[Watch] Harith Iskander Said Abolish SJKC, He Also Said Make Mandarin Compulsory For Everyone

His actual proposal was not what the headline suggests — he wanted Mandarin made compulsory in every national school, so every Malaysian child leaves fluent in three languages. But that part did not make it into most of the reactions. He appeared to know it wouldn’t.

Harith Iskander/Malay Mail

In Brief

Harith Iskander said he does not agree with SJKCs, proposing instead one shared classroom for all Malaysian children.
His actual proposal included making Mandarin compulsory in national schools, a detail most commenters seemed to miss entirely.
He predicted online reactions would attack him personally rather than engage with his ideas, and he was proved right.

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Harith Iskander posted a two-minute video.

He said he does not agree with the existence of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC).

The comments arrived fast, and most of them missed the next part.

The comedian and television host, posting under his #ViewOn60 series on social media, said his vision for Malaysia’s education system would have every child learning together from day one — one common language, one shared classroom — but with a twist that did not make it into most of the reactions online.

He would make Mandarin compulsory in every national school.

Imagine every Malaysian child leaving school being able to communicate confidently in Bahasa Malaysia, and also English, and also be able to chat away in Mandarin. I think that would be amazing.

Most People Responded To The Version They Heard

That is not an assimilation argument; it is closer to the opposite — keep the language, lose the separation.

But the headline writes itself as “Harith says abolish SJKC,” and that is the version most people responded to.

He appeared to know this would happen before he posted it.

Let’s see what happens in the comments, he said near the end of the video.

Will people explain why they disagree with me? Or will they explain that they think I’m a terrible person?

The first visible comment agreed with him and began describing how the change would “reduce or even better, eliminate ra—” — the rest cut off, but the direction was clear.

He Called The Shot Before He Took It

Harith spent the first 40 seconds of the clip not talking about schools at all.

He talked about how Malaysians have stopped disagreeing with ideas and started attacking people instead — how every argument online becomes us versus them, how his personal favourite accusation is “awak ni liberal.”

Then he made the provocative statement.

Then he waited.

The comments section is, at the time of writing, doing exactly what he said it would.

View on Threads

Constitutional Right Or National Barrier, Depends Who You Ask

SJKCs have sat at the fault line of Malaysian public life for decades — pulled between two arguments that never fully resolve.

Critics say separate school streams divide children during their most formative years, making national unity harder to build.

The Chinese community counters that SJKC is a constitutional right, protected under the Education Act, and that mother-tongue education is non-negotiable. Bahasa Malaysia proficiency is a recurring flashpoint — opponents argue the Mandarin-heavy environment creates a linguistic gap, while supporters point out that BM remains a compulsory subject.

Money is the third pressure point: SJKCs have historically depended on community fundraising and alumni donations to stay functional, a gap that periodically reignites debates about whether the state funds all schools equally.

None of these arguments is new.

What changes is who is saying them, and how loudly.