In an interview with Berita Harian published yesterday, newly appointed deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said that Malaysia can achieve racial harmony if the country adopts a single-stream “national” education system and puts an end to vernacular schools.
“How can a country have three different systems based on race and religion with no meeting point? We must have national education that crosses the barriers of race, religion and ethnicity,” Zahid was quoted by the Malay-language daily.
Zahid’s view that there should be only single stream school is not new and is not a surprise.
On Oct 20, last year, he had backed urgings by several Malay NGOs to abandon the vernacular school system by saying that “The time has come for the country to implement a single stream school system for the sake of unity”.
He was then reported to say that “the racial divide in this county is widening because the school systems has maintained being vernacular and uncorrected since the beginning”.
The only big difference is that he did then qualify that what he was saying this was his personal view and not that of the ministry or the government.
So with his new position now as the nation’s deputy Prime Minister, is he starting to push his idea that there should only be single stream education system as the new government direction and policy on education? Or was he just articulating a personal view?
However, whether personal or otherwise, Zahid must know that language is not the cause of human disunity and the existence of vernacular schools is not the cause of racial problems in Malaysia.
He should therefore not try to blame the vernacular schools as a cause for racial problems and issues in the country.
Is he aware that the national type schools in the country use syllabus approved by the Education Ministry?
Is he also not aware that many former and present Cabinet Ministers like Ong Tee Keat, Chan Kong Choy, Ong Ka Ting, Liow Tiong Lai, Wee Ka Siong , Ong Ka Chuan all attended vernacular schools for their primary school education?
Did these former and present Cabinet members become propagators or agents of disunity because they attended vernacular schools?
Undoubtedly, despite the nation having achieved independence for more than 5 decades, Malaysia still faces racial unity issues which must be addressed.
To those who are objective and rational, it is obvious that race based politics, parties and policies, as well as creeping racial and religious extremism are among the main and real causes of Malaysia’s racial and unity problems.
Instead of blaming the vernacular schools, Ahmad Zahid should propose a Royal Commission of Inquiry on National Unity to seek the true answers and solutions.