49,000 youngest drop-outs?

by Azly Rahman
Malaysiakini
12:22PM Jan 4, 2013

If it is indeed true, as recently reported by Malaysiakini that 49,000 ‘stateless children’ are not going to school because they do not have identity cards, then something must be done to immediately address this issue of fundamental human rights. They must be allowed to go to school by any means necessary as the government resolves the issue of their ‘stateless parents’.

This ruling regime will be committing an act of the worst form of mental slavery should these children not be allowed to have the basic education and the right to be intelligent. If, as alleged, this regime can grant identity cards to newly-arrived immigrants in prepration for the coming elections, we must insist it to be able to do this for these children.

You, in the government, will be called a ‘pariah regime’ if this is not done for those children. The implications of not having those children schooled will be devastating; a reaffirmation of the vicious cycle of poverty, alienation, dehumanisation, and the fast-track way to build Malaysia’s prison-industrial complex. These children are already ‘drop-outs’ even before they enter schools!

What is wrong with our education system when we are now seeing a ruder apartheid-isation of schools? We continue to see the growth of a hideous class and caste structure in schools, from smart schools for the children of the rich to ‘pariah schools’ for the children of the abject poor. And now in the case of the ‘children of stateless parents’, we even have no schools for children of the abyss of the underclass, especially Malaysians of Tamil origin. Continue reading “49,000 youngest drop-outs?”

Umno-BN, stop the lies against Selangor

Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
Malaysiakini
11:20AM Jan 5, 2013

COMMENT

2012 has been a productive year for the Selangor state government, and I along with other state leaders begin 2013 with the firm intent of redoubling our efforts to serve the rakyat.

It is saddening to see the deputy prime minister, on the other hand, begin the new year with low class politicking, stating that the people of Selangor have been fooled for four years under Pakatan Rakyat.

In reality, it is Barisan Nasional that has fooled the people of both Selangor and Malaysia for 55 years.

This article intends not to rely on rhetoric, but to provide conclusive evidence regarding the priority given by Pakatan Rakyat and the Selangor government to the welfare of the people as well as our commitment to the highest standards of good governance.

We are confident that comparable evidence cannot be shown by any state administered by BN, including in Selangor before 2008.

In terms of financial management and allocation of funds for welfare programmes, Selangor under Pakatan Rakyat by far outperforms any other Barisan Nasional state, as well as the federal government itself. Continue reading “Umno-BN, stop the lies against Selangor”

96-Day Countdown to 13GE – Honesty and humility must always remain qualities of DAP leaders if DAP is to continue to command trust and confidence of Malaysians

Questions have been raised as to how there could be such a huge “recount” discrepancy and mistake in the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) election results where Zairil Khir Johari’s votes for election to the DAP CEC increased by 498 votes from the 305 votes announced on 15th December 2012 to the actual vote of 803 (placing him in the 20th elected position), while Vincent Wu Him Ven could drop 533 votes from the 1,202 votes announced on 15th December 2012 to the actual vote of 669 votes (putting him in the 26th elected position).

The blunder however did not arise from any vote counting, as Zairil and Wu’s votes were properly counted and tabulated as 803 and 669 votes respectively but from a computer error resulting in the votes for the last eight candidates (i.e. No. 61 – 68) also being posted with the same votes as those of Candidates Number 31 to 38, as follows, viz:

No Candidate Votes No Candidate Votes
31 LIM LIP ENG 448 61 WONG SAI HOONG 448
32 LIU TIAN KHIEW (RONNIE) 761 62 WONG SZE PHIN @ JIMMY 761
33 LOKE SIEW FOOK (ANTHONY) 1202 63 WU HIM VEN (VINCENT) 1202
34 M. KULA 984 64 YONG WUI WUI (VIOLET) *
35 MANOGARAN A/L MARIMUTHU 305 65 ZAIRIL KHIR JOHARI 305
36 MANOHARAN MALAYALAM 216 66 ZULKIFLI BIN MOHD NOOR 216
37 NG CHIN TSAI 39 67 ROSELI BIN ABDUL GANI 39
38 NG WEI AIK 407 68 TAN BOON PENG 407

Continue reading “96-Day Countdown to 13GE – Honesty and humility must always remain qualities of DAP leaders if DAP is to continue to command trust and confidence of Malaysians”