Chinese and Tamil Schools Are Not Punching Bags

Johan James

Lately, a number of NGOs and political leaders have been giving wrong opinions about vernacular schools. This is absolutely a disservice to the Rakyat where foundations were laid by these schools 50 over years ago. According to them, these schools are hampering our interracial relations. Much of these narrow-minded opinions given by the so-called educated politicians are without any empirical evidence. Do they really care about national integration? They neither care about national integration nor the sentiments of the other races in this country. These self-centered politicians are desperately running after high positions in the government at the expense of other races.

Although there are people who suggest single stream schools to unite the multiracial society, mere suggestions are insufficient for nation-wide implementation. It’s easier said than done. In actual fact, the need for Chinese and Tamil Primary schools in this country, especially in Peninsular Malaysia, is determined by the  unique-demography of Malaysians – comprised of Malays, Chinese and Indians. Despite not being the majority, the Chinese and Indian voters frequently become the decision-makers in many constituencies. Therefore, going against them would cost the ruling government dearly during elections. This has been well understood by the ruling government. And that is why they are strongly against the Single Stream Schools and assures that vernacular schools will remain.

On the global front, no one can deny that the People’s Republic of China and India are ever-expanding economic giants. On top of this, Mandarin is the number 1 widely spoken language in the world. And Tamil ranked 17th among the top 30 widely spoken languages in the world. Therefore, it is imperative to learn these ancient and far reaching languages – not only for economic gain but also to thwart threats to our national security.

On the other hand, China is expanding its power in South China Sea – claiming ownership over the Spratly Islands. Apart from China, Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Philippines also want their fair share of the Spratly islands’ rich deposits. Nevertheless, China’s military presence in the South China Sea has relatively dwarfed the claims by the other countries, at least until the interference of the US Navy.    

Even though, there is not much threat from India, mastering Tamil will definitely help to keep the Indian nationals especially the Tamils with terror links at bay. In other words, they will be monitored much more effectively by security personnel with the ability to reading, writing and speaking in Tamil. Besides that, a large number of Tamil-immigrants are entering the country illegally to escape atrocities in their home country. So, command in Tamil is a blessing in disguise for the immigration department to stop those illegal immigrants and the syndicates bringing them in.  

Another important issue are the prospects for vernacular school teachers, should they be enrolled in the Single System Education. They have no option but to face intense competition from teachers from the rest of the Chinese, Tamil and Malay schools. Not to mention the workload they are going to face in the face of the Single Stream Education System. Another worry is that Single Stream schools would probably become an obstacle for Chinese and Tamil students to learn the important scientific and mathematical terminologies in their respective mother tongues.

Instead of threatening the Non-Malays by the flat Single Stream Education system, the ministry of education should promote the existence of the vernacular schools and let them flourish. And most importantly, let the Malaysian education prosper in its own way without emulating foreign systems which are seemingly successful. We Malaysians should preserve the uniqueness of our education system.

Unity should not be forced by abolishing vernacular schools, since our students of various races already mingle around well during their secondary and tertiary education. The education system should tell the students the contributions of the major races on the economic, social and political fronts. It should also highlight the great achievements of them in order to strengthen unity among them.

Should the non-Malay students’ command over the Malay language be found to be declining, there are plenty of methods to improve it. Policy makers should not make Chinese and Tamil schools their punching bags for the declining standard of the Malay language among the minorities. However, I’m very sure that the Tamil and Chinese schools never neglected their responsibility to train their students to master Bahasa Melayu. As a former Tamil School student, I’m pretty sure about this.   

Vernacular schools are something to be proud of by multiracial Malaysians. These schools should be preserved as the very foundation for the noble idea of seeing unity in diversity, as oppressing them would cause the opposite effect.