils. Amongst Tamils, not all can speak Tamil. So lets not bother about 8%. (Its not even Samy’s cut!!) Indonesia has more than a 100 dialects and they are more united than us. (Hint – they don’t play around with religion.) India has even more and with over a billion people babbling in different languages, are 1 nation. That includes Malayalam – your father’s mother tongue.

5) National Language is the original language of the settlers.
He is right here but I doubt that it is how he intended it to appear.

The White Australians and White Americans are SETTLERS (as opposed to original INHABITANTS). Its the same in Malaysia where the Orang Asli, Dayaks, Kadazans, Jakuns, Kelabit etc are the original INHABITANTS. Then along came the settlers – from China, Indonesia (as it is today), India (your big root included), the Arab states and of course today, the Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Burmese, Cambodians.

Talking about National Language, can someone tell me why KERETA has become MOTOKAR, MAKTAB has become KOLEJ, RUMAH SAKIT has become HOSPITAL, ILMU HISAB has become MATEMATIK and so on? Talk of GUNAKAN BAHASA KEBANGSAAN!!!

6) We need to be apart – not part of one country
I’m sure he meant to be sarcastic – but that’s what you set out to do through the various devious policies and programmes implemented over the last 30 or so wasted years. Let’s be brutally frank – we are now at a stage where IF YOU ARE NOT ONE OF US, YOU CAN GET OUT. That is the subliminal, as well as direct message coming across that YOU started. Maybe at the outset it was for your own political manouvers, but the demon you set in motion has taken on a life of its own.

I write this as I fly in Egyptian airspace – after transitting at Cairo. The big issue is their ousted long standing President, military involvement and occupation of Tahrir square by competing groups in the new political process. Seems a bit like home.