Political Myopia

The recent street demonstrations in Malaysia are the result of the country's longstanding political myopia that incredibly, is still being allowed to be 'alive and well'. And this myopia only serves to benefit a select group of people within the ruling class. The weekend ruckus organised by the GPM over the issue of the use of English in the teaching of Science and Math in schools shows that the country is still being administered by half-baked and self-serving politicians who are clearly unable to chart a future for the young generation of citizens who will become adults in the coming two decades. It was a big mistake by Dr M when he forced the schools to switch over to English in the teaching of Science and Math, and a lot of money and equipment actually ended up as wastage as many pupils and teachers were caught very unprepared. The academic standards in almost all schools dropped and there was a great increase in the number of school pupils playing truant or skipping classes altogether. Now it seems that the country is headed for another about-turn in the use of English as the medium of instruction in Science and Math, and this is not going to be good for the country's army of schoolchildren. It was not good to change horses in midstream, but Dr M could not care less, and now, the BN politicians and the pressure groups want to do the very same thing that Dr M did. The correct path to take is the middle one, that is to teach both subjects in the mother tongue, as well as in English for the time being. Later, when things are more settled, perhaps five years down the road, the schools should switch over to mother tongue and BM. But the ruling politicians probably would mess up everything and it is the innocent pupils who will in the end pay the price for the country's perennial political bungling. The country's education system, just like the other aspects of life here, has all along been a victim of Malaysia's longstanding myopia, a condition nurtured and fueled by race-based politics. UMNO and BN politicians have tried to suppress the minorities at every turn in the mistaken thought that this would allow the races to compete with each other on an equal footing, and each community would then obtain their 'slice of the pie', which in turn, would magically expand to accomodate everyone. In reality, the subtle discrimination and the oppression that blanketed the country caused many bright minds to flee abroad, made parents send their children to attend institutes of higher learning in other lands and when some of these people came back, they could hardly blend in, as they had learned little of the national language abroad. The ordinary citizen was a helpless victim of really bad and evil national policies. And today, our 'pie' is not only not expanding but could possibly start shrinking this year on top of the fact that we now also need to share it with immigrant workers from abroad. Former noble national aspirations to develop the country after independence had long become soured by spite, greed and prejudice. Even now, as the language controversy swirled within society, unable to find any resolution, the ruling politicians have never hesitated to inject the notion that it was all tied to national aspirations, that

the policy was to enhance and benefit the majority race. The real fact that the policy had harmed many students, especially rural ones was not disclosed at all. Recently, I came across a boy, about 12 years old, playing an electronic game at a gaming console inside a shopping complex and he was being questioned by a lone policeman who asked him why he was not in school. He was not able to answer and a passer-by had to relay the questions and answers between the two. It was a very shocking experience even for me. I asked myself what kind of future would he be having five years from now. Today, many of the evil national policies are still 'alive and well', and with the BN politicians still not shy to employ fair or foul means to cling on to power, the country has little hope of seeing change taking place, and along with it, ending those evil policies for good. The policies are the product of bad myopia and they are a divisive burden on the nation. Imagine all the talent that had gone to waste because the country was not ready to accept them, being just too busy about the 'slicing of the cake' to really care at all. Had the unwarranted fears and prejudices not being allowed to dictate national policies, the country would have avoided the myopia plaguing us today, and Malaysia would not be witnessing so many street fracas and so much political unrest and indecisiveness troubling everyone at every corner. But the course of history has surely charted otherwise, all because the leaders could not rid themselves of that myopia. The BN, especially UMNO and the MCA must shoulder the blame for it all, since they were the top conspirators who helped shape those national policies responsible for all the lack of foresight. And they still are.