1950年代馬來亞的華校學生運動之研究

Abstract

1948 年英屬馬來亞聯合邦成立後，企圖透過一種以英文與馬來文為主的中學教育體制，建立一個共同的馬來亞國家意識。由於華族社會長久以來致力於華文教育的推動，在二戰後華文教育體系已具相當規模，聯合邦政府企圖廢止各族群母語教育，及誘迫華文中學轉型為以英文為主要教學媒介學校的政策，遂被華族社會視為一種「消滅」華族文化傳統的手段。聯合邦政府急切推動華校轉型的措施，引發1950 年代中期華校中學生長達三年多的學潮。本文擬透過當年的各項文獻，及當事人的回憶，探討這段時期學生運動的本質與特性，檢視「共黨陰謀運動」或「華族母語捍衛行動」兩個不同的刻板印象，以便提供一個更貼近歷史事實的解釋。

To create one Malayan entity, the Federation of Malaya, founded in 1948, attempted to adopt the English/Malay languages as the main instruction media. It also tried to persuade the Chinese schools to change the instruction medium from Chinese into English. Based on the Razak Report in 1956, the Education Minister announced that the public examinations would be conducted in English and the over-aged students would be expelled from schools. Many Malayan Chinese believed that the new education policy would “destroy” the Chinese tradition and culture. The students launched a series of strikes against the policy during the late 1950s. The government alleged that the students were instigated by communist infiltration. On the other hands, many Chinese community leaders praised these students as the defenders of the Chinese language and culture. It is the intention of this paper to reexamine these student activities in order to present a more convincing and acceptable historical interpretation of the student activities during this period.