(see MO 12/10/10 front page & The Star 13/10/10 at page N41)

The PMR history question which suggests that Tamil schools are the reason for national disunity being achieved is an insult to the PMR students intelligence.

It is either Tamil schools or no schools for most of the 70% of the Malaysian Indians who are in the poor or hardcore poor category. They have a Tamil school at walking distance. How can they afford to pay the RM100 to RM250 bus fare when they earn a mere RM600 to RM800 per month?

These 70% Indian poor is as a result of 53 long years of UMNO racism, discrimination and exclusion of the Indians from the national mainstream development of Malaysia.

The UMNO led Malay-sian government has to get to the point by abiding by Article 8 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees equality for all Malaysians.

To start off with 370 or 70% of the 523 Tamil schools nationwide (NST 11/6/08 at page 24) have been denied full government financial assistance resulting, for example, the Ladang Jeram Estate Tamil School, Kuantan Tamil school being wholly in shipping containers, Lukut Tamil school Port Dickson housed upstairs a shophouse, Assad Tamil School Penang in a basement and the Tepi Sungai Tamil School, Klang which is operating from a JKR storeroom – should all be provided with state land and made fully assisted. There is no where else in the world where a primary school exists in these conditions. Only in bi-racial One Malay-sia can this extent of racism prevail.

The allocation per Tamil school student is RM10.55 but for a Malay school is it three times higher at RM33.00 per student (Sempuruthi Magazine August 2008 pg 47)

To the direct contrary 7,500 Malay schools will be marked 3 star, 2,000 marked 4 star and 500 marked 5 star by 2010. (NST 16/9/08 page 9). But the historical Mount Austin Estate Tamil School completely disappeared from the face of One Malay-sia. The first of it’s kind on planet earth! (MN 13/10/10 at page 4).

Teachers training opportunities are also denied to 1,522 temporary teachers in Tamil schools nationwide. (TN 5/1/09 front page) Only 100 out of 1067 temporary Tamil school teachers get to do the Kursus Dalam Cuti holiday Teachers training course. (TN 30/9/08 page 2).

But 15,000 Diploma qualified and trained (Malay muslim) primary school teachers are given the opportunity to do the primary school graduate teachers programme to ensure that at least 50% of the 140,000 (Malay muslim) primary school teachers have a degree in education awarded by 2010 in the five years Degree programme consisting of four years school holiday course and the fifth year on full time basis at all the Teacher Training Universities. (NST 23/7/2008 at page 18). Such facilities are denied to tamil school teachers.

These inequalities and UMNO racism are the real reasons for racial disunity in Malaysia even after 53 years of independence and not the vernacular schools.

Thus racist PMR exam questions to this effect holds no water and should not be allowed in future. The Director for PMR exams must therefore be forthwith sacked for this line of PMR exam questions especially in the light of UMNO Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bi-racial One Malay-sia policy.

P.Uthayakumar