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Which assessments are Malaysians to believe – PMR or PISA/TIMSS?

I join the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in congratulating the top scorers in this year’s Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) examination, in particular the 30,988 or 7.33 per cent of the over 462,940 PMR candidates nationwide who scored Grade A in all subjects – an increase of 0.41 per cent or 514 candidates over last year’s 30,474 Grade A straight scorers.

However, both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister have been singularly silent over the 2011 TIMSS and 2012 PISA results which show Malaysian students very low down in international educational standards, and they should explain the reason for the vast discrepancy in the local PMR examination results with international educational assessment results like 2011 TIMSS and 2012 PISA.

With 7.33 per cent of students scoring straight As in all the PMR subjects, this should mean that the Malaysian national education system has produced over seven per cent of our students who are world-class “top scorers” comparable with their peers in the rest of the world.

However, this is not reflected whether in the 2011 TIMSS or 2012 PISA results. Continue reading “Which assessments are Malaysians to believe – PMR or PISA/TIMSS?”

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Unable to take the heat, Putrajaya puts media on notice

NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
December 20, 2013

Putrajaya’s transformation programme took a step backward yesterday when the Home Ministry suspended The Heat weekly, most likely for its November 22 lead article that focused on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s spendthrift ways.

While such reports are commonplace in online news portals, The Heat’s article hit too close to home as it was in print and came at a time when Putrajaya had cut fuel and sugar subsidies while higher electricity tariffs, toll charges and public transport fares were on the cards as public funds were tight.

Putrajaya insiders say the Home Ministry took action as the report made the PM look bad, which is an unwritten out-of-bounds marker in the local media scene.

“You get a permit to publish, so you must know your parameters even if you want to be critical,” a retired newspaperman told The Malaysian Insider.

“This is just a warning not to overstep the boundaries even if the PM can be quite liberal about such things,” he added, noting that the government is more concerned about print rather than online media. Continue reading “Unable to take the heat, Putrajaya puts media on notice”

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Completion of Impian Sabah’s inaugural project in Kampung Samparita Laut, Kota Marudu

Tuan-tuan puan-puan sekalian, hari ini merupakan satu hari bersejarah untuk Kg Samparita Laut ‎dan juga bagi parti DAP.

Hari ini cukup bermakna sebab akhirnya selepas 50 tahun pertubuhan Malaysia, penduduk-penduduk Kg Samparita Laut dapat menikmati air paip dalam rumah sendiri. Lima puluh tahun Sabah masuk Malaysia, Kg Samparita Laut diabaikan, dipinggirkan. ‎ Tetapi walaupun penduduk-penduduk kampung bukan dapat air paip yang dirawat, sekurang-kurangnya, ‎Tuan-tuan puan-puan tak perlu bergantung kepada air hujan dan air sungai yang keruh lagi.

Hari ini amat bersejarah untuk parti DAP kerana Kg Samparita Laut merupakan projek Impian Sabah yang pertama. Impian Sabah dilancarkan oleh DAP untuk membantu menaiktarafkan kehidupan rakyat di kawasan pendalaman Sabah yang masih hidup tanpa infrastruktur dan keperluan asas seperti elektrik, air dan lain-lain. Continue reading “Completion of Impian Sabah’s inaugural project in Kampung Samparita Laut, Kota Marudu”

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Ku Nan: Playing race card at BN party meets is normal

Lawrence Yong
Malaysiakini
Dec 19, 2013

At the 67th Umno general assembly, delegates had also made some controversial statements including a suggestion that the 1Malaysia slogan be replaced with the 1Melayu slogan because people from the other races did not help Umno in Penang during the 13th general election.

Tengku Adnan said that to mitigate the problem, perhaps parties should stop giving “live” coverage rights of their meetings to reporters, whom he fingered as the real troublemakers.

The MCA elections kicked off today with the 48th MCA Youth national annual assembly and election at the party’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

The Chinese-based party had seen its support eroded during the last general election, winning only seven seats in Parliament. It has opted not to accept ministerial posts in the cabinet.