Comments on: Promote not Attack Vernacular Education to Secure UMNO Youth Votes

By: banivelu

banivelu — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:37:11 +0000

Dear YB,
What abt the sekolah agama,are they going to abolish?I am pro-oppositions but to some extend do agree with Mukriz statement but that is inclusive of sekolah agama.
Have a common school for all the community so that the racial intergration policy can be achieved which is in a bad shape now.

By: omo

omo — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:51:33 +0000

Hey,

Even national schools in Malaysia are segregated. In east coast or northern parts, the schools are dominated by single race and when they did their higher education, you have colleges and uni exclusively for them. One can only feel they are true malaysians if they received fairly equal treatment. There are stories of good mixing in schools until when they go to unis. Some with good results are unable to get in whereas those with not so good are able to get in. Results – destroy unity and segeregate in have and have not

By: Samuel Goh Kim Eng

Samuel Goh Kim Eng — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:28:43 +0000

WHAT TO ABOLISH & DEMOLISH?

Before we can go and get anything to abolish
Let’s get our acts together in a fine polish
Instead of trying to rush into anything foolish
Let’s get the myths and monsters to be demolished

By: Balan

Balan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:57:50 +0000

I agree with Mukhriz.

oster, well said.

If singapore can do it with no race losing their culture, identity or language, why can’t we in the boleh land.

Mr Santiago and equal minded politicans like Kit Siang.

how long do you want young malaysians to be segregated. When ideas are not in tune with your major voters, you call it seditious.

Do read my take on this
http://balankumarpremakumaran.blogspot.com/

By: Malaysian Mother

Malaysian Mother — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:56:10 +0000

I’m shocked to read that commentator ‘oster’ did not have a non Chinese friend for 17 years – but the problem here lies with your own parents/guardians and your upbringing … not the school system. There are many children in our community going to Chinese school with Malay friends in their neighbourhood or Indian friends, children of their parents friends, for eg. Vise versa, there are also children in public schools who refuses to mingle with other races. If the values and lifestyle of your family dictates as such, a child can go to a kebangsaan school and still end up mixing within their own racial group only. The answer to our racial problems cannot be solved by making a rojak out of the education system.

By: Penulis

Penulis — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:23:51 +0000

Hi,
Do you actually know how I feel like down here as a student?
The way you are condemning Mukhriz’s statement is nonsensical. Not his.
He may not be all true, but with the vernacular school issue, I can see it for myself that if we continuously split the people to their own race’s school, it’ll be really hard for us to get unity. Can you not admit some students studying in vernacular schools can’t even speak our national language?
Please open up your mind a little.

By: My2cen

My2cen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:20:08 +0000

First, the Kerala son denies his roots, and embrace the Malay race. One generation later, the Kerala grandson tries to deny everyone else to learn in their mother tongue.

Flashback to the 1930’s, there was a man reputed to be half/quater Jew who embarked on the biggest ethnic clensing known to mankind…

The question is Do we never learn?? Why do people still put these kinds of racists in powwer?

By: kumar.G

kumar.G — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:54:23 +0000

Despite being a strong PKR supporter, i don’t understand what is so seditious about Mukhriz’s statement! What he says is something that we should be discussing openly as much as we want to discuss “ketuanan melayu”.
It’s not for you Mr Santiago to conclude whether different school system leads to racial segregation. We need a real study or sociosoligal study headed by a prominent Professor of sociology and importantly with no hidden agenda and also clean heart to look through this issue.
There is nothing seditious about calling for unity in children or asking for our children to study together. If this is not the root cause of racial polarization, then it should be substantiated with proper evidence not just coffee shop racial talk.
As much as I support an open discussion and study of this, I am not convinced that the person who raised this issue have a clean heart in uniting the people.
It’s good if you, Mr Santiago not conclude things which are beyond your expertise or means.

By: Malaysian Mother

Malaysian Mother — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:17:43 +0000

Yes, I agree it is nonsense speaking.
Based on no facts, no years of research … where is the data to support this proposal.
Which education/psychology experts will substantiate his claim.
Or is it just another by trial and error idea which they always like to introduce to public schools. What a joke.
Our children are very precious to us, we value the quality of their education as much as we value their lives. We will not allow them to be used like quinea pigs for ‘experiments’.
(Which is why many middle class families like us will sacrifice many material things just to provide for our children’s education.)
Lastly, I would like to ask Mr Mukhriz this, and would also appreciate an honest answer -
“Which school are your children enrolled in sir?”
Tq

By: meo

meo — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:10:49 +0000

hello mr yb.

now you said mr mukhriz shows total lack of sensitivity towards non-malay.for all this while,you were chanting the bangsa malaysia principe.what he said is totally right.even though i am not supporter of umno,i must admit,he said the right word against people who keep saying abolish ketuanan melayu or uphold the bangsa malaysia.

just pick any country which have the system of vernacular school.the system were not introduce to make sure the racial harmony will be stabilised at any time.

now you said about non-malay sensitivity.i never heard a word you said about malay sensitivity

By: sinewy

sinewy — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 05:03:45 +0000

I sent my two sons to national primary school. To my horror, they told me numerous stories about the racially discriminitive act of the school administration and teaching staff. The teaching quality and standard are very low. Their young minds have been moulded deeply about racism in this country. Therefore disunity evolves not because of the vernacular schools but the racially discriminitive policies of the government. I sent my third son to the vernacular school and now in the national secondary school he has friends from various races. It is the racist adults and the politicians playing the racial card to win votes that cause the disunity among the youngs in this country. The biggest culprit is the NEP. Ask any young minds and they will tell you so.

By: oster

oster — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:56:14 +0000

I agree with Charles Santiago that “race-based policies in civil service employment, awarding of contracts and discrimination against minority communities and marginalisation of the poor” hampers national unity.

But he has said it himself, they merely “hamper” unity by reinforcing segregationist attitudes. Separate school systems on the other hand, are the SEEDS of segregation. You can come up with plenty of good reasons to send your child to a vernacular school, but regardless of all that, the consequences of cultural segregation in youth is clear: an ingrained separation of communities in our subconscious.

I never had a single non-Chinese friend all the way until I was 17, the product of growing up in the insular cultural environs of vernacular school. Yeah yeah I’m sure many of you will say you did mix around with other races even though you went to a vernacular school, but be honest with yourself, how much of a distance did you keep?

I think YB Santiago is being too hasty in delivering outright criticism. A single school system can work. Most of the criticism leveled against it immediately assume that any effort to that regard will be bungled.

What must be done is:
1) Availability of language instruction must be made if a certain proportion of the school’s students’ parents request it.

2) Devolve some educational authority to local councils, such as funding and the founding of new schools to meet demand (refer to the systems in the US where education is a state prerogative with local counties having quite a lot of power).

3) Create school catchment zones that compromises between school choice and the balancing against wealthier parents more capable of placing their children in “better” schools

There are also plenty of benefits with a single school system:

1) While we may decry the lack of funding for vernacular schools, a single school system will reduce funding discrimination.

For example, if the government gives less money to a school simply because it has a lot of Chinese students, even the Malay students in that school will suffer. Any outcry will not be a CHinese outcry, but a muhibbah one.

2) School catchment areas can leverage against those who may be more able to place their children in their desired schools, allowing even less privileged children to not be displaced by those with greater spending power and/or connections

3) The greatest benefit of course, is that we increase the proximity between cultures. Yes, there will still be natural segregation between races in schools, but at the very least children are more exposed to varying cultures, especially in cities.

cheers

By: jacob

jacob — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 04:48:04 +0000

Another racist statement by a racist politician. We all should just ignore him.
Most Politicians are just a load of rubbish and we should pack them all to Siberia.