Policy vs Practice: The Multicultural and Anti-Racist Education in Malaysia's National School

Pulled this interesting piece of writing from Malaysia Students. Have a splash at what's written below. Note the emboldened stanzas. They speak on racial segregation and unequal educational opportunities at NATIONAL SCHOOLS. In light of this, I wish to say again the call for a single school system is definitely out of reach. Whether the idealists are too obsessive or that they are fighting for the good of our nation, that however remains to be proven cuz I juz dun see what's the point of pushing for this type of school. I may be wrong. That could be true cuz no one is perfect here. Everyone does mistakes. However, I'm not gonna be able to pull away from making my stand on the One School For All Petition. From what I've been able to observe, if they can hold vernacular schools responsible for racial segregation/disharmony/disunity, I juz can't see why they can't seem to be able to rope 'SBP's like Mara Junior Colleges, Malay College of Kuala Kangsar etc., UiTM, and religious schools into the same domain. Do they not know about these schools? Pretending like these schools don't exist? Or maybe they dun wanna admit they segregate and divide malaysians cuz I bet these schools are their pride and glory(I juz dun think there's anything glorius coming out of these schools). Or their mind is actually registering the word 'humiliated' hence they can't counter what I'm arguing here? Funny, I dunno why the double standard. Why are they leaving these schools off the hook and keep attacking vernacular schools for no apparent reason? Vernacular schools are OPEN to all races. But are those race-preferential schools I mentioned above OPEN TO ALL RACES? Race-preferential means they favor only a single race. Good. Now that I've made my point, continue reading below and note the emboldened stanzas.

Policy vs Practice: The Multicultural and Anti-Racism Education in Malaysia's National School

by AWhite

The heart principle of multicultural and anti-racist education lies on equality of opportunities in education. Foster (1990) recognized the equality of opportunities as the inherent differences in the talents and abilities of individuals, and achieve a fair and just allocation of social positions and rewards. When equality of opportunities is linked with multicultural education, we then look at educational opportunities; where students succeed despite being are from diverse ethnic, race and linguistic communities with different socioeconomic backgrounds. Thus, it can also be argued that multicultural and anti-racist education can only be successful through eliminating racist practices and restricting the chances of success of a particular racial group.

In terms of education in Malaysia, the national schools are government funded and it caters for a diversity of students. Moreover, national schools follow the Article 26 of Universal Declaration of Human (1948-1998) right where it state:

(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory…
(2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups..."

In addition to the above, multicultural and anti-racism education was part of process of realisation the "The Way Forward - Vision 2020" proposed by former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. The part of the proposal that involves education stated,

- To form a community that has high morale, ethics and religious strength.
- To cultivate a community that is matured and tolerant.
- To cultivate a community rich in values and loving culture.

The purpose of multicultural practices in schools have lost essence in supporting this.

According to opposition government leader, K.S. Lim (1966 – current), in receiving a letter from concerned parents of whose children attend Sekolah Menangah Kebangsaan Bandar Utama 4. The letter expressed that the school principal had been insensitive to the needs of other ethnic groups as she had introduced Islamic practices into the school system. For example, the school banned shorts for Physical Education as according to Islamic belief, it is considered inappropriate to reveal too much "flesh". In addition, she went as far as banning the beating of drums during Chinese New Year lion dance performance with no apparent reason.

If the drums are banned, it has been questioned, "what is the point of having a lion dance?" because a lion dance without drums will not bring the significant meaning in the Chinese New Year tradition. In other words, how could Vision 2020 be constructed with a community of rich values and loving cultural when students are not taught to appreciate and understand other cultures.

The segregation of differential racial and ethnicities of students can further be seen with an incident that occurred in Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Payu Butterworth. According to the opposition government leader, K.S. Lim, non-Malay parents of students from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Payu Butterworth expressed their disappointments on "Program Didik Cemerlang Akademik" as it was based on racial omission for non-Malays. These letters mainly state that for the past few years, certain volunteer teachers from Sekolah Kebangsaan Sungai Payu Butterworth have been conducting the extra classes out of normal school hours to prepare students who are weak in their studies for the coming Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah. These extra classes are free of charge and all students who are taking the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah examination are encouraged to attend. However, one of the letters continues to states that:

…recently the extra class for Ujian Pernilaian Sekolah Rendah has been politicised and the government started to give payments to all teacher who teach those classes BUT there is a condition. The teacher who is to be paid must be MALAY and the extra classes are open ONLY for the MALAY students.

Moreover, if the non-Malay students decided to go for the extra class, they will need to pay a fee of RM$15.00 (AUD$5.50). This incident has highlighted the inequality of education because it has marginalized the non-Malay students on their education righ-ts by imposing a fee on them while Malays students could attend free. The school and the government has shown Malaysian the extent racism exist in the education scheme because Program Didik Cermelang Academic offer has restricted the chances of success for non-Malay students and they were treated like second class citizens in the school. In addition, this incident has violated the Article of 26(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human right where it states, "Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in elementary and fundamental stages...." (1948-1998). However, even after violating the Article 26(1) and receive numerous complain letters, the school and government did not take an appropriate action but instead, they sent away two teachers who supported the complaints.

School is a place where ethical values and cultures can be learnt alongside with the education curriculum. Its valuable heritage should be shared and appreciated by children and their children. Let the school be a place where children should be given a guidance on how Malaysia can achieve Vision 2020.