Archive for category Education

I will be fair to PSD director-general but he must be fair to all PSD scholarship applicants

I have replied to the email from the Public Services Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam asking that I be fair to him, inviting him to the DAP forum on JPA scholarships in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday to explain another year of JPA scholarship injustices to aggrieved students, parents and the public.

This is Ismail’s email which I received yesterday:

“When I have the permission and opportunity, I’ll explain the whole story. Until then please be fair to me.

“Perception without having an understanding and perspective of the issue can bring about conclusion that may not be right or fair. I understand the unfortunate ones can be emotional. But be fair in your comments.

“Just ponder. Over 8000 students are qualified to be considered for 2000 scholarships which are allocated for medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, bio tech and other sciences, social sciences, law, acturial science and other subjects critical for the country.

“We want well rounded students to go overseas. So co-curriculum and interviews are also important. Interviews are done by professionals in the govt service not by JPA officers.

“Then we have to provide for students from Sabah, Sarawak and from poor families. Some schools do not allow students to take more than 10 subjects. Are they inferior to students who could take 15 subjects? Then there is the appeal period. take all these into perspective first .

“Have a nice day.

“Ismail”

In my email reply to Ismail today, I said that I am always prepared to be fair to him, but why is the PSD under his charge not prepared to fair to the students, their parents and the Malaysian public in again putting them through the agony of another “annual begging season” when Malaysians have to beg for scholarships from the PSD although they are entitled to them because of their excellent academic results and meritocracy. Read the rest of this entry »

60 Comments

The unfair PSD scholarship awards

Letters
by Lye Hoke Tan

The unfair PSD scholarship awards issue, it happens all the times. I graduated from Chung Ling High School in Penang at 2004. Before 2004, I didn’t notice much about this problem, I just heard it from my high school teachers complaint it to us, I didn’t know it was so serious until it happened to my friends around.

Well, I can see this happens every year. Every year, to the same victims (Chinese Top Students), at the same time(after SPM results released), the same thing happen continuously in our country. Every year, I see the problems occur non-stop, it seems like unsolved cases even though those ministers, parties promised it could be solved. I have lost my confidence over their creditability, how can you give scholarship to someone, who his/her result is poorer than the others, just because of the skin colour.

Is PSD blind? They failed to see As every where every year, PSD prefer B and C? Maybe, as our government always has funny and “incredible” systems to rule this country. The funniest thing is, they DARE to repeat this “carelessness” every year, non stop. The media reported the same issue every year, what a shame!

The same thing happened during 2004, I have a friend, she got 13A1, she was also one of the top student had lunch with our ex-PM, Pak Lah, but the point is she failed to get JPA. When she told us she failed to get it, we got shocked. If top student like her by having 13A1 failed to get JPA, then we wonder how are we going to get it? Maybe we have to blame for our parents aren’t Datuk & Datin.

The next day, she went to the press, same stories like what it happens today. So, the next few days, she got the JPA. This is how our PSD works, OMG! Read the rest of this entry »

53 Comments

Unfair award of PSD scholarships – suspend PSD DG for insurbordination or Ong Tee Keat should resign as Minister for failure to implement Cabinet policy decided in March

Yesterday, MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat announced that the Government will review the selection criteria for Public Services Department scholarships and that a meeting the same day would be held among Barisan Nasional component party leaders, the PSD director-general and the Chief Secretary to the Government to discuss the matter and reconsider rejected cases.

However, the most senior MCA Minister was contradicted yesterday itself by the Public Service Department director-general, Tan Sri Ismail Adam, as reported in today’s New Straits Times, which carried the headline “’No review of PSD scholarship selection criteria’”, viz:

PUTRAJAYA: There will be no review of the selection criteria for Public Service Department scholarships, PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam said yesterday.

He said he had not received any directive to reconsider the criteria.

Unsuccessful applicants for scholarships had until Monday to appeal, he added.

MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat said on Wednesday there would be a review of the PSD criteria for giving out scholarships.

Ismail denied there was a meeting among Barisan Nasional component party leaders, the chief secretary to the government and himself, as claimed by Ong.

Ismail also denied Ong’s claims on the current selection criteria.

Who is lying? The MCA President or the PSD DG?
Read the rest of this entry »

105 Comments

Only A Good Beginning

by M. Bakri Musa

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s liberalizing some segments of the service sector is a good start. However, it is merely good but not excellent, and only a beginning but not the total solution.

Najib must remember that a half-cooked meal is often not only inedible but could also poison you; likewise a half-baked solution.

For Najib to have an excellent and comprehensive solution would require him to address the more difficult underlying issue of what prompted the instituting of quotas in the first place. Unless that is resolved, his new policy will not be politically sustainable – meaning, not sustainable at all –regardless how eminently sensible it is economically. Ameliorate it and Najib would be able to liberalize not only the whole service sector but also the entire economy, if not every facet of Malaysian life. That would bring his “1Malaysia” aspiration that much closer.

On the other hand, if he fails to resolve that fundamental problem, he would have succeeded only in triggering a severe backlash among Malays, the bulk if not his only base of support. Were that to happen he would push back race relations; the half-cooked meal poisoning him! Read the rest of this entry »

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Sad, sad, sad…

Former MCA President and MP for Kulai Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting made one of his rare appearances in Parliament today.

For what?

Not to speak on anyone of the many great issues currently disturbing thinking Malaysians.

But to complain at the 2008 Supplementary Estimates Committee stage debate on the Education Ministry at the breach of the promise made by the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein when he was MCA President that the new SJKC(2) Kulai in his parliamentary constituency would be built with 30 classrooms.

He said that months have passed since his intervention, but the issue of the new SJKC(2) Kulai being built with only 24 classrooms instead of 30 classrooms as originally promised remains unresolved.

How the mighty had fallen when the former MCA President has to come to Parliament to complain about the disappearance of six classrooms despite the public pledge jointly made by him as MCA President and Hishammuddin as Education Minister only last year! Read the rest of this entry »

52 Comments

Wow! MCA Minister and Deputy Minister publicly telling the “lame-duck” PM and UMNO President to buzz off!

It was only last October that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied that “UMNO is big bully in Barisan Nasional” when he spoke at the MCA General Assembly.

This makes it all the more unusual the spectacle of a MCA Minister and Deputy Minister publicly tell the “lameduck” Prime Minister and UMNO President to “buzz off” as evident from the following news reports:

(1) New Sunday Times (8.3.09) “PM: Resolve language issue before it gets out of hand”

KUALA LUMPUR: The prime minister wants the Education Ministry to decide quickly whether Science and Mathematics should continue to be taught in English.

Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the contentious issue should be resolved before it got out of hand.

“This issue has become bigger and more sensitive. I hope the ministry will make a decision on the matter fast.

“If not, the issue will become even bigger and the pressure from non-governmental organisations will continue,” he said after launching a fantasy novel written by 13-year-old Adam Umemoto titled Dragonfire Hammer. Read the rest of this entry »

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How Indonesia’s Islamic Universities Are Different

By Farish A Noor

Regardless of where you stand on the question of whether we are living in the age of Islamism, neo-Islamism or Post-Islamism, the fact remains that there is pretty much Islam all over the place at the moment; and much of this Islam is also going all over the place…

From the late 1970s onwards many a Muslim-majority state with a Muslim-majority government embarked on a host of projects intended to inculcate Islamic values, norms and standards in the daily lives of their people. In some cases, such as that of Malaysia, this inculcation of Islamic norms was at times at the expense of other faith communities and cultural minorities as well. From Morocco to Pakistan to Malaysia we witnessed the sudden surge of growth in the Islamic public sector: Shariah courts were raised to a level on par with secular civil courts; Islamic finance and banking was experimented with and implemented with gusto; Islamic think tanks, research centres and universities were funded lavishly and built all over the place. In time a network of Islamic universities and colleges was created worldwide, creating hundreds of thousands of graduates who later entered the public domain with the expectation that they will be given jobs.

The one country that resisted this headlong rush towards Islamisation was Indonesia, though that was partly due to the somewhat Islamophobic tendencies of its then leader Suharto and his coterie of Generals and business elite cronies.

Indonesia’s Islamic universities developed at their own pace, often under close state supervision but also under careful tutelage of Islamic intellectuals like Mukti Ali who was the Minister for Religious Affairs. Under the guidance of men like Mukti Ali, Indonesia developed Islamic universities where Islam was not taught, but rather researched. This was singularly unique in the Muslim world because the Indonesian government actually encouraged Muslim scholars to think objectively and critically about Islam and religion in general. In other words, rather than produce Islamist ideologues, the Islamic universities of Indonesia produced a generation of Muslim scholars who could objectively study -critically – their own religion. Read the rest of this entry »

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For starters, 5 reasons why MCA owes apology not only to Chinese voters in KT but to all Malaysians

In rejoinder to the demand by the MCA Vice President and Health Minister, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai that the DAP apologise to the Chinese voters in Kuala Terengganu for misleading them on the hudud issue, DAP had challenged MCA to a debate on “Who should apologise – MCA or DAP?” in Kuala Terengganu before the by-election on Saturday.

While DAP awaits the MCA response, let me give advance notice to the MCA leadership that there is a long catalogue of things MCA must apologise not only to the Malaysian Chinese in Kuala Terengganu but to all Malaysians, and it is most appropriate that this is done in Kuala Terengganu.

The catalogue of MCA failures and misdeeds range from the dismal performance of the current MCA leadership, the pathetic MCA record in Barisan Nasional, the shameful MCA failure to live up to the ideas and ideals of the MCA founding fathers like Tun Tan Cheng Lock to its shocking betrayal of the cardinal nation-building principles for Malaya and later Malaysia as embodied in the Merdeka “social contract” of 1957.

For a start, let me just cite five reasons why MCA owes not only the Malaysian Chinese but all Malaysians a fulsome apology. Read the rest of this entry »

86 Comments

Almost daily reminder of deterioration of quality of life in Malaysia – whether in crime, health or education

There is almost a daily reminder of deterioration of quality of life in Malaysia – with three news items today highlighting worsening crime, health and education conditions in the country.

The first is the shocking news “MIC division treasurer killed by intruders” (the Sun), on the latest victim of endemic crime in Malaysia – MIC Ipoh Barat division treasurer N. Sidambaram, 64, who was killed by six parang-wielding intruders in his house on Jalan Wayang in Buntung, Ipoh early yesterday morning.

This comes on the heel of the attack on the Tawau acting OCPD Supt Ramli Ali Mat who was seriously injured after being stabbed in his house by a group of five men and the attack on another policeman, L/Kpl S. Paramasivam, 49, who was beaten up by a group of 10 Mat Rempits using helmets and metal roads while on anti-crime rounds in Kuala Lumpur requiring five stitches for his wound in his head, both incidents happening in the first 12 days of the new year.

These crimes provide vivid illustration of the serious breakdown of law and order in Malaysia with the government unable to deliver its most elementary duty – to ensure the safety of its citizens, visitors and investors! Read the rest of this entry »

26 Comments

Disastrous TIMSS 2007 results – Hishammuddin’s flippant and irresponsible response

I am not the only one to be astounded by the flippant and irresponsible response of the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to my statement asking him to break his month-long silence and explain Malaysia’s disastrous showing in the 60-nation Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 for Year-8 secondary students.

Malaysia’s TIMSS 2007 performance was most dismal in the three four-yearly TIMSS participated by our students since 1999, with the lowest score for both mathematics and science, with 474 points for mathematics and 471 for science (500 is the TIMSS scale average), when Malaysia scored mostly above average in the previous TIMSS.

Malaysia’s comparative performance in the 1999, 2003 and 2007 TIMSS are: Read the rest of this entry »

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Revisit my comments on TIMSS 1999 in 2002

In August 2002, I issued a statement on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 and the points and issues I raised six years ago are even more relevant today.

This statement on TIMSS 1999 on 16th August 2002 is reproduced here:

Musa should present a White Paper in Parliament on the strategy to be learnt from TIMSS 1999 for Malaysian students to rank among the world’s top five nations in mathematics and science

The Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad should present a White Paper in Parliament next month on the lessons to be learnt from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study – Repeat (TIMMS-R) 1999 which Malaysian students participated for the first time, and the strategy for Malaysian students to rank among the world’s top five nations in mathematics and science.

Five Asian countries were the top performers in mathematics and science in TIMSS-R 1999, an eighth grade level test involving 38 countries and 180,000 students.

The five Asian countries, led by Singapore and followed by South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, had the highest average performance in mathematics; while for science the five top scorers were Taiwan, Singapore, Hungary, Japan and South Korea. Read the rest of this entry »

33 Comments

Malaysia’s disastrous showing in TIMSS 2007 – time for Hishammuddin to break month-long silence

Some 60 countries, including Malaysia, participated in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2007, the latest four-yearly international comparative assessment of the achievements and attitudes towards mathematics and science of Year 4 primary and Year 8 secondary students.

The findings of the TIMSS 2007 were internationally released on December 9, 2008, and in the past month, there had been intense debate involving the educational authorities, educational NGOs and concerned parents in all the participating countries on the results of TIMSS 2007 and their impact on their respective education policy and in particular how to improve the teaching and learning in mathematics and science for their pupils.

Except in one country – Malaysia, where there is total silence by the education authorities and even blackout of the TIMSS 2007 findings in the mass media despite the ongoing controversy as to whether the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English should continue or revert to Bahasa Malaysia/mother tongue.

It is most unbelievable that the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Education Ministry could perpetrate a conspiracy of silence for one whole month on the TIMSS 2007 findings relating to the achievements of Malaysian students who took part in the Year 8 (Secondary Two) assessments for mathematics and science.

This is all the more irresponsible as he should be a role model for other Education Ministers as he is a member of UNESCO Board as well as President of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (Seameo).

It is time for Hishammuddin to break his month-long silence and explain his failure as Education Minister as reflected by Malaysia’s poor results in the TIMSS 2007 as compared to other countries in the 60-nation international assessment of the mathematics and science achievements of Year 8 students. Read the rest of this entry »

58 Comments

Unscheduled medical graduates say “No”

Letters

YB Datuk Liow Tiong Lai,
Minister Of Health,
Putrajaya,
Malaysia
24 December 2008

Dear Respected YB Datuk Liow Tiong Lai,

Re : Oppose to 18 months Credit Transfer Programme into Local Government Universities For Unscheduled Medical Graduates

With reference to the above mentioned subject, we would like to bring to your kind attention that we the majority unscheduled medical graduates opposed to the idea of 18 months Credit Transfer programme.

2. We came to know that a meeting on 16 December 2008 with yourself to discuss about the problems faced by our students to do a credit transfer (such as unable to get a university admission, too expensive to transfer etc).So after we organized an urgent meeting with many of our fellow friends, we have decided not to attend this meeting as from the first we had said we are unable to accept a credit transfer and opposed it. We had spent many years with our own money for our studies and still ending up jobless and our parents are still paying for our loans to study before. Read the rest of this entry »

45 Comments

English-Medium Islamic Schools

by M. Bakri Musa

The Minister of Education will soon decide whether to continue the teaching of science and mathematics in English in our schools. That decision will not materially change the continuing decline in educational achievements of Malays.

This harsh reality is the consequence of our national schools – the default choice for most Malays – being abysmal failures. Most non-Malays as well as affluent Malays are fully aware of this and thus have long ago abandoned the system. Observe the steady stream of school buses and private cars full of young non-Malays heading south on the causeway every school-day morning. As for affluent Malays, ask where Najib Razak and Hishammuddin Hussein send their children for their education!

In today’s economy, the most advantaged are those with high science literacy and mathematical skills, as well as being fluent in more than one language, with one of those languages being English, the language of commerce and science. Fluency in English is no panacea of course; a visit to India and the Philippines will quickly disabuse us of that assumption.

The next most advantaged will be those fluent only in English. The least advantaged would be those literate in only one language, and that language is other than English. This unfortunately is the fate of Malays today. Read the rest of this entry »

87 Comments

Gibberish English

YB Lim

This is found on the pages of our National Registration Dept website. Sigh, what a sad state of affairs, when such atrocious English is held up for display, for practically the whole world to see…..

And we are proud of sending a “space man” above???? A by-product of all the years that UMNO and BN has been in charge of our Education System. Now, it’s not just us M’sians who know that the quality of our local grads is hopeless, but this is being paraded for the whole world to see.

Don’t UMNO/BN have any shame? Hope you will raise this issue up at the righ forum.
Regards
Shanker

_______________

(Note, this page have since been amended by NRD)
http://www.jpn.gov.my/BI/4_5_kadpengenalan.php

1. I’m 17 year old, when should I change my identity card replacement?
A person whose had got first-time identity card namely during old 12 year, are required change again his identity card when have reached the age 18 year. If this change made within life time 18 – 25 year, no any penalty imposed.

2. I already 25 year old and still not have my own identity card. What shoul I do?
To them not yet own identity card although already aged more 16 year are advised to come to any nearby NRD to apply identity card past record. Applicant and promoter must showed up together to be interviewed, bringing with together following documents:-
Applicant Born Certificate / AnakAngkat’s Certificate / W’s Form Or
Applicant Enter Permit / Confirmation Form National Standard(if concerning)
Promoter Identity Card
Read the rest of this entry »

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End the NEP in the universities as the first step to restore a world-class university system

Malaysia is losing out in the unrelenting battle for international competitiveness among nations, with Malaysian universities even losing out to Southeast Asian universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines and to universities in Africa and South America – something completely unthinkable in the first three decades of our nationhood.

For the second consecutive year, Malaysia had fallen completely out of the list of the world’s Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) – Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

The national shame of Malaysia falling completely out of the list of the world’s Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) – Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings is being compounded by the ignominy of Malaysian universities losing out not only to top universities in Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea but also to other South East Asian nations like Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines, as well to those in Africa and South America – like the University of Cape Town (No. 179 in 2008 THES-QS ranking), the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil No. 196) ) and the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina No. 197).

For the second consecutive year, there is not only not a single university in the 2008 THES-QS Top 200 Universities list, there is also not a single university in the separate ranking of Top 100 Universities for five subject areas – Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities; Life Sciences and Biomedicine; and Technology. Read the rest of this entry »

65 Comments

Mukhriz has committed the offence of sedition in proposing closure of Chinese/Tamil primary schools

UMNO MP for Jerlun and candidate for Umno Youth chief, Mukhriz Mahathir has committed the offence of sedition in questioning one of the four “sensitive” issues entrenched in the Constitution which has no parliamentary immunity and on conviction, he can be stripped of his parliamentary membership, disqualified from taking part in parliamentary and state assembly elections as well as barred from holding office in any society for five years.

However Mukhriz twist and turn, there can be no doubt that in his press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday which he repeated in his speech in the House last night, he was in fact calling for the closure of Chinese and Tamil primary schools, hence the following headlines:

• “Sekolah satu sistem – cadangan ke arah menggantikan pendidikan berbeza aliran” – Utusan Malaysia
• “Mukhriz: Scrap vernacular schools, one system for all” (Star online).
• “”Abolish dual system” (Star in print).
• “Mukhriz: Close down vernacular schools” (Malaysiakini English)
• “Mukhriz saran tutup sekolah vernacular” (Malaysiakini Bahasa Malaysia)
• “Mukhriz says vernacular schools should be abolished” (Malaysianinside)
• “Change all school medium to Bahasa Malaysia” – Nanyang
• “Abolish Chinese and Tamil primary schools to check polarisation – Mukhriz” – (China Press)
• “Standardise all primary schools with Bahasa Malaysia as medium of instruction” – (Oriental Daily) Read the rest of this entry »

124 Comments

Over to you, Khaled and Hishammuddin

Hi, i am student from Penang … can help us check for second semester PTPTN loan when can issue? now already mid semester. Dunno why PTPTN still like this “late issue the loan”, by this was make a lot of student feel suffer in finance. i already send mail to PTPTN, but no have any respond. i hope can get a good news as fast as possible. thank you for your help.

I received this email seven hours ago from a student in Penang crying for help as PTPTN is so inefficient and inconsiderate when PTPTN loan is still not disbursed although it is now mid-semester.

I have put up this email hoping that the Higher Education Minister Datuk Khaled Nordin would be as Internet-savvy and blog-sensitive as his predecessor Datuk. Mustapha Mohamed, as Mustapha would respond promptly to complaints touching on his Ministry on my blog.

Can Khaled shake up the PTPTN and release all the outstanding second semester loans within 24 hours or at most 48 hours?

There is another reason I have put up the email – to show the atrocious English standard of our students. Read the rest of this entry »

34 Comments

Idris vs Rafiah – more important is the sharp fall in standards of Malaysian universities

Higher Education Deputy Minister Datuk Idris Haron should either defend his insinuation against Datuk Rafiah Salim in Parliament implying that the former University of Malaya Vice Chancellor was lacking in “high level performance” or he should be gentleman enough to apologise if he could not stand by his statement.

Malaysians concerned by the continuous drop and decline in standards of Malaysian universities must be distressed by the unnecessary diversion from what should be the sole focus of all involved in higher education – that Malaysian university standards have fallen so low dangerously that we are even losing out to universities in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines – something completely unthinkable in the first three decades of our nationhood.

For the second consecutive year, Malaysia had fallen completely out of the list of the world’s Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) – Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings.

The national shame of Malaysia falling completely out of the list of the world’s Top 200 Universities this year in the 2008 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) – Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings is being compounded by the ignominy of Malaysian universities losing out not only to top universities in Singapore, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea but also to other South East Asian nations like Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. Read the rest of this entry »

31 Comments

Enhancing Human Capital Through Health

by M. Bakri Musa

Two well-recognized factors to enhancing the quality of human capital are health and education. When citizens are healthy and well educated, their capacity to be productive and contributing members of society is greatly enhanced. The converse, when they are unhealthy and poorly educated, they are a burden upon society.

To the pair I would add a third: freedom. To get the best out of people, we must grant them space to enable them to develop their talent and pursue their passion. Then we should grant them the freedom to express themselves and their creations.

Great and inspiring works in the arts and sciences are the creations of those who are passionate in what they do. Such passions come only when people are given the freedom to pursue their dreams and aspirations. Such endeavors are rarely undertaken purely in the pursuit of honor or wealth but for their own intrinsic pleasures and rewards.

Honors and material rewards may well follow, and we should not minimize their importance. They help inspire and motivate the rest – the talented and otherwise – who need the extra nudge.

As for freedom, there may be exceptions to my statement but they are more apparent than real. Ananta Pramoedya Toer produced his greatest literary works while imprisoned under the most trying physical conditions on Pulau Buru. The authorities may have imprisoned him physically, but as he contemptuously asserted in his autobiography, they could not imprison his will and thought, though not for lack of trying. Read the rest of this entry »

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