Archive for December 14th, 2009

Rejected: Motion on lower Petronas profits

Rahmah Ghazali | Dec 14, 09 4:12pm | Malaysiakini

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim failed in his bid today to move a motion in the Dewan Rakyat to debate the significant dip in the profits of national oil and gas company Petronas.

Deputy speaker Wan Junaidi Jaafar decided that the matter is not sufficiently urgent to be debated, although it is an issue of public importance.

Unhappy with the outcome, Anwar (PKR-Permatang Pauh) pointed out that it is important for the House to debate an issue which will have a huge impact on the economy.

Petronas’ net profit before tax for the first half of the financial year was RM31.2 billion, compared to RM63.3 billion in the same period last year, he said.
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Enhancing The Role of Private Sector in Education – Part 3

By M. Bakri Musa

[Third of Six Parts]

[In the preceding two parts I discussed the rationale for private sector participation in education. It would lessen the load on the public sector thus enabling it to focus more on a smaller population. The nimbleness of the private enables it to meet the rapidly changing and necessarily diverse needs of increasingly sophisticated Malaysians. Our public sector institutions are tightly controlled and heavily micromanaged from the center. As such they are unlikely to lead us to excellence, making it an imperative to nurture private institutions. In this third part I examine the role of the private as it is currently. MBM]

The Current Situation

Currently private sector participation is limited to the polar ends of the education spectrum. The private sector has unbridled access to preschool, and increasing liberalization at the post-secondary level. In between (Years 1-11), private sector participation is extremely limited and tightly controlled.
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The signs fore tell that Malaysia will be left behind during the rising of Asia

(Speech by Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser to members of the Hakka Association of Negri Sembilan in Seremban on 13th December 2009)

I am most honoured to be invited to attend the formation of the Negri Sembilan Hakka Association, which will include all the hakka clans to form a single body.

Hakkas originated from Kwang Chow and Fukkien provinces, and are comprised of several clans, Moi Kong, Fui Choo, Char Yong, Hoi Look Foong

Although mandarin is the common language, there are different dialects among the chinese in Malaysia.

Dialect Population
Hokkien 1,848,211
Hakka 1,679,027
Cantonese 1,355,541
Teochew 974,573
Mandarin 958,467
Hainanese 380,781
Min Bei 373,337
Foochow 249,413
Total 7,819,350

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