Do read ‘Insecurity is the heart of racism’ by Hannah Yeoh published in The Rocket (8 Sept 2011)
See also, ‘You Are What You Speak’ (NYT)
In BM, we have the words ‘kami’ and ‘kita’ with a distinction in their meanings. In English, there is just ‘we’ without the differentiation.
The third person pronoun in BM is ‘dia’ which does not differentiate gender whereas in Chinese, we (kami) make a distinction between ‘he’ 他 and ‘she’ 她 in written form although both are pronounced the same.
There are even more interesting features in other languages. Let’s take orientation. We say left, right, behind, in front of us.
Guugu Yimithirr, an aboriginal tongue spoken in north Queensland, Australia does not have these “egocentric coordinates”.
Look at the comparisons below:
You’d normally give directions to a visitor to your home by saying: “After the traffic lights, take the first left, then the second right, and then you’ll see a white house in front of you. Our door is on the right.”
The tribesmen who speak Guugu Yimithirr and relying on cardinal directions will instead say: “After the traffic lights, drive north, and then on the second crossing drive east, and you’ll see a white house directly to the east. Ours is the southern door.” (source: The New York Times)
Ke mana semangat kekitaan?
Whenever I hear the acolytes of Pakatan’s ‘new politics’ repeating ad nauseum, “We are all one race, the human race” – their stock political vocabulary – I feel like retorting: “All you’re saying is that we’re not chimpanzees.”
While MCA has all this while been doing things in a (sort of) Chinese way, DAP’s new politics is evangelical in tone.
They are the spiritual twin of PAS in their sloganeering and religiously-flavoured use of words, e.g. the belief that their party and their people are the righteous ones while their opponents are “evil” and “crossed over to the dark side”.
Malaysian First has also been commandeered by DAP. The Malays responded to this hijacking by demanding a quid pro quo.
The Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua campaigners demands that Chinese be fluent in the national language because this shortcoming is the most visible and thus easiest to attack. SSUS is really attacking the Chinese through using language incompetency as the ostensible justification.
But instead of moving closer to a lingua franca and Article 152, the Chinese electorate and the Bangsar Malaysians are moving further away by clamouring for English schools.
Yeopies (Yeoh’s groupies)
The DAP’s ingenious solution to overcome the problem works like this:
If people like Hannah Yeoh and her husband are adamant enough they’re not Chinese or Indian, and if they can manage to squeeze everyone else (e.g. Muhyiddin Yassin) into the new race box DAP wants created called keturunan Anak Malaysia, then the state can be prevented from carrying out racial discrimination.
You can’t discriminate against for example, Hannah Yeoh’s child, by ethnicity since everyone together would – if DAP’s strategy succeeded – belong to only one Anak Malaysia race.
One race but many languages.
Yet the Firsters can’t even adequately understand the one national language that we have.
DAP interpretation
To evaluate their comprehension of BM, let’s take the prime minister’s speech at the 2010 Umno general assembly which the opposition widely criticised as deplorable.
They accused Najib Razak of using the language of “crushed bodies, lives lost” for Umno to defend power at any cost in Putrajaya. (See Lim Kit Siang’s statement)
As recently as 21 Sept 2011, Kit Siang was still asking for Najib to retract his speech.
The relevant passage is this (speech here):
“Berpasaklah kepada parti Umno. Bertetaplah kepada panji-panji Barisan Nasional. Walau berkecai tulang dan juga badan, walau bercerai jasad dari nyawa. Saudara dan saudari, walau apa pun yang terjadi, Putrajaya mesti kita pertahankan!”
Najib was using bahasa berbunga-bunga in his ‘impassioned’ call. The Umno general assemblies are a spectacle, entertainment even. There is melodrama (remember Dr M’s tearful recital of Perjuangan Yang Belum Selesai, Rafidah Aziz’s Bollywood moment rushing up to the stage …). There is pantun, there is seloka.
Because the Malaysian Firsters are so detached from the language and culture of the Malays, and clueless about budaya politik Umno, they’ve interpreted Najib’s “walau berkecai tulang dan juga badan, walau bercerai jasad dari nyawa” as threatening bloodshed.
Back to Hannah Yeoh’s September article in the Rocket where she rapped the prime minister “for spending millions on branding to promote the 1Malaysia concept ‘without sincerity’,” and was promoting her own brand of Bangsa Malaysia.
“Sincerity”?
You compare and make your own conclusions. (Click) dhanyaraam.blogspot.com which has collated a set of photos showing Najib promoting 1Malaysia.
I’ve collated the photos below of the DAP secretary-general (incidentally ALL showing him pictured with Berjaya’s Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping, story here.)
On her accusation of ‘insincerity’- do you believe Hannah?
Berkaitan: SatD, perkenalkan mu kepada Ah Beng baru
Helen Ang 
say no to dap !
yes
no no no no no no no no
many no’s
to the dark side
and its emperor
Don’t believe Hannah Yeoh.. She has no substance.. USJ is getting from bad to worse. Flash Flood all around in USJ that was non-existense before..
U r absolutely correct Bawal..Hannah Yeoh just playing cheap politicking about her child..the truth is she don’t want her child registered as Indian coz the father is Indian..is she allowed the child to registered as Indian..then we can believe she accept bangsa malaysia…
Apa dia dah sumbang untuk USJ?-chaos..
“Layu sebelum berkembang…” . Maybe in DAPpers’ intepretation, the malays are all rotten souls….
….pl corect them, helen !
Melayu itu halus budi nya, indah bahasa nya. Tidak bercerai nyawa dari badan jika gagal menjadi aur dengan tebing. Tidak bijak dalam menilai paras rupa juga rasa, jika sekilas ikan di air tidak tahu jantan betina nya !
Hanya yang bijak tahu menilai intan atau kaca !
(So, which one is hannah ?) he..he…
That’s the problem with these goons who have this holier than thou attitude. They think they are a god send to right the problems in society but otherwise they are the problem actually.
And their brand of one anak bangsa Malaysia is so confused that they are promoting a Rojak brand of unity with more or less china orientation.
Hm, bila orang DAP guna BM, Helen hantam mereka membelakangkan budaya Cina ‘mother culture’ mereka.
Orang DAP cakap bahasa Cina di majlis pertubuhan Cina, Helen hantam mereka tak hormat budaya Melayu.
Bila MCA jadi lembu dicucuk hidung UMNO, Helen tak berkata apa-apa, tapi sekurang kurangnya bersetuju :)
Teman, cakap biar betul ni. Bila saya pernah bila hentam orang DAP guna BM?
Yang saya kritik tu evangelis DAP pakai tudung masuk masjid untuk berpolitik. Dan yang juga saya kritik ialah orang DAP seperti Hannah Yeoh dan setpol LGE (Ng Wei Aik) yang menidakkan keturunan Cina mereka dalam mengisi borang-borang rasmi.
LGE cakap Cina tatkala memberi ucapan di sekolah swasta Han Chiang di mana PM dijemput (tetapi tidak hadir/diwakilkannya Rais Yatim) dan anak LGE diletakkan di SMJK(C) Heng Ee (sebelum dipindah keluar).
Saya menimbulkan bab bahasa sebab Guan Eng cakap satu benda kepada audien Melayu tetapi lain pula ceritanya kepada audien Cina.
“MCA jadi lembu dicucuk hidung UMNO”: MCA menyatakan akan keluar BN sekiranya dilaksanakan hudud. DAP kata “agree to disagree” bila K’tan dan Kedah mahu melaksanakan hudud.
How about agreeing not to be selfish.
Believe this is the core of the problem.
Correct me if i am wrong but DAP is selfish. Its kind are selfish
After making all the money they can in the country(with or without taxes paid) with their supporting consumers being all Malaysians irrrespective of races, and after educating their children bigtime local or overseas, they (and their children) are saying that something is definitely wrong in the country.
Is there anything wrong, when you are able to make so much money and live bigtime peacefully here on Malaysian soil? The more loaded ones have bought properties overseas and/or migrated there.
If one were to benchmark to any country overseas, they would realise that taxes and governing methods are much kinder. Foreign people working in China has to adopt a chinese name. All races in Indonesia have a standard Indonesian names. Taxes in Western and European countries are horrendous.
Now heard somebody said that the RM100 paid to parents of schoolgoing kids are actually “our” money hence implying that it is nothing grand. What’s the big deal mah.
Actually the ones saying such are the rich ones whom tak heran-already made their money big time -to go and collect the said RM100 will cost more for them(as they earn more in an hour). Their weekend family dinner at a restaurant already exceeds RM100. But mind you there are many people at kampungs whom really appreciate the money(10 kids xRM100=RM1,000). I will not mind my tax money being used to subsidise them, tithe wise
And also surely saying it is another election ploy.
Actually the govt can decide not to give.
How about the past fuel subsidies paid by Malaysian govt in way back in June 2008-(this is after election in early 2008)
Idol Singapore gave free money (Growth dividend) of SG300 to its rakyat in 2008?
You see, the society nowadays have to repent. Have to say more thank yous.
I see more old/pregnant people sitting down in LRT without any verbal thank you or a even grateful face after being offered a seat.
Children abandoning their parents.
Parents whacking teachers for scolding their children.
When one say thank you and feel gratefulness for anything even for the simple fact of being in existence, selfishness will evaporate. We will move towards better times as a whole – all races are supporting each other just like the many spare parts in a car-if one part gives problem the whole car will be troubled
Regards and cheers
Helen…Helen..you truly are umno’s stooge. Keep it up. You will need a new boss after the next elections.
anyone that does not bode well with PR called umno’s stooge but anyone goes against the government is the right of free speech. Seriously PR goon, is that the best you can come up?
Come and comment here a bit more than you can go to LGE asking for more rewards…more bones maybe..
DAP adalah sebuah parti politik yang wajar ditolak di mana-mana sahaja di muka bumi ini. Perjuangannya sempit, ideologinya berasaskan diskriminasi ke atas pelbagai golongan tetapi yang paling menjelikkan ialah DAP diterajui oleh insan-insan yang bongkak, tidak cerdik, tidak bijak dan tidak berpandangan jauh. Jika kita pilih pemimpin yang bebal, tidak bijak, semua yang bernyawa akan dipijak atau terpijak.
Tulah…problem sebenarnya adalah politicians.
Mereka nak hidup beb.
Kena employ macam macam taktik.
Taktik bohong ke…taktik kesian ke..taktik benci ke….taktik racial card ke.. taktik racial divide and conquer ke… semua boleh guna asalkan effektif dan dia naik takhta.
Bukan untuk rakyat tapi untuk diri dan keluarga sendiri.
Contohnya sekarang budak2 sekolah dah tak ngam sesama race lain2.
30+ tahun lepas masa GDP negara rendah semua budak tak kisah pasal ni semua. My best friend was a Chinese and Indian.
Mungkin masalahnya bila orang dah kaya dan makbapak boleh hantar anak ke private school mahal(Chinese school), tiada lagi kaumnya di Sekolah Kebangsaan. Jadi kurang interaksi.
Tambahan lagi mereka dah mula guna a bogey system masa ceramah. Hantam/hina orang lain. Itu adalah short–term strategy untuk bersatu dengan benci (supaya pemimpin yang lembik boleh naik) tapi long term wise semua akan rugi.
Kita semua rakyat semua kaum, kena waras guna akal, tengok belang mereka politicians. Identify their tactics and evaluate its impact.
Fikir long term.
Cheers
You said
“The Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua campaigners demands that Chinese be fluent in the national language because this shortcoming is the most visible and thus easiest to attack. SSUS is really attacking the Chinese through using language incompetency as the ostensible justification.”
Where did you get that idea?
“Ostensible??” “Attacking??” You must be joking right?
Satu sekolah supporters wants the government to uphold our National Language as the Medium of Instruction for all schools as provided for by the constitution and the national language act.
Start with that first.
Anda sendiri berpendapat bahawa kebanyakan kaum pendatang dari Cina dan India yang sudah beratus atau berpuluh bermastautin di Malaysia/Tanah Melayu tidak pernah dengan sepenuh hati mahu betutur bahasa kebangsaan.
Omar, A. H. (1985). Patterns of language communication in Malaysia
“two Chinese of two different dialect groups who cannot understand each other’s dialect or Mandarin would rather communicate in English or break off contact altogether than speak Malay which both can use”
Keadaan ini sudah tidak boleh di biarkan begitu sahaja
Sungguh menyedihkan.
Saya juga ingin bertanya mengapa Sejarah atau ilmu alam harus diajar di dalam Bahasa Mandarin atau Tamil sedangkan ianya boleh diajar di dalam Bahasa Kebangsaan?
Apakah “Cultural Transmission” akan luntur sekiranya kaum Cina dan India hanya belajar Bahasa Mandarin atau Tamil di dalam kelas Bahasa “Ibunda” dan bukan lagi bahasa pengantar?
Tumpang tanya satu lagi apakah bahasa Mandarin itu adalah Bahasa Ibunda orang Cina atau Bahasa Ibunda sebenarnya adalah Hokkien, Kantonese, Foo Chow dll ?
Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan adalah HARAM dari sisi undang undang Malaysia baca di sini
_________________________________________________________________________________________
I write you a reply separately in a short while. — Helen
Dear Gedik,
In reply to your question “Where did you get that idea?”, my answer: From the Demi Negara blog lah and its blogger Kijang Mas’ writings.
But to be fair to the SSUS campaign, let me qualify what I’d said in the posting above.
I believe SSUS is a genuine civil society movement. I do not think it was conceived to push an Umno agenda.
And I do not reckon that the prominent names signed up are necessarily anti-Chinese. I also believe that some of whom put their signatures to the campaign genuinely want to promote nation-building and alleviate the racial polarization.
Furthermore, I cannot fault some of the stated objectives of SSUS.
Only as I’ve mentioned earlier, I’m wary of some of the people who will be implementing 1Sekolah if it is ever carried out,
e.g. the school principals such as Siti Inshah and others who behave/have a similar mindset to certain reader-commentators to my posting on korban recently aggregated at the SSUS website.
Now, for my reply to your challenges:
(1) “Satu sekolah supporters wants the government to uphold our National Language as the Medium of Instruction for all schools as provided for by the constitution and the national language act.”
Pls ref. Umno Youth education bureau chief Dr Adham Baba’s statement which said “the BN Youth education bureau fully supported the Federal Constitution and Education Act 1996 which granted the existence of Chinese and Tamil schools in the country and that it also accepted and supported the existing education system in the country.” Source here.
(2) “Keadaan ini [di mana kaum Cina menjauhi bahasa kebangsaan] sudah tidak boleh dibiarkan begitu sahaja.”
I understand your concern but be careful when you wish for 1Sekolah as you may not find the outcome to your liking. I’ll elaborate in the second part of my response.
(3) “Apakah ‘Cultural Transmission’ akan luntur sekiranya kaum Cina dan India hanya belajar Bahasa Mandarin atau Tamil di dalam kelas Bahasa ‘Ibunda’ dan bukan lagi bahasa pengantar?”
I grant you it’s legitimate to question the underlying premise.
BC and BT as a Pupil’s Own Language (POL) subject may be able to provide a rudimentary grasp of the language.
But let’s take English for comparison. There is so much emphasis put on the teaching of it yet our politicians, right up to Dr M, complain that M’sians are not up to par in the language with some barely able to string together a grammatically correct sentence.
We’re subjected to 11 years of English (up to Form 5), and more if one attends kindergarten. The teaching hours allotted to English are phenomenal and the sikap menjunjung BI pada tahap gila. But the result?
Comparatively, Dong Jiao Zong is well aware that POL will not be granted the same kind of resources accorded English. Mandarin and Tamil will not be taught 5 days a week and in double periods like English.
In fact, in some SKs, it is taught only after school hours (i.e. outside the regular timetable).
Furthermore, there is presently the requirement of minimum demand — there must be at least 15 pupils asking for it although this situation will not logistically obtain if 1Sekolah is launched/vernacular schools abolished.
As I’ve been asserting in this blog, those of us who support vernacular education actually want to remain Chinese and Indian.
I will even admit to you that I speak Chinese to my dog.
This admission goes against the Pakatan propaganda that their vociferous support base – as you may know, I call them the Hasnah Yeops – is the benchmark of a First (level) Malaysian citizen.
Their audacious and Constitutionally unsupported claim to Firstness could perhaps even be the very reason that motivated you to start/join the SSUS movement.
But despite the SSUS campaign not being an Umno-initiated instrument, this aspect of the politics of education has our fractious race relations contestation at its core.
(4) “Tumpang tanya satu lagi apakah bahasa Mandarin itu adalah Bahasa Ibunda orang Cina atau Bahasa Ibunda sebenarnya adalah Hokkien, Kantonese, Foo Chow dll?”
Yes for some kids today Mandarin is.
When DEB started in 1970 post May 13, the effects of the forceful policy began to be felt among the Chinese. It was also when the emigration (out) began gathering momentum.
From the 1970s onwards, the generations of Chinese have been attending SRJK(C). For their kids (Gen X) and grandkids (Gen Y), Mandarin has indeed become one of the mother tongues.
It is a social shift that occurred because of our govt policies and DEB environment, a corollary to the social engineering extensively carried out to uplift the Malays.
Or to put it in other words, for every action, there is a reaction. SJK(C)s are the reaction to MRSMs, residential schools, matriculation colleges and ITMs/UiTM.
Hokkien, Cantonese and the rest of the dialects still remain mother tongues to a certain extent but Mandarin has evolved to become mother tongue in the same way that some of our upper middle classes claim that their mother tongue is English.
This is something that developed over the past decades. Again, the adage ‘for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction’ applies. Rejection of BM cannot be taken in isolation from our socio-political circumstances.
Part 2 of my comment will follow.
Part 2 of my reply.
I concede to Obefan (who has made several comments in this blog) that DAP’s M’sian First is not an immediate threat to the existence of Chinese schools.
Neither is SSUS.
I say this based on the political reactions, i.e. Najib’s recent actions (berjinak-jinak with the Chinese educationists, trickling some funding, etc), Muhyiddin’s flip-flop and lack of political will on PPSMI, and the muted response to KJ’s proposal to start 1Sekolah.
We’ve also seen how the government acceded to PAGE. If PAGE’s activism merits a 3 on the Richter scale, then the opposition that will greet any attempt to do away with vernacular schools will notch an 8.5. At the moment, none of our BN politicians want to deal with that kind of earthquake (you know, the ensuing social unrest jeopardizing the country’s shaky economy, etc)
The reason I take issue with the Firsters, and this is where SSUS overlaps, is their intellectual dishonesty. And the biawak way they’ve been going about staking their Firstness claim.
They just want to have their cake and eat it too. I’ve been tackling this topic, and these two following postings contain the gist of it. (Here and here).
Let’s go to the content of the SSUS memo to Muhyiddin and its core complaints:
“Pengkajian semula sistem pelajaran negara ini haruslah dilakukan memandangkan fenomena perpecahan kaum yang semakin meruncing di masa kini. Gejala ini amatlah jelas sekali di alam siber dimana segelintir masyarakat kini mempamirkan sikap anti-negara yang semakin berleluasa. Jelas sekali, anasir-anasir ini tidak menghormati asas dan prinsip Perlembagaan negara, tiada rasa cinta kepada Tanah Air dan juga menonjolkan penulisan hasutan yang mencetuskan sentimen perkauman yang begitu ketara sekali. Secara lantang anasir subversif ini mempertikaikan segala lambang kedaulatan dan intipati negara kita tercinta. Dari pengamatan kami, puak penderhaka ini antara lain telah menyentuh perkara seperti berikut…”
Summary of SSUS points: Chinese sentiments about Article 181 (monarchy), Article 153 (Malay special position), Article 152 (BM), the so-called ‘Social Contract’, NEP, standing of indigenous vs pendatang, history dispute, national symbols (Negaraku, keris (?), songkok etc), assimilation of minorities in neighbouring countries comparison.
It’s quite obvious to me that SSUS was formed due to the contentious climate post March 8, 2008. The ‘aggravations’ motivating the formation of the campaign were not so visible in the public domain before the advent of GE12.
Let’s look at a breakdown of the SSUS complaint:
(i) Gejala [perpecahan kaum] amatlah jelas sekali di alam siber
(ii) Segelintir masyarakat semakin berleluasa sikap anti-negara mereka
(iii) Anasir-anasir ini tidak menghormati asas dan prinsip Perlembagaan Negara
(iv) Tiada rasa cinta kepada Tanah Air dan juga menonjolkan penulisan hasutan
Who is responsible for what SSUS has termed “penulisan hasutan”?
The 1Sekolah targets Chinese kids from Std 1-6. They are between six and 12 years old. They’ve got nothing to do with the “seditious inflammatory writings” that SSUS finds to be proliferating in cyberspace today.
And do not forget that these writings have only heightened since the periods immediately prior to and around the last general election, and have become increasingly more strident of late.
The SSUS inference is that kids from Chinese school will eventually grow up to be the type of Malaysians exhibiting the traits (ii), (iii) and (iv) listed above.
But really! When SSUS takes offence at the ‘penulisan hasutan yang amatlah jelas sekali di alam siber’, are they referring to what they’ve read (i.e. hostile comments) that have been expressed in English or in Chinese?
It’s quite clear that SSUS is reacting to provocations in English (not Chinese). If written in Chinese, you might say that they were by the so-called ‘Cina bukit’. Ezam Mohd Nor wanted to “bakar” Malaysiakini and The Malaysian Insider, not Sinchew. In fact, TMI doesn’t even have Mandarin content.
Since the antagonism detected by SSUS was/is in English, they are more likely by the Bishop Paul Tan types (note that the bishop has never given any interview speaking in Chinese), and by the Hannah Yeoh types who have a convent school – and not SJK(C) – background.
It’s true that Lim Guan Eng makes his speeches in Chinese to the DAP constituency but his education cited in Wikipedia is La Salle Primary English School and Montfort Primary English School.
(Politicians who want the Chinese vote have no choice but to speak Chinese and those MCA fellas in government must necessarily be at least passable in their BM.)
SSUS needs to re-evaluate how far the behaviour they’re trying to curb can be blamed on Chinese education and upbringing. Again note that Guan Eng, Hannah and their fanboys/Yeopies are mostly ‘English-educated’ and active Internet political participation is not by poor people (‘Cina bukit’).
Also note that roughly 90 percent out of the Malaysian Chinese population are NOT Christian – according to the findings of the 2010 census. These are the very silent majority who fill the Chinese schools that you hear little (noise) from.
Instead you hear a lot of sabre-rattling from the evangelical politicians, isn’t that so? Think of all the kecoh that has arisen of late, i.e. the fight over the use of Allah and Bahasa Indonesia bibles, DUMC, PPSMI (glorifying English, denigrating BM), Bersih and even Kedai 1M’sia. Who are the prime movers?
Like I said, BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.
There are those that cakap tak serupa bikin, for instance, Guan Eng enrolling his own son in SMJK(C) Heng Ee.
And then there are those who will live up to their political posturing. I figure that Hannah Yeoh will enrol her child in sekolah kebangsaan to prove her belief.
There is hardly anything Chinese about Bishop Paul Tan. He does not display a Chinese approach to life. Instead his words are coloured by English and Christian thoughts, including constantly labelling other people “evil”. That’s a Christian dichotomy of dividing the flock into goats and sheep (black and white; sinners and saints — neat divisions).
The Chinese worldview is more syncretic, and we’re more tolerant of shades of gray. MCA delegates reinstated Chua Soi Lek.
If you force the creation of 1Sekolah, you’re going to be getting an enrolment of Bishop Paul Tan Juniors and Missy Hannahs alongside your Malay kids in class.
Also remember that Hannah Yeoh was head prefect of her school. So you’re going to get the type of Chinese kids in your 1Sekolah who are in her mould and who will be actively running DUMC clubs.
At the moment, we (the Chinese schools and SKs) are operating in parallel worlds. The situation is a détente – we stay away from each other and do not disturb each other.
In the world of adults, the jostling is between Umno-Perkasa-PAS and DAP, roughly Malay nationalists/Islamic supremacists vs Chinese (however you want to describe them – certain pro-Umno bloggers tag them biaDAP, DAPpigs which I find objectionable despite my own critical attitude to the party).
The unhappiness of both sides – SSUS and the ones SSUS has dubbed “anasir-anasir anti-negara” stems from our current bitter political battles, not because some 6-year-old is in a classroom somewhere scribbling pages and pages of homework in hanyu.
DAP has got more than 80 percent of Chinese support.
By attacking Chinese schools (by extension Buddhists/Taoists/Confucianists/Traditionalists and the Chinese philosophical thought), you are pushing more and more Chinese into DAP’s arms and strengthening their hand.
You can already see how badly MCA is floundering now, Gerakan on the verge of being snuffed out, and SUPP failing spectacularly in the S’wak state election this year.
The “fenomena perpecahan kaum yang semakin meruncing di masa kini” will only get worse with DAP’s ascendancy.
“Tumpang tanya satu lagi apakah bahasa Mandarin itu adalah Bahasa Ibunda orang Cina atau Bahasa Ibunda sebenarnya adalah Hokkien, Kantonese, Foo Chow dll ?”
A short one, the Hanyu (Mandarin) comprise Hanzi, the Chinese writting sytem, hence it is not wrong to claim Mandarin is our mother tongue.
I can write more on this if you are sincere to know, but even if i show you with concrete facts that Hanyu is our mother tongue, would you change your mind on our rights to VS? No right?
“Our rights to VS” is not equal to rights to learn other languages as per our constitution HuaYong.
No such rights to VS exist.
Yes I’m interested to know about your mother text/sign system
Hi Gedik
“Our rights to VS” is not equal to rights to learn other languages as per our constitution
– This is a fair statement. I can agree.
“No such rights to VS exist.”
– Yes there is such right, the reason of it existence before and after 1957 imply such right.
In Chinese linguistics, Mandarin refers to a group of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. We share only one writing system, Hanzi. The dialect mentioned by you is not a complete language unless they have their own writing system, it is just sort of spoken language. When Chinese claim we want to learn Chinese or mother tongue, that include the writing system, Hanzi, and Mandarin is the most common and standard dialect to facilitate the learning of Hanzi.
I’m surprised that you’ve summarized the position of 1Sekolah based on your judgement of blogger KijangMas.
Does his views represent all the petition signers? Too much prejudice on your side dear.
You should read the Satu Sekolah FAQ go here and here in Bahasa
In there all the issues that you have mentioned are addressed and as for the “position” noone knows who SSS Admin is and on whether he/she is representing the views of Satu Sekolah supporters.
Satu Sekolah issue is not something new, it has been a battle since the formation of Malaysia, the contentious issue have been highlighted in all the Education Reports.
And what is this thing that you are trying to equate NEP with Vernacular School which have existed before formation of Malaysia.
In the 50-60’s the Chinese language extremist knew that their game was over.
“The demand to recognize Chinese as an official language was officially adopted by the UCSTA when Lim Lian Geok was appointed its President on 19 December 1953. Lim was noted for his “unwavering stand and fearless struggle”
(Yen, 2008:252) to safeguard the cause of Chinese education on the grounds of equality and justice throughout his tenure as the President of the UCSTA.
He strongly believed that the only way to legitimize the position of the Chinese schools in the national education system was through the recognition of Chinese as an official language. This conviction was the result of a meeting with Sir Donald Charles MacGillivray, the Deputy High Commissioner, on 8 November 1952. The meeting was called by the Deputy High Commissioner to assure the Chinese educationists that the government had no intention to eliminate the Chinese schools.
Lim was more interested to find out as to why the Chinese could be accepted as the citizens of the country, but their schools could not be accepted into the national education system. He was referring to the proposal of the British to establish national schools which excluded Chinese as a medium of instruction. MacGillivray‟s answer to the question was that national schools could not use Chinese as a medium of instruction as it was not an official language. This was an awakening call for Lim. Lim came to realize that efforts to legitimize the position of Chinese schools within
the ambit of the national education system must invariably include the recognition of Chinese as an official language (Tan, 1997:101). Refer here : Chinese Language Movement 1952-1967
We all know what happened in the late 60’s with regards to discussion on language and vernacular education, if i may quote Mr Lim Kim Siang
“In 1960, Mr. Koh Kim Leng co-authored with Abdul Rahman Talib to produce notorious and obnoxious Abdul Rahman Talib Education Report, which is today’s the Alliance blueprint to destroy Chinese Language and education in Malaysia.
Mr. Koh Kim Leng’s Abdul Rahman Talib Education Review Report called for the forced closure of all Chinese secondary and primary schools, and their conversion into Malay schools. As a result of Mr. Koh Kim Leng’s Abdul Rahman Talib Education Report, the Minister of Education has now been invested with the power to implement this process of closure of all Chinese schools and their conversion into Malay schools within 24 hours notice!
Today, apart from 20 odd Chinese independent schools, all other Chinese secondary schools have ceased to exist, and are now English schools. But within a few years, all English schools will also be eliminated, and become Malay schools.
Already, in English primary schools, the process of their forced conversion into Malay schools has started, and there will be no more English primary schools by 1971.
I am convinced that after the general elections of May 10, if candidates like Mr. Koh Kim Leng are elected, then all the Chinese primary schools will be closed and converted into Malay schools overnight.
A vote for Mr. Koh Kim Leng is a vote for the Abdul Rahman Talib Education Report which Mr. Koh drafted, and a vote for the Alliance policy to destroy Chinese language and education in Malaysia.” refer here
Fast forward 50 years, look at us now, still talking about barang basi with the Chinese (more than the Indians) on one side and the rest of Malaysians on the other side.
With regards to polarisation this systemic issue have been highlighted by many, way before the education memo by Satu Sekolah group.
“As language is one of the strongest elements of ethnic identity, educational institutions using Chinese as a medium of instruction are regarded as one of the bastions for the preservation of Chinese culture and identity, and therefore as a hindrance to national integration. Zamani (2002, p. 204) argues that separate Malay, Chinese, and Tamil primary schools have helped divide the country as a whole. Therefore, Chinese enrolments in national-type’Chinese primary schools (SRJK-C: Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Chinese) and Independent Chinese Secondary Schools (ICSS) where Chinese is a medium of instruction function as a barometer of Chinese identity, of resistance to governments assimilative policies and consequently of ethnic polarization that leads to national disunity. Chan (2004) argues that ethnic polarization in primary and secondary education may perpetuate ethnic polarization.” refer here
You talked about enrollment, refer the paper above, CPI hosted presume you must have read it already ;) on the typology of Chinese communities and its impact to Vernacular Education enrollment.
Either side the pendulum swings, the Chinese would still send their kids to Vernacular Education and would put any Government at ransom to finance this illegal institution be it from land awards to direct funding from the tax payers.
Interesting that you took the time to quote one Dr Adam “apology” when even the late Mark Koding was NOT GUILTY FOR ADVOCATING THE CLOSURE OF VERNACULAR SCHOOLS
Who is Dr Adam? Is he more knowledgeable than the sitting judges (LP Suffian, CJ Raja Azlan Shah, FJ Salleh Abbas) in Merdeka University Case?
Am I suppose to accept the fact that the BN government has always adhered to the Constitution? This time I think you are really kidding rite?
Take the allocation of Federal and State Funds to Other Religion besides the Official religion do you think that it is Legal in anyway? That’s another story altogether better not complicate this delicate discussion further.
As for the Memo, if I’m not mistaken it was an open concept drafted by a bunch of anonymous and everyone had the opportunity to contribute and argue prior to the final formation, where were you Helen?
Take for instance the Five Aspects of
Formal Education in Confucianism: moral (de), intellectual (zhi),
physical (ti), social (qun ) and aesthetic (mei) education why can’t these primary pillars be embedded into our National Education system using the National Language as its medium?
Too hard to translate from hanyu?
Focus Helen focus, don’t do a biawak.
Support what is RIGHT according to the law, rewrite if you wish a new petition to the MOE for the perpetual protection of vernacular education.
Then the SatuSekolah movement should go fly a kite!
Alternatively go sign the petition today as the Petition ask for an Indepth Study on our Education system, if the independent study then says that Vernacular Education is super fine and good for national unity and does not has any affect on racial polarisation and is LEGAL according to our Constitution and the National Language Act.
The petition I think has done quite a bit by creating the necessary awareness (re history subjects mandatory) by simply doing it anonymously/online initiative.
Now imagine if it goes Offline.
(1) “I’m surprised that you’ve summarized the position of 1Sekolah based on your judgement of blogger KijangMas. Does his views represent all the petition signers?”
(i) In the first half of my reply to you, I’d already acknowledged that “I also believe that some of whom put their signatures to the campaign genuinely want to promote nation-building and alleviate the racial polarization.” I’m not quarrelling that you SSUS guys might be a mixed bag.
(ii) On how far the position of 1Sekolah is based on KijangMas
(a) he is the founder of the movement
(b) his name is the first on the petition “13:46, May 01, Kijangmas Perkasa, CA, Sila sokong kempen Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua oleh Blog Demi Negara”
(c) admittedly the petition has been toned down compared to KM’s blog
However, the memo still cites his blog viz. “Suatu penjelasan menyeluruh telah di huraikan di blog Demi Negara” and “Masalah-masalah yang timbul dari kewujudan Sekolah Vernakular banyak di perkatakan bukan sahaja di blog Demi Negara, malah di berbagai blog lain”
(d) while in the FAQ: “Q.1 Mengapa cadangan SSS ini diwujudkan? Oleh siapa? “Kumpulan ini menamakan diri mereka Komuniti Citramaya Demi Negara”, “Apa yang diusahakan Komuniti Demi Negara sangat berpatutan dan berpijak kepada dunia yang nyata, ke arah pembentukan Bangsa Malaysia” and “Kenapa komuniti Demi Negara menekankan mata pelajaran Sejarah?”
The “community” named after its leading light, eh?
(iii) Perhaps the position of SSUS is also based on the major petition drafters as well such as signature No.2 the blogger SatD, No.3 and so forth
(2) It can’t have missed your notice that the bahasa pengantar of this blog is BM. So better to start not with me but with the more than 90 percent (and it’s a high nineties) of the Chinese parents who might need convincing that SSUS has noble intentions.
(3) “as for the “position” noone knows who SSS Admin is and on whether he/she is representing the views of Satu Sekolah supporters.”
I’m not belligerent towards the SSS Admin. In fact, I do note the decent enough gesture/protocol of Admin in putting up my posting as is and leaving his/her editorial as a Comment below.
But pray tell, where should our friends go to read the representative views of 1Sekolah supporters? if not the blog, either Kijang Mas’ Demi Negara or the SSUS site (after all, there’s only one SSUS blog)
(3) “And what is this thing that you are trying to equate NEP with Vernacular School which have existed before formation of Malaysia.”
Malaysia 1963. NEP in 1971 marked the beginning of the closure of English schools (transformed into SKs). Before May 13, Chinese were largely enrolled in the mission schools and different races under one roof. Chinese schools were struggling to attract takers at that point.
Since then, there’s been the resurgence/revival where today definitely every Chinese I know sends his kid to SRJK(C) and an increasing number to SMJK(C).
As to whether the NEP factors have any bearing on the popularity of Chinese schools, ask the parents yah. Kinda pointless for you and me to engage in He Says, She Says on our personal opinions (they’re not our kids who are schooling).
(4) “… with the Chinese (more than the Indians) on one side and the rest of Malaysians on the other side”.
Agree with you that Tamil schools are not felt as much to be a thorn in the SSUS flesh.
However, beg to differ that SJK(C) only cater for Chinese. A little anecdotal story here but maybe someone more adept than me in Googling stats could provide us with more exact figures.
Sadly, the statement “… with the Chinese (more than the Indians) on one side and the rest of Malaysians on the other side” may hold true to describe the political demography after GE13.
And we Chinese will assuredly lose the population demography war. It’s just a matter of time. I thought you guys have a saying, “Sabar itu separuh daripada iman”?
(5) We’re merely debating ideology here. Unless the government acts with force – possible but I don’t see this happening right now – it’ll still rest on the parents’ decision.
When you choose your babysitter, it’s a woman or nursery you trust, correct? Because you’re placing your child and its safety in their hands.
The Chinese – in this case, since the numbers are so overwhelming, I can generalize the community – simply do not trust SKs or those who conceived the 1Sekolah idea with their children. These are the facts on the ground. This is just a blog providing words on your screen.
Helen cuba ketepikan KIjangMas atau Demi Negara atau SSS Admin, apakah ada menyokong Satu Sekolah di mana anak2 kita semua bergabung di satu sistem pendidikan mengunakan Bahasa Kebangsaan sebagai bahasa penghantar. Sekolah yang di mana Bahasa Ibunda bukan sahaja di galakkan malah mungkin akan di wajibkan, termasuk satu bahasa nusantara seperti tagalog atau thai (ini adalah penting kerana pada tahun 2015 Komuniti Ekonomi ASEAN akan membuka dengan luas peluang untuk pergerakan yang bebas antara negara2 ASEAN) apakah kita mempunyainya hambatan alami seperti Thailand dari sisi bahasanya?
Dari sisi ugama sama berpendapat seperti blogger yang saya sudah paut di atas, sekolah harus sekular akan tetapi “universal values” dan “moral dan budaya” masyarakat majmuk di Malaysia harus di ajar kepada anak2.
Saya sendiri pernah melihat seorang Cina Malaysia yang telah membuang air kecil di tempat wuduk lelaki di Bank Muamalat sesudah selesai bertemu dengan SVP, walaupun jelas tertulis “Di Larang Buang Air, Hanya Untuk Wuduk”
Bagaimana Helen, apa yang harus di takutkan sekiranya penjuangan ini berlandaskan Perlembagaan?
Sekolah Jenis boleh di teruskan tetapi harus di luar sistem pendidikan negara dan tidak boleh di biayai oleh Kerajaan.
Persoalan yang amat mudah tiada gunanya kita berputar2, saya benar2 ingin tahu kedudukan saudari, tiada gunanya menembak pembawa berita seperti yang saudari telah lakukan di setiap jawapan saudari di atas, bukan sahaja di sini malah di beberapa laman web lain sebelum saudari mengelola blog ini.
Unless of course your modus operandi is character assassination when you cannot debate with facts?
___________________________________________________________________________
Sudah berkali-kali dalam blog ini dan juga di mKini saya secara konsistennya mengatakan saya sokong sekolah vernakular.
Walaupun Gedik berpendapat “sekolah harus sekular”, namun saya tidak yakin jaminan/keadaan ini boleh dimungkinkan.
Melihat kepada respons yang diberikan para pembaca laman SSUS kepada bantahan saya terhadap upacara korban diadakan di perkarangan sekolah, saya percaya SK pasti berciri keIslaman. Bukan setakat di sekolah rendah, malah bermula dari peringkat tadika lagi. Baca sini. — Helen
“Sudah berkali-kali dalam blog ini dan juga di mKini saya secara konsistennya mengatakan saya sokong sekolah vernakular.”
Then argue with proper facts, no point talking about current status, everything is fait acomply to the situation that we are in and no point shooting down an initiative that wants to promote unity and language competency for all Malaysians.
Your point of argument seems to revolve around “who came out with it” and its “hegemony/supremacist” angle.
Anda masih belum menjelaskan mengapa sekolah vernakular harus terus ada di bumi Malaysia ini, anda hanya berdolak dalih dengan “fakta” mengapa ibubapa memilih sekolah vernakular kerana mahu menjadi Cina dan India. Apakah sekiranya anda fasih berbahasa kebangsaan dan bergaul dengan kaum bukan Cina dan India di sekolah membuat seseorang itu kurang Cina atau India.
Fikirkan sahaja Helen, sekiranya anak2 di sekolah jenis kebangsaan harus mengambil ujian Bahasa Malaysia PMR setaraf sekolah kebangsaan, saya yakin lebih dari 99% akan gagal.
Kelompok yang sama juga, jika berhijrah ke Canada atau Australia dengan mudahnya akan pulang dengan “slang mat saleh”, berbeza dengan kaum Perancis yang di luar Perancis yang sanggup bayar > harga “international school” agar anak2 mereka belajar di dalam bahasa pengantar perancis.
I wonder if FAQ is the trendy thing today, just like some believe that the colorful chart in Powerpoint is not only a proposal and plan, they make it sound like it is already a perfect and ideal scheme that every issue has been deal with. I don’t know about you people, my trust and confidence is zilch, just take a look at the NFC issue, the government funding for cow that are now used in purpose other than cattle turn into a fantastic show by every tom and dick from the government trying to defend the indefensible.
So the problem isn’t the SSS and the supposed objective; it’s the subsequent divert of the earlier objective that perpetuated what turned out to be a bad decision. Why not the SSS demonstrate to us how you would wiggle yourself out of that uncomfortable fact, by referring us to the FAQ, you people are funnier than you look.
Justification for VS is 2 folds:
1) No better option.
2) Our globalised world transforms to become more diversity, hence a diverse and variety model may helps.
Deal with the first with action, not FAQ, convinces the parents with concrete model, not via blog, the reality is out there and don’t keep on telling us history and constitution. Leave the latter as an option.
Helen,
Please learn to understand the notion behind SSUS. And please learn the meaning of the wors ‘INDIRECTLY’.
You’ve made too many wrong assumptions due to your failure to understand the concept behind certain ideas/policy.