Umno meet urged to debate 1MDB, national schools

Umno delegates should not blame vernacular schools for the government’s failure to bring about national unity.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Opposition has urged that the Umno General Assembly next week debate the growing 1Malaysia Development Board (1MDB) controversy and not “pull the wool over the people’s eyes” by indulging in the politics of distraction and disruption.

They also suggested that Umno delegates debate the lack of confidence in national schools demonstrated by Ministers who send their children to attend international schools in the country or send them abroad.

They fear that the Umno General Assembly will engage in rhetoric and polemics on single-stream schools versus vernacular schools and the role of government-linked companies in strengthening the Malay economy. These issues were confirmed by Umno vice president Hishammuddin Hussein last week.

“So what is it that the Umno Assembly wishes to achieve by making vernacular schools a main debate topic and in the context of single stream versus vernacular school? asked Seputeh MP Teresa Kok in a statement.

Kok, in issuing the call on the Opposition’s behalf on 1MDB and national schools, pointed out that former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad himself has emerged as the harshest critic of the troubled sovereign wealth fund and the education system dividing the people.

“Umno Assembly delegates must be bold in taking up 1MDB issues raised by DAP and Mahathir,” said Kok in the statement. “The issues related to 1MDB are very serious.”

“Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua has recently questioned the various financial controversies and scandals in 1MDB and expressed concern that they will make it the single biggest financial scandal in Malaysian history.”

Mahathir has raised questions about the heavy debt and usage of funds at 1MDB and these need answers, pointed out Kok.

Kok advised Umno delegates against raising the vernacular schools as an issue.

She pointed out that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak told the MCA General Assembly on October 12 that the future of vernacular schools and mother tongue education was enshrined in the Federal Constitution. Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, likewise, said in Parliament on November 3 that vernacular schools were part of the nation’s legacy, she noted.

Kok said that Umno delegates should not blame vernacular schools for the government’s failure to bring about national unity or for the BN’s unsatisfactory electoral performance in the last two general elections.