yschia
15-12-2002, 04:16 PM
Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday confirmed
that the high-powered committee headed by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr.
Mahathir Mohamad to review the entire national education system to improve
the quality of education and ensure that national schools are the popular
choice of all Malaysians to foster national unity has started work, holding
its first meeting in Putrajaya on Wednesday. Among those who attended the
inaugural meeting chaired by Mahathir were Abdullah, Defence Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Tun Razak, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin
and Johore Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.
The second Mahathir education review committee (Mahathir had chaired a
Cabinet education review committee when he was Education Minister in the
seventies) was first announced a fortnight ago by Mahathir after the UMNO
Supreme Council meeting on Nov. 29.
UMNO Information chief, Tan Sri Megat Junid later revealed that it was
Mahathir who made the proposal at the UMNO Supreme Council for the
establishment of an education review committee because the national school
system had deviated from its original objective where the national schools
are the primary choice of all parents in Malaysia.
All UMNO Supreme Council members were given the opportunity to present
their views on the proposal before a decision was taken to establish a
committee under the chairmanship of Mahathir himself to review the entire
education system.
DAP has long advocated a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the national
education system in Malaysia, which has failed the objectives to achieve an
united, democratic, liberal and dynamic Malaysia - a call which has been
taken up by more and more Malaysians over the years, including University
Vice Chancellors and the former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Musa Hitam.
The second Mahathir education review committee is the most high-powered
education committee in Malaysian history, as no Prime Minister had
previously ever chaired an education committee, and is therefore likely to
produce the country's most important education report in the past half
century with far-reaching consequences for future generations.
DAP must caution however that the second Mahathir education committee should
not start on a wrong footing without being properly constituted and its
terms of reference defined or it will be considered unrepresentative,
undemocratic and even lacking in legitimacy - and will fail in its
objectives whether to improve the quality of education or foster national
unity among the diverse races, languages, cultures and religions in the
country.
I find it most astounding that the second Mahathir education review
committee could have started work on Wednesday even before it has been
properly constituted or its terms of reference defined satisfactorily.
Firstly, the Cabinet, the highest decision-making body of the government,
has not deliberated on the proposal to set up the most high-powered
education review committee in the nation's history as this proposal had
never been brought to the Cabinet whether before or after the Supreme
Council meeting of Nov. 29.
It is not good enough that UMNO Cabinet Ministers had approved it in the
UMNO Supreme Council when there are other non-UMNO Cabinet Ministers,
including presidents of other Barisan Nasional component parties like the
MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik, the MCA President Datuk Seri
Lim Keng Yaik and the MIC President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who should
not be treated as "puppets" but must be able to fully participate in the
final decision on its establishment.
Or are Malaysians to see in the final year of the 22-year Prime Ministership
of Mahathir the total dispensation of the proprieties of Barisan Nasional
coalition government with the UMNO Supreme Council unabashedly laying down
the law without having to refer to the Cabinet?
Secondly, has the second Mahathir education review committee been properly
and fully constituted? Who are the other members apart from Abdullah,
Najib, Aziz Shamsuddin and Ghani Othman who attended the first meeting in
Putrajaya on Wednesday?
Abdullah said yesterday that the second Mahathir education review committee
wanted to impress upon Malaysians that the national school system was
established for all, not just the Malays, and that national schools need the
support of Malaysians of all races.
Why then is the second Mahathir education review committee basically an UMNO
committee and not even a Barisan Nasional committee, when it should be a
fully national committee representative of all political parties,
educational organizations and the civil society, with representatives from
Malay educationists, Chinese and Tamil mother-tongue education NGOS like
Dong Jiao Zong, Malaysian Tamil Educational Research and Development
Foundation and the Group of Concerned Citizens as well as full political
representation, whether Barisan Nasional, Barisan Alternative or the DAP.
Thirdly, has the terms of reference of the second Mahathir education review
committee been defined satisfactorily and approved by the Cabinet?
In the past fortnight, the UMNO Supreme Council decision to set up the
second Mahathir education review committee has brought back calls by UMNO
leaders and
establishment educationists including former top Education Ministry
officials for a single stream school system for all students in Malaysia as
the answer to the problem of racial polarization in the country.
Tan Sri Murad Mohamad Noor, who was Education Director-General 1976-1985,
for instance, said that the problem of racial polarization cannot be
resolved so long as Chinese and Tamil primary schools are allowed to exist
together with national primary schools.
It is one of the biggest fallacies in Malaysian nation-building that
communalism and national disunity are caused by the existence of the
multi-stream primary education system.
Although over 90 per cent of the Chinese and Indian students enrol in the
respective Chinese and Tamil primary schools, the overwhelming majority of
them proceed to national secondary schools.
The real question to ask is why the ten to eleven years of secondary,
post-secondary and tertiary education where the different races come under
one common roof could not engender greater Malaysian oneness transcending
ethnic differences among the new generation of Malaysians!
Racial polarisation in the public universities is even more serious in the
previous decades - and this cannot be blamed on the multi-stream education
system at the primary school level.
In the final analysis, the real causes of communalism, polarization and
national disunity are unfair and unjust nation-building policies in all
fields of national life which give a premium to ethnic divisions rather
than to common Malaysian nationality, such as the continued division of
Malaysians into bumiputras and non-bumiputras.
It is a matter of grave concern that in the past two weeks, MCA, Gerakan,
MIC and SUPP Ministers and leaders of other Barisan Nasional parties have
kept a conspicuous silence on what is probably the most important political
decision for the year - the establishment of the second Mahathir education
review committee - simply because they are completely in the dark about its
objectives and agenda. When are they going to wake up to show their
concern and state their stand on the second Mahathir education review
committee?
- Lim Kit Siang -
that the high-powered committee headed by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr.
Mahathir Mohamad to review the entire national education system to improve
the quality of education and ensure that national schools are the popular
choice of all Malaysians to foster national unity has started work, holding
its first meeting in Putrajaya on Wednesday. Among those who attended the
inaugural meeting chaired by Mahathir were Abdullah, Defence Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Tun Razak, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin
and Johore Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.
The second Mahathir education review committee (Mahathir had chaired a
Cabinet education review committee when he was Education Minister in the
seventies) was first announced a fortnight ago by Mahathir after the UMNO
Supreme Council meeting on Nov. 29.
UMNO Information chief, Tan Sri Megat Junid later revealed that it was
Mahathir who made the proposal at the UMNO Supreme Council for the
establishment of an education review committee because the national school
system had deviated from its original objective where the national schools
are the primary choice of all parents in Malaysia.
All UMNO Supreme Council members were given the opportunity to present
their views on the proposal before a decision was taken to establish a
committee under the chairmanship of Mahathir himself to review the entire
education system.
DAP has long advocated a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the national
education system in Malaysia, which has failed the objectives to achieve an
united, democratic, liberal and dynamic Malaysia - a call which has been
taken up by more and more Malaysians over the years, including University
Vice Chancellors and the former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Musa Hitam.
The second Mahathir education review committee is the most high-powered
education committee in Malaysian history, as no Prime Minister had
previously ever chaired an education committee, and is therefore likely to
produce the country's most important education report in the past half
century with far-reaching consequences for future generations.
DAP must caution however that the second Mahathir education committee should
not start on a wrong footing without being properly constituted and its
terms of reference defined or it will be considered unrepresentative,
undemocratic and even lacking in legitimacy - and will fail in its
objectives whether to improve the quality of education or foster national
unity among the diverse races, languages, cultures and religions in the
country.
I find it most astounding that the second Mahathir education review
committee could have started work on Wednesday even before it has been
properly constituted or its terms of reference defined satisfactorily.
Firstly, the Cabinet, the highest decision-making body of the government,
has not deliberated on the proposal to set up the most high-powered
education review committee in the nation's history as this proposal had
never been brought to the Cabinet whether before or after the Supreme
Council meeting of Nov. 29.
It is not good enough that UMNO Cabinet Ministers had approved it in the
UMNO Supreme Council when there are other non-UMNO Cabinet Ministers,
including presidents of other Barisan Nasional component parties like the
MCA President, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik, the MCA President Datuk Seri
Lim Keng Yaik and the MIC President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who should
not be treated as "puppets" but must be able to fully participate in the
final decision on its establishment.
Or are Malaysians to see in the final year of the 22-year Prime Ministership
of Mahathir the total dispensation of the proprieties of Barisan Nasional
coalition government with the UMNO Supreme Council unabashedly laying down
the law without having to refer to the Cabinet?
Secondly, has the second Mahathir education review committee been properly
and fully constituted? Who are the other members apart from Abdullah,
Najib, Aziz Shamsuddin and Ghani Othman who attended the first meeting in
Putrajaya on Wednesday?
Abdullah said yesterday that the second Mahathir education review committee
wanted to impress upon Malaysians that the national school system was
established for all, not just the Malays, and that national schools need the
support of Malaysians of all races.
Why then is the second Mahathir education review committee basically an UMNO
committee and not even a Barisan Nasional committee, when it should be a
fully national committee representative of all political parties,
educational organizations and the civil society, with representatives from
Malay educationists, Chinese and Tamil mother-tongue education NGOS like
Dong Jiao Zong, Malaysian Tamil Educational Research and Development
Foundation and the Group of Concerned Citizens as well as full political
representation, whether Barisan Nasional, Barisan Alternative or the DAP.
Thirdly, has the terms of reference of the second Mahathir education review
committee been defined satisfactorily and approved by the Cabinet?
In the past fortnight, the UMNO Supreme Council decision to set up the
second Mahathir education review committee has brought back calls by UMNO
leaders and
establishment educationists including former top Education Ministry
officials for a single stream school system for all students in Malaysia as
the answer to the problem of racial polarization in the country.
Tan Sri Murad Mohamad Noor, who was Education Director-General 1976-1985,
for instance, said that the problem of racial polarization cannot be
resolved so long as Chinese and Tamil primary schools are allowed to exist
together with national primary schools.
It is one of the biggest fallacies in Malaysian nation-building that
communalism and national disunity are caused by the existence of the
multi-stream primary education system.
Although over 90 per cent of the Chinese and Indian students enrol in the
respective Chinese and Tamil primary schools, the overwhelming majority of
them proceed to national secondary schools.
The real question to ask is why the ten to eleven years of secondary,
post-secondary and tertiary education where the different races come under
one common roof could not engender greater Malaysian oneness transcending
ethnic differences among the new generation of Malaysians!
Racial polarisation in the public universities is even more serious in the
previous decades - and this cannot be blamed on the multi-stream education
system at the primary school level.
In the final analysis, the real causes of communalism, polarization and
national disunity are unfair and unjust nation-building policies in all
fields of national life which give a premium to ethnic divisions rather
than to common Malaysian nationality, such as the continued division of
Malaysians into bumiputras and non-bumiputras.
It is a matter of grave concern that in the past two weeks, MCA, Gerakan,
MIC and SUPP Ministers and leaders of other Barisan Nasional parties have
kept a conspicuous silence on what is probably the most important political
decision for the year - the establishment of the second Mahathir education
review committee - simply because they are completely in the dark about its
objectives and agenda. When are they going to wake up to show their
concern and state their stand on the second Mahathir education review
committee?
- Lim Kit Siang -