PAKATAN Harapan (PH) social media influencer Yap Xiang whose Bahasa Melayu (BM) fluency has enabled him to garner large Malay following has taken Buletin TV3 to task for inciting racial hatred with a misleading headline on the teaching of science and mathematics in Chinese schools.
The damming headline, “Lembaga Sekolah, PIBG SMJK dan SMC di Pulau Pinang Bantah Penggunaan Bahasa Melayu di Kelas” has sparked an irreparable furore even though the country’s first private television station has issued an official apology on the matter. The said article has since been removed.
“TV3 has followed the SOP of @harakahdailyHD (a fake account of PAS mouthpiece HarakahDaily). Defamation – > Delete/Error 404 – > Apologise,” berated Yap who is also PKR’s student wing vice-chairman.
TV3 dah ikut SOP @harakahdailyHD
Fitnah -> Delete/Error 404 -> Minta Maaf
Damage has been done, Bersatu pun dah mula goreng isu ini.
Kalau betul-betul nak kawal 3R, editor ni harus didakwa dan diheret ke mahkamah. https://t.co/u0yasmQijA pic.twitter.com/eCTIywWgqL
— yapxiang #EndStatelessness (@yapxiang) June 6, 2024
“Damage has been done for even Bersatu has started to harp on this issue. If you really want to control 3R (fanning of race, religious and royalty sentiments), this editor should be dragged and charged in court.”
For context, the boards and parent-teacher associations (PTA) of the 11 Penang Chinese-medium secondary schools had only wanted the Education Ministry to revert to the original intention of the dual language programme (DLP) which is that science and mathematics. should be taught in English.
This is in stark contrast to the painted impression that that they had wanted to challenge the status of Bahasa Melayu as the official medium of instruction in the national education system.
Apparently, a letter dated April 15 from the state Education Department to the principals of 36 national and vernacular primary schools and 52 national and vernacular secondary schools in Penang has outlined the Education Ministry’s intention to have at least one class using Bahasa Melayu as a medium of instruction in all vernacular schools starting this year.
The class is to have a minimum of 20 students.
As the issue was getting out-of-hands, DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng had called for a media briefing where he slammed Bersatu and UMNO Youth for supposedly playing the race card over new requirements for the DLP for the teaching Science and Mathematics at school.
Earlier, another PH-backer Amran Fans (@_AmranFans) had also questioned the journalistic ethics of TV3 whereby the TV station could have been more transparent with a headline tjat read “PIBG di Pulau Pinang Tolak Subjek Matematik dan Sains Diajar Dalam Bahasa Melayu” (literally, PIBG in Penang Rejects Mathematics and Science Subjects Taught in Malay).
“But the unethical journalist only eyes high traffic to his site even at the expense of tearing apart our unity,” added Amran Fans. – June 9, 2024
Main image credit: The Star
