Shooting yourself in the foot, Malaysian style

We’re not supposed to talk about it. The different races. We’re all supposed to pretend that everyone gets on really well with everyone else, even though an incredibly unfair set of discrimination practices are in place. We’re all supposed to pretend it doesn’t exist, even though Malaysia must be the only country in the world that actively discriminates against its own citizens.

The Malays make up the majority of the population in Malaysia, at around 60%. Then you have the Chinese, at around 25%, the Indians at around, say, 9%, and there are various communities of Other, including us Portuguese Eurasians.

Nobody will say it out loud, but the major tension is between the Malays and the Chinese. The Chinese are the engine of Malaysia’s economy, but the Malays rule the country. In order to keep it that way, various laws are put in place that favour the Malays above and beyond any other ethnic group in the country. Now, you may argue about the nefarious nature of those laws and, while I agree with you, I can also understand why the Malays instituted them. It becomes completely obvious around festival time. At Hari Raya, you may find a few shops closed for two or three days but, at Chinese New Year, it’s like the entire country shuts down for a week. It’s this huge economic power that the Malays are fighting against when they first instituted the New Economic Policy and its mutated children.

(Personally, I believe that the Malays are doing themselves a disservice by retaining the NEP. (I’m actually quite sympathetic to their plight, but the NEP goes way too far.) All it does is set up a culture of dependency, and it makes others doubt a person’s competence. “Did you get to that position because you’re smart, or because of the NEP?” The problem is, I’ve met many very smart, very competent young Malay professionals, but I’ve slurred them upon first meeting because that’s the first question in my mind. It doesn’t do the credibility of Malays any good to have such a two-edged sword hanging over them. And the Malays are lucky with the Malaysian Chinese, who must be one of the most laid-back bunch of Chinese I’ve ever met. Bring Hong Kong Chinese here and the average Malaysian, regardless of ethnicity, wouldn’t last two seconds. Everything will be in Mandarin within a snap of the fingers.)

So, now that you have a fifty-words-or-less rendition of the last six decades of Malaysia’s history, let’s move on.

Recently, the government decided that the instruction of Science and Maths was to move back to Malay from English. This has been greeted with dismay from every Malaysian, except the Chinese language die-hards and the rural Malay population. What’s a parent to do?

Point One: I pose one question: who owns the private schools and colleges in Malaysia? Overwhelmingly, they are Chinese. The Malays have their own system worked out in the regular state schools and universities. So, as with the owners, the children attending private institutions are also overwhelmingly Chinese.

Point Two: At the moment, any international school (a subset of private schools) in Malaysia can accept Malaysian children, up to 40% of its total enrollment.

Point Three: Private schools are loathe to switch the teaching of Science and Maths to Malay and many are preparing formal exemption proposals to the Malaysian Ministry of Education even as I type.

The Star covers the topic of education in Malay/English here. It also mentions a few schools by name, so let’s go on a tour.

Who’s behind Sri KDU? The CEO is Ms Teh Geok Lian. Others involved are Mrs AK Chan, Mr Muhammad Azhar Bin Abdullah, Mr Ong Keng Siew, Dato’ Teo Chiang Quan, Dr Chia Chee Fen and Cik Rohana Tan Sri Mahmood.

What about Garden International School? Managing Director is Dato’ Loy Teik Ngan. Others are Mrs Abby Loy, Dr Khoo Soo Peng, Mr BK Gan and Mrs YY Chew.

Hmmmmm. Starting to sense a pattern here? Let’s try another school mentioned in the newspaper article.

How about Sri KL? Executive Chairman is YB Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Orthman Merican. And others include En. Hanif Merican, En. Rais A Manas … oh and then it starts to slide again … Ms Shirley Hai, Mr Chew Teck Ann, Dr Tan Khun, Mr Ngoo Kee Min, and so on.

The Malaysian government has managed to shoot a number of toes off with this reversal of policy in language. Quoting liberally from The Star article cited above, let’s go through them. First, the effect on private and international schools:

Several private and international schools … said that they had been inundated with calls from Malaysian parents in the weeks after the decision [to switch the language of instruction from English to Malay] was made.

Secondly, the effect on the Malaysian curriculum:

… [T]he government’s decision to reverse the PPSMI policy “has forced Sri KL to adopt the Cambridge International Primary Programme … [B]y 2014, Sri KL Primary School will no longer offer the [federal curriculum standard,] KBSR with the exception of Bahasa Malaysia for the UPSR examination [equivalent to the old UK 11-plus exam -- ksa].

And, thirdly, the effect on Malaysia itself:

… [T]he trend to opt for international schools is also apparent around Asia as Korea and China are starting to recognise the global importance of English. “The demand for an English-medium education worldwide has never been greater.”

So, the upshot is that rural Malays — who were held up as the reason for the reversion to Malay — will continue to be discriminated against in the future global marketplace. Those with money, or the ability to save up enough for their children’s education, regardless of race, will continue to have their children educated in English and overseas. And the Chinese, who own the private and international schools will, due to an incredibly increased demand, clean up, money-wise. If it didn’t disadvantage so many children — of all races — undeserving of such a future fate, I’d be in stitches right now.