Muslim teachers group appeals High Court ruling on vernacular schools

 

Judicial commissioner Abazafree Mohd Abbas said that the existence of vernacular schools must be read in the historical context.

PETALING JAYA: A Muslim teachers group has filed an appeal against the Kota Bharu High Court’s recent ruling that the existence of vernacular schools was constitutional.

Lawyer Shaharudin Ali, representing the group Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia, filed the appeal yesterday at the Court of Appeal.

On May 29, judicial commissioner Abazafree Mohd Abbas dismissed the suit brought by the group, stating that the existence of vernacular schools must be read in the historical context.

But Shaharudin questioned if history could really be used as the basis to justify the legality of the schools.

Shaharudin said Abazafree had said the schools were public authorities under the Federal Constitution.

“However, by ruling that the schools are public authorities, it means that Bahasa Melayu is the compulsory medium of instruction,” he told FMT, citing Article 152 of the Federal Constitution.

Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia president Azizee Hasan filed the suit last year, challenging the constitutionality of Sections 17 and 28 of the Education Act.

Shaharudin said they accepted Abazafree’s ruling that schools are public authorities but could not agree that by virtue of the schools being more than 100 years old, they were therefore constitutional and lawful. - FMT