The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts: Education Blueprint 2013-2025
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 17 September 2012, 3:27 pm
by Bakri Musa
17th September 2012
First of Five Parts: Education Blueprint – Transparent, But Not Bold Or Comprehensive
Education reform is inflicted upon Malaysians with the regularity of the monsoon. Like the storm, the havoc these “reforms” create lingers long after they have passed through.
In this five-part commentary I will critique the latest reform effort contained in Preliminary Report: Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 released on September 11, 2012. The first three essays will address the Blueprint’s findings and recommendations; the fourth, its omissions, and the last, the flaws in the process with this particular reform effort.
The Blueprint clearly identifies the main problems and challenges at both the system and individual levels, but fails to analyze why or how they came about and why they have been let to fester. Consequently the recommendations are based more on conjecture rather than solid data; more towards generalities and the stating of goals rather than on specifics and how to achieve those goals. On the positive side, the goals and milestones (at least some of them) are clearly stated in quantifiable terms, so we would know whether they have been achieved going forward.
Despite extensive public participation and the inclusion of many luminaries (including foreign ones) on the panel, the report has many glaring omissions. It fails to address the particular challenges facing Islamic and rural national schools. This is surprising considering that the constituents in both streams are Malays, a politically powerful group. Even more pertinent, those schools regularly perform at the bottom quartile; they drag down the whole system. Improving them would go a long way in enhancing the entire system. Yet another omission is the failure to analyze and thus learn from earlier reform efforts.
This Blueprint does not live up to Najib Razak’s assertion of being “bold, comprehensive and transparent.” Transparent perhaps, but not bold or comprehensive! That is not surprising as the panel is dominated by civil servants. They have been part of the problem for so long that it would be too much to expect them now to magically be part of the solution. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on all Sarawak and Sabah MPs, whether BN or PR, to give unanimous support in Parliament to proposal for a RCI to assess whether the dreams and aspirations of Sarawakians and Sabahans in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in past five decades
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Pakatan Rakyat, Sabah, Sarawak on Sunday, 16 September 2012, 9:31 pm
This is the third year Malaysia Day is celebrated as a national public holiday – as it has taken 47 years before Malaysia Day on September 16 was accorded proper recognition as a national public holiday by the Barisan Nasional federal government, starting from 2010.
This was thanks to two events: Firstly, the public pledge by Pakatan Rakyat that a PR government in Putrajaya would do what the Barisan Nasional had failed to do, i.e. declare September 16 as a national public holiday.
Secondly, the “political tsunami” of the March 8, 2008 general election which caused the belated realisation by the Prime Minister and the BN leaders in Sarawak and Sabah that the BN MPs in the two states occupy a strategic “kingmaker” role determining the survival of UMNO hegemony and Barisan Nasional federal government.
The BN suffered a severe thrashing in the 2008 general election, winning 140 seats against the Pakatan Rakyat’s 82. However, 54 of these BN parliamentary seats come from Sarawak and Sabah – Sarawak 30 and Sabah 24.
Without these 54 BN MPs from Sarawak and Sabah, BN would be reduced to 86 seats out of 222 MPs in Parliament, a reversal of the political demography in Parliament and evicting B N from Putrajaya into the Opposition ranks.
Although PR and the 2008 “political tsunami’ have combined to force UMNO/Barisan Nasional to concede in according Sept. 16 as a national holiday, this is a half-hearted gesture and not really meaningful as Malaysia Day is treated as a mere Sarawak and Sabah event instead of a national celebration by UMNO/Barisan Nasional – making a full mockery of Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan and policy. Read the rest of this entry »
Add one more crime to disturbing statistics: Aliran office broken into
P Ramakrishnan
Immediate past president
Aliran
15 September 2012
At around 9.00am on Tuesday, 11 September 2012, we discovered that the Aliran office had been broken into. The perpetrators had gained entry from the back portion of the building through the window by removing the grille.
They unlocked the wooden door from within the ground floor and proceeded to the first floor. They prised open the secured wooden door upstairs and entered the first floor.
The building wasn’t ransacked; nothing was strewn on the floor. They did a very neat job. According to the carpenter who came later to repair and fix the damage, these culprits had to be professionals because they did not cause severe damage to gain entry. He also revealed that his boss’ house was broken into two months ago. He lost three laptops and cash.
The loss that we discovered was amazing and somewhat startling. The notebook belonging to the current president of Aliran (Francis Loh) was stolen. The computer set and the printer belonging to the immediate past president (P Ramakrishnan) were stolen. The computer set used by the treasurer (Anil Netto) was also stolen. All these are old computers. But strangely two other computers used by the clerk were left behind! There was also RM26.90 in one of the drawers but this was not touched. Read the rest of this entry »
Lets make the 50th Malaysia Day next year really meaningful and historic not only to Sabahans and Sarawakians but to all Malaysians
Posted by Kit in nation building, Sabah, Sarawak on Saturday, 15 September 2012, 11:24 pm
49th Malaysia Day Message
15th September 2012
At a Sabah DAP forum in Kota Kinabalu on the 45th Malaysia Day on 16th September 2008, I pledged that a Pakatan Rakyat government in Putrajaya would do what the Barisan Nasional had failed to do – declare September 16 as a national public holiday.
This forced the hand of the sixth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who announced six months after assuming the premier’s office in October 2009 that Malaysia Day on September 16 would be a national holiday from 2010.
It took the Barisan Nasional 47 years to accord proper recognition to Malaysia Day on September 16, but the Barisan Nasional government has yet to seriously and fully address the frustrations, grievances and alienations suffered by Sabahans and Sarawakians for three generations at not being given full and fair treatment as Malaysian citizens.
Furthermore, Malaysia Day on September 16 cannot really be meaningful when it is regarded as in the past three years as a mere Sabah and Sarawak event rather than as a national celebration – making a mockery of the Prime Minister’s 1Malaysia slogan and policy. Read the rest of this entry »
Hishammuddin should apologise for his unbecoming and deplorable “No safety guarantee” stance or is he going to apologise only after the next general election like his keris-wielding as UMNO Youth Leader?
Posted by Kit in Crime, DAP, Hishammuddin, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PKR, Politics on Saturday, 15 September 2012, 4:28 pm
The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has made many outrageous statements and done many outrageous things in his political career, like
• his infamous keris-wielding as Youth Leader for three consecutive years since 2005 until he had to apologise for them when MCA, Gerakan and even UMNO leaders blamed him as one of the causes of “political tsunami” in the March 2008 general election;
• his defence and justification of the insensitive and sacrilegious cowhead demonstration in Shah Alam in September 2009;
• his xanthophobia (fear of the colour yellow) in the run-up to the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011 when he declared the yellow Bersih T-shirt illegal and a police arrestable offence to wear them and his illogical, unreasonable and unlawful ban on Bersih 2.0.
• his wild, reckless and deplorable allegation that “some parties” wanted serious injuries and deaths at the Bersih 3.0 rally at Dataran Merdeka on April 28, 2012 in support of the Prime Minister’s equally wild, reckless and deplorable allegation that the Bersih 3.0 rally was an attempted coup d’etat to topple the government when the hundreds of thousands, regardless of race, religion, age and gender, who came out were peaceful, armed at most with salt and mineral water to protect themselves from police tear-gas and chemically-lacked water cannons, wanted only to send the message of clean, free and fair elections to the government.
However, Hishammuddin has put all his previous outrageous statements and acts in the shade with the “mother of all outrages” when he made it clear yesterday that there will be no guarantee of security for PKR’s nationwide Merdeka Rakyat tour. Read the rest of this entry »
Is there a home minister in the house?
Posted by Kit in Hishammuddin, Law & Order, Najib Razak, Police on Saturday, 15 September 2012, 2:05 pm
— The Malaysian Insider
Sep 15, 2012
SEPT 15 — Considering the public perception of crime and a number of attacks on opposition politicians, one has to ask the question, is there a home minister in the country?
Is there someone responsible in the current government to ensure that each and every citizen can feel safe and secure in the country?
Is there someone responsible in the government to see to it that politicians of all stripes and hues and from any side of the aisle can move freely and campaign unhindered and unmolested?
Is there someone in the government who can rise above partisan politics to provide internal security for the country and not condone political hooliganism of any sort?
Is there someone in Putrajaya who will make sure that the international trade and industry minister and the foreign minister don’t have to make excuses to foreign investors and diplomats about the state of crime and political violence in Malaysia?
The Essence Of Patriotism
by Allan CF Goh
(A poem)
Love is an innate emotion
That thrives on benign conditions.
It grows and grows with mutual needs,
Based on right honourable deeds.
If denied this mutuality,
Love fades into obscurity.
The love of one’s country, nation,
Is the same, without exception.
It cannot be legislated,
Nor by orders, regulated. Read the rest of this entry »
Growth without private investment
— Jayant Menon
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012
SEPT 12 — It was not long ago that the Malaysian development story was hailed as a model of FDI-driven, export-led industrialisation worthy of emulation by aspirants in the developing world.
Malaysia remains an outstanding model of how openness to trade and FDI can transform a poor, agrarian economy into a thriving, manufacturing-based, middle-income one in a generation. During this time, Malaysia also successfully preserved social harmony in its multiracial society, relying on economic openness to sustain growth under an expensive affirmative action programme that skewed incentives, the New Economic Policy (NEP). In this sense, the NEP performed an important signalling role and played its part in delivering the peace and stability that enabled Malaysia to sustain high growth. This growth, combined with revenues from large oil reserves, facilitated a massive tax-transfer scheme that favoured the majority, without significantly eroding macroeconomic stability.
But all that changed after the Asian financial crisis. FDI flows fell sharply and continued to remain low even after recovery. While foreigners continue to shun Malaysia, even domestic investors seem to have fled, with Malaysia becoming a net exporter of capital since 2005. Malaysia continues to grow, but without private investment it is unlikely to break out of the middle-income trap. Indeed, these days Malaysia is often discussed as a classic case of the middle-income trap. Growth without private investment is also unsustainable and Malaysia risks sliding back. Read the rest of this entry »
Rakyat asing-BN vs rakyat berdaulat Selangor-Pakatan Rakyat
Posted by Kit in Elections, Pakatan Rakyat, Selangor on Saturday, 15 September 2012, 9:34 am
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 14, 2012
14 SEPT — Selangor tidak akan membubarkan Dewan Undangan Negerinya jika pilihanraya di adakan pada bulan November atau sebelumnya. Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Selangor tidak akan bersama dengan negeri-negeri lain dengan membubarkan DUN jika Najib mengumumkan pembubaran Parlimen seperti yang lazim di lakukan oleh mana-mana negeri di masa-masa yang lalu.
Kita sudah mendengar pendirian dari Kelantan yang berpendapat tidak mempunyai masalah untuk membubarkan DUNnya mengikut tarikh yang akan di umumkan oleh Najib. Kita masih lagi menunggu respon P. Pinang dalam hal ini.
Sesungguhnya Selangor adalah salah sebuah negeri berdaulat yang berada di dalam Persekutuan Malaysia dan negeri itu berhak untuk membubarkan atau tidak Dewan Legislatifnya. Tidak ada pihak lain berhak untuk menentukan tarikh pilihanraya bagi negeri yang berdaulat itu.
Pendirian negeri Selangor iru bersebab dan bukannya membuat keputusan itu semata-mata kerana hendak berlainan dari negeri-negeri lain. Selangor telah menjadi medan pihak yang inginkan kembali berkuasa dengan melakukan berbagai-bagai tektik kotor yang tidak pernah dilihat sebelum ini. Pihak BN telah menambah lebih dari empat ratus ribu pengundi yang dipersoalkan “legitimacy”nya sebagai pengundi. Read the rest of this entry »
Instead of high watermark for women’s rights, Najib’s hijacking of women portfolio proves to be an even lower point for women agenda
Posted by Kit in Pakatan Rakyat, women on Friday, 14 September 2012, 2:40 pm
The launching of Pakatan Rakyat’s Women’s Agenda tonight is a historic event, as gender equality and empowerment of women to improve their social, educational, economic and political status must be accepted by everyone as part of human rights which must involve the commitment and challenge to everyone in the country.
Recently, women’s rights should have witnessed a highwater mark in Malaysia when the Women’s Minister is also the Prime Minister, but unfortunately, the opposite is the case – with women agenda reaching an even lower point with the hijacking of the Women Minister’s portfolio by a male – as if there are no eligible and qualified Malaysian woman for the post!
“Janji Ditepati” has recently been Najib’s favourite subject, but with Najib as Women’s Minister for the past six months, are women in Malaysia satisfied with “Promises Fulfilled” with regard to women issues and causes? Read the rest of this entry »
Emulate patriotic and public-spirited Ahmad Habib to come forward to save Malaysia and debunk dangerous and despicable lies
Posted by Kit in DAP, History, nation building on Friday, 14 September 2012, 11:34 am
Ahmad Habib, the “RealSoldier”
On 4th August last month, I had issued the first of my categorical denial of the preposterous claim which had appeared on the official Facebook page of the May 13 movie, Tanda Putra, that I had urinated on the flagpole in front of the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence provoking the May 13 riots in 1969.
The facebook had carried a photo portraying me being manhandled, with the caption:
“Lim Kit Siang telah kencing di bawah tiang bendera Selangor yang terpacak di rumah menteri besar Selangor ketika itu, Harun Idris, (Lim Kit Siang had urinated at the foot of the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor MB’s Harun Idris’ house)”
The photo was posted in the album in the Facebook titled ‘Peristiwa-peristiwa yang dimuatkan di dalam filem ini’ (Events depicted in this movie).
Although the photo and caption have since been removed from the movie’s official page, I have a screenshot of the earlier posting. Read the rest of this entry »
Suggestions for the new education blueprint
— Justin Santiago
Sep 13, 2012
SEPT 13 — Forget about trying to pretend to have an education blueprint that only seems to take baby steps to improve the level of education in the country.
Here are some sure-fire steps to improve the quality of education in the country by leaps and bounds without needing any blueprint.
Make it mandatory for all children of MPs, state assemblymen, Cabinet ministers all the way up to the prime minister to attend primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions in the country. This is a sure-fire way to improve the quality of education throughout the country.
If the politicians and government who are talking big about how high the standard of education in the country is, then their own children should benefit by it. Much like how government officials were forced to use Proton Perdanas, now is the time to force quality education down everyone’s throat
In a single swoop throughout the country standards will improve when the children of government officials participate as part of the transformation process. Those wanting their children to study at “prestigious universities” overseas will be forced to resign. Read the rest of this entry »
New National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered
The Preliminary Report of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was launched with much fanfare on Tuesday. This document, written by expensive consultants at taxpayers’ expense, although seemingly comprehensive, in actual fact still leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered.
If these gaping holes are not addressed, this blueprint will suffer the same fate as all the other education blueprints that have been launched by previous Prime Ministers and Education Ministers.
Firstly, this blueprint does not contain any indication that the Ministry of Education has learnt from mistakes in the past.
Many of the initiatives announced under this new Blueprint are recycled ideas and past unfulfilled promises. For example, the Education Development Master Plan (Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan) 2006 to 2010 promised that any existing education gaps would be closed by continuing to provide necessary basic infrastructure necessities on a continuous basis.
Read the rest of this entry »
Whither the voice of reason?
By Henry Loh | September 13, 2012
The Malaysian Insider
SEPT 13 — Of late we only need to scan news sites and local dailies and we are likely to come across news items that highlight that “men have lost their reason”. To express unhappiness over the organisation of Bersih 3.0, we had grown men (ex-army veterans) performing “butt exercises” outside the front gate of Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s residence. Their crude and unbecoming behaviour only serves to highlight their level of maturity (or lack of) and remains but a sad reflection of their character.
We have also read about individuals going to the residence of the chief minister of Penang to conduct “funeral rites” while placing a garlanded framed photograph of the CM on the gate of his house. Other examples of such behaviour — the sending of a faeces-shaped “chocolate cake” and the disruption of ceramahs (the throwing of stones and water bottles) — all point towards this unwelcome and alarming increase in irrational, violent and unreasonable behaviour.
Read the rest of this entry »
Siege on Suaram
By Martin Jalleh
Shortcomings of the 2013-2025 National Education Blueprint
Posted by Kit in Education, English, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 12 September 2012, 11:45 pm
— Hussaini Abdul Karim
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012
SEPT 12 — I laud both the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also the Minister for Education for their motivation, tireless efforts and initiatives to come up with a better education policy to replace the current very much attacked policy which is construed as being a weak one and also the people in MOE who have been working very hard since April this year firstly, to organise the National Education Dialogue that took the team led by former Education Director General Tan Sri Datuk Dr Wan Mohd Zahid bin Wan Mohd Noordin, the National Education Dialogue Panel Chairman to 16 locations throughout the country including Sabah and Sarawak to conduct the Townhall Series of the National Education Dialogue and to prepare the impressive and attractive Preliminary Report – Malaysia Education Blueprint 2103- 2025 in both Bahasa Malaysia and in English which we all, who were present at the launch, were presented a copy each.
The first impression I get of the launch of the Malaysia National Education Blueprint 2013 – 2025 is the seriousness given by the government to education due to the fact that both the PM and the DPM were present at the event and the ‘off-the-cuff’ statement made by the former who is also the Minister of Finance is that he expects the expenditure for education in this country given the new plans, policies, syllabus and systems to be put in place and implemented as stated in the blueprint will be much higher than previous years and as the minister in charge, he will approve it.
This was followed immediately by a loud applause from all present. The PM also made another ‘off-the-cuff’ statement commenting on his pet subject, English literature, which will be introduced from next year and given the situation now, he said, “If you can’t teach them Shakespeare, the full version, try the abridged version first and if that is also too difficult then, start with the books by Enid Blyton”. This was also followed by a loud applause from the audience.
It is most pleasing to note the emphasis the Prime Minister placed on English language knowing that this is the right way for our people to progress. He had earlier reminded the people, in no uncertain terms, to always use and uphold Bahasa Malaysia as this is our national language.
There are many aspects in the blueprint which are commendable but nothing is new, it is more like something old that are sent back to the people in new package. Read the rest of this entry »
National Education Blueprint needs more work
— Ramon Navaratnam
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012
SEPT 12 — The ASLI-Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) welcomes the release of the Preliminary Report, Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025) as timely and necessary for preparing the future intellectual and social and human capital of Malaysia, in a globalised world.
We recognise that there has been lot of hard work and effort in drawing public opinion and in the compilation of this report. We therefore congratulate this participatory effort especially through the town hall meetings for feedback as well as the academic and professional evaluative work.
We also recognise that the five system aspirations (page E-9) and the 11 shifts (page E 10) to transform the educational system are necessary and strategic.
However, we note that there are also major and serious gaps in the report and therefore urge the Ministry of Education to undertake further consultative processes to review the findings and plans and to actually incorporate public views that are now overlooked. Read the rest of this entry »
Past 13 years, three Education Ministers have each produced Education Blueprint but Malaysian education standards have gone from bad to worse
Posted by Kit in Education, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 12 September 2012, 5:47 pm
When launching the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government is not in denial over Malaysian students’ poor ratings in international assessments and vowed to move our students from the bottom one-third to the top one-third of the world.
Najib doth protest too much as his claim that the government is not in denial can easily rebutted, and I will give two instances:
Firstly, the ludicrous claim by the Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin early this year that the Malaysian education system is one of the best in the world and that Malaysian youngsters are receiving better education than children in the United States, Britain and Germany.
Secondly, the government’s refusal and denial for almost four years to admit Malaysia’s disastrous showing in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007, the four-yearly international comparative assessment of the achievements and attitudes towards mathematics and science of Year 4 and Year 8 secondary students, and ascertain the causes to immediately arrest and reverse such decline. Read the rest of this entry »
Rahsia Umno dalam tangan Dr M
By Sakmongkol AK47 | September 12, 2012
The Malaysian Insider
12 SEPT — Dr Mahathir Mohamad kata kalau Pakatan Rakyat memerintah, dia orang akan perintah selamanya. Mengikut Dr Mahathir dia tahu beberapa rahsia. Rahsia yang Dr Mahathir maksudkan itu mesti yang buruk dan yang tidak baik.
Kerana apabila PR memerintah, orang akan tahu rahsia buruk Umno- rasuah, rompakan, lanun, manipulasi jentera kerajaan, komisyen kepada menteri, KSU yang korap, pegawai kerajaan yang korap, rasuah dalam syarikat milik kerajaan,skendel pembinaan lebuh raya, pelabuhan, jambatan bengkok, skendel IPP. Semua rahsia ini menyebabkan rakyat tidak mahu lagu memilih Umno.
Umno akan jadi 4 huruf yang melambangkan segala yang mungkar kepada orang melayu yang Bergama Islam. Sebagai orang Islam , semua orang Melayu tahu bertaqwa bererti jangan buat mungkar dan menyeru kepada makruf. Umno mewakili kuasa yang mungkar dan kerana itu, orang Melayu akan menolaknya. Prinsip ini amat mudah difahami.
Read the rest of this entry »
Events of past fortnight building up a scenario befitting the Greek saying: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Lim Guan Eng, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 11 September 2012, 1:57 pm
The events of the past fortnight reminded me of the Greek saying: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”.
There have been a series of events which are quite inexplicable as they defy logic, common sense and reason.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak today spoke up against “mooning” by a youth on August 30 describing its “un-Malaysian”.
I agree with him that “dropping one’s pants in public” or stomping on pictures of national leaders are “nothing to be proud of” and should be deplored and discouraged.
But what is most saddening and disappointing to Malaysians as a whole is the double standards of the Prime Minister, the Barisan Nasional leadership and the enforcement authorities, who could not see anything wrong in similar deplorable conduct against Pakatan Rakyat leaders like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, and PAS Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Mat Nik Aziz and civil society leaders like Bersih Co-Chairman Datuk S. Ambiga whether perpetrated by UMNO or UMNO-sponsored activists.
Why didn’t Najib speak up and insist that “the law must run its course” when the pictures of Pakatan Rakyat leaders were stomped upon, urinated at and even funeral rites performed? Read the rest of this entry »
