COMMENT BY YB PROF DR P.RAMASAMY, DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER II, PENANG
Vernacular schools don’t need “bleeding hearts”
Mohammed Haniff Khatri Abdullah, the lawyer for the Malay organisations challenging the constitutional status of the vernacular schools has advised politicians to hold their tongue until the matted is disposed off by the court.
He said that if politicians could not decide on the status or the unconstitutionality of the vernacular schools for 64 years, it is time that they stopped commenting the subject matter.
According to him, the present legal challenge is about whether the vernacular schools can exist in the country given the fact that they are using Malay, the national language, as the medium of instruction.
Haniff had earlier commented that vernacular schools are big disservice to students by making them less proficient in Malay in compared to students in national schools.
While Haniff chides me and some Bersatu leaders from commenting on the matter saying that action could be taken against us for disrespecting the court proceedings on the matter.
Haniff’s basic argument is that these schools should have been abolished 64 years ago, but why didn’t they.
What is the point of talking now when there is pressing need for a judicial review.
I am not sure which politicians that Haniff is referring to.
Maybe he is upset that politicians in the Malay racist parties such as Umno and Bersatu did not take a strong stand against the existence of the vernacular schools.
He is actually bemoaning the fact that schools were not abolished and this is the reason why three Malay organisations are resorting to a judicial pronouncement on the matter.
He definitely cannot include me in the list of not acting against the vernacular schools.
I am very strong defender of the existence and continuation of the vernacular schools in the country.
I defended them long before the matter was brought to the attention of the court.
Is Haniff in his zeal to move against the vernacular schools suggesting that action should be taken against me for having commented on the matter long before the court process began.
Haniff cannot sleep with the racist politicians and yet bemoan the fact that they have not done anything to remove the schools.
No person of sane mind would want to remove the existence of vernacular schools just to satisfy the racist extremism of certain political parties and right wing organisations.
If Haniff and others want to oppose the vernacular schools, go head and say it.
For heavens sake, don’t ever say that the removal of the vernacular schools is meant to assist students in gaining proficiency in the Malay language.
This hypocrisy and double-talk must be avoided.
It is better to deal with a wolf rather than a wolf than one in a sheep skin.
The former IGP Hanif Omar criticised me for commenting on the vernacular schools as being sub-judice.
Haniff is the second person to do so against me and others.
In other words, both these self-righteous individuals are equally guilty of sub-judice.
By criticising others for commenting, do they actually believe they are on the side of the law?
Vernacular school definitely don’t need “bleeding hearts”, the performance of the schools is a sufficient testimony to their resilience and relevance.
