New Sunday Times, August 24, 2003
Ensure students are adept in English, parents and teachers urged

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat. - While stressing academic excellence, teachers and parents should also promote intercultural, inter-religious understanding and sports among students, besides encouraging them to acquire language skills, New Straits Times Press group editor-in-chief Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad told students of SMK La Salle Brickfields today.

"Acquire knowledge in whatever language, but learning English is a must as it will help in communication and in seeking jobs here and abroad," he said at the school's Excellent Student Award Day and launch of its Patriotism Park.

Abdullah said that being adept in English was an added asset and a compulsory requirement when seeking jobs, especially in the private sector.

"By mastering the English language, it does not mean that one has given up on his mother tongue or the national language," he said to more than 2,000 students of the school, of which 82 per cent are Malay, and others Indian. The school has only five Chinese students.

Further stressing the importance of English, Abdullah said 13 million tourists visited Malaysia annually and they use English to communicate.

"Parents should therefore place a high premium on education and ensure their children master the English language. Besides honing the thinking and analytical skills of students, teachers should also encourage their charges to be adept in English."

Touching on the importance of intercultural and inter-religious understanding, Abdullah said it was even more vital now with cases of indiscipline in schools involving students of different races and within the same racial group.

"If the legacy of the founding fathers of this nation is to endure, there must be a strong sense of nationhood and a strong commitment to multiculturalism. Rather than focusing on the linguistic, cultural and religious differences between us, we should concentrate on the common bonds that we share. We need to work together for the sake of the future well-being of this nation."

He hoped that everyone in the school community, from teachers and students, to parents, would make an extra effort to create a school culture which promoted not only academic excellence, but also inter-cultural and inter-religious understanding.

"Now, regrettably, there are parents who are reluctant to send their children to national schools as they think the schools have become too `Malay' and too Islamic. As a result, many Chinese parents are sending their children to Chinese schools and Indian parents to Tamil schools.

"Such polarisation is bad for the country. I do not need to tell you that schools have a crucial role to play in maintaining the ethnic and religious harmony that has been the foundation of the peace and prosperity that we have enjoyed since Merdeka."

Abdullah said when the mission schools were first established in Malaysia, the Malays in particular were reluctant to send their children to these schools for fear of being "Christianised and Westernised".

"These fears proved to be groundless because the Malays who studied there turned out to be no less Malay or Muslim. Indeed, in the pre-Merdeka era and in the early years of Merdeka, thousands of Malaysians had every reason to remember the contributions of the brothers and nuns, many of whom were Irish, not only from the La Salle order but also from other orders such as the Order of Holy Infant Jesus, to their education."

On La Salle Brickfields' golden anniversary on Oct 18, Abdullah said: "This means that Malaysia is younger than this school, which is 50 years old this year. However, La Salle Brickfields is quite young compared to the other schools founded in Malaysia by the La Salle Brothers over the last 150 years."

The schools, he said, included St Joseph's Institution Singapore and St Xavier's Penang which were established in 1852; St John's Kuala Lumpur; St George's Taiping; St Michael's Ipoh; St Paul's Seremban; St Francis' Malacca; St Andrew's Muar; St Joseph's Kuching; La Salle Sacred Heart Kota Kinabalu; La Salle Klang; and La Salle Sentul.

"Since the establishment of the first free public school in the French city of Rheims by its founder John Baptist De La Salle more than three centuries ago, the La Salle Brothers have spread his mission of providing education to everyone regardless of social class, race or religion to every corner of the globe."

Historically, he said, La Salle Brickfields was part of the La Salle legacy which still endured in the thousands of schools and universities established and run by the Christian Brothers in more than 80 countries today.

"Of course, apart from the name, you no longer share much in common with this LaSallian international network compared to previous generations of young Malaysians who were taught by the La Salle brothers and who were conscious and proud of being LaSallians."

The school was established in 1953 and was situated within St John's Institution before moving to Brickfields in 1954 when its own building was completed. Classes initially were only from Standards One to Six under head teacher, the late M. Rokk.

Abdullah, who opened the Patriotism Park by planting hibiscus plants, made a personal donation of RM10,000 to the school, with RM1,500 to be given to the school's most promising student Vijayan Kanagasabai should he score 13As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination this year.

Datuk P. Kasi, a former student of the school, and who is now an architect, property developer and entrepreneur, donated RM17,000 and pledged to give Vijayan a computer if he scored 13As.

During the awards ceremony, Kanthi Kulasekaran received RM400, a medal and certificate for garnering the Excellent Student Award. He also received the Top Academic Student award which comprised RM300, a medal and certificate.

The Most Promising Student award went to Vijayan who received RM200, a medal and certificate.

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