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Mukhriz Mahathir’s statement in this article calling for the scrapping of vernacular schools would cast doubt on his reputation as a more enlightened type of Umno politician like Zaid Ibrahim. It is now becoming almost a perverted type of race for UMNO politicians to harp upon Ketuanan Melayu-ish like issues in order to gain political currency but I was hoping Mukhriz would rise above all this in his quest to continue Mahathir’s legacy.
I do concur that is a real pity that we need to have vernacular schools because at the end of the day, the psychological gaps between the races will be widened further but here we must ask why? Why is it that some of the our fellow Malaysians who are of Chinese and Indian ancestry refuse to enter national schools? Have the Malays been so wonderfully fair to them and even so, they refuse the bahasa Melayu medium? I would argue, no we haven’t. If schooling in national schools is what it was like in the 80ies and 90ies, then what we’re looking at here is an approach to Bahasa Melayu which does not invoke passion but rather frustration. Instead of Bahasa being taught to kids as a gift of language which has been passed down as a national legacy to be enjoyed and benefitted from, Bahasa has come to be associated with a rigorous examination which could determine if one passes or fails the entire high school certificate (SPM). This rule makes no sense whatsoever due to the content of Bahasa’s syllabus which includes royal language and euphemisms which hardly anyone uses. Being a Malay myself, I find the study of Bahasa Melayu and immersion into Malay culture as something beautiful but I only found this to be so after my schooling years. Bahasa has now a deep repository of literature which reflects the changing world generation after generation of Malays lived in. So I highly suggest a relaxation of such strict examination rules would paradoxically produce greater numbers of Bahasa lovers. Another thing we need to ask is, why are Mandarin and Tamil not considered to be Bahasa Malaysias (that’s right, in plural) as well. If DSAI can say ‘Anak cina, anak saya. Anak india, anak saya’ then I say ‘Bahasa Mandarin, bahasa saya. Bahasa tamil, bahasa saya (the latter of which is not exactly ethnically untrue!)’ because lets face it, at least 70 percent of our nation speak these two languages and it would be a gesture of solidarity and goodwill for the Malays to learn these two languages. The above suggestion may provoke a somewhat hostile response from a Ketuanan Melayu fanatic. ‘How can we learn the language of these pendatangs! They must learn our language instead!’. Well I would respond to that by asking another question ‘where do you think Bahasa Melayu came from’. Bahasa Melayu is the result of a long history of cultural encounters but more importantly, cultural accommodation. Lets never forget this. The pendatangs from Arabia and India contributed much to the Bahasa diction. And since when has learning another language been detrimental? Each language has its own peculiarities and by learning other languages, we build the dexterity of mind which will contribute to the Towering Malay our PM has now forgotten about. I highly suggest that we consider teaching at primary and secondary level Mandarin and Tamil. This can be at least at conversational levels with an option to study further Mandarin and Tamil literature. This would be a first step in producing a truly Malaysian child who respects and adores the cultures of his fellow Malaysian, even if they are not ethnically his. So to Mukhriz Mahathir, I would say, unless we are prepared to accommodate and nurture the Chinese and Indian cultures which have taken root in our great nation, your suggestion to abolish vernacular schools amounts to nothing more than cultural suppression. No nation can ever prosper by being oppressors. - Farouk A. Peru www.farouk.name
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The Blogs 
Same Bloody RACIST.