'Religious schools for all, but SJKC dangerous'

 

Whereas religious schools are open to all ethnicities, Chinese national-type schools (SRJKC) are very 'dangerous' if it creates enclaves where people could get by without speaking the national language, said Federal Territories Umno youth chief Mohd Razlan Muhammad Rafii.

Razlan said this at a press conference today in rebutting a statement by Sibu MP Oscar Ling, who compared religious schools with vernacular schools.

Razlan (left) said religious schools are open to all Muslims regardless of race, and cited a study to back his concerns that vernacular schools could be divisive.

The study supposedly found that 604 out of 14,000 National Service trainees in 2010 could not speak the Malay language, and this was highlighted in an Utusan Malaysia editorial last week.

“The SRJK C issue and the religious school issue are vastly different issues. Islam is a religion that is open to all and we have taken on an approach that is friendly to all races. There is no racial division in Islam.

“SRJK C schools is a very dangerous issue when we see that some 600 students entering the national service programme clearly could not speak Malay at all. Where did they come from? Where did they get their education, if not at the SRJK C?” Razlan told reporters.

He also claimed that there were many Chinese Malaysian businesses that could operate without a single staff able to speak in the national language.

Meanwhile, to a question on why is he not calling for vernacular schools to be scrapped, Razlan said more studies are needed, since 600 trainees are too small a number, and previous agreements still needed to be adhered to.

“We have agreed to let the SRJK C to exist. If we are to withdraw that, we have to first conduct a study and ask why should we withdraw it.

“We will debate this in the coming Umno general assembly. Today, the facts available that 600 (cannot speak Malay) is a small number. We want to know how many Chinese companies can conduct their businesses without using the Malay language.

“We want to know. These studies will be conducted and we will debate every detail of it in the assembly. If there is consensus that SRJK C should not be continued, we will stop them,” he said, while stressing that this is his personal opinion.

Razlan also clarified that by ‘stop’, he meant that no new vernacular school should be built, but existing schools should be allowed to continue operations.

He added that he has no issue with the SRJK C if Chinese associations are willing to take steps to ensure that the position of the Malay language as the national language is secure.

“As Malaysians, we know that we can’t exile the Chinese, the Indians, the Malays, the Kadazans… No. This is our country.

“But why should the Chinese be able to live without the national language? Is it that the national language is no longer their language?” Razlan asked.