SIBU: The federal government is urged to give Sarawak full autonomy in education because that is what Sarawakians want.
“This will ensure that the uniqueness of Sarawak is preserved, and to a greater extent, our sovereignty as equal partner in the Federation of Malaysia,” Sibu MP Oscar Ling said.
He said this in response to the statement made by Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, who oversees education matters in the state that the state government had no say on education matters no matter who the education minister was.
Ling said the state government should take the opportunity as a king-maker now to pressure the federal government to devolve education matters to the state.
“Umno is weak now and it depends very much on the support of BN component parties in Sarawak to be in power. It is an opportune time for the state government to put pressure on the federal government on matters related to education,” he said.
Ling said that engaging in all discussions before any policies on education were introduced was not enough to safeguard Sarawakians’ interest.
“For example, our primary school history textbooks (Primary 4 and 5) do not touch on the formation of Malaysia by Sarawak, Sabah and Malaya.
“The history texts only emphasise the Malaya Independence on Aug 31, 1957. As a state minister who oversees education matters, Fatimah has failed in certain sense of argument,” Ling added.
Ling, however, said one thing he agreed with Fatimah was that the scenario in Sarawak differed very much from Peninsular Malaysia, especially in terms of culture, language and religion.
He claimed that Sarawakians wanted to restore the glorious days when English was widely and efficiently used to enhance harmony among races.
“Though English is still the official language in Sarawak Constitution, its position as the state official language has been threatened with the federal government’s failing policies which have degraded the proficiency of English nationwide,” he said.-Borneo Post
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Kenapa pula bahasa Inggeris dijadikan isu? Apakah bahasa kebangsaan sedia ada tidak mampu memupuk semangat harmoni diantara kaum. YB tolong tinjau2 sikit keadaan masyarakat cina di kawasan kg baru. Dah berapa tahun kita merdeka sebagai sebuah negara tapi masih juga tak pandai cakap melayu. Atau YB memang tak suka dengan bahasa dan orang Melayu. This is Malaysia. Our national language is Bahasa Malaysia @ Bahasa Melayu. This is not Singapore.