Khairy signals end of tiff on Chinese schools

The Umno Youth chief says a one-school system will destroy the nation.

KUALA LUMPUR: The MCA Youth Annual General Meeting today saw an impassioned defence of vernacular schools not only by leaders of the Chinese-based party, but also Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

Addressing the assembly in his capacity as BN Youth chief, Khairy described the Chinese language as an “international language, especially for trade”.

He said Prime Minister Najib Razak had given the last word on the vernacular school issue through a , RM50 million allocation he announced yesterday in his budget speech, adding that it showed Najib approved of multiplicity in Malaysia’s school system.

He also said this should spell the end of the debate regarding vernacular schools and asserted that a one-school system would bring destruction to the country.

Khairy also made a call for a return to the middle ground represented by Najib’s 1Malaysia initiative, saying, “The easiest thing to do is play to the gallery, but I choose to take the middle path. The extremists make the most noise, but the middle path represents the silent majority of all Malaysians.”

MCA Youth chief Chong Sin Woon said in his speech that vernacular schools were not an obstacle to national unity and that the non-Chinese pupils of Chinese schools nationwide made up 12% per cent of their student population. “That means SJKC is more pluralistic compared to national schools,” he claimed.

Chong lamented that there had been too many racially charged comments lately, warning that Chinese and Indians would soon go from “pendatang” to “penceroboh, like the British”.

Noting that Chinese education was now accepted in Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, he asked, “Is Malaysia, which has impressed the world with its mature Chinese education system, going to retreat from this stage?”

MCA vice-president Wee Ka Siong added to the defense of vernacular schools, saying, “MCA will not compromise and will fight till the end to defend Chinese education.”

Speaking to an obviously appreciative crowd, Wee said vernacular schools were “part of the social contract” and asked that all parties respect the right to mother tongue education.