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Umno Baru running scared

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Dec 9, 2013

The 4Rs – race, royalty, religion and the rural people – have been used by Umno Baru to divide and rule Malaysia.

When Najib asked the rhetorical question, “Where would the Malays be without Umno Baru?”, it was a cry of desperation and an admission of defeat.

Umno Baru’s hold on the Malays is slipping. Najib and Umno-Baru are scared. Without the Malays, where would Umno Baru be? Domination of the Malays is not about protecting their rights. It is all about power and status.

The line that Umno Baru has used for over five decades to divide the nation, is no longer relevant. Malay graduates who return to Malaysia do so because they have to fulfil the terms of their scholarship or loan. Try asking them what they really feel about Malaysia, about Umno Baru and its leaders. Their stories will fill you with hope.

The current clampdown on dissent and the hunt for Malays who speak their minds is because the government is afraid. A thinking Malay is a threat to Umno Baru. A thinking Malay who is prepared to question the leaders and make them accountable for their actions will erode the power of Umno Baru.

Umno Baru knows that one thinking Malay will embolden other Malays and very soon, Umno Baru will become irrelevant. Continue reading “Umno Baru running scared”

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In ‘Islamist’ Umno, analysts see a nation torn by religion

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malay Mail Online
December 10, 2013

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 — Umno’s increasing focus on Islam will likely spark inter and intra-religious tensions here, and even affect the country’s development, analysts have said as they warned of the dangers of placing one religion, or denomination, above another.

The political observers noted that in recent months, Umno appears to have entered a competition to “out-Islamise” Islamist PAS, the one opposition party seen as its biggest competitor for the Malay-Muslim vote, the country’s key voting demographic.

Wan Saiful Wan Jan, chief executive of libertarian think tank Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), even said Umno’s 67th general assembly last week seemed very much like a gathering by PAS two decades ago.

“I must say it’s really disappointing to see the Umno assembly becoming like what PAS was 20 years ago,” Wan Saiful told The Malay Mail Online yesterday.

“PAS has moved on. Umno has suddenly become Muslim again… it’s really sad to see the prime minister outside the assembly talking about progressive, liberal views.

“But, in his own party, at the annual gathering, it’s like attending a PAS gathering 20 years ago,” he added. Continue reading “In ‘Islamist’ Umno, analysts see a nation torn by religion”

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Tidak mungkin Muhyiddin mampu mengadakan rancangan untuk melonjakkan Malaysia ke dalam kelompok sepertiga teratas dalam PISA 2021 kerana untuk mencatat pencapaian sedemikian dalam tempoh empat ujian tiga tahunan PISA, Malaysia perlu menjadi “negara ajaib”

Sejak dua hari yang lalu, saya meminta Timbalan Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Pendidikan Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin untuk berhenti membina “mahligai kayangan” dan menggariskan rancangan padu untuk membuktikan bahawa sasaran Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia untuk meletakkan pelajar berusia 15 tahun di Malaysia dalam kalangan sepertiga teratas dalam PISA 2021 bukan angan-angan kosong.

Kini saya faham mengapa Muhyiddin membisu tentang keputusan PISA 2012, ujian tiga tahunan global melibatkan 510,000 pelajar berusia 15 tahun dari 65 buah negara untuk subjek sains, matematik, dan bacaan, yang mendapati pencapaian pelajar berusia 15 tahun di Malaysia dalam ketiga-tiga subjek itu bukan saja di bawah tahap purata antarabangsa, malah mereka ketinggalan empat atau lima tahun di belakang rakan-rakan mereka yang seusia dari negara-negara berprestasi tinggi seperti Shanghai, Singapura, Korea Selatan, Hong Kong dan Taiwan.

Sebagai contoh, untuk subjek matematik, skor 421 yang dicapai oleh pelajar berusia 15 tahun Malaysia adalah lima tahun ketinggalan di belakang rakan-rakan sebaya mereka dari Shanghai (613), empat tahun di belakang Singapura , dan lebih tiga tahun di belakang tujuh buah negara/wilayah lain –Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea Selatan, Macao, Jepun, Liechtenstein dan Switzerland.
Continue reading “Tidak mungkin Muhyiddin mampu mengadakan rancangan untuk melonjakkan Malaysia ke dalam kelompok sepertiga teratas dalam PISA 2021 kerana untuk mencatat pencapaian sedemikian dalam tempoh empat ujian tiga tahunan PISA, Malaysia perlu menjadi “negara ajaib””

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Muhyiddin can have no plans to catapult Malaysia into the top third in 2021 PISA as Malaysia would have to become a “wonder country” to achieve what no nation could do in four triennial PISA tests

In the past two days, I have asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to stop “building castles in the air” or he should outline concrete plans to prove that the Malaysian Education Blueprint for Malaysia’s 15-year-olds to be in the top third of 2021 PISA is no “pie in the sky”.

I now understand why Muhyiddin has been conspicuously silent about the 2012 PISA results in the triennial global test of 510,000 15-year-old students in 65 countries in reading, science and maths, with Malaysia’s 15-year-olds not only falling below the international average in the three critical subjects but ranging from three to five years behind their peers in the top-performing PISA countries/regions particularly in Shanghai, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

For instance, for mathematics with score of 421, Malaysia’s 15-year-olds is five years behind their peers in Shanghai (613), four years behind Singapore, and more than three years behind seven countries/regions – Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Macao, Japan, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

For science, with score of 420, Malaysia is 4.2 years behind Shanghai (580), and more than three years behind six countries/regions – Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Finland and Estonia.
Continue reading “Muhyiddin can have no plans to catapult Malaysia into the top third in 2021 PISA as Malaysia would have to become a “wonder country” to achieve what no nation could do in four triennial PISA tests”