The MCA has called on former Umno minister Tan Sri Zainuddin Maidin not to make provocative and emotional statements following the latter's remark about the Chinese refusing to master the Malay language.MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairman Datuk Ti Lian Ker said a person like Zainuddin, who made statements without looking at the root cause of the issue, should be ignored.
Zainuddin, the former information minister, had said in a blog posting that the Chinese wanted to identify themselves by speaking in their own dialects.
Zainuddin said that even after 57 years of independence, the Chinese had to be advised to learn Malay, citing Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s call at the recent MCA general assembly.
"But if even after 57 years, they can speak only broken Malay, then it is not impossible that this will not change in the next 50 years, unless a new realisation dawns on them and they can appreciate the hopes of the new MCA president, (Datuk Seri) Liow Tiong Lai," Zainuddin had said.
He had also said that Najib made the call as many Chinese, including the new generation, were not able to converse, read or understand Bahasa Malaysia.
Ti told The Malaysian Insider today that Zainuddin was not helping the situation with his provocative statements.
"Whatever Zainuddin Maidin has said is of no real significance towards providing a healthy solution as he has always failed to understand the root or core problems," the MCA leader said.
Instead Ti pointed out that in the 1960s and 1970s, Malaysians of all races had integrated in English stream schools such as Assunta, Methodist and various convent and LaSallian schools.
"There was little or minimal problems along racial lines from students of different backgrounds," he said.
Ti added, however, that somewhere along the way since the 1980s, these national schools were converted by political indoctrination along racial and religious lines, causing some parents to feel uncomfortable and to look for alternatives for their children.
He added that this indoctrination of schools along racial or religious lines were also noted by former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
"But it was too late to make any reversal when the damage was done.
"So, the issue is not about refusing to master the Malay language or not wanting to go to national schools.
"The issue is about people seeking a proper education system with a good environment for their children, and that is why parents are going for private, international and chinese-medium schools, Ti added.
Ti also said that it was important for people to open their hearts and minds to study and understand the real reasons why the Chinese, and even other races including the Malays, were opting to educate their children in Chinese-medium schools.
Zainuddin, in his blog posting today, lamented that even though Chinese kids were taught Bahasa Malaysia in Chinese-medium schools, the teachers were Chinese and therefore they ended up speaking with a Chinese slang and are studying the language only to pass examinations.
"Why is it that they get so angry when they are called 'pendatang' when they themselves don't want to be identified with the national language and instead prefer to be known by their ‘bahasa pendatang' (foreign language).
"This is self-isolation," Zainuddin had said. – October 16, 2014.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/ignore-zainuddins-provocative-statements-on-the-chinese-says-mca#sthash.TQkFY4aC.dpuf
No comments:
Post a Comment