Malay rights NGO Perkasa should stop making racist remarks about vernacular schools in the country and take time out to weigh its contributions instead, Gerakan said yesterday.

Taking the opposite stance from Perkasa, Gerakan vice-president Dominic Lau Hoe Chai (left) said that Tamil and Chinese schools promote Malaysia's multicultural society and do not harm racial integration as claimed.

“Perkasa should stop making racist comments but instead study the cultural and lingual history and developments of other ethnic groups in more detail.

"They should engage on a self-reflection and realise that their ethnocentrism is the true hindrance to racial unity," Lau said in a press statement.

Perkasa's education bureau chairperson Prof Mohd Amir Sharifuddin had warned the government against endorsing a demand by the United Chinese Schools Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) to recognise the United Examination Certificate (UEC) for Chinese secondary schools.

Lau dismissed Perkasa’s criticism, arguing that since independence, Chinese and Tamil primary schools had cultivated many talented people for the country.

“The allegation made by Perkasa is simply nonsense. Multi-stream education is not harmful to racial integrity. It adds value and variety to our country’s cultural and lingual resources," he asserted.

He also reminded Perkasa that Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had settled the issue in the launch of the Malaysia Education Blueprint last year, when he vowed to defend the rights of vernacular schools to exist and even promised government aid.