1Stream?

Talks on a "single-stream" education system is making its rounds again in Malaysia. It's the "1" phenomena now, 1Malaysia, 1Toilet, 1MH, 1Stream... I for one have always been a supporter of the "single-stream" system over vernacular education systems. I've always dreamed a day when Malaysians will attend a common school where children are not segregated by religion or ethnicity. But the day when 1Stream becomes reality will probably not happen any time soon. Face it lah... we have way too many poliTIKUS who will prefer to divide everyone for their own gain.

There are too much politics involved not to mention the deep distrust between the ethnic groups when it comes to education. The Chinese and Indians have a point - they want the ensure their cultural end ethnic identities are preserved through vernacular schools. The fact that national schools are too slanted towards a particular race and religion remains a valid concern. Furthermore, we are still worried that "unity in diversity" may give way to "assimilation" through 1Stream.

I was a product of the national school, during times when it was still quite favored by the general population especially in big cities like KL, Ipoh and Penang. I have Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Punjabi friends. Malay was our medium of instruction in school while English was widely spoken. I cannot deny that I've less attachment to the Chinese language, particularly Mandarin though i've picked up on it over the years. We had teachers of different ethnic groups who are color-blind (do not discriminate race-wise). As far as I was concerned during my time, I did not feel my ethnic identity was threatened simply because I enrolled in a national school. I felt I understood better our compatriots of different race/ religion.

But times have indeed changed. Since "remove" classes were removed, non-Malay enrollment in national schools have declined. Vernacular schools have become the order of the day. As a result national schools are no longer "national", they are indeed Malay schools. Maybe due to practicality or overzealous school administrators, our "national" schools have become increasingly Malay- and Islam-centric in outlook and practice. Drive past any such schools and you would see Jawi scripts splashed across the walls. Which non-Malay parent would send a child to a school like that? Activities in these schools are also increasingly drawn on racial/ religious lines. It is the "murid-murid Islam dan bukan Islam". Kudos for segregating our kids. Things like you can't wear short pants for sports are common. I'm sure most have read in the papers about the gradual hijack of our national schools. If they are going to introduce 1Stream, they have to remove such unproductive practices in schools and build a truly 1Malaysia outlook.

Having said that, while I do not dare say that 1Stream is the best solution (maybe I have my distrust in government policies), but I am still a supporter of a single-stream education system. There is bound to be opposition to it. When LKY decided to go 1Stream in Singapore many decades ago, there was stiff opposition from the Chinese educationists. Nevertheless he pushed ahead and forced all schools to adopt a common stream of education. At the same time, he reinforced mother tongue language classes. Schools in Singapore are truly 1Singapore and Malaysia has lots to learn from them when it comes to implementing a truly single stream nationals school in a multi-racial society. (Ironically, Chinese educationists have been a headache when it comes to single-stream school in both Malay-majority Malaysia and Chinese-majority Singapore)

Implementation of 1Stream would have to be an eventuality. I am really not sure whether we are ready for it although I still believe it is the best policy versus our present divide-and-teach system. The problem is definitely "implementation". Malaysia is 1st class when it comes to horrible implementation. The policy fears being hijacked by overzealous administrators. Meanwhile, we just sit back and watch everyone debating something which I'm pretty sure will be forgotten soon. Malaysians are forgetful.

While we are in the subject of 1Stream, I've always wondered what on earth is the relevance of independent Chinese schools in Malaysia. I'm a supporter of 1Stream, I tolerate vernacular system as a practical reality but I could never ever understand why we still have an independent Chinese education system. Are these people still having allegiance to China/ Taiwan? Why are they exempted from the national curricula in favor of a China-centric education system? I was told these schools are emphasizing Chinese history over our Malaysian history! And when graduates of these schools were given the pass in university entrance (remember Namewee), they complain like hell though they know that's the fact from the start.