Court recognition of vernacular schools reflects Malaysia’s diversity: legal expert

[superadmin]

KUALA LUMPUR – The Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision to allow vernacular Chinese and Tamil schools to co-exist with national schools reflects Malaysia’s tolerance and moderation towards the nation’s multicultural nature, said constitutional law expert Datuk Saleem Shad Faruqi.

He was commenting on the decision, delivered at the end of 2021, which effectively dismissed a 2019 application challenging the constitutionality of vernacular schools in the country.

The suit was initiated by the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students, the Islamic Education Development Council and the Confederation of Malaysian Writers’ Association.

They had sought a declaration from the high court that Sections 2, 17 and 28 of the Education Act 1966 – which provided for the establishment of vernacular schools using Mandarin and Tamil as the main language – were inconsistent with Article 152 of the federal constitution and were therefore null and void.

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