Arrogant Umno man tells MCA critics to 'shut your mouth' of call to abolish vernacular schools

KUALA LUMPUR - An Umno leader targeted by MCA after calling for the Umno general assembly to discuss abolishing the Chinese vernacular school system, has warned the Chinese party to “mind its own business”.

Petaling Jaya Utara Umno division deputy chief Mohamad Azli Mohemed Saad said that MCA should work to win back Chinese voters, instead of interfering in Barisan Nasional (BN) lynchpin party’s affairs.

“(Ti) Lian Ker needs to shut his mouth as MCA candidates only win the elections because of Malay voters, not Chinese voters. Lian Ker has no locus standi as the Chinese have rejected MCA,” Mohamed Azli was quoted saying in media reports today.

“There is no need to teach us in Umno as to what can and cannot be debated. No need to be nosy around Umno’s affairs, go and do that with the DAP instead,” he added.

Mohamad Azli then reiterated his claim that Chinese vernacular education was a hotbed of discontent against the establishment that was tapped by opposition parties.

The Umno leader’s remark previously drew rebuke from the MCA religious harmony bureau chairman as well as Ti’s party colleagues.

An MCA leader also lodged a police report accusing Mohamed Azli of sedition.

Ti had previously said that Mohamad Azli’s proposal violated the Federal Constitution and contradicted BN’s policy of allowing Malaysians to study in their mother tongue.

He also reminded Mohamad Azli that the late Sabah Umno MP Datuk Mark Koding was charged with sedition in 1978 for calling for the closure of Chinese and Tamil schools. He was convicted four years later.

On October 5, Mohamad Azli was reported by dailies Mingguan Malaysia and New Sunday Times (NST) as saying that the upcoming annual Umno meeting in November should discuss abolishing the Chinese vernacular school system as it purportedly promotes racism and anti-establishment sentiments.

In the same report, Mohamad Azli was quoted saying that the government should also mull raising the intake of Malay and Indian students and teachers in Chinese schools to 60 per cent.

Vernacular schools continue to grow in popularity here in Malaysia, with an increasing number of non-Malay parents preferring to send their children to Mandarin- and Tamil-language schools over the Malay-language national schools.

Defenders of Bumiputera special privileges regularly target vernacular schools to deflect demands for equal treatment of the country’s races after decades of race-based affirmative.