Malaysia's attempt to forge a national identity among its culturally-diverse Malay, Chinese and Indian citizens has run into trouble at school.
An ambitious programme of "Vision Schools" faltered at the start of this academic year when Chinese families refused to take part in the second pilot project.
The concept, which has been on the government drawing board for years, envisages separate schools for the three races housed within the same complex, with pupils sharing the hall, canteen and playing fields.
Only one such school is functioning successfully, in the Subang Jaya suburb of the capital Kuala Lumpur, and Chinese education groups remain firmly opposed to the project, fearing it will dilute their culture.
Yap Sin Tian, deputy chairman of Dong Zong, the Federation of United Chinese Schools Associations of Malaysia, told AFP the only reason the Subang Jaya school had succeeded since opening in 2001 was because there was a shortage of Chinese schools in the area.
On the failure of the second school, in Seremban south of the capital, he said the local Chinese school "refused to move because they do not want to join Vision Schools.
"They plan to remain in their own building and have applied to secure new land to build a new school."
Yap said his federation objected to the Vision School concept through fear that the character of Chinese schools would disappear.
"If we join Vision Schools the Malay-language schools will dominate and others will come second," he said, adding that a favourite Chinese dish, pork, would be banned in the canteens as Malays are Muslims.
Malays make up some 60 percent of the population of 24 million, while the economically-dominant Chinese comprise around 27 percent and Indians seven percent.
Race has always been a sensitive issue in education, and last year many ruling-party supporters were upset by the government's move to reduce preferential treatment for Malays under a three-decade-old affirmative action programme.
A decision to let 10 percent of Chinese and Indians into government junior colleges, previously the preserve of Malay students, came on the heels of the implementation of meritocracy for entry into public universities.
Previously 55 percent of university places were reserved for Malays and other indigenous groups, 35 percent for Chinese and 10 percent for Indians.
Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who retired last October, dismissed fears that Chinese language schools would be phased out by Vision Schools, saying they were aimed simply at encouraging racial mixing among young people who tended to socialise within their own ethnic groups.
"We feel that if the Chinese children do not want to be sent to national (Malay-language) schools, there must at least be one place where they can mix with the other races too," he said.
Before independence from Britain in 1957, all subjects were taught in English, but schools
now use Malay, Mandarin or Tamil as the medium of instruction with English as a separate course.
The Chinese are fiercely protective of mother-tongue education, with a row erupting last year over the government's plans to teach maths and science in English.
After months of heated debate, they agreed in October that the two subjects could be taught in English in secondary schools but that Chinese-language primary schools would teach them in both English and Mandarin.
The Chinese are proud of their school standards, and Yap said many Indians and Malays applied for places in Chinese schools each year because "we are successful in science and maths".
Ronnie Liu, publicity chief of the Chinese-based opposition Democratic Action PARTY TOLD AFP: "The plan of Vision Schools is doomed from day one, unless it is forced."
Perhaps with this in mind, the government has this year introduced yet another project designed to mix the races and create a Malaysian identity - compulsory national service.
In February, the first 85,000 18-year-olds of both sexes will begin a three-month course involving some marching and physical training but concentrating on what has been called nation-building and patriotic training, character-building and community service.
The conscripts were randomly picked by computer from 480,000 Malaysians born in 1986, but efforts were made to match the racial mix to the country's ethnic make-up.
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