UMNO MP for Jerlun and candidate for Umno Youth chief, Mukhriz Mahathir has committed the offence of sedition in questioning one of the four “sensitive” issues entrenched in the Constitution which has no parliamentary immunity and on conviction, he can be stripped of his parliamentary membership, disqualified from taking part in parliamentary and state assembly elections as well as barred from holding office in any society for five years.
However Mukhriz twist and turn, there can be no doubt that in his press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday which he repeated in his speech in the House last night, he was in fact calling for the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools, hence the following headlines:
• “Sekolah satu sistem – cadangan ke arah menggantikan pendidikan berbeza aliran” – Utusan Malaysia
• “Mukhriz: Scrap vernacular schools, one system for all” (Star online).
• “”Abolish dual system” (Star in print).
• “Mukhriz: Close down vernacular schools” (Malaysiakini English)
• “Mukhriz saran tutup sekolah vernacular” (Malaysiakini Bahasa Malaysia)
• “Mukhriz says vernacular schools should be abolished” (Malaysianinside)
• “Change all school medium to Bahasa Malaysia” – Nanyang
• “Abolish Chinese and Tamil primary schools to check polarisation – Mukhriz” – (China Press)
• “Standardise all primary schools with Bahasa Malaysia as medium of instruction” – (Oriental Daily)
My purpose now is not to discuss the merit or demerit of Mukhriz proposal for a single education system, the validity of his contention blaming the vernacular school system for the polarised society which allegedly caused the poor understanding of the “ketuanan Melayu” or Malay supremacy concept among the non-Malays and his view that the disunity in Malaysia arose from the different education system.
The Constitution Amendment 1971 entrenching four sensitive issues and imposing an absolute prohibition from any questioning, even removing the parliamentary immunity in parliamentary debates, by classifying them as sedition offences under Section 3(f) of the Sedition Act, does not allow anyone to propose the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools so long as Article 10(4) on the entrenchment of the sensitive issues is not repealed.
If Mukhriz wants to be able to publicly pursue his proposal of a single education system resulting in the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools, he must get the Constitutional provision on the four entrenched sensitive issues amended and repealed.
Similarly, no one can question the special provision for Malays and natives in Sabah and Sarawak in Article 153 such as asking for its repeal on the ground that the Reid Commission had originally proposed a 15-year sunset clause unless the 1971 entrenched sensitive provision in the Constitution is amended or repealed.
The same applies to the other sensitive issues – the sovereignty of Malay Rulers and citizenship rights of non-Malay Malaysians.
The law is very clear as there had been decided cases – Melan Abdullah v Public Prosecutor (1971) where Utusan Malaysia was found guilty of the sedition offence for its editorial subheading, “Hapuskan Sekolah Beraliran Tamil atau China di-Negeri ini” and Mark Koding v. Public Prosecutor where the Sabah Member of Parliament was found guilty of sedition when he spoke in Parliament in October 1978 calling for the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools.
As it is, anybody can lodge a police report against Mukhriz, and if there is a rule of law with independent and impartial administration of justice, Mukhriz would be charged and found guilty of sedition, stripped of his parliamentary membership as well as disqualified from taking part in parliamentary elections or holding office in any ociety for five years if fined RM2,000 or jailed for a year.
#1 by Valerie_Rosa on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 10:47 am
Fundamentally, having one school system is GOOD only with true meritocracy. Maybe if we stop making this a political agenda, the real experts in education can come together and devise the best education system for Malaysia. Sadly, we are just not ready. Meanwhile, teenagers are forced to do national services to ‘unite’ them and the standard of our Universities are going down the drain. This is how we are grooming our future leaders?
#2 by kenghuei on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 11:31 am
Haha..simple as this. Mukhriz has poor knowledge of the federal constitution. If he is aware this is one of the sensistive issues enshrined in the constitution, he would not have made such suggestions openly. Now realising the impact of his statement which have invited so many backlash, he is trying to twist around and said what he meant is to standardize the vernacular school systems to use BM as medium of instruction…
But what I find more interesting is, Samy Vellu is calling for legal action against Mukhriz =) So what now.. MIC vs Umno, MCA vs Umno and Gerakan vs Umno? The coalition is breaking lose.. let’s wait eagerly for the next government!
#3 by AhPek on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 1:15 pm
“Your government wields an enormous amount of domestic power, compared to other countries that i’ve lived in.” OrangRojak.
Not only that, our Prime Minister wields a bigger stick than the President of the United States,supposedly the most powerful man on earth.The Congress is always there as an effective check and balance on the Presidential powers whereas PM of Malaysia has almost unfettered powers.The President can be impeached like Nixon who has to resign to avoid the impending impeachment against him.Who would think of impeaching the Malasian PM? One can be ISAed!!
#4 by frankyapp on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 1:17 pm
Yeah,great idea,only one system of education to unite the rakyats.Ban or close all schools . Introduce multi-languages system such as engish for globlisation ,mandarin for rising china as a super power,tamil for India rising technology and malay,kadazan,and iban for local consumption. Isn’t this a better idea to unite all the races in the country,Mr.Mukhriz ?
#5 by waterfrontcoolie on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 1:20 pm
The reality of the true situation at the classroom level has not been addressed by the politicians, especially those from UMNO. If the implementation of the policy is not slanted to favor any community, the issue of language would not have arisen in the first place. Let us see if the Indonesian recently enacted policy of non-discrimination against any Indonesian would be up-held in practice!
As indicated , why are so many non-Chinese opted to study in the so-called Chinese schools?
It is so obvious that the education of this country has be politicized for so long that parents prefer to send their children to a particular school solely because they hope that the on-going environment of that school can be sustained until their children complete schooling. Just look at the so-called glamorous schools of some reputation in the country. The moment, the slanted mentality took over, it is kaput!! If schools can offer ‘liberal’ approach in allowing students to opt for the subjects they wanted to do in the first instance; a single national school system will surely prevails. the truth is at such schools the Head is already confirmed a Bumi, no matter what the caliber is!! These are some of the basic policy matter that deter others from accepting the so-called national system. Unless, the power-that-be can sincerely search their souls and ask themselves, this issue will never be resolved. With the issue of quality be slanted for political consumption, be assured that with the whole world wide open, many parents in the near future would either do home tuition or just organise their own classes!!
#6 by democrate on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 2:02 pm
Muhkriz,
Why Marina Mahathir transfer her children to an international school if the national school is so good to unite the Malysian.
To unite all Malaysia,all those policies that bias the non bumis should be re formulated and stop to use the word Ketuanan Melayu rather than to call yourself a true Malaysian.
Restudy the History of Malaya and read and understand the national Constitution and if you have time do visit the Chinese and Tamil school to enhance your political knowhow rather than talking nonsense to capture your political capital.
#7 by k1980 on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 2:35 pm
Yes, Mufriz the muflis, one schooling system for all malaysians. But then how come there are 2 exam systems for pre-U, viz. Matrikulasi for malays and STPM for non-malays? One schooling system with 2 exam systems will never work, you mamak muflis!
#8 by NewDAP on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 3:42 pm
Vernacular schools have been the political agenda of this country used by DAP, MIC, MCA and etc to fish votes from racist voters…..
Mukhriz’s suggestion of one system is very right but difficult to implement as there are too many racist people and politicians, too much distrust among the different races and too many hypocrites people in malaysia.
Vernacular schools had produced most of those youth who can’t read and write proper English and BM in Malaysia. Most of those youth will ended up as low income earners, unemployed, robbers, ah long, illegal bookies and etc.
That explained why most of those white collar workers or professional chinese and indian are NOT from vernacular schools. BUT most of those low income earners, hawkers, plumbers, blue collar workers and those involved in vice activities are those from vernacular schools.
#9 by patchay on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 7:40 pm
I’m a Malaysian Chinese studying abroad and this is my first comment in YAB’s weblog.
The thing is there’s no confidence amongst the Chinese that their so-called “values and heritage” will be preserved when vernacular schools are gone, which is very important to many people who view Chinese culture as no1. It is the matter of CONFIDENCE and TRUST that the majority of Chinese doesn’t have if the govt takes over all vernacular schools and nationalized them alongside the present Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK). No offence, but in reality many Chinese parents will say “OMG Malay schools again.”
And then, perhaps all these years of booming China make more and more Chinese Bananas like me to say “God give me my Chinese education”.
Until today I was never able to convince my Chinese-ed friends that a bloke like me who came from SK are better than them, for instance in Maths. The only thing I could say to “better them” was actually not to say I was from “Pure National SK” ; rather to say soemthing like “Aussie SK” because many of the SK pupils, especially in PJ and city areas, are higly influenced to the so-called MTV western world. So somehow the preception of National SK, by some people, has been that bad, while they admired the likes of westernization Malaysian-styled amongst the Bananas.
In reality today, unfortunately, I think a majority of Chinese Malaysians across the country do not share the sentiment of one school one Bangsa system. In adition, many Chinese who went to SK also did not feel the unity thingy, so Dato’ Mukhriz’s approach may not be proven right afterall. Besides that, the ongoing National Service also did not improve race relations whatsoever.
The sad thing is many people relate vernacular schools as an essence of Chinese culture and heritage which is a very sensitive issue. Others would take easy chance, perhaps to gain some political mileage by pointing fingers to the Constitution. I dare say a majority of my Chinese friends want to remain as Malaysian Chinese rather than Bangsa Malaysia. In specific term, many Chinese cannot Trust the majority in handling their education affairs. Therefore, very unfortunately, the government cannot UNDO this differentiation that has been going on for last 50 years, at least in this generation.
But for the future of our country, and to reduce these racial tensions for the generation to come, we obviously need to forgo the vernacular system sooner or later. We obviously need to address the education divide as soon as possible. I, for one, strongly believe that one day Malaysians could all study together in ONE SCHOOL SYSTEM, ONE EDUCATION SYLLABUS, MULTI-LANGUAGE OPTIONS. For that day to come, we’ll be truly Bangsa Malaysia.
Whatever it may be, I strongly suggest the following to be done first:
1. The govt can perhaps stream everybody into STPM first and abolish Matrikulasi as a first step to gradually gain the confidence of the Chinese.
2. Then enforce pure merit at all levels of education especially university entry and placements.
3. Then improve the quality of teaching in SK and less seminars for SK teachers.
4. Improve the quality of English as a “neutral language” alongside the national language.
5. Then introduce Mandarin as a compulsory or elective subject in classrooms, not merely complimentary optional POL. Later, Mandarin usage can also be extended to Science and Maths to a certain extent to compliment English Science/Maths.
(why not put 3 hours per week in some schools for a start? The language will benefit all races. As for Tamil we can put it as elective for Indian students.)
When all these are done and the quality of SK improves by leaps and bounds towards “equalling” the Chinese school quality (as in the perception of the Chinese), more Chinese parents will realise the importance of unity in ONE EDUCATION SYSTEM, thus sending their kids to SK instead. Eventually, the vernacular system will “die of natural death” when enrolment declines considerably. (now enrolment in SJKC is booming partly because the SK system is shun away by many Chinese, so the govt need to know the underlying reasons to it)
Even though I advocate ONE EDUCATION SYSTEM, I believe we cannot just remove SJKC like what Dato’ Mukhriz suggested. Rather, the govt need to buck up the current SK system and then, ultimately PROVING why SJKC is less relevant in coming years.
#10 by cvl on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 7:55 pm
Mukhris vernacular school item is really his maiden political speech. Nothing more nothing less. He needs to rise out of obscurity in the run up for the youth post.
And he knows there are many avid ‘fans’ he can rely on to just do that for him from LKS and M2Day readers. Mukhris is certainly dead right – and he must be thanking his Allah for answering his prayers in his 5 times daily prayers for providing people like you lot.
All that is needed to counter Mukhris is to bring him to a court of law, with dignified calm as was done at least in Mark Koding’s case.
You lot are certainly helpful
#11 by katdog on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 8:18 pm
To the Mahathir worshipper Imranj,
As many here have pointed out, the issue here is not that we do NOT want one schooling system. The issue here is that, Mukhriz has blamed vernacular chools as the cause of racial polarization, which is a half-truth designed to mislead the naive simpletons.
Yes, without looking deeper we can say probably vernacular schools has contributed to racial polarization. But we all know that is not the REAL root cause.
In medicine do you treat the side effects of the disease or the actual disease itself? Treating the side effects may provide some false respite but in the end the problems will not be cured. The disease will just manifest in a different way.
Closing down vernacular schools will not solve the real root cause of the racial polarization in this country.
The real issue here is that Mukhriz like his father before him is once again playing the racial card bringing up side issues. In other words, he’s obviously not really interested in tackling the real problem, he’s just looking to score convenient political points.
Heck, he’s probably happy that the Chinese and Indians are making such a hoo hah over his statements as he can probably use that to score more points with the Malay voters and paint himslef as a Malay champion.
#12 by imranj78 on Wednesday, 3 December 2008 - 9:51 pm
katdog,
Firstly I must admire your imagination for whipping up the `fantasy’ that I am a Mahathir worshipper. You must really have a `great’ mind to be able to come to such a fantastic twisted conclusion!
I stand by my past statement that existence of vernacular/one race schools is ONE of the reasons for racial polarization. I am not saying it is the only reason nor am I saying it is a side effect… I am saying it is ONE of the reasons. So to ensure long term unity, ALL such schools must be integrated into a single national education system. To ensure the constitutional rights of non-Malays are guaranteed, mother tongue languages must be taught in such schools.
If DAP/PR is so against this concept, then we might as well just forget about forging a united Malaysian Malaysia bangsa as I thought DAP/PR was serious in its effort to champion such a cause.
#13 by waterfrontcoolie on Thursday, 4 December 2008 - 7:18 pm
While you all argue the merit of having one system of schooling, please ask as to why parents are shying away from national schools in the first place. I was educated in the so-called English medium school of the past. there was no question of us ganging-up based on racial line. I came from a kampung and my immediate ‘gang members’ were my Malay friends. We ganged-up and fought with those blokes who happened to live near the town, consisting of some Chinese and a few Indians. Where we came from was our rallying point!
Having spent a few years teaching in national schools, I left the service but was still in touch with my ex-colleagues who were still teaching then. From them, I decided to send my daughter to the national-type school though I was never educated in a Chinese national type school. The reason was simple, the slanted attitude of some of those teachers actually left me with no choice, at least at the primary level. Of course, at secondary level, my hiope was she would have learned something of live to take all the negative brain wash she would encounter then.
So for those non-Bumis, you may be lucky that you live in KL and PJ where the impact of such policy may have not affected you too much because of the environment! Many of you would not have to face those psychological problems faced by the lower middle class non-Bumi families.
I think the basic issue is so long that the current slanted policy is practised at all levels of the Gomen , the feeling of unfairness will remain and the ‘oppressed’ group will reject any change out of fear of further losses of their rights!.Period
#14 by katdog on Thursday, 4 December 2008 - 8:21 pm
And again to Imranj,
Vernacular schools are not the root cause of the problem. Therefore, solving only ONE of the (supposed, though i beg to differ) cause is not going to do anything and anyone who proposes such solutions is nothing more than shallow.
If DAP/PR were to openly support such a shallow and misguided ‘solution’ then they would be nothing more than either silly or naive.
Again no one is against one school system and it would be great the day we can have one school system that is trusted and preferred by all rakyat. But that day has not yet arrived. And that day will not arrive until the REAL root cause is tackled. To FORCE vernacular schools to shutdown today, in the name of national unity is the same as all those other hollow half assed national unity programs : BTN and the RM500 million a year NS.
#15 by batuputeh on Thursday, 4 December 2008 - 11:44 pm
Uncle Lim,
Why against it? It is irony coming from someone that fight against NEP, ketuanan to be against the same proposal that would also eliminate ONE of the cause for our racial divide. For sure works need to be done to realize the proposal & conforms the needs – but the idea is of the same principle.
My 6-yr old daughter attended a respected preschool in my neighborhood. It is both BM & English based, but also has specific class to teach mandarin or agama. It receive a very good responds as it enroll almost 300 kids a year. And it has a good mix of chinese, malay & indian kids.
But as my daughter will be enrolling in a nearby SK nx year, it is sad to see she’ll be separated w/ some of her friends that the parents had decided to go to vernacular schools instead. 1 – 2 years of fostering & friendship that were started b/ween them now is lost. Imagine if 6 more years of that would do.
That where i fail to see the the uproar seen here in this blog. If we as a parent can accept such preschool system – why cant we agree to work on a UNIFIED ONE SINGLE school system later on. This is a precursor to more unified system to come. Dont kid ourselves here. There is nothing better to nurture our BANGSA MALAYSIA vision than to start them young.
We failed to see this because we’re the product of the system that polarize us. We & our leader grew up in this system & are so embedded to our own racial divide that without realizing, is promoting more & more polarizing policies as we go along.
If we fail now to understand & tolerate each other, let us lay the foundation for future generation to have better understanding & tolerance to make the right policy in making Malaysia truly the land of BANGSA MALAYSIA.
#16 by w2008 on Thursday, 4 December 2008 - 11:49 pm
I hope you all do not do any experiments here.
If ONE EDUCATION SYSTEM based in Malay, this country Malaysia is dead and lose in the world.
Why? Can anyone tell me how books in the world avilable in Malays?
Please do not be a fool to lead your next generation to dead end, with an education based in Malay.
Are you trying to send this country to doom?
If it is based in English then we all can consider.
#17 by w2008 on Friday, 5 December 2008 - 12:01 am
Please do not talk rubbish here.
BANGSA MALAYSIA have nothing to do with education.
BANGSA MALAYSIA is something to do with equality in all races.
Vernacular schools is something all Malaysian should be proud of .
#18 by batuputeh on Friday, 5 December 2008 - 1:27 am
w2008,
Do you realize BM is our NATIONAL LANGUAGE? what is left to that status if we ourselves refuse to uphold that in our education system for our young ones?
Do you even consider yourself malaysian if you dont be proud of your national language? Do we see schools in france based in english? Or does the schools in China based on english? arent China’s economy expanding >10% annually? is that a doom? Common, not excuses about book.
i dont see how having education system in our OWN national language can be a doom. But, yes we are doomed if we are not unified & stood on a common ground. Foundation has to be built – and it starts w/ our young ones.
Irony that you mention equality, but reject another idea of having a common base. If you against NEP & all those principles, why then against the idea. The gist of that idea is having one system. If we find vernacular schools has some great qualities that all Malaysian should be proud of, then why dont we agree that combining all those good qualities into a single system that can be offered to all of our kids? How can that be any worse?
30 – 50 years down the road when our kids time come, i wonder if BANGSA MALAYSIA still means Malaysian’s Malays, Malaysian’s Chinese or Malaysian’s Indian – instead of just MALAYSIAN. So where do we start? Dont we all want we can do away w/ filling out ‘RACE’ column in forms because we are MALAYSIA?
#19 by jartze on Friday, 5 December 2008 - 4:12 am
Dear Batuputeh,
Your concepts are conflicting so much that you started to sound like UMNO. First you say we should unite as Malaysians, I totally agree! But under 1 schooling system (which teaches ONLY Malay), that I can’t agree! Yes, I am proud to be a Malaysian because ALL Malaysians can speak at least 2 languages! That is what always makes me proud, and stuns other people outside the country. But under the unified schooling system, we strengthen our Bahasa Malaysia (which I am very sorry to say, has very limited usage once you step out South East Asia). And then what? We gonna lose other languages (don’t lie, this gonna happens eventually, like Indonesia), which is losing our most valuable advantages as Malaysians.
There are many ways to unite the country, keep bringing out racist issues definitely won’t help. The fundamental thing that we should build for next generation is NOT one language system, it is the FAIR and EQUAL environment that does not base on race or skin color. So every child can live freely and get reward for what they have put effort into. They don’t have to suffer like us, who still have to fight for our basic human right and a chance to learn our mother language.
If you want to unite all Malaysians, you should treat all Malaysians EQUALLY! That is the first step! If you can’t even do that, you have no authority to talk about uniting all races. And please open your eyes and see the facts clear. China is successful not because of one language system, but because of FREE COMPETITION. They have that, we don’t!
#20 by ringthetill on Friday, 5 December 2008 - 4:21 am
Mukhriz is but a bloody racist still living in the past, qutoting the Razak Report which is dated 1956. Yes, 1956. Has he no better ideas? Bankrupt of some original ideas of his own? The more he is trying to wriggle his way out of this self made hole, the more he is showing his lack of true worth and quality!
#21 by w2008 on Friday, 5 December 2008 - 12:01 pm
Cinta negare,
don’t talk c_ck here.
Your interest in bumi is oppress others races in Malaysia many forced being accepted unwillingly.
Vernacular schools is not forcing anyone or any race to accept/enter it.
#22 by ctm999 on Friday, 5 December 2008 - 2:25 pm
What is written in this article is not about the merit or demerit of Mukhriz’s proposal. What is written here is about violation of procedure of bringing up this subject matter.
No doubt that Mukhriz made this comment to further his own political career but his suggestions is not without merit. I have seen similar suggestions in the comments in Malaysia Today a few months ago. What need to be done is to work out the details to be fair to all.