Education in Malaysia (Appendix 1) Education is a deliberate attempt to construct human beings who will participate in society as productive citizens.

It is the most contested terrain in any society, and it is a battlefield or a conveyer belt for the creation of human beings. Malaysia has succeeded in investing education in a way that made it a model to be followed for peaceful coexistence and acceptance of multiculturalism and multisectarianism, based on its educational curricula (AlAnbouri, 2009). As stated in the broad lines of the national and civic curricula in Malaysia, the curricula are aspiring to achieve the greatest degree of unity among members of the community, maintain the democratic way of life, promote social justice and guarantee the freedom of religious, cultural beliefs and diverse traditions of the Malaysian society (Al- saleh, 1999). The mission of the Ministry of Education in Malaysia is to produce world class education and ensure the development of the individuals potentials and to fulfill the nations aspirations. Education is fundamental to the inculcation of values and ethics which ultimately shape the nation's character, growth and social cohesion. The seeds of national unity must be sown among the young, and they must be taught and convinced of the benefits of peaceful co-existence. Schools are considered as next in importance to the home for the inculcation of moral values in order to raise disciplined and wellmannered citizens. Unity must be imbued at an early stage, as todays younger generation still have no prejudice against friends of different races, languages and religions. The philosophy of education should call for a different perspective of what a human being is and how to draw out the potentials in each and every one. This philosophy is translated into the school curriculum, which encourages the development of balanced, well-rounded, trained and skilled individuals. Education should promote the development of inner peace in the minds of students so that they can establish more firmly the qualities of tolerance and compassion. It should, also, cultivate feelings of solidarity and equality at the national level. Formal education in Malaysia is overseen by two government ministries: the Ministry of Education (Kementerian Pelajaran) for matters up to the secondary level, and the Ministry of Higher Education (Kementerian Pengajian Tingg) for matters regarding tertiary education. Primary education is free and compulsory for children from all ethnic and language groups. Although education is the responsibility of the federal government, each state has an education department to help coordinate educational matters in their respective states. The education system is highly centralized, particularly for primary and secondary schools, with state and local governments having little say in the curricula or other major aspects of education. Promotion from grade to grade is automatic. However, at the end of each level, students sit for common public examinations. Only primary education in Malaysia is mandated by law. All schools follow the national curriculum and use the Malay language "Bahasa Malaysia" as the medium of instruction along with

their vernacular languages as a subject. It was the aim of the founding fathers of modern Malaysia to unite their ethnically diverse people through the education system. In fact, this was the underlying principle of the Razak Report (1956), which formed the basis of the Malaysian educational system. During school years, students build their own valuesystems towards peace and non-violence. They learn to value peace and harmony, empathy, compassion, friendship and forgiveness. This was stated as the one of the major goals of education policy as follows: To inculcate and nurture national consciousness through fostering common ideals, values, aspirations and loyalties in order to mould national unity and national identity in a multi-ethnic society. The cultivation of the spirit of citizenship is emphasized in a number of subjects. The textbooks and the nation are intimate with one another. Textbooks is one of the ways which represents the type of nation that is projected by the state. National education and unity became, in the governments own words: "the over-riding objective" of the education system (Ghee et al., 2009). The task of education is to devise ways to make it possible to avoid conflicts or resolve them peacefully by respecting the culture and spiritual values of each other.For example, the students are taught the story of Ali (Malay name) and Ah chong (Chinese name) who help Raju (Indian name) with his school homework. In this story, values such as cultural and religious tolerance are emphasized. From the perspective of the Intergroup Contact Theory it was believed that continuous interactions among members of majority and minority groups would lead to improvement in relationships among them.The desire of the government to ensure that education plays an important role of unifying and integrating the multiethnic population remains important in policy processes in education. Such policies have been to some extent successful in eliminating ethnic differentials. If education policy is not sensitive to the issue of social cohesion and does not incorporate the perspectives of key stakeholders, it can be divisive and alienating, contributing to injustice and violence (Shamsul, 2008). The education curriculum is the heart beat of the education system, and it can be part of the problem as well as part of the solution. Policies and practices within the education system need to be analyzed in terms of their potential to aggravate or ameliorate conflict among the different groups in society. Though groups may be unique in terms of their customs, values and behaviors, the ultimate goal is to develop a respect for their differences and a recognition that diversity makes communities intellectually richer and more interesting. Education is a vital device in Malaysia as the country needs a tool to integrate its multi religious and multiethnic population (Ismail and Hassan, 2009). R.Khader, D. F. (2012). The Malaysian Experience in Developing National Identity, Multicultural Tolerance and Understanding through Teaching Curricula: Lessons Learned and Possible Applications in the Jordanian Context. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 270-288.