PETALING JAYA: MCA will never waver on the issue of multi-stream education and will safeguard it always, said MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
He said it was unacceptable for any party to bring up an issue which had long been decided and agreed upon by the Government.
Referring to Utusan Malaysia’s front-page article yesterday on scholars pushing for a single-stream national education system, he said: “Clearly their intent is malicious, which does not help promote unity among races.”
Party deputy president Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said he was “fed up” with the scholars’ arguments.
“Enough is enough. If you interview the same people who have the same views all the while, you will get the same answers,” he said after attending the 10th Exclusive SME Business, Financial Seminar and Roadshow 2015 here yesterday.
Dr Wee, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, also urged the press to stop fanning the issue by interviewing the same group of people.
“Why not consider the views of Chinese education leaders such as Ong Chiow Chuen (Jiao Zong president), Pang Chong Leong (former National Union of Heads of Schools president) or those from Hua Zong?” he said.
Admitting that the level of national unity had room for improvement, Dr Wee urged critics not to blame vernacular schools for racial tensions.
He said although he respected the views of scholars, some of their arguments were “too simplistic”.
“It is not so simple. ‘Look at Wee Ka Siong and Liow Tiong Lai’ … we are from Chinese schools but are we racists?” he said.
Dr Wee also reminded critics that the vernacular school system was part of the social contract on which the nation was founded, and urged them to respect it.
Critics of vernacular schools, he added, should study the 2013-2025 Education Blueprint, which outlines measures to improve education as a whole.
In Kuala Lumpur, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said any change to the present multi-stream system in schools must be agreed upon by all communities and not just by any single ethnic group.
“We must prepare to sit down and discuss this matter in all honesty among leaders of all ethnic groups,” he said after inspecting SK Taman Samudra.
A fire on the fourth floor of a block of the school destroyed six classrooms, with losses estimated at RM500,000.
– The Star
