“Are rightists championing single stream edu system prepared to give up religious schools, tahfiz, MRSM, UiTM?”

 

A RIGHTIST so-called hardcore “One Nation National School” module proposal for a total reset of the national education system “so children can understand how high or low the sky is from as early as seven” is seen as noble yet impractical to be implemented in Malaysia.

Strait of Hormuz

The perfectionist view which has its roots in the recent illegal temple debacle constitutes six key elements, of which the first is the “One Stream, One Identity” concept which entails “immediate abolishment of the vernacular SJKT/SJKC system”

“All are absorbed into the National School. There are no more ‘islands’ that make these children feel as if they’re living in a foreign country,” espoused Zam Sani who is also a real estate consultant in a recent Facebook post.

“We want them to grow up, eat, and play football on the same field.”

The other five self-explanatory elements are (i) Compulsory Nationhood & Constitution Module; (ii) Implementation of High Etiquette & Morals; (iii) Bahasa Melayu as a Unification Language; (iv) Unification Camps Outside the Classroom; and (v) Anti-Gangsterism Education.

To drive home his point, Zam Sani who runs his business in Johor, aspired Malaysia “to be like Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the US and France”.

Strait of Hormuz

“They practice a single-stream school system as the pillar of national unity. Look at the results today; all their citizens are proud of their single national identity instead of being race centric.”

Elaborating further, he observed that while there are thousands of ethnic groups and regional languages, Indonesia has only one national school stream.

“As a result, every citizen regardless of Chinese, Javanese or Batak descent are fluent in their national language and have a very strong ‘Indonesian Race’ identity. There is no such term as ‘ethnic school’ there,” justified the silat exponent.

Likewise for Thailand, Zam Sani alluded to the country’s “very strict national identity” stance.

“All schools use Thai as the main medium of instruction. The result: All citizens, including those of Chinese or Malay descent, have a very high love for their King and country because they are educated in the same system.”

Counter argument

This is when a fellow Malay netizen expressed disagreement with the rightist’s call to abolish vernacular schools on grounds that “Malaysia was built on the concept of integration, not assimilation”.

“Integration means that all races retain their respective identities but live in one country. Assimilation means that everyone has to become one culture,” ranted the commenter identified as Rahim Ganas.

“In Indonesia, the Chinese were forced to change their names, they couldn’t use the Chinese language and a lot of their culture was eliminated. Thailand is the same with many policies that make everyone Thai.”

But the key question which the poster has failed to address is “have both countries become better just because of one language and one school”.

“Indonesia still has issues of massive poverty, corruption and uneven development. This means that one language and one school system doesn’t automatically make the country developed.”

On the contrary, Rahim Ganas sort of schooled the rightist fraternity that “Malaysia has chosen from the outset on a compromise between the various races”.

“The Malays got the position of Islam (as the official religion), the Malay ruler institution and Bahasa Melayu (as the national language). In return, other races got citizenship, the economy and vernacular education. That’s what is called a real social contract, not just one side winning.”

Therefore, going by the poster’s call to abolish SJKC and SJKT on the grounds of one single stream, the foremost sensitive question that Malays must ask themselves is whether they are “also willing to abolish religious schools, tahfiz, MRSM (MARA Junior Science College) or UiTM (Universiti Teknologi MARA)”.

In fact, the Malaysian education system has many streams ranging from National Schools to SJKC, SJKT, religious schools, tahfiz, MRSM, international schools and homeschool.

Strait of Hormuz

So the real issue is not just vernacular schools but the education system is indeed diverse. If you really want one stream, you’ve to do it for everyone, not just choose to abolish SJKC and SJKT. Otherwise, that seems unfair. –  Focus Malaysia