“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”
– Malcolm Forbes, American publisher
THE word ‘education’ is derived from Latin educare meaning ‘to lead out or bring forth.’ It implies that through organised questions, knowledge, understanding and the potential of children have to be brought out.
“In the name of thy Lord who created man from a clot. And thy Lord is the Most Generous Who taught by the pen, taught man that which he knew not.” – Holy Quran, 96:1-5 (English version)
Therefore, education – to bring forth – is a divine commandment that leaders must strive to design a system where the imparting of knowledge satisfies the empty slate of ignorance in untouched minds.
The same concept is mentioned in the Holy Bible at Matthew 15:11 which states, “It is not what goes into a person that defiles, but what comes out”. The bringing forth is again the emphasis.
Shouldn’t the right to education expressly mean the right to select and employ the best teachers to bring forth a cadre of best-performing students? This point is avoided and omitted.
Article 12 of the Federal Constitution has expansively and liberally enumerated this most fundamental of all human rights.
The only thorn in this Article is the phrase “maintained by a public authority”. That’s the genesis of the problem.
Literally it means that the government has a say in its citizens’ right to education. That’s too much government in our lives.
What the government brings forth requires careful analysis. The findings are dismally deplorable.
The quality and standard of teaching and learning in Malaysia has long been a contentious matter. Controlling and maintaining the constitutional right to education by government must surely mean the right to offer the highest standards.
“Maintained by a public authority” has profitably triggered the escalation of private educational facilities and institutions in our country. That offensive phrase raises an equal number of eyebrows and concerns. The private sector managing this constitutional right is amazing.
President Trump recently has by Executive Order shut down the federal Department of Education and returned it to the States where it has always belonged. The early American revolutionaries made sure education did not become a constitutional right!
Shouldn’t the MADANI government be taking a cue about this constitutional right? Instead, it allowed itself to get mired in a controversy over the relocation of a Hindu temple. What the government brings forth needs constant analysis.
The 1875 assassination of a British resident in the State of Perak makes for an interesting study at what was brought forth from cottage education (sekolah pondok) during those turbulent colonial days. It echoed what President Abraham Lincoln brought forth almost ten years before his time was up.
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.”
Reason was mortally dangerous for the thinking individual who threatened to become a voter. It gave organised government the very reason and purpose to bring forth its very own sinister motives to control what went in and what came forth.
Is there a brain parasite that has waged a war on reason, to paraphrase Professor Gad Saad of Lebanon? In 1974, the Minister of Education made sure Bahasa Melayu was implemented as the main language in all the schools as a compulsory subject.
Section 29A of the Education Act 1996 was inserted after the Act was passed and took effect on New Year’s Day in 2003.
The provision mandates that every parent shall ensure that their child, upon turning six, attends primary school and remains for the compulsory duration of six years.
What happens after six years is left hanging on the side of speculation and uncertainty. Your child only needs six years of compulsory primary education? The multilingual national school system never factored in globalisation.
The use of the English Language went backstage after the Education Act was amended. Today, it’s presence is felt by the absence of bettering and encouraging its growth and usage.
On January 21 2003, a few days after the statutory amendments, seminars were jointly organised by the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation to discuss ‘Education in a Multi-Racial and Multi-Religious Society: Divisive or Unifying?’ and ‘Education and Religion: Combating Parochialism’.
The seminar witnessed a key comment by Datin Zaharah Alatas, Chairperson of Environmental Commission, National Council of Women’s Organisation: “What is of greater concern is that the standard of education in the universities is obviously going down. The system does not teach us how to think, students are not taught how to debate great ideas and issues, and this separates one ethnic group from the other.”
The intent, content, extent, scope, scale and effect of these mind-opening seminars went unnoticed while Machiavellian concepts of a bygone era strove to gain a stranglehold in Malaysian politics even in 2025.
Lopsided, one sided, cock-eyed politics to shame and humiliate Article 12 Federal Constitution makes one wonder there is a constitutional right to slide hopelessly down the slippery slope while sacrificing meritocracy at the altar of hopelessness.
“Maintained by a public authority” is obviously counterproductive. What exactly does government produce except jactitation of which the discerning public is totally aware.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune. The writer can be reached at chiefjudge@secamtektektribe.org.
