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Ibans storm SUPP office asking ‘election reward’

Malaysiakini
Apr 26, 11

More than 100 Ibans stormed the Sibu headquarters of the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) yesterday, demanding the balance of RM400 a person as their reward promised for backing a party candidate who won in the recent state election, an election watchdog has revealed.

Sibu Election Watch (SEW) in a press statement released in the Sarawak town late yesterday evening said the Ibans were upset that they did not get the “balance”, despite being promised by SUPP election agents as well as the tuai rumah (longhouse headman) before polling day.

The incident was first reported by the web portal Sarawak Indigenous Community News and tweeted by DAP Sarawak chairman and Bukit Assek assemblyperson Wong Ho Leng (left), who was present at the site yesterday.

Soon after the news broke out, SEW sent two representatives to the Sibu SUPP headquarters to check out the situation.

Its probe, SEW said, showed that the Ibans were promised an upfront payment of RM100 before voting day on April 16 and if the SUPP candidate won, they would each be paid another RM400 after the election.

SEW said its representatives have witnessed Ibans from at least two longhouses being paid the “balance” of RM400 each.

The election watch said the Ibans were from Rumah Chandi, Rumah Pasang and Rumah Ujang. Continue reading “Ibans storm SUPP office asking ‘election reward’”

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Why Muhyiddin’s education system sucks!

During the Sarawak state general election campaign, both the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin promised to consider the return of the teaching of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI) and that the government would study the possibility of using two mediums of instruction for teaching science and maths.

Has the Cabinet set in motion the return of PPSMI and the use of two mediums of instruction for teaching science and maths or is this just an empty campaign ploy for the Sarawak state elections?

Instead Muhyiddin as the Education Minister has brought forward the abolition of PPSMI by one year, from 2012 to 2011, catching parents and students by surprise.

Is he going to give the parents the option to decide whether to revert back to PPSMI for this year until a decision is taken whether the Cabinet is going to adopt two mediums of instruction for teaching science and maths?

The Barisan Nasional’s education system sucks basically for two reasons:

Firstly, failing to produce internationally-recognised a high-quality education system from primary to secondary and tertiary level which could meet the country’s aspirations to be a globally competitive nation with a creative workforce; and

Secondly, failing to be a major instrument of the Malaysian nation-building process. Continue reading “Why Muhyiddin’s education system sucks!”

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New urban thinking led to BN losses in Sarawak towns

by Ronald Benjamin
The Malaysian Insider
April 25, 2011

APRIL 25 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s comments that the racist politics of DAP has been exported to Sarawak clearly reveal his ethnic prejudice and insecurity.

His simplistic comments fail to consider the current political and cultural trends among the urban population whose political sense and approach to issues is increasingly rooted in universal justice, equality and pragmatism.

Ethnic issues are minimal in this paradigm of thinking.

The Barisan National coalition of ethnic-based parties is still finding it difficult to come to terms with this new political paradigm that goes beyond mere ethnic accommodation. The urban middle-class is basically connected to a global world, where a sense of equality, meritocracy and democratic expression is the norm in any enlightened civil society. Continue reading “New urban thinking led to BN losses in Sarawak towns”