| How to fix our education system, Part 1 |  |  |  |
| Posted by admin | |
| Friday, 05 December 2008 02:22 | |
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Azly Rahman MEMO TO THOSE CONCERNED WITH THEIR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION Here is my early thought on Malaysian education, after having many conversations with fellow Malaysians over the last few years. Of late we hear the concern for the teaching of Maths and Science, closing down of vernacular schools, and on the quality of education. The issue is access to success. The vision is to collaborate and not to compete, and to bring in cultural perspectives into teaching so that each child may learn, learn well, learn meaningfully, and be able to live a good life as good, ethical, thinking and world-wise citizens. It is in the realm of thought, language, education system, teaching strategies, nature of human intelligence, and how these relate to the economic condition that is central to our approach to designing an equitable and just principle and practice of education. We need to teach the nation how to celebrate the beauty of all languages and draw out their peaceful and ethical dimensions and not to politicize them at the expense of the advancement of human intelligence. The issue is the commitment to explore new dimensions in teaching using Concept mastery and Constructivist principles as foundations, and approach "Ethno-Maths and Science" meaningfully. If we stop politicizing education, stop dumbing down our students, teachers, and schools and start giving them the time to explore the concepts, skills, and motivation to succeed in their respective fields using high standards, we'll have a great society and nation. I once wrote a piece on "education in the yellow states" as somewhat of a tribute to the shape of things to come when a new regime "that understands education" comes into power. Japan and Korea have consistently been tops in the International Maths and Science Study. But then again, there is a difference between being at the top based on standardized score alone and being top in making the students understand the subject matter through "process and not merely product approach". Herein lies "process-based" approach to teaching. A lot of times, we trumpet "top scores" (how many As students can bag in SPM, UPSR, or in any State tests, etc.). Of course if we "teach students to the test" and have a billion-Ringgit tuition industry to support rote-memorization learning, we'll be happy to showcase the achievement of "this or that" race. Consider how much time is wasted in class - due to teachers missing in action, absent without official leave, attending weeks-long courses without replacement, politicians visiting schools and disrupting learning, poor accountability of student attendance, poor teaching skills, poor teacher motivation, way-too-large classes, etc. All these need to be addressed and corrected - fast. We are losing a generation of the best and the brightest Malaysian of the millennial generation. We still have not talked about the issue of equity and equality in education - the issue of access to success. We still have not talked about redesigning the entire system based on the concept of "small learning communities" and "teaching to the child's multiple intelligences". A long road ahead. But you and I trust the educational experts in both ministries - Education and Higher Education - have their strategies well laid out to prepare our children for an everchanging world of post-Obamanomics Depression. So, what will we be good at as a nation? Worse, how many children of all races are going to end up as "strangers" in society reproduced as drop-outs because they failed in schools - not because of their own doing but because the school system has perfected the art and science of failing them. This has to radically change. I repeat - radically changed, including in the realm of leadership. After 50 years, we should have had an educational system that is a model of multiculturalism, higher standards, and evolving vision of success for other nations to study. We should have been a "premier" nation and achieved the "world-class" standard we hear being trumpeted so often. Education however, is about hope, as the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire once said. We need to capture the essence of those "glory days way back then ..." and recast the vision and work seriously in putting it back to practice and making the lives of our children in schools happier and more challenging intellectually. We will continue to be in this "long haul" situation, but there are macro- and micro-strategies for success. Any child's mind is a terrible thing to waste and this notion has kept me passionate about my calling. Collectively, what then must we do? Do we need to write a new Manifesto of Malaysian Education right here in this forum? [OUR USUAL REMINDER, FOLKS:
Comments (44)  ... written by raven1958, December 05, 2008 03:17:10 For the local situation.....vernacular schools will die a natural death if the public education system reverts to the English medium of the pre Razak era.....as long as the Malay education system continues to be the basis of education in this country....vernacular schools will not only stay but in all probability be stronger and in fact like in some areas, may be the school of choice for even the Malays.....No right thinking parent today trusts the kampong standard of our sekolah kebangsaans....which is why tuition thrives... report abuse disagree 2 agree 69 ... written by OilMan, December 05, 2008 04:03:47 The quality or teaching standards of most of the mission schools in Sabah has degraded after being 'converted' to sekolah kebangsaan. Teachers of today are way behind in terms of commitment to teach as compared to teachers of my time in school i.e. during the 70's when I was in secondary. The attitude of teachers now are more into teaching as a profession and not teaching as a passion. report abuse disagree 0 agree 48 ... written by LFLee, December 05, 2008 05:17:17 "We need to teach the nation how to celebrate the beauty of all languages and draw out their peaceful and ethical dimensions and not to politicize them at the expense of the advancement of human intelligence." Exactly, teaching/ learning in different languages is NOT the reason for racial tension - I love my country, treat everyone beside me as 'Malaysian' and tell people I am a 'Malaysian' whenever I am outside the country. Until I start to realize there is this 'Ketuan Melayu' exist in my country and I am being treated as a 3rd/4th class citizen (behind Malay, Indos, etc)- and I start to hate BN (Yea, not just UMNO, cause MIC and MCA is contributing to this) - I still love Malaysia, but as long as BN is in power and racial still still an issue here, I am not ready to go back.   report abuse disagree 5 agree 42 ... written by talk2stop, December 05, 2008 06:23:58 To all deprive of a higher education in Malaysia, I salute you all. The system has made you stronger knowing there are more things ahead that will marginalise you. The things you work & fight for will make you more superior in the real world. More important you will pass it on to the your next generation. That's is why most bumis fail in life and will his generation after him/her. That's the nature of the beast. report abuse disagree 1 agree 17 ... written by borneoman, December 05, 2008 06:24:34 MR.AZLY, Our education system is in acomplete mess because 1.krismuddin the edu.minister is busy kissing and sharpening his short crooked metal in public. 2.krismudin is more interested in his pemuda umno affairs rather than our national edu affairs. 3.krismudin is busy thinking about how to make non malays and non muslim more stupid so that the dont pose any danger to their ketuanan melayu umno malaya. 4.krismudin is carried away by his dream to be the next deputy or pm of malaysia. 5.krismudin is not qualified enough to be an edu minister. 6.umno led bn is more interested in islamising or rather melayunising all malaysian throughtheir melayu umno education policy because it is the subtlestway to get it done . 7.education in malaysia is more of a propaganda,a psychological and a neo colonialist tools rather than its true meaning of seeking knowledge. 8.our teachers are the products of our own 'coconut shell system'. report abuse disagree 2 agree 45 ... written by Liberace, December 05, 2008 08:02:51 Well, my children are growing up faster than our schools can change so I can't wait. So I guess, I'll pray God will provide so that I can do what our esteemed Malaysian leaders like Hishamudin, Najib, and Mukhriz are doing; send my children to international schools. report abuse disagree 0 agree 12 ... written by DreamLady, December 05, 2008 08:05:27 There are too many hurdles for our children to cross before their potential are tapped to the maximum....... 1. The leaders of our country do not set their priority right. Nation's revenues are not wisely distributed and uterlized especially in the fields of education and healthcare. 2. Parents of today are among those involved in the rat-race, the trend is alarming as quality time for their children are grossly overlooked resulting in poor and inadequate up-bringing of their off-springs. ........... report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by Old Man, December 05, 2008 08:13:40 Education should be like the good old days of Tuanku Abdul Rahman!  report abuse disagree 1 agree 9 ... written by Melly, December 05, 2008 08:16:53 I believe our politicians are well aware of the dire situations of our edu systems, that is why many of those who can afford send their children overseas for their higher edu.It would be interesting to have a list of their children presently studying overseas and get them to justify their actions. report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by truthbespoken, December 05, 2008 08:32:25 Dear raven 1958, In not too many words, you have expressed the true feelings of many Malaysians from the heart. In all sincerity, the government of the day must look at the real situation in a pragmatic and focused manner if they are intent on improving the education system for the country. There must be less parochialism and politics when considering the changes. report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by teo siew chin, December 05, 2008 09:02:19 i say, just about everybody knows our edu system sucks! Hows about all you mothers/grandmas/great grandmas gang up and whack your local councillors with your handbags/nappy bags/barf bags till they START to rectify the system? MOTHER POWER!!  report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by ssathia, December 05, 2008 09:10:39 There are weaknesses everywhere so entrenched and so complete. These have developed over the last 50 years steadily and surely such that even thinking about fixing the education system seems like an impossible task. The root cause is one community's selfish greed to rise above the rest using just political power. The desire to excel, the desire to work hard, the desire to compete positively, the desire to prove oneself worthy, the desire to earn respect and not demand respect, and most important of all self-respect and self-worth are almost totally lost in the process. Why? It is the result of poor leadership brought about through seeking security in racial numbers and not through enlightenment and ability to function. Enlightenment, there never will be for the education system is thoroughly messed up. Unless Malaysians learn to choose their leaders wisely and not herd together on the basis of racial or religious blinkers, there is no way Malaysian eduation system would improve. Not only Malaysian education system but also all other systems are doomed to fail. It is urgent for the country's self-defeating suicidal policies perpetuated by selfish politicians to stop but so far there seems only escalations of them. The country has therefore destined itself to pay dearly for its mistakes and run into ashes. Perhaps then a new phoenix will arise. report abuse disagree 0 agree 11 ... written by DreamLady, December 05, 2008 09:14:00 ........... 3. Strigent measures have yet to be implemented to uphold the teaching profession in terms of dedication, perseverance, innovation, principle, motivation, etc.. Complacency displayed by the educator is one of the causes that deters the innovative mind from flourishing further... 4. A sound and efficient plan within the education system is very much in lacking. In short, our society has short-changed the young generation of ours with inferior tools to exploit their inborn potential and gifts to the fullest !!! report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by Bigjoe99, December 05, 2008 09:19:43 No doubt the concept of 'process' education is what is sound. BUT how do you do a 'process' education system where there is less measurement, more accountaibiliy and more involvement of teachers, parents and school administration, where the goals are more long term rather than the next score? Our very own society and governance philosophy of govt, economy, schools and even basic social relationship is NOT designed for. Again Dr. Rahman is an idealist without even a realistic comprehension of the obstacles much less a solution. report abuse disagree 5 agree 1 ... written by Birdbrain, December 05, 2008 09:49:12 Consider how much time is wasted in class - due to teachers missing in action, absent without official leave, attending weeks-long courses without replacement, politicians visiting schools and disrupting learning, poor accountability of student attendance, poor teaching skills, poor teacher motivation, way-too-large classes, etc. Most of the time my kids come back from school telling me, "there's no teacher in class today!" How can we trust the Malaysia education system?! Sigh......................... report abuse disagree 0 agree 11 ... written by batsman, December 05, 2008 10:02:26 Much better and well considered than what the old model manipulative politician LKS is proposing. report abuse disagree 6 agree 0 ... written by densemy, December 05, 2008 10:44:24 How about you start off one step further back when so much of the damage is done The over protection of children by too many parents and their obsession with discipline produces a child afraid to investigate, afraid to be an individual afraid to be creative. With muslims the early childhood indoctrination of religious dogma does the same thing or worse So you end up with children who find it unnecessary to think for themselves because someone has always done it for them, who have lost all their latent curiosity and who have had their creativity crushed That's even before they get anywhere near the schooling system Is it any wonder that Malaysian children at best make wonderful technologists report abuse disagree 0 agree 9 ... written by kavidibaku, December 05, 2008 10:58:23 Birdbrain, Precisely. Many administrators, PPD, JPN and KPM simply don't bother about unattended problems. The teachers who do not enter class are the ones who are being rewarded "Guru Cemerlang". How sad. The teachers, especially in SK and SMK love to have potlucks on Fridays and neglect their students by not entering classes. Even if they enter, they do not teach. They just sign the BKK(Buku Kawalan Kelas) and then 'blah' to the staff room to have good time chit chatting and eating. If their students call the respective teachers to the class, the teachers ask the students to go to canteen and buy ice cubes to mix drinks for potluck. This is what happens in our education system. Anyone bother? No one. Even administrators enjoy potluck and 'tutup satu mata'. Another incident told by my friend. There's one SMK in Seksyen 25, Shah Alam. The discipline teacher gets her Pah to sit in her class for one period and goes home to comlete her house chores. And the 'Penyelia Petang' knows about this. The Pah can teach the students or clear the students' doubts? This is our education system. report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by antiilluminati, December 05, 2008 11:27:11 Our dumb & evil leaders knew the situation, that is exactly waht they wanted - to make the people dumber so the RAKYAT can be the SLAVE forever. As the saying goes, in the land of the blind one eye Jack would be the King. The only solution now is to let Pakatan Rakyat a chance to improve the situation. After that, we could only hope that the PR will do things right...again it is only HOPE that we could depend upon. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by teo siew chin, December 05, 2008 11:29:10 "....there's no teacher in class today..." ---------------- yo big mamas - time you take matters into your own hands! There is this system (wont name the country) where mothers sit in classes for an hour or so, not of their own children, and act as assistants, supervisors. The parents' minimal participation in the classes works well for both student and teacher. PTAs here care to consider this? report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by The dragonheart, December 05, 2008 12:28:18 If I were to interview a fresh graduate candidate for employment, the following would be my basic concentrations: 1. Have the basic academic qualification(s) for the job. 2. Able to demonstrate how to apply the paper qualification in the job. 3. Able to solve problems given based on academic qualification. 4. Able to communicate and convince. 5. Show how much he/she knows about life skills. 6. Show how much he/she is patriotic to the country. 7. Show Good Character in citizenship. 8. Show the ability to interact with others. 9. Show ability to be a good teamplayer. 10.Show how he/she can work under pressure. How many A's is not important but of course not all D's. Too many parents are more concern of the number of A's their children get but not how the child is able to apply the academic knowledge in daily life. Life skills is lacking among students today. Life skills are seldom taught at home and barely at schools. That is why we see professors teaching economics never made to be great millionaires or professor teaching political science is not able to become a grass root leader in politics. A leader/supervisor will not know how to direct a cleaner on how to sweep a space if he/she have never done this before. A doctor will not understand about poverty when a beggar begging him to treat his sick son at home. An civil engineer will not be able to work under the hot sun for long hours if he/she never experienced such hardship before. A businessman will cheat if he does not know about business ethics.. Malaysian education is about scoring A's not skills. Tell me... where are those great academic scorers that we read in the papers all these years??? are they successful people? The is one lady who was a maths genius even turned to be a high class prostitute. Look at those successful people in the past and today... Boon siew could not read nor write but he learn by asking others to read for him. Ask whether Ananda Khrisnan got 9A... Ask syed Mohtar, ask Vincent Tan... As great general in the past, ask great civil servant in the past... Education is not just about how much knowledge and A's your child can score... It is about how can the child use the knowledge to develop himself and to develop the nation. Schools and Universities must have multi skills teachers and lecturer. Schools must be hands on and get parents and professional NGOs to help and be part of the curriculum. Universities must take in more experienced on the job (at least 10 years on the field) to be part of the lecturing team. Many lecturers and professors today are direct entry from graduates.. no job experience ... just a strings of Phd behind their names.. report abuse disagree 4 agree 8 ... written by bkho, December 05, 2008 13:15:50 Mukriz as the Education Minister?  bkho.blogspot.com report abuse disagree 7 agree 2 ... written by chiongguo, December 05, 2008 13:24:05 Dr.Azly had bandied about a lot of words and the article is long on rhetoric and short on substance. I am not trying to be mean. Education of our young is very important to the nation. It is like cultivating on the farm. If we cultivate the wrong thing or cultivated in a wrong way the result is waste and destitute on the farm. Education of our young follow the natural laws of the farm and not to some objective rationale of a mind divorce from reality. The logical and reasonable mind would want to control every aspect of its growth and development and in the end it is like trying to repeatedly pull out the plants to see how well it is growing. That is the analytical approach to the problem. Personally I would prefer the educational system of Steiner which recognises the inherent value of a human. Even weeds are vital on a farm. Weeds, in modern agriculture - which had been proven a failure in many recent studies, have to be destroyed by very harsh and drastic means. Modern agriculture is based on analytical and deductive science - something that is over-valued. Weeds protect the soil and it is often a vital part of an organic farm. Part of the problem and a very big part is the centralised nature of our education system. When the educational minister is the problem the whole system became infected by the delusion of this man and his ministry. Decentralisation allows for a larger "genetic" pool of ideas, approaches and cross-fertilisation of important paradigms. And I am not talking about elite schools. report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by lynn, December 05, 2008 14:06:47 Dr Azly, First things first. Without beating about the bush, may I say:- before you proceed to part 2, before this country would ever see the education system revamped, reformed, whatever, first, you must acknowledge we need a change of government. There is NO two ways abt this. The current administration consists of self-riching politicians who do not have the people's welfare in mind. They don't care abt the people in the real sense. Where is that emphasis on quality, substance & merit? If there is no change in leaders, no major changes will take place. Do you agree? Is Hishamuddin fit to be the Education minister? He is that monkeyish-grinning keris-stabbing personality that we all know, a minister by virtue of his politics, not because he is a suitable candidate! report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by lynn, December 05, 2008 14:11:43 Dragonheart, Some of those BIG names you mentioned in your piece, may I respectfully korek you? These guys are the cronies of the leadership aka cabinet ministers - they happen to have the right supporters so they get ahead, they reaped the billions. That does not mean they had achieved 9As, or will never achieve 9As, will only achieve all Cs and Ds. They are cronies. To my mind, cronyism is another form of corruption. As far as I know, in many many other countries in the world yesterday, today and tomorrow, corruption is a crime. And the latest and most fresh case I can think of in terms of corruption-related charge is Thaksin who has been sentenced to 2 yrs jail. Of course, he also recently went shopping in Dubai. report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by lynn, December 05, 2008 14:23:59 There are many countless aspects of life in bodohland that need to be improved (to put it politely, mildly) and our education system is the most important one on the list. So far, we have not seen the slightest attempt by the govt to do so. The last time I read, there are still thousands of schools which had no electricity or water. Can u imagine how their toilets reek to high heaven? Poor kids. Does the govt care? And giving basic amenities such as power, water, clean, healthy food, not rickety tables and chairs, the govt failed to provide, can we please not quantum-leaped to talk abt quality education. It won't happen. Simple improvements to benefit school kids, the govt cannot provide, don't ask for the impossible, in terms of quality. If a govt care abt the people, it would constantly find ways and means to improve the quality of life for the rakyat. When Najib said to us, "change your lifestyle", he has effectively confirmed what we fear. He is unfit to be our future PM. He doesn't care. If a man doesn't care, he won't no matter what you say or do. If he doesn't care, putting him in the most powerful position in the government will not make him care. Innate? Maybe. He is not wanted by the masses - people will spit on the streets the day he is PM. report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by Kuku Burung, December 05, 2008 14:38:44 All parents are concern about the education of their children. There are at least 8 million parents in this country and my gosh we allow one or two men to decide the future of our children! It's time we parents form a creditable union to demand change! If they cannot change, we demand their resignation. report abuse disagree 0 agree 5 ... written by Diz, December 05, 2008 18:09:55 Some very good comments here that demonstrate how concerned parents are miles ahead of our educators (even intellectuals like Dr Azly) when it comes to understanding why our SK system is in such a mess. Everyone knows why the chinese have deserted the SKs in droves - islamisation/malayanisation/dismal standards - to name but a few. We sent our own (half mat salleh) kids to KL's top SK primary school (at least as far as UPSR results are concerned) because we believe in public education and they did fine (good results, fluent bahasa) despite, rather than because of, the school. Of course, they've got pushy, engaged parents (or rather mother) with the resources to ensure they get a balanced education. Incidentally, I've had a few interesting conversations recently with what one might call the Malay elite (the bumigeois!!) all of whom left or avoided SKBD (perhaps the most middle class school in the country) on the grounds that it is too 'religious'. These include the kids of high flying execs, the grandkids of of one well-known former PM, as well as the children of Ministers - all of whom have ended up in private or international schools. Go figure! Abolish agama and moral (or at least make them extra-curricular) redeploy the ustaz, stop the segregation, introduce more POL, and make the schools Malaysian rather than Malay and you will see how quickly they become multi-racial again. report abuse disagree 0 agree 10 ... written by DontPlayGod, December 05, 2008 23:26:51 Enough of these fancy words. In a word, UMNO has been politicising everything, from primary school education up to tertiary University education. They have even introduced subtle Islamization to our education system. At this rate, private and international schools will soon become a boom industry, with nearly all who can afford it, sending their children to these schools. History, which is now a compulsory subject up to F5 level consists of a main part of it on Islamic history. UMNO's aims is to start brainwashing our children to take UMNO as the only party which can govern our nation from day 1 of their school life until they complete tertiary education. Notice how the emergency rule has not been lifted and the ISA, which was introduced to fight against the communists terrorists, have now been misued to clamp down on all oppositions to UMNO. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by stormcloud, December 05, 2008 23:55:28 Dr Azly's article's still as hard to digest as ever. However, to each his own. For a good read, I still prefer M Bakri Musa's writings - both in content and style. Allow me try to summarize Dr Azly's meanings. Hopefully I get them right. If not, please feel free to jump in. Para 1-4 : Advocates multiple cross-link between the systems. Propagate the positive educational aspects (such as the language diversity) across sytems to benefit all. Move away from conservatism & dogmatism to realize an education system acceptable to all. Para 5 : Divorce politics from the education system and return it to genuine educators/academics. Para 6 : The rote learning ways of yesteryear are inadequate to prepare the young minds in our current globalization age. Changes in teaching methods needs to follow suit. Simple example, making a student understand the basis of a concept is better than letting the student memorize its derivation (without understanding the concept). Para 7 : Teaching as a profession needs to be attractive to attract the best people. When it is held in high regard by the public, the teacher's profesionalism will improve naturally. Para 8-10 : End petty squabbling, put aside differences and move together towards an acceptable system that everyone wants to send their kids to. Put together a rational wish list and lobby the government. report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by Loh, December 06, 2008 16:19:27 ///Of late we hear the concern for the teaching of Maths and Science, closing down of vernacular schools, and on the quality of education. The issue is access to success. The vision is to collaborate and not to compete, and to bring in cultural perspectives into teaching so that each child may learn, learn well, learn meaningfully, and be able to live a good life as good, ethical, thinking and world-wise citizens. ///--Azly Rahman The problems Azly highlighted-- quote : “Consider how much time is wasted in class - due to teachers missing in action, absent without official leave, attending weeks-long courses without replacement, politicians visiting schools and disrupting learning, poor accountability of student attendance, poor teaching skills, poor teacher motivation, way-too-large classes, etc” unquote-- happen mostly in national schools, and rarely in vernacular schools, except with regards to the size of the classes, politicians’ visit and occasionally teachers attending courses. Teachers in vernacular schools have less opportunity than their counterparts in national schools to be forced to update their skills. So on the whole, vernacular schools are preferred, even by Malays who send 60,000 children to Chinese schools. These parents must have the right thought that education is seeking access to success, and they find the route through vernacular schools to be more promising. When Murkriz Mahathir suggested closing vernacular schools, he did it not only for taking the advantage of seeing his name in papers and debating with non-Malay communities, displaying his battle with non-Malays as the hero of the Malay community, but most probably because he harboured the thought that non-Malays and in particular Chinese should be blocked from having access to success; Chinese children should be prevented from attending Chinese schools. Chinese students attending Chinese schools only ensure that they face less of the problem Azly wrote above, they continue to face the unfair practice of getting admission to pre-university courses and local universities. It would appear that even the children of a Prime Minister would not have learned to accept equal rights for all races in the country. Or is it because the children of Ministers know that to be racist is the only route to wealth and power? Race-based political structure has produced opportunists who will care only for their personal interests at the expense of all other considerations. As long as UMNO remains in power, the society will not grow out of racial polarization. report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by Loh, December 06, 2008 16:42:15 ///15. Bagi mereka ini generasi akan datang akan kutuk mereka apabila orang Melayu di Malaysia sudah jadi seperti orang Melayu di Singapura di mana mereka menjadi “hamba” kepada kaum-kaum lain. Inilah nasib yang menunggu orang Melayu kerana lebih sedia disogok daripada mempertahan dan memelihara kuasa bangsa.///–TDM 2 December 2008 http://test.chedet.com/che_det....html#more TDM claims that Malay Singaporeans are “hamba” or slaves to other races in Singapore. If Malay Singaporeans who are treated equally in all aspects and who are free to participate equally in all sphere of life in Singapore are slaves to other communities, how should TDM describe non-Malays in Malaysia who face institutionalized discriminations sponsored by the government? When he was interviewed by Aljazeera TV recently, TDM justified the continuation of NEP because there are still Malay drivers employed by Chinese tycoons, and that there are Malay shoeshine boys hawking on the street. A person befitting his status as a former prime minister would have presented a relevance response whether the Malays had attained the target of NEP, namely 30% in the ownership of equity share capital in corporate sector. TDM’s answer reflects his deep seated racist belief that Malays is superior to non-Malays and they should not serve as drivers to Chinese. Is he different from the Nazis? As though to plan for such justifications, TDM during his reign tacitly agreed to Project M in facilitating the arrival of a million plus foreigners into Sabah, and to become NEWMalays. That demonstrates that UMNO and its leaders were not willing to honour the agreement on the termination of the racist discriminating policies, and he was happy to display such arrogance for the world to see. TDM wants Malays who can be fooled to believe that Malays in Singapore are backward compared to the so-called Malays in Malaysia. Singaporean Malays are capable of looking after themselves without any life support system, unlike Malays in Malaysia who are said to be still dependent on the government for survival. It is the quality of Malays citizens which were of concern to UMNO leaders who sought the understanding of the leaders of non-Malay communities to provide for special assistance envisaged under Article 153 of the constitution, for a period of 15 years and subject to review. The Malay leaders at Independence would have loved to see the days when Malays here are as capable as Malays in Singapore, and in words of the late Tun Dr. Ismail, they will be willingly forgo the protection under Article 153, out of pride. The current crop of UMNO leaders care not for the pride of Malay community and insisted that NEP should continue. The NEWMalays in power do not really feel the pride of the race which they claim to belong for the benefits that the classification offered, and would like to continue to exploit NEP to their advantage at the expense of the public. Malays are seen to dominate positions in government services, teaching posts in universities and companies financed by the government. They might be judged to be more successful than Malays in Singapore, collectively. That was made possible because of the political power and it is this aspect which TDM might be thinking that Malays in Malaysia are tuan, and Malays in Singapore are ‘hamba’. But is the dominance of Malays in civil services and universities good for the country? It is true that to those individuals who are under qualified for the jobs in government or universities, their employment bring them benefits. Of the 12,000 university lecturers, some 93 % were Malays. At least a third of them, 4,000 in total are second best, and would not be so employed if not for the racist policies. These 4,000 could have contributed more to the society if they had been absorbed into positions which they can play a better role with their experience and capability. They would not have prevented people who are more suited to handle university teaching and thus benefit the students directly. That is the crux of problems, besides the perverted admission policies which have sent the ranking of local universities into a free fall. (to be continued) report abuse disagree 0 agree 7 ... written by tokbahaman, December 06, 2008 16:43:16 The criteria in any any education system is to prepare students for the future and to make money. Since India and China ar noew the fastest growing economy, is it wrong to say that it is ok to drop Malay and English as the medium of instruction in Malaysian education system. Perhaps it is better to adopt the Tamil and Chinese languages (whatever Tamil and Chinese languages may mean) as the medium of instruction in Malaysian schools. After all these two cultures are among the oldest civilizations the world has ever known. Don't you think it would be the ideal? .... report abuse disagree 3 agree 2 ... written by Loh, December 06, 2008 16:44:50 Governments in UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and India for example recruit the best into their civil services. But in Malaysia, there is no guarantee of the quality of its government employees. The government sector since NEP has its peculiar meritocracy process to promote Malays over non-Malays. It has now mastered the art of promoting people through who you know rather than what you know, competing only among Malays. Since the day of negotiated tender initiated by TDM, positions in government service bring to the incumbents pecuniary benefits not unlike what UMNO party positions avail to the politicians. The thousands of important government posts make these families rich. No doubt TDM considers the few thousands Malay civil servants making use of their positions to enrich themselves are the pride of the Malay community. Hence corruption is institutionalized, and is not against the law of the land. The government claims that NEP has succeeded in creating a large number of Malay middle class families. That is disparaging to the capability of Malays as a race. With or without NEP, the persons who are able to make it to the universities would have arrived. The government could have provided study loans to those who had the aptitude for university educations, and scholarships to outstanding scholars. Those who were not suitable could have been trained at vocational schools and colleges. NEP only served to push through those who were not suitable for tertiary education, like the 60,000 unemployable graduates, and prevented those non-Malays who had the aptitude for university education but could not make it to local universities, and were unable to afford overseas education. How we waste human resources for racist reasons. It is clear that NEP has extracted a huge cost from non-Malays. Do Malays get the benefits without any cost? UMNO claims that NEP is like free lunch. But a comparison between the living standards between Malaysia and Singapore might help to settle whether Malays in Malaysia are better off than Malays in Singapore. The per capita GDP of Singapore is about five times that of Malaysia. When the price level of the two countries are taken into account, Singaporeans would still have on average three times the purchasing power of Malaysians consuming goods and services in their respective countries. When both Malaysians and Singaporeans are outside their respective countries, Singaporeans would have five times the purchasing power of Malaysians, like the ratio of their per capita GDP to Malaysians. (to be continued) report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by Loh, December 06, 2008 16:47:20 Singapore has no natural resources other than their location and yet her government has been able to provide an environment for its people to earn 5 times, on per capita basis, the income to Malaysians. Had the natural resources that are available to Malaysia been put to proper use by a government as incorruptible and efficient as Singapore, Malaysia would have generated a per capita level as high as in Singapore if not higher. Malaysians would be five times richer than what we are today. Malaysians have forgone four times its purchasing power because of UMNO racist policies. Why then would TDM say that it would be unfortunate for Malays in Malaysia to become Malays of Singapore? In the first place, NEP with its perverted implementation have made Malays believe that they needed only to vote correctly from time to time, their livelihood would be taken care of. The government is their keeper. They cannot be as capable as Singaporean Malays, individually. It is not an issue of whether they choose and wanted to be, but a matter of whether they have the capability to be Singaporean Malays. TDM wanted the racist policies to remain status quo, so that he could continue to rule through his son when his natural life expires. TDM is not able to appreciate the sufferings of the low income level of Malaysians; he considers those sufferings adequately compensated by the pride of having some super rich individuals in the community. More importantly, the success of Singapore reflects his failure and he would naturally wish to mould the mindset of the people to think the worse of Singapore, and thus Malays living there. At the recent interview with Aljazeera TDM claimed, in response to a question from a viewer whether he should not call himself Indian, that he was Malay. The host of the programme reminded TDM that it was a question of his blood lineage. TDM insisted that he was Malay, and that he followed Malay customs. Malay customs had the cardinal rule to be respectful of the Malay Rulers. The action TDM took in 1992 in amending the constitution and removing the immunity of Rulers proves that he did not follow Malay customs. It would appear that TDM was not concern whether he lived up to be Malay, but he wanted to be known as Malay. He needed the classification as Malay to enjoy the power as PM for 22 years. He wants millions of Malays to enjoy the sense of pride, while he enjoyed the actual power. That explains why TDM chooses to call Malays in Singapore ‘hamba’ to other races because MM Lee Kuan Yew declared that to spare the incumbent the dilemma of being torn from the love of Singapore and the feeling for the Malays across the causeway, a non-Malay should hold the position of the Chief of Armed Forces in Singapore. TDM is trying to underline the importance of a position to the community rather that the importance of the right person carrying out the responsibities of the position. TDM had his time destroying the country and his sins are well recorded. He now wants his son to continue with the destruction process, and more importantly to make non-Malays NEWMalays to alleviate his pains of not being able to reconnect with his Indian roots. For that he had to destroy those on the path of his son; one happens to be the son-in-law of AAB. Consequently, AAB had to bear the brunt of TDM’s attack. To be sure, the son-in-law of AAB deserves a spank. Having utilized public funds for education at Oxford, he should have led the way on how a noble role politics are meant for the country. He chose to claim that Malays in Penang were marginalized when he knew very well that there are outliers to every issue. That started the events that brought AAB down from his power. (to be continued) report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by Loh, December 06, 2008 16:48:46 TDM is complaining that AAB is campaigning for candidates in UMNO election whom TDM did not support. AAB is less dangerous to the country for doing nothing than TDM and his for whatever they plan, particularly in dividing the country by race. True Malays are dwindling in proportion. But the NEWMalays are seen to be more vocal about ketuanan Melayu. Strange! It is NEP! The followings say it all. Quote ///According to PSM’s Nasir, the implementation of the NEP which focused on one race soon gave currency to the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric. But he says ketuanan Melayu is just a red herring. “Name me one Malay who is a pure Malay. There is virtually none — all Malays are mixed-blood to some degree.” Rather, Umno’s outbursts can be seen as the increasingly desperate acts of a party frustrated by its loss of power, he argues. “Umno is frustrated by its losses during the general election, and continues to use race and religion to divert the anger of poor Malays,” adds Nasir. “Because as so-called leaders of the Malays, Umno has failed. It has not even been able to help poor Malays and Malay entrepreneurs,” he asserts. Therefore, the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric conveniently redirects the frustration and anger of disenfranchised Malay Malaysians towards other races. Herein lies the danger of Umno’s rhetoric, says Nasir. “In times of economic difficulty, the ketuanan Melayu rhetoric will likely give rise to fascist tendencies. When people are feeling the pinch and they are frustrated, you just need to cucuk them and then they’ll meletup. Umno knows this only too well,” he says. http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/15262/84/#jc_writeComment/// Unquote report abuse disagree 0 agree 3 ... written by Siapabohong, December 06, 2008 17:23:21 I have attended many seminars and meetings together with the the 'penyutua', senior assistants and others from national schools. Everytime when I saw them and the way they behaved in the meetings/ seminars, I was wondering 'what criteria made them to be appointed as the ceo of the schools. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by renoir, December 07, 2008 01:01:13 I understand my fellow readers' sense of priorities here, but Dr Azly has already anticipated the need for "macro and micro strategies" to fix the system. He's certainly an idealist, but ideals give us direction, without which we would be floundering every which way without knowing what it is we want to achieve. Yet because lofty ideals are almost by definition extremely difficult to realize, some of us might be forgiven for being skeptical about Dr Azly's ideas or even their relevance. This sense of helplessness is not too different from what plagued the Left since the rise of Stalin - the Soviet leader's dictatorship had turned out to be a travesty and downright betrayal of the Communist ideal of an eventual classless and stateless society. But it was precisely because of the anger against Soviet bureaucratic state capitalism that inspired the teachings of Gramsci, the Frankfurt School, and other schools and personalities that made up the progressive Left. In this sense, the "process-based" approach is but one outcome of the Left's unending and agonizing introspection committed to the field of education. The subtext of this approach is a genuine feel for the individual, of democracy taken to its most elementary unit. Here lies the possibility that, in our brainstorming of what to do with our education system, we might be able to synchronize the educational with the political. We might be able to see the meshing of our socio-economic and political rights with the right of the child to study at his own pace on subjects that serve him, and not the system or those behind the system. We might be able to discover that the treating of every child as a "thou" and not an "it" has ramifications far beyond the classroom, that this concept is the very basis for injecting life back to all our socio-economic and political systems. And if we recognize the inter-relatedness of all things under this democratic concept, this Kantian admonition to consider all humans as ends and not means, should we not take the struggle for a better system of education as a struggle for better, more humane government? There is thus no dichotomy here: a change in government IS a change for the better in our educational system. LChuah report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by lynn, December 07, 2008 10:16:18 TDM is just one envious jealous bitch who can never attain what LKY had even if he ruled Bodohland for 50 yrs - Singapore is way advanced and ahead of Bodohland in a million ways all because it practises meritocracy. Can you imagine if we had a PM of LKY's calibre managing this country? Can you imagine - Malaysia would be the richest country in ASEAN or 2nd richest country in this side of the world. There will be wealth & prosperity for all, including the chronic poor in Trengganu, Kelantan, the rural interiors of Selangor, etc. and not to mention those in East Malaysia. If you have not helped fed or work with the chronic poor, you have no idea. Malaysia's racist policies is to dumb down the poor and keep them at the level where the dirt and grime is. But on the flip side, are the super-filthy rich, the cronies and Monsoon Cup. All of you here had your say, and they are all excellent pieces. Again, let's go back to the source of all our problems today - those men or so-called leaders, all of them must go. Every single one of them. Simply put, we need a new government. report abuse disagree 0 agree 6 ... written by Fairminded, December 07, 2008 20:04:34 Actually I can only see one obstacle, and that is the NEP in education. As long as students are admitted on the basis of race and is passed out on the basis of race, it does not matter whether they are taught in any language, and you still produce many useless graduates and drive away the good students (by whatever measure you gauge them) to overseas Universities and never to come back if they can help it. The only way is to go back to the Abdul Rahman days whereby, to avoid biasness and accusations of favouring any racial groups, everyone sit a third party ran examinations - the Cambridge school certificate and Higher School certificate. However, looking at the present political system there is no hope. Race is still a political tool to stay in power. As such, non Malays should just saved harder and send your children out of Malaysia like all the government ministers do. They know best about the system they had set up to remain in power. report abuse disagree 0 agree 4 ... written by DontPlayGod, December 08, 2008 19:23:52 Policy is one thing, but are the teachers and HM doing their work? There is one secondary school in a small town in North Perak and bordering Kedah that, in this crucial F5 year, where the pupils have not been attending school for some months. When asked why, they say the teachers do not teach or even come to the classrooms. So why are our UMNO idiots still harping on national schools for everybody? In fact the government should build schools and contract the education of our young to organizations/companies. Reasonal Fees should be charged at a subsidized rate to ensure that only qualified teachers and HM's are engaged by these companies to teach our young. The present system is breeding only teachers who do not have any urge to teach report abuse disagree 0 agree 2 ... written by renoir, December 09, 2008 04:44:02 > in this crucial F5 year, where the pupils have not been attending school for some months. When asked why, they say the teachers do not teach or even come to the classrooms.]] I wonder whether this extreme case is a relatively recent phenomenon. The lack of leaderhip has resulted in so much lawlessness everywhere. Never before have Malaysians witnessed policemen intimidating ordinary civilians without valid reason, or the arrest of MPs ostensibly under the direction of some lowly police chief, or even the throwing of molotov cocktails at the home of an MP. And the sad truth is that NO ONE today has the moral legitimacy to become the next Prime Minister. Tengku Razaleigh seems the best choice, but he's apparently out now. And Pakatan doesn't seem able to do much before the next GE. LChuah report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by Chuan, December 09, 2008 12:13:23 The tuition industry should be strictly regulated by the MOE. Teachers who teaches in schools should not be allowed to teach in tuition centers and vice versa. There are better ways for teachers to earn side income! But first, let's fix MOE. report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 ... written by yellowwoman, December 10, 2008 19:21:01 Education should be free from politics, esp race politics. Unless and until the Government's actions reflect this, nothing will ever change. Those with the means will shun the low, despicable standards of our sekolah kebangsaan, those without will be trapped. And yes, not just one generation, but generations of fertile young minds have already been put to waste. I do agree with some commentors that the vernacular school system will die a naturally death when English is used as the medium of instruction. If the national sch system is working and productive, why do we send our kids to vernacular primary schools? To be tortured with hard work and relentless homework? No, it's because we have no choice. It is either Chinese gov schools, which thank God, still have dedicated teachers and a workable system, or private schools which cost a bomb while distorting my children's values. Kebangsaan schools are not an option anymore. Right now 2 of my children are in kebangsaan secondary schools, having completed primary sch. Whoever has heard of a school which does not require teachers to mark or return final term exam papers before the school ends? My children who took their final term exams from before Raya to after Deepavali (under Ministry directive to keep them in school longer), have NOT received their marks or papers back. When they do get them, whether in late Dec or early Jan, they would have forgotten everything. What is the point of the exam then??? Yes, the education system shld revert to English medium. Simply because English is the language most used by commerce and academics. In using English, the Malays shld not feel that the status of Bahasa is eroded. The Non-Malays shld not insist that their mother tongue is not compromised. Everyone must accept this for the greater good of ALL our anak-anak bangsa Malaysia. Not only that, our education system must be run by the best people. The best curriculum planners and the best teachers. If the best teachers are Malay, then yes, the Malays should teach. If the best are Indians, so be it. If the best are Chinese, or Ibans or Punjabis, or Kadazan, then let them do their job. I want the very best for my children. Don't you want the best teachers for your children???? Why are we fighting each other to give an education that is making our children uncompetitive in the world market? Why are we depriving our children of an environment to excel and be the best they can be? WHY WHY WHY???? report abuse disagree 0 agree 1 |
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