Association of Former Elected Representatives (Mubarak) president Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman has lamented that national schools have became de facto "Malay schools" as they face a dearth of non-Malay students, which hampers the fostering of unity among the races.

“We call a secondary school a national one, but sometimes, there are only Malays in the school. We might as well call it a Malay secondary school,” he said at a press conference after a roundtable discussion in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

He pointed out that this sad situation had created a bigger gap in terms of unity among the country’s races.

He recalled that this was different during his own schooling days when the Malays, Indians and Chinese would study in national schools.

This is the reason why Mubarak organised a roundtable discussion on the topic of patriotism and tolerance between races among the country’s youths with academicians and student leaders today, he said.

While acknowledging that the country’s national service programme may help to alleviate the apparent rift between the races, Abdul Aziz said he believes that not much can be done to strengthen racial unity in the three months that the programme lasts for each intake.

“I think national service exists because they (the government) realised that the education system did not produce those who have high tolerance with other races.

“This may be a manifestation of our failure to strengthen unity through the schooling system. We don’t need national service if the spirit of national unity exists in schools,” he said.

Rukunegara only on buses

Meanwhile, comparing the country with Indonesia, Abdul Aziz said he is awed with how the Pancasila (philosophical foundation of the Indonesian state) is instituted in the neighbouring country.

“We, too, have the Rukunegara, but it is just placed on buses and on the back of books.

“The spirit has never been translated through our education system,” he said.

Malaysians’ identity, he said, must be stronger than ever with the entry of new ideologies such as liberalism.

“If we are not strong, we will be seduced by new ideologies because our ideologies are not strong.

"If we become awed with liberalism and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) views, our identities will be destroyed,” he said.