Bantahan rasmi Dong Jiao Zong terhadap Utusan Malaysia

[sjkc]

Bantahan rasmi Dong Jiao Zong terhadap Utusan Malaysia
dan Berita Harian yang memutarbelitkan Kenyataan Dong
Jiao Zong dalam liputan akhbarnya yang bertarikh 12
November 2002.
Kenyataan bantahan rasmi tersebut dikeluarkan oleh
Dong Jiao Zong pada 12 November 2002.
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Kepada:
Ketua Pengarang
Utusan Malaysia / Berita Harian

Merujuk kepada perkara di atas, ingin kami tarik
perhatian tuan terhadap liputan berkenaan isu
pengajaran dan pembelajaran mata pelajaran Matematik
dan Sains dalam bahasa Inggeris yang dimuatkan pada
muka depan akhbar pihak tuan bertarikh 12 November
2002.

2. Dong Jiao Zong berasa kesal atas liputan tersebut
kerana telah memutarbelitkan kenyataan Dong Jiao Zong.
Liputan tersebut amat berbahaya kerana sengaja
mencorakkan Dong Jiao Zong sebagai badan cauvinis yang
menolak penggunaan bahasa Inggeris dan cuba
mengelirukan orang ramai terhadap pendirian Dong Jiao
Zong. Tohmahan ini sekiranya dibiarkan berterusan
barangkali akan menyebabkan rakyat benci kepada Dong
Jiao Zong.

3. Sebenarnya, sejak awal-awal lagi Dong Jiao Zong
menegaskan kepentingan bahasa Inggeris dan menyokong
sepenuhnya usaha untuk meningkatkan penguasaan bahasa
Inggeris di kalangan pelajar tetapi Dong Jiao Zong
menolak penggunaan bahasa Inggeris dalam pengajaran
dan pembelajaran mata pelajaran Matematik dan Sains
sebagai pendekatan untuk meningkatkan penguasaan
bahasa Inggeris, kerana ini langsung bertentangan
dengan prinsip dan norma pendidikan. Dong Jiao Zong
bimbang pelaksanaan ini akan merugikan pembangunan
negara, maka dengan hati yang tulus dan tanpa
prasangka Dong Jiao Zong berkali-kali mengemukakan
cadangan dan nasihat yang positif dari sudut
pendidikan demi kepentingan negara.

4. Dengan tujuan membolehkan pembaca memahami
pandangan dan pendirian Dong Jiao Zong yang sebenar,
semoga pihak tuan bertindak adil dengan memuatkan
kenyataan penuh Dong Jiao Zong yang dikeluarkan dalam
sidang akhbar pada 11 Nov 2002.

Sekian dimaklumkan. Atas jasa baik dan kerjasama pihak
tuan didahului dengan ribuan terima kasih.


Yang benar,
Dong Jiao Zong

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Dong Jiao Zong dismayed by misleading reports in two dailies


Beh Lih Yi
6:03pm Wed Nov 13th, 2002

Influential Chinese education group Dong Jiao Zong is dismayed by Malay dailies Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian for twisting the group's recent statement on the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English.

A protest letter was sent to the two dailies yesterday, urging them to be fair in their coverage of the group and to publish in full its statement issued on Monday.

"Dong Jiao Zong regrets the misleading coverage which twisted our statement. The coverage is dangerous as it deliberately projects us as a chauvinist group which rejects the use of English and confuses the public over our stand," read the letter which was made available to malaysiakini.

"If such accusations are allowed to go on, it will make the people hate Dong Jiao Zong.


Not means towards end

The main story on Berita Malaysia and Utusan Malaysia yesterday, which carried the headlines 'Chinese chauvinists reject new formula' and 'Two Chinese NGOs object', respectively, was on Dong Jiao Zong's first meeting on Monday since the alternative implementation of English in Chinese primary schools was approved by the cabinet last week.

Dong Jiao Zong is the collective name for United Chinese School Committees Association (Dong Zong) of Malaysia and United Chinese School Teachers Association of Malaysia (Jiao Zong).

At the meeting, the group maintained its objections to the imminent implementation, saying that while it supports the government's aim to upgrade English proficiency among students, the use of English in teaching the two technical subjects is not a means towards that end.

The group also said it had noted the importance of English as a communication language in this information era and proposed to the government since the early 1980s that English classes should start at Standard One.

It listed down seven points on its four-page press statement which was distributed to reporters at the press conference after the meeting.

Voicing concerns

Dong Zong chief executive officer Bock Tai Hee when contacted today said that the movement was just voicing its concerns and advising the government from an impartial, education angle.

He urged the two Malay dailies to be fair in treating all groups and to give a full picture of the issue instead of being selective about their coverage.

"We hope Dong Jiao Zong will not be projected and condemned as an extremist group just because of our objections. The group has been around since the country's independence, established with the aim of preserving mother tongue education," he said.

The group has been the most vocal opponent to the language switch since it was proposed in May by the Umno supreme council after rejecting Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's proposal to bring back English-medium schools.

For that, Dong Jiao Zong was branded "extremists" by the premier and warned not to "play with fire".

However, the label was lifted off last month when Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Hueng said the movement was not extreme as it falls neither in the religious nor racial categories of extremism as set by the ministry.