‘China rising shows Malaysia right to push Mandarin’

Chinese education champion Dong Zong calls on government to spend more on Chinese schools.

(FMT) – Looking at China’s rise, Malaysia was right have Chinese education as it has proven to be in line with the global trend for greater use of Mandarin, says a Chinese education group.

In a statement, United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) chairman Vincent Lau said a Chinese education would make the younger generation more competitive.

He said the education ministry should do away with a “unitary education paradigm” and instead encourage more open policies and treat multistream education as an investment in social development and cultural heritage.

Over the years, there have been calls by various parties and NGOs for the abolishment of vernacular schools in the country.

Critics of vernacular schools claim vernacular schools are a stumbling block for unity and want a unified national school system to replace vernacular schools.

“Malaysia’s prosperity undoubtedly derives from her multi-ethnicity. It is a unique competitive advantage for Malaysians.”

He said under the Economic Transformation Plan, Putrajaya has raised the national per capita income from US$7,000 to US$15,000 for 2020, with the aim to create 3 million jobs.

“However, to realise these two targets, favourable human resources policies must be set in place so that the younger generation can obtain good education and professional skills.”

“The challenge is to provide equitable opportunities in multistream education and human resources development.”

To this end, Lau urged the government to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), and provide more allocations to build more Chinese independent secondary schools to produce more trilingual students to serve the country.

National leaders, he said must adopt a global perspective in order to set the necessary policies to achieve such a goal.

“We must look to the future in retrospect for the benefit of the next generation. It is high time national leaders and party leaders cast aside unitary paradigm and racial thinking. It is high time for diversified thinking.”

Lau also said that as multiethnic country, Malaysia’s rich cultural heritage must be protected by the government and all layers of society, warning that unitary thinking, language and cultural policies would lead to “endless resistance and disaster”.

“It is common practice for political parties made up of a single race or religion to embrace extremism, express provocative extreme remarks as well as exert intimidation and suppression.”

“We as Malaysians must oppose such practice to avert undesirable consequences.”