Sacrifice for the greater good
Mordred PendragonPublished: Feb 24, 2001 8:09 AM | Updated: Jan 29, 2008 6:21 PM
The Save Our School campaigners must realise one main point - when are we non-Malays prepared to put our country before our own race? The police action may be unjustified but it must be looked at within context, i.e. the greater good of unifying our society towards the vision of One Malaysia.
It may be only 43 years since independence, but the roots of our future are in our children. They must be taught to hold one national language (be it English/Malay) ahead of their ethnic languages. If we are unable to begin to see this, then we, Malaysia, must struggle for a few more decades to find an identity. There is no doubt that the government authorities and ministry officials have bungled the handling of the Damansara school issue especially in its hastiness to shift the students, but the underlying objective is towards the vision of One Malaysia.
The shifting was also due to expansion. Development must be done, taking into account the economy's need for future expansion. The decision to relocate the Damansara school was made with this basic fact in mind. It is very narrow-minded of us to see it merely as an issue about infringement of rights.
Schools can be the root of all future societal problems and Chinese/Tamil/Malay-only schools will only foster the 'race first, country second' mentality.
While it is the right of every parent to choose which school his or her child goes to, it is the country's greater right to see that good is obtained from this choice. It is civil society's greater right to see that future damage is not made through these choices.
We must strike a balance between rights and duties. Ethnic-based schools do not promote unity. Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant of problems facing cities today: Urban neighbours complain about 'bloody keling' or 'bloody Chinaman'; how many of these neighbours have true friends of other races?
Let us see all views to this issue. Long-term objectives must be considered. We need to move forward. We cannot continue with race-oriented debates on unity.
While admirable, the danger of the Save Our School campaign is that it can result in fostering an 'Us vs Them' mentality.
It may be only 43 years since independence, but the roots of our future are in our children. They must be taught to hold one national language (be it English/Malay) ahead of their ethnic languages. If we are unable to begin to see this, then we, Malaysia, must struggle for a few more decades to find an identity. There is no doubt that the government authorities and ministry officials have bungled the handling of the Damansara school issue especially in its hastiness to shift the students, but the underlying objective is towards the vision of One Malaysia.
The shifting was also due to expansion. Development must be done, taking into account the economy's need for future expansion. The decision to relocate the Damansara school was made with this basic fact in mind. It is very narrow-minded of us to see it merely as an issue about infringement of rights.
Schools can be the root of all future societal problems and Chinese/Tamil/Malay-only schools will only foster the 'race first, country second' mentality.
While it is the right of every parent to choose which school his or her child goes to, it is the country's greater right to see that good is obtained from this choice. It is civil society's greater right to see that future damage is not made through these choices.
We must strike a balance between rights and duties. Ethnic-based schools do not promote unity. Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant of problems facing cities today: Urban neighbours complain about 'bloody keling' or 'bloody Chinaman'; how many of these neighbours have true friends of other races?
Let us see all views to this issue. Long-term objectives must be considered. We need to move forward. We cannot continue with race-oriented debates on unity.
While admirable, the danger of the Save Our School campaign is that it can result in fostering an 'Us vs Them' mentality.
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