Want A Non-Malay PM? Abolish Vernacular Schools First, Says Mukhriz
Mukhriz Mahathir says we should allow our children to learn, play and mingle with each other until the differences between them become celebrated and not divisive.
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If Malaysia wants a non-Malay Prime Minister in power someday, it should abolish vernacular schools first, said Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.
According to a statement released on the party’s official Facebook page yesterday, Mukhriz stated that the idea of a non-Malay becoming Prime Minister can only be entertained once factors that divide Malaysians are eliminated.
He added that among these factors is the existence of vernacular schools, which he claims causes division among children.
Our founding fathers would not have agreed to let the British-era vernacular schools continue operating well beyond Merdeka as they knew it would create more divisions between the people.
Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir
Mukhriz added that we should allow our children to learn, play and mingle with each other until the differences between them become celebrated and not divisive.
Only then can we hope to see a non-Malay as nothing other than a Malaysian, not coloured by their ethnic background.
Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) president Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir
This statement was not received well by a majority of netizens.
Twitter user @cphangcolin said Malaysian culture is not purely based on Malay culture but a combination of all other cultures as well.
Malay Nationalists like Mukhriz do not want unity, they want forced assimilation. He wants to erase all other cultures from this country until only one remains.
@cphangcolin via Twitter
He also added that an estimate of 20% of students in Chinese schools are non-Chinese, making them far more diverse and bastions of unity and multiculturalism than Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM) which explicitly excludes people based on race.
Another Twitter user @tsobsessionfair tweeted:
What causes actual division? Class. You know what exacerbates that? Malaysian kids go to international school when they don’t need to but ‘national school is lousy’. Of course he’ll never say this because his kids have probably never even stepped foot in a sekolah kebangsaan.
@tsobsessionfair via Twitter
Also sharing his comments on the matter was former Klang MP Charles Santiago.
A non-Malay will not become a Malaysian PM. But don’t use the argument to start a campaign to close down vernacular schools @MukhrizMahathir. And the idea that vernacular schools divide is laughable. The idea of a non-Malay PM was created to undermine @pakatanharapan_ by @chedetofficial.
Former Klang MP Charles Santiago
Days ago, Mukhriz’s father, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad raised netizen’s eyebrows when he warned that Malays in Malaysia could lose power and become like Singapore.
Speaking at a dialogue in Putrajaya alongside other guest politicians on Saturday, he said Malaysian Malays’ “economic control has been gone for a long time” and they now risked losing their political power as well.
READ MORE: ‘Grand Old Man’ Gives Warning That Malays Will Be Powerless
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