Don’t indoctrinate children with hatred, says MCA Youth sec-gen

PETALING JAYA: It is wrong to indoctrinate children with hatred, says MCA Youth secretary-general Saw Yee Fung.

“To indoctrinate children with hatred and aggression is to distort vengeance and carnage as justified and contravenes the entire noble mission of education,” said Saw in a press release on Thursday (Nov 2) in response to a few schools during the ongoing Palestine Solidarity Week.

She also said there can be no comparison between role-playing performances which mimic animation characters or games versus a cry to war by educators.

Below is her statement in full:

There is no shred of doubt of MCA’s unflinching support for Palestine as it endures bombardment and ground troops by Israel.

Our stance on the current Gaza conflict is based on humanity and Palestine’s right to freedom and independence.

Nevertheless, we are not on the same page with the government, especially with the Education Ministry (MoE) on its instructions to schools to organise a “Palestine Solidarity Week” initially without clear guidelines.

This lack of clarity resulted with certain schools going overboard in parading violence and war cries upon the untainted minds of minor children within school premises.

To indoctrinate children with hatred and aggression is to distort vengeance and carnage as justice and contravenes the entire noble mission of education.

Any miscomprehensions that arose from the educators toting replica machine rifles or launching flaming arrows needs to be corrected.

It is unfortunate that the Perikatan MP for Alor Setar, Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden, who is also the PAS Youth chief, had questioned why Chinese vernacular schoolchildren were allowed to don costumes with replica weapons while Hamas-inspired costumes worn during the Palestine Solidarity Week were considered extreme.

Similarly, Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh reportedly questioned “Is this not extremism and terrorism?”, referring to a now-deleted Chinese school’s account showing its pupils wearing costumes while holding samurai swords.

Exploiting primary school pupils, these comments are provocative and aimed at dividing society along racial lines and should never have been uttered.

There can be no comparison at all in role-playing performances which mimic animation characters or games versus an outright cry to war by educators which leads to maiming and extinguishing life.

Similarly, children pretending to be Ninja Turtles are purely for fun and entertainment. These are fictional characters bearing no harm at all.

However, dressing up as soldiers, brandishing toy-fire arms or lobbing a flaming arrow at a flag – these schools have conveyed a confusing, even manipulative message to youngsters.

The Youth chiefs of PAS and Umno are urged to refrain from disparaging quarters who have criticised the glorification of firearms and violence by educators in the former’s attempt to alter concepts to mislead the public to score political mileage.

Political figures score points when they emphasise the values of peaceful co-existence, compassion and empathy in a multiracial country and not play the race card.

SAW YEE FUNG

Secretary-general, MCA Youth