ON "FREE EDUCATION" and DEMOCRACY in THE DATARAN MERDEKA

ON "FREE EDUCATION" and DEMOCRACY in THE DATARAN MERDEKA ... 

I have been following the stories and have been informed also via first hand account of what happened. When i was in Wall Street 'briefly occupying it" last winter, the New York police was always there as precaution and protection. Maybe because Zuccotti park is private property. In DBKL, the issue may be more complicated with confusing interpretations one can make on the tension between the state and the protestors and the occupying of space. Nonetheless, this is a signal or a prelude to what could be the most violent (hidden, structural, and physically-manifested) general elections in Malaysian history. I hope the ghost of May 13 will not be invoked. It' s going to be like final round of a Balinese cockfight or 'kerbau fight' of the Torajan tribe of Sulawesi; in which the stakes are high. Coupled with reason and rationalization to use violence on the Opposition, the advanced Machiavellian and Hitlerian tactics to win elections, and the rise of a "ranbow-colored" lose coalition of an Opposition ( re for HINDRAF, yellow for Bersih, black for lawyers' walk, black also for Anak Anak ABU, orange for Buku Jingga, green for Incredible Hulks, pink for gay and lesbians, transgendered, bisexual, etc,. etc.against the Black Forces of Samseng Dataran/Gangsta Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, white and red for UMNO, purple for for Prince and the Revolution, brown for elite little brown brothers in the BN regime .. pretty colorful elections we'll see. (I'd go into the t-shirt business if I were you folks to ignite the petite bourgeoisie spirit and petty capitalism pasar-malam style). But seriously, Malaysians are waking up .. thank to the rise of the Tongkat Ali society ( I wrote a column on this ) . That's my early morning thoughts on the coming of the 13th. general elections. And remember, we love the number 13 madly .

2) MALAYSIANS: I believe ... "Free education" must begin with the idea of ars liberalis .. arts of a free man/woman ... in which the human mind is cultivated in a holistic manner and the soul is put on an evolutionary track to prioritize what it needs and not what it wants. The individual is cultivated in its most kaleidoscipic sense -- educare' means "drawing out the potentials" and to nurture the "inner good in him/her", with or without religion. The power of reason and intuition is held more supreme that dogma, rites and rituals, and also institutionalized religion and any forms of ideology. The mind educated to be evolvingly free and to find meaning in this sense and feel and "live experience" of freedom. Man/Woman can can be good with or without god -- the humanist instinct in him/her will guide though the path of inner enlightenment if society has not evolved into systems that re corrupt or corrupting. Essentially the "philosopher-ruler" borrowing Plato will need to be installed in societies so that citizens will be accorded of liberal education that harmonizes the spirit, soul, mind, body, and creative faculties in an evolving system of learning liberal enough to create free minds, free human beings, ... in small educational learning communities free from the dogmas and dictates of dictators, despots, demagogues, and demigods that make class and caste critical tools of domination, indoctrination, and domination. ... dare we create this new social order not only in Malaysia but in modern states that have turned into police states? I suppose this is what those in Dataran Merdeka should think of when thinking of "free education" ... Thoughts on this please. Please share for discussions. -- ar

3)  any education system with a weak foundation in the humanities, philosophy, and the classics of social evolution and revolutions are bound to produce appendages to those who owned the means of production, reproduction, and domination. i suppose the entire malaysian education system itself has failed in this sense and need to be turned upside down to behead its ugly head like the head of medusa. it is a historically-systemic problem that began in the very womb of conceptualization of the philosophy of education itself. philosophy, as the mother of knowledge gives birth to and guides paradigms, processes, and pedagogy always focusing on the "child" to be educated as a "renaissance and romantic" human self imbued with the necessary skills and attitude to not only earn a living honestly and humbly but also share what he/she has with fellow men/women whilst at the same time be the guardians and stewards of Nature. I think what we have now are human beings turned into economic beings stoned on the ganja provided by crude capitalism, taught to consume and consume things they don't need while the ruling regime and the parasitical capitalist provide more televisions, malls, breads and circuses to have these manipulated beings stuck happily in a world of cut-throat competition that churns thousands of jobless graduates that can't speak, think, write, and reason well ... what then must we do, when even a proposed regime change has not yet articulate well what "free education" means ... all the current regime i interested in doing is to put more chains on the neck of the rakyat so that they won't speak up at all while the mega-plunderings are happening .. pathetic police state we are in ... i believe ... ?

4)  essentially the Malaysian cult of "A-one too many" (although grade inflation is the ideology) is a "feel-good" strategy of an education system of a regime badly in need to show the rise of intelligence and intelligentsia in a country governed by a regime that is ending its shelf-life. The "A-way too many" movement has given birth to a billion ringgit tuition industry in which teachers may choose not to teach well in class so that his/her students can be ushered to continue how to memorize facts after class - -in tuition centers run by teachers themselves. But a bigger issue than this is while Malaysia claims to be in an informational age, the education system is still trapped in the model of the industrial age . we now have a lifeboat mentality .. smart schools versus sick schools. parents are willing to pay between 80,000 -- 100, 000 ringgit per year to be in the best lifeboat while children of the poor sink in their makeshift sampan.