CONVERT Muslim preacher Prof Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah has praised UMNO Youth head honcho Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh for his readiness to take on seasoned politician Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy who is twice his age in an open debate over the vernacular school row
Paying tribute to the Merlimau state assemblyman as “anak jantan” (real man) for his courage to engage the former Penang chief minister II and once DAP stalwart, the Muafakat Nasional deputy president is nevertheless hopeful that he can be invited to join in as well.
Dr Akmal who is a Russia-trained medical doctor has in a recent Facebook post challenged his detractors “to set the date, place and time” for a debate or open discussion over the issuer of vernacular schools being an obstacle in the efforts to foster multi-racial integration in the country.
The challenge is most likely directed at Ramasamy who is now the United Rights of Malaysian Party (Urimai) interim council chairman for the duo had recently engaged in a war of words with Dr Akmal ticking off Ramasamy as being “drunk” for his steadfast defence of vernacular school education while the former three-term Perai MP hit back by describing his younger opponent as “confused, childish and immature”.
“Kudos to the UMNO Youth chief! This is the true anak jantan trait. We need UMNO leaders to be brave because they speak the truth. Only being fearful if you’re in the wrong,” penned the political science lecturer of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin in Kuala Terengganu in his Facebook page.
“May I request the UMNO Youth chief to invite me along if you debate with this ultra kiasu (referring to Ramasamy as a chauvinist) for at least I can hitch a ride. Nevertheless, I’m confident that the UMNO Youth chief can complete the task alone.
“(But) it’s just that the ingredients are not perfect for it will be merrier if Prof (Datuk) Teo Kok Seong (member of the Council of Professors) and I can join in as well”.
For the record, Ridhuan has earlier posed a challenge to the Dewan Rakyat and Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia) “to debate academically about Chinese education being a hindrance to racial integration in the country”.
“Requesting Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (government body responsible for coordinating the use of the Malay language and Malay-language literature in Malaysia) to be the organiser and the host,” he added.
For context, Teo who is also the former Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s professor of ethnic studies has landed in hit soup with the police having opened an investigation paper on him under Section 505 of the Penal Code for public mischief and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for abuse of network facilities.
The police probe follows Teo’s recent interview with Malay language news portal Merdeka Times (which coincidentally is owned by another renewed convert Muslim preacher Firdaus Wong Wai Hung) that Chinese vernacular schools are the source of racism towards the Malays.
In Teo’s opinion, the schools by enrolling mediocre Chinese pupils end up not facilitating integration between pupils of different ethnicity. In short, Teo claimed that Chinese vernacular schools are against national unity. – March 13, 2024
Main pic credit: SJK C Yu Hua Kajang Facebook
