(Penang, Wednesday): Gerakan President and Primary Industries Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik proposed at the Manjong Lim Clan Association 10th Anniversary dinner at Ayer Tawar that the “three Lims”, MCA President Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik, Keng Yaik and myself should meet for an “amicable” discussion to reach a consensus to help resolve the many problems faced by the Chinese community. (Kwong Wah Yit Poh)
What made Keng Yaik come up with the proposal of the
“three Lims” meeting, which is not a novel idea, is probably the current
controversy over the government decision to use English to teach mathematics and
science for all schools, including Chinese primary schools.
I will like to find out from Keng Yaik and Liong Sik why
MCA and Gerakan Ministers in Cabinet had not been the “first to know, first to be conscious” but were “last
to know, last to be unconscious” and even “unknowing and unconscious”
about the implications of the proposal to switch the medium of instruction from
Mandarin to English for mathematics and science in Chinese primary schools, and
had not taken a clear stand right from the beginning that the use of English to
teach mathematics and science should not apply to Chinese primary schools
without fulfillment of two prerequisites:
Abdullah had said that MCA and Gerakan had asked for more
time “to gauge the Chinese community’s thoughts and attitudes” on the
teaching of mathematics and science in English in Chinese primary schools.
He hoped that the Chinese community can truly understand
the government’s position, saying that teaching mathematics and science in
English in Chinese primary schools will not alter the characteristics of
vernacular schools.
Urging MCA and Gerakan to explain to Chinese primary school
authorities the need to implement the policy, Abdullah said the English language
had been recognized as important in science and technology as well as in the
information communications technology. (The Star 30.7.02)
It is a serious dereliction of duty on the part of MCA,
Gerakan and SUPP Ministers that in the nearly three months since the proposal
for a switch of medium of instruction for mathematics and science was first
broached in early May, they failed to convey to the UMNO leadership at
the first available opportunity that while efforts to raise the standard
of English proficiency in Chinese primary schools will get full support from the
Chinese community, the proposal to switch the medium of instruction for the two
subjects may not be appropriate or desirable
because of completely different circumstances prevailing in Chinese
primary schools as compared to national primary schools.
MCA Vice President and Housing and Local Government
Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, told Sin Chew Jit Poh today that the three
Chinese-based political parties in the Barisan Nasional, the MCA, Gerakan and
SUPP, had reached a preliminary
decision that Chinese primary schools would not be using English to teach
Mathematics and Science, but teaching and learning of English in the these
schools should be enhanced.
He said the
three parties were of the opinion that English for Mathematics and Science
should be taught from Secondary school onward. The three parties agreed that
wishes of parents should be respected – that Mandarin
should continue be used in the teaching of Mathematics and Science in
Chinese primary schools.
Why must it take the three parties some three months before reaching a
“preliminary decision” that English should not be used to teach mathematics
and science in Chinese primary schools, when MCA, Gerakan and SUPP Ministers
should have conveyed such views right from the start in early May
when the proposal was first mooted?
This dereliction of duty of the MCA, Gerakan and SUPP
Ministers to communicate to UMNO Ministers their reservations as well as those
of the Chinese community on the use of English to teach mathematics and science
in Chinese primary schools, giving the distinct impression of their agreement to
the proposal, has now spawned
serious political problems – like Abdullah’s assumption shared by other UMNO
leaders that MCA, Gerakan and SUPP
Ministers had agreed that the proposal is good but “politically” difficult
because of unco-operative,
“recalcitrant”, or even “extremist” elements in the Chinese community.
This has also led to “extremist” reactions from some
“hotheads” in UMNO Youth and some Malay youth organisations, as reflected in
today’s Utusan Malaysia
front-page report and headline: “Jangan
kecualikan SJKC – Bertegas laksanakan Sains, Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris
– Pemuda UMNO”.
UMNO Youth Information chief, Azimi Daim, has demanded that
the new policy to use English to teach mathematics and science should be
implemented comprehensively to “ensure that the interests of the young
generation and the nation for the future are not jeopardized”. Another UMNO
Youth leader, Mohamad Norza Zakaria, said that any exemption for certain groups
in society would only undermine the implementation of the national education
policy and render it meaningless.
The President of Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semanjung (GPMS)
Datuk Suhaimi Ibrahim was even more extremist,
calling for the barring of Chinese primary school pupils from Mara
Science Junior College (MRSM) and the termination of all government financial
support for Chinese primary schools if the use of English to teach mathematics
and science is rejected by Chinese primary schools.
Suhaimi’s uncalled-for remarks and allegations, which are very serious and highly detrimental to inter-racial goodwill and harmony and the promotion of national unity, are highly regrettable and deplorable.
Why should the question as to whether English should be
used to teach mathematics and science in Chinese primary schools be turned into
a “test of strength” and showdown between the Chinese and Malays, as some
UMNO Youth leaders and Suhaimi want to do?
Are UMNO Youth and GPMS prepared to meet with Dong Jiao
Zong or the DAP for a dialogue for their mistaken premises and false assumptions
to be exposed – and to understand that while the issue is both educational and
political, it should be addressed
first as an educational issue before it is addressed as a political
issue.
Up to now, no one in Cabinet or the Education Ministry can
make out a case for the educational soundness of the proposed switch in the media of instruction for mathematics
and science in Chinese primary schools, that
it would result in the improvement in the standards of mathematics, science and
English and not the other way round with decline in standards in the three
subjects.
It is the Barisan Nasional leaders, including the Education
Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad, who are “politicizing” the issue in refusing
to make out the case of the educational soundness of the proposal and relegating
it to the “political solution” by the Barisan Nasional
leadership!
I am prepared not only to meet Keng Yaik and Liong Sik on
the this issue, but also with UMNO leaders, including the Education Minister,
the Deputy Prime Minister and even the Prime Minister – as this issue is not
just a Malaysian Chinese issue, but a national issue.
Of course, if I meet Keng Yaik and Liong Sik on this
and other issues of great concern to the Chinese community, considerable
care must be taken to ensure that it is not misunderstood or distorted
into a “Chinese unity” to confront the Malays – in the way the 1987 Tien
Hou Kong meeting of MCA, Gerakan and DAP leaders over the issue of appointment
of senior assistants and headmasters non-conversant in Mandarin to Chinese
primary schools was distorted in the subsequent Operation Lalang mass
arrests.
Malaysians will be celebrating the 45th National
Day in a month’s time and Malaysian Chinese just like Malaysians of other
ethnic origins are beset with grave problems and challenges – which are
reflected in the recent speeches by the Prime Minister on the worsening of
“race-based extremism” in the country and the new Malay dilemma on the
misinterpretation of Islam and the dependence on “crutches”, which are part
of the new Malaysian dilemma.
DAP calls for an all-party round-table conference to deal
with these serious, complex and at
times intractable nation-building
challenges where leaders of all political parties, whether Barisan Nasional,
Barisan Alternative or DAP, can come together to try to build a national
consensus on the great issues of nation-building in a plural nation, economic
development, democracy, human rights, the rule of law and good governance.
(31/7/2002)