My Gang Solves The Country S Problems

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As chairman of a residents’ association (RA), I have come to know many people across a variety of social backgrounds, businesses and interest groups.
Funnily enough, we never see each other through the narrow eyes of race or religion. That probably explains why we get along well and I continue to be elected to my position and am trusted by the residents to run the RA despite being from a minority group.
This position of trust, which is reciprocated with integrity among my committee, is indeed very important, without which a lot of efforts would fail.
In the course of work, we often meet, discuss and occasionally cross swords over various issues, politics included. Clearly, we have transcended the race and religious barriers with a high sense of tolerance and understanding.
An occasion at Ah Wee’s residence, after an excellent Kelantan Nasi Kerabu dinner, remains fresh in my depleting memory bank.
As we sat down to have dessert, wine and cigars, someone touched on the poor state of online schooling during the Covid-19 crisis, and that opened the floodgate.
Chin, the youngest in the group and a successful marketer, quickly seized the occasion to raise his favourite subject: the issue of education in Malaysia.
He never minces his words. “Our forefathers made a mistake when they allowed four types of schools (mediums of instruction) to exist in the country,” he started. “We should have followed the Singapore model by abolishing all the ‘jenis kebangsaan’ schools and have only one school system for all Malaysians.”
I have heard this refreshing idea before but not in a group like this. His liberating opinion, upon reflection, is rather controversial and could become a political hot potato. This is beyond coffee shop politics.
He said: “We should have only one school system and continue with English as the medium of instruction, supported by Bahasa Malaysia (BM), with Mandarin and Tamil as the two important optional languages, which every student must choose to learn one. In this way, all students would stand a chance to be competent in English, BM and Mandarin or Tamil or Arabic for that matter.”
I agreed and wanted to support him for I not only understood why Singapore did it, but had also read how it did so. Lee Kuan Yew chose English over Mandarin in all the schools because he wanted to get rid of communist elements in Singapore.
“Excellent, Chin,” said Liew, a successful flooring specialist contractor. “We could be better than them and wouldn’t be in a mess today.” That was what I wanted to say too.
Tony, another vocal member of the gang, a product of Melaka Baba from their most famous English high school, could not agree more.
“The difference is in the leadership, my friends,” he said. “Look at Indonesia and also China. Without Sukarno and Mao, who used a single language as a unifying factor, their citizens would not be united like they are today.”
They were nodding all around before he continued. “That’s what I call political leadership, which we lack,” added Tony, who likes to spring up surprises whenever we meet.
“Why do you all think I sent my sons to Singapore schools?”
“Because your wife is from there,” said Ben jokingly. Ben, a former chief financial officer of a large multinational company, has recently retired and now dabbles in Koi fish imports from Japan.
“No, Doris is from KL, but she graduated from NUS (National University of Singapore) and admired the leadership of LKY,” revealed Tony.
“I fully agree with you, Chin,” said Ah Wee, who hails from Terengganu but is a product of Penang Free School and is now an expert on solar energy.
“We don’t have leaders like LKY or Sukarno. And our politicians are not leaders. They play it safe and try to please the voters in order to get elected. Our education has suffered and so has our unity.
“Education has been heavily politicised, just like our political parties, drawn along racial lines. It was never about mental development or social engineering to unite all Malaysians. The British wanted us to remain fractured and not united.”
I thought he had good points until the British part. “Of course, it’s easy to blame the British,” interjected KC, who has wide business interests in Hong Kong and Vietnam.
I sense a little bias in KC’s statement as I know that with a Eurasian wife, he is bound to defend the colonial masters. “You know, like you, Ah Wee, I also went to ‘sekolah jenis kebangsaan’ for my primary and then English medium for my secondary. You know why?”
“Why?” said Ben.
“Because that choice was made available to our parents,” said KC. “Obviously, they would choose ‘jenis kebangsaan’, like so many others. But today, like you, Doc, I am sending my children to English international school because we have better choices.”
“Not because of your wife?” said Ben, half laughing.
“No,” KC replied. “I think today’s parents are more educated. They are more informed, not so conservative.”
“True,” said Chin. “They’re not traditional any more.
“You see, in those days, many Chinese community leaders didn’t think much of politics, but were rather protective of their business, maybe a bit of Chinese art and culture, and of course the language.”
“And you know why?” said Tony. “They all thought they could go back to China one day. So learning Mandarin was crucial to this objective.”
Everybody looked at him. You could almost hear Liew’s wine swirling in his glass.
“Malaya was only a temporary abode,” he ended, after which I spoke.
“But surely that’s not the case any more. We are all Malaysians,” I said, almost bringing a potentially serious conversation to an anti-climax. “To me, Mandarin is another important language which should be learned by all Malaysian students. If they can learn Spanish or French or Japanese, why not Mandarin?”
“Precisely.” said Chin, who must have felt that this conversation, started by him, had gone a full circle.
He blurted out his shocking point: “I think now is the best time for the government to make that decision.”
“What decision?” asked Ben.
“Change the school medium back to English,” answered KC.
“And lose the next election,” said Liew, while pouring himself some more wine into his and KC’s empty glasses.
“But the country will win,” I said.
“Yes, you’re right, Doc.” Ah Wee and KC’s voices were drowned in laughter.
They say the coming Year of the Ox will bring fortune and unity. I hope they are right, as we really need those two crucial elements in rebooting Malaysia. There are many other elements required and education is definitely one of them.
To all my fellow residents and Malaysians who cannot fully celebrate and gather for a reunion dinner, I still would like to wish you a prosperous Lunar New Year ahead.
To Chin, Tony and the gang, please keep on talking, arguing and debating. I truly appreciate you guys and enjoy listening to these myriads of topics. Gong Xi Fa Cai and stay safe. - FMT
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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