The first school in modern Malaya was a tamil and english school in Penang.  At independence there were more chinese and tamils schools than english and malay schools.

At independence we agreed to maintain AND perpetuate the character and the established 150 year tradition of Malaya – multi-lingualism, and with multi-lingual schools; malay, chinese, tamil and english schools, for all time! And NOT mono-lingual schools. We decided at the outset not to be like other nations where one language is spoken and only a one linguistic stream education system.

Today, with India and China rising to be the major players in the world with their MNCs the most sought after for employment, there is more reason not only to promote more chinese and tamil schools, but actually begin considering closing down national malay schools! Or risk the Malays standing to be more marginalised and lose out further. Because all of a sudden it is the Malays who are a minority in a globalised asia that speaks little english!

However, it is up to the Malays to make this call.

temenggong

temenggongmalaysia@gmail.com