Ethnic relations

Efforts towards concept of One Malaysia

1
st
Round
Moderator : Now lets move on to Professor Yeo. Professor, what is your view on
the concept of one Malaysia?
Thank you Mr. Nash. As an educator, !asically think that it is a "ood idea
that promotes national unity especially amon"st students from various ethnicity
!ack"rounds.
This is accordance to our prime minister, #atuk $eri Na%i! Tun &a'ak(s aim of
promotin" national inte"ration in Malaysia. )e stressed that the concept is !ased
on *two main principles, which are mutual respect and trust in one another.( Thus
this is a step in !uildin" the spirit and values of to"etherness, as well as a sense
of !elon"in" amon" all Malaysians, re"ardless of race, reli"ion and creed.
!elieve that the aims will !e !est achieved if the implementation is carried out
startin" from primary schools as children are our future "enerations that will lead
our country.

+
nd
round
Moderator : ,hat are some of the pro"rams or effort in education field that can
contri!ute to the success of this concept?
-ne of the pro"rams !ein" introduced is the &M.P pro"ram, which stands
for &acial nte"ration / Malaysian .nity Pro"ramme 0&M.P1. t is a pro"ram
from the 2ducation Ministry which aims to encoura"e unity amon" the different
races throu"h cultural inte"ration at the school level. This pro"ram fell under the
nineth Malaysian Plan 0&M3451 with a !ud"et of &M+6.7 million to operate with
for the year.

n this conte8t, two main vernacular streams, which are Tamil and 9hinese
schools, are "rouped to"ether with national schools. Then these %oint schools will
conduct their activities to"ether with local communities. )owever, the activities
can only !e carried out after school hours and no racial issues should !e raised.
This pro"ram was first tested in Mantin, where four schools comprise two
9hinese schools 0$:39 9hun" )ua Mantin and $3 Mantin1, one Tamil school
0$:3T 9airo Mantin1, and the national school, $M3 Mantin.
The success can !e seen throu"h various pro"rams or"ani'ed !y local
communities such as a !owlin" championship or"ani'ed !y the Petalin" #istrict
Tenpin ;owlin" Association 0P#T;A1 on :une +<<=. This championship foresees
social inte"ration !y showin" participation of >?? pupils from si8 primary schools
in the 3elana :aya parliamentary constituency. The pupils were then divided into
"roups of three with each team made up of pupils of different races.
Another activity will !e the 9hinese 9alli"raphy contest which was held at the
$M3091 9han ,a in $erem!an on :anuary +<<7. This activity was divided into
two cate"ories, 9hinese and non 9hinese cate"ories, with the participation of
pupils of different races.
Another si"nificant move will !e vision school pro"ram. This pro"ram is @uite
a similar one with &imup pro"ram which mentioned earlier. Aision schools are
primary schools that uphold the concept of children learnin" to"ether within a
particular conte8t without re"ard for race or reli"ion. -ne of the o!%ectives is to
produce a united nation and encoura"e ma8imum interaction amon" pupils
throu"h the sharin" of school facilities and the implementation of other activities
at school.
Throu"h this pro"ram, the "overnment com!ined two main vernacular
schools, 9hinese and Tamil schools, with national schools. n this conte8t,
school(s rules and re"ulations should serve the process of edifyin" cultural
understandin" amon" different student racial "roups with respect to individual
culture and reli"ious !elief. Three schools will conduct activities to"ether within
the school compounds and there is no participation form local society. This is the
si"nificant difference of this pro"ram from &M.P pro"ram. Apart from that, they
will also share same facilities such as hall and field.
;asically these two pro"rams are amon" various pro"rams launched !y the
Ministry of 2ducation towards achievin" national unity, which is the main principle
in the concept of -ne Malaysia introduced !y #atuk $eri Na%i!.