WITH several Malay non-governmental organisations (NGO) seeking court ruling to deem vernacular schools unconstitutional as it was claimed to deprive minorities of employment, the Malaysian Indian Voice (MIV) said it was “shocked” over their concern.
“I find it hilarious that these NGOs claim that vernacular schools make students less conversant in Bahasa Malaysia, which may deprive them of employment opportunities in the future.
“If they are really concerned about minority communities’ employment opportunities, can I suggest something more practical? Why not get the Education Ministry (MOE) to allocate university courses to students based on merit?
“And the Government can also ‘help’ us by liberalising business and employment across the board? Can we start by employing people in the civil service based on merit?” its president V Pappa Raidu asked, when contacted by FocusM.
On Nov 23, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla representing Federation of Peninsular Malay Students (GPMS), the Islamic Education Development Council (Mappim) and the Confederation of Malaysian Writers Association (Gapena) argued in court that the existence of vernacular schools was detrimental to non-Bumiputera.
He said that such schools actually reduced non-Bumiputera students’ chances of employment due to their lack of knowledge in Bahasa Malaysia.
The lawyer also said most employers in the private and also public sectors preferred candidates who are fluent in Bahasa Malaysia in terms of speech and writing, and that non-Bumiputera will be left behind due to difficulties in communicating with each other in Bahasa Malaysia.
However, his argument did not go well with Penang deputy chief minister Prof P Ramasamy and former MIC youth chief R Thinalan, who castigated Haniff for being oblivious on the way vernacular schools operate.
On that note, Pappa Raidu reminded the Malay NGOs that the existence of vernacular schools was in line with Article 152 (1) of the Federal Constitution, which clearly stated while the national language shall be the Malay language, Malaysians can learn or teach other languages.
“Why do these groups want to question things the Federal Constition provides to the minority. On the flip side, what do you think will happen if we challenged provisions encompassing the majority group?
“I bet everyone from UMNO, PAS and their ilk will group themselves at Padang Merbok and call for our citizenships to be revoked. Really classy, isn’t it?” he queried.
With that said, Pappa Raidu urged the Government to take action against extremist groups who are bent on creating animosity among plural Malaysia.
“Or is this the Government’s strategy to spark animosity among races and create fear among the Malays, so as to cajole them to vote for the ruling in the next general election?” he questioned. – Nov 27, 2021
