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I do not know whether to laugh or to cry – the standard of English in Malaysia has really fallen to disgraceful and abysmal low after four decades of Umno/BN rule.

I really do not know whether to laugh or to cry – the standard of English in Malaysia has really fallen to a disgraceful and abysmal low after four decades of Umno/BN rule.

Last week, Malaysia suffered national and international humiliation when the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study ( TIMSS) 2011 reports were released, as the nation’s ranking in eighth-grade Maths fell from 20th in 2007 to 26th in 2011 while its ranking in Science fell by an even greater margin, from 21st in 2007 to 32nd in 2011. Our average Maths score fell from 474 in 2007 to 440 and our average Science score fell by an even greater degree from 471 in 2007 to 426 in 2011, both far below the international average for both subjects in TIMSS 2011.

What is even worse, Malaysia also suffered the shame of being only one out of 6 countries out of 42 countries participating in the Maths study and 45 countries participating in the Science study to see falls in both our Maths and Science scores and ranking! Most of the other countries either improved their scores and rankings or stayed at their previous levels.

But the poor attainments of our students in maths and science when compared to international student achievements is not the only bane of the Malaysian education system.

Another equally critical area where the Malaysian education system has failed miserably is the English subject, which was poignantly illustrated in the past 24 hours, placing me in the position of not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. Continue reading “I do not know whether to laugh or to cry – the standard of English in Malaysia has really fallen to disgraceful and abysmal low after four decades of Umno/BN rule.”

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Dua prasyarat untuk PR menewaskan Umno/BN dalam pertembungan merebut Putrajaya pada PRU13

Presiden PAS, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang menyatakan dalam ucapan beliau ketika pembukaan Muktamar PAS ke-58 pagi ini bahawa PAS bersedia untuk mengambil alih kuasa persekutuan dengan teman-teman lain dalam Pakatan Rakyat.

Rakyat Malaysia kini dalam dilema pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13, untuk membuat keputusan sama ada Malaysia patut mempunyai sebuah permulaan baru dengan memilih Pakatan Rakyat sebagai kerajaan persekutuan yang baru di Putrajaya, atau sama ada rasuah, salahguna kuasa, ketidakadilan dan ketidaksamarataan Umno/Barisan Nasional perlu terus menggelapkan masa depan, harapan dan kehendak rakyat.

Terdapat dua prasyarat untuk Pakatan Rakyat menewaskan Umno/Barisan Nasional dalam pertembungan merebut Putrajaya pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13.

Perkiatan Pakatan Rakyat yang terdiri daripada PAS, PKR dan DAP mestilah mampu meyakinkan rakyat Malaysia kepada dua perbezaan penting antara Pakatan Rakyat dengan perikatan Umno/Barisan Nasional. Continue reading “Dua prasyarat untuk PR menewaskan Umno/BN dalam pertembungan merebut Putrajaya pada PRU13”

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Pemimpin-pemimpin PR sepatutnya memberikan sepenuh fokus kepada memenangi sokongan majoriti rakyat Malaysia terhadap Dasar Bersama PR

Dalam pusingan akhir menuju PRU13, pemimpin-pemimpin PR sepatutnya memberikan sepenuh fokus kepada memenangi sokongan majoriti rakyat Malaysia terhadap Dasar Bersama Pakatan Rakyat dan tidak jatuh ke dalam perangkap ‘Pecah dan Perintah’ Umno/Barisan Nasional.

Biarlah kita dipandu oleh Kenyataan Bersama pemimpin-pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat sewaktu Pakatan Rakyat ditubuhkan pada 2008 yang menegaskan semula landasan perpaduan, komitmen dan persetujuan PR untuk melaksanakan sebuah agenda bagi membangunkan negara dan mewujudkan masyarakat yang makmur berdasarkan keadilan, kebebasan, demokrasi dan tadbir urus yang baik, tanpa mengira kaum, agama dan budaya.

Kenyataan Bersama pemimpin-pemimpin PR bertarikh 12 April 2008, yang terpahat padanya tandatangan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datin Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Ismail, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang dan saya sendiri, menyatakan:

“Dasar-dasar Pakatan adalah berpaksikan kepada perkara-perkara yang telah dipersetujui dan disepakati oleh semua pemimpin tiga parti iaitu, KeADILan, DAP dan PAS. Antaranya ialah membina negara ini atas landasan keadilan, membuka peluang untuk semua rakyat menikmati kemakmuran negara dengan memberi keutamaan kepada mereka yang miskin dan terpinggir.” Continue reading “Pemimpin-pemimpin PR sepatutnya memberikan sepenuh fokus kepada memenangi sokongan majoriti rakyat Malaysia terhadap Dasar Bersama PR”

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Is DAP all that matters to MCA?

By Jimmy Wong | The Malaysian Insider

Oct 21 — Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek must be a short-sighted politician for saying that MCA is ready and united to battle DAP in the coming general elections.

Is that all this MCA president thinks about? Beating DAP, not representing all Malaysians in a government.

Is the MCA just focussing on the Chinese vote and not other voters, in its “Battle Without Fear” campaign to keep DAP from becoming part of any government?

What about other races? Actually, what happened to MCA’s soul-searching after the Chinese rejected it in the 2008 elections? Have they forgotten that they wanted to be more inclusive, more Malaysian?

If this is how low MCA has sunk, from a party that protected Chinese interests but also represented Malayans wanting independence, then the party should just close shop. Continue reading “Is DAP all that matters to MCA?”

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The Dayak tea party

by June Rubis
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 10, 2012

SEPT 10 ― It must have been a beautiful day for an outdoor tea party in West Kalimantan. It is the early 1980s when Borneo’s forests are still comparatively lush although the forests would have to struggle to survive an onslaught of slash-&-burn for commercial rubber plantations and wide-scale logging.

In the meantime, all is serene along the banks of the Kapuas River where the Javanese and Sumatran wives of managers of a rubber plantation wait for their guests to arrive.

The guests were the wives of local Dayak tribesmen, who upon arrival, gathered up all the food, and left, leaving their shocked hostesses in their wake.

The managers dismissed this as part of the “strange and difficult culture” of the Dayaks, while ignoring the fact that this behaviour was aberrant in Dayak culture and thus was a political statement of conflicting economic and political interests.

The Dayaks of the area were facing the loss of their forests and subsequently source of food, due to the appropriation of traditional lands for the rubber plantation. There were reports that the Dayaks were unhappy with the compensation received.

An eye for an eye, albeit a small victory of appropriating the plantation’s food, in protest of unfair appropriation of their native lands, one might say. Continue reading “The Dayak tea party”

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Egypt: The 12 million losers!

By Ali Ibrahim
Al Arabiya News
27 June 2012

Simply following the comments of activists and observers on social networking websites during the press conference held by the head of Egypt’s electoral commission, Farouk Sultan, who was forced by law to issue a lengthy legal preamble before the election result was announced, was fun in itself. These activists, in their nervous state, posted various comments claiming that Sultan’s narrative or use of certain words meant that Shafiq would be declared the winner, only to return later to post other comments claiming that the indications now suggested that Mursi would be declared victorious! Some comments accused the head of the electoral commission of being sadistic, because he did not immediately announce the election result but instead left everyone on the edge of their seats as he reviewed the work of the electoral commission and the difficult conditions it operated under.

Despite a flood of conspiracy theories, claims of voter fraud, and talk about secret understandings being reached behind closed doors, no one was sure of the name of the winning candidate until Farouk Sultan announced that Mohammed Mursi had won ahead of Ahmed Shafiq. Hence a new chapter in post-25 January Egypt has begun, and the challenges of this stage are no less difficult than the previous transitional period, which lasted for around 16 months and was full of turmoil.

There was a winner and a loser, each with a large support base who voted for them, and neither can cancel the other out. The end result was decided by a difference of less than 3 percent, or about 900 thousand votes out of a total of roughly 26 million according to the commission’s figures, including more than 800 thousand invalid votes. In the end, everyone must accept the outcome of the ballot box even if the difference is so small. Continue reading “Egypt: The 12 million losers!”

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Hari ini dalam sejarah Umno

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
May 11, 2012

11 MEI — Hari ini, pada tahun 1946, Umno ditubuhkan dengan presiden pertamanya Datuk Onn Jaafar untuk menyatukan semua persatuan-persatuan dan pertubuhan yang mempunyai matlamat yang satu, iaitu untuk mencapai matlamat yang satu, iaitu untuk menyambung usaha-usaha pejuang kemerdekaan sebelumnya. Parti Umno wujud diatas penyatuan pertubuhan-pertubuhan yang bercambah semasa itu dan penubuhan Umno ini merupakan lonjakkan kepada kekuatan rakyat Malaya khususnya orang Melayu untuk membuat persediaan bagi mencapai kemerdekaan negara dari pentadbiran penjajahan Inggeris.

Di rengkaskan sejarah, Umno wujud diatas kesedaran yang negara tidak lagi dapat menahan keinginan untuk menerima penjajahan Inggeris dan kesedaran untuk bersatu ini dirasakan lebih mendesak apabila Inggeris cuba untuk mewujudkan negara “unitary” di Semenanjung Malaya ini dan di tadbir oleh Malayan Union (MU) dengan pusat pentadbirannya di Kuala Lumpur.

Dengan penubuhan Umno itu, maka cita-cita Inggeris untuk menjadikan negara ini sebagai negara “unitary” telah dapat dipatahkan dan digantikan dengan sebuah negara Persekutuan dengan Perjanjian Persekutuan pada 2hb Februari 1948 yang lalu. Maka penubuhan negara Persekutuan ini adalah hasil dari kerja keras dan perjuangan Umno bersama dengan Raja-Raja Melayu yang telah berunding tidak berhenti-henti dengan pihak British sehingga wujudnya sebuah negara Persekutuan.

Maka negeri-negeri yang masing-masing mempunyai pentadbiran mereka sendiri dibawah naungan Raja-Raja mereka telah bersatu dibawah satu negara Persekutuan yang dinamakan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. Kesemua negeri-negeri Bersekutu dan tidak Bersekutu telah bersatu dibawah satu Persekutuan dan negeri-negri ini di sertai sekali oleh dua buah negeri Straits Settlement, Melaka dan P. Pinang, untuk bersama dalam negara Persekutuan yang baru diwujudkan itu. Continue reading “Hari ini dalam sejarah Umno”

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Ugliest day in media history of Malaysia

— Lim Mun Fah
The Malaysian Insider
May 04, 2012

MAY 4 — The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 as World Press Freedom Day in 1991 to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right of freedom of expression.

On this day over the past 19 years, the world’s members of the media had reaffirmed the basic principles of the freedom of the press, expressed their determination in defending the freedom of the press, and even paid the highest respect and remembrance to those who have lost their lives in harness.

In Malaysia, we must use the opportunity to reflect and repeatedly ask ourselves: do we enjoy the freedom of press?

Unfortunately, pressmen were violently treated during the recent Bersih 3.0 rally. Some of them were assaulted and injured, some of them had their cameras snatched and some of them had their photos deleted. That day is undoubtedly the darkest and ugliest day in the media history of Malaysia! Continue reading “Ugliest day in media history of Malaysia”

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Media law amended amid opposition uproar for its repeal

By Clara Chooi

The Malaysian Insider
Apr 20, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Parliament approved in a harried fashion early this morning a critical legislative amendment governing media freedom, agreeing to strip Putrajaya of its absolute powers over publishing licences and scrapping the need for annual renewal of the permits.

The Printing Presses and Publications (Amendment) Bill 2012 was approved by the Lower House at 2.15am even after federal opposition lawmakers raged against the inconvenient hour and short time given to debate the law.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), who took the floor first to open the policy stage debate, thundered to the Dewan Rakyat that the amendments were merely “baby steps” towards greater media freedom.

The septuagenarian, speaking off-the-cuff with his hands locked behind his back, was in top form as he kicked off his speech by accusing the Barisan Nasional (BN) government of being insincere in its promises to reform crucial policies.

“The Bill, that it has to be debated in such a short time, shows that the government is not interested in political transformation. And it was done without consultation… all this talk of transformation is just political mimicry,” he said.

The experienced Lim, who has seen through the harsher days of Malaysia’s restrictive media laws, said that the PPPA amendments fell short of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s pledges for media freedom.

“The PPPA in its entirety should be repealed! Abolish PPPA! And newspapers should be free to publish without a need for government permit. Continue reading “Media law amended amid opposition uproar for its repeal”

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Suhakam joins call for review of ISA replacement law

By Anisah Shukry
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 16, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — The newly-proposed security law to replace the Internal Security Act (ISA) must be reviewed to ensure it is in line with human rights principles, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said today.

Suhakam highlighted that the Bill did not provide for judicial oversight in the extension of the detention period for up to 28 days, and expressed concerns over how it gave police the power to deny detainees immediate access to legal representation.

It added that the power to intercept communications under Clause 4(6) should be exercised through a court order rather than by the police, as it could “infringe personal liberty and the right to privacy”.

“The provisions in the Bill as well as the amendments to the other relevant laws must strike a balance between national security and fundamental liberties and human rights,” Suhakam Chairman Tan Sri Hasmy Agam said in a statement today.

“The Commission looks forward to further and continuing engagements with the government agencies… to ensure that obsolete and irrelevant laws are abolished and replaced by laws that are consistent with universally accepted human rights principles,” he added. Continue reading “Suhakam joins call for review of ISA replacement law”

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The foreigners can go fly kites

— Syed Feisol
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 12, 2012

APRIL 12 – We are on our own. This is what Malaysians who want to save this country from the corrupt regime of the Barisan Nasional have to realise.

Not too long ago, former Aussie PM Kevin Rudd praised Malaysia as a robust democracy. Can you imagine calling Malaysia a robust democracy? But the people in Canberra will do anything for business or some strategic interests, including sacrificing so-called sacred principles of democracy.

Today, the British PM lauded Najib Razak for the cosmetic surgery on the ISA, he probably wants Malaysia to go ahead and purchase the Typhoon jets.

This is my message to Opposition politicians, non-governmental organisation and Malaysians for change: screw the foreigners. Continue reading “The foreigners can go fly kites”

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Najib’s apology for BN’s mistakes – a test of Najib’s authority and leadership as Prime Minister and UMNO President

“Najib apologies for BN’s past mistakes” (3/3/12)

“PM”s apology shows humility, says Muhyiddin” (4/3/12)

“Umno info chief: BN needs mandate to fix its mistakes” (4/3/12)

These three Malaysiakini headlines in 24 hours raise a thousand questions – whether the Prime Minister is genuine and sincere in extending an apology for Barisan Nasional’s past mistakes, what exactly are the mistakes Najib is apologising for but most poignant of all, Najib’s authority and leadership as Prime Minister and UMNO President. Continue reading “Najib’s apology for BN’s mistakes – a test of Najib’s authority and leadership as Prime Minister and UMNO President”

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The system stinks – Dare Najib set up a judicial tribunal to investigate into serious allegations by former CCID director that AG had abused his powers?

The system stinks. For the first time in more than a decade, there are now serious allegations of gross abuse of power against one of the highest officers of the land – the Attorney General – by another high-ranking officer.

Dare the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak get the Cabinet to set up a judicial tribunal to investigate into the serious allegations by the former Commercial Crimes Investigation Department Chief Datuk Ramli Yusuf that the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had abused his constitutional powers to ensure that there is justice and fair play in the land?

The serious allegations made by Ramli are not new to informed and knowledgeable Malaysians as they have been in the public domain for quite some time, but this is the first time that it has been made specifically by Ramli in public against Gani, which warrants serious and instant attention and action by Najib if the Prime Minister is sincere and serious in wanting to carry out a government and national transformation in the country where abuses of power and corruption are regarded as anathema under his administration. Continue reading “The system stinks – Dare Najib set up a judicial tribunal to investigate into serious allegations by former CCID director that AG had abused his powers?”

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Political violence threatens elections in Malaysia

— Bersih 2.0
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 29, 2012

FEB 29 — Bersih 2.0 urges Prime Minister Najib Razak to immediately stop the serial political violence inflicted on opposition politicians and civil society activists by thugs reportedly related to Umno and Perkasa, while police often just looked on and no one has been charged so far.

Bersih 2.0 warns that such impunity on political violence, if it continues, leaves no room for clean elections in Malaysia. If political activisms are met with physical assaults even before elections, could the safety of opposition leaders and campaigners be guaranteed come the next election?

Bersih 2.0 wants Najib to order an immediate investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the two latest incidents of political assault on February 26. Continue reading “Political violence threatens elections in Malaysia”

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Another cock-and-bull story from Mahathir

Kee Thuan Chye | Feb 25, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT

Dr Mahathir Mohamad should talk straight or just shut up.

Whenever he rebuts allegations of wrongdoing during his tenure as prime minister, he appears to sound not only defensive but deceptive as well.

Now he says the government’s bailout of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) in 2000, during his premiership, was “not the worst”. What does that mean? Is he saying that the bailout was all right simply because it was not the worst?

If he is still of sound mind and can understand this, let me say it is not all right. So what if it was not the worst act of using public funds? It was nonetheless committed. Should only the worst be held accountable?

That bailout cost Malaysians RM1.8 billion. And the government paid for the MAS shares at more than double their market price. Why was this so?

Well, Mahathir has become famous for blaming others; this time, he points to the Finance Ministry – for recommending the purchase at such a price. Has he forgotten he was the country’s chief executive officer then, and that it wouldn’t have gone through without his say-so, no matter which ministry or individual recommended it? Continue reading “Another cock-and-bull story from Mahathir”

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Is Greece facing disorderly default?

By Barry Neild and Irene Chapple, CNN
Feb 10, 2012

Greece is in negotiations over its latest bailout deal, but needs to meet harsh new terms
The country is implementing austerity measures but faces protests and deteriorating finances
The default of a eurozone member is politically and economically charged

London (CNN) — Will Greece default?

Greece is negotiating to repay some creditors less than what it owes in order to avoid a disorderly default. If Greece is unable to repay its bills at all on the day they fall due, this would trigger a sudden default which would send shockwaves through the market. Greece faces its next large bond redemption, of €14.5 billion, in March, and is in negotiations over its latest bailout deal as the deadline to this payment approaches.

However, it needs to meet harsh new terms laid out by Europe’s leaders. Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg and head of the Eurogroup, has said three elements must be nailed down in order for the country to access the funds.

The sweeping reform package agreed to by Greece and the so-called troika, made up of the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund, must be approved by parliament this weekend.

Secondly, Greece’s political leaders must pledge that they will continue to implement the measures after elections in April. Finally, Greece must also find a further €325 million in “structural expenditure” cuts for 2012.

Greece has been implementing harsh austerity measures to try to balance its books, but has faced protests on the streets, and finances that are worse than expected. Its economy is deteriorating, and it cannot raise money with investors due to the high premiums they demand — leaving it dependent on the bailout funds. Continue reading “Is Greece facing disorderly default?”