I refer to the Malaysiakini report Mukhriz: Close down vernacular schools .
The call by Mukhriz Mahathir to close down the vernacular schools is very irrational and racial in tone. He does not seem to know the value of variety and the importance of mastering more than one language.
Racial polarisation is not due to the vernacular schools as these schools are promoting the same Rukun Negara values which I learnt in Standard One.
Racial polarisation is caused by the small group of Umnoputra who are in power and who stir up all kinds of excuses for them to remain in power.
In order to win and stay on in power, all sorts of dirty tricks, money politics and excuses are used, especially when Umno’s party elections approach.
I was overseas for more than 20 years and as a result my children when overseas only learnt English and Chinese as their mother tongue. However, when my eldest girl was in Primary 4 (Standard 4), I shifted the whole family back to Malaysia.
I then placed her in a Chinese-medium school, where learnt Chinese, English and most importantly, Malay. I believe that all Malaysian must master Malay. This is my firm view and main objective of shifting my family back to KL.
My eldest daughter took two years to master the Malay language from scratch and scored an ‘A’ for the subject. Now she is in secondary school and is fluent in Chinese, Malay and English.
This tri-lingual ability is a great asset for her and society at large. In her school, there are also Malay and Indian students that are equally good in Chinese, English and their own mother tongue.
Isn't that beautiful? I sincerely hope all Malaysian can achieve this and if we do, then we will have less problems.
I really do not understand, can’t these pseudo-politicians (sorry, I tend to call them politikus ) see this point? And these people are supposed to be the leaders or future leaders of the country.
I really cannot put my future into their hands, too dangerous. I think the rakyat now understands and the need to change. Otherwise, the country is without hope.
As the world is getting smaller by technology and all of us are competing on the international level, the bumiputera must realise eventually that they will not be competing with the Chinese in Malaysia. They will need to compete internationally with the whites, the blacks and the others in a complex multi-cultural, multi-lingual environment.
An honest and true politician with the rakya t’s interests at heart should be well aware of this and try to prepare our people and county for that challenge.
To keep on upholding racial issues will not bring all of us any future much less a bright future. Mastering more than one language is an important ‘weapon’ for us to win on the international level.
We are promoting Malaysia as a multi-racial, multi-lingual and harmonious society to the tourists. These are our strengths.
We should fully utilise them to the fullest. If the whites can elect a black to be their president in the US, why are we still at such a low-level mindset?
