Lau Pang Heng
KUCHING (Aug 12): Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) Kota Sentosa representative Datuk Dr Lau Pang Heng said Sarawak must strive to restore its education autonomy from Putrajaya given that there has been nothing done to achieve it 58 years after the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
Lau said the entrenched rights, power and interests of the people and state must always be ‘more important and powerful’ than those in authority.
He argued that Sarawak should be given the education autonomy as Sarawakians know their own needs, including in technical and vocational areas, as well in the international languages like English.
He said Sarawak used to have education autonomy, and in 1963 there were Council Primary schools like the Binatang (now Bintangor) Council Primary school, the Song Kheng Hai Recreation Ground Council school in Kuching, the Sibu Urban District Council (SUDC) No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 schools.
He said these council primary schools were using English as a medium of instruction, directly under the respective councils.
He said the council schools were converted to national primary schools against Article 17 (vii) of Inter Government Committee (IGC) Report 1962 which specifically stipulated that “in the case of Sarawak the local authorities should continue to be used as agents for primary education.”
He said it was possible for Sarawak to regain education autonomy because the National Education Act 1963/1967, though enacted in Parliament, has not been endorsed by the Sarawak Legislative Council, and therefore the sole use of Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction in schools may not be the right way until the Sarawak Legislative Council has endorsed and approved the National Education Act.
Lau pointed out that Article 161 of the Federal Constitution has stipulated the use of English and native languages in Sabah and Sarawak. But there was no revision in 1973 pertaining to the use of English language in Sarawak by the respective authorities.
He noted that Article 17(v) of the IGC Report 1962 was specifically stipulated for implementations by all parties including the Federal government under Article VIII of MA 1963.
“It was highlighted that the Directors of Education in the Borneo States, who would be officers serving in Federal Posts and responsible to the Federal Minister of Education through the Ministry of Education should carry out much the same duties as they do at present in consultation with the State Government concerned.
“We are not sure whether there was any consultation on the recruitment of schools’ teachers in Sarawak, otherwise why Sarawakians’ perception would be that there have been many teachers from outside Sarawak teaching in primary and secondary schools in Sarawak,” he said in a statement today.
Lau said Sarawak’s quota of 90:10 policy for teachers would mean that 90 per cent of the school teachers would need to be Sarawakians, and only 10 per cent non-Sarawakians.
The quota, he noted, was very reasonable as Sarawakians know best about Sarawak’s needs.
He believed Sarawak teachers treasure Sarawak’s identity and with Sarawakians teaching the children, every soul will grow up with a proper understanding of the state’s rich political, constitutional, legal and cultural heritages.
He said Article 17 a(i) of the IGC Report 1962 also stated that “the present policy in the Borneo States regarding the use of English should continue.”
“Policies made in Putrajaya were based on research done in urban cities in the Peninsular which are urban-centric in nature, such policies may not be friendly to Sarawak as they do not know the needs of Sarawak.
“They cannot use the module studies in other big cities in West Malaysia to apply to Sarawak,” he said.
Lau said in view of the Article 17 a(i) IGC Report 1962, English must also be a language of instruction in schools to be restored as most international reference books are written in English, though we need to study Bahasa Malaysia as it is our national language.
He said for example, students now would never learn about the entrenched rights and principles enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) in history books.
He said the MA63 needs to be included in history books or it can be a subject for students in schools to get to know how Sarawak, Sabah and States of Malaya joined in the formation of Malaysia in 1963.
He cautioned that if MA63 is not taught in schools, sooner or later MA63 and the hallmarks and pioneering history to make what Sarawak is today by their forefathers will be forgotten.
“It was the former Chief Minister Pehin Sri Datuk Patinggi Adenan Satem, who announced that Sarawak shall readopt English as also the official language of the administration, apart from Bahasa Malaysia in November 18, 2015.
“That was accommodated in Article 17 c(i) of IGC Report 1962. But in recent weeks, we have learned that banners’ advertisements need to be written in Bahasa Malaysia. Does it mean that Pehin Sri Adenan’s announcement is no longer valid?”
Lau believed that with a better English foundation, Sarawak’s overseas university students would take less than one third of the time to read their assignments.
He also said Sarawak needs to regain the Education autonomy as statistics have once shown that there were 1020 dilapidated schools in Sarawak that required urgent repair.
He said only if Sarawak has the education autonomy, these schools can be repaired with Sarawak own funding.
He noted that very often the Federal Education ministry tends to overlook or delay Sarawak’s needs, knowingly or unknowingly – the logistics and remoteness of rural schools have hampered it severely as far as infrastructure, particularly the internet connection, basic facilities and various necessary utilities.
He said by regaining the education autonomy, more technical and vocational schools can also be built to train those who are not academically competent in the fields of industry and agriculture, which may help to reduce downtime and increase productivity.
He said the management of education in Sarawak should not be remotely controlled by Putrajaya anymore, and he hoped that the Budget 2022 would have sufficient funds allocated to education in Sarawak so that the state can develop its own education system.
On other matters, Lau suggested that the Covid-19 reports, Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) and guidelines be made available in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Iban and Chinese languages at the least, so that every Sarawakian can understand them clearly.
He said this would enable everyone to abide by the SOP in the fight against coronavirus more effectively.