Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts (Part 5 of 5)
- Much ado about PJ’s mayor: Another case for local council elections
- Freedom or Fanaticism?
- Exposed: Federal Govt is Umno propaganda unit
| The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts (Part 5 of 5) Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:49 PM PDT The greatest weakness of this reform effort is its exclusive dependence on in-house or MOE staff, the very personnel responsible for the current rot with our schools. These individuals have been part of the problem for far too long; they cannot now be expected suddenly and magically to be part of the solution. That would take an exceptional ability to be flexible, innovative, and have the willingness or at least capacity to learn. Those are the very traits not valued in or associated with our civil service. The Blueprint's local consultants included Air Asia's Tony Fernandez, Khazanah's Azman Mokthar, and Sunway's Jeffrey Cheah, presumably representing the three major communities. These individuals are terribly busy. Unless they took time off from their considerable corporate responsibilities, they could not possibly do justice to this important national assignment. The international consultants were equally impressive. Again here I wonder how much time they actually spent talking to teachers, students and headmasters. Another significant flaw is this: With the possible exception of the Canadian, the others are from systems not burdened with the Malaysian dilemma of low educational achievements identifiable with specific ethnic or geographical groups. In Ontario, Canada, only the Toronto School System which is separate from the provincial has significant experience with the "Malaysian" problem. The Canadian is with the provincial system. Many of those impressive consultants were conspicuously absent during the many public sessions leading one to conclude that they were more window dressing. As for the public meetings, there were few formal or well thought-out presentations. Far too often those meetings quickly degenerated into "bitch" sessions, or to put it into local lingo, cakap kosong kopi-o (coffee shop empty talk), with a few vociferous and frustrated individuals hogging the discussions. Worse, there were no records of those hearings for preview, except for those amateurish low-quality recordings posted on Youtube. Consequently, opportunities for learning from those sessions were minimal. The reform has its own website (myedureview.com) and uses the social media (Facebook and Twitter) extensively. Those dialogues in cyberspace were no better; the comments were un-moderated and simply the spouting of anger and frustrations. As for the few serious ones, the panel never engaged their contributors. The cyber forums, like the public hearings, gave few insights; the signal-to-noise ratio was low. There was no shortage of passion and strong views, reflecting the angst Malaysians have of their school system. A Superior Approach There is a better approach. To begin with, dispense with the current or past personnel of MOE; they are or have been part of the problem. Consider that the most consequential reform in medical education, The Flexner Report of 1910 was produced not by a doctor or even an educator but an insurance salesman! It still is the foundation of modern American medical education. In Malaysia, the Razak Report of 1956 transformed Malaysian education, yet its author was no educator or teacher. The only qualification I seek in those undertaking reform would be a respectable education (meaning, they have earned rather than bought their degrees), a proven record of success in any endeavor, and the necessary commitment, especially time, intellect, and energy. Meaning, these individuals would have to take a sabbatical from their regular duties. I would have no more than five members, with one designated as leader. Then I would give them a generous budget to hire the best independent professional staff, from clerks to answer the phones efficiently to IT personnel to design and maintain an effective website, to scholars, statisticians and data analysts. The budget should also provide for travel to visit exemplary school systems elsewhere. I would also have those panelists spend most of their time talking to students, parents and teachers rather than ministry officials. The panel should also have sufficient resources to hire consultants from countries with demonstrably superior school systems. I would choose two in particular – Finland and America. Both have sufficient experiences in dealing with children of marginalized communities; Finland with its new immigrants, America its minorities. Yes, American public schools do not enjoy favorable reputation but there are islands of excellence for us to emulate. I would avoid consultants from Korea and other East Asian countries for at least two reasons. One, they are ethnically and culturally homogenous; they have no experience dealing with diverse groups; the Malaysian dilemma is alien to them. For another, while the Koreans regularly excel in international comparisons, they do not think highly of their own cram-school-plagued system. Those who can, avoid it. I would also look beyond the advanced countries to, for example Mexico for its Progressa Program, and Rwanda with its ambitious and highly successful One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) scheme. If poor Rwanda could have such an imaginative initiative, Malaysia could do even more. Rwanda demonstrates that an enlightened government approach could actually bring down prices. Rwanda's computers cost under RM500 per unit! It could do that because the program is under the management of competent and honest foreign experts, not local inertia-laden bureaucrats and corrupt politicians on the take. Rwandan leaders are self confident and fully aware that they lack local expertise; they are not hesitant in calling in foreigners and do not worry about being "neo-colonized" or whatever. Rwanda offers many other useful lessons. Foremost is that children from even the most physically and socially challenged environments could leapfrog the technological gap. That is pertinent for our children in Ulu Kelantan and Interior Sarawak. For another, reform in the classrooms spills into the wider community, spurring further reforms and developments there. Those Rwandan children dragged along their parents and grandparents into the digital age. Those elders are now open to the wider world; consequently they demand more of their leaders, like their villages having electricity so they could use their computers longer. They view those machines as agents of liberation and emancipation; now they can find out the price of the commodities they sell and the goods they buy directly from the market instead of being captive to the middlemen. The only time I would call for ministry's input is to have the staff enumerate the problems and challenges faced under the current system. This would also show whether they are indeed aware of those problems and whether their assessments match those of parents. I would arrange the public participation component differently and also encourage input from all, individuals as well as groups. The initial submissions however, would have to be in writing. That would force presenters to think through their ideas. For groups I would stipulate that their report be accompanied by an attestation that it had been endorsed by their executive committees or general membership. All submissions would be in Malay or English, with a translation in the other language. For those exceeding 300 words there would have to be an accompanying executive summary not more than 200 words, again in both languages. All these submissions would be posted on the panel's website, with readers free to post their comments. Those comments as well as the original submissions would have to be edited (again by the panel's professional staff) for clarity, brevity and accuracy, as well as to avoid embarrassing grammatical and spelling errors. That would lend some gravitas to the website as well as provide useful learning opportunities for those who surf it. The website as well as other media outlets must reflect the professionalism and excellence of the reform effort. One does not get this impression now on reading the Blueprint or perusing the reform's website. The panel would then select from those submissions the few that are worthy for further exploration in an open public hearing. The purpose of those structured open hearings is to give the panel opportunities to elucidate greater details from the submitters, and for them to expand on their ideas. Those hearings are not meant to hear from new or on-the-spur commentators. Such a scheme would effectively cut out the grandstanders. Again, those proceedings, their transcripts as well as the video and audio recordings, would be posted on the website. Only after all the public hearings have been completed would the panel gather to write their final recommendations, with freedom for each member to produce his or her own separate or dissenting comment. That is the only way to be credible. The current process produces nothing more than a sanitized press release of MOE, embellished with the imprimaturs of those impressive corporate and international consultants.
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| Much ado about PJ’s mayor: Another case for local council elections Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:38 PM PDT ON 1 Oct 2012, Petaling Jaya mayor Datuk Mohamad Roslan Sakiman was transferred out of his post to a new post by the Public Services Department (PSD) without warning. A day later, the Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim ordered the mayor to stay put. On 3 Oct, the PSD agreed to postpone the transfer to 1 Dec, but said that the transfer was agreed to by the Selangor government. On 4 Oct, the Selangor government responded by saying that while there had been a discussion on the appointment of officers, no agreement had been reached on the subject. The state government insisted that the position of mayor is the prerogative of the state authority and not the PSD. Both sides have not budged from their position. When 1 Dec comes, who shall Mohamad Roslan obey? And what are the long-term solutions if such transfers were to be repeated in the future? Legality Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) councillor Derek Fernandez has rightly pointed out that Section 10 of the Local Government Act 1976 allows the state authority the sole and exclusive power to determine the mayor's tenure. "PSD cannot override a statutory appointment. So, he has to report for duty and perform his function as a mayor," said Fernandez, as reported in The Star. What Fernandez failed to mention however, is that the PSD also has the jurisdiction to direct where their officers serve. In the event there is a conflict of orders, who should Mohamad Roslan obey? Indeed, as an officer who draws his salary from the federal government and with a pension programme to look forward to when he retires, it would seem unlikely that Mohamad Roslan would even dare disobey the PSD. All this could be resolved if the state government would just appoint a politician to the post of mayor, as nothing in the Local Government Act stipulates that the mayor must be a PSD officer to begin with. So why is the state authority fighting so hard to keep Mohamad Roslan on the job? Blame game An excuse often used by the Pakatan Rakyat government when the MBPJ does not perform its duties properly is that they are being internally sabotaged by their own officers.
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| Posted: 14 Oct 2012 02:08 PM PDT Violence is fueled by ignorance. And ignorance about "human rights' as much as ignorance about Islam (not to mention Christianity) is rife in the Western mass media. Fundamentalist secularists, paradoxically joined by some American fundamentalist preachers, can only see the issue as one of "freedom of speech". In a pluralist society people have the right to make movies and print cartoons which other people may find offensive. No subject should be taboo. But the most difficult decisions we make are not about right and wrong, but choosing between competing rights. Error has its right of expression, but every person, including the dead, has the right not to be misrepresented or vilified. Laws against libel and slander recognize this in every civilized society. And publicly insulting those who cannot answer us back (especially the dead, children, the mentally disabled, and those in other societies) is the hallmark of the coward. Those who replace debate with insults are every bit as fanatical as those who resort to violence instead of counter-argument. The language of "tolerance" is selectively applied in the US and Europe today. Anti-Islamic rhetoric is tolerated, but not anti-Gay rhetoric, for example. Indeed, anybody even expressing a personal opinion that he or she believes that homosexual acts are expressions of a disordered sexuality are hounded out of a job or refused an opportunity to express their views in the media an even in academic fora. As for anybody who expresses mockery at blacks or women, there is no way he can run for public office. The media outrage will be deafening. Why, then this self-righteous hypocrisy when it come to hate speech against Muslims or Christians? (Jews in the US, being the benefactors of many universities and owners of media cannot, of course, be touched) Furthermore, one can enjoy a right and yet choose not to exercise it. Wise newspaper editors do this all the time. Some article, cartoon or photograph may not be in the public interest, or run counter to the paper's own views, or fan the flames of social conflict by exposing a particularly vulnerable community to derision and contempt. And that is the position many Muslims find themselves in, especially in the US and parts of Western Europe, after Sept 11 2001. At the height of the controversy about the Danish cartoons a few years ago, a Danish woman theologian, Lissi Rasmussen, wrote: "The fact that almost on a daily basis the media portray one-sided, negative stories about immigrants in general and Muslims in particular (reproduced by politicians and by public opinion), affects the Muslim minorities who feel unwanted, insecure and unconfident. This may lead to detachment also among well-educated, second-generation immigrants and become an excuse for avoiding responsibility. It has resulted in an ingrained mistrust of the media and political processes, a lack of interest to integrate into the Danish society and taken away the energy to reflect critically and contextually on Islam."
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| Exposed: Federal Govt is Umno propaganda unit Posted: 14 Oct 2012 01:46 PM PDT A propaganda booklet produced by the Federal Government exposed by Malaysiakini on Saturday provides further evidence of how Umno politicians and civil servants use taxpayer funds and facilities to serve their own personal and party ends. Called Panduan Penjelasan Isu Semasa, or a guidebook to current affairs, it was produced by JASA (Jabatan Hal Ehwal Khas) or "Special Affairs Department" — in political terms, that usually means "dirty tricks department".  JASA kotor – the anti-Bersih campaign The Bersih public rally for electoral reforms are attacked in one chapter with a headline that repeats a slogan used by the Information Minister Rais Yatim at the time the rally was held. Even though the guidebook is an official federal publication, and bears the federation coat-of-arms, it makes no attempt to keep the federal government out of party politics, In fact, it explicitly names Pakatan Rakyat, Anwar Ibrahim, and the Pakatan's policy document Buku Jingga, as targets of criticism. The explanation for Bersih't its objectives are a blatant Umno attack on Pakatan Rakyat — not unsurprising, but the documents is an official federal government publication. It bears the federation coat-of-arms, and the taxpayer (among whom are DAP, PAS and PKR members as well as ordinary civilians) has every right to expect his government to show neutrality in the tussle between parties. But Umno long ago abandoned any principles it may have had (if ever). For example, western political philosophies are highlighted for criticism — and no wonder, because civil service neutrality is one of the basic principles of parliamentary democracy. Malaysiakini editor Fathi Aris Omar wrote on Saturday that the recent propaganda attacks on Malaysiakini by the government and Umno politician had been part of the campaign outlined in the information ministry guidebook. International financier and philanthropist George Soros, his alleged links to Zionism, and his links to Anwar Ibrahim were specifically mentioned in the guidebook.  Umno dirty tricks by the Information Ministry Fuad was a two-term Selangor assemblyman for Hulu Kelang until defeated in 1999 by PKR's Azmin Ali, now deputy president of the party. The guidebook is nothing more than an propaganda booklet, produced by federal government civil servants using public funds, to get civil servants and the public to follow the current thinking of Umno polticians. Besides having produced the guidebook, JASA also held an exhibition at Umno Kuala Pilah's delegates meeting on Sept 22 — the division is headed by Umno's information chief Ahmad Maslan, who is a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.  Federal government Information Ministry or Umno propaganda division? Read more at: http://uppercaise.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/exposed-federal-govt-is-umno-propaganda-unit/
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