Academician Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Teo Kok Seong slammed Chinese schools, accusing their students of being "intellectually lacking.”
“These Chinese students studying in Chinese schools are not very smart.
“Although the school teaches three languages, they’re only good at their mother tongue and are not good at English and Malay,” said Teo.
He emphasized that the government had proposed two initiatives as early as 2015 to improve Malay language proficiency among Chinese students, but these were strongly opposed by leaders and Chinese education advocates at the time.
"The government's suggestions included increasing Malay language lessons in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades and standardizing the Malay curriculum across national and Chinese primary schools, as the Malay language levels in vernacular schools were generally lower than those in national schools,” he said, reported Sin Chew Daily.
However nine Chinese education groups firmly opposed the Ministry of Education's efforts to unify the Malay language curriculum across different types of primary schools, which has led to the current inability to achieve this goal, according to Teo.
Teo recalled a moment when a former non-Malay minister asserted that the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, has less economic value than Chinese and English.
The minister in question stated that compared to Chinese and English, the Malay language had almost no economic value.
Teo argued that the minister lacked an understanding of the values important to the people of Malaysia.
"The Malay language is the official language of our country and is a crucial part of our identity and recognition of Malay culture," Teo said.
He also said Malay language is our national language and is a significant symbol of our national identity and cultural alignment with the Malays.
He said this during the “Dialog Merdeka: Memahami Sejarah Melalui Kepimpinan.”
The dialogue was organized by the Perdana Leadership Foundation in Putrajaya, which emphasizes the exploration of history through the lens of leadership.
Malaysia multi-stream education system reject national integration
Another speaker, a professor at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC), International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Professor Ahmad Murad Noor Merican, said that only Malaysia has a multi-stream education system, and this system systematically rejects national integration, which he described as a non-violent form of extremism.
He suggested that various legal avenues should be explored to address this issue.
These do not necessarily have to involve lawsuits but could be handled through a national arbitration tribunal, with an emphasis on the use of the national language, which is crucial for a nation's identity, he added.
When asked about how to address the decreasing proportion of non-Malays in national schools, he said, "This issue must be addressed in stages. I understand it's a sensitive topic, but national schools need to become the mainstream of education."
He proposed the establishment of a royal commission of inquiry to investigate vernacular schools and draft a white paper.
"If the current situation, where multi-stream education replaces national schools, continues, I believe within five years, the country will see demographic and institutional changes,” he said.
He emphasized that this issue should not be handled politically or informally but through formal and institutionalized methods.
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