KUALA LUMPUR – The Court of Appeal is set to deliver its verdict on a landmark case tomorrow involving the appeal on the constitutionality of vernacular schools and their right to exist in this country.
The case began with a constitutional review filed by the Islamic Education Development Council (Mappim), the Federation of Peninsular Malay Students (GPMS), the Confederation of Malaysian Writers Association (Gapena), and Ikatan Muslim Malaysia (Isma) at Kuala Lumpur High Court and similar review filed by Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia (i-Guru) in the Kota Bharu High Court in 2019.
All the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had originally named the education minister and government as defendants in the suit.
Soon after, Dong Zong and Jiao Zong as well as Persatuan Thamizar Malaysia, Persatuan Tamilar Thurunal (Perak), and seven others applied to intervene and were subsequently made co-defendants.
They were seeking a declaration that the existence of vernacular schools is inconsistent with Article 152 and Article 152(1) of the federal constitution.
Article 152 pertains to the national language, with 152(1) stipulating that the national language shall be the Malay language and in such script as Parliament may provide by law.
However, high court judge Datuk Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali – now a Court of Appeal judge – on December 29, 2021, dismissed the suit on the grounds that the existence of vernacular school does not violate Article 152(1), and that vernacular schools are not defined as public authorities, and the use of non-Malay language as a medium of instruction in Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools is not for official purposes.
Similarly, Kota Bharu High Court judicial commissioner Abazfaree Mohd Abbas, now a high court judge, dismissed the suit on comparable grounds on May 30 of the previous year, emphasising the need to interpret the existence of vernacular schools within a historical context, and highlighting the country’s forefathers’ desire for communal harmony.
Other than GPMS, all the education NGOs involved in the suit then filed an appeal at the appellate court against the decisions of Kuala Lumpur and Kota Bharu high courts.
Therefore, tomorrow, a three-person bench of Court of Appeal judges, including Datuk Supang Lian, Datuk Gunalan Muniandy, and Datuk Azizul Azmi Adnan, is set to deliver their decision on the appeal.
This follows hearings where counsels representing the NGOs and the defendants presented their submissions.
During the appeal, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing Mappim and Gapena, argued that there are no constitutional clauses safeguarding the use of languages other than Bahasa Malaysia.
He clarified on October 10 that the appellants comprising education NGOs are not seeking to abolish vernacular schools but advocate for Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of communication to foster unity between vernacular and national schools.
In the appeal, lawyers Datuk Shaharuddin Ali, Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, and Bastian Verdargon represented i-Guru, Isma, and the Malaysian Chinese Language Council, the Tamil Neri Kalagam Association, and the Confederation of Former Tamil School Pupils, respectively.
Lawyer Liew Horng Bin represented the education minister and government. – November 22, 2023