Speak Malay, PM tells Chinese community
Zurairi AR, The Malaysian Insider
The Chinese community should embrace Bahasa Malaysia as it is the country’s national language, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said this morning.
Speaking on Mandarin radio channel Melody FM, Najib also reassured listeners that Chinese education will be part of the exercise to improve quality of education under the National Education Blueprint.
Responding to demands by pressure group Dong Zong, the United Chinese School Committees Association, the premier reminded listeners that Malaysia has always recognised Chinese schools.
“We are the only country outside China which has got Chinese education as part of the national system,” he remarked.
“The people have taken this for granted.”
He also revealed that the Cabinet is looking into implementing an eight-point plan to address the shortage of teachers for Chinese vernacular schools, drawn from roundtable meetings involving various stakeholders including Dong Zong.
The implementation will be overseen by one of the two deputy ministers from the Education Ministry.
In March, Deputy Education Minister Dr Puad Zarkashi had branded Chinese educationists “racist” for demanding that only qualified Mandarin-speaking teachers be allowed to teach in Chinese vernacular schools.
The group accused the Education Ministry earlier this year of “deliberately” creating a dearth of trained Mandarin-speaking teachers as part of a larger conspiracy to re-engineer the identities of vernacular schools.
Dong Zong had last month submitted a memorandum on the matter to the prime minister.
