Claiming Pakatan started tiff, PAS info chief says his party not against vernacular schools
KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari has denied that his party rejects the existence of vernacular schools in Malaysia amid an increasingly polarising fight for the Kuala Kubu Baru state seat in Selangor.
Instead, he said it was the ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that turned it into an issue during the by-election campaign, Mingguan Malaysia reported today.
“To us, vernacular schools are not an issue, but the issue we mentioned was how the PH candidate did not receive her primary or secondary education in Kuala Kubu Baru, as compared to our candidate from PN,” he was quoted as telling reporters after the Opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) ceramah in Kuala Kubu Baru last night.
Ahmad Fadhli was referring to PH’s Kuala Kubu candidate Pang Sock Tao who studied in Chinese vernacular primary and secondary schools.
He said that when PAS raised her educational background, the party was trying to point out that she did not study locally in Kuala Kubu Baru as the PN candidate Khairul Azhari Saut.
“PAS never opposed vernacular schools. Further, we stated the schools can continue to exist but with several reforms. We can discuss the reforms from the curriculum aspect and such, as said by scholars,” Ahmad Fadhli was quoted as saying.
On April 29, DAP national publicity secretary Teo Nie Ching urged politicians campaigning in the Kuala Kubu Baru by-election not to fan racial sentiments in response to the PAS information chief’s questions about Pang’s educational background.
Scrutiny into the academic backgrounds of the two main candidates began with social media users questioning Khairul Azhari’s university credentials before PAS challenged Pang to disclose her SPM and UPSR results.
“He is a local, that is the issue. Not how many As he obtained in SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia). The question is where did you get your education, that is to say that our candidate was here longer within the KKB society.
“They dragged it as if we insulted and touched racial sentiments and such,” Ahmad Fadhli was quoted as saying.
Kuala Kubu Baru goes to the polls on May 11.
Apart from Pang and Khairul Azhari, two more candidates are vying for the semi-rural Selangor seat.
They are Hafizah Zainudin from Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) and an independent Nyau Ke Xin.
The Kuala Kubu Baru seat fell vacant following the death of its three-term assemblyman, Lee Kee Hiong, on March 21 due to cancer.
In the state election in August last year, Lee beat candidates from PN, PRM and the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) by a majority of 4,119 votes.
