“926 Demand for resignation of Wee Ka Siong”
– A symbolic demand expressing
the resentment of the Chinese community
the resentment of the Chinese community
Statement by Friends of Suaram (FOS) Working Committee Johor
(This text is translated from the original Chinese version released on 6 September 2012)
 |
【Picture】In “325 Save Chinese Education Campaign”, Wee Ka Siong, Deputy Minister of Education, escorted by a group of police and RELA, left with embarrassment through the main gate when the campaign supporters repeatedly clamoured for his resignation by “stepping down”. He was also booed by the crowd (see video). He must have felt extremely embarrassed at the sight of the bilingual banners entitled “Revitalise all ethnic communities’ mother tongue education – Have no illusions about the BN and the government ! |
On 1 September 2012, Dong Zong, under the leadership of Yap Sin Tian and Chow Siew Hon, officially announced their plan to call for action at Parliament on 26 Sep, demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong, and to lodge a complaint with Najib Razak, the Prime Minister, that Wee Ka Siong has messed up Chinese education issues.
On the same day, members from the Chinese School Committees and Teachers’ Association of the State of Johore, led by Wang Toon Jui, announced their plan to call for an assembly at Kluang Chong Hwa High School on 9 September, for the purpose of safeguarding the sovereignty of Chinese primary school management committees.
They were of the view that Dong Zong should focus on issues related to Chinese primary schools, instead of demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong. Such demand serves only to harm the Chinese education.
This incident was the continuation and development of the “325 Save the Chinese education” campaign. What does it tell us? How should we deal with it? These issues will certainly attract widespread attention and due consideration of the Chinese community generally and the Chinese educationists in particular.
We, FOS Johor, as a grassroots organization striving for democracy and human rights (including mother tongue education) in Johor, would like to put forward the following 4 main points for consideration by democratic political parties, NGOs and individuals who are concerned with the survival and development of the mother tongue education of all ethnic communities under the hegemonistic rule of the powers that be.
1. We are of the view that it is in order for Dong Zong to call for action at Parliament on 926, demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong, the deputy prime minister of education. Democratic political parties, organisations and individuals who are concerned with the national education should regard this as a just demand expressing Chinese community’s great dissatisfaction with the MCA leadership. MCA leadership has been subservient to UMNO’s hegemonistic group over the past 55 years since Independence, thereby threatening the future of the Chinese education.
We are of the view that the just demand for resignation of Wee Ka Siong is not merely a complaint about Wee, as Deputy Minister of Education for “messing up Chinese education issues” or for “telling pack of lies after “325 Save Chinese Education Campaign”. It is also a symbolic protest expressing the strong resentment of the Chinese community against the MCA leadership (except for leaders like Too Joon Hing, Lee Siok Yew, etc.). MCA leaders have reneged on their promises to "strive for the welfare for the Chinese community" and to "sink or swim with the Chinese education". Therefore, the campaign should not be directed against Wee only, but it should be against the MCA’s core leadership as a whole.
2. Dong Zong is demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong, but at the same time it is lodging a complaint with Najib Razak, the prime minister, for assistance and providing solutions for the Chinese education issues. In this connection, it should be borne in mind that the broad masses of all ethnic groups nation-wide are spurning and rejecting the UMNO-dominated BN regime. To seek help from Najib Razak, the prime minister for the alleged purpose of resolving the problem of Chinese education, is tantamount to a move with a “hidden agenda”!
We are of the view that the gradual erosion of mother tongue education faced by the Chinese community (as well as Indian and other minority ethnic groups) is a direct consequence of national oppression and national assimilation policy doggedly pursued by the UMNO-dominated ruling clique.
The struggle for mother tongue education of the Chinese and other ethnic communities should be targeted at the existing BN government (formerly the Alliance government). In fact, hegemony practised by the UMNO ruling clique is the root cause of the policy of national oppression and national assimilation! Only by discarding all illusions about the UMNO-dominated BN ruling clique, can the Chinese and other ethnic minorities’ mother tongue education be revitalised!
3. We believe that the main aims of the Chinese School Committees’ Association of Johor holding an assembly to “safeguard the sovereignty of the school committees in Chinese primary schools” in Kluang Chong Hwa High School on 9 September, are:
(1) to nullify the positive effect of Dong Zong demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong;
(2) to protect the whole MCA leadership from being condemned by the Chinese educationists, the Chinese groups and the entire Chinese society.
To us, some members of the Chinese School Committees’ Association of Johor led by Wang Toon Jui, are deliberately evading the issue of demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong, but at the same time magnifying the issue of " safeguarding the sovereignty of the school committees in Chinese primary schools” as pivotal to the survival of the Chinese education today.
Such move is far more deceptive and misleading than the Dong Zong leadership’s demand for resignation of Wee Ka Siong (done purposely to avoid the greater issue of condemning the mastermind behind, that is, the core leadership of UMNO supported by the upper echelon of MCA).
Democratic political parties and groups as well as individuals who are concerned about mother tongue education in Johor or nation-wide, should make it a point to attend the 909 Kluang rally organized by Chinese School Committees’ Association of Johor. Everyone at the assembly may express how they feel about the matter in any appropriate way, to make the campaign a success.
4. We are of the opinion that only a handful of MCA leaders and their henchmen are out to seek power, positions and interests, to the prejudice of the rights to survival and development of the entire Chinese community (including the Chinese education). We believe that the majority of the MCA members and grassroots leaders are prepared to safeguard the fundamental rights and the dignity of the community.
We believe that the MCA top leaders have never been courageous enough to voice against the hegemony of the UMNO ruling clique. They have been deceiving and misleading the grassroots members of the party and the masses of the Chinese community all along. The has led to their total disillusionment with MCA, particularly in respect of such slogans as: "it is good to have someone in the Cabinet”, “MCA serves the interests of the Chinese” and “MCA sinks or swims with the Chinese community” for the past 50 over years.
We believe that given the historical experience and current lessons, in the coming General Elections, the MCA members and masses of the Chinese community will certainly deliver a heavy and direct blow to the MCA leaders for being the accomplice of the UMNO ruling clique. This has been done by the Gerakan party members and masses of the Chinese community in Penang. They have abandoned Parti Gerakan and its leaders for serving as the accomplice of the UMNO ruling clique.
Similarly, the MIC members and masses of the Indian community have abandoned MIC and its leaders for being the accomplice of the UMNO ruling clique. SUPP members and masses of the Chinese community in Sarawak have deserted SUPP and its leaders for being subservient to the Taib dictatorship rule.
Let them be consigned to the dustbin of history!
Links:
1. “325 Save the Chinese education” campaign to protest severe shortage of Chinese school teachers – Wee Ka Siong’s attendance was booed by the crowd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oixRgdMagVo
2. 3-point statement on “325 Save the Chinese education” campaign: Revitalise all ethnic communities’ mother tongue education – Have no illusions about the BN and the government! http://suaramjb1.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-post_21.html
On the same day, members from the Chinese School Committees and Teachers’ Association of the State of Johore, led by Wang Toon Jui, announced their plan to call for an assembly at Kluang Chong Hwa High School on 9 September, for the purpose of safeguarding the sovereignty of Chinese primary school management committees.
They were of the view that Dong Zong should focus on issues related to Chinese primary schools, instead of demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong. Such demand serves only to harm the Chinese education.
This incident was the continuation and development of the “325 Save the Chinese education” campaign. What does it tell us? How should we deal with it? These issues will certainly attract widespread attention and due consideration of the Chinese community generally and the Chinese educationists in particular.
We, FOS Johor, as a grassroots organization striving for democracy and human rights (including mother tongue education) in Johor, would like to put forward the following 4 main points for consideration by democratic political parties, NGOs and individuals who are concerned with the survival and development of the mother tongue education of all ethnic communities under the hegemonistic rule of the powers that be.
1. We are of the view that it is in order for Dong Zong to call for action at Parliament on 926, demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong, the deputy prime minister of education. Democratic political parties, organisations and individuals who are concerned with the national education should regard this as a just demand expressing Chinese community’s great dissatisfaction with the MCA leadership. MCA leadership has been subservient to UMNO’s hegemonistic group over the past 55 years since Independence, thereby threatening the future of the Chinese education.
We are of the view that the just demand for resignation of Wee Ka Siong is not merely a complaint about Wee, as Deputy Minister of Education for “messing up Chinese education issues” or for “telling pack of lies after “325 Save Chinese Education Campaign”. It is also a symbolic protest expressing the strong resentment of the Chinese community against the MCA leadership (except for leaders like Too Joon Hing, Lee Siok Yew, etc.). MCA leaders have reneged on their promises to "strive for the welfare for the Chinese community" and to "sink or swim with the Chinese education". Therefore, the campaign should not be directed against Wee only, but it should be against the MCA’s core leadership as a whole.
2. Dong Zong is demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong, but at the same time it is lodging a complaint with Najib Razak, the prime minister, for assistance and providing solutions for the Chinese education issues. In this connection, it should be borne in mind that the broad masses of all ethnic groups nation-wide are spurning and rejecting the UMNO-dominated BN regime. To seek help from Najib Razak, the prime minister for the alleged purpose of resolving the problem of Chinese education, is tantamount to a move with a “hidden agenda”!
We are of the view that the gradual erosion of mother tongue education faced by the Chinese community (as well as Indian and other minority ethnic groups) is a direct consequence of national oppression and national assimilation policy doggedly pursued by the UMNO-dominated ruling clique.
The struggle for mother tongue education of the Chinese and other ethnic communities should be targeted at the existing BN government (formerly the Alliance government). In fact, hegemony practised by the UMNO ruling clique is the root cause of the policy of national oppression and national assimilation! Only by discarding all illusions about the UMNO-dominated BN ruling clique, can the Chinese and other ethnic minorities’ mother tongue education be revitalised!
3. We believe that the main aims of the Chinese School Committees’ Association of Johor holding an assembly to “safeguard the sovereignty of the school committees in Chinese primary schools” in Kluang Chong Hwa High School on 9 September, are:
(1) to nullify the positive effect of Dong Zong demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong;
(2) to protect the whole MCA leadership from being condemned by the Chinese educationists, the Chinese groups and the entire Chinese society.
To us, some members of the Chinese School Committees’ Association of Johor led by Wang Toon Jui, are deliberately evading the issue of demanding resignation of Wee Ka Siong, but at the same time magnifying the issue of " safeguarding the sovereignty of the school committees in Chinese primary schools” as pivotal to the survival of the Chinese education today.
Such move is far more deceptive and misleading than the Dong Zong leadership’s demand for resignation of Wee Ka Siong (done purposely to avoid the greater issue of condemning the mastermind behind, that is, the core leadership of UMNO supported by the upper echelon of MCA).
Democratic political parties and groups as well as individuals who are concerned about mother tongue education in Johor or nation-wide, should make it a point to attend the 909 Kluang rally organized by Chinese School Committees’ Association of Johor. Everyone at the assembly may express how they feel about the matter in any appropriate way, to make the campaign a success.
4. We are of the opinion that only a handful of MCA leaders and their henchmen are out to seek power, positions and interests, to the prejudice of the rights to survival and development of the entire Chinese community (including the Chinese education). We believe that the majority of the MCA members and grassroots leaders are prepared to safeguard the fundamental rights and the dignity of the community.
We believe that the MCA top leaders have never been courageous enough to voice against the hegemony of the UMNO ruling clique. They have been deceiving and misleading the grassroots members of the party and the masses of the Chinese community all along. The has led to their total disillusionment with MCA, particularly in respect of such slogans as: "it is good to have someone in the Cabinet”, “MCA serves the interests of the Chinese” and “MCA sinks or swims with the Chinese community” for the past 50 over years.
We believe that given the historical experience and current lessons, in the coming General Elections, the MCA members and masses of the Chinese community will certainly deliver a heavy and direct blow to the MCA leaders for being the accomplice of the UMNO ruling clique. This has been done by the Gerakan party members and masses of the Chinese community in Penang. They have abandoned Parti Gerakan and its leaders for serving as the accomplice of the UMNO ruling clique.
Similarly, the MIC members and masses of the Indian community have abandoned MIC and its leaders for being the accomplice of the UMNO ruling clique. SUPP members and masses of the Chinese community in Sarawak have deserted SUPP and its leaders for being subservient to the Taib dictatorship rule.
Let them be consigned to the dustbin of history!
Links:
1. “325 Save the Chinese education” campaign to protest severe shortage of Chinese school teachers – Wee Ka Siong’s attendance was booed by the crowd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oixRgdMagVo
2. 3-point statement on “325 Save the Chinese education” campaign: Revitalise all ethnic communities’ mother tongue education – Have no illusions about the BN and the government! http://suaramjb1.blogspot.com/2012/03/blog-post_21.html
3. Chinese community wants pure Chinese schools, not “mutated” Chinese schools http://suaramjb1.blogspot.com/2012/07/blog-post_29.html
4. Banner entitled "Wee Ka Siong Should Resign" was banned during the "909 Safeguarding the Sovereignty of Chinese Primary School Management Committees" assembly http://suaramjb1.blogspot.com/2012/09/909.html
Editor's Remark:
The English translation version of this statement was recently published by Malaysia Chronicle website in the morning of 17 September 2012. The article triggered numerous responses and opinions among the readers. Please click this link to read the article in the site and also the feedbacks from the readers at http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=41082:demand-for-resignation-of-wee-ka-siong%E2%80%9D__statement-by-friends-of-suaram-fos-johor&Itemid=2
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