Educator calls for stronger Chinese representation
More young, professional talent should be cultivated in Malaysia’s Chinese-language media to represent and safeguard the rights of the nation’s Chinese community, a senior educator in Kuala Lumpur said.
“As a minority, Chinese groups in the multiethnic country are often subjected to discriminatory policies, such as limited access to higher education and profitable business areas,” said Lim Keng Hun, principal of the One World Hanxing College of Journalism and Communication, where classes are taught solely in Chinese.
“Therefore, it is the responsibility of our Chinese-language newspapers in Malaysia to report on the social problems that trouble Chinese Malaysians, especially in the areas of education, employment and culture,” Lim said.
Lim, 70, who is Chinese Malaysian, established the journalism college more than 20 years ago to meet an urgent demand for media professionals, especially in Chineselanguage newspapers and TV stations.
It was the first school in the country to offer systematic academic training in media and related industries.
“Before the college was set up, Malaysia did not even have a standard journalism department. The media industry survived by relying on a few training courses based on some predecessors’ experiences,” Lim said.
After graduating from Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, Lim worked as a reporter. In 1978, he started teaching journalism at Han Chiang High School, a renowned Chinese independent high school, in Penang.
“At first, there were only three or four staff in the department, and I could only refer to the curriculum system from Taiwan and Hong Kong. So I tried to design courses that were appropriate for social conditions in Malaysia,” Lim said.
“Though we invited the best instructors, our tuition fees were the cheapest. During the most difficult period, we did not even get paid,” he added.
These days, a two-year journalism course at the college costs $3,800.
In 1987, after a dispute between staff and management at the Penang high school, Lim led the department to Kuala Lumpur and founded a journalism college there. Today, the school occupies a three-story building in a suburb with about 30 staff members and more than 200 graduates a year.
Koh Ea Boon, an instructor at Hanxing College, said the school has been practicing Confucius’ philosophy of teaching without social distinctions.
“The school will have to shift its focus from radio and television to multimedia because the industry is undergoing a rapid transformation,” said Koh, who also heads the department of broadcasting, television and film.
“However, our mission to provide quality education for all will not change,” she said.
Lim’s early trailblazing efforts have paid off. Most of his graduates are playing an active role in local media. The top editors of four of Malaysia’s most influential newspapers are alumni of the school.
Chin Hang Wei, a Malaysian Chinese now working in China, graduated from the college in 2002. He said the school gave him the necessary media skills and put him on a fast track to becoming a reporter.
“We published a newspaper, set up a radio station and filmed TV programs in the college. It is one of the few institutes in Malaysia where students can receive professional media training in Chinese, and the graduates are sought after,” he said.
After two years at the college, Chin went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree at Communication University of China. He now works as an entertainment reporter at Phoenix TV in Beijing.
Like Chin, more students from the college are seeking further education in China. In recent years, the college has been cooperating with universities on the Chinese mainland, in addition to maintaining its traditional close ties with counterparts in Taiwan.
Nanjing University, in Jiangsu province, has been enrolling Malaysian students through Hanxing College since 2005. Every year, Nanjing also sends faculty members from the department of journalism and communication to Kuala Lumpur as part of the exchange.
“So far, a total of 16 Malaysian students have graduated from our jointly run program and received degrees,” said Zhu Lili, a teacher at Nanjing University who is involved in the program. Zhu was invited to Malaysia in 2010 to open a summer course on media culture at Hangxin College.
“These students have displayed an interest in researching the social and cultural life of Chinese Malaysians, as well as the development of Chinese-language media. Some of their studies have had pioneering significance in Malaysian society,” Zhu said.
Lim said China’s openingup and growing national power have ushered in new possibilities not only for graduates of the college, but also for the entire Chinese community in Malaysia.
“We recommend that our students visit China to form a closer cultural and emotional bond with our ancestral homeland, and we call for more flexible policies from both countries in the area of education cooperation,” he said.