2018年1月1日 | Speech
We are ushering in 2018, a brand new year. On this New Year’s Day, Malaysians are looking forward to a more prosperous year of hopes and abundance!
As a multi-ethnic nation, Malaysia exhibits diverse ethnic groups, religions, cultures and languages. For many years, different ethnic groups have been living in harmony to maintain socio-political stability, spur economy and social development so as to achieve good and prosperous life. The essence of which has made Malaysia the epitome of harmonious coexistence in a multi-racial country. Malaysia practices constitutional monarchy, though we adopt Islam as the official religion and Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, nationals are empowered by the constitution to practice religious and linguistic freedom. This is the true founding spirit of Malaysia, the precious legacy left behind by our founding fathers.
However, since our independence 61 years ago, Malaysia has been enshrouded in the mist of extreme unitization, wherein the spirit of moderation and pluralism adopted during the early days of independence are continually distorted by racial and ethnic sabotage, with the ill intent to tear apart the diverse cultures of Malaysia with unitary thinking of “one nation, one culture and one language”. Regrettably, multi-stream mother-tongue education has not been accorded equal status. There are still many unfair education policies in an attempt to suppress the existing multi-stream education system so as to achieve the politically driven unitization, which is evidently against the basic principle of education, detrimental to learning and all future development of the country. Dong Zong has consistently opposed all policies and measures that jeopardize mother tongue education.
As a multi-ethic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural nation, Malaysia is definitely unique. But we are not alone, there are other famous multi-ethnic nations which include Canada (Europeans, Asians, aborigines etc.) and New Zealand (Europeans, Asians, Maoris etc.). These countries have become strong nations by treating all their ethnic groups fairly. Malaysia can learn from them on ways to prioritize, maintain and develop diversified policies so as to present a diversified and harmonious situation.
Following the inevitable of globalization, the concept of the global village is no longer a dream. Malaysia needs to have relationships with all other nations and, in this process, it is essential for us to highlight our multiculturalism. After all, multiculturalism has become an indispensable yardstick to measure the overall strength of a government or a country. It is an undisputed fact that OBOR, or the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative suggested by China, is such a global economic policy that promotes economic collaboration among South-east Asian countries, with the objective of establishing mutually stable and sustainable development in these countries via political, economic, educational and cultural exchanges. An OBOR participant and strategic partner of China, Malaysia is obligated to promote diversification in order to achieve a long-term cooperative partnership with China.
Dong Zong would like to emphasize that the Malaysian government should practice principles of moderation in its governance. G25, established by a Malay elite group recently, has been promoted Malaysia to become a nation for multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious communities living in a just, democratic, harmonious, tolerant and progressive society. It advocates the practice of moderation in national issues, resisting racism and religious extremism. Dong Zong opines that our country needs a greater number of people and organizations to resist hegemony and unitary policies, truly care for the well-being of the country and its people, and treat every ethnic group fairly.
In retrospect, and anticipating the future, Dong Zong is carrying on with our principles to the bigger picture, doing all we can to set a new milestone for the future of Chinese education. Last but not least, on behalf of Dong Zong, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everybody a very happy New Year and all the best.
2017年2月7日 | Speech
Date: 7 February 2017 (Tuesday)
Time: 10.30am
Venue: Meeting Room A401, Dong Zong
Umno Information Chief YB Tan Sri Annuar Musa and your delegation,
Malaysian People’s Movement Party Vice President Datuk Dr. Dominic Lau and members,
Central Committee of Dong Zong and administrative staff of Dong Zong,
Good morning to all of you.
First and foremost, on behalf of Dong Zong, I wish to extend a very warm welcome to YB Tan Sri Annuar Musa and your delegation to visit Dong Zong. I also welcome Datuk Dr. Dominic Lau and your party members. Thank you all for taking time to meet with us this morning. The visit by YB Tan Sri today is to know more about the Chinese education in this country.
Let me briefly explain the background of independent Chinese secondary schools and its development. Prior to 1961, there were 70 Chinese secondary schools in Peninsular Malaysia. These schools were set up by Chinese community and received subsidies from the government to run the schools.
The Rahman Talib Education Report was released in 1960. The report recommended Chinese secondary schools to be converted, and failing which the government would withdraw the subsidies. The Education Act 1961 was later passed. At that time, 54 Chinese secondary schools accepted the conversion to use English as its medium of instruction. These are the conforming secondary schools known as Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) today. Later, the government changed the medium of instruction from English to Malay. The remaining 16 Chinese secondary schools did not opt for the conversion, were willing to give up government subsidy and remain unchanged then, these are known as the independent Chinese secondary schools today.
After being excluded from the national education system, these schools depend on the support of the Chinese community to sustain their operations. Over the period, some conforming secondary schools decided to convert back as independent Chinese secondary schools. Currently, Malaysia has a total of 60 independent Chinese secondary schools and one branch school. Without the support of government authorities, we had no choice, but had to design our own academic curriculum, organise unified examination, provide teacher training, etc.
I must stress that the teaching and learning materials of independent Chinese secondary schools are not sourced externally or transferred from places outside Malaysia. Since standardising the curriculum of independent Chinese schools in 1974, it has complied with the standard of national education. The syllabus released by Ministry of Education is used as the yardstick.
Independent Chinese secondary schools teach three languages to assist the country in grooming talents. The schools have since delivered outstanding achievement in various sectors. Regrettably, the government still does recognise Unified Examination Certificates (UEC). Besides not recognising UEC, furthermore, the government does not allow the setting up of new schools. For more than 40 years, under strong support of Chinese community, independent Chinese secondary schools achieved significant progress in various areas. The UEC is widely recognised by majority of universities in the world. The value and quality of UEC receive international recognition.
In this globalisation era, Malaysia is expected to face more competition and challenges. The rise of China as a huge economic entity sees the economic value and international status of Chinese language gaining prominence. Chinese education has since become more important. We can see from here that the Chinese education provides advantage that meet the current trend. Talents who are versatile in languages are able to gain advantage in a competitive environment. Hence, I hope the government can provide recognition for independent Chinese secondary schools run by the community, acknowledging the contribution of Chinese education towards nation building.
I am of the view that judging from the angle of education and social development, the unified curriculum and the unified examination offered in independent Chinese secondary schools fulfil national interests. For those who claim of “violating national education policy”, “not in accordance with national sentiment”, and “tarnishing national sovereignty” are unfounded and baseless.
The government should maintain multi-stream of education and treasure the vernacular education of each ethnic group as national assets. In 2015, the late Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan has taken the lead to recognise UEC and pointed out that the unwillingness of Federal Government to recognise UEC is a form of wastage which has also caused brain drain. He also criticised the move as a stupid policy.
I urge the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education and the Federal Government to show their sincerity in assessing UEC based on academic requirement and acknowledge UEC equivalent to STPM where it can be used as one of the qualifications for UEC holders to further studies in local public universities.
I would also like to brief YB Tan Sri that currently the number of students in these 60 independent Chinese secondary schools + 1 branch school this year has exceeded 85,000. Each year the independent Chinese secondary schools experience overcrowding of students. Hence I urge the government to adopt a more open approach when judging such phenomenon by allowing Chinese community to build new independent Chinese secondary schools or a new branch, allocate funds to support the development of independent Chinese secondary schools to resolve overcrowding of students.
For the future of Malaysia and also our next generation, I hope the Ministry of Education and the Federal Government should do away with unitary education paradigm, encourage more open policies and treat multi-stream education as a significant capital. They should build more multi-stream schools so that every child can have the chance to undergo vernacular education.
Lastly, I am grateful that YB Tan Sri pays us a visit today. I hope this is a good start and not the end. At the same time, I hope through the visit and dialogue, both sides are able to know each other more and we can achieve consensus.
As we are still celebrating Chinese New Year, I wish all of you a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year. Thank You.
2017年1月1日 | Speech
While ushering in the New Year, on behalf of Dong Zong, I would like to give my sincere thanks to those who have rendered their support to Dong Zong in 2016.
Respect for Multilingualism, Multi-ethnic Culture & Its Continuity
As a multi-ethnic and multilingual nation, Malaysia’s rich cultural heritage must be protected by all individuals, communities and the government. I would like to urge the government and Malaysians to cherish the diversity we enjoy. Such diversity must be preserved and supported with great perseverance. Unitary thinking, language and cultural policy will only lead to endless resistance and disaster. It is common practice for political parties made up of a single race or religion to embrace extremism, express provocative extreme remarks as well as exert intimidation and suppression. We as Malaysians must oppose such practice to avert undesirable consequences.
As a multilingual and multi-ethnic nation, Malaysia must create appropriate measures to develop our multi-ethnic cultures so that our citizens can practice different religions and our individual cultural traits whoever we are. I hope the government would treasure the different languages, customs and traditions of different ethnic groups instead of adopting inappropriate measures teeming with suppression, contempt and discrimination. The use of unitary thinking and education to sow mistrust among different ethnic communities is simply unthinkable.
Multi-stream Education Can Elevate Malaysia’s Competitiveness
We can see that globalization is a real test for our increasingly multi-ethnic population. The rise of China has uplifted the position of the Chinese language in the international arena. It is easy to see that Chinese education in Malaysia, which nurtures multilingual talents, is in line with this global trend and would stand Malaysians in good stead.
Under the Economic Transformation Plan, the federal government has raised the national per capita income from USD7,000 to USD15,000 in 2020, and aimed to create 3 million jobs. However, to realize these two targets, favourable human resources policies must be set in place so that the younger generation can obtain good education and professional skills. In this respect, a multi-stream education system can nurture multilingual talents to uplift Malaysia’s competitiveness.
To make Malaysia more competitive, the Ministry of Education and the federal government should do away with unitary education paradigm, encourage more open policies and treat multi-stream education as a significant capital in cultural heritage as well as social development. They should build more multi-stream schools so that students can have the chance to study their mother tongues.
Malaysia’s prosperity undoubtedly derives from her multi-ethnicity. It is a unique competitive advantage for Malaysians. The challenge is to provide equitable opportunities in multi-stream education and human resources development. I would like to urge the government to recognize the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), systematize fund allocation and build more Chinese independent secondary schools with the objective of cultivating more trilingual talents to serve the country. To this end, national leaders must adopt a global perspective in order to set the necessary policies to achieve this goal.
We must look to the future in retrospect for the benefit of the next generation. It is high time national leaders and party leaders cast aside unitary paradigm and racial thinking. It is high time for diversified thinking too.
Last but not least, on behalf of Dong Zong, I would like to wish everybody a very happy New Year. May Malaysia continue to prosper in peace and harmony!
2016年11月12日 | Speech
Date: 12 November 2016 (Saturday)
Time: 4.00pm
Venue: A401 Conference Room, Dong Zong
A very good afternoon to friends of the media.
Today is the Press Conference for the MoU Signing Ceremony of “The Project for MICSS English Teacher Education Programme” between HELP University and United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong); and by making a concerted effort between both of our organisations, I am convinced that we will be able to positively nurture English teachers of high educational calibre and professional competence for the Malaysian Independent Chinese Secondary Schools (MICSS) in future. Therefore, today’s Signing Ceremony embarks on a meaningful project of special and far-reaching impact on the development of an educational team of professional English teachers for our Chinese Independent Secondary Schools.
Furthermore, Dong Zong would like to earnestly encourage our MICSS graduates to enroll themselves at HELP University for the Bachelor of Education in TESL (Hons) programme. For the prospective and suitably qualified graduates, they will be eligible for the application of Full Scholarships and after their graduation, they will have to fulfil their obligation of teaching English in the MICSS for three years.
We are convinced that in collaboration with HELP University, we can alleviate the problem of the short supply of English teachers in MICSS, promote the development of professionalism for the English teachers in order to upgrade their quality in teaching and learning as a whole.
In order to improve progressively the shortage of English teachers as well as to promote the development of professionalism in English teaching for MICSS in the next 5 years, we would positively encourage and enroll “recommended UEC holders for admission” in taking the elective course inclusively for English teaching, so as to facilitate the English teachers’ reserve for MICSS, thus leading to the wholesome and professional development of MICSS English Teachers’ programme. So today, Dong Zong and HELP University’s MICSS English Teacher Education Programme is one of the projects of improvement. Apart from promoting the standard of English teaching & learning, we should seek more of the qualified English teachers to teach in Chinese Independent High Schools. At the same time, we should also improve teachers’ remunerations, motivate them with their team spirit and enhance them with the good ‘feeling of belonging’ for the Chinese schools.
We all know that there are many factors attributing to English teaching in Chinese High Schools, they involve curriculum, examinations, teacher resources, students, parents, schools’ facilities, community resources and etc., every factor is affected by the objective influences of internal and external conditions. We all notice that, although subjectively, the teaching periods for respective subjects shown in the time-tables of MICSS are quite similar, and attempt is also made in the teaching of the three languages – Chinese, Malay and English which requires equal emphasis, however, the actual results of effective teaching & learning demonstrate that the mastery of languages by the students respectively shows that Chinese language is better than Malay language, Malay language is better than English language; simultaneously, in the literacy aspects of the Malay and English languages, the phenomenon of the mastery of reading and writing skills shows better results than the listening and speaking skills bilingually.
I think we all agree that we need the particular language environment to motivate better learning of that particular language by the learners. Lack of this is the result which leads to the development of imbalance in literacies of the 3 languages, reading and writing of a language learning attribute their ineffectiveness not solely on the teaching and learning factors; as teachers are unable to acquire the specific language methodologies to teach English as the second language, and as well as the idealistic Chinese educational principle based on the philosophy of teaching students according to their individual aptitude and natural ability which contribute to the main factors of ineffective teaching and learning, leading to such phenomenon.
To counter the present educational situation on how to improve the English teaching and learning, Dong Jiao Zongs’ Teachers’ Education Committee of MICSS Working Committee plans to use the strategies of ‘optimising the resources of English teaching staff and the principle of teachers enjoy teaching’ to move forward the following projects of improvements:
1) Refine the training programmes for English teachers, pertaining to strengthening their acquisition of English as second language to teach with effective skills and methodologies;
2) Encourage the progression of the schools’ and Regional Teacher-trainings, so as to satisfy the requirements of individual school’s English teaching modules or various needs;
3) Organise Seminars/Conferences for Schools’ English teachers, to provide them with a platform each time for exchanging their views and feedbacks on teaching and learning pedagogies so as to amalgamate the resources of refined lesson plans and methodologies for fulfilling the aims of sharing and utilization of their views and materials;
4) Encourage and recommend MICSS students for admission to undergo elective English Teaching Training to strengthen the Teacher Resource team.
Where the fundamental safeguarding the education of our mother tongue language is concerned, MICSS should make full use of the great advantage of acquiring their own teaching and learning skills because the respective Chinese Independent Secondary School has the autonomy to employ good teachers of their own choices and select the best teaching modules to suit their school’s teaching mode and environment. They are not obstructed or limited by the government’s requirement in these aspects. Under the circumstance of the standard of our nationals’ English which has dropped tremendously, Chinese Independent Secondary Schools should upgrade and reform their teaching and learning skills in order to promote their English standard and quality so as to enhance our students’ competitiveness and the advantage of furthering their higher education.
Last but not least, I, on behalf of Dong Zong, would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to HELP University for your support and cooperation of our project. Wishing everybody good health and everything goes well with your work.
Thank you.
