KOTA KINABALU: Tanjung Kapur Assemblyman, Teo Chee Kang has suggested a round table conference between the Sabah Education Department and independent Chinese schools to address the shortage of Bahasa Malaysia teachers in such schools.

He said the department should meet with the State's Independent Chinese School Board of Governors to "thrash out the issue".

"It is time for us to listen to the people and see whether we can resolve the issue," he said.

Teo, who is also the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General told reporters that Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had commented upon taking office that the time when the government knows all was over and that it was time for the government to listen to the people.

"So we need to hear the people," said Teo.

He does not believe race was ever an issue when it came to the deployment of non-Chinese teachers to independent Chinese schools in Sabah.

"To my knowledge, there has never been a case in Sabah where a Chinese speaking non-Chinese teacher who has been posted to any Chinese school was rejected by the school (based on race). As far as I know, there has not been such an incident," he said.

However, it is imperative that the teachers deployed must have a working knowledge of the Chinese (Mandarin) language, he said.

"Teachers who are posted in the Chinese schools must be able to converse in Chinese and use the language as a medium of instruction. I think that is important," he said.

As to whether the posting of non-Chinese teachers would affect the identity of the schools, Teo said it is best to leave that issue to the Chinese scholars and to the schools' board of governors.

"They would know best whether it would change the identity," he said.