Court nod for vernacular schools

PETALING JAYA: The dismissal of a lawsuit challenging vernacular schools once again affirmed that the schools’ existence is in line with the Federal Constitution, says Datuk Chong Sin Woon (pic).

The MCA Secretary-General said that MCA welcomed the Kota Baru High Court’s ruling and is grateful that Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas upheld the status of vernacular schools under the Constitution.

“The Constitution’s guarantees on the right to mother tongue education by all ethnic groups remain indisputable.

“The decision is consistent with the judgment by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 29 last year.

“The existence of vernacular schools is not unconstitutional. Once again, the judicial process has been used to clarify and consolidate the status of mother tongue education under the Constitution,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Pertubuhan Ikatan Guru-guru Muslim Malaysia (iGuru) had filed a petition last year seeking to declare that Chinese and Tamil primary schools were unconstitutional.

However, the Kota Baru High Court on May 29 ruled against the plaintiff.

It was not the first attempt to challenge the schools’ existence and declare them unconstitutional.

Previous similar lawsuits were filed by the Association of Peninsular Malaysia Students (GPMS) and the Islamic Educational Development Council (Mappim) last year and the Gabungan Persatuan Penulis Malaysia (Gapena) in December 2021.

Chong called on all quarters to accept the High Court’s ruling that vernacular schools in Malaysia are constitutional.

“MCA also urges individuals and groups to refrain from further challenging the constitutionality of vernacular schools or bringing in unnecessary racial themes into the discourse.”

He said that defending the existence of vernacular schools and allowing Mandarin and Tamil to be used as a medium in these schools had not infringed on the sovereignty of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.

“As Malaysians, we acknowledge wholeheartedly that Bahasa Malaysia is our national language, which unites us as citizens and reflects our pride and love for Malaysia. Hence, it must be emphasised that defending the existence of vernacular schools does not imply disregard for Bahasa Malaysia.

“Kota Baru High Court Judicial Commissioner Datuk Mohamad Abazafree Abbas said, ‘The framers of the Federal Constitution intended to preserve that as part of the education system. The wishes of our forefathers were that we live in harmony.’”

Chong noted that the court decision was consistent with the decision of then Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Justice Nazlan Ghazali (now Court of Appeal judge), who dismissed a similar lawsuit filed by GPMS, Mappim and Gapena.

They had sought a declaration that Sections 2, 17, and 28 of the Education Act, which authorised the establishment of vernacular schools with Mandarin and Tamil as the primary languages, were incompatible with Article 152 of the Constitution.

Chong also thanked MCA’s legal counsel Datuk Ben Chan for intervening in these legal suits, his tireless work and highly professional performance.

“MCA vows to continue defending the constitutional right of people of all ethnic groups to pursue education in their mother tongue and will not sit idly by whenever the status of vernacular schools of any individual or group is challenged,” he said.

Since Malaysia’s Independence in 1957, vernacular schools have been recognised under the Education Act 1961 and the Education Act 1996, he added.

“Vernacular schools have long been recognised in the legislative framework of the education system even before Merdeka and the existence of the Federal Constitution, which can be found in the Education Ordinance 1952 and the Education Ordinance 1957. Moving forward, MCA hopes that all quarters can empathise and accept our forefathers’ wish for all Malaysians to live in harmony,” Chong added.