‘Chinese, Tamil schools not neglected in Malaysia’

KUALA LUMPUR - Chinese and Tamil language schools are not being treated as step-children, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has said after minority ethnic groups claimed such institutions were being neglected in the country.

Describing as “wild” the allegations from some members in Dewan Rakyat (parliament), Yassin Tuesday said Chinese and Tamil schools were part of the national education system.

“That is why the government provides RM1.8 billion ($549 million) to pay salaries for teachers in Chinese and Tamil schools. If we treat Chinese and Tamil schools like step-children, do you think we will spend that much,” he asked M. Manogaran, an ethnic Indian lawmaker belonging to the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Manogaran had questioned why Tamil and Tamil literature were treated as additional subjects for the matriculation examination.

Yassin, who is also the country’s education minister, said that was not the case and no student was prevented from learning Tamil or Chinese language in school, New Straits Times reported Wednesday.

Established over a hundred years ago, there are about 525 Tamil schools in Malaysia. Malaysia is home to majority Malays and ethnic minorities like Chinese and Indians.

The Indians, a bulk of them Tamils, who came here during the British era, form roughly seven percent of Malaysia’s 28 million population.