Najib should honour his declaration that “the era of government knows best is over” and heed the voice of Malaysians at home and in 72 cities/29 countries who want real and not cosmetic change in national governance
The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should honour his declaration that “the era of government knows best is over” and heed the voice of Malaysians at home as well as global Malaysians in 72 cities and 29 countries who want real and not cosmetic change in national governance.
An email I received today from a Malaysian who will be taking part in Boston Bersih 3.0 this Saturday illustrates not only the increasing momentum in the awakening and new sense of empowerment among Malaysians of their rights and responsibilities to help create a Malaysia where all Malaysians regardless of race or religion could feel proud, but also the light they see at the end of the tunnel inspiring their hopes and expectations for change in national governance and policies after 55 years of nationhood.
This is the email I received from a 29-year-old Penangite who have been in the United States for the last 10 years: Read the rest of this entry »
Use of thugs, gangsters, hooligans a very dangerous trend
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Human Rights, Police, UMNO on Thursday, 26 April 2012, 4:48 pm
— Tota
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 26, 2012
APRIL 26 — Umno Baru has a lengthy catalogue of lawless behaviour. It appears that the rule of law is a stranger to Umno Baru. When Justice Harun declared Umno illegal, the party died.
The new party is registered as Umno Baru; yet the party continues to call itself Umno! The party logo was supposed to be a new one; yet the old logo with some imperceptible cosmetic change continues to be used. The keris on its logo has given rise to detractors calling it a party of pirates! The keris has come in useful for Umno leaders to threaten the non-Malays. Umno leaders have brandished the keris and used implicit threats.
Concerned individuals and groups have alleged that Umno Baru has let loose its mobs and thugs all too frequently to disrupt, sometimes violently, legitimately organised meetings and forums by civil society groups and NGOs. The Apcet 11 forum at a hotel in KL was disrupted by an Umno Baru mob that threatened the participants and smashed tables and chairs to stop the proceedings. When the Suqiu organisation submitted its 17-point plan for the betterment of the country, an Umno Baru mob threatened them with “rivers of blood” outside the Chinese Assembly Hall, KL, if they did not withdraw their 17-point plan.
Umno Baru used similar tactics to stop the Article 11 Group from holding meetings and the Bar Council forum on the conversion of minors to Islam when one spouse in a non-Muslim marriage converts to Islam. Police inaction emboldened the Umno thugs even to prevent Karpal from entering Parliament House. An Umno Baru mob led by a screaming hooligan, Khairy, outside the US Embassy advertised to the whole world that Umno Baru is a party trapped in the Stone Age.
The rule of law is obviously not part of Umno Baru culture. While proclaiming to the whole world that “demonstrasi luar kebudayaan kita”, Umno Baru and its allies have, since March 8, 2008, organised numerous illegal demonstrations in Pakatan-ruled states. Criminal intimidation is part and parcel of Umno Baru’s political strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
Time for change
Letters
by Ong
Dear Mr. Lim,
I’m a 29-year old Penangite, and I’ve been in the U.S. for over 10 years. I did not get a JPA scholarship or any government scholarships, but I was offered almost a free ride to five top-tier schools in the U.S. (Wellesley, Mount Holyoke, Middlebury, Wesleyan (Freeman Asian Scholarship), and Dartmouth). I chose Wellesley where I received an amazing education (I met Nat Tan who was then at Harvard), and then worked in economic consulting in Boston for a few years, before starting a Ph.D. in Economics at Brown University.
My father was a businessman (and not a rich taukeh, mind you) and my mother, a primary school teacher. Growing up, money was always tight. Yet they managed to send four out of five daughters on to pursue their Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in top 50 universities in the U.S. How did we do it? It was neither through government scholarships, nor through Father-Mother Scholarships, but through the generous financial aid of U.S. institutions and the contributions of relatives. Not surprisingly, of the four, one is in London, and three are in the U.S.
As a teenager in the 1990s, my only news outlet was mainstream newspapers, e.g., The Star, which as you well know, was effectively taken over in the 1980’s by the government. I recall being irked by the low quality of the newspaper — I would deem the standard of writing equivalent to that of a Standard Six student. Coverage of local events, such as the planting of a tree, would revolve around xyz politician saying so and so. More annoying was that on day one, you would have Mahathir saying blah blah blah. On day two, you’ll have several politicians parroting Mahathir’s views, saying “Mahathir said blah blah blah so blah blah blah.” And so on and so forth for the next few days. Did these so-called leaders have no thoughts or ideas of their own? It would seem that they, sememangnya, are incapable of such. Sadly enough, the quality of the media has hardly improved, but that is another story for another day. Read the rest of this entry »
Election spending risks credit downgrade, say S&P and Moody’s
Posted by Kit in Economics, Elections, Finance, Najib Razak on Thursday, 26 April 2012, 12:20 pm
By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 26, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — The federal government’s record spending binge ahead of elections expected within months may result in Malaysia’s first credit-rating downgrade in 15 years.
Bloomberg reported today that several top rating companies say Putrajaya must bring down its debt, the second highest in Asia at 53.8 per cent of GDP or face a ratings cut.
The international business wire cited Standard & Poor’s (S&P) analyst Takahira Ogawa as saying it “might have to think about” a potential cut in a few years unless the next government boosts revenue and reduce subsidies after polls.
It also reported that Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings also said Malaysia must cut its debt, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects may climb to a 20-year high of 55.9 per cent this year, above the statutory 55 per cent ceiling.
A downgrade to Malaysia’s credit, rated as A- by S&P, would be its first since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The rating is the same as Botswana, which has a debt ratio of 16 per cent, while Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is rated BB+ by S&P and has seen its debt fall to 25 per cent in 2011 from 95 per cent just after the crisis. Read the rest of this entry »
A lack of sincerity is what pisses off city folks
— Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 25, 2012
APRIL 25 — I had half expected that this would develop, despite the Najib administration promising that the Bersih 3.0 sit-in protest could go on.
The prime minister will not allow civil society’s push for democracy to topple his government under Barisan Nasional for the past 55 years. Frankly, since Bersih 2.0 on July 9, Najib Razak has not learnt his lesson from history that no government that continues to fight the people will last long.
Whatever happens on Saturday will cost his government a big price. Two things I wish to remind Najib Razak and his men:
— That if the government continues to fight civil society, it will no last very long
— That if the civilians are treated with brutality or arrested, or charged in court, as threatened, it will create more anger amongst the people. Each of us has a network of at least 100 people around us. People like Ambiga Sreenevasan or Pak Samad Ismail would have thousands of supporters. You touch anyone, it will have a multiplying effect that will never be matched by even the biggest tsunami! Read the rest of this entry »
Adakah berdosa besar jika tidak bersama Umno?
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 25, 2012
25 APRIL — Masih ada saki baki penulis di dalam maya ini yang mengkritik keras tindakan saya menyertai DAP. Bermacam-macam tuduhan dilemparkan terhadap diri saya dan beberapa orang bekas ahli Umno yang bertindak menyertai parti ini, kononnya kami telah menjual bangsa dan agama kami. Saya ulangi saya tidak mengurangkan Melayu saya dan tidak mengurangkan kepercayaan saya terhadap agama saya.
Saya hairan kenapa mereka ini menggunakan isu agama dan bangsa sebagai isu terhadap diri saya, sedangkan salah satu sebab saya keluar daripada Umno itu ialah kerana parti itu menggunakan isu agama secara keterlaluan dan sebaliknya apa yang dilakukan oleh pemimpin parti itu semuanya bertentangan dengan agama dan bangsa. Bagi mereka agama itu menjadi tempelan sahaja sedangkan Islam itu sepatutnya menjadi cara hidup mereka (ad-din).
Bercakap tentang isu agama di sana sini tetapi entah apa yang dilakukan terhadap agama mereka pun kita tidak tahu dan payah untuk difahami. Islam kata orang, Islam kata mereka. Tetapi dalam bercakap pasal Islam dan membaca ayat-ayat suci dalam perhimpunan agong Pemuda, parti itu hanyalah sebagai tempelan sahaja kerana apa yang mereka lakukan hampir kesemuanya bertentangan dengan kehendak Islam. Rasuah tidak terkawal dan hampir kesemua di antara pemimpin parti itu sedang kemaruk dan penagih rasuah yang tegar.
Semuanya itu bertentangan dengan Islam. Entah siapa guru dan pendidik mereka dalam agama ini saya tidak tahu. Kalau Umno serius tentang agama dan akidah, saya berharap Umno memanggil seramai mana sadiqiah Islam dan membuat perbincangan dan tunjukkan kepada kami semua nas-nas dalam Al-Quran dan kitab-kitab tulisan ulamak-ulamak muktabar yang menyatakan bahawa menyertai DAP itu adalah haram. Kita juga mahukan mereka menunjukkan dalil-dalil serta nas-nas yang jelas yang orang Islam diwajibkan menyertai Umno untuk selamat dunia dan akhirat. Kalau ada terjumpa bukti-bukti ini beritahu kami yang telah menyertai DAP ini. Jika boleh berikan ketetapan, apa hukumnya menyokong dan mendukung pemimpin yang rasuah yang memerah harta rakyat tanpa batas ini. Read the rest of this entry »
“428” Bersih 3.0 acid test of Najib’s “political transformation” to make Malaysia “best democracy in the world” – start with immediate revocation of government ban on Bersih
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Elections, Human Rights, ISA on Wednesday, 25 April 2012, 1:26 pm
The April 28 Bersih 3.0 peaceful “Duduk Bantah” rally at Dataran Merdeka for clean, free and fair elections is an acid test of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “political transformation” to make Malaysia, in his own words, “the best democracy in the world”.
In the past seven months, the Najib government had been trying to undo the damage caused by the disastrous government mishandling of the 709 Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally for free and fair elections, which saw an arrogant, ham-fisted, high-handed and mindless repression and clampdown such as the government ban on Bersih, unjustified PSM arrests under Emergency Ordinance, arbitrary arrests for wearing Bersih 2.0 T-shirts or just wearing yellow.
In his Malaysia Day message on Sept. 16 last year, Najib promised a “political transformation” with a slew of reform of undemocratic and draconian laws like the repeal of the Internal Security Act and the revocation of the four Emergency Proclamations.
At that time, I had specifically asked: “Will the replacements for the repeal or removal of repressive laws and measures result in the reincarnation of these very same draconian features in a new format, e.g. repeal of ISA but enactment of new law which could be described as ISA2?”
This is what have come to pass in the past seven months. Read the rest of this entry »
Electoral roll: What else is the EC hiding?
By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 24, 2012
Malaysiakini
COMMENT In two previous articles, I highlighted 10 problems associated with the electoral roll as part of the preliminary findings of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap), a research effort to identify and understand problems with the existing electoral roll.
In this article, I want to highlight further problems involving far more voters than those identified in the previous two articles. [see Part 1 I Part 2]
Firstly, approximately 3.1 million voters were identified as potential non-resident voters by the National Registration Department (NRD) in 2002. This data was given by NRD to the Election Commission (EC) but no action was taken by the EC to assess the magnitude of this problem and to identify ways to rectify it.
Secondly, using the EC’s own data which lists the nationality or ‘bangsa’ of each voter, approximately 65,000 voters were identified as having foreign nationalities. Of these, close to 90 percent or 58,000 had IC numbers which indicate that they were born in Malaysia.
In addition, approximately 49,000 of these voters came from one state alone – Sabah – which has a well-documented history where ICs were given to illegal immigrants in order to allow them to register as voters.
Read the rest of this entry »
‘Dubious’ voters may decide GE13
By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 8, 2012
Malaysiakini
ANALYSIS In the first part of this article, I highlighted five problems with the electoral roll which were not addressed in the report by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reform.
In this second part, I will highlight five additional problems with the electoral roll, all of which concern the highly problematic area of postal voting among army and police personnel.
5. Postal voters who are registered using their regular ICs
Army personnel, who are postal voters, have IC addresses beginning with T. Police personnel, who are postal voters, have IC addressing beginning with R, G and I.
If any of these army or police voters were previously registered as voters using their civilian IC numbers, their civilian registration entries should be deleted from the electoral roll.
Read the rest of this entry »
10 major problems in EC’s electoral roll
By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 7, 2012
Malaysiakini
ANALYSIS The Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform report, which was released earlier this week, highlights 22 recommendations on how to improve the electoral process.
I will not go through each and every recommendation or discuss the overall quality of these recommendations since others including the Bar Council chairperson and the Bersih steering committee have already done so.
bersih announcing 3rd rally 040412 ong kian mingWhat I will focus on in this two-part article is the many problems which are to be found in the electoral roll. To summarise, the report fails to acknowledge significant problems that have to do with the electoral roll, many of which are already well known, and seems to limit the scope of checking the accuracy of the electoral roll to a few not very useful parameters.
Read the rest of this entry »
Bersih 3.0, the fear factor
— Thomas Fann
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012
APRIL 24 — As I write this, we are just four days away from April 28, 2012. It is the day which the Bersih 2.0 steering committee has chosen to have Bersih 3.0, a sit-down protest called by its BM name Duduk Bantah. It is late at night and I am sleepless. As I lay awake, I reminisced about Bersih 2.0 held last year on July 9.
However, this time round, Bersih 3.0 is no longer an option for me for I found myself roped into the committee organising it simultaneously with the KL event, in my city. The band of us was crazy enough, probably foolish as well, to even consider doing it. Probably the experiences of July 9, 2011 have hardened our resolve to push for change and we didn’t want our beloved city to miss out on it.
But I am realising that it is one thing to risk your own life and another to be in a position where you may also be risking the lives of others. It is a fear that is multiplied by the number of those who will be coming out to sit down and protest.
Wait a minute! We are just talking about we, the citizens, wanting to say that we think the present electoral system and roll needs to be improved and cleaned up. All we are asking is two hours to sit down in a public space to voice our concerns. Why should we be afraid? Yet, we are. Read the rest of this entry »
Begitu kata Mahathir …
Posted by Kit in DAP, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 25 April 2012, 8:30 am
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012
24 APRIL — Memang sudah menjadi adat dan cara hidup semua bangsa dan agama mengenang jasa dan budi orang itu memang menjadi tuntutan. Hidup tidak mengenang budi “ibarat kacang lupakan kulit”. Itulah perbilangan Melayu yang semua orang tahu. Dan sememangnya orang Melayu mengenang jasa.
Hanya sekarang politik tidak dapat membezakan diantara siapa yang patut mengenang jasa dan siapa yang telah memakan jasa. Itulah sekarang menjadi tuntutan Najib apabila beliau melawat P. Pinang dua hari yang lepas. Najib seperti pemimpin Umno yang lain sentiasa menuntut orang Melayu dan rakyat untuk mengenangkan jasa Umno dan pemimpin-pemimpin besarnya yang telah lalu dan yang sedang berkuasa pada hari ini.
Katanya kita mesti ingat kepada jasa Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Dr Mahathir Mohamad serta Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Mereka ini semuanya berjasa kepada orang Melayu dan negara, kata Najib. Kata-kata Najib itu ada benarnya tetapi mengenang jasa itu biarlah bertempat dan kena pada orangnya serta tepat kepada sasaran dimana jasa itu dikenang. Kita tidak boleh mengenangkan jasa kepada mereka yang tidak berjasa seperti mereka yang telah membinasakan perjuangan dan tamaddun bangsa kita sendiri.
Saya berpendapat Dr Mahatnir sepatutnya mengenang budi parti yang telah mengangkat beliau ke mercu kekuasaan, tetapi Mahathir menggunakan kuasa hasil dari mengenang jasa orang Melayu dengan membinasakan parti itu pada suatu ketika dahulu. Jasa parti itu besar kepada beliau tetapi beliau tidak mengenangnya kerana beliau merasakan ahli-ahli Umno tidak lagi mahu lagi mengenang jasanya.
Beliau tidak mahu menerima yang ahli-ahli Umno sudah keberatan untuk memberikan jasa lagi kepada beliau kerana sebab-sebab yang kita dengar semasa ramai dari ahli-ahli Umno mahukan beliau dibersarakan setelah memberikan jasa yang begitu besar kepada beliau. Justru beliau telah membiarkan Umno itu mati walaupun kuasa yang diberikan rakyat kepada beliau boleh menyelamatkan parti itu dari terkubur. Read the rest of this entry »
How do you discern?
— May Chee Chook Ying
The Malaysian Insider
April 24, 2012
APRIL 24 — What do you pray for when you pray, as when you speak to God? I was educated in a convent. So, from young I was “exposed” to the Catholic faith. So, I learnt how to pray, at least I think I know how to pray. Apart from the set prayers, I learnt how to talk to God.
My first and only gift I’ve asked from God since my primary years has been this — a conscience. A heavy conscience can be so inconvenient but that was what I asked for and that was what I got. I asked for it, so to speak!
So, what’s a conscience? The Oxford dictionary defines a conscience as a moral sense of right and wrong. I guess it means that when you have a conscience, simply put, you do know when you are doing right or wrong. When it’s right, you feel good and liberated. When it’s wrong, you feel lousy and imprisoned by guilt, fear, doubts, etc.
Please bear with me when I speak of conscience from the viewpoint of a Catholic. The size of the world depends on your conscience. Conscience can make the world bigger or smaller. It was the Lord Himself who said this: Two men can look at the “lily in the field” and the one sees more than the other. The first sees the stem and the petals of the flower. The second sees this and something beyond: the Providence of the Father who clothes it more magnificently than “Solomon in all his regalia”.
For the second man, his conscience is something more than a “still, small voice” at the back of his head. His world is bigger and he is too big a person to be crippled by the chilling fear of punishment when he does wrong or a feeling of guilt when he dares to be unconventional. Such a man can see the whole stage and not just part of the scenery. His conscience is what we, Catholics, call “the Vision of the Whole”. Read the rest of this entry »
PTPTN loan is good, but …
Posted by Kit in Education, university on Tuesday, 24 April 2012, 9:59 pm
— Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012
APRIL 24 — It was on November 1, 1997 when the National Higher Education Loan (PTPTN) scheme started giving out loans. At that point in time, private colleges were starting to bloom, and foreign universities such as Monash University and Nottingham University were also invited to set up their campuses in Malaysia.
The PTPTN was created to be a rolling fund to provide loans to students who could not afford tertiary education, because very few banks in those days were willing to provide the loans. Even banks were charging higher interest fees for students who opted for the loans compared to the PTPTN.
Besides, the cost of private education is higher than that offered by the public sector. This is understandable, because they are linked with international universities and were catering to a generation of students who would have otherwise opted to go overseas. There was also no government funding to make available teaching equipment in these private universities.
I remember former Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek visiting a medical faculty in a private college. He made such a big fuss, complaining that the facilities for the newly set up medical faculty were not on par with the public universities. In my heart, I asked: “In the first place, how much has the government provided in soft loans to these private colleges?” Dr Chua, of course, never helped to fight for government funding to boost private education sector.
As I see it now, with the exception of certain colleges, the private education sector has in fact met the aspirations of the young people of Malaysia. Because of the PTPTN, many students have been able to pursue their education. Otherwise, they would not have been able to continue their education overseas, or even locally in the public universities due to the quota system.
My question therefore is why is the PTPTN now the subject of ridicule? Read the rest of this entry »
Peaceful transition of power: Open letter to all political parties
Posted by Kit in Elections, Lim Teck Ghee, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 24 April 2012, 7:50 pm
by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
CPI
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
With the general election imminent, one key question remains yet unanswered: Will the Barisan Nasional respect the outcome of the polls and ensure a peaceful transition of power?
This is the sixty four thousand dollar sensitive question – unasked in our repressed mass media, largely unexplored by political analysts, never-to-be-publicly wondered but lurking in the mind of many concerned Malaysians.
One exception to the unwritten rule of never posing such a politically incorrect question took place in a private lunch talk organized by the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) for its members early this year. The January 12 event featuring Prime Minister Najib Razak as speaker had attracted an audience of more than 200.
An RSC member (who identified himself as the son of a former long-serving staff of Najib’s father, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein) asked the following towards the end of the talk:
“Mr Prime Minister, would you make the transition of the government for Pakatan a smooth one if the opposition wins the next general election?”
According to some of those present, after some hesitation the prime minister responded: “I do not have to answer that question” or words to that effect; following which he abruptly left, ostensibly for another function. Read the rest of this entry »
Why Malaysians 0verseas are joining Global Bersih 3.0
– Yolanda Augustin
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012
APRIL 24 – My name is Yolanda Augustin and I left Malaysia 14 years ago to study in the UK, where I now live and work as a doctor. I’m writing to explain what inspired me to get involved in the Bersih movement and global solidarity work for Malaysia.
For many years, I felt a sense of helplessness and frustration as I followed Malaysian current affairs and saw the country I grew up in stuck in a downward spiral of poor governance and deteriorating civil liberties and human rights. What really got to me was the complete waste of potential – Malaysia was and remains a beautiful country – rich in natural resources, great weather, fantastic cuisine and diverse culture. It has a small population of 28 million people that could enjoy a world class healthcare and education system if the money spent on hapless vanity projects and siphoned off to fund the multimillionaire lifestyles of government ministers was spent on improving the lives of the rakyat.
I was also struck by the vast number of Malaysians I met living overseas – many of them doing interesting and inspiring things – writers, scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, chefs, bankers, lecturers, lawyers, nurses, town planners, engineers, actors, the list goes on. Many of them still with strong roots and a sense of connection to their place of birth. Many of them wanting to contribute something good and positive towards Malaysia but not knowing what, where or how. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno’s looming end (Part 2)
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012
APRIL 22 — Some of my readers will recognise that my previous article borrowed its title from Fukuyama’s hugely popular book. I am sceptical, however, that someone who writes of Najib Razak as being the prime minister of this blessing land instead of this blessed land has read Fukuyama’s book.
I haven’t got the time to enter into useless polemic with this fellow as it would only serve to dignify his blog, which isn’t widely read anyway.
One admission. My blog nowadays does not pretend to be a forum for unbiased debate. Since I joined the DAP, while I try to present an objective viewpoint, I am functioning increasingly as a pamphleteer with a specific political objective. I don’t have to explain myself as many know what I am inferring of.
Back to Fukyuma’s “End of History”. It tells the end of totalitarian and undemocratic rules all over the world. Whether it has brought about the emergence of liberal democracy in exact terms as described by Fukuyama remains to be seen.
What is happening all over the world is this: ALL totalitarian and undemocratic rules in the world have had to adjust to the new realities brought about by the empowerment of people. This is what is happening in our country too.
As a result, despite the shamefaced claim of the rise of the PM’s popularity, of promises of development that they have failed to deliver for so many years, there is an unmistakable sense of nervousness in the ruling government that this time; it’s not going to be business as usual. Read the rest of this entry »
Reforming Education: Post-Form Five Options
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Tuesday, 24 April 2012, 8:32 am
by M. Bakri Musa
(Fifth of Six Parts)
In the previous four essays I reviewed the particular challenges facing students in rural and residential schools. This essay delves into the six-month period in which our university-bound and other students find themselves in academic limbo following their Sijil Persekutuan Malaysia (SPM) examination.
In reviewing the recent SPM results, Education Minister Muhyiddin did not once pause to ponder what those nearly half a million 17-year-old Malaysians were doing since they sat for their test last November. These are the youngsters infesting our shopping malls, roaring around on their motorcycles, or otherwise getting into mischief. For over six months they are unable to plan for their future. They cannot even enjoy their break as their future is uncertain. The government’s myriad post-SPM programs like Sixth Form, matrikulasi, polytechnic institutes, and teachers’ colleges depend on the SPM scores, and therefore do not begin until the middle of the year.
This long period of uncertainty and inactivity during a critical period in a teenager’s development is unhealthy. The expression “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop” is never more true than for teenagers. Even if they could ward off the devil’s machination, with the long hiatus would come considerable attrition of knowledge and good study habits. This is particularly critical for those aspiring to go to good universities. Read the rest of this entry »
How to steal an election
— Faizal Tajuddin
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012
APRIL 23 — Step One: Pretend you’re reforming and making changes. For the better, of course. And make sure people notice it, and to make doubly sure they don’t forget, don’t make the changes too early. Do it late. Very late. A month or two before General Election late. Then you can appear on mass media and go “See? See? It was a struggle and a sacrifice and it was tough but we did it for you. For the people!”
Step Two: Real reform can be dangerous. Especially if one is too comfortable holding on to power. The power is practically a permanent mandate now. An entitlement. And real changes might mean you’d lose that power. So don’t really change anything, appear to change something. A little bit of window dressing or a new coat of paint, something along the lines of: Telling people you’re going to scrap the ISA, but then replace it with something just as nasty. Or tell people they can protest peacefully now, no need for permits, freedom of assembly is upheld etc, blah blah blah, but then designate practically everywhere as non-assembly zones.
Step Three: Really change something. Only this time, something of benefit for powers that be and not for people, then slip in that tiny, innocuous real game-changer along with the big pronouncements and make the necessary amendments at the parliament. Rush all those bills in one day, get it all done and announce it to the media. With any luck, everybody would concentrate on the big public relations “reforms” and ignore that one tiny innocuous nothingness that really changes a whole lot.
Step Four: Celebrate. You just won the election again. Read the rest of this entry »
Let’s just get back to basics
— May Chee Chook Ying
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012
APRIL 23 — Let’s forget about trying to break into the Guinness Book of World Records and stuff. Let’s just get back to basics. Let’s just go back to square one; what it means to be a democracy, what it means to uphold the constitution. Let’s remember the pledge of the Rukunegara, first mooted in 1970. For those who have forgotten about it and for those who do not know anything about it, it goes like this:
“Our Nation, Malaysia, is dedicated to: Achieving a greater unity for all her people; maintaining a democratic way of life; creating a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably distributed; ensuring a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural tradition, and building a progressive society which shall be oriented to modern science and technology.
We, the people of Malaysia, pledge our united efforts to attain these ends, guided by these principles:
Belief in God
Loyalty to King and Country
Upholding the Constitution
Sovereignty of the Law and
Good Behaviour and Morality”
Seen or felt any of the above lately? Am I the only one sorely missing the spirit of the Rukunegara? Can we drown out the din, please, and get back to living with dignity, the way decent human beings deserve to? Read the rest of this entry »
