‘Politicians, not vernacular schools, causing national disunity’

PETALING JAYA: It is not vernacular schools causing national disunity, but politicians like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, says Sungai Buloh MP Datuk R. Ramanan.

The Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) Special Committee chairman said it was most regrettable that Dr Mahathir had to resort to a seditious statement in calling for the abolishment of vernacular schools recently.

At 98 years old, Dr Mahathir should play the role of bringing Malaysians together instead of creating division, said Ramanan, who is also PKR deputy information chief. As such, he urged the former prime minister to “stop his continuous inflammatory statements which bring no value to national unity”.

Ramanan also pointed out that unlike private schools, vernacular schools funded by the Federal Government have existed since our independence and are part of the national school system.

“The Chinese primary schools, for example, have over 100,000 Malays, Indians and other bumiputras, and like Indian primary schools, they play a major role in nation-building.

“I invite Dr Mahathir to visit these schools for himself and see their contribution to national unity in their programmes and syllabus,” said Ramanan in a statement yesterday.

He also said that some of the best talents have graduated from these primary schools and are occupying high positions in the government and private sector.

As a result of the existence of these schools, Malaysians have been able to have a grasp of Mandarin and Tamil, which are linguistic assets, said Ramanan.

“One reason why Malays and Indians are sending their children to these vernacular schools for six years of primary education is because they want their children to learn Mandarin or Tamil,” said Ramanan.

He added that with China and India being major economies, Malaysians who are able to speak these languages are marketable and sought after.

Ramanan also said that Bahasa Malaysia is also highly emphasised in these schools.

“It’s unfortunate that Dr Mahathir has chosen to see everything from a racial angle to ensure that he is in the news,” he said, while also questioning if Dr Mahathir’s grandchildren attended private or international schools or studied in national schools.

Ramanan said he was initially very hesitant to respond to Dr Mahathir’s remarks about abolishing vernacular schools, but felt that a rebuttal was necessary to put the record straight.

“It is most unfortunate that Dr Mahathir still refers to Malaysians who are not Malays as pendatang (immigrants) as we celebrate the nation’s 66th anniversary.

“Let me quote American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, who said ‘we all come in different ships but we are in the same boat now’.

“That is the destiny of all Malaysians, regardless of our race and religion,” he said.