Gerakan denounces Deputy Minister’s statements on blaming SJKC for disunity “Vernacular education must not be made as scapegoat through ill-conceived fallacy for fast remedy to problems” Joint press statement by Chairman, Gerakan Central Bureau of Education Y.B. Lau Chin Hoon & Chairman, Gerakan Central Bureau of National Unity Dr. Asharuddin Ahmad 7 August 2014 Gerakan’s Chairman of Central Bureau of Education, Y.B. Lau Chin Hoon and Chairman of Central Bureau of Unity, Dr. Asharuddin Ahmad in a joint statement have denounced the recent statements by Deputy Minister in Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Razali Ibrahim’s who has suggested that Chinese national-type primary school (SJKC) should be ceased from setting up new school as it does not contribute towards national unity and also a cause to racial disharmony as claimed. Both Gerakan leaders have voiced their disagreement against Razali’s views as they maintained that it is the government duty and responsibility to safeguard unity and no minority groups is powerful enough or ever interested to cause disunity. Lau dismissed the Deputy Minister’s statements as bias and fallacy which has no logical merits and defended that SJKC should not be made as scapegoat to serve as an excuse for fast remedy to recent racial bickering. He held that pointing fingers thoughtlessly in an ill-conceived manner will only lead to more problems rather than solutions. “The mother tongue education has proven to be instrumental in instilling the consciousness towards fostering national unity among citizens as it is an effective medium to deliver government’s curricular and aspirations to the public. In fact, SJKC and vernacular schools deserve our respect and gratefulness instead of unfounded criticism as their decade-long contributions have led to the thriving of small and medium enterprises (SME) which make up the backbone of the nation’s vibrant economy and also provide diligent labor that can be readily absorbed to sustain the continuing growth of SME,” reminded Lau. Meanwhile, Dr. Asharuddin also pointed out that the biggest threat to national unity in any nation is the divisive policy and institutions, the racial and religious centric politics in the country is to be blamed on jeopardizing national unity but never the vernacular education. The government has the obligation to provide individuals belonging to minority groups with sufficient opportunities for vernacular education with their mother tongue as the medium of instruction as stipulated in the Education Act 1996. He further added that having a predominantly mono-ethnic, lingual or religious institution should not be blamed for causing disunity, if not the civil service system and the Government Government-Linked Companies (GLC), Ministry of Education and the Prime Minister’s Department could be equally sharing the blame as well for disunity.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 17:27:53 +0000
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