One School for One Language, One Race, One Nation?

Satu Sekolah untuk Satu Bahasa, Satu Bangsa, Satu Negara! 

Very soon, we will be robots, walking, dressing, speaking and thinking (if thinking is allowed by then) in exactly the same way. This may happen if we have this 1sekolah a reality. Is this way we envision Malaysia to be? A land of just robots? Killing the very roots of our culture - the culture of diversity? We have grown as a nation appreciating the diversity of our cultures and languages.

This is the new initiative by someone who calls himself "Kijang Mas" whose blog is named "Demi Negara". This person does not even have the guts to make himself public and apparently does not even reside in Malaysia and who so convinently blames the vernacular schools for the disunity in our community.  He obviously failded to see that issue of (dis)unity is not merely a product of schools. We need to see the big picture, the policies in schools, who put those policies there in the first place. What are our leaders and politicians doing about unity and how are they treating each other. We have not got it right. Here I agree with Khoo Kay Peng:

The proponents of 1Sekolah cannot even be truthful about the main problem of disunity and racial disharmony. Why blame the Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools when it was obvious that some UMNO politicians had started the racial blame game? Did you hear any students or teachers from the vernacular schools doing the same? Why is Rockybru keeping his golden silence when a vernacular newspaper, Utusan Melayu, from his media group is keeping up with the tradition of racial flaming?

It is disappointing to see a group of 'pro-unity' bloggers parotting the same rhetoric to cause even more disunity.

Calling the vernacular schools as a cancer and a cause of our society's destruction is both shameful and dishonest. These schools had produced some of the finest leaders for the country. Many of MIC, MCA and UMNO leaders came from vernacular schools.

I am glad that Education Minister Muhyiddin rejects campaign to abolish vernacular schools.

However, we must bear in mind that while racial appreciation and social integration are key elements in the maturity of our nation, it has to begin from the top. Our political leaders must throw away racist mentality and truly work towards one Bangsa Malaysia. This Bangsa can arise from appreciation of the fact that different cultures can exists with understanding and respect.  

Let's not forget that our mission (according to the Ministry of Education) is:

To develop a world-class quality education system which will realise the full potential of the individual and fulfill the aspiration of the Malaysian nation. 

Note: Realize the full potential of the individual - for the sake of our children, there needs to be a balance. We need to also be ahead of the curve in terms of the educational strategies and development world-wide. Each time we fight, our children gets left behind. Let's focus on improving the overall standard of education for the sake of our children.