17 FEBRUARY 2016
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However, by accepting the RM40,000 of donation happily, MCA would have hard time explaining to the Chinese community, to whom they claim of championing, on why SJKCs are still struggling financially due to “unfair”treatment after close to 60-year of independence. Economy and education are two most important aspects to the Chinese community.
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SJKC, also known as “vernacular schools” in Malaysia for the Chinese have existed since independence and the vernacular education isprotected by the Federal Constitution, despite disagreement by some former judges. The fact that these judges chose to read the constitution to their liking only “after” retirement speaks volumes about their desire to impress and probably enter (UMNO) politics.
It’s pretty simple – if SJK vernacular schools, particularly the Chinese were illegal and have allegedly been creating racial polarisation and of pariah standard, wouldn’t former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad have had bulldozed and shut down such schools during his 22-year-rule from 1981 to 2003? The reverse is true, amusingly.
By Education Ministry’s own admission, the enrolment of non-Chinese pupils in National Type Chinese Schools, or Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) nationwide shot up by 20.7% over the last five years from 2010-2014. In fact, the ratio of non-Chinese to Chinese pupils studying in SJKCs has doubled in the same period. There were a staggering 87,463 non-Chinese students in 2014 alone.
In a nutshell, this also means that not only vernacular schools are enshrined in the constitution, it also does what the UMNO government couldn’t do –offering quality education to all Malaysians, regardless of race and religion. Hence, when China’s ambassador to Malaysia – Dr Huang Huikang – donated some money to eight SJKCs, eyebrows were raised.
Ambassador Huang is no stranger to Malaysians, after he made a surprise visit to Petaling Street (Chinatown) over UMNO-sponsored Red Shirts’ threat to riot and harm Chinese traders along the popular tourist hotspot last year. He had deliberately said Beijing opposes terrorism and any form of discriminationagainst races and any form of extremism.
With tail between legs, the Red Shirts mobs didn’t show up and UMNO quietly let the issue fizzled out. But what was Beijing’s agenda by giving away RM40,000 to 8 SJKCs? Ambassador Huang could easily justify his intervention at Chinatown last year as to protect China’s investment and citizens, whom look no different from the local Chinese.
But to donate money to local vernacular schools would be harder to understand and justify as those SJKCs were not under any terrorism or extremism threats. There were also no reports about mainland Chinese students studying at such schools. Going by UMNO traditional convention, they should have demonstrated and accused China of interfering in Malaysia’s internal affairs, no?
Apparently, Ambassador Huang was invited by Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and even political party MCA Deputy President Wee Ka Siong was presence to witness the “donation”. Was Beijing sending a message, without both Hishammuddin and Ka Siong realizing, that SJKCs have been“discriminated” so much so that a foreign country needs to intervene?
It’s a public knowledge that SJKCs do not enjoy full funding from the Education Ministry despite the fact that parents pay all taxes like any ordinary citizen. Perhaps Ambassador Huang took notice of such “discrimination” after some SJKCs students braving the rain for donations from the public to keep their schools afloat, hence decided to send a message to Najib administration.
Perhaps Dr. Huang was playing a naughty joke on PM Najib Razak during the Chinese New Year that Beijing understood clearly giving money in the form of “donation” is very much welcomed in Malaysia (*grin*). Besides money, the Chinese Embassy has on various occasions donated books to SJKCs such as SJKC Chung Hwa Wei Sin, the only SJKC in Kuala Terengganu.
So, perhaps Ambassador Huang was trying to kill many birds with a stone – to win local Chinese hearts and support, to tell Najib administration to stop discriminating ethnic-Chinese especially in the area of education, to warn the Government of Malaysia that Beijing wants Chinese-based education to continue, and to embarrass PM Najib that China has finally lost its trophy as the most corrupted country.
And Beijing can afford to do anything to Najib son of Razak, includingsqueezing his grapes to dry, simply because Beijing has dumped billions of dollars rescuing him from his triple scandals. After all, if Saudi Arabia was allowed to interfere in Malaysia’s internal affairs by means of RM2.6 billion donation, what is RM40,000 of donation to some vernacular schools?
However, by accepting the RM40,000 of donation happily, MCA would have hard time explaining to the Chinese community, to whom they claim of championing, on why SJKCs are still struggling financially due to “unfair”treatment after close to 60-year of independence. Economy and education are two most important aspects to the Chinese community.
As for Hishammuddin, his smile and acceptance are an endorsement and acknowledgement the Malaysian Chinese have been discriminated – consistently – by his own cousin Prime Minister Najib Razak and political party UMNO. It’s not about the donation amount. It’s about why something as basic aseducation is still facing financial issue by a prosperous country like Malaysia.
In fact, the government should feel insulted because a small gesture of RM40,000 for 8 SJKCs was already sufficient to make the schools and ministers feel appreciated, as if the gift was invaluable and significant. But could there beother extreme reasons when the Chinese Embassy showed the world how some loose change were given to the Chinese schools?
Presently, China and United States are engaging a proxy war over the Spratly Islands. Judging by how China deliberately deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system on Woody Island, one of the disputed islands it controls in the South China Sea, during a summit between President Obama and leaders of the ASEAN, Beijing is sending a warning.
Beijing will not be intimidated by lame duck Barack Obama, let alone ASEAN. Does anyone in their right mind believe some Chinese coast guard vessels got lost and somehow ended in Malaysian waters recently? Does Defence Minister Hishammuddin need a rocket scientist to tell him the intrusion was on purpose to test Malaysian reaction and its naval capability?
Besides screaming “everything is under control”, Hishammuddin chickened out and played dumb as if nothing had happened. Instead, he asked Ambassador Huang to give a call to Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem to clarify the matter. Heck, what does national security and defence have to do with Adenan? Shouldn’t the defence minister take the responsibility?
While PM Najib loves golfing with Obama, he is now one of China’s stooges after Bandar Malaysia was pawned to China in exchange for cash to rescue financial-troubled 1MDB. The presence of China’s coast guard vessels were there to tell Najib that war is the answer if Malaysia dares to suck up too much to Obama in claiming Spratly Islands.
In a remote possibility, Beijing may use poor treatment of Malaysian Chinese over the last 60-year as an excuse to assert military and political pressure on the corrupt UMNO-led government. Knowing UMNO and Najib administration, the Chinese Embassy would most likely advice Beijing that Malaysia dares not “squeak” in an event Spratly Islands’ tension escalates.
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