KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) has welcomed the High Court’s decision of rejecting a lawsuit seeking for the government to abolish education using Mandarin and Tamil.
Its President, Tan Sri T.C Goh however expressed great disappointment over the adamant attitude of the plaintiffs to file an appeal against the said decision.
He hoped the group of plaintiffs and all quarters involved could respect the Federal Constitution and its provisions, and to immediately stop challenging the position of vernacular schools and the use of mother tongues other than Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of teaching.
He underscored that, vernacular education which had existed in Malaysia even long before it achieved its independence, is the bedrock of our nation building.
“And the fact that in recent years, a growing number of parents from the non Chinese community started to enroll their children into the Chinese primary school, also reflected well on its role in forging greater unity and harmony among Malaysians of different races.
“Hence, any quarters who think the existence of vernacular schools is harming and destroying our national unity, and attempting to eliminate their existence, are the real destroyers of our national unity,” he contended.
Goh who is also President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) expressed this while welcoming the Justice Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali’s summary judgment this morning, for saying that: “Given that the use of Chinese and Tamil in vernacular schools as a medium of instruction is constitutional as it is protected under the exceptions in Articles 152 (1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution, there is no basis to contend that the establishment and existence of vernacular schools are inconsistent with or infringe Articles 5, 8, 10, 11 and 12 of the Federal Constitution.”.
Goh was also hopeful that the latest High Court ruling in favour of the vernacular schools would have a positive effect on another similar case filed in the Kota Bahru High Court, which hearing has been scheduled in March, next year.
He reiterated that all quarters involved should stop wasting time and resources to continue to challenge the position of Chinese and Tamil schools in the country.
He also urged the government to continue to pay serious attention to the issue, and to strive to take appropriate and effective measures to safeguard the 1,321 Chinese primary schools and 524 Tamil schools in the country, whose positions are clearly protected under the Federal Constitution.
