Minister’s statement shows open mindedness

0

KOTA KINABALU: Gerakan national treasurer, Datuk Ng Chiang Chin yesterday lauded  Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz’s recent statement that other races in the country could not be forced to forgo their own identity and heritage, and to turn into Malay.Ng  emphasized that if every politician in Malaysia thinks and speaks like Nazri, then Malaysia would be a much better place.

He noted that Nazri’s comment recently showed that he is among the few liberal, open minded political leaders in the country.

‘For too long, education has been politicised. We should put an end to this as providing equal access to quality education to all Malaysians should be a basic right that all Malaysians enjoy, as education brings about freedom, and education brings about opportunities,’ said Ng in a statement.

“Is vernacular school system a hurdle to national unity? And is the one stream proposal the solution to the problem of racial alienation?” asked Datuk Ng.

According to him, the root cause of racial disunity and communal tension is not the existence of vernacular schools.

“The root cause of racial fragmentation within the society is the politics of race and religion practised by race based political parties and politicians who are willing to sacrifice national unity and stability of our country to achieve their own political mileage and agenda.

“We must also not discount the fact that certain national policies that are discriminatory against certain quarters of the society contribute to such tension and fragmentation,” said Ng.

“Having said that, we should all give the Prime Minister a chance to perform, to show the people that 1Malaysia is not mere rhetoric or a political gimmick for the Barisan Nasional.”