Kudos to Mukhriz Mahathir!
This vernacular school menace must be expeditiously and decisively obliterated from our Tanah Air Tercinta. A society that allows, indeed sanctions, such a prickly, divisive ethno-sociological anomaly – after over a half century of Merdeka – does not deserve the privilege of nationhood. If we think we are a people worthy of our own Negara Merdeka under the Panji-Panji Raja-Raja Melayu Berdaulat, we must then take swift and decisive action to annihilate this societal outrage that has become a clear threat to our socio-political stability, to the development of a cohesive Bangsa Malaysia and, indeed, to our national security and integrity of Bumi Malaysia.
The SRJK(C) and (T) produce kids who are more insular, more parochial and less receptive to socio-cultural diversity. From my own direct interaction with these products of vernacular schooling, I find them not only below par in Bahasa Malaysia BUT also grossly deficient in English as well. Hence, they are handicapped in the national language and the international language of commerce – a double whammy the vast majority will never be able to overcome.
These functional illiterates end up as a cheap source of semi-indentured labour in the motor workshops, auto accessory shops, in the building trades, sleazy unisex salons, become cetak rompak aficionados, stalk shopping malls to harass shoppers with a myriad of worthless gizmos and, in the case of many if not most Tamil-educated Indians, become low wage general workers, lorry drivers and assorted hired hands for the towkays.
The anti-Malay chauvinist politicians will then turn around and blame the NEP and Ketuanan Melayu for this socio-economic malady of their own concoction, further unraveling the last vestiges of social cohesion we may have in our Tanah Air Tercinta.
I often wonder, where is this vast trove of “superior” products of the Chinese and Tamil schools? Where are these people who purportedly benefit from superior education compared to the government schools?
Where?
Rakyat Malaysia yang cintakan Negara dan yang mahu membina sebuah Bangsa Malaysia yang Seia, Sehati dan Sejiwa harus berganding bahu dan mengembeling tenaga untuk membanteras sehabisan-habisan gejala sekolah vernakular yang telah menjadi sarang dan punca berbagai masalah sosial Tanah Air tercinta kita. Inilah langkah pertama dalam perjuangan kita untuk membentuk sebuah Bangsa Malaysia yang berbahasa Malaysia dan berpandu kepada budaya dan tatatertib Melayu di Bumi Malaysia tercinta ini.
Satu Bangsa, Satu Bahasa, Satu Negara bukan lah laungan retorik semata-mata. Inilah teras pertiwi dan teraju segala falsafah yang akan menjamin kedaulatan, ketahanan dan keutuhan Negara Malaysia tercinta dalam menghadapi berbagai cabaran sosio-ekonomi dan politik dalaman dan luaran yang kian semakin rancak bergelora.
After 51 years of Merdeka?
A banner protesting Ahmad Ismail’s “Cina Pendatang” remark written in …… Mandarin …… the national language of the People’s Republic of China, an alien foreign language (even to ethnic-Chinese Malaysians) that led Ahmad Ismail to view them as “Pendatangs” in the first place.
Anything that threatens the constitutional supremacy of Bahasa Malaysia – and vernacular schools are the most blatant example – must be vigorously curtailed and abolished. The greater public good – in this case, a single unifying language for the Federation – by definition must prevail over ancillary cultural rights of assorted sub-groups and descendants of the immigrant races, collectively defined as “other communities” in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.
“Malay” is mentioned 54 times in the Federal Constitution. “Natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak” are also mentioned many times, often in tandem with “Malay.” There exists no specific reference to a “Chinese” or “Indian” or “Punjabi” or “Eurasian” or any other ethnic group. These non-Malays and non-Borneo natives are lumped as “other communities,” the residual populace of the Federation. Hence, Article 153, by design and implication, specifically differentiates the “Malays” and the “Natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak” from the “other communities.”
Article 153 of the Federal Constitution in the same breath mentions the "legitimate interests" of the "other communities."
"Legitimate” is the key word when we talk about the “legitimate interests” of the “other communities.” Indeed, the “legitimate” in the “legitimate interests” of the “other communities” are subordinate to the larger national interests of the Federation. In terms of National Language policy, the “legitimate interests” of the "other communities" must necessarily be subordinated to the supremacy of Bahasa Malaysia (a larger national interest) and these "legitimate interests" should never be an impediment to the development and propagation of the National Language among the citizens of the Federation.
Vernacular schools are clearly impediments to the development and propagation of our National Language among our citizens. Hence, their very constitutionality can be reviewed and debated in the context of propagating the larger national interest and social integrity of the Federation of Malaysia.
In a nutshell, the qualifying term “legitimate” in the "legitimate interests" of the "other communities" implies the non-absolute nature of the “interests” of Malaysia’s “other communities.” In terms of language and cultural "rights" of the non-Malays and non-Borneo natives of the Federation, the determination of what is "legitimate" in the "legitimate interests" of these "other communities" must be conducted against the backdrop of a larger, all pervasive national interest and public good for the Federation. The Federal Constitution hence clearly implies that the "right" of the non-Malay, non-Borneo native populace is non-absolute and subordinated to the rights of the general populace and to the public good. "Mother tongue" language usage and vernacular schooling are no exceptions.
I must reiterate that the "Malays" and the "Natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak" are constitutionally distinct from the "other communities." Sorry, we are not the same under the Malaysian Federal Constitution. This was how the Federation of Malaysia was forged amidst the polygot of former Malay States under British protection, British colonies and settlements. To question the distinct status of the "Malays" and the "Natives of any of the States of Sabah and Sarawak" is tantamount to a repudiation of the fundamental tenets of the nation of Malaysia itself. In other words, treasonous.
Hence, for contemporary opportunistic anti-Malay politicians to cast the “Malay” and other “Natives” in the same light as the so-called “other communities” and then to demand kesamarataan among these two groups – including a parallel National vs. Vernacular school system – are not only unconstitutional, but also seditious, delusional, mischievous and self-destructive and, indeed, a pathetic indication of their utter ignorance of the socio-demographic blueprint of the Malaysian Federal Constitution that was forged in the context of Malay compromises and giveaways to the desperate, stateless pendatangs and their descendants.
Mukhriz Mahathir is absolutely correct and Demi Negara lauds his position.
At a time where "Malay Rights" and every single instrument of Malaysian nationhood are being brought into disrepute by the anti-Malay reactionary forces currently infesting and contaminating our Tanah Air, it is time for all patriotic Anak-Anak Bangsa Malaysia to rise and question the many social anomalies and maladies propagated by these same treasonous reactionary forces that have effectively short-circuited our nation building process. Vernacular schooling is the most prominent of these social ailments.
Lets discuss. I want to hear intelligent arguments. State your case logically and share your thoughts and experiences.
