MCA Ministers and MPs should explain why they had allowed the Education Ministry to reject the MAPEN2 recommendation for a New Deal for Mother-Tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan to build new Chinese primary schools according to need

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Speech
- DAP Forum on New Deal for Mother-Tongue Education
by Lim Kit Siang 

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• Build 250 new Chinese primary schools, or 50 new schools a year, under the Eighth Malaysia Plan.
• RM1 billion special allocation for the 60 Chinese Independent Secondary Schools and the  1,200  Chinese primary  schools to be paid out in the next five years in recognition of their past contribution to nation-building.
• Allow building of new or re-establishment of previous  Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
• Government recognition of Unified Examinations  Certificate (UEC) of Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
• Make Pupil’s Own Language (POL)  a compulsory subject for all pupils in national  primary and  secondary schools.
• Fair allocation of develoment expenditures to different streams of primary schools based on student enrolment, i.e. the total development allocation of RM2.75 billion for  primary schools for  the next five years under the Eighth Malaysia Plan should be distributed into  RM2.1 billion or 75% for national primary schools, RM577 million or 21% for Chinese primary schools and  RM99 million or 3.6% for Tamil primary schools.

When DAP MPs raised these specific proposals for a New Deal for Mother-Tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan  in the recent meeting of Parliament, such as the building of 250 new Chinese primary schools according to need, the recognition of the UEC and the approval for establishment of new Chinese Independent Secondary Schools, they were rejected one after another by the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad or his Parliamentary Secretary, Datuk Mahadzir Mohd Khir as being unacceptable for being opposed to the National Education Policy.

It is most regrettable that no MCA Minister, Deputy Minister or MP had spoken up to  support the DAP call  for a New Deal for Mother-Tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan.

MCA Ministers and MPs in fact should explain why they had allowed the Education Ministry to reject the recommendations of the Second National Economic Consultative Council (MAPEN2) for a New Deal for Mother-Tongue Education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan to build new Chinese primary schools according to need, when MCA MPs and  leaders were  signatories to the MAPEN2 Report which was presented to Parliament at the end of the Eighth Malaysia Plan debate last month.

MAPEN2 Report made the following recommendations on mother-tongue education in the Eighth Malaysia Plan:
 

“12.2.8:   Masalah kekurangan sekolah-sekolah SJK © dan SJK (T) harus diberi perhatian.

(a)  Kerajaan harus melicinkan dan menyegerakan segala urusan berkenaan dengan pembinaan sekolah-sekolah SJK yang baru. Ini terutamanya di kawasan-kawasan yang terdapat ramai penduduk yang memohon agar anak-anak mereka belajar di SJK dan kawasan-kawasan tapak pembangunan yang baru. Proses memindahkan tapak SJK ke tapak baru harus dipermudah;

(b)  Kerajaan negeri harus mengambil tindakan khas untuk menyegerakan pemindahan status tanah Kerajaan negeri bagi tapak SJK yang sedia ada kepada status tanah Kerajaan wilayah;

(c)  Tanah yang sesuai, berkecuali dan khas harus diperuntukkan bagi pembinaan SJK baru serta SJK yang ditempatkan semula. Peruntunkan tanah tambahan untuk SJK yang tidak dapat menampung bilangan pelajar yang semakin ramai juga perlu diberi pertimbangan.

(d)  Perkembangan peningkatkan enrolment di SJK harus diambil kira dalam segala rancangan yang melibatkan pendidikan, termasuk dalam Rancangan Malaysia.

(e)  SJK yang mengalami kekurangan bilik darjah harus diberi bantuan kewangan untuk membina bilik darjah tambahan serta kemudahan-kemudahan lain sewajarnya; dan

(f)  Apa jua tindakan yang berkaitan saranan diatas perlu mengambil kira matlamat perpaduan.”

The MAPEN2 recommendations for Chinese and Tamil primary schools in the Eighth Malaysia Plan could be formulated in a better language, but the gist of the recommendations is a  call for a new deal including the building of new Chinese and Tamil primary schools according to need.

MCA Ministers and MPs should explain why they allowed the Education Ministry to reject the MAPEN2 recommendations on Chinese mother-tongue education and Chinese primary schools, and what they propose to do in Cabinet and Parliament to ensure that the Education Ministry implement the MAPEN2 recommendations for Chinese primary schools.

(29/5/2001)