Chong hits back at Manyin over English education
Chong Chieng Jen
Its chairman Chong Chieng Jen said for Manyin to make such claim, the latter must have been ‘sleeping in the DUN (State Legislative Assembly)’ in the past two years when he was debating.
“We DAP Sarawak have constructive and workable suggestions on how to improve the standard of English amongst the students in Sarawak. The sad fact is that the BN government has consistently turned a deaf ear to our suggestion.
“To reply to Michael Manyin, I do not mind to repeat the DAP Sarawak’s suggestion on how to improve the standard of English amongst the young in Sarawak which I have mentioned in DUN several times,” he said in a press statement yesterday.
Chong, who is Bandar Kuching MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman, suggested that to improve the standard of English, there was no other way except to revive the English schools system in Sarawak.
“DAP Sarawak has proposed that the state government allocate funds to set up English private schools or revive the English medium mission schools systems.
“At present, there are only a handful private schools where English is the medium of instruction. At private schools, students have to pay school fees which are not affordable to many from the low-income group.”
He said if the government could allocate funds to set up English private schools with no fees payable by the students, there would be more opportunities for children in the state to receive English education, especially those from lower income families.
“I have also suggested that such English schools be not confined only to the urban region but also suburban and rural areas.”
As to Manyin’s claims that education policies are federal matter and that his ministry is only there to complement the federal Education Ministry (MOE) and thus has no power to formulate policies, Chong said it was just another ‘lame excuse’ by Manyin to run away from his responsibility.
“If we can have the private sector funding private schools with English as the medium of instruction, why can’t the state government fund more of such private schools?
“Furthermore, if the state MOE cannot even formulate policy on education, then it is actually a department of the federal MOE, disguised as a state ministry to give the state BN a ‘syok sendiri’ (self indulgent) feeling.”
Chong said for DAP, if the policy of the government is not workable or detrimental to the people, they will object to it.
“For the state government, with billions of reserve fund and a new Ministry of Education set up, to come up with such a ridiculous policy (which even Michael Manyin’s own colleague (Datuk) Abdul Karim (Rahman Hamzah) disagrees), is doing a disservice to our younger generation.”
Therefore, Chong said it is DAP’s duty to voice out and not sit back and keep quiet like those in SUPP or other BN component parties.
“If Michael Manyin is mindful of doing good in education for our future generation, he should implement the revival of the English medium schools or at least get the state government to fund some private schools teaching in English so that these schools can provide free English education to the students.”
As for Pakatan Harapan (PH), Chong said if they capture Putrajaya, Sarawak will be given autonomy in education and they will set up English schools to offer parents a choice – to have their children educated in Bahasa Malaysia, Mandarin or English language.
“For now, we welcome the BN Sarawak government to adopt our proposed policy of having ‘Fully Government Funded English Schools in Sarawak’.”
Chong said even if BN Sarawak was not willing to adopt DAP’s suggestion, they were confident that Sarawakians would not need to wait long for such English schools to be set up in the state because the 14th General Election is near and the likelihood of PH capturing Putrajaya is high.
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