NGO rues politicisation of education in Malaysia

Free Malaysia Today

25-04-2025

National schools are now seen as 'Malay territory', while vernacular schools are perceived as domains of the Chinese and Indians, according to Fazar Arif.
PETALING JAYA : A Sabah-based NGO has singled out the politicisation of education as the factor that has divided Malaysia along racial lines.
Fazar Arif, founder of Pergerakan Orang Wanita — Empowerment and Revolution, claims that the racial politics practised today has had a significant impact on the curriculum, education policy and management of schools.
She claimed that national schools, envisioned as the great unifier after Merdeka, have increasingly taken on religious and racial undertones, and alienated non-Malay and non-Muslim students in the process.
She said such developments have led to certain stereotypes being attached to national and vernacular schools, with the former widely seen as 'Malay territory' and the latter perceived as the domain of their respective ethnic groups.
This, she said, has promoted segregation.
'Even when students from other races enrol (in national schools), they remain a small minority,' Fazar told FMT.
She said the 'self-reinforcing' cycle would reduce interaction among students of different racial backgrounds from an early age.
'They grow up in parallel worlds — with different religions, different languages, different histories, and different cultural celebrations. Segregation in the school system is very real,' she added.
Fazar was commenting on the introduction of a new policy requiring students to wear the Jalur Gemilang badge on their uniform, a practice that the government says will foster unity.
Need for action
Fazar warned that the divide within society, starting from the younger generation, will continue to widen if such segregation is not dealt with.
'Integration becomes more difficult when there are barriers separating religions, languages, cultures and traditions,' she said.
Fazar also bemoaned the fact that none of today's politicians know how to fix it.
'They don't seem to have a clue on how to use the school and education system to set aside race and religion and bring about integration among young Malaysians,' she said.
She questioned why no political party, particularly those in the government, has been seen or heard leading serious discussions or conversations among the people or fellow legislators on reforming the education system to foster integration, a more meaningful growth and advancement as a nation.
'How long are Malaysians going to confine themselves to a school system that divides us?'
Need to change the narrative
Fazar also claimed that the current education system tends to push the propaganda of the so-called social contract among the three major races in Malaysia, which she added was another barrier to fostering good race-relations.
She said rectifying the problem created by the politicisation of education would be a monumental task, as it requires political will.
Firstly, she said, there is a need to acknowledge that racial division in the country's school system is real and that it has been compounded by decades of political interference.
'Otherwise, any solution will be superficial, and things will only continue to deteriorate,' she added.
Secondly, she said, the government must reimagine national schools as truly inclusive institutions.
She pointed out that there is a need to remove racial and religious supremacy narratives from the curriculum and make national schools genuinely secular and multiracial in terms of administration, personnel and curriculum.
'There is a need to ensure all students are fluent in Bahasa Malaysia and English but steps must also be taken to strengthen mother tongue languages, such as Mandarin, Tamil and indigenous languages and making them part of the mainstream curriculum.