Enhancing The Role of the Private Sector in Education

By M. Bakri Musa

[First of Six Parts]

Introductory Remarks

In the proposed Tenth Malaysia Plan scheduled to be unveiled next year (2010), the government will again re-commit to develop human resources through improving our education system. We have heard all these before, but the twist this time is that the government will actively engage the private sector.

I applaud this. There are many avenues for private sector involvement in education at all levels, either independently or in a variety of public-private partnerships (PPP).

Two points are worth noting as Malaysia embarks on this endeavor. The first is that there are already many models of private sector involvement in education throughout the developed and developing world. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. All we have to do is study these existing models, ascertain their strengths and weaknesses, and then adopt with suitable modifications the ones that would best suit our needs. Continue reading “Enhancing The Role of the Private Sector in Education”

An alternative to BTN: cross-cultural understanding

By Azly Rahman

BTN is tsunamied. It’s demise might be inevitable. The writings are on the wall — and in cyberspace.

Malaysians wish to see the closing down of the operations of Biro Tata Negara – for good. I think it has done more harm than good. It is based on a flawed understanding of Malaysian history and promotes a communalistic and combative rather than cosmopolitan and collaborative Malaysia.

The danger is in hegemony; the fish does not know it is in the water and keeps on swimming round and round in the fish bowl.

Let us consider an alternative to teaching Malaysians how to become and behave like Malaysians. The root of this change must come from our reconceptualization of language and culture. Through education for critical consciousness, we can all begin the dismantling process of dismantling race-based institutions such as BTN.
Continue reading “An alternative to BTN: cross-cultural understanding”

BTN’s racist, anti-national and seditious indoctrination courses should not be glossed over or minimized as it makes a total mockery of 1Malaysia slogan and concept

The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Ahmad Maslan, who is directly responsible for Biro Tata Negara (BTN), is trying to gloss over and minimize the condemnation of the BTN courses as racist, anti-national and seditious indoctrination programmes detrimental to Malaysian nation-building and national unity.

Adding insult to injury, Ahmad claimed that BTN courses were based on facts, asking:

“If we say that two-thirds of the population consist of bumiputeras and one-third non-bumiputeras, is that considered racist?

“If we say 66 percent is bumiputera and 24 percent consists other races, is that racist? That is just stating the facts.”

Ahmad, who is also Umno information chief, cannot be so obtuse as not to know that nobody objects to such factual information.
Continue reading “BTN’s racist, anti-national and seditious indoctrination courses should not be glossed over or minimized as it makes a total mockery of 1Malaysia slogan and concept”

Our failed migrant labour policy

By Tunku Aziz

Corruption and gross inefficiency make for a lethal concoction. In Malaysia everything that goes wrong is traceable to either one or both of these factors, and we Malaysians do not have far to cast our eye to see examples of enforcement that have gone awry.

Everywhere we go in Malaysia, in urban centres as well as remote rural hamlets, we see foreigners in our midst toiling away day and night at jobs that Malaysians won’t touch with a long barge pole.

It is clear that these people, the overwhelming majority are illegal, are performing a useful economic function, and it is equally obvious that we cannot do without them, such is their penetration into virtually every aspect of Malaysian life. Why, then, don’t we look the problem in the face and do something right by both the country and these illegals who are here for the long haul?
Continue reading “Our failed migrant labour policy”

Some 630 Malaysians leave the country every day

A total of 304,358 Malaysians left the country between March last year and August this year for better education, career and business prospects, Deputy Foreign Minister A Kohilan Pillay told Parliament yesterday. This is a big leap from 139,696 Malaysians who migrated to other countries in 2007.

This works out to some 630 Malaysians leaving the country every day.

Can Malaysia afford such a continuing brain drain?

This is a big vote of no confidence not only in the Abdullah premiership but also in the present Najib administration. Continue reading “Some 630 Malaysians leave the country every day”

Why not invite me to head an investigation whether BTN’s course had poisoned the minds of a generation of leaders, civil servants and university students with its racist indoctrination programme?

In continuing to justify the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) course as inculcating nationalism and unity among the people, the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin challenged me to join the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) course to see for myself if it promoted racial hatred as alleged.

Undoubtedly, in such a case, the BTN lecturers will act as model Malaysians with exemplary conduct and attitude.

Let me ask Muhyiddin – why not invite me to head an investigation whether the BTN course had poisoned the minds of a generation of leaders, civil servants and university students with its divisive, racist and seditious indoctrination programmes?

No one will have any objection to national civics courses which promotes national unity and inter-racial understanding but it is unpatriotic, anti-national and criminal to say the least to have a government programme which incites racial ill-will and hatred as this is not nation-building but destroying the very fabric of a united, progressive and successful Malaysian nation.
Continue reading “Why not invite me to head an investigation whether BTN’s course had poisoned the minds of a generation of leaders, civil servants and university students with its racist indoctrination programme?”

MCCBCHST on Family Law Reform proposals

MCCBCHST Media Release: 30 November 2009
REPORT ON PROPOSALS FOR FAMILY LAW REFORM TROUBLING

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism is very concerned about the comments by Senior Federal Counsel Mohamad Naser Disa, as reported in the Sun newspaper of 25.11.2009, relating to proposed amendments to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 dealing with the situation where one spouse in a non Muslim marriage converts to Islam.

If the comments accurately reflect the proposed amendments, it shows that the gross injustices currently being committed against non Muslim spouses (mostly wives) by their husbands who convert to Islam, by the Syariah Courts and Syariah authorities, and by the civil courts will continue.

The comments also show clearly the skewered method of approaching these amendments taken by the Federal Government and the Attorney General’s Chambers: the people who are suffering are the non Muslim family members of the convert, especially mothers who are unable to see their children or to expose their children to their own faith. Continue reading “MCCBCHST on Family Law Reform proposals”

Najib and Cabinet should do what is right – honour the Hatyai Agreement and allow Chin Peng home to visit his hometown in Sitiawan

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, should do what is right – honour the Hatyai Agreement and allow Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) leader Chin Peng home to visit his hometown in Sitiawan.

It reflects most adversely on the credibility and international standing of Malaysia for the Malaysian government to renege on its solemn commitments and undertakings in the Hatyai Agreement.

When the Hatyai Agreement was signed 20 years ago, both signatories agreed to move on and this is what the Malaysian government and country should do – allow Chin Peng home to visit his parents’ graves in Sitiawan.

DAP: No sense gaining RM1b from GST to lose RM28b to graft

By Clara Chooi | The Malaysian Insider

IPOH, Nov 29 – DAP has urged the Federal Government to reconsider the proposed 4 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST), claiming it would do nothing to narrow the nation’s current deficit budget and would only further burden the poor and the middle class.

Party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that the Government should, instead, concentrate on fighting corruption and realising savings of at least RM28bil annually instead of a mere RM1bil in additional revenue from GST.

“This RM28bil was admitted by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah as the cost of leakages from having closed tenders in government procurement or just failing to have open tenders for government contracts in an open manner.

“If the government focuses on changing this, there is no need to impose GST on the people to raise funds.
Continue reading “DAP: No sense gaining RM1b from GST to lose RM28b to graft”

BTN should not only be revamped – heads must roll for the poisoning of a whole generation of Malaysian leaders, civil servants, university students

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz told reporters in Parliament this morning that the Cabinet has agreed to revamp the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) following national furore against the BTN’s divisive, racist and seditious course which pump communal poison, incite racial hatred and illwill which are no different from Nazi indoctrination camps.

Nazri is reported to have:

  • agreed that the divisive, racist and seditious BTN course is not in line with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia concept;

  • that “the recent Cabinet meeting saw it necessary to do away with the BTN co-curriculum which government leaders, including the prime minister, saw was racially divisive and destructive”; and

  • the Chief Secretary to the Government has been instructed to oversee BTN’s revamp.

Continue reading “BTN should not only be revamped – heads must roll for the poisoning of a whole generation of Malaysian leaders, civil servants, university students”

Top Umno leaders should stop all double-talk, abandon race politics, be national leaders for all Malaysians or they should scrap and bury Najib’s seven-month-old 1Malaysia slogan and concept

Top Umno leaders should stop all double-talk, abandon race politics, be national leaders for all Malaysians or they should just scrap and bury Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s seven-month-old 1Malaysia slogan and concept.

Malaysians are shocked that the outrageous “defense” of divisive, racist and seditious Biro Tata Negara (BTN) courses by Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, was not the lone voice in Cabinet but represented the consensus of the top Umno leadership.

On my call for the closure of the racist BTN courses which go against everything Najib’s 1Malaysia could stand for, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said it was “just the opposition’s tactics to divert attention from their problems”.
Continue reading “Top Umno leaders should stop all double-talk, abandon race politics, be national leaders for all Malaysians or they should scrap and bury Najib’s seven-month-old 1Malaysia slogan and concept”

Abu Dhabi poised to throw lifeline to Dubai

From Times Online
November 28, 2009
By Rhys Blakely in Dubai

Abu Dhabi is poised to come to the aid of Dubai’s debt stricken-businesses, but only on a “case by case” basis, senior bankers an officials said today.

The Dubai Government sent global markets into a tailspin this week after it asked creditors of Dubai World, the state-owned conglomerate behind the city state’s building boom, for a six-month standstill on $80 billion of debt repayments.

The move kindled fears that the world economy is yet to rid itself of toxic debt, and may even succumb to a fresh downturn in a “double dip” recession.

Oil rich Abu Dhabi, which has the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, thought to be worth as much as $700 billion, could easily bail out Dubai, but is thought to be unwilling to pour more money into its neighbour’s beleaguered property sector, which has buckled under the weight of a series of half-finished grand projects. Continue reading “Abu Dhabi poised to throw lifeline to Dubai”

Call on Cabinet to set up an independent public inquiry into the BTN “brainwashing” to have public airing of its racist, anti-national and anti-1Malaysia courses over the years

Pretender Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir hit today’s New Straits Times front-page headline: ‘Disclose BTN course syllabus’ – Perak MB: This will allay doubts about its objective”.

Zambry said it is time for the government to make public the contents of the Biro Tatanegara syllabus to dispel suspicions by certain quarters about its objective.

Claiming that he had himself attended BTN or National Civics Bureau courses, Zambry said these courses were about educating public servants, students and other participating groups on their roles and responsibilities towards the country.

Zamry is creating a red herring. The issue is not so much the BTN syllabus, but the more than ample evidence that BTN courses pump communal poison and incite hatred in plural Malaysia.
Continue reading “Call on Cabinet to set up an independent public inquiry into the BTN “brainwashing” to have public airing of its racist, anti-national and anti-1Malaysia courses over the years”

BTN — Between true education and indoctrination

By Azly Rahman

I agree we must give credit to those working hard to “improve the psychological well-being of the Malays” and for that matter for any race to improve its mental wellness. This is important. This is a noble act. The question is: in doing so, do we want to plant the seeds of cooperation and trust– or racial discrimination and deep hatred? Herein lies the difference between indoctrination and education. Herein lies what the work of Malaysia’s Biro Tata Negara is about.

These days, the idea of Ketuanan Melayu is going bankrupt, sinking with the bahtera merdeka. It works only for Malay robber barons who wish to plunder the nation by silencing the masses and using the ideological state apparatuses at their disposal. In the case of the BTN it is the work of controlling the minds of the youth. The work of BTN should be stopped and should not be allowed anymore in our educational institutions. It is time our universities especially are spared of counter-educational activities, especially when they yearned to be free from the shackles of domination. Look at what has happened and what is still happening to our institutions with the University and University Colleges Act and the Akujanji Pledge.
Continue reading “BTN — Between true education and indoctrination”

Close down Biro Tata Negara if Najib is serious, sincere and genuine about the 1Malaysia concept

When he became Prime Minister seven months ago, Datuk Seri Najib Razak came out with the slogan of 1Malaysia.

It was an admission of the failure of 52-year nation-building to create a Malaysian citizenry forged by a common Malaysian consciousness and identity, transcending their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences.

The Biro Tata Negara (BTN) is one important factor for this failure in Malaysian nation-building.

In Parliament in March this year, I read out an indignant email from a recent participant in BTN course, on how BTN operated as the propaganda arm of UMNO, pumping communal poison instead of spreading the message of national unity.

The complaints against the BTN included:

Their purpose is to convey THEIR Message to us but I think they are absolutely wrong. It made us more irritable towards BN government and make us more stronger to vote opposition.
Continue reading “Close down Biro Tata Negara if Najib is serious, sincere and genuine about the 1Malaysia concept”

Open Tender for all government procurements – most effective way to prevent corruption and ensure efficiency

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

Last year on August 5th the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted as saying that open tender would be implemented for government procurements. This was a very encouraging statement and gave the impression that he really intended to institute reforms to bring about better governance. Was this the signal that things are changing?

Later, when he was anointed prime minister, he announced further reforms to launch off his “1 Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” concept. This was even more promising.

Unfortunately, the euphoria engendered so far has now vanished by the announcement in Parliament on Wednesday that MATRADE expo – the biggest and most comprehensive exhibition center – would be awarded to a private contractor NAZA TTDI through private negotiated deal. The government procurement was NOT given out by OPEN TENDER.

This is a shocking development and has unravelled all the attempts by Najib to initiate a series of reforms for better governance in a “1 Malaysia”. Continue reading “Open Tender for all government procurements – most effective way to prevent corruption and ensure efficiency”

PAC must act fast – prevent another multibillion-ringgit Matrade 2 scandal after the 10-year RM287 million Matrade 1 scandal

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) must act fast – prevent another multibillion-ringgit Matrade 2 scandal after the 10-year RM287 million Matrade 1 scandal.

The PAC had previously held several meetings on the Matrade 1 scandal, but they were of no practical relevance or consequence as what the PAC did was to lock the stable door after the horses had bolted.

As far as I know, not a single sen had been recovered by the government despite solemn assurances in Parliament by the Ministers concerned to pursue legal actions and penalties against the defaulting parties – with the Umno cronies laughing all the way to the bank with their ill-gotten multi-million ringgit NEP gains.

In the first Matrade scandal, the 24-storey Matrade building took some 10 years to be completed at a RM120 million cost overrun resulting in a final cost of RM287 million, i.e. at over 70 per cent of the original estimates of RM167 million. For years, the cracked façade of the incomplete Continue reading “PAC must act fast – prevent another multibillion-ringgit Matrade 2 scandal after the 10-year RM287 million Matrade 1 scandal”

Before telling the world the true Malaysian story, let Malaysians know the truth of what is happening in Malaysia – beginning with the story of Altantuya C4 murder

In his recent visit to New York, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said Malaysia’s message of reforms and transformation needs to be told to foreign investors consistently or risk being overshadowed by countries like China and other emerging economies.

First things first. Najib should allow the true Malaysian story to be told to Malaysians first or the credibility of the Malaysian story to global investors by Najib’s spin doctors would come under a great discount.

In the era of instant communications, it is both imprudent and self-defeating to believe that it is possible to mislead global investors about what is happening in the country.
Continue reading “Before telling the world the true Malaysian story, let Malaysians know the truth of what is happening in Malaysia – beginning with the story of Altantuya C4 murder”

Matrade gets expo centre for ‘free’, says Mustapa

The Malaysian Insider
Wednesday November 25, 2009

By Asrul Hadi Abdullah Sani

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed today defended the proposed expo centre in Jalan Duta from controversy after the RM628 million project was given to Naza TTDI, saying the government was getting it for free.

Mustapa explained that building-for-land deal is good value for the Malaysian External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade).

“The valuation of the land in 2007 is RM197 million and we are getting RM628 million’s worth building so we are getting value for money for us. We need a big centre,” he told reporters in parliament here.

The mammoth expo centre being built on a 13.1-acre site in Jalan Duta here is to be developed by Naza TTDI, a unit of the Naza Group, in exchange for 62.5 acres of state land at RM226 per square foot although the market value of the land could reach RM1.5 billion. The entire project will have a gross development value of RM15 billion.

The Matrade centre is estimated to be 90,000-sq-m and set to be completed in 2013.

Mustapa noted that the currently available exhibition centres in the Klang Valley were too small to lure major investors. Continue reading “Matrade gets expo centre for ‘free’, says Mustapa”

Bumiputera contractors: A wasteful national mission to date

By Koon Yew Yin
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 07:54

Centre for Policy Initiatives

It is an indictment of our system that IJM is able to compete internationally for contracts but yet is required to work as a sub-contractor to Bumiputera companies on the North-South Highway in Malaysia.

On Oct 25, 2009 our Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah said that government has vowed to cut down on wasteful spending to lower its budget deficit and all major public projects must go through the open tender system.

Earlier, the Auditor-General’s report for 2008 revealed continuing financial management weaknesses at every level of the government. Delays in project completion seem to be a perennial problem and the lack of oversight by various ministries and departments in the procurement of goods and services continue to cost the government hundreds of millions of ringgit.
Continue reading “Bumiputera contractors: A wasteful national mission to date”