Sultan’s comments on English medium schools spot on

The advantage of having English medium schools is well recognised and beyond doubt.

COMMENT

By TK Chua

The observations, comments and proposals made by HRH the Sultan of Johor on education and national integration are just too good to let go without the nation giving it some serious reflection and consideration.

What the Sultan said could present a very different Malaysia from the one we have been pursuing since the late 1960s. In a nut shell, it is really between progressiveness and cosmopolitanism on one hand and backwardness and parochialism on the other. As rightly pointed out, Singapore and Malaysia probably started on the same footing on education, but today, after 50 years, we are two countries contrastingly different in every aspect. Some of these differences could be due to other factors but education has certainly played an important role.

Whether we like it or not, the medium of instruction changes worldview because accessibility to information and knowledge with English education is different from vernacular education. Opportunities are also vastly different between those who are proficient in English and those who are not. We can quite clearly see people from the same community are quite “different” if they have gone through schools with different mediums of instruction.

I think the advantage of having English medium schools is well recognized and beyond doubt. It is a great social and economic equaliser next to government providing welfare, grants, permits, licences and contracts. It will enhance human potential and open up immense opportunities for Malaysians locally, regionally and globally unseen before in this country. I believe there are millions among us who agree wholeheartedly with the Sultan’s suggestion.

However, the issue we need to contemplate on is whether or not the suggestion by the Sultan has come too late. Have we, as a nation, gone too far in the wrong trajectory to be able to make a U-turn? Have misplaced jingoism, narrow nationalism and mediocrity seeped far into our national psyche for us to make a change?

If we read the response of our Education Minister (DPM) as reported, that would appear so. According to him, the change would require an amendment to the Education Act 1996 and that many countries around the world have used their native languages as mediums of instruction in schools. To me this is really not a response after careful consideration. To me this is just an answer based on our present national psyche.

While the Sultan was talking about a new paradigm in education policy, national survival and national unity, our Education Minister was concerned with the need to amend the Education Act. Can we see the disconnect here? How difficult is it to amend the Education Act if indeed a change in education policy is warranted.

I think it is very rare for a Sultan to express his concern on national policies which many have been accepted as sacrosanct and beyond criticism. It is a tough call even though it is from the Sultan. But it also shows this country has not lost all hope because there are still VVIPs willing to ask hard questions and make tough calls. I urge all right thinking Malaysians to give this idea its due consideration.

T K Chua is an FMT reader.