MCA IRRELEVANT & A STOOGE TO ‘INVISIBLE HANDS’: HERE’S HOW HARAPAN CAN PROVIDE FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL

MCA youth, in a recent statement attacking Pakatan Harapan, asserted that free tertiary education is only possible with a High income and high taxation system. MCA/BN is once again trying to silence the people’s demands for legitimate and reasonable access to free higher education by holding the people to ransom with threats of higher taxes.

According to press reports, they even stated that “in order for our citizens to get free education, we need to have higher incomes. Norway, Germany and Sweden are the only nations offering free education, and the income tax and GST for all these countries are very high”.

This shows the carelessness and clumsiness of MCA and it’s youth wing in matters of policy. In the above statement itself, MCA has scored an own goal by admitting to BN government’s failure in growing the income of Malaysians- hence the inability to provide free higher education.

The fact of the matter according to World Bank data is, all three countries mentioned by them, actually spend less of their annual government expenditure on public education than Malaysia. But despite that, they are able to provide good quality and free education to their citizens, and in some cases non-citizens too.

Government expenditure on education, total (% of government expenditure)
	2011	2012	2013	2014
Malaysia	20.977	19.929	19.454	19.704
Argentina	15.964	15.335	15.262	14.717
Germany	10.753	11.137	11.037	11.139
Denmark	15.036	12.489	15.230
Finland	11.919	12.797	12.446	12.323
Norway	15.011	17.453	17.026
Sweden	12.883	14.864	14.771	14.939
				World Bank

Also, the claim that only Germany, Sweden and Norway being the only countries that provide free education is also false. In Argentina, more than 90% of students in higher education attends free public universities. Tuition is free to all students regardless of their financial status and academic achievements. Denmark, Finland, Cuba and several more other countries also offer free public higher education. In other words; MCA is either ignorant or lying through their teeth.

The right to access to education is written in Article 13 (2)(c) of the UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in which the covenant speaks;

“The State Parties to the present Covenant recognize that, with a view to achieving the full realization of this right: Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education.”

And it is no surprise that Malaysia is not a signatory of this covenant. As MCA and BN’s track record and policy positioning clearly show that, education is a mere commodity to BN. In DAP and Pakatan, we view education as not just an investment in an individual’s future, but fundamental right to citizens and the community as a whole.

Whilst our values and ideology calls for free education, as government in waiting, we are not unaware of the challenges ahead that has been planted deep and wide by 60 years of BN incompetence and bad governance. MCA must therefore be told the following;

Free education is about political will

The challenge for the next administration is squarely on the Ministry of Higher Education. The Ministry needs to listen to the students, parents and graduates rather than political players and operatives. The biggest investment needed here is political will to provide autonomy and support; to democratise higher education.

Let our public universities to be self-administered, led and managed by capable and reputable professors.  Not by politically connected / second-grade academics whose priorities are to perform the tasks assigned by their political masters.

Education should not be a commodity

Higher education in Malaysia must be tempered of its value for commoditisation and replaced with a model built through the lens of educators, learners and parents. By removing the commercial interests as much as possible it also removes the potential discriminate any sections of a community; economically and otherwise.

We must no longer allow invisible hands to shut the door of public universities on some of the best and brightest of our youths and lose them to UK, Australia and Singapore.  Every year MCA acts hero to fight for so-called straight A students for university placement. But the root cause is an inefficient, opaque and unfair system that they themselves propagated and support.  We, from DAP and Pakatan will fix the system and ensure transparency.

Balancing accessibility and responsibility

We must put the debate between education accessibility and the fiscal responsibility front and centre. We want our graduates to contribute to the society and fulfil their potentials.  The most effective way to impede the growth of young people is to pile them with student loans and debt.  Which is why we call for free tuition fees in the public university and colleges.

The legacy issue of a mismanaged PTPTN needs to be addressed with new policy, to help graduates in debt to eventually get out of the debt hole.  But we’re not calling for a total forfeit of student loans already disbursed prior to the change of government; we are calling for a holistic solution that would not hamper the growth potential of those under the burden of heavy loans.

MCA and BN is clearly incapable of grasping that the inability to provide free higher education is their own fault. Their shameful attempt to defend the indefensible by blaming everyone- including the Malaysian people, and even lying through their teeth- is clear indication that their electoral irrelevance is well deserved.

Howard Lee Chuan How

DAP Perak Spokesperson on Mobility & Transport

DAPSY Perak Chief

DAPSY Malaysia International Secretary

International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) President

Perak State Legislative Assemblyperson, Pasir Pinji

– MAILBAG

.

✍ Sumber Pautan : ☕ Malaysia Chronicle

Kredit kepada pemilik laman asal dan sekira berminat untuk meneruskan bacaan sila klik link atau copy paste ke web server : http://ift.tt/2vcupDk

(✿◠‿◠)✌ Mukah Pages : Pautan Viral Media Sensasi Tanpa Henti. Memuat-naik beraneka jenis artikel menarik setiap detik tanpa henti dari pelbagai sumber. Selamat membaca dan jangan lupa untuk 👍 Like & 💕 Share di media sosial anda!