IT'S TIME TO RECOGNISE THE UEC QUALIFICATIONS - WITH CONDITIONS.

 by toffee
1 Aug 2020

EDUCATION AT THE CROSS ROADS - TIME TO MAKE THE CHOICE.

It is important that we recognize that the Chinese Independent schools in Malaysia have a very high standard of education, recognizing them will only enhance the standard of education in the country, and the government should seriously study this proposal.

However we must look at other ares of  National Policy and the recognition must come with general acceptance by all quarters of society.

In the UK there are  five awarding bodies for examinations and schools can choose between them, they are:

i)   AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) 
ii)  CCEA (Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment) 
iii) OCR  (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) 
iv)  Pearson, under its Edexcel brand 
v)   WJEC (Welsh Joint Education Committee), under its WJEC and Edugas brand.


Similarly we can have the UEC and the Government type which has the PMR, SPM and the STPM and the UEC can continue with the the Junior Middle and the Senior Middle  exams continuing to be in place.

The government and most Malaysians will will find it beneficial for their Children, many of our senior UMNO ministers themselves have found the UEC beneficial for their children so let us not be hypocrites.

We have to get one thing straight first, the syllabus should be retained but the medium of instruction has to be in Bahasa Malaysia, with English as a compulsory Language and the schools of both streams offering languages of choice which shall be Mandarin, Jawi and Tamil.

I know that may be the obstacle  but if that is the obstacle then all I'll say is it confirms what I said in my last article "All Malaysian are racists or to drive home the point let me state what Nazri once said in Parliament "Bloody Racists" to drive home the point.

Another option would be the teaching of Mathematics and Science in  English, in both mediums.

The change of the Character of the Chinese schools is a must, we can't have our children being  racially segregated from the cradle stage and then complain of racism  in the country. That is totally hypocritical.

If we take a careful look at what is happening in this country we have no alternative then to admit that we are by and large a racist society, all of us the Indians, the Chinese and the Malays. We tend to always be pointing the finger just in one direction but we do not seem to recognize the racism in ourselves.

If we can do a mea culpa  and admit that we have over the years allowed our selves to become more racist and now take notice and do what is right we can overcome the biggest hurdle f our nation, racism.

There is a lot the Government educators can learn from the UEC system and that we should do to enhance the current Government type education in the country, there is also a lot that the UEC systme can do to learn from the Government end, allow the setting up of good and high standard Teacher training colleges, to ensure the teaching profession is highly professional, teachers should be accorded the mobility to move from the UEC stream to the National type stream and vice versa.

Make teaching at all levels a degree qualification, with only the best qualified being positioned in teaching, let's not settle for less, for that is tantamount to a trade off off our children's rights to the best opportunities for education.

Teachers going to rural schools must be given attractive allowances for the best to want to go there and we should conduct Personality tests to ensure that those responding to the teaching profession are seeking that profession as vocation and are not just there for the money.

Make it possible for teachers to switch streams for better opportunities for themselves and  also for the systems, there must be cross breeding, it improves the pedigree.

Teachers should be paid in accordance with their performance and to do this there must be proper performance indicators taking into consideration the types students the teachers are teaching against the performance.

Students must be able to drop a year if they can't make a grade and similarly for those outstanding students there must be an express stream.

I have written before that we should not leave education to a Minister or a Ministry but properly accredited boards  of professionals and we need to get the best, if we need source them form other countries we should.

The job of the minister of Education at best will be to  get the funds needed for education, ensure a good budget we can cut our defence spending by t lest a third if not half to spend more on education. 

Finally do not allow language,or race to come in to fault our education system, leave sentiments aside start thinking as Malaysians, and if the Chinese and Tamil Schools can't agree to a unified schools system with two streams  looking at the welfare of all, where the children are admitted not by race but by choice in a system that allows for fairness for all  shut down in vernacular schools, after so many years since independence we are still confused as to who we are, its time to start changing that.

Najib's Conviction -Time for Overhaul and a Third force.

 by Toffee
29 July 2020 

TIME TO CHANGE COURSE, AND CHART THE NEW MALAYSIA.

It is time to discard the old and the old who manage it, it is time for the new, the young the vibrant  and the relevant.

Yes, in today's world the young are more relevant then the  young  have ever been,  it is the age of today's young, and we have to give it to them,  thy are the potential leaders, more millionaire are springing up from their ranks and most  from those who are hardly even 40, they are showing that they are capable and that they think and perform at a different level,  it is their age.

 Malaysia have to discard the old and their old habits, we know for certain that from the inception of the Mahathir led BN government corruption has been on the rise in this country, powerful politicians have been treating this country's finances as a their own piggy bank and from the beginning of the  construction of the North South highway, the privatization of public utilities water, Electricity, and Telecommunications, the Sepang Airport,  corruption has been rife and was in fact turning into a way of life for those who headed the BN government and it has gone unabated.

Successive government's only took that corruption to a higher level, and Najib was the man who took it to the pinnacle, it was the young that exposed him Tony Pua and Rafizi with the aid of Rewcaste Brown, these were not 60year olds or even for that matter  93 year old politicians.

The country is now on the verge of Bankruptcy at a time the world is faced by its worst disaster since the second world war. 

With more than half a million dead and almost 17 million cases that keeps increasing this could be the worlds greatest human catastrophe and coming out of it will be a huge effort, we'll go back the forties if we are not careful and honestly that is where we are headed.

If Malaysians especially the Malays do not sit up and acknowledge that enough is enough, and opt for a really clean and efficient government this country will soon slide to the status of Myanmar and the Philippines who themselves are now on the upward spiral in terms of development leaving Malaysia to inherit that status sooner rather than later. We may land up worse than a banana republic if we do not watch it.

It is really shocking how especially Malay Malaysian leaders from the ruling UMNO can come out openly in support  of the world's biggest kleptocrat who tried to hide his endevours only to be exposed by Sarawak Report, the Malaysian Press, the New York Times, and the Washington post among others including the Arab English News portal Al Jazeera.

After successfully blocking any investigation into the case which included the firing of the Attorney General, the Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and other politicians who asked for more transparency on the issue Najib Tun Abdul Razak managed to keep a lid over any investigations on the 1MDB case, the Altantuya Murder and many more criminal acts and acts of corruption that went on as though we had a bottomless pit filled with currency from which he could just take out money for his and his family's benefit.

His wife got into the act even providing the specifications for the interior of the Executive jet Njib would so frequently use, she was such an extravagant woman who successfully managed to put Maria Antoinette, and Imelda Marcos to shame.

Let us hope now that today's conviction will be an eye opener for Malaysians especially UMNO Malays and the Indians of MIC and Chinese of the MCA, we have not forgotten the Telecoms Share scandal, the Maica case, the case involving he West Port in Klang,it is still fresh in our minds.

It is most certainly time for change, mega change, the type we have not seen in our history and it can only come from the relevant young vibrant and committed Malaysians.

It is time for the likes of Khairy, Nazri, Nurul, Rafizi, Nga Kor Ming, Anthony Loke, Yeo Bee Yin, Charles Santiago, Siti Kassim,  Teo Nee Chin, and people who can really make a change and whose only aim will be the country without blind loyalties to individuals to any politician but to the nation to take charge and bring in relevant change.

The people helming the country now are clueless, their brand of politics is self enrichment, and they could not care the damn for what the future holds in store as long as they have their own individual families secured.
 
Secured to the extent that hey will never stop in as far as they are in power to use their office to accumulate wealth for themselves, noble politicians are far and few an among those in the old school I see a very few.

ALMOST EVERY MALAYSIAN IS A RACIST.

Don't point our fingers toat the Malays alone the Chinese and Indians are bloody racists too, if they weren't they'd give serious thought to a single stream education policy, not the type we have today with vernacular schools but any talk about that and they are up in arms.

We can have a dual system of two parallel type of schools that will lokk into education seriously.

One type that offers the  Languages, Chinese, Tamil, Jawi and Arabic as optional subjects  besides other normal subjects in Arts and Science. They can be run in line with the UEC syllabus but the character of the Chinese School must change, the medium of instruction should  be in the Bahasa, and one of the two systems can offer Mathematics and Science in English.

The spread of these will not only make our schooling system more relevant, but it will acknowledge the contribution of Chinese Education in the country by accepting the UEC.

Vernacular schools in the present character must cease if we are serious about racial integration. Racial integration must take priority if we are to survive as a nation, no more the "Naan Tamilan nee Tamilan", or "ketuanan Melayu", or the Chinese are the best and the rest stupid attitude.

Back to schools with a true Malaysian character, put it to the test, the Indian Plam Oil fiasco had many Malaysian Indians worked up, Many Chinese to this day support China's intrusion into our territorial waters, say something on facebook and see the results. 

While the pendatiangs all of us are let us face it, from Indonesia, Cambodia, India and China including from Thailand, the only ethnic people of this country arre the Orang Asal that is the Orang Asli in the peninsular and the orang asal of the Island of Borneo.

Will the younger Malays of the peninsular break ranks from their seniors to steer this country in the right direction.


THE CHALLENGE

Malaysia is now plagued  with an aging population, it is time the young and relevant take charge of the country they inherit, let us take the selfish Mahathir's, Muhyiddins and the lot of UMNO deadwood out of our political system.

These old folks are so tied up in their ways they'll not give way to the young, we must realise that many of the developed world is now turning to younger and younger politicians.

The age of Emmanuel Macronthe Frech President is only 42, the age of the British Prime Minister is only 56, and he is of Turkish ancestory, the age of the Canadian Prime Minister is only 48, then Giuseppe of Italy is only 56 whilst we were just bragging of having an antiquated confused and senile man at 93 as our PM an he is still trying to get there to satisfy his own selfish motives of having his son become the next Prime Minister.

So the real challenge is for these young people to come together put politics aside and the nation first, manage and direct it for their own and future generations. 

 Why even now Mahathir still thinks he is the only one who can run this country, he so outdated, he is so antiquated and is already bordering on senility  and I really pity that man as his children seem to dare not tell him the truth about himself today.  

To ensure only the best in politics we should back high salaries for cabinet ministers, and cabinet ministers should be really qualified, and not talk nonsense. Our current Prime Minister has even been exposed as a man who can't get simple figures right.

 

ONE STREAM EDUCATION, BE SERIOUS, LIGHT IT UP!!

Those who follow my articles know that I am almost totally anti UMNO.

 But I'l call a spade a spade when i see one, and I'll support UMNO's Razlan Raafii  who has echoed the wishes of Many Malaysians including me and even the Regent of Johor Tenku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim on a "ONE STREAM EDUCATION SYSTEM".

DON'T END IT THERE, AND DON'T TRASH IT HERE EITHER, BE COMMITTED TO IT BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT WE NEED.

 

Malay College Kuala Knagsar -It has to be opened for the good of the Malays

 Dwell on our Strengths

To do this we have to use our strengths, and one of our our biggest strengths which we must recognise  is,  the UEC system of education,  again calling the spade a spade.

I am not saying to make others learn Chinese, although that may be a good thing to encourage, because that language alone drives your brain into analytical mode, it is a language that is made of characters rather than alphabets so we must give thought to it, serious thought, ever wonder why Chinese are so good at Mathematics? .

 BAHASA HAS TO HAVE ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE
Of course Bahasa will not only be the compulsory language but we must get our young to love Bahasa it is our language and it should continue to be compulsory.

On the other hand Tamil is the oldest language in the world not Sanskrit, and Bahasa has its roots in that language not Jawi or Arabic   so we have the best of all the worlds and English in Malaysia though it has deteriorated leaps and bounds to the extent that a growing number of Indonesians especially Javanese are speaking the language very well these days we have to bring back focus on this language, it can be added as a choice if one chooses not to do POL.

Reintroduce the Bulan Bahasa Kebangsaan, the competitions,  the Songs etc, bring into light and let them celebrate our language - Celebrate BAHASA KEBANGSAAN KITA..

As far as the UEC system goes  I am saying use the expertise,   teaching methods, curriculum learning and teaching culture into the one stream of our education system, call on the Chinese Educationists to contribute, and contribute they will.

They will not only contribute but become active proponents to the idea of one stream as long as they are not threatened and their inclusion to learn from them will be seen as great milestone in our education history.

Malays are already flocking to Chinese Schools they'll accept if politics is out.

 Use the best resources.
To drive the people, the Education at National level, have   the UEC stream and the current Examination stream and allow pupils to choose from both like the AEB and the Cambridge streams in the UK. The UEC stream has earned it.

Let Schools choose one stream or the other, let it be managed at the national level by separate administrators  then it will result in competition at that level the very top, the government only funds the two systems, and we'll see a real healthy growth of education in Malaysia via competition, two systems one Examination if that is possible to be set by the Examinations syndicate based on a common  syllabus.
 

Send selected teacher trainees of all races to China to learn Chinese and other subjects to become teachers, pick those who have a genuine and sincere desire to cultivate their fellow Malaysians regardless of race and creed, so they can not only teach Chinese but Science and Mathematics, learn why the Chinese (not Malaysians) are so entrepreneurial, and develop our future generations.

Send successful teacher trainees with the right qualifications, attitude and aptitude to countries like the US, Germany, UK and France to learn how they develop their children, be like Japan before world war 2.

On the cultural front involve everybody the Malaysian culture is evolving, Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai are on the Nasional breakfast  menu, we eat mamak mee, mee Melayu and so on, we have the equivalent of Ang Paw with the Malays as Duit Raya, Chinese use kebaya annd kubarong we also pray in Malay,  it is evolving for  truly Nasional Malaysian culture we have to involve everyone.

Stop segregating pupils according to race,  encourage the Malays pupils who form the majority to mix with other children as we used to do before and to this end Sports and other cultural activities play a huge part.

Bring in Educationists from India and the UK to seriously look and help manage our Teacher training programmes and if need be let them head thesew Institutions.

We have to look at our strengths and even the Tamil School (that I have been very critical about in the past ) have now improved their standards tremendously, their students are winning the National and International awards, and their levels in Bahasa, English Mathematics have even surpassed the other type of National Schools. How did they do it given the great disadvantageous positions these schools were in less than a decade ago. 

There are still some remnants of the  Mission Schools, how effective they will be is hard to tell, they contributed f=very effectively to our education system before.

Take politics and race out of education

The quest for one stream must come by tapping the resources of all people in our society and there is a real possibility of that being achieved if,  the Ministry of Education involves all the parties involved in Education system and stop playing a racial game here.

We must be focused here on what is best  for the development of the country into a first world country.

Take politics out of education, Malay parents who know and are not easily politically misled send their children to Chinese and Indian Mathematics  and Science teachers to get them to improve their

Have more of this.

standards in these subjects, 

Disregard race, take politicians out of the equation, make it a crime to criticise and gain political advantage on race and religion in National Education, if we are serious about making our young quality graduates who can really positively and effectively  contribute to the nation and our development.

If we continue with our "tiga suku" politically driven education system we have today, this country is doomed to be a failure.

2020 Missed  2030 in danger of going he wrong way
We have already missed 2020 and I dare say with our focus on unimportant issues in our education system, our total lack of insight into what is really needed of our graduates for development of the country economically, technologically and the needs of enterprise a situation we have been in since  at least the early 80's,   by 2030 we will successfully sink into world nation. and that will be thanks to our politicians, our so called technocrats, and our leaders, who to this day insist on playingthe race card even with education our children.

Why? and the only reason one can attribute this to is that they can't be bothered, just find out ewhere their Children are being educated.

We can't have people like Mazlee heading education, please Mahathir, I think you have done that on purpose to spite everyone else since we did not let you take the portfolio of education with your Prime Ministers you put this man who seems not to have an inkling of really improving education and the core issues regarding that and National Development there.  

Russia can bring in the best Areo-space technology in the world into to Malaysia as Putin has just said, but all we will be able to do is to continue to be followers and not innovators and leaders,  we'll forever, be followers at this rate . take a look of how we fared with your favourite project in -the Auto Industries,   we are still reliant on foreign models, foreign technology and lack the ability to design, innovate and create new technology and a big part of that blame was to have Proton be led by inadequate people since its inception. 

 Made in Malaysia or China?

Proton for all its present worth is driving high because of China, Chinese technology  and Chinese Management, is that what  you planned for? Do want to continue to do just that?

Don't blame the Malays blame yourself, you allowed bureaucrats lead the industry, people without any experience in cars,   although we had people who owned and managed motor assembly plants successfully and they would have been the logical choice for progression bt you played the race card and see what has happened.

You could not have insulted us more.

We are calling a made in China product assembled in Malaysia a Malaysian product, how nice.

Education  should be the domain of the best,  the educators and policy makers must come of the crème de la crème of our society in this field and if that is not available buy them from Singapore, India, Finland anywhere where we can find the really best. 

Teachers, policy makers and and other educationists must be rewarded well enough that they do not have to look for other means of earning money like becoming private tutors which is so commonand so lucrative these days.


One Session Schools
One Session schools from 8.30 a.m to 4.30 pm.with break-times in the aggregate of one hour.

Build more Schools, have a only one session in schools, reintroduce sports at a serious level, and school hours should be stretched longer with breaks.

No morning school and afternoon school. only one session, one serious session. Reward teachers well and have performance driven incentives fo them, level the playing field.

Regulate class sizes, .

 Ban Homework
Ban home work for children like they have done in  Finland even China espouses to do so.
Children should not be burdened to the extent they find school a bore, or something weary.
Allow them to have a say on the subjects they'd like to pursue make them part of their education

Bring in sports seriously into the school curriculum, inculcate the spirit of competition, sports also gets students into the mindset of being competent and we need it to develop   well balanced educated young men and women  not to mention good sportsmen and sportswomen.

The authorities must show that they are serious, by involving all parties and if on merits another race will provide the best candidate to lead such initiatives it should go to that person, it is not race we are talking about we are talking about a truly and sincerely Malaysian system of education - one stream.
This is not NEP or privileges it is getting the best for our children all our children

Politicians should stay away let this body set up to do it decide and come out void of all political involvement are we matured enough to do that.

We need almost a total revamp of  our educational systems.

The Education Ministry will be the custodian of Education policy but the setting up of the policy must be the work of the Educationists, this will minimise  political interference. 

The Education minister will secure the budgets required prepared by the System administrators and managers, there should be no interference other than if it involves issues other than education.

Infrastructure could be the responsibility of the Ministry and mechanisms and rules must be in place to ensure that the Minister or any politician does not use his position to get the administrators to do their bidding.   

Why Politicians  Should be out 
Since Independence we have not really improved our education system, it has gone from bad to worse, and if it continues we are really going to become the sick man of ASEAN and maybe Asia.

Even Vietnam will supersede us  soon if they haven't already. 
Whilst our other ASEAN nations are improving leas and bounds we can't say the same for ourselves.





 

To Bring in ICERD peacefully we have to first get rid of Venarcular Schools.

 THERE MUST BE A MINDSET CHANGE FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Recently there has been a spate of provocative incidents involving mostly UMNO and PAS influenced groups about ICERD.

The people at large are asking why the police are not taking action,  criticisms abound  on the PH government  and no one is spared.

The way I look at it there is a massive amount of ignorance on both sides of the divide, it is communal and it has been developed since the days of the British and advanced not only by the BN but the political system by and large, it reflects on both sides of the house the government and the opposition since independence.

Has he found a way of getting out of the trouble he is in?

The  UMNO/PAS leadership's  fanning of  discontent and discord  over ICERD among  their members, the majority of whom  do not have clue of what ICERD is, but go on and get incited by this leadership on the premise of what is told to them that it is a threat to the Malays, the Royals and Islam, that is what they have been told, they accept it  and it  only goes to show how ignorant these grassroots are.

Making the grasroots ignorant seemed to be UMNO's strategy in the NEP to control them. 

Mahahtir has said and even Zahid and Hadi should know it is  an impossibility to Ratify ICERD, as we'd require to amend the Constitution first  and to do that the government has to have a two third majority voting in favour, which means PAS and many UMNO MPs will have to vote for it and to make matters worse there are even people in PH who are against it, so how are we going to get there.

 Why the Hurry?

I think the real issue of ICERD has to be discussed and understood across the board and as Anwar has put it very rightly:  why the hurry? 

After all  Rome was not built in a day, and I really think that P Waytha Moorthy has jumped the gun. The new government has not even setteled in and he brings out such a controversial issue, it reflects on his political abilities.

Why the Hurry

I'd like to ask him if we can do away with Tamil schools, and Chinese Schools too?
 

If we are to be one people should we not have a single single school system, so that our children grow up together and and foster racial unity first?

I remember writing in an earlier article about HINDRAF that the Tamils who are marginalised are marginalised the day they go to Tamils schools. 

Why, even when they come to the secondary schools where it's no longer a Tamil school they find it difficult to even associate with the Tamil boys who have spent all their primary education in the normal Government schools. They stick to themselves, talk Tamil among themselves an eventually get more marginalized. 

Well I'll admit the situation is improving in Tamil schools but that is not the answer, getting out of the Tamils schools and putting a stop to this segregated educational system  is.  

I am sure there will be many who will come and ask why?

Why?

Because we need our children to begin mixing and learning and playing together in close harmony with Malaysians of all races in one school system so that the  the mindset changes to that of Malaysians and not Chinese, Indian and Melayu,  they grow up as one and learn to appreciate each others point of view, then things will become more cordial. 

Over time they'll learn to live as one. Over time of course if we began that from Independence we'd be there today. Lets start now so that our children's children will enjoy that one day.

This is where the education policy has to be seriously  looked into and revamped, turn the present thinking upside down, the changes have to be drastic.  

I am sure we can gain  useful contributions to this from the present crop of Tamil and Chinese School boards too  and this can be done if there is a real will to unite everybody in this country as one people and one nation.

There is certainly a lot to learn from the Chinese schools to improve the quality of education for the children as much as  the Chinese Schools can learn from National Schools as well and the current crop of Tamils schools which have improved leaps and bounds in the quality of their students and curriculum now,  use that learning experience from all the types of schools to come out with a  single efficient and dynamic system led by a value system like the Rukun Negara.

Our biggest problem stems from the education system that allows the vernacular an Tafiz Schools to  segregate our students,  it  fosters division to the extent that it is almost enmity among Malaysians of different races from a very young age, what are we trying to do? 

That is the root cause of all our problems.

If we can get that right,  we'll get this (ICERD) right then we are certainly on the road to unity and a unified country.

Excellent single stream education should  be our topmost priority. education cannot be discriminatory, equal opportunity should be given to all students with special care for rural schools.

Religion should be the domain of the various religious groups and there should be no coercing.coveting  and forcing minors with religious education not of their respective religions. 

I am not talking about the Muslims alone, I am talking of the Christians too as it does happen in some cases.

After 61 years of Independence we are a  divided nation, more so now then at the pre-independence era and all this can be attributed to the educational system we fostered and promoted all these years, and all of us have to take the blame not the BN alone we allowed it to happen by bickering and promoting the vernacular system.

Pupils own language:

There are two sides to this coin, and I'd like to take the Sikhs as the example.

There are no Punjabi schools in this country, I mean regular Punjabi schools as there Tamil and Chinese Schools. 

They have classes in their Gurduwaras where the language is taught, the parents who are keen that their children know their mother tongue make sure they attend and they learn the language well supervised..

There may be  some who may not be keen but they are not forced to do so, it is their choice of the parents, but going by percentage in population more Sikhs are committed to their Children learning Punjabi then Tamils having their Children learning Tamil and Chinese learning Chinese. 

Any Introduction needed?

The Sikhs have made it a point to have Punjabi education for their children and they have catered for it, they even provide teacher training for Temples who require and do not have Punjabi teachers, All Sikhs speak Punjabi, Most in fact almost all speak Malay, many English and even Tamil and are Malaysians thru and thru and although a small community are very visible in the country, from the Courts to Parliament to Hospitals, the Police Force, Other branches of Government Service and of course the Bars all "Big Strong and Friendly."

Distinctly visible

If the Chinese and Tamils are really interested in their respective languages for their children they should make the necessary options available, based on demand the government could cater fo a third language .in the country, or leave it at two and let them choose between Bahasa which will be compulsory,  then English, Chinese or Tamil, this will strengthen the Bahasa.

If we are sincere about ICERD this is the route we have to take. 

The poor education system in the country, the divisive nature of the system is what has brought this negativity about ICERD and where we are today in race relations.

Our History has to be really looked into and it should be focused on the truth too.

On the other side of the divide we see the ignorance of the UMNO and PAS influenced Masses, they are so narrow in their thinking that UMNO and PAS are actually using them the way the instigators of suicide bombers get innocent young people including children to blow themselves up with bombs.

This has become possible because UMNO with its NEP actually churned out not second class but fourth class graduates from universities, not all of them but a significant portion that you can tell them any nonsense and they'll buy it, as long as you tell them that  race and religion are a threat they will jump and start reacting they have made sure that Race, Religion and the Royalty are the flash point.

These people do not have an inkling about what they are talking about, in the first place they do not even understand what ICERD is but are effectively used by the leadership of these provocateurs, and as Mahathir rightly put it there will be no trouble unless Zahid starts it.

The likes of Zahid, Najib and even Hadi are keen to see the investigations into corrupt practices, money laundering and Criminal Breach of trust disappear and the one way they now probably see that as possible is by creating trouble - Big Touble.

The Police rightly are not acting they do not want to give these trouble makers the opportunity to start trouble on a big scale, all responsible Malaysians from both sides of the divide  have to keep calm and not give trouble makers the opportunity of inciting trouble.

Don't give them that Opportunity

It is therefore not surprising that some of the agitators we see today are even threatening people with the recurrence of May 13th and to me that is to be expected, this kind of talk and behavior because we are dealing with.   After all we know the architect of May 13th don't we?

If we are serious and show we are serious about improving our education system and if we are prepared to make the sacrifices of nation building then surely there is a possibility of a non Malay Education Minister as well in the future, it will take time,  people who  are truly qualified because once that trust is built,  the Malays will only be too happy to have the best man on this job after all it is eduction.

Are we ready for Nation Building?

HRH SULTAN OF JOHOR CALLS FOR UNITY VIA SINGLE STREAM EDUCATION

CAN MALAYSIANS REALLY RISE TO THE CHALLENGE?

OR 

WILL ALL THREE MAJOR SEGMENTS  SELFISHLY PROTECT THEIR OWN TURF?

Today I posted the Star's interview with His Royal Highness the Sultan of Johor on my facebook page.

" STOP POLITICKING WITH EDUCATION SAYS THE SULTAN OF JOHOR."

Almost immediately it attracted responses from readers and all seemed to be very excited about it, responses came from almost every racial segment in our country and this shows that there is an anxious need for improvement in our education system.

To see this improvement as suggested by HRH the Sultan of Johor, Malaysians have to rise to the challenge, a challenge that will demand sacrifices from every segment of our society. Are we prepared for it?

The Sultan of Johor Touching the Hearts of All Malaysians.

I will deal with those challenges and sacrifices in the later part of this article.


As Technology picks up, we Malaysians are being left behind because our educations system has deteriorated to such low levels that even the IndonesianS and Thais are gaining on us to the extent they are now rated and our education system is out of the rankings, now if this is not cause for concern amongst us Malaysians I do not see what will be.

One thing for certain through my years as a Human Resource Professional the standard of graduates in general churned out by our schools has deteriorated to such low levels that most of them will not get decent  jobs overseas if and when the time comes, (it is almost certainly coming) when our children will have to seek greener pastures elsewhere like the Bangladeshis, the Indonesians and even the Thais are doing here currently.

Our Industries have gone abroad and now some of the lower end ones are showing signs of returning to Malaysia, while the higher end operations move elsewhere. Our education system is not geared to create innovators, people who can invent, if there are Malaysians capable of doing such things they are overseas, their inventions benefit those countries and why should  this be the case.

Our pseudo socioeconomic policy has resulted in a backward Malaysia  we placed our priorities in the wrong baskets and this has resulted in our backwardness.

A very good example was the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia the foremost centre of Natural Rubber Research  in the world then headed by BC Shekar, a Scientist,  a Malaysian Scientist he was shunned.

If our Politicians and in particular Mahathir himself had seen it more worthwhile producing a Malaysian made automotive tire industry rather than a car  (Proton), we would have had more success there, it was certainly the better bet, even today after all these years our cars are yet to be rated  "indigenous technology" so much  is still borrowed.  We could have been one of the best tire manufacturers in the world but we chose to be one of the worst car manufacturers.\ in the world.

Take the Electronics Industry, we stared in mid sixties with Matsushita starting a plant in Shah Alam making finished consumer goods, this was followed by the semiconductor industry in the early seventies and by the eighties we had become the world's largest Semiconductor manufacturer, the largest manufacturer of domestic Air Conditioners, and among the top 20 exporting nations in the world, then all failed.

All failed because we did not produce enough  sufficient local graduate of the quality required to innovate, invent and make and export Malaysian technology like the Koreans and Taiwanese have done even though they began long after us and all this can only be the case because Malaysia lacked sufficient talent, caused mainly by our education system.

Some of our best talents from the semiconductor industry  emigrated to the Silicon Valley where they made their riches, and in an effort to try a quick fix the government brought back a sprinkling of talent tried in their own haphazard way to create a Malaysian semiconductor industry,  it and failed miserably.

There are the great examples of our domestic Electrical  products manufacturer MEC a huge flop, then there was this Company where a conman took the Government of Mahathir Mohammed for a ride, the firm called InventQjaya,  Mahathir's brainchild, I called the number today and I got a frightening reply, "the number you just called is not in service." Whatever happened to the millions pumped into this organization by the government?

We failed because the politicians were "politicking with education" as His Royal Highness the Sultan of  Johor so rightly put it. They really do not care, it is a ignorant mass that will keep them in power and so they are busy making mine and your children ignorant, it is their assurance of remaining in power.

HIS HIGHNESS PRESENTS A ROYAL SOLUTION, 
BUT ARE WE AS MALAYSIANS READY TO TAKE IT?

Yes, his highness has presented us with a right royal challenge one that should get this nation moving and one that will unite us with purpose as a nation of, one people in all our diversity.

The question is are we prepared to make the sacrifices to pursue this challenge? Real sacrifices, sacrifices that will  really challenge every Malaysian from every segment of our society. Are we prepared to cast aside our own selfish objectives of race and think of one people in all our diversity? Can we do that?

Can we say No tho this?

To do this there must be a genuine will among Malaysians of all races, let us renounce our Tamil and Chinese Schools, let us like His Highness suggests have only one medium of schools and that is English Schools where Tamil and Chinese will become compulsory in the sense that it will not be

Can we say No to this?

deprived to a  student of any race wanting to study it, it will not be compulsory as a subject to pass, but compulsory as a subject to be taught to the highest of levels to those who choose to do so regardless of race.

Bahasa Malaysia must be made compulsory, compulsory enough that one should get a credit in the language to pass the exam, it is the prerequisite for entrance into local Universities.

English too will demand the same standards, so that our students will excel no matter where they go to further their eduction.

If we have Tamil and Chinese educators stubbornly refusing to  trade these age old practices then there will be no sincerity in the system, it will be a clear indication that they are not serious about National Unity and all they care about is their own selves and that is a real fear,as this

Can we say No to this?

has been the case all this while, educators backed by racial political parties.

The only way to get over this is to make it clear to all that the corrupt and selfish politicians who benefited from such schemes had all sent their Children overseas to the best Schools in English speaking countries, whist the continued to promote vernacular schools here in Malaysia only for their own selfish purposes.

Take a look at Najib's children, take a look at Hishamuddin's children and you'll find the answers there of course they are not the only ones it has been happening for generations.

Can we see more of this?

Some of the  Chinese and Tamil elite send their Children to elite English schools but when it comes to local education they want Chinese or Tamil schools as the case may be.Schools.

The local schools are the breeding grounds for local politicians especially the BN kind to create generations of ignorant people who will continue to support them.

The Sultan has come out with a fantastic suggestion if the people can grasp and appreciate what His Royal Highness has said, if they value the education of their drench,  we should be able to take it from there and I am sure he will not grudge us  his moral support.

Muhyiddin uses 30 buses to attack Sri Andalas

  (Take a few seconds participate in the poll on the left side of this page before continuing to read)

My Kampung was under BN attack and we did not feel a thing.

Pictures of buses at the bottom of this page
Today's Must Reads : Visit the links below for some good articles in other blogs/online media.  

By Toffee
The Deputy Prime Minister came to Sri Andalas in Klang (my Kampung) with 30 busses of which 14 were from Perak, a couple form Melaka, another two from Johor, one from Kedah, the Victoria Institution bus a Special Bus for UITM, many from Kuala Lumpur and two from Klang, they were all charted for a function he held during schooling hours in the Tamil Primary School in Taman Sri Andalas in Klang.

At least 300 cars some from as far as Negeri Sembilan and Melaka, the rest from Lower Perak, and Selangor, many from Kuala Lumpur were also at the scene.

I talked to a couple who had just alighted from their car, parked in the residential area of Taman Sri Andalas, they were from Seramban, I asked them what was going on they said they were going to the school for a function, but there were BN workers all around in blue BN shirts, support Najib shirts etc, and so I asked, "is it a school function or a Barisan Nasional function," and the well dressed Indian lady in heels and Sari said very excitedly, "yes, yes BN function." Imagine a BN function (political) held during school hours in a primary school, a primary Tamil school in Taman Sri Andalas.

Anybody from BN will know that if Muhyddin had come hoping to get the people of Sri Andalas there to attend his function there would  have been more Barisan flags then people there to greet him, as Sri Andalas is known as "Kubu Pembangkang," it is indeed a PAS/PKR fortress and I am sure he was warned about it too so he got bus loads of MIC members and all the MIC members in Selangor many form Negri, and Perak to join in too.

 There were also vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Education  in the area and at a time this man Muhyiddin is only a caretaker, we probably have to tell him he is now only a big time school jaga and has no authority to use government funds or for facilities especially if it is for campaigning purposes, the next government must actually charge these people personally for these expenses.

A School jaga taking over the school for political purposes during school hours, looks like the Gurus Besar  have lost their  authority to run their schools to UMNO, even Samy Velu never did this.

Elsewhere 

In light of this heavy campaigning by the BN the elections commission seems to be playing along , Najib seems to have told them when they should call the elections, and there is no denying that, no announcement of the date has been made although parliament has already been dissolved, in the past it was almost instant to prevent the opposition form campaigning, now he is taking his time to give Najib his time to finish his work in preparing the electoral list.

Latest reports coming from inside UMNO is, Hishamuddin, Khairy, Nazri, Rais Yatim, and Chuah Soi Lek will not be fielded, and looks like Chua has to submit his papers to the MCA as Ong Tee Keat is to be retained at Pandan - a  slap on the face for the MCA chief. The seat was offered to Chuah to give to his son but he refused he feels the constituency will send his son the the dustbins of Malaysian political history and it is very possible that his son will get no seat too, his son looks a sure loser and the BN can't afford it.

Mahathir is doing a lot behind the scenes, demanding that  Ibrahim Ali be fielded or that UMNO should not contest him if he stands as an independent. The stage is set for Mukhriz to be lined up for the position of Deputy Minister of Home Affairs if the BN wins, that will be the position to give out illegal Identity cards.

The minister of defence is looking quite safe, he seems to have won Najib's confidence he has steered clear of controversy and successfully shielded Najib from the Scorpene inquiry in France. The PM is rather comfortable with Ahmad Zahidi who for now seems to be the most secure of UMNO candidates so far.

Najib's decision to sacrifice Hishamuddin is an attempt to prove to Malaysians that he does not practice nepotism, but of course he is now training his son, and has his brothers holding high offices by virtue of his prime Ministership after all Hisam is only a cousin and he is going to be the sacrificial cow.

Talking about cows, Najib may field the cow lady in Kuala Kangsar, and get Rafidah to support her candidacy, but then if we remember well Rafidah almost lost that seat at the last General Elections.She narrowly won the contest against Khairuddin Abdul Malik of PAS obtainign only 52 percent of the votes cast.

The cow lady  is however vying something more comfortable, she has told Najib that, she claims that being the leader of the Wanita wing she deserves that, but is that what the leader of the the Wanita leader is worth that she knows if she goes to Pantai she will again lose to a little girl so she sends a male bully to bully that little girl instead and asks for a safer seat. Where can she be safe? I'd suggest to Najib to send her to Penang, after all that is her home.

That little girl Nurul Izzah Anwar is no pushover, she has invited Raja Nong Cik to come out and have debate with her, but that man is too much of a coward and  chooses to use money to buy over the voters instead.

The sickness of UMNO money politics has now moved one level lower, it has moved to the extent that now they do not only bribe the party members but the voters - the general public, the electorate, and this is the surest way to bankrupt the country.

Najib's and UMNOs' game is to bankrupt the nation before the elections, then to use taxes to reap everything back from the people if they win, or to blame the opposition of bad governance if they lose.

The GST will be introduced with brutal force so that almost everything we purchase will be subject to tax, you'll be taxed for buying school uniforms, shoes, water purification units, food, and for services too, so you'll be taxed for garbage collection that is you pay over what you are already paying, for water so they do not have to blame the privatised companies, you'll be taxed to kingdon=m come and yet you'll have to pay higher income taxes.


Income tax will be higher for the lower earners, medical treatment will be expensive for everyone, the country will suffer most becuse the cash we earn from agencies like Petronas goes to feed a select few and they are not prepared to give it up, and what is even more disturbing is they are now using Petronas to steal workers savings.

We are heading into hard times very hard times, we'll be worse off than we were in the sixties and all because we have a corrupt and responsible Government, who will even go to the extent of bribing you to win, and why, because there is so much more of corrupt dollars to earn at your expense.

In a just announced move Petronas has upped the suffering MISC shares by 20 sen taking it from RM5.30 to RM5.50 and EPF would be silly to put its money on that ailing Company, Mahathir's dream that went sour.

If this Government had any moral sense at all it should allocate  Petronas shares to EPF and it should be given at an extremely reasonable price as Petronas is after all the peoples Company and not Mahathir's, that way the peoples money will be saved.

This and more is what BN is setting up the stage for,  but a few things for certain, petrol prices are going up after the elections if BN wins, more toll will be collected  and more imposed, electricity tarrifs will be increased, water will go up, more monopolies put in place to enrich the rich and the gap between rich and poor  is to be widened, that is the capitalism of today.

What is even more dangerous with imbeciles like Najib an Noor Yacob to look after our finances we are expected to go down the way of the Greeks, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain, Ireland.

Are we ready for that? Do we really want that?  Or are we going to put a stop to it.

UMNO members who are real nationalists must realise that their party must lose this time around and allow for some cleansing, the young tuks in UMNO whom I have been following believe that too must be done to   allow UMNO to be cleansed to give the people of Malaysia a healthy choice in government.

So what is your choice? 

One vote for BN is two votes for Rosmah Mansor.   

BN today stands for  Bini Najib.

Are you going to vote for Bini Najib? 

Today's Must  Reads: click on the links below.

BN RUNNING SCARED: Not a single credible leader left in the once-mighty coalition 

 What say you now Mahathir?

 

 

The fleet of buses just outside Taman Rakyat  in Sri Andalas Klang

One of the Buses from Melaka

Even a Double Decker

13 Buses mostly from this one Company from Perak

One of the Perak Buses

From Muhyiddin's Home state

Johor Bus

Cameron Highlands

Negeri Sembilan

Langkawi - must have sailed via Port Klang

Government Bus

Ministry of Education MPV

Another Government Bus

From Victoria Institution