THERE is absolutely no logic to Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir’s statement that it is only possible to have a non-Malay prime minister without vernacular schools, educationists said. 

They said there was no connection between the two issues.

Mukhriz had said Malaysia must first break down the barriers that divided people before it could allow the possibility of a non-Malay prime minister.  

“The existence of vernacular schools, in particular, creates a separate stream of teaching that can cause divisions between our children,” he said. 

Mukhriz was responding to concerns raised by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang over the country’s inability to accept a non-Malay premier.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia academic Sharifah Munirah Alatas said vernacular schools today embraced diversity better than national schools.

She said there is empirical evidence of this as more Malay families send their children to vernacular schools due to the higher quality of education.

“These (vernacular) schools are not dividing our people. I wish more sociologists could explain to our politicians how societies function,” she said.

“How would you explain the growing disunity among the Malays themselves? We have stark (economic) class differences among the Malays going to the kebangsaan (national) schools. Following this logic, should we abolish all national schools as well?

“Abolishing vernacular schools and considering a non-Malay PM are two separate issues, with no logical connection,” she added. 

Munirah took Mukhriz to task by stating that the remark from the ex-lawmaker was dishonest and went against nation-building. 

“The polarisation in Malaysia today is happening because leaders are using ethnicity and religion to divide the people. Malay political parties are using this narrative to outdo each other for political mileage. 

“We Malaysians, the ordinary people, can see this very clearly, and it is a source of extreme anxiety for all ethnicities.” 

Munirah said politicians should pool their resources and be sincere about raising the quality of teachers, schools, and universities. 

“We don’t want racism and bigotry to dominate our culture and society. Politicians must stop doing this.

“If our national schools were of better quality, with less focus on dogmatic religious subjects, and integrated more global subjects like world civilisations, our children would learn to appreciate diversity more,” said the daughter of renowned academic Syed Hussein Alatas. 

Mukhriz seeks attention 

Tamil Foundation advisor K. Arumugam couldn’t agree more with Munirah. The activist couldn’t make sense of what Mukhriz had said on Sunday. 

“I really couldn’t see the logic. I am trying to see from where he got this idea of equating vernacular schools and someone (non-Malay) becoming PM. 

“One becomes a PM because of his ability and knowledge, no matter from which school you come from. Many of our politicians are western-educated, some from the Middle East; should we stop our kids from studying overseas because they will not understand their own race better if they study abroad? This is according to Mukhriz’s logic,” he said. 

Arumugan said Mukhriz only wanted his 15 minutes of fame as his political career was going down. 

“He wants his name in the media only for a day or two. He needs that (attention) after being crushed severely in the general election,” Arumugam added. 

Empower national schools 

For National Parent-Teacher Associations Consultative Council president Prof Dr Mohamad Ali Hassan, the lack of integration and inability to understand one another better could not be blamed on vernacular schools. 

He said if national schools were equipped with good learning systems and had better quality teachers, no one would take issue with vernacular schools. 

“It has been ages since we spoke about empowering national schools and until now, the quality is the same. 

“Imagine if our standards were higher, everyone would send their kids to national schools because parents want the best for their children,” he added.

Former education minister Maszlee Malik said Mukhriz had made a nonsensical comment. 

“I don’t know why in the world he came up with that statement. You have to ask him,” the former PKR lawmaker said. – March 7, 2023.