Happy Birthday,Malaysia!

MERDEKA!

Our nation celebrates its 53rd birthday today.
Let's work together to face new challenges in the era of "Globalization".
Discard the out-dated ideology based on racialism and religion fanaticism.

The way to go : FORWARDS.

The A-G dropped a bombshell in the Chinese community

The Attorney General charged the former president of The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) for 16 years,Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik, with 2 counts of cheating in relation to the KFTZ scandal.

Many Chinese are stunned by the News because it is just unbelievable that their leader will be charged. It shamed all Chinese.

On the other hand,it is a clear message to those who are in power, no one is above the law. The long arms of the law will reach you sooner or later.

It is crytal clear, why puzzle?

Prior to 2 by-elections all sorts of efforts were applied to ensure a victory for BN just for ego sake.Particular attentions were given to win the Chinese voters like approval of special funds for Chinese medium primary schools. Applications for renovations,maintenance,extensions, building of additional class rooms,etc,etc which had been pending for over 10, or 20 years were approved within weeks.Facility in the villages were suddenly improved.For example, an application to build an iron bridge which has been pending for years was speedily approved.
The government has done all there is to be done to win the Chinese votes,but why didn't they reciprocate. why? why? why?...
The answer is very simple,as clear as the crystal.
By doing so much for the people,especially the Chinese community, in such a short span of time, the government has aroused the resentment of the Chinese community. It was interpreted by the Chinese as they had in the past been kept waiting unnecessarily for the approval to various pressing needs not because there was a valid reason for the delay but because somebody up there was trying to show his authority or simply because of discrimination. They asked,"If it can be approved within weeks, why are we kept waiting for 20 years?"
The voters are smarter now,you know.

Still got people refuse to accept IT nowadays?

What happened at SJK(C)Desa,Kepong really sadden me. There are still people who refuse to embrace new technology such as information technology(IT).

A handful of parents went all out to stop computer classes to be taught in the school against the will of the majority of the parents, against the will of most of the parents of surrounding schools in the area for that matter.

So much so they brought it to the court,citing it was against the education law to conduct computer classes during regular teaching hours because computer classes are not considered core subject. What, computer is not important? Why the government build the MSC and brags so much about it then? Is it just hot air?

This group of parents also claims it is harmful to let children to learn IT at early age, citing a research done by the Comsumer Association of Penang (CAP) which shows they will suffer brain damage,lack of execises and poor health as a result of exposing them to computers usage at early age. What loadful of craps. Of course, too much of any thing is bad. Even you eat too much or sleep too much is bad. One should have the wisdom to exercise control over any thing you do to avoid indulgence.

Who is CAP anyway, they are just another association out of thousands of association out there. What make them so full of authority? Must we listen to every word they say?

How are we going to achieve the 2020 vision if we are lagging behind in technology? How would we dare to crawl out of our own shells and step into the global village if we are not properly equipped?

Don't drag everybody down because of your personal differences. If you are so righteous and full of justice, go find something else to fix. There are so many things not right in our country, surely you can find something to prove how smart and righteous you are, just leave the children's future alone.

Church burners are narrow minded people

I am sad to read about 4 churches in the Klang Valley area were arsoned in one day. Except for one at Melawati, the damage to property is not severe and no one is hurt. But the heart of every Malaysian is deeply hurt.
Those who did it must be coming from a place called "The Narrow-minded Street"!

Merry X'mas !

Wishing all my Christian friends a Merry Christmas!

Multi-streams education system is protected by Malaysia's Constitution

YBhg Professor Emeritus Dato’ Dr Khoo Kay Kim, a well known historian in Malaysia, proposed that Malaysia, for the sake of national unity, should consider abolishing the present multi-streams education system and to adopt a uni-stream education system instead recently. This proposal has drawn harsh criticisms from the Chinese community, and reminded Dr Khoo that the multi-streams education system is protected by Malaysia's Constitution, and no one should ever try to abolish it. The critics said Dr Khoo is obviously only well verse with Malays historic events but not of the other races. They suspected he knew very little about Chinese history in Malaysia for, even as a Chinese, he is not educated in Chinese hence not able to study Chinese history in depth. If he did, he should realize that education is the core concern of the Chinese community and the only one thing they are very sensitive about, their struggles in the past all centred around the education system. In the eyes of the Chinese community, Dr. Khoo is not a true Chinese, he is just a person who happens to have a Chinese name, and who has sold himself to the government for the glamorous title and positions he is holding now. The naive argument that multi-lingual and multi-cultural are the stumbling stones to nation unity holds no water. If this is true, countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Burma, Korea and Philipines where uni-stream education system is adopted should be very united and peaceful. But are they? My advice to Dr. Khoo is to start learning Chinese, then study the history of the Chinese community in Malaysia in depth.

MCA main masak-masak?

What, the warring leaders of the MCA sat down and smoked the peace pipe suddenly? What an anti-climax! You all "main masak-masak" kah?

Ong Tee Keat fights back

The President of Malaysia Chinese Association (MCA),Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, found his old form back again. Ever since he was elected as the President during the party election in 2008, he has been stumbling along losing his directions in his fights to consolidate his position in the party. Being at the top, he was out of his comfort zone because he was not used to handle a fight where he has the upper hand. He fights best as an under dog in all his previous struggles within or outside the party. In his fight against his deputy, Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek, he oddly discarded the power and resources available to him as President of the party and instead adopted a stance of an under dog. He accused his opponent of receiving outside helps and he has been isolated from the Barisan Nasional (BN) main stream. He even warned that MCA will be replaced by a Chinese based party from East Malaysia! In the eyes of the others he has become a "cry-baby" and not a capable leader. While Ong was trying hard to pose as an under dog, but he made his arch rival Chua a bigger under dog by expelling him by using an old issue (the sex CD scandal) as an excuse. But after the October 10 EGM, Ong has become a true under dog again. See how fiercely he fights back back now. I am eager to see how he wins again under adverse situation. Should be interesting to watch. But how about the future of MCA, am I not a bit concerned? That never cross my mind, hahahaha...

The sorry state of MCA

What is happening? Not that there was no in-fighting within MCA before, but this time is different. The EGM which was the hope of bringing an end to the quarrel has strangely being seen as just the beginning of a new round of fighting. A fresh EGM has been scheduled, how many EGMs can a party host in a year? What is the objective of calling yet another EGM if it serves no purpose, because nobody takes note of the message conveyed in the results of the EGM? Let MCA split into 3, each with its own happy leader and loyal supporters. Won't you agree?

Science and maths subjects will be taught in mother tongue

Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister announced that science and mathematics subjects will use the mother tongue of the students as medium of instruction in primary and secondary schools starting from the year 2012.Currently the two subjects are taught in English since 2003 in a move to enhance the standard of English language.After implementing this policy for 6 years the English language standard does not show any significant improvement,while the performance of the students in the Science & Mathematics subjects had seen a drastic drop. Faced with the growing criticism from the public,the Government decided to revert back to using mother tongue as medium of instruction for these 2 subjects. Of course,there are also people supporting the use of English as medium of instruction, notably the so called "banana people" who speak English at home.Their children naturally have a very clear advantage over the children who speak their own mother tongue at home.With the abolishing of this policy they will lose the advantage over other children. Another group of people who supported teaching science and maths in English are those who give English language tuition classes. They are worried that their market will be affected if the English language is not given the same importance as before. The Government's aim to improve the standard of English language in schools is right,but I feel they moved too hasty and the action too drastic. They could have asked the teachers concerned to learn the proper technical terms (scientific names and mathematical terms)in English for the respective subjects then pass on to the students.This way,the sudents will grasp the principles of the subjects taught and also master the "jargons" at the same time. The teachers themselves will be less burdened because they need not learn a whole new language (for many of them I guess) but only need to memorise some short phrases.This would be much easier. A little joke here: A maths teacher told the class,"ten push seven equals three".Got it?

"Selema babi" = tactics of fear?

Information,Communication and culture Minister,Datuk Rais Yatim advised the media to use the name "selema babi" (swine flu) instead of A(H1N1) influenza. He explained that it is because he worried that the RTM news readers may find difficulty in reading A(H1N1) influenza accurately hence conveying the wrong message to the public. Since when it is misleading to use the right name and since when it is accurate to use a misleading name? I wonder based on what study and statistics Datuk Rais concludes that the news readers are more proficient in saying babi than saying A(H1N1)? As a minister he has the power and responsibility to send any staff in his ministry to go for retraining if he thinks that his performance is questionable, not by insulting them in the public. He further added that,by simply saying the word "babi" it will instill fears in the public and they will be more careful. What kind of logic is that? Is pig so fearful in the eyes of the Malaysians? Why must he involve the poor animal in the first place? What will happen if the public is made to believe that A(H1N1) influenza is connected to pigs, everybody will stop eating pork (poor pork hawkers!) then feel very safe and hence do not take the proper precautions laid down by the health authority? Chaos will reign man!

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Public Service Department Scholarships

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said 280 Chinese students who scored straight 1As in the 2008 SPM examinations and are refused scholarships by the Public Service Department(PSD), had submitted their appeals to the MCA. Dr Wee is also the MCA Youth chief and party national education bureau chairman had been handling education and scholarship issues since 2001. This really proves what I claimed in my previous post just last month. This is a classic case of the policy implementers abusing their powers,these are what being called the "little Napoleons" in the government departments. The Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister of Malaysia,Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, tries to side track the issue by saying that it is due to some schools limit their students to sit for maximum 10 subjects only,therefore can not compare with those who sit for 14 subjects or more.To be fair these students should be considered for scholarships too. On the surface it sounds fair, but when think deeper,one realizes it is pure b.s.,it is blatant insult to the intelligence of the Chinese community.Even if you take away the extra subjects from the students who obtained 13A1s,they still definitely have 10A1s, still on par with those who are limited to sit for 10 subjects.Why are those who sit for less subjects are awarded the scholarships and not those who sit for more subjects? Be honest,be frank, admit that it is discrimination,period. If this is the idea of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's "1Malaysia", it is only good for a laugh.

Removal of the 30% bumiputra equity policy

The new Prime Minister of Malaysia,Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, announced on 22 April 2009 that the 30% bumiputra equity policy will be removed from 27 sectors in the service sector with immediate effect. Datuk Seri is also the Finance Minister of Malaysia. It shocked more than cheered people because it was such a bold move that it already treads on the baseline of the bumiputra supremacy. No Prime Minister has dared to do it before, not even a leader as powerful as Tun Dr. Mahathir himself. Although Tun Dr. Mahathir had pleaded with his followers to discard the "tongkat(walking stick)" many times and even shed tears in some occasions while doing so. But he stopped there , that is as far as he would go. Not only that,Datuk Seri Najib further liberalized the financial sector 2 days ago. What is the underlying reason that drives him to take such drastic measures immediately after he took over from his predecessor, Tun Abudlla Badawi? Is because the sound of the footsteps of globalization drawing near and wake him up? Is he feeling the heat of the financial crisis already? Is it because it is evident that the 30% equity policy (NEP)is ridden with ills? I really want to know. Actually,non bumiputras in Malaysia would not be as resentful towards the NEP as they are now if it was implemented properly. The greatest ills in the NEP is the huge disceptpencies between the implementation and the original definitions of the NEP. The NEP policy implementers calculated in a strange way,either due to their lack of mathematical ability or they did on purpose.They stick to the policy of 30% faithfully during recruitment of public service staff(civil servants), intake of students to public universities, allocation of low cost housing units, allocation of shares applications of government-owned companies,allocation of public transport permits,development projects,etc; but 30% of what? That lies the core of the problem. Take the recent intake of 1st year students into the oldest university of the nation,Universiti Malaya, as an example. It was reported that there were 27,000 students applying for the 3,500 seats available. So, how many seats should be alloacted to bumiputra students for this particular intake in accordance with the NEP's 30% policy? 5,100 seats should be allocated to the buminputra kids, therefore all 3,500 seats available should be reserved for bumiputras and still falls off target by 1,600. Why? Because 30% of 27,000 applicants is 5,100 students. Simple, right? Ok, if you protest, let's calculate another way. Supposing the total number of students in UM is 12,000. 30% is 3,600. Still there is no room for non bumiputras. Sorry lah, policy is policy. Of course if you got jalan, you still can come in. That is why you see a sprinkle of non bumiputra students as decorations inside. Anyone who has gone through primary 4 knows that 30% of 3,500 is 450, still plenty of seats left for fair competition. If this is the way they implement it, who will ever bothers about the 30% thing? Therefore, 30% is not the keyword, the keyword is 30% of WHAT?

Pakatan Rakyat shows sign of cracking

Malaysians' hope of seeing the formation of a 2-party system in Malaysia may be dashed if the barely one year old coalition called Pakatan Rakyat or People’s Alliance disbanded due to crossing over to BN by elected assemblymen. From the very beginning I had predicted this "marriage of convenience" among the 3 component parties will not last due to the following reasons: (1) The vast differences of ideology between the component parties - PAS only wants to establish an Islamic State, DAP champions for the Chinese community, PKR only exists to fulfill Anwar Ibrahm's dream of becoming next Prime Minister of Malaysia.Their only common denominator is the enmity towards Tun Dr Mahathir and BN. (2)The combined pressure of administrating a state government and maintaining smooth cooperation between member parties demands great tolerance from the party leaders. (3)Their most fatal drawback is their lack of experience of running a government because their are so used to criticize others instead of doing the tasks themselves. It is easier said than done. They have been playing the role of fire flamers for too long and find it difficult to play the role of fire douser now. (4)They are beginners in state administrative protocol and communication systems, many members are frustrated and want to leave the party as a result of this. Let's hope leaders of Pakatan will face up to their short comings and over come them in order to make it a reality for Malaysia to have a 2-party system.

Happy Chinese New Year

To all my Chinese friends: Happy Chinese New Year!

Teach English as a language

The politicians in Malaysia have lost their sanity in the quest of positions and powers.They messed with the education system of the country in order to gain attention and supports. The argument whether English should be the medium for teaching science and mathematics subjects in schools still rages on.This really puzzles one,what is there to argue about? Use BM in Malay medium schools,use Tamil in Indian medium schools,use Mandarin in Chinese medium schools and use English in English medium schools(if there is still any left).Simple and straight forward. If you want to ungrade the standard of English language in schools,fine and you have my whole hearted support,but do it in a sensible and logical way. Increase the English language periods per week,send teachers for proper,specialised training.Do not ask teachers who are physics,maths or engineering majors and who received their degrees after attending courses conducted entirely in B.M. as a medium of instruction. The only purpose in attending a science or maths class is to learn the concept or principles of the subject,not the medium of instruction itself.Young children, especially those in primary schools,have problems in mastering their own mother tongue already, it is placing undue pressure on them asking them to master the subject matter in science or maths and a second language at the same time.Don't you agree? Do you realise that in order to phrase a question clearly the vocabulary,grammar and sentence structures used have to be at least of the level of a year 5 or 6.How do you expect a year 3 or 4 student to fully understand the question and answer it accordingly? "Use the correct tool for the correct job".This principle was drilled into my mind when I was a young engineer long time ago.In countries like Germany,if you are caught using a pen-knife screwdriver (flat slot) on a Phillip screw(cross slot),you will received a warning letter.If you repeat the same mistake you will be sacked.This emphasises the importance of doing the right thing the right way in a developed country,we should learn from them if we really want to achieve our "2020" vision. Sometimes you are thirsty but not hungry,while sometimes you will be hungry but not thirsty.You need not do both things always when you are in a coffee shop.You order the right thing for right need. When you are thirsty,drink water or other drinks,you don't order a "sup tulang".Similarly,when you are hungry,eat some thing solid,you don't try to fill you stomach with gallons of water. When you want to carry heavy goods, use a truck not a bus. When you want to carry passengers, use a bus not a truck. Do not try to carry both passengers and goods together with either a bus or a truck. It is an offence to do so, isn't it? So I beg everyone to put politics aside for a while and think clearly with logic this time. Teach language in a language class,teach maths or science subjects with the language which the students know best for the maximum academic benefits.

Saddest day for the Chinese educationists

The United Chinese School Committees Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) had voted not to extend the contract of New Era College principal Dr Kua Kia Soong during an emergency general meeting. Sad because the running of the icon of Chinese medium education in Malaysia,New Era College, is now decided by a group of businessmen who know nothing about education and who are only interested to gain cheap publicity for themselves.Gone are the days when concerned persons who would only donate huge sum of money and lands without interfering with the running of the Chinese medium education activities.They did not seek glory they only sincerely wanted to see the Chinese medium education strive and flourish. Sad because there are news that most of the senior staffs of the College are also leaving the College.Yes,life goes on in the College.But what standard of teaching will be given to the students by the junior staffs who stay back? Will the Chinese community have confidence to employ them upon graduation? I suspect that there are some among Dong Zong who sit in the committee with ulterior agenda.Now that the Ministry of Higher Education is eagerly trying to intervene and take over the running of the Chinese medium education functions,which the government had been trying very very hard for the past 50 years.This seems a golden opportunity for them to succeed finally. Those who join Dong Zong with the sole purpose to destroy Chinese medium education are successful in their efforts too. I FEEL LIKE CRYING NOW!

No blog today

It is really disheartening nowadays,the nation seems to be filled with liars and deceivers.Really one does not know what to believe and who to believe.I do not want to help spread these lies through my blog,so NO BLOG TODAY!