How to foster integration in a heterogeneous country? Start in the schools, of course. A no-brainer, perhaps, but in Malaysia it has taken decades and the results remain mixed. ABDUL RAZAK AHMAD looks at Rimup, the latest integration programme for pupils.

THE four most important schools in Malaysia are situated in Mantin, Negri Sembilan. They are the most important because what happens in these schools could determine the country's future race relations. And what's happening is that the pupils are being encouraged to play with their peers from different races and religions.

The four schools comprise two Chinese schools (SJKC Chung Hua Mantin and SK Mantin), one Tamil school (SJKT Cairo Mantin), and the national school, SMK Mantin. They are the pioneers in a pro-integration programme known as Rimup.

Short for Rancangan Integrasi Murid Untuk Perpaduan or Pupils' Plan for Integration, Rimup grouped together the two main vernacular streams in the country - the Tamil and Chinese schools - with national schools. Each group of schools under the Rimup programme will then conduct joint co-curricular and academic-related activities.

"We are supposed to achieve national unity through, among others, the school system, which is what Rimup aims to do," says Datuk Hon Choon Kim, the Deputy Education Minister in charge of Rimup's implementation.

Rimup was launched last month at the four schools by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and will be implemented nationwide gradually.

With mounting concerns that Malaysians of different races are not mixing enough, Rimup offers tangible benefits.

Consider the numbers: There are 5,756 national primary schools, 1,287 Chinese primary schools and 525 Tamil primary schools spread nationwide with a combined enrolment of 3,045,975 pupils. Rimup will not be applicable to all schools, because the schools have to be situated close to each other.

Hon says the ministry is still working out the exact number of schools that can participate in Rimup.

But assuming that even 50 per cent could take part, it would mean that about 1.5 million pupils would be given the opportunity and encouragement to mix, play and be friends with others from different races and religions.

The dividends such bonds will pay in the future are enormous.

Rimup may be a no-brainer when it comes to promoting integration. But the journey to bring Malaysians closer under this programme has been a long and tedious one.

The thread starts in the early 1990s. That was when the Government started re-examining how schools could foster greater integration among pupils.

Warning signs were emerging that something about the state of integration in Malaysia was not quite right.

Numerous cases of racial polarisation began cropping up in university campuses. Students from each race were sticking to their own kind, from dormitories to lecture halls. The situation still persists.

Even in schools, many observed how pupils tended to do the same in, and outside the classrooms.

"We took national integration for granted," says Dr N.S. Rajendran from the Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development at Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, an education university.

"Things were going well for us. We faced no major race problems, and despite all the slogans of unity, we never really paid enough attention to the substance of the matter.

"We became complacent, until we noticed these warning signals approaching."

Something had to be done to narrow the growing gap between Malaysians, and the solution was Vision Schools.

Under the concept, national and vernacular schools would be built in a common complex. Each school would share common facilities such as canteens, playing fields and courts.

There are now eight Vision School complexes. But the problem with these schools is that it works only on a limited basis.

It is not possible to build all Tamil, Chinese and national schools side by side throughout the country. They can only be built in areas where there is adequate demand for all three.

In addition, to have the schools side by side means building even more Chinese and Tamil schools. This is a touchy political subject.

And then there's the politics of vernacular education.

The influential Malaysian Chinese Organisations' Election Appeal Committee (Suqiu) reacted negatively to Vision Schools, due to concerns that they would erode the identity of the Chinese medium of education.

Their stand came under heavy criticism.

The Indian community, on the other hand, along with the MIC, is generally supportive of the idea. Rajendran explains why.

"The general sentiment among the Indian community is that even if the Vision Schools do not result in more Tamil schools being built, it would at least enable existing Tamil schools to be relocated and given better facilities.

"This is an important cause for the community, considering the poor condition of many Tamil schools today."

The obvious solution would be to unify all the differing streams of schooling into a national school system. But vernacular education resonates strongly in the Chinese and Indian communities, and the Education Act 1996 guarantees a place for vernacular schools.

So the bottom line is this: Vision Schools offer only a limited means to foster integration, and vernacular schools are here to stay. Whatever integration programme to be introduced needs to fit these two criteria. "These are the ground realities we have to work with. We had to come up with a realistic and pragmatic solution," explains Hon.

Rimup fits the bill perfectly.

"Since we can neither convert all schools in the country into Vision Schools nor relocate all vernacular schools to Vision School complexes, we needed a different solution."

Rimup has so far been received favourably. "Everyone seems happy with it. Even the groups that opposed Vision Schools are supportive," says Hon.

One unfortunate thing about Rimup was its long gestation. Rimup is not a new idea.

Abdullah mooted Rimup when he was the Education Minister, and the programme was introduced in 1986.

"But when Abdullah was no longer Education Minister, Rimup was no longer given priority," says Hon.

"We actually began looking at a recommendation to put all schools of different streams under one roof way back in 1972," says Tan Sri Murad Mohamad Noor, who retired as Education director-general in 1985.

"But that idea failed to take off due to logistic difficulties. So while I believe that Rimup is a good idea, the question is whether it can be effectively implemented."

Rajendran offers another caveat. Rimup, he says, may be a good idea, but the question is whether teachers are up to the task of facilitating pupils to interact with each other.

A survey he conducted last September involving 201 school teachers in five States found that 57.2 per cent said they disagreed or were unsure whether their school climate provided students with opportunities to learn about cultures other than their own.

Rimup, therefore, is not a perfect solution.

The road ahead remains long and uncertain. Issues such as how many new Vision Schools will be built and how much allocation to be set aside to strengthen national schools to foster unity have yet to be decided.

Deliberations on these matters are ongoing for the Ninth Malaysia Plan, which kicks in next year.

In the meantime, indications are good for Rimup. At least judging from the pupils of the four schools in th e pioneer grouping of Rimup in Mantin, who are having a ball of a time making new friends.

The headmaster of SJK (C) Chung Hua Mantin, Woon Von Khin, says Rimup has allowed a degree of interaction among pupils from the different schools that was previously impossible.

And Woon, 55, who has been a teacher since 1971, has himself learnt a lesson from seeing his pupils meet and make friends with their peers from other races and religions.

"When it comes to integration, you just cannot teach children to be friends. All you can do is give them space, encourage them to mix, and step back."

So perhaps it's time to forget the multi-million ringgit campaigns, even more classroom subjects and spanking new infrastructure.

Because when it comes to fostering national integration, it really is as simple as just allowing children to be friends with each other.

Source: New Straits Times - August 07, 2005