BERSATU youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal must be out of his mind to think that vernacular schools have failed to produce patriotic students.

He is not the first person to say such things, and he will definitely not be the last.

As long as race and religion dominate the thinking of parties like Umno, PAS and Bersatu, vernacular schools will be targeted.

Of course, questioning the existence of such schools is seditious and unconstitutional, but will the authorities act on it?

Vernacular schools have been around even before Malaysia’s independence.

There is a need to explain that the root cause of instability is not vernacular or national schools, but “champions” of race and religion found in Umno, PAS, and lately, Bersatu.

Even if you get rid of vernacular schools, nationalism leading to unity might not emerge.

If these schools are that bad, then Wan Fayhsal should explain why Malays make up nearly 20% of enrolment in Chinese schools.

If Malay parents are aware of the divisive nature of Chinese schools, surely they would not send their children there.

Both Chinese and Tamil schools adhere to the national curriculum set by the Education Ministry. The question of these schools teaching subjects outside the mainstream curriculum does not even arise.

Wan Fayhsal, by trying to be a champion of the race, has gotten his facts wrong. He does not understand that national unity cannot be achieved simply by abolishing vernacular schools.

He cannot defend language nationalism in the country when certain universities and colleges are still using English as their medium of instruction, which is contrary to the propagation of Malay as the national language.

If he were smart enough, he would find out why non-Malay students prefer vernacular over national schools.

National unity is not something that can be obtained by just closing down vernacular schools. It is a complex matter.

I suppose Wan Fayhsal, given his narrow-minded views, cannot be expected to have wisdom on the subject of national unity.

The easiest way, after all, is to engage in populist, racist politics.

It is strange that Bersatu leaders like him are making such remarks at a time when the party is considering opening its membership to non-Malays. – August 27, 2020.

* Ramasamy Palanisamy reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.