‘Still relevant’: Malaysia’s Chinese schools see rising numbers of Malay, Indian children, amid calls for changes

It is part of a wider pattern across Malaysia. It was frequently reported earlier in March that all 20 major one students attending the Si Chin Chinese School in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan, were Malays.  

About 20 % of individuals in all Chinese primary schools across the nation in 2024 are non-Chinese, according to advocate Arun Doraisamy of the Malaysia Centre of Vernacular School Excellence.

However, these Taiwanese colleges, which are attracting more foreign students, have drawn criticism from some who claim they are a barrier to Malaysia’s spirit of unity and want them shut down.

Following a recent court decision that language schools in the country are not unlawful, the debate has raged for decades and has since resurrected.  

Surprisedly for Mdm Siti and her father, some outsiders in the class did not want them to enroll their two children because the couple and their kids did not know Mandarin.  

My companion told me not to be deceived and that it would take some time before the children had become proficient at it, but I doubted myself.  

SCHOOLING SYSTEM IN MALAYSIA

Key education’s national and vernacular schools are divided into Tamil moderate schools and Chinese schools. These universities have the same curriculum as federal colleges, barring the speech subjects.  

In the national primary schools, Malay serves as the medium of education, while Mandarin and Tamil, both, serve as the channels of training and communication.  

There were 7,780 primary schools in Malaysia at the time of the Ministry of Education’s statistics in 2020.  

Of these, 5,875 were federal institutions, 1,299 were Chinese universities, 527 were Tamil schools and the remaining were special education schools, exclusive design schools as well as government-aided spiritual schools.  

According to the latest info from Mr Doraisamy, there are 1,831 language primary schools in Malaysia this time – 1,301 Chinese and 530 Tamil.  

Once they have finished their main education, they can enroll in independent or regional secondary schools.

There are 82 Chinese state secondary schools ( also known as SMJK) and 63 separate Chinese great schools in Malaysia, despite the absence of any Tamil secondary schools.

As of 2021, there were completely 2,444 extra schools in Malaysia, including the SMJKs.  

The SMJKs were again Chinese-medium schools, but they decided to use the Malay vocabulary and the government’s help program. These institutions also give their kids more time to study Mandarin in parallel.  

The independent Chinese high schools, on the other hand, are not government funded and use the Unified Examination Certificate ( UEC ) syllabus, which is not recognised by the Malaysian government.

Continue Reading

Commentary: Malaysia’s difficult path to a low-carbon economy

Second, Malaysia should pursue the huge potential for green investment in electric vehicles ( EVs ), including motorcycles, and in hydrogen-based industries. Malaysia might become a leader in innovation, for instance, by utilizing battery-swapping systems in EVs to shorten recharge cycles and extend battery life. The opportunities for EV deployment, such as the road tax deduction and individual tax deduction relating to EV costs, are justified. An EV trend may be crucial to Kuala Lumpur’s 2030 goal of reducing coal power to 45 per share of the 2005 levels.

The biggest desire for green tech lies in a gas discovery. A clean power alternative to natural gas that produces enormous heat as a byproduct as well as water. However, its commercialism faces difficult challenges, particularly due to the high cost of producing hydrogen. The options are already growing, with gas being increasingly used in substances, cotton fabric production, cup, electronics, and metalworking.

Malaysia has great potential in this area as positive experiences emerge, for instance in Sarawak, where projects such as H2ornbill and H2biscus, in collaboration with Asian and North Korean lovers respectively, have made strides in hydrogen-based, export-oriented business.

Third, Malaysia needs to sea up administrative and financial assistance. In addition to money models, incentives, and grants for alternative technology adoption and R& development, there are other important areas of focus. D.

The state needs clearer standards and regulations in green markets, and more strict monitoring of efficient investments, to increase transparency and accountability. The state could also take into account the creation of a natural classification, which local banks have indicated would be helpful in setting criteria for approving natural loans. Lastly, enhancing the mobility and quality of data will be important for policy research, monitoring, evaluation, and future reforms.

With its big rely on fossil fuels, Malaysia faces a difficult but necessary road to decarbonisation. Yet, the country is well-positioned to plug into emerging industrial opportunities for low-carbon growth in industry and travel. Moving forward, Malaysia has confidently and quickly encourage green investments and work toward its carbon reduction objectives.

The ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute is hosting Vinod Thomas as a visiting top brother. This commentary  second appeared  on the Institute’s site, Fulcrum.

Continue Reading

Pro-China PM retains his seat in Solomon Islands election

INFLUENCE Issues Prior to the election commission’s report, local governor Martin Fini, who oversaw the island’s swift growth of Chinese interests, had lost his reelection bid. As Beijing’s control spread from the rest of the sprawling island to Australia’s north, Malaita, a province that had for years, refused to acceptContinue Reading