Lawyer wants to withdraw suit on vernacular schools

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here set Nov 2 for case management of an application by a lawyer to withdraw his suit to declare the existence of vernacular schools as unconstitutional.

Lawyer Abdul Rahim Sinwan, representing Mohd Khairul Azam Abdul Aziz, said the court had set the hearing for yesterday, but the date was vacated following implementation of the Conditional Movement Control Order in Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur between Oct 14 and 27.

“Based on an email received from the court last Oct 14, the hearing that was fixed for today has been postponed and vacated.

“The case management has been fixed on Nov 2 before senior assistant registrar Puan Nor ‘Aqilah Abdul Halim at 9 am,” he told Bernama through Whatsapp.

Mohd Khairul Azam filed the suit in January this year seeking a declaration that Sections 28 and 17 of the Education Act 1996 (Act 550), which allow the use of Chinese and Tamil languages as the main medium in vernacular schools, are against Article 152 of the Federal Constitution.

Article 152 (1) of the Federal Constitution states that the Malay language is the national language.

He named the Malaysian government and the Ministry of Education as the defendants.

The lawyer applied to withdraw the suit on grounds that the Federation of Peninsula Malay Students (GPMS), Majlis Pembangunan Pendidikan Islam Malaysia (Mappim) and Ikatan Guru-guru Muslim Malaysia had filed a similar suit.

However, the Chinese Language Council, the Tamil Language Association and the Confederation of Former Tamil School Pupils, which are among 14 political parties and organisations allowed by the court to be intervenors in the suit, objected to the withdrawal.