Lawyer vows to continue challenging constitutionality of vernacular schools

Lawyer Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz has vowed to continue challenging the constitutionality of vernacular schools and will next file papers in the High Court.

In a statement today, Khairul (photo) said he did not regard yesterday’s Federal Court decision as a loss or the end of the road for his mission.

“My challenge against the legitimacy of vernacular schools has not ended yet. What ended yesterday was only at the Federal Court, when the court declined to hear the case under Article 4(4) of the Federal Constitution.

“What has yet to be done is the filing of the case under Article 4(1) of the Federal Constitution at the High Court. And the issue of merits has not been heard or decided upon by the Federal Court,” he said on his Facebook page.

“The case has not ended. It has just begun,” added the Parti Bumiputera Pesaka Malaysia (Putra) vice-president.

Article 4 concerns the Constitution as the supreme law of the Federation of Malaya, where Section (1) states any law passed after Aug 31, 1957, that is inconsistent with the Constitution shall, to the extent of its inconsistency, be void.

Section (4) states that any proceeding to declare a law as invalid is not to be commenced without the leave from a judge of the Federal Court.

Yesterday, Chief Justice of Malaya Azahar Mohamed denied Khairul’s leave application and ruled that Parliament has the jurisdiction to formulate education-related laws.

The judge ruled that the education minister has the jurisdiction to set up national-type, or vernacular, schools. He also ruled that the minister has the jurisdiction to decide against using the national language (Malay) as the medium of instruction in national-type schools.

Azahar noted that the leave application under Article 4(4) of the Constitution was “misconceived” as he said that the High Court should hear the issue of the constitutionality of vernacular schools.

Khairul’s statement, which was written in Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, was published with images of the front pages of several local Chinese-language newspapers.

“All Chinese newspapers celebrated the false ‘victory’ of the Federal Court’s decision on vernacular schools. But it doesn’t matter, this is all racial propaganda. They have print media but I have Facebook and WhatsApp, which are far more influential,” he said.

Included in the statement was the hashtag “Constitutionally Racist”, a term which Khairul has recently adopted.

On Oct 23, Khairul had filed a motion to challenge the existence of vernacular schools as a contravention of the Federal Constitution.

Such schools are codified under the Education Act 1996.

He sought a declaration from the Federal Court that it was unconstitutional for the Parliament to pass an amendment to Sections 17 and 28 of the Education Act 1996, providing for the continued existence of vernacular schools.

He named the government and education minister as respondents. - Mkini