Jointly reported by:
Lee Ai Lin Sr3ScB
Lim Zhe Yih Sr3ScE
Rosalind Chiang Fei Yang Sr3A
On the 13th of May 2021(Thursday), Kuen Cheng High School held an online talk about Chinese Education for the Senior Middle Three students. It was held from 9 a.m. till 10:30 a.m. We were honoured to have Dr Wong Cheng Yoke, an alumna and presently the School’s Teachers’ Professional Development Executive, as a guest speaker. She used to work in Dong Zong for 9 years, and has always been very active in the Chinese education field.
The topic of the talk revolved around a text from the Senior Middle Three Chinese textbook titled《语言与平等—平反林连玉为了谁》（Language and equality – purpose of fighting justice for Lim Lian Geok). The objective was to enlighten students on Mr. Lim Lian Geok’s tough journey on fighting for Chinese education rights, thus cultivating gratitude for our current comfortable study environment.
Madam Wong started the talk by letting students guess a few Chinese pictogram characters and further explained that these characters are from a song called 《生僻字》(which means uncommon Chinese words). Chinese characters are the pride of Chinese people so we must be proud of our mother tongue. Next, she introduced the writing style of Argumentative essay which is formed by three components, 论点 (facts), 论据 (evidences), 论证 (supporting ideas). She then emphasised the keyword of the text, Justice, meaning to correct the wrong accusations towards the litigant and redress the truth of the incident. To link it with the text, she listed several unfair treatments towards Mr. Lim Lian Geok. These included revoking his Malaysian citizenship and teaching permit, stigmatization and restricting his movement.
In 1961, Mr Lim Lian Geok was revoked teaching permit because the government then regarded his actions as threat to the education policy that might provoke racism. Hence, they forbid him from having public expressions such as public speaking and publishing articles. His published articles were banned throughout the country. The main reason being that he strongly opposed against a new policy that required all secondary schools to only teach in English or Bahasa Melayu if they wanted government funding. The final content in the education decree in 1961 led to Chinese schools must decide whether to accept the government’s funding and follow up with the restructure. Decision was thus finally made and conformed to the establishment of independent secondary schools.
Then, Madam Wong talked about Mr Lim Lian Geok’s concept about the nation, race, language and culture. The younger generation must comprehend their coexistence and co-prosperity as it is their responsibility to lay the foundation for the people in Malaysia. If they do not unite when the country is just established, the community of different races would not respect each other. Mr Lim also proposed an educational equality act which gave fair education and resources to every young person. Madam Wong asked students 2 questions:
1. What will you tell Mr Lim Lian Geok if he is still alive?
Many students chose to answer this question as they were curious about Mr Lim’s perseverance towards Chinese education. Would Mr Lim regret his decision as it cost him his comfort?
2. Describe Mr Lim in one word.
A student shared that she thought of the word “帆” (sailing) and pictured an image of Mr Lim sailing towards a better future for Chinese education.
The birth of the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) was not all sunshine and roses. UEC was strongly opposed by the local government, claiming that it damages the unity of our country. Even so, the National Independent Chinese Secondary School Development Committee successfully implemented the 1st UEC examination in December 1975. One of the key figures to the success is Mr Lim Fong Seng, the first Chairman of Dong Zong. He fought courageously for the mother-tongue education of all Malaysians to be recognised as a fundamental human right, earning him the title “Father of UEC”. For more information on him, feel free to look up the e-magazine 《中学生月刊》 电子杂志 第328期 pg10-11.
Since the 70’s until today, one aspect of the UEC certificate still remains, which is the quote at the bottom which stated “维护华教，发展母语教育，伸张人权，争取平等地位。” (defend and develop Chinese education, strive for equal educational status)
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