Day: January 11, 2013

– Hussaini Abdul Karim
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 11, 2013

JAN 11 – What has happened to the circular MOE sent to all schools last year recommending a ‘soft landing approach’ allowing all national schools to continue conducting the teaching of mathematics and science in English until 2015?

That decision made by the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Education, I understand, was made to allow all national schools students who started learning those subjects in English to continue until they complete Form Five.

The people welcomed that decision and we thought, BN is more people-friendly than Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) that wanted PPSMI to be abolished immediately. Parti Islam Semalaysia (PAS) also do not support the re-instatement of PPSMI but Democratic Action Party (DAP) does and they both support the increase in the content in using English language at national schools to make our students bilingual.

In fact, they also support the learning of foreign languages, including vernacular languages, in national schools.

However, it seems that many, if not most or all, headmasters of national schools in the country, including Sabah and Sarawak, have made their own decisions to stop using PPSMI and have instructed their teachers to only teach those subjects in Bahasa Malaysia beginning from the new school term this year.

I understand that many other schools have also switched upon the directive of their respective schools’ headmasters and they are now teaching mathematics and science in Bahasa Malaysia.

Has the circular been cancelled or replaced by a new one or are headmasters now allowed to make their own decisions? Continue reading “With polls this year, whither PPSMI?”

Yesterday evening, while on the way to Pontian to launch the DAP Tanjong Piai 13GE operations centre, I tweeted the following:

“PR to give full co-operation. Call on all Malaysians to make 112 historic day http://m.malaysiakini.com/news/218605 Police aim for ‘zero casualties’ at weekend rally Mkini”

This was after I read the report that the Police corporate communication chief, Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf had declared at a media briefing at Bukit Aman that despite casualties which happened during previous rallies and protests, the police aimed to have “zero casualties” at tomorrow’s rally.

Ramli stressed that security is the police’s utmost priority, that the police are serious about the security and safety of everyone and that this matter was also discussed at the meeting between the inspector-general of police and organisers few days ago.

At the meeting concerned last Tuesday, the IGP, Tan Sri Ismail Omar told Pakatan Rakyat leaders that he wants the Jan 12 rally to be “a historic moment where the police can learn from their past weaknesses” and gave a guarantee that the police will merely take on a facilitatory role during the planned rally at Stadium Merdeka.

It therefore came as a shock and surprise that later in the evening, there were reports that the police did an “about-turn” when the Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Mohamed Salleh issued a press release, wanting the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat to be held in Stadium National Bukit Jalil instead of in Stadium Merdeka.

This was clearly the result of unacceptable political interference with the police by the political leadership, in view of the demands by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Datuk Ahmad Maslan, who is also UMNO Information Chief that the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat should be held in Stadium National Bukit Jalil and not Stadium Merdeka.

I am glad that good sense has finally prevailed and that the rally tomorrow will be held at Stadium Merdeka as had been agreed with the police authorities. Continue reading “90-Day Countdown to 13GE – Let Najib prove sincerity in wanting Malaysia to begin journey to be “world’s best democracy” by ensuring peaceful and historic holding of 112 Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat at Stadium Merdeka tomorrow”

The Malaysian Insider
Jan 11, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) will notch a slim victory over the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) in Election 2013, according to calculations by Bank Islam Malaysia’s chief economist Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin.

In a report by The Straits Times of Singapore, Azrul’s computations found that BN was likely to win only between 97 and 107 of the 222 parliamentary seats — insufficient to reform the next administration.

But the result would also mean that PR will only gain a shaky hold over Parliament and far from the supermajority once enjoyed by its rival.

The outcome was considered the most probable during the banker’s presentation at the Regional Outlook Forum in Singapore yesterday, and took into account factors such as race and demographics. Continue reading “In tea leaves, economist sees slender Pakatan win”