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Cops question students for 10 hours over ‘Interlok’

by Zaidatul Syreen Abdul Rashid
Malaysiakini
Mar 8, 11

Three Form Five students were yesterday taken to the Kuala Kubu Baru district police headquarters and traumatised by being questioned for 10 hours – all for wanting to return the novel Interlok to their headmaster last Friday.

Initially, seven SMK Kuala Kubu Baru students, who wanted to return the book because they were not happy with its contents, were stopped by a discipline teacher who allegedly abused them verbally.

“All seven of us we were walking calmly towards the headmaster’s room when our discipline teacher stopped us and started making comments at us, which hurt our feelings,” said one of the students, who was with four others at the Human Rights Party headquarters today.

According to the student, the discipline teacher said the students were purposely creating problems because of their race.

The teacher reportedly said, “Kenapa orang India garang? India memang suka rosakkan nama sekolah. Keling memang dasar pariah sejak sejarah lagi” (Why are the Indians so fierce? Indians really like to tarnish the school’s name. The keling have been pariahs since historical times).

The students were not able to return the novel as the teacher told them to disperse immediately. Continue reading “Cops question students for 10 hours over ‘Interlok’”

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Senior Gerakan leader resigns, blames Umno

The Malaysian Insider
Tuesday, 08 March 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — A senior Gerakan leader announced his resignation from the party today, blaming it on the Umno’s “hegemonic race politics” that has changed little since the political tsunami in the last general election.

Dr Hsu Dar Ren said, in a statement today, that he was resigning from all his positions in Gerakan, including that of central committee member, Federal Territory state liaison committee member, division chairman, branch chairman and ordinary membership.

“Parti Gerakan is a party with good ideology to establish a fair and equitable society in Malaysia. It too has many conscientious members who subscribe to this ideology. Unfortunately, within the framework of BN, where the hegemonic race politics of Umno predominates, it is impossible for Gerakan to realise this ideal,” he said.

The disheartened Dr Hsu (picture), who has been a vocal leader, said that after more than five decades of “race-based politics”, the country has drifted so much apart that “racial polarisation has never been as bad as now”. Continue reading “Senior Gerakan leader resigns, blames Umno”

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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #55

By M. Bakri Musa

Chapter 7: Enhancing Human Capital
Enhancing Human Capital Through Education

Globalization is driven essentially by knowledge; the new economy is appropriately called the K(for knowledge)-economy. Knowledge is the important ingredient of the new economy, and also its measure. Knowledge has replaced the economists’ “factors of production” – land, labor, and capital – as the chief economic resource.

The philosopher Saidina Ali perceptively observed that knowledge, unlike wealth, protects us under all circumstances, but we have to protect our wealth constantly against theft and inflation. The world around may crumble but with my knowledge and skills as a surgeon, I can still contribute and be productive. Further, wealth is diluted when shared; knowledge on the other hand, increases and gets enhanced when shared. A discovery in one field often stimulates innovations in another, thereby increasing our overall knowledge. Knowledge is also amplified through such exchanges. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) that was used initially in basic research to identify chemical molecules is now used routinely in clinical medicine. Indeed the market for this is worth considerably more. Wealth if kept secret may retain its value, but knowledge kept secret will quickly become obsolete and worthless.
Continue reading “Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #55”

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Don’t gamble away our children’s future

By Thomas Lee

The issue of gambling is again hogging the political limelight, following the PAS Kelantan state government decision to disallow the sales of Big Sweep lottery tickets in coffee-shops and other business premises.

The common perception at present is that since the Big Sweep lottery scheme has been given a licence to operate, the Kelantan state government has no authority and power to ban its sale of lottery tickets in the state.

On the contrary, although the licence to operate the lottery is given by the federal government, the authority responsible for issueing permits to premises to operate as lotttery outlets is the local council.

The lottery can be sold in Kelantan, but only in premises which have been specifically licensed for the purpose, i.e.legally permitted to operate as lottery outlets.
Continue reading “Don’t gamble away our children’s future”