Law & Behold #16: Are Vernacular Schools Constitutional?

Recently, a lawyer sought to pursue a challenge on the constitutionality of the existence of vernacular schools. In a motion filed on October 23rd this year, he sought a declaration from the Federal Court that it was unconstitutional for Parliament to pass an amendment to Sections 17 and 28 of the Education Act 1996, providing for the continued existence of vernacular schools. So are the existence of vernacular schools unconstitutional? We get the 411 on this with Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Malaya.