The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya has heard that vernacular schools in Malaysia are prohibited from using Tamil or Mandarin as the medium of instruction according to an article in the Federal Constitution.
Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla argued that teaching and learning in these schools must be conducted solely in Bahasa Melayu, as stated in Article 152(1) of the constitution. Haniff emphasized that extraneous factors should not be considered when determining the legality of using Tamil and Mandarin in the national education system.
The appeal was made by the Islamic Education Development Council (Mappim), the Confederation of Malaysian Writers Association (Gapena), Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), and Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia after two High Court judges previously ruled in favour of vernacular schools' constitutional basis to use languages other than Bahasa Melayu.
Haniff represented Mappim and Gapena and argued that the judges should have focused solely on the constitutional provisions rather than the historical context. He further claimed that the schools should not receive government support since they use Tamil and Mandarin as the medium of instruction.
The Court of Appeal adjourned the proceedings for a case management meeting to determine the next steps.
