May 15 - PAS Youth today questioned the calls by certain quarters to do away with vernacular Chinese and Tamil schools in order to achieve racial harmony, saying racial tensions were the work of politicians and not the educational institutions.
"Racial problems in this country have repeatedly surfaced due to the existence of race-based political parties such as UMNO, MCA and MIC.
"These are the parties which the ROS [Registrar of Societies] should ban," said PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan.
He said unlike political parties which shun certain communities, the vernacular schools including privately-funded Islamic schools were open to all races.
"Such is not the case with the membership rule in UMNO, MCA and MIC, which limits to certain communities. Every year in their general assemblies, these parties would raise demands specific to their respective ethnic group and (in the process) hurt sensitivities of others," added Nasrudin, who is also member of parliament for Temerloh.
He was commenting on recent remarks by several right-wing UMNO sympathisers who in the aftermath of the general election have called on the government to disallow vernacular education.
Describing any such attempt as undemocratic, Nasrudin (left) recalled that the same kind of reactions from BN leaders was seen after the 1999 general election which saw dwindling support for UMNO.
He said then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had moved to revoke government grants to independent religious schools or Sekolah Agama Rakyat to punish the Malay electorate for ditching BN.
Nasrudin pointed out that BN leaders have the habit of indulging in racist behaviour, and named UMNO vice president Hishamuddin Hussein who infamously raised the keris to warn non-Malays, as well as MCA president Chua Soi Lek and former MIC chief Samy Vellu's various remarks belittling Islam and Malays.
"All these were taking place in the political arena, not in schools," he stressed.
"Racial problems in this country have repeatedly surfaced due to the existence of race-based political parties such as UMNO, MCA and MIC.
"These are the parties which the ROS [Registrar of Societies] should ban," said PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan.
He said unlike political parties which shun certain communities, the vernacular schools including privately-funded Islamic schools were open to all races.
"Such is not the case with the membership rule in UMNO, MCA and MIC, which limits to certain communities. Every year in their general assemblies, these parties would raise demands specific to their respective ethnic group and (in the process) hurt sensitivities of others," added Nasrudin, who is also member of parliament for Temerloh.
He was commenting on recent remarks by several right-wing UMNO sympathisers who in the aftermath of the general election have called on the government to disallow vernacular education.
Describing any such attempt as undemocratic, Nasrudin (left) recalled that the same kind of reactions from BN leaders was seen after the 1999 general election which saw dwindling support for UMNO.
He said then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had moved to revoke government grants to independent religious schools or Sekolah Agama Rakyat to punish the Malay electorate for ditching BN.
Nasrudin pointed out that BN leaders have the habit of indulging in racist behaviour, and named UMNO vice president Hishamuddin Hussein who infamously raised the keris to warn non-Malays, as well as MCA president Chua Soi Lek and former MIC chief Samy Vellu's various remarks belittling Islam and Malays.
"All these were taking place in the political arena, not in schools," he stressed.
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