Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker. -filepic
PETALING JAYA: MCA has called for the Education Ministry to clarify if it would restrict schools from determining the language of instruction they would use.
MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairman and publicity spokesman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker raised the question over Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik’s stance that English should not be used as the medium of instruction in national schools.
Ti was referring to Dr Maszlee’s, reply stating that Article 152(1) of the Federal Constitution and the National Language Act 1963/67 would be violated if English were used as the medium of instruction in national schools.
“(His reply) raises the question if the Education Ministry will observe Article 152(1)(a) which enshrines that ‘no person shall be prohibited or prevented …, or from teaching or learning, any other language’ bearing in mind that our courts have ruled on the constitutionality of everyone’s right to mother-tongue education,” he said in statement on Tuesday (Sept 4).
“He must clarify. Has his Pribumi party chairman cum Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad violated the Federal Constitution and Education Act, when he introduced teaching of Maths and Science in English in 1996?” he said.
Ti also called on Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching to assure vernacular school educationists that the Ministry has no intention of restricting the use of Chinese and Tamil languages.
He added that a command of the English language would help fresh graduates and even non-university goers to secure employment.
“Learning English does not make one lose one’s cultural and ethnic roots. Malaysians should come out of a parochial mindset that being proficient in English equates to being a traitor to one’s own race or ashamed of one’s own descent,” he said.
Limited time offer:
Just RM5 per month.
