KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) has called on both the federal and state governments to fully adopt the “Malaysian Family” concept advocated by Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yakoob.
“We in Huazong opined that such a “significant – and-worthy concept” should be fully incorporated when introducing laws or policies covering religion, education, culture, economy, etc, to ensure that they are inclusive and non-discriminatory, so as to better reflect a tolerant and harmonious Malaysia,” said its President, Tan Sri T.C Goh, in a statement issued today.
In line with this, the Federation called on the government to put in place a policy which promotes multicultural education.
It said, under the premise of ensuring a fair and equitable sharing of national resources for education development, the government should provide fair allocation of grants for development of Chinese education/schools. This includes to institutionalise allocations of grants through the annual Budget, for construction of new Chinese primary or secondary schools to meet increasing demand in an area, often due to an increased Chinese population, and for the repair and maintenance of these schools, and their relocation, when such need arises.
Goh noted that the said calls were among the 19 resolutions passed during its Central Committee delegates’ conference, which was held via online, last Sunday.
Besides this, the Federation also urged the government to repeal Section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950, which was obviously targeting media organizations and online news portals, and was widely perceived to have dealt a severe blow to freedom of speech/expression in Malaysia.
The 19 resolutions passed in the delegates’ conference are as follows:
1. Urging the Federal government and state governments to strengthen cooperation in fighting Covid-19, expediting economic recovery, and to better assist the people to get through the pandemic.
2. Urging the government, National Security Council (NSC) and relevant authorities in every state, to always engage with and take into consideration of the feedback or proposals given by the industry players or their representatives, civil society organisations (CSOs) and the public, before drafting and implementing necessary standard operating procedures (SOPs) to facilitate reopening of economic sectors and schools in stages, and to make necessary adjustments accordingly to better suit the actual conditions of a state/region/district.
3. Urging the government of Malaysia and all state governments to fully support and adopt the “Malaysian Family” concept advocated by Prime Minister; that such a “worthy concept” should be fully incorporated when introducing new laws or policies covering religion, education, culture, economy, etc, to ensure that they are inclusive and non-discriminatory, so as to better reflect a tolerant and harmonious Malaysia.
4. Urging the Parliament to expedite the tabling of the proposed anti-hop law or the election recall act (whichever is more suitable), in order to better improve our democracy, in the best interest of the nation and its people.
5. Urging the government through the Election Commission (EC) to expedite the implementation of the new voting law which allows for registration of Malaysians aged 18 and above as voters, to ensure that it is applicable in the next general elections.
6. Urging the government to introduce more “people-and-business-friendly” in the coming Budget 2022, so as to help the people and businesses to better cope with and to get through the Covid-19 induced dire situation. Besides this, the government should also strive to adopt more prudent financial management and to accelerate economic recovery, post pandemic.
7. Urging the government to continue to roll out loan moratorium in its coming ‘Prihatin Rakyat’ economic stimulus package, and through the Bank Negara continue to provide low-interest financing, interest-free microcredit and targeted loan moratorium to assist the debtors to get through this devastating time caused by the pandemic.
8. Urging the government to provide tax incentives to local manufacturers and business operators, as an incentive for them to help ramp up ‘Buy Malaysian Products’ campaign to boost domestic consumption and domestic tourism. Government departments and agencies should also be encouraged to buy national cars for their own use, to show support for the said campaign.
9. Urging the government to immediately review the recently introduced new policies for Malaysia My 2nd Home (MM2H) Programme, which were considered as too rigid and unfriendly for the applicants. The government should introduce policies which are more competitive and friendly, in order to better attract foreigners to come and live in Malaysia.
10. Urging the government to attract more foreign investments, including those from China, the Middle East, and East Asia, to propel our trade and industries and to create more quality jobs, which would ultimately help accelerate our economic recovery, post pandemic.
11. Urging the federal government and the state governments to be fair to all ethnic groups when allocating government funds in support of their cultural activities and programmes and long-term development; this includes the annual National Chinese Culture Festival which the Chinese assembly hall of every states take turns to host, under the auspice of Huazong, as well as the Malaysian Chinese Museum which is being managed by Huazong. It is also hoped that the government could institutionalise allocation of such grants.
12. Urging the federal government and the state governments to allocate funds to support our local artists, movie productions and entertainment industry players, to help them to get through this difficult period.
13. Urging the government to expedite the recognition of Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) for students of independent Chinese secondary schools, and to institutionalise allocation of annual grants in aid of Chinese community-run independent secondary schools and colleges.
14. Urging the government to fully adopt the “Malaysian Family” concept by putting in place policy which promotes multicultural education, and under the premise of ensuring a fair and equitable sharing of national resources for education development, to provide fair allocation of grants for development of Chinese education/schools. This includes to institutionalise allocations of grants through the annual Budget, for construction of new Chinese primary or secondary schools to meet increasing demand in an area, often due to an increased Chinese population, and for the repair and maintenance of these schools, and their relocation, when such need arises.
15. Urging the government to amend the existing Education Act to honour its previous pledge to restore the legitimate status of National-type Secondary Schools (SMJK) which among others entitled them to development expenses that is fully funded by the government, the requirement that the school principal and administrative staff must have qualification in Chinese language, and the School Board shall have the rights to make decision over school affairs.
16. Urging the government and the Ministry of Education to respect the virtue of “facts matter”, and to seriously review and rectify whatever mistakes or discrepancies in the history of Malaysia which are found in the history text books.
17. Urging the government to respect the wish of the Chinese and Indian communities, that is to quickly rectify and resolve the long-standing issue, on the introduction of khat writing, for the year four students in Chinese and Indian primary schools, and to immediately abolish the inquiry directed at the parents and students, on the subject matter.
18. Urging the government to pay full and serious attention to the continued presence of a huge number of illegal migrant workers and illegal immigrants in the country. The government should take appropriate measures, including to ‘regularise’ them, or to deport them back to their country of origin. This is necessary and urgent towards reducing outflow of Ringgit, to safeguard and increase job opportunities for Malaysians, to prevent the occurrence of another healthcare crisis, and to maintain public safety and national security.
19. Urging the government to repeal Section 114A of the Evidence Act 1950, which was obviously targeting media organizations and online news portals, as it was widely perceived to have dealt a severe blow to freedom of speech/expression in Malaysia. -pr/BNN
