A Malaysian academic has called for the closure of Tamil and Chinese medium school in the country to strengthen national unity, drawing sharp reaction from largest ethnic Indian political party which said the remarks are against the Federal Constitution.
Former education ministry director-general Abdul Rahman Arshad has called for the abolishment of vernacular schools in favour of a single stream school which uses Malay as medium.
"If we still allow such schools, don't ever hope to talk about unity, it will only be lip service," he said on Sunday.
Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) president G Palanivel said the schools have been in existence for a long time, even before independence, and it was very sad that people were still questioning their existence.
"We are strongly against it as this is one of the rights under the Federal Constitution, where no person shall be prohibited or prevented from using or from teaching or learning any other language," he told state owned Bernama news agency.
Malaysia's 29 million people include 60 per cent Malays, 25 per cent ethnic Chinese and nine per cent ethnic Indians, a majority of whom are Tamils.
Palanivel stressed that the contributions of students to society should be judged by the quality of students, their patriotism and what they give back as contribution to the society.
