Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email well, this won’t go down well with the myopic few. Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said that he agrees with suggestion by state executive councillor for higher
education Dr Halimah Ali, who said there was nothing wrong in opening
up UiTM to non-Bumiputeras. He went further to suggest that 10% of the places are reserved for non-Bumiputeras and foreign students (something like matriculation).
He said the move would be timely as it followed the changes in the education system. At the same time, it would give early exposure to UiTM students to be more friendly towards other races.
“UiTM was set up to uplift Malays and Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak in the education sector. This effort must continue.
“But at the same time, UiTM should think more globally to ensure their graduates are more friendly with people of different races in the nation.”
He said inter-ethnic interaction was crucial for UiTM graduates as they would be better prepared to step into the working world, which was far different from life as they knew it.
I can guess that the responses will be – “there are many other ways to create inter-ethnic interactions, why pick on UiTM”, “number of students in UiTM small compared to private colleges/universities, so not much effect”, “over my dead body”, “don’t dare to question our rights”, “normal Malaysians won’t be interested to join UiTM”, etc etc.
why the Sekolah Wawasan unacceptable by the non bumis?
i guess because one school tends to dominate the other two, just like a certain coalition in our country. also, complications arise from sharing facilities like canteen – non-halal food problem, beef content, etc.
Poobalan
Are you sure these are the reasons ? As I recall, the issue exploded in the late 90s and the real reasons were political rather than educational. I also recall DAP using the issue to instigate the Chinese to vote against the BN/ MIC candidate in the 2000 Lunas by-election. Also interestingly DSAI used race and religion to attack MIC candidate as PKR fielded a Malay. It was surely the worst and most violent by-election in the Malaysian history.
I think Indians especially have a lot to gain with Sekolah wawasan and unfortunately due to politics this plan has been shot down. I remember Dr M being hurt by the objections and accusations.
As for UiTM, I thought it was already opened for a small group of non bumis if I am not mistaken. BTW many people do not know it, but UiTM actually uses English as a medium of instruction and there are far more non bumi lecturers teach there as compared to other public universities.
just ask sell to kfc and mcdonalds…problem solved….u come there for education right…u wanna eat indian food,chinese food or malay food….then you have go to food-court…or something…problem solved…
azam,
sekolah wawasan was rejected for many reasons..the main reason is the people who run the SRJK schools don’t trust the government at all…these are their reasons
firstly, when independence was granted, the BN government promised the chinese that chinese schools will remain as it is..but sometime down the line they changed the chinese secondary schools to SMK schools, even utilizing their existing buildings and facilities and just convert them to SMKs forcefully..thts why nowadays we don’t see any chinese secondary schools except chinese private schools..i think the same story goes for the indian schools as well..some chinese see this as a major betrayal to them..
secondly, for as long as anyone can remember SRJK schools are hardly funded by the government..in the 90s statistic shows that the chinese community contributed more than 200million every year to the SRJK schools..for comparison the 9th malaysian plan allocated just a few million for the all indian n chinese SRJK schools for a period of 5 years..that figure was just a few percent of the total allocation to primary schools..of course there was a big huhhah when it was announced and they probably raised it a little..
thirdly, if u look at some chinese newspapers they make a big deal in the headlines when some MCA leaders manage to obtain a few millions for the chinese schools from the government…hell, we are part of the government, why do we need to ask and beg for just a few millions where as we can spend hundreds of millions on anything else?for example funding a space tourist..
fourthly, if a non chinese child enroll in a chinese school, he or she is enrolled immediately and easily while chinese parents will have to queue up and fight for any space left for their child..a very famous chinese school in kl has allocated special classes for non chinese students for them to adapt n catch up on mandarin classes..if u know the statistics more than 60k non chinese students enroll in chinese schools every year..now, why can’t UiTM a fully government funded and subsidized uni can’t open its doors bigger while chinese schools which are meagerly funded by the government and funded by chinese community can be so generous to non chinese?
the money that chinese community contributed to their schools are not entirely for their children only..its indirectly contributing to the government because its the government’s job to fund public schools.they are helping our government do their job…students from these schools will directly contribute to our workforce n economy, just like u and me(i come from an SRK school)..so u can imagine all the angst and bitterness the some chinese community against the government when it comes to education..
now imagine that someone who has lied to u in the past and treats u worse than stepchild for so long suddenly wants u to join them in their big family where u won’t be a majority voice..the SRJK schools have a very powerful and united association among themselves and naturally they distrust the government..if they agree to sekolah wawasan then theres no more need for this association..this association is very important to the chinese community coz its one of the only non-political group thats able to unite the chinese..u and know that chinese take education very seriously..somehow education brings us together..so some even say the sekolah wawasan is a political motive to shut this association down and to kill chinese unity..
but the truth is to them if they agree to sekolah wawasan theres no turning back if the government screw them in the future..all that they have been fighting for for so long might be gone forever..and to them theres no point of introducing sekolah wawasan when we are divided to non bumis and bumis in every single sector..integration of races cannot be forced in a primary school the because children will sooner or later know the injustice outside school..this is how i felt when i left secondary school and tried applying for a local uni..it sucked..integration can only happen if we remove the injustice itself..
just my 2 cents..thanks for reading..
wanna hear another silly and shameful protest ??? Read this…
(are the students trying to admit that thy are no match for non-bumi students ?? hahahha)
———————————————————————————
PETALING JAYA:* Lebih 3,000 penuntut Universiti
> > Teknologi MARA (UiTM) mula berarak ke Bangunan SUK Selangor di Shah
> > Alam pagi ini sebagai tanda membantah syor supaya pusat pengajian
> > tinggi tersebut dibuka kepada bukan Bumiputera.
> >
> > Tinjauan /mStar Online/ mendapati penuntut UiTM mula berkumpul sejak
> > 7.30 pagi tadi untuk bergerak secara konvoi melahirkan pendirian
> > bantahan mereka.
> >
> > Pada awal pihak penganjur menjangkakan kira-kira 2,000 orang akan
> > menyertainya.
> >
> > Ketika dihubungi malam tadi, Yang Dipertua Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar
> > (MPP) UiTM, Luqmannulhakim Mohamad Idris berkata, perarakan yang
> > diberi nama “Perhimpunan UiTM Di Hatiku” akan menyerahkan memorandum
> > membantah syor tersebut kepada Menteri Besar Selangor, Tan Sri Khalid
> > Ibrahim.
> >
> > “Kami komuniti pelajar UiTM membantah keras pandangan (membuka UiTM)
> > sedemikian. Kami mendapati alasan bahawa tindakan mengkhaskan UiTM
> > hanya kepada masyarakat Bumiputera menyebabkan pelajar Bumiputera
> > kurang berinteraksi dan sebagainya adalah tidak benar,” kata beliau
> > ketika dihubungi /mStar Online/ semalam.
Dear Lim
Thanks for the lengthy, but well informed reply.
I would agree with some of your points but disagree the overall conclusion. I do agree that initially the govt wasnt keen on having vernacular schools but that thinking has changed. I do remember, Anwar Ibrahim trying his best to undermine the Chinese schools but after that there was a big change in the BN’s thinking and they started to have the Dep Minister of Education from MCA and Gerakan so that they will have some say on educational issues.
1. Chinese secondary schools : I think we need to understand that we are living in Malaysia and not in India or China. No other country outside China and India have so many Chinese and Tamil schools as in Malaysia. Even in Singapore, the Chinese schools are limited. It is bad enough that we are separated at the primary school level, but shouldn’t we at least study together at the secondary school ? You see many Chinese private school students have problem finding jobs now, just the Sekolah Agama folks.
2. You are wrong about the stats. Yes, the Chinese community contributed a big sum to the Chinese schools but the govt contribution runs into billions for Tamil and Chinese school. You see a few million you state is what was provided for constructions of new schools/building. But the bulk of govt allocation goes to salary, facilities, textbook, training,etc. Without govt support, most Chinese schools and all Tamil ones will close down.
3. The answer is same as no 2. Additionally, the govt cannot be seen as promoting Chinese and Tamil schools which would mean that it is not getting all kids under the same roof in SK.
4. Obviously you cannot but blame the Chinese schools for this rite ?
Dear Lim, the opposition to Sek Wawasan came from Dong Jiao Zong (associations of school teachers and school committes). The reason they gave was as below (taken from Malaysiakini in 2000).
==================================================
“It is instead the product of a transitional period,” said the statement in reference to the Chinese education lobby group’s view that the government’s aim in introducing the vision school concept is to bring about the termination of vernacular education in the country.
“We maintain our stand that the vision school concept is aimed at assimilation of all schools of different teaching media into a monolingual education system which uses Bahasa Malaysia as its medium of instruction,” said Dong Jiao Zong.
According to Dong Jiao Zong, the Chinese community is opposed to the vision school proposal as it masks the government’s intention, as declared in the 1956 Razak Report, to eliminate mother tongue education eventually from the national education system. ”
====================================================
So, the reason for their opposition is suspicion of the govt’s motives. I can very well understand that. But the aims of Vision School is to preserve the character of the vernacular schools. Under the Vision School plan Chinese- and Tamil-language schools will share common facilities such as libraries,
canteens and playing fields with national schools. The objective of such schools is to create an environment where Malay, Chinese and Indian children can play and eat together to ensure better
race relations in future.
So while we are so concerned about our own community’s concerns we should also make efforts to be intergrated as Malaysians. The objectives of Vision school is noble, so if you are concerned, then discuss with MOE to find some middle ground on this issue. Instead Dong Jiao Zong totally refused to discuss the matter and went around actually campaigning against BN in the GE and by-elections.
How would this be viewed by the Malays then ? We non bumis so vocal about being denied equal rights and Bangsa Malaysia but when it comes to national integration we insist on being Chinese and Indians first.
If the govt wanted to eliminate the Chinese education, they would just stop funding these schools. So Lim, please be objective and do not make accusations of injustice without understanding the issue at all.
If you ask me, the real intention of Dong Jiao Zong is not the preservation of Chinese culture but their own power base. By integrating into Vision School they are worried that the Chinese students will be drawn to the national schools and be less inclined to study in SRJK (C).
We also can see that many students of these Chinese indpendent secondary schools and religious schools no longer able to relate to the country’s multicultural society and drifted to a more ethno/religious centric mindset.
can turtles compete with tigers ?? Let turtles have their own jungle !
Dear Killer,
i appreciate your post and opinion, although i do not agree with some of it..
i agree that dong jiao zhong has their own agenda in opposing sekolah wawasan, in fact i hinted that in my post that they fear the lost of their association..
however i disagree that u said the government has poured in billions for indian and chinese schools..if u don’t mind please do a research on the quantity of SRJK schools built by the government after merdeka..i was told of the figure before..i was a very small percentage as opposed to SRK schools but i can’t recall the figures..so i have doubts if they are billions spent on SRJK schools..and i have a parent who was an admin staff in primary schools..both SRK and SRJK..so i’ve heard of all the difference between an SRK school and SRJK school..anyway my point is not about the figures..its about the percentile..i hope u understand..anyway if its really true that the government poured in billions in building SRJK schools then please tell me why in the 9th malaysian plan the funding for these schools are only 2.5% of the overall funding for primary schools?
i grew up in the transformers, thundercats and robocop era..almost half of my classmates are chinese..today less than 10% chinese goes to SRK schools..looks like we are not as racially integrated as before..surely theres a reason for that..parents losing confidence in SRK schools?parents seeing mandarin as a big advantage in their children’s future?or is it a sign of parents not believing in the concept of racial integration anymore?
it can be any or a combination of these reasons and yes, sekolah wawasan is one of the solutions to this but it has to work together with many other factors..like i said earlier, theres no point introducing all the sweet and nice stuffs in primary schools when its all different in the unis and in the real malaysian world..tht was the conclusion of my previous comment, which i think its quite relevant to this post about UiTM..
yes, anwar had a big hand in undermining SRJK schools..for a period of almost 10 years in the 80s theres almost no intake of chinese language teachers in our teacher’s college..hence the major shortage of chinese language now..and giving some deputy minister of education to some non-malays are not any gesture of goodwill..in fact there were non-malays education ministers before mahathir held the post in 1974..
i really don’t know if agama schools or chinese private school students having a hard time in our society..i know a chinese private school guy who had a hard time finding jobs but thats coz he studied horticulture and thats hardly any horticulturist positions in malaysia..but i work in a multi national company and my team leader is young fella from a chinese private school..competent as hell and has no problem communicating with some of my malay colleagues..so i really don’t know if they have a hard time or not..maybe it depends on the individual…and fyi the private schools UEC exams are recognized in most major universities around the world except our own public unis..theres no good reason for this..
u said “We also can see that many students of these Chinese indpendent secondary schools and religious schools no longer able to relate to the country’s multicultural society and drifted to a more ethno/religious centric mindset.”
i don’t know if its 100% true but the behavior of the UiTM students who demonstrated truly resembles a ethno/religious centric mindset and hardly relates to a multicultural society..
cheers..
Lim
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and debating in an amicable way.
As for the data for the amount of money the govt spent on SRKJ schools, the confusion arises on the amount spent on building and maintaining the schools. The low figure quoted are correct but these are the numbers ONLY for building new schools/classrooms. However the bulk of money for SRKJ schools goes to paying the salary and other expenses such as textbooks, training, equipement,etc. This is where the Opposition parties have mislead the people.
Do remember that SRK schools are for all Malaysians and not just Malays. So we cannot say the govt didnt do much to help Indians and Chinese in terms of education. These SRK schools are open for all, unlike the MRSM and Agama schools.
As for education ministers, note that Dr M brought in a non politician as the Edu Minister after Anwar. This is because DSAI had some a massive damage to the vernacular schools that hurt BN in the GE.
Finally as for UiTM, I think the argument that by having 10% non bumis will help ethnic integrating is without merit in my view. We can’t be studying 6 years in primary schools and then expect to be united within the 3 or 4 years at the university. Best time to start ethnic integration is at the primary school level.
I don’t think we as non bumis can point finger at UiTM as ethno centric as long as we chose to remain ethno-centric with a fanatical zeal to protect our schools and culture without making an effort to create an Malaysian identity rather than a Chinese or Indian one.
your last para is funny indeed ….. how do you define M’sian identity ? (rather than a Chinese or Indian one as you said) . Is M’sian identity means following malay culture/language/costumes….etc ? Than it’s not M’sian culture but Malay culture .
The old idiot (DRM) talked about bangsa malaysia when he was in power and now he is talking about ketuanan melayu . If all non malays were to sing his tone and abandon their roots last time …..hell will go our identity by now ….
So for umno , creating malaysian identity is nothing but a drama to wipe off our roots ….. Fortunately umno has mandors all over to spread their motive …
Indian and chinese should not forgo their roots no matter what . The chinese and their party(MCA) understood this well . But among Indians it’s sort ‘no direction’ . Simply because we never had strong political leadership .
Lim , killer’s rule is simple all way ….. if you’re indian/chinese you should obey umno no matter what …. i’m glad you stood on your stand !
killer,
i agree with u..melentur buluh biarlah dari rebung..integration should start as young as possible..but can u tell that to the chinese educationists? thats the whole point of my first comment..dong jiao zhong have a reason for not agreeing with sekolah wawasan..coz to them the government is not sincere in maintaining chinese schools..given the 2.5% they get..for the teachers and the books its part of the merdeka deal they had with the chinese community..chinese education is allowed and provided by the government..and besides its the taxpayer’s money..simple as that..
to call chinese schools ethno centric is quite unfair given that they dun practice any quota system unlike any of our local unis..in fact non chinese are encouraged to attend chinese schools..and the syllabus are all the same stuffs, only difference is they are taught in chinese and while they have an additional mandarin to take they are weaker in malay and english..and its only 6 years and they are mandatory to attend another 6 years of SMK school before they enter uni..unlike your comment that said they enter uni after 6 years of primary school..i think thats an oversight..theres nothing wrong with protecting one’s culture..its basic human rights.afterall we go around telling the world we are a multicultured n multiethnic society..that is the malaysian identity..theres nothing wrong with being an indian or chinese in malaysia..
the practice of UiTM is not a malaysian identity when they disallow chinese and indians while allowing foreigners..tell me wht are the message they are sending to us taxpayers chinese and indians?? when they called khalid a pengkhianat bangsa it simply meant the chinese and indians are enemies…afterall pengkhianats are helpers of enemies..just think about it..
i dont think u can blame it all to the chinese schools when everything else is racially biased..because theres no promise of the government that they’ll go all fair and united once sekolah wawasan is accepted..theres no promise that they’ll change the NEP, or remove the quotas in our education..they are simply asking the chinese community to change their system base on blind trust..they are asking them to change the one thing that they have in exchange for nothing..thts something that dong jiao zhong cant accept..cultural integration should be allowed to foster naturally and in an unbiased manner..otherwise its assimilation..not integration..
Lim , i’d agree with Killi Valavan and your points . Govt is merely playing 2-face game in the name of wawasan school . Even the one (Drm) whom came with bangsa malaysia concept is now voicing about ketuanan melayu . He is indeed a evidence of 2-face (aka Joker in Batman movie) . To me non-malays should not fall into the trap of sekolah wawasan . In other words we shd continue to protect SRJK .
Ok , let’s look at the point of view of govt . Say their motive is clean on creating sekolah wawasan and wipe out all SRJK . Then how about UiTM ? Is it an exception of bangsa malaysia ?
Ironically , the BN(umno) whom was supported by all races against the proposal. The S’gor MB deserves a salute . We cant say Khalid has political motive . If so then the ex-MB could have delivered the statement as well .
Remember , we’re “multi-ethnic” society and not “mono-malay” society . Supposingly should have rich in cultures and not consolidate become one . When we look at the costumes of M’sian Olympic sportsmen parade on the opening ceromony ….. do you see “multi-ethnic” ? Well , you can standardize certain things but not all .
MP: Two-face is not the Joker, but its Two-face Harvey aka Harvey Dent. Any bat-fan will know this. 🙂
MP , thanks for the correction 🙂
Glad you are back .
maybe VJ didnt watch the movie.. 😛