Malaysian parties urge more support for Chinese education ahead of election

Organizations promoting Chinese education in Malaysia are using a closely contested general election in May to press the ruling coalition and opposition for more support for Chinese schools and education in the country.

In a statement this week, United Chinese School Committees' Association of Malaysia, or Dong Zong, which represents the boards of directors of the Chinese primary schools and high schools in the country, urged political parties to treat mother-tough education in a "fair and reasonable way" whichever side come to power in the election.

"We urge the new government to come out with a fair and reasonable policy as early as possible to solve the Chinese education problems in an active and cordial attitude," the statement said.

While emphasizing its neutral stance on political parties, Dong Zong made no attempt to hide its dissatisfaction toward the ruling Barisan Nasional government for "pushing forward unilateral education system."

Malaysia is a multi-racial country that has a population of 28 million with a Malay majority. About 25 percent of its population are ethnic Chinese, while ethnic Indian made up about eight percent.

The uniqueness of the country's education system lies in the co- existence of public primary schools that teach in Malay language and the vernacular primary schools that teach in Mandarin or Tamil language.

While the medium of teaching in government high schools is the Malay language, students of the Chinese or Indian descent are still allowed to continue the learning of their mother tongues in private schools.

Although Malaysia is maybe the only country outside China with a complete Chinese education system, Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the Chinese community has long been of the opinion that Chinese education is being treated unfairly by the government of Barisan Nasional, which ruled Malaysia uninterruptedly since the country's independence in 1957.

One of Dong Zong's core appeals is the recognition of Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), which are given to the students of Chinese private high schools who pass the a standardized test.

For now, graduates are not allowed to apply for public universities and colleges or get a job as civil servants with a UEC.

Dong Zong's other requests include more public funding for Chinese schools and the revision of a new education blueprint that it said to be promoting unilateral education system.

Its statement came at a time when the country is facing a closely contested general election to be held on May 5, when the Barisan Nasional, or National Front, is striving to hang on to power in the face of a strong opposition and the increase desire for change among voters, especially the Chinese minority.

Oh Ei Sun said Dong Zong is making use of the opportunity to raise its demands when both sides are trying to woo the Chinese voters.

"Dong Zong's struggle for Chinese education in Malaysia has been longstanding and unwavering over the years. However, its tactics in doing so are a mixture of cooperation with and confrontation against the authorities," he said.

"For example, it works closely with the government-backed One Malaysia Development Company to award scholarships to students with good UEC results. But it also held a series of huge rallies to clearly demonstrate the dissatisfaction of Chinese community toward unequal educational treatment by the government."

Barisan chairman and incumbent Prime Minister Najib Razak has been working hard to woo back the Chinese voters, who supported the opposition in large numbers in the last election in 2008.

Najib's government has shown considerable support for the Chinese education by recognizing university diplomas from China, promoting several Chinese private colleges to university level, among others, after he took over as Prime Minister following a humiliation for ruling coalition in 2008 when it lost the long- held two-third majority in parliament.

Wong Nai Chee, Najib's political secretary, told local Nanyang Siang Pau in a recent interview that Najib is even open to the idea of recognizing the UEC, only failed to do so before the election as he needs more time the look into the matter.

Najib is also facing pressure from the strong conservative and right-wing elements within his Malay-based United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which dominates the ruling coalition, said Oh Ei Sun.

"For them, recognizing UEC is somehow equivalent to surrendering the supremacy of Malay language and culture," he said.

"Whether or not Najib shares this opinion, the reality is that he needs the support of these extremist elements in UMNO both during this election and in the party election ahead," Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad repeatedly argues that Chinese community is in fact enjoying privilege for having a Chinese education system in a Malay dominated country.

Meanwhile, the opposition led by Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, has promised to recognize UEC in its campaign manifesto.

Oh Ei Sun said there's possibility that the Chinese education may enjoy better condition if the opposition comes to power.

"Firstly opposition has to continuously prove to the Chinese community that Chinese are treated more equally under its governance. Secondly, Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, one of the opposition component parties, has demonstrated its open-minded attitude in terms of respecting the preferences of non-Muslim communities despite its religious in nature."

However, Oh Ei Sun said the Chinese education issues will not have a big impact on the outcome of the election.

"Most Chinese voters, young or old, have made up their minds long ago in terms of their voting preferences in this election. It is unlikely that any last-minute major policy changes will affect their decisions, because those changes will only be seen as election 'sweeteners'." he said.