Real reason for PAS' brouhaha over brewery donation

 

Chinese politician and reformer Deng Xiaoping once said, "It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice, then it is a good cat."

Deng’s quote is how everyone, including PAS and the dissenting ministers in Putrajaya, should reflect upon the recent brouhaha about the sponsorship of vernacular school charity events by breweries.

PAS is creating a storm in a tankard over this event. Surely it is the outcome or result of the exercise which truly matters, rather than the method or means employed to achieve it.

The government is stingy with its funding. Vernacular schools need money, and this is one way of achieving it.

As far as I am aware, no one has complained about some previous major polo tournaments in Malaysia, which has, among its sponsors, the Veuve Clicquot champagne house and Carlsberg. So, is PAS’ criticism based on class divisions or racial bias?

For 30 years, the Chinese Education Charity Concert (CECC) did not receive any attention from PAS until 19 July, when it launched a blistering attack on Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister Aiman Athirah Sabu.

She attended a charity event organised by SJK(C) Tche Min in Sungai Pelek, where one of the sponsors was Tiger Beer.

Aiman held up a mock cheque emblazoned with the Tiger beer logo, and PAS representatives behaved like punch-drunk!

If Heineken Asia Pacific, which owns Tiger Beer, needs a new advertising slogan, it should consider, “Tiger Beer refreshes parts of the conservative soul which other beers cannot reach”.

Get off your high horse

Selangor PAS Youth chief Mohamed Sukri Omar criticised the deputy minister on his Facebook page, saying that Aiman’s attendance was embarrassing, a desperate act and her presence had “normalised” liquor in schools.

Sukri needs to get off his high horse and stop lecturing Aiman because PAS’ criticism has nothing to do with brewery sponsorship.

The real reason is that PAS wants to abolish vernacular schools. PAS’ condemnation is just another ultra-nationalist attack on Chinese education.

The CECC is held annually to enhance educational institutions and facilities. It started as an initiative between a Chinese newspaper company (Sin Chew Daily) and a brewery (Heineken Malaysia Berhad) to support Chinese language schools.

Selangor PAS Youth chief Mohamed Sukri Omar

Sukri accused Aiman of being a “liberal” who threatened the sanctity of Islam.

So, why attack Amanah now?

The event presented the perfect opportunity for PAS to target the Amanah MP. As deputy minister, she was the right person to officiate at the CECC event, but it was simply the wrong timing, with the brewery being one of the sponsors.

However, the more likely reason is perhaps to distract Malaysians from some unwelcome, or bad news concerning PAS or PN.

Could it be the lack of development in Kelantan? Or the gender segregation of the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium?

Is it because more Malays are enrolling their children in vernacular schools?

Or has it to do with the dissatisfaction of some Bersatu leaders and grassroots over the choice of a candidate for the upcoming Nenggiri by-election? Who knows?

Taxes from gambling, alcohol and tobacco are important means of raising revenue for public spending. The money funds our hospitals, schools, infrastructure, civil servants’ wages, MPs’ salaries, and the state of Kelantan.

Without the duty paid by the breweries, gambling companies and cigarette manufacturers, there would be an enormous hole in the government’s finances.

Perhaps PAS MPs could make a comparison and ask Putrajaya for a breakdown of revenue which the treasury received during the lockdown when alcohol could not be sold or consumed in the various outlets as these were shut.

They should then compare the figures with those before the pandemic, and see the difference. Sin taxes help to prop up Malaysia.

With the government being so mean about funding for vernacular schools, then the options for the school governors and heads are limited.

Strained finances

Despite the criticisms of most things Chinese, it is interesting to note that these have not stopped many Malay parents from sending their children to vernacular schools.

They prefer the strict discipline, the strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects, the teaching methods, the quality of the teachers and the fact that their children can be multilingual.

However, the increase in student numbers will strain existing finances. Money is needed to make up for this shortfall, and this is why the CECC stepped in to help with funding issues.

Why create a huge fuss over the brewery sponsorship? The children are not being tutored on how to drink, how to detect the complexity of craft beers, or how many units are considered safe to consume in a week.

Incidentally, does PAS consider funds from corruption more acceptable than those from alcohol?

If PAS politicians think the Tiger Beer logo on the mock cheque would encourage children to drink, then they are more daft than we could possibly imagine.

This is the same thinking exhibited by some conservative villagers in Kampung Medan who saw the cross on the shop lot church and then caused a near-riot because they said the cross would convert Malay youths into Christians.

This sham PAS attack on Aiman is not about the Tiger Beer sponsorship.

PAS fears the Malay community’s acceptance of vernacular schools because it is proof that education can tear down religious and racial barriers. - Mkini

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Blog, X.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.