KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 ― Perkasa supported today the Johor ruler’s call for single-stream education, but said the medium of instruction should remain in Bahasa Malaysia.

The Malay rights group's education bureau said that such an education system could help strengthen racial integration in the country and called for such policies to start from kindergarten.

“We believe single-stream education with Bahasa Malaysia as a medium of instruction would create racial integration from young and result in a harmonious, competitive society,” Perkasa education bureau chief Datuk Sirajuddin Salleh said in a statement.

He added that having an English medium of instruction would go against the ideals of Malaysia’s National Education Philosophy, but stressed that Perkasa was not against the study of English or other languages.

Earlier this month, Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar reportedly said Johoreans should be open to change regarding Malaysia’s education system, citing Singapore’s unity that was fostered from the republic’s single-stream education system with English as its medium of instruction.

The state ruler reportedly said a single-stream education system would foster racial integration and produce a united and harmonious society.

Malaysia’s education system is largely fragmented with national schools using Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction, while the vernacular Tamil and Chinese schools use Tamil and Mandarin respectively as the mediums of instruction.