LETTER | The defanged DAP

LETTER | DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke thinks that there is no more controversy concerning breweries donating funds to Chinese vernacular schools.

He said that the cabinet has decided that while the Education Ministry’s directive stays, Chinese schools can receive funds like before as long it doesn’t involve students, especially Muslims.

The controversy might be over temporarily but the existence of vernacular schools is perpetually controversial in the country.

Loke (above) might not be aware that the problem is not so much donations from breweries but whether the Malay nationalists accept the existence of vernacular schools in the country.

This time, it might be about the nature of donations; next time, it might be something else.

As long as there are vernacular schools, those who are vehemently opposed to them will not run out of issues.

As a typical yes-man, Loke is glad that the controversy over the funding issue is over but the obnoxious directive for forbidding the receipt of funds from breweries is still there.

An effective DAP leader would have urged the cabinet to rescind the ban but he unfortunately seemed contented with the temporary solution proffered by the cabinet.

With this temporary solution, he is going to town proclaiming the great deed of the DAP. It looks like MCA and Gerakan are better and more effective defenders of the vernacular school system compared to the DAP.

As usual, power, position, and perks have relegated the DAP to a powerless position in the Madani government despite boasting 40 MPs in Parliament.

Loke missed the point of why Chinese vernacular schools need to rely on private funding. If the government provides adequate funding then why seek financial assistance from private donors like the breweries?

As a leader of the party with the most number of MPs, Loke surely can ask for more financial assistance from the government for the Chinese vernacular schools. Why has he not done so?

Unfortunately, Loke lacks political will and remains just a passenger in the cabinet. It is truly sad that the so-called champion of non-Malays particularly the Chinese, the DAP, has been defanged.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.