Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Stop The Intimidation of Academics
- Blockade Update
- Response to “PPSMI – an Opposing View”
- Chua, arrogantly shameless and unethical
| Stop The Intimidation of Academics Posted: 19 Oct 2011 03:36 PM PDT By Tony Pua It is extremely disturbing that academic Professor Dr Aziz Bari has been subjected to rapid fire intimidation by the Malaysia Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), followed by the Royal Malaysian Police and now asked to show cause by the Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA). All the above over-the-top action was a result of Dr Aziz having expressed his learned opinion of the Malaysian Constitution and its laws, which is his area of expertise. We are not in agreement with the opinions expressed by Dr Aziz all of the time, but we believe that everyone, what more academics in the relevant fields of study, must have the right to voice their views on all matters relating to the Constitution. After all, Malaysia is a country founded on the rule of law, and not one which is enslaved to an absolute authority. The actions by the Government and University authorities will only prove that there is little room for academic freedom in our tertiary institutions, and that the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA) is used as the tool to ensure rigid conformity among the academics and the students. The recent release of the Times Higher Education (THE) 400 Top World University Ranking 2011/12, where not a single Malaysian university is included has shown the dire circumstances of our local universities. On the other hand, only 1 university, Universiti Malaya out of more than 50 universities in Malaysia made it into the QS 200 World University Rankings 2011/12, and that is because the "high impact research and citations" criteria is much lower than that of THE methodology. In contrast, 60 Asian Universities made it into the THE 400 Top World University Ranking, with 16 from Japan, 10 from China, eight from Taiwan, seven from South Korea, six from Hong Kong, two from Singapore, and one each from India and Thailand. The poor quality of our universities is a clear outcome from the fact that top Malaysian academics are turned off by the way Malaysian universities are managed, and often prefer to migrate to top universities in the region and the world to pursue their academic career. As a result, our Malaysian students face the double whammy of not only having weaker academics as their lecturers and tutors, they are prevented from exercising their critical thinking and analytical faculties as a result of the restrictive UUCA. In the interest of arresting the decline in standards of our universities, we call upon the authorities to stop applying undue pressure on Malaysian academics from speaking their minds. The MCMC and police should immediately withdraw their attempt to harass Dr Aziz Bari for merely providing his opinions of the law. At the same time, UIA must withdraw their show cause letter which has added credence to the common perception that university authorities in Malaysia lacks independence and serves merely as a cat's paw for the ruling party to suppress dissenting opinions. Tony Pua |
| Posted: 19 Oct 2011 11:39 AM PDT By Bruno Manser Fonds Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, we have today received further information from the blockading Penan communities in Middle Baram, Sarawak: - According to community representatives from Long Item, Long Kawi and Ba Abang, the Malaysian police have announced they will send five trucks to the blockade site tomorrow. Currently, the blockade is manned by over 50 Penan tribespeople - men and women - who are defending their native rainforests against further logging by Interhill. - Thanks to the information received, we have been able to draw a map. It shows that the blockade is situated at the boundary of the Penan's native customary rights land claimed in a court case in December 2009. The blockade site is near the Ba Baunau river not far from Interhill's Ba Kabeng logging camp. - The Bruno Manser Fund is asking the French Accor group to pressure Interhill for a peaceful solution of the conflict. In particular, no police action should be taken against the Penan communities and no gangsters should be employed by the logging companies Interhill and Samling (which has been the case in earlier blockades in the same region). - The Bruno Manser Fund also asks Accor to press for a review of the September 2009 action plan, in which Interhill committed to 25 social and environmental measures. In particular, Intehrill should refrain from any further logging in the Penan communities' claimed native customary rights land. - The Sarawak and Sabah High Court in Miri is asked to deal urgently with the native customary rights cases filed by the Penan communities in Baram in December 2009 (Pania Irang vs. Damai Cove resorts and Pada Jutang vs. Damai Cove resorts). It is a scandal that out of seven Penan land rights litigations cases filed since 1998, none has reached the stage of trial yet. - The Sarawak government and, in particular, Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, is asked to stop the destruction of the rainforests in the Penan areas. Taib Mahmud, whose brother Onn holds a monopoly over all timber exports from Sarawak, is personally responsible for the ongoing destruction of the Borneo rainforest in Sarawak. - State assemblyman for Telang Usan, Dennis Ngau, and Baram MP, Jacob Sagan, are asked to support the Penan communities' emergency action instead of siding with the ruthless exploiters of the native lands in Baram. Please find a map of the blockade site attached. For all further information on the issue, please consult the "resources" section of the Stop Interhill campaign site: http://stop-interhill.com/resources/ Thank you for reporting on this important issue. Your BMF team |
| Response to “PPSMI – an Opposing View” Posted: 19 Oct 2011 11:33 AM PDT By AsamLaksa PPSMI is a political issue whether you are pro or against. Both sides fell into this political trap. I can only shake my head in despair because nothing substantial is achieved whether you have PPSMI or not when the fundamentals of education is not addressed. Even if PPSMI returns it will be sitting on a time bomb because it is a political issue and can change at any time when sentiments shift. There is no security as you have already seen. On the other hand, a well-developed culture of teaching and learning along the lines of critical thinking instead of rote learning is a better guarantee of educational excellence.Dear Feizrul, This is in response to your letter: http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/letterssurat/44246-ppsmi-an-opposing-view I think you just barely scratched the surface but did not go deep enough. Perhaps you need to explore the issues wider. This letter is adding on to what I have already said about my opposition to PPSMI in previous postings in MT. As a start, my background is of middle class urbanite educated in BM medium in a La Salle brother's school. I speak mainly English at home. Yet I am anti-PPSMI. I think PAGE is barking up the wrong tree like you too. I am an Atheist and non-Malay. I graduated from a foreign English language dominant country. Thus I have no cultural or political motivation to preserve the supremacy of BM. I am in agreement on the supremacy of English as an international medium and I can only stress on the importance of developing English language skills. But PPSMI is a different fish altogether! I am against PPSMI from the start. After implementation of PPSMI I was against its repeal not because I think PPSMI is good but because flip-flopping causes more harm. I would prefer the PPSMI cohort complete their prescribed duration. But now with PPSMI repealed I do not want it back because on its own without real advances in education standard and delivery it is useless and I don't want another traumatic flip-flop. I keep on saying that if you want pupils to master English then teach them English well. My parents understood the importance of the English language and I was encouraged to read and write in English. In my late primary school years they sent me to an English tuition class at a neighbour's who was an old-school English teacher who had strong passion for English and the lessons were not exam targeted. I think she accepted me as a tutee as simply being neighbourly. There were just two of us in a class. We had games and I was writing essays for fun. Being a naughty boy, I used to invent ridiculous themes in the making sentences exercises but my tutor took it in her stride to laugh along. It was the best tuition I ever had. I will follow this example when I have children. I also have better Malay language skills than my peers. I was the odd one who would opt for cerpen in exams though I must add that during the SPM exams the cerpen topic was unimaginative so I ditched it. I enjoy reading sastera Melayu and I deplore the lack of good Malay books. When I did the SAT, I came across English mathematical terms that I have never come across but I translate them into Malay terms and scored full 800. Malay was no barrier in learning maths as long as I have strong maths fundamentals. Same goes with science because the principles don't change just the terminology, which I learned on my own. Learning science and maths in BM has not disadvantaged me in science and maths and these are my stronger subjects. I do not think language is an issue with science and maths. I knew many Chinese stream students who struggled with English yet do very well in English medium courses. I have no qualms if they want to teach science and maths in Mandarin, Tamil, BM or whatever language as long as they teach the students the medium of instruction well including instilling a passion for the language because proficiency in languages is a lifelong learning process. My experience of studying science and maths in Malaysia in the late 80s and early 90s is one of disappointment. The syllabus and the delivery were uninspiring. They do not prepare me for what is out there. For example I was taught how to carry out science experiments but never taught what the scientific method was. I was made to carry out research topics but the teachers were ill-equipped in assessing research. If I had it my way, I would revamp science and maths teaching regardless of the argument of medium of instruction which is an unneeded distraction. I would start with teacher training. Many parents in Malaysia are gripped by insecurity and fear for the future of their children. There is a strong feeling of distrust against the authorities. This is what you are facing, Feizrul. PPSMI appears like a lifeline so they grab at it but it is a false promise and no panacea. It is not even worth arguing over. You can't easily fight fear and insecurity. There is a body of opinion for parents and students to decide which medium of instruction they prefer for science and maths but I think why just stop there? Why not fight for geography, history, and the rest to be taught in different mother tongues? The lack of a call for this does not give me confidence in the pro-choice group as I think they have not fully understood the underlying issue of poor education standards and delivery which will not be addressed with purely language choices. PPSMI is a political issue whether you are pro or against. Both sides fell into this political trap. I can only shake my head in despair because nothing substantial is achieved whether you have PPSMI or not when the fundamentals of education is not addressed. Even if PPSMI returns it will be sitting on a time bomb because it is a political issue and can change at any time when sentiments shift. There is no security as you have already seen. On the other hand, a well-developed culture of teaching and learning along the lines of critical thinking instead of rote learning is a better guarantee of educational excellence. I am disappointed with Malaysians in not coming together in figuring out what is really lacking with education in Malaysia. Both for and against PPSMI want the same thing, a brighter future for their children. Instead of putting pressure on the government to revamp the education system, you have let them off easily by fighting among yourself. BN special sauce of divide and rule all over again pitting the majority Malay against the rest. I have no illusion of Dr M's beneficence in creating PPSMI. Those who can afford it are already laughing all the way to the bank knowing that the future of their children is secured. If I have children I won't bother screaming for PPSMI. Instead I would encourage them to develop a good language skills, depending on where I live it may be English, BM, etc. I would also make them understand the fundamentals of scientific method, critical thinking, encourage them to explore various subjects and teach them how to debate. These are the tasks that I will not entrust to anyone else. I can only call on all Malaysians to come together to see this PPSMI political ploy as it is, leave all politics aside and push for real change by rallying behind serious academic educators, not politicians or lobby groups, to find a solution to the problem of falling education standards. You have your children's future in your hands and you should aim for real benefits. Anyway, who am I kidding? Malaysians to a fault are overly passionate and time and time again fail to look past this to really see what the problem is. I strongly empathise with RPK on this. Sigh! |
| Chua, arrogantly shameless and unethical Posted: 19 Oct 2011 11:29 AM PDT By Jackson Ng I READ with disgust the MCA's mouthpiece (The Star) report quoting its master, Dr Chua Soi Lek, as saying that gutter politics is the norm today. How arrogantly shameless and unethical can a politician be? Chua must be the pits. In so saying, is he propagating gutter politics, condoning and justifying the use of such unethical means? How low can a MCA president go to boot lick political goons like Umno? Chua is a total disgrace and a shame to the Chinese. As he tries to justify the use of gutter politics against Lim Guan Eng's son, he is, at the same time, ignoring the basic rule of upholding the truth. Chua says he was also a victim of gutter politics when he was "nabbed" committing adultery. He also claims that many BN politicians were also victims of gutter politics, inflicted by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR). Let's not forget that many of such gutter politics are the work of internal forces. However, in Guan Eng's case, there appears to be no truth in the allegations that his son molested a schoolmate. The school head has already confirmed that there was no such molest and the postings in the pro-Umno blogs had also used a picture of a foreign girl as the "victim". In this case, there is no truth whatsoever in the allegations. It was lies used against a political opponent but lies that haunt an innocent schoolboy who did nothing. He was just born to a politician named Lim Guan Eng. However, in Chua's DVD unnatural sex expose, the incident was real. He cheated on his wife and only has himself to blame. How his sexual exploits were exposed, whether it was ethical or unethical is debatable and is another matter. Of course there are some who say it is a private matter and the use of spy camera is unethical. However, I beg to differ when it is a morality issue concerning a man who claims to represent a community. There is nothing private about the behaviour of a MCA president. Without doubt, I for one will not trust an adulterer to lead me or my community. If he can cheat on his wife and family, do you think you can trust him to represent your interest? Like what I had written before, forgiving Chua's s |
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