This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 15, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: Second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein would be turning in his grave over the current state of the country’s education policy, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, who worked under him, said yesterday.

The former minister said he would have taken issue with the narrowing of Malaysia’s education policy to focus on giving Bahasa Malaysia greater emphasis at the expense of English, which Abdul Razak regularly spoke and used during his six-year tenure as prime minister.

“Tun [Abdul] Razak spoke English during meetings, but there was no question about not strengthening Malay,” said the former Wanita Umno chief, who was appointed a senator by Abdul Razak when she was only 30.

Rafidah, who eventually became a full minister under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration, also worked with Abdul Razak as a member of the Umno supreme council.

Rafidah said Abdul Razak would even speak in English during Umno supreme council meetings, despite the fact that the party was committed to uplifting the Malay community and Bahasa Malaysia.

“I always say Tun [Abdul Razak] will actually turn in his grave if he knew this is what is happening to this country at this point of time,” Rafidah said at a seminar to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Abdul Razak’s death.

“He never thought about education that is so narrowly interpreted as to be only Malay.”

“No, he never spoke like that. We spoke in [Umno supreme council meetings] in English. Very rarely did we speak in Malay. We knew that was the best way to communicate as all of us were English-educated.”

Rafidah said, unlike the communal bridge-building that Abdul Razak was involved in after the 1969 racial riots, parochialism is now returning to politics.

“Parochialism is rearing its ugly head again. Parochialism that has racial undertones that bring up new chasms and new divides. Religion has become something that divides us.

“We should start thinking of ourselves as Malaysians first. Let’s stop this petty factionalism. It’s going to bring everybody down,” said Rafidah. — The Malaysian Insider