Chinese educationists or education are not apartheid

MCA Spokesperson Sdr Lee Wei Kiat today expressed that the main factor leading to the racial disunity in the country is none other than the partial administration and deviation of policies that has been adopted by the government for a long time. It is reported that Dr Mahathir had said that “We proposed that everyone study together in one school then only can you have bangsa Malaysia. But they did not want this. They did not want to mix with the other races especially the Malays. They did not want their children to mix with Malays and that is apartheid, not us."

“Racial disunity has nothing to do with the vernacular education. I disagree with the insinuation by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that racial disunity in Malaysia arose out of various education systems. This is very subjective and he has shown a very narrow minded view of racism,” remarked Lee.

Lee pointed out that since the independence of Malaysia 52 years ago, the Chinese in the country has been working unceasingly together with the other races not only in attaining national independence, but national development as well. So there should not be any question about their loyalty and their intimate relationship with the other races in the country.

“The Chinese community and the Chinese educationists stress and talk about the importance of vernacular education because it is a basic right as spelt out and clearly stipulated in our Federal Constitution. It is merely the love that they have shown towards their own language and culture. This is exactly the same as the other races in the world who have the privileges of enjoying their own basic right. Therefore, Chinese educationists cannot be classified nor regarded as the racists,” expressed him.

Lee, who is also the MCA Information & Communication Bureau Chairman reiterated that a single language education does not and will never lead to national unity effectively. This can be seen clearly that in many countries around the world, that adopt a common language education, but still their people are fragmented. One such example is that of UMNO and PAS. Both parties attend the same education stream and speak the same language, and yet they are so much different in their political ideology.

Lee Wei Kiat pointed out that such a racist view as made by Tun Mahathir who had also termed the appeal made by the Malaysian Chinese Organisations Election Committee (Suqiu) in year 2000 as equivalent to Communists, could be attributed to one of the reasons that caused the non-Malays to gradually turn away from supporting the Barisan National.

“As a former national leader, Tun Mahathir should set a good example to other Umno members and leadership. He should not play around with the issue of racism which if not handled properly, may lead to a real social disunity,” stressed Lee.

MCA is of the opinion that if Barisan National would like to regain the support from all the races in the country, it should immediately adopt a multi-racial, liberal and progressive line of administration. This is also one of the 3 thrusts currently adopted by the party leadership, i.e. “Be instrumental or remain instrumental in forging an accommodative, inclusive and harmonious inter-ethnic relationships premised on the Rukun Negara and Federal Constitution”.

“If we want to enjoy everlasting peace and harmony in the country, we must always be committed to a good social relationship. We cannot afford our country to be destructed simply by any irresponsible politicians who are fond of stirring up racial and religious issues aimed at self-propaganda,” Lee said.