As the saying goes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison.
And so Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik’s opinion and suggestions about how he intends to reform the education system in Malaysia cannot reflect the opinion of everyone.
When he first came into office after the 14th General Election on May 9 this year, he suggested that students must replace white socks and shoes with black socks and shoes.
He may be right to say that students nowadays are too lazy to wash or clean their white shoes and so black shoes will ensure they will make them look squeaky clean.
Last week I accompanied a single mother who earned less than RM900 per month and had to spend RM80 to buy two pairs of black socks and shoes as her daughter was preparing for her form three exams.
She was not too happy because her daughter’s annual school fee alone is RM250 and with two pairs of new school uniform, she will have to fork out more than RM500 next week.
Then Maszlee had two more “brilliant” suggestions – that universities establish Petronas petrol kiosks for the convenience of the “rich” students and that hotels which have swimming pools should allow schools to use their facilities.
Indeed, learning how to swim and the suggestion that students must be taught safety awareness to save drowning victims, are good ideas.
But using hotel pools for training purposes? This may be a bit too much!
Following Maszlee’s comment, Penang Hotelier’s Association and a Parent-Teacher Association in Petaling Jaya said that using hotel pools was out of the question.
Penang Hoteliers Association chairman Datuk Lim Mee Lee said there could be complications because some guests may not be too happy to share the pool with students – whatever their age!
What if the guest is a skimpily-clad white woman? The poor kampung schoolboy may have other thoughts on his mind rather than learning to swim.
“And if the students were to use the hotel pools, who is going to ensure their safety?” asked SMK Assunta Petaling Jaya Parent-Teacher Association chairman Alan Goh.
And what happens if the teacher is not able to pay attention to all of them?
In which case the minister could suggest the school take out an insurance policy on the students, just in case there is a mishap.
In the case of Sabah and Sarawak, Dr Maszlee has no cause for worry as many of the suburban and rural schools are situated next to a river.
In fact most of the native and Malay pre-school students know how to swim before they know how to walk.
In the old days when rural native schools were built on the opposite bank of a longhouse, some school-children had to literally swim to school.
An old friend of mine, retired district officer Stewart Ngau Ding, 80, recalled that he was barely six when he used to “swim” across the Tebangan River in Ulu Baram – with one hand holding his books above his head and the other hand paddling.
Truth be told, I have also swum across the Sarawak River after school at least half a dozen times when I was a sixth former 50 years ago.
However, Maszlee is correct to say that there are other advantages about acquiring swimming skills because in Sarawak we have produced swimming champions such as 13-gold Sukma winner Tania Bugo and Malaysia’s Olympic medallist Pandalela Rinong.
Then came Maszlee’s latest suggestion to send religious teachers from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah and Sarawak to fill in the vacuum in both the states.
He also hoped to make Sabah and Sarawak his “Medan Dakwah”.
This riled the Sarawak Association of Churches (ACS) who feared this may be a ploy to “Islamise” the predominantly Christian natives.
Even the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Youth wing deputy chief, Miro Simuh, took a swipe at the Education Minister telling him to respect the East Malaysians – Miro’s wife is Sabahan.
However, to be fair, Maszlee explained that what he said had been misinterpreted and that the word “dakwah” should have been viewed in a wider context and not about converting non-Muslims.
He said it was about imbibing society with intrinsic moral values – the Islamic way.
While all of this was going on, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad lambasted the current school curriculum system which is focused solely on religion rather than subjects which could produce quality graduates.
Not to be mistaken, Dr Mahathir was not blaming Maszlee but the previous government.
Speaking at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College Association gathering in Kuala Lumpur last Friday, he blamed the previous Barisan Nasional government for implementing this system saying “national schools have become religious schools with the learning of religion and not learning anything else.”
“We need to master all the other subjects, because if we want to progress, Malaysians must be well-educated… If we don’t, we are going to be very backward.
“So the school curriculum will be changed and modified, so that now we will have national schools that will teach everybody all the important subjects that will be useful for them when they mature and become independent individuals.”
Dr Mahathir said Malaysians should master English which he described as a “universal language” and crucial for acquiring new knowledge to help the country progress, saying that learning the language would not diminish their Malay or Malaysian identity.
Sarawakians will still recall that the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem had similar views on religion and the issue of mastering the English language which some quarters in the old BN government in Kuala Lumpur were opposed to.
“Whether they agree with me in Malaya or not, I don’t care,” he said during a ceremony to hand over native land titles to residents in Serian in 2015.
“I made English the second language in Sarawak. Of course, Bahasa Malaysia is still the main language. We agree and have no issue with that.
“But what is wrong with us also being proficient in English? It’s the language of science, learning, literature, technology, business, research, communication and international relations.”
On the issue of Islam, Adenan said non-Muslim Sarawakians were unhappy that the Arabic word “Allah” which referred to God, was not permitted to be used by non-Muslims in Malaya.
Adenan, who noted that there were more non-Muslim Bumiputeras in Sarawak than Muslims said: “You can use the word ‘Allah’ any time you want. No problem. Just use it with respect. I will not tell you how to practise your religion. I am a Muslim and I try to be a good one.
“But I will not tell my fellow Christian friends how to worship. It is their business,” he added.
Adenan was right to point out that we live in a multi-cultural and religious society and we must learn how respect each other. We must also be careful not to use words that incite, embarrass and hurt each other.
If we can do that, then we are heading towards becoming a broad-minded and progressive society where every Malaysian is assured that he or she will be accorded the dignity, courtesy and morality as enshrined in the RUKUN NEGARA!
