Sabah parties oppose abolition of vernacular schools

 By Olivia Miwil - August 27, 2020 @ 9:08pm

KOTA KINABALU: Political parties in Sabah have expressed their disagreement with a proposal to abolish the country's vernacular schools.

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) Deputy President Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai called on the Chinese community to take a firm stand to unanimously oppose the suggestion, which was mooted by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal.

"Anyone who proposes to abolish vernacular schools should be condemned. The authorities concerned should take the appropriate action against such acts," he said in a statement today.

He said such a move would violate the fundamental rights of the people to use their mother tongue in education, as enshrined under the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Chin Vui Kai, who is the information chief of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), urged Peninsular-based political parties to stop the "unhealthy culture of racism" which it said could destroy racial harmony.

"This is like a cancer that needs to be stopped early before it destroys our country," he said.

Sabah DAP publicity secretary Phoong Jin Zhe, meanwhile, reminded the newly-minted Bersatu youth chief that 71.5 per cent of students in Chinese schools in Sabah were non-Chinese.

"However, Chinese school students are still living harmoniously in Sabah society and to an extent, Malaysian society.

"Fayhsal is suggesting by destroying such institutions that have provided education for generations of non-Malays since the founding of the nation, somehow magically and miraculously, our children will display a 'stronger national identity' than they currently already are.

"Fayhsal and Bersatu have forgotten that this very same education system that allowed for the retention of Chinese and Tamil medium schools was introduced by the then Education Minister Tun Abdul Razak," the caretaker Sabah Youth and Sport Minister said in a statement.

Sabah MCA chairperson Lu Yen Tung, meanwhile, said vernacular education promotes national harmony.

"I call for attention once again to the fact that vernacular schools are safeguarded by the Education Act 1996, meaning not even the Education Minister himself has the authority to scrap them.

"It is reprehensible that some leaders have to resort so often to politicising education and targeting vernacular schools for cheap publicity," he said, adding that the incessant challenge on the abolition of Chinese and Tamil national-type schools were, ironically, themselves affront to the Constitution.