Education and the future of Malaysia
I HAVE NEVER really thought as much as I have these last few weeks about the future of this country. No, it is not the Perak political tragedy that has occupied my waking hours, important though it might be.
The assault on the established democratic parliamentary principles and practices bears the hallmark of unabashed, unapologetic and blatant cynicism, a feature that looks set, I fear, to wreak havoc, despair and despondency in our national life. I naturally have no wish to underestimate the damage already done in the short term: the potential for lingering longer term ill effects has manifested itself in the loss of public confidence in the government of the day worries me more.
I believe the future of this country lies in our ability to unite: national unity without a common identity is an exercise in futility. In the context of our plural society with a history of decades of uneasy coexistence, with fears and suspicions as constant companions, and each community left largely to its own devices, the idea of national unity through a common identity is difficult enough to imagine, let alone embracing it wholeheartedly. Present day policies of the Barisan Nasional government, slanted and distorted as they are to benefit the Malays, and more particularly UMNOputras, tend to divide rather than unite us.
I am all for 1Malaysia and will support the idea. It is good as far as it goes, but it falls far, far short of the conditions necessary to create a common identity – a sense of Malaysianness. That can only come about when we see with our own eyes that we have in place policies of inclusiveness, of justice and equity, of equal opportunity without barriers. The government has its work cut out if it is really serious about breathing life into a slogan which will remain lifeless without fundamental policy changes to reflect today’s concerns about our country’s future. Najib has to realise that anything less than a Malaysian Malaysia with all that it implies will be unacceptable. People will not be short changed on this and on other promises.
As we search for a common identity, we have to admit, better late than never, that the biggest single impediment to nation building is our national education system. As long as we continue to allow Chinese and Indian primary schools to operate, we will never develop a sense of 1 Malaysia. Malay is our national language, and it should be the language of instruction in all of the country’s primary and secondary schools.
Singapore which, for all practical purposes, is an ethnic Chinese state does not allow Chinese or Indian primary schools to operate for very good reasons. Singapore is not known for deciding on something without a very good reason. I draw comfort from Singapore’s wisdom. Why then should Malaysian Chinese and Indians continue to insist on separate schools for their children when we are all trying to create a united country? We cannot have our cake and eat it: it is a sacrifice we must all be prepared to make in the larger interests of our country’s future well-being.
Our cultural heritage is important. As a country we should celebrate our diversity, and I am not for a moment suggesting that by adopting Malay as the only language of instruction in all schools, we are obliterating or submerging our cultural identity.
Language is an important component of our cultural makeup and it is our duty to promote and encourage all languages. I suggest that both the Malay and Chinese languages be made compulsory subjects in all our schools.
Specialist language teachers should be trained to the highest professional standards, and rewarded accordingly. Two language periods attended by all, one for the teaching of Chinese and the other Malay must be set aside every day. We have to review the number of subjects taught in our school system, and limit the maximum number of subject a student is allowed to offer for exam purposes. Education is not a numbers game.
We need to look at education beyond its utilitarian value. I believe if we depoliticise our system of education and address the social, economic, and political needs of our nation in a rational way, taking on board the cultural and language concerns of the Chinese and Indians, we will have a better chance of breaking the racial mould and achieving national unity.
We have to give careful thought to the question of Malaysian education with which is bound up the place of Chinese and Indian primary schools in nation building. The process of looking at what is best for Malaysia must start now.
Published on May 23, 2009 | Mysinchew