Real obstacle to national unity - Ketuanan Umno

 

COMMENT The greatest obstacle to national unity in Malaysia is not the existence of various linguistic streams of schools, but Umno's 'one-party state' mentality, which might be called Ketuanan Umno.

This mentality leads some Umno leaders to equate their party to the nation, seeing opposition to or even criticism of the Umno/BN government as disloyalty to the country, and democratic choices as manifestation of national disunity.

If in the past, Chinese schools get attacked vaguely for undermining national unity, this time its “crime” was made plain and simple by Umno’s Petaling Jaya Utara deputy division chief Mohamad Azli Mohemed Saad: promoting “racism and anti-establishment sentiments.”

Mohamad Azli told the NST: “Many are of the opinion that Chinese vernacular schools have been exploited by opposition parties to incite hatred towards other races, and [to] spread
racial and anti-government sentiments."

For authoritarian-minded Umno politicians like him, voters must support Umno/BN even if/when they are tyrannical, corrupt or incompetent, otherwise, there is no national unity.

All they care is that they remain the Tuan (master) that rules Malaysia.

Under this 'Ketuanan Umno' mentality, not just Chinese schools, any institutions that may produce independent-minded voters, from independent Islamic schools, independent-minded non-Muslim bodies, independent media, NGOs critical of the government, to opposition parties will eventually appear in the 'to be prohibited' list.

Where hypocrisy, opportunism abound

Already, the authorities are trying to stop Malaysians from using the word 'negaraku'!

These Umno leaders' hypocrisy and opportunism are obvious. No Umno leaders question the legitimate existence of our multistream education system in federal or state elections.

However, when Umno has its elections or annual general assemblies, Chinese- and Tamil- medium public schools will often be the bogeyman.

What Azli and his supporters – including some with good intention to see “national unity” through homogenisation – is that Chinese- and Tamil-medium “national-type (primary) schools” (SJKCs and SJKTs) today are more than just mother tongue education for the ethnic minorities.

They employ the same curriculum as the Malay-medium “national (primary) schools” (SKs) but provide linguistic options for all Malaysian parents and children regardless of ethnicity. They can be and are a boon to a more inclusive notion of national unity and integration.

In fact, as high as 13% of students in Chinese-medium national-type primary schools (SKCs) are non-Chinese, as compared to 6% of non-bumiputera students in the national primary schools (SKs).

In Sabah, the percentage of non-Chinese children in Chinese-medium primary schools is even as high as one-third.

Sounding an empty drum

In supporting efforts to make SKs more attractive, we must abandon the unexamined argument that the growth of Chinese school enrolment threatens national unity.

After all, what is the logic to claim the nation has become more divided with more Malay children learning in Chinese and giving their Chinese classmates more opportunities to mix with native speakers of Bahasa Malaysia?

In terms of ethnic diversity, SKCs with 13% non-chinese students are definitively more national than Umno which only accepts bumiputera members.

Mohamad Azli reportedly also proposed to mandate a 60% intake of Malay and Indian students and teachers in Chinese schools.

If he is so religious about inter ethnic-mix, he should first take up the farsighted proposal of their founding president Dato Onn Jaafar 63 years ago: open the door of Umno to non-Malays (in today's context, non-bumiputeras), and transform it from a communal party to a national party.

It would be great to see the day Umno having 13% of non-bumiputera members.

Surely Datuk Hishamuddin Hussien who always speaks proudly of his grandfather would be supportive of this idea.

While we rebut exclusivist statements by the likes of Azli, we must also categorically defend the freedom of anyone to call for any change to any public policy or public institutions.

If an issue is important, then it cannot be swept under carpet in the name of sensitivity. No messengers should be shot at no matter how much the messages annoy us.

I believe that the existence of multilingual educational streams is a blessing for Malaysia to capitalize on her diversity and make it a niche in the increasingly globalised world.

But the system will only be stronger when it is subject to public scrutiny and rigorous debates.

Chinese schools must not become another “sacred cow” in Malaysia’s public discourse like some faiths and some unelected institutions.

Any call for the Sedition Act to be used against those who oppose the existence of Chinese- and Tamil-medium schools is not helping the schools but rather harming them by sustaining an authoritarian political culture.

Umno leaders like Azli should be allowed to freely speak their mind on the issue so that Malaysians may form their informed opinion.

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WONG CHIN HUAT earned his PhD from the University of Essex with a thesis on the electoral system and party system in peninsular Malaysia. He is a fellow at the Penang Institute.