| Re-imagine, not reject, Malaysia's Vernacular Schools Posted: 05 Jun 2013 02:31 PM PDT Imagine the children, in weekly language word-study circles, explaining to each other the meaning of the word in their own language.
Imagine the children learning Language Arts and Social Studies exploring the interdisciplinary theme of the language they use at home.
Imagine them translating proverbs from their native language into English, and next illustrating them and next doing class presentations.
Imagine at the end of the year, the children and their parents proudly dressed up in their cultural outfits, singing songs in their native language without being laughed at, sharing food - in a cultural celebration night.
Imagine secondary school students doing their final school project on the meaning of their cultural practices and the relationship to their ethical belief system and how each may teach them to profess universal values of peace and social justice among different races.
Imagine all of them doing a project that analyses the themes of famous cross-cultural movies and using this vehicle to learn the concepts of cultural preservation and continuity.
Imagine, at the community college and university level, when theyhave had enough exposure and appreciation to linguistic and cultural diversity, Malaysians forming cross-cultural dialogue clubs, engaging in multiple literacies and multiple voices fora, interfaith circles of learning, transcultural network of friends and other innovations in multi-cultural social imaginations - so that we may not need communalism anymore as a basis for our national political design.
Imagine, we then have graduate students forming something called 'Malaysian Transcultural Social Democratic Futuristics' political study groups to dismantle all existing parties that have served their time.
What an exploration in a newer human design we may embark upon to create a society based on a transcultural radical-multiculturalist utopianism. It would be a good experiment we may embark upon for the next 50 years so that we may redefine the meaning of 'progress and development', rethink the solution to corruption, and reconfigure the existing and incoming newer Malaysians.
But let us go back to the present Malaysian classroom. READ MORE HERE |
| Concur with these bloggers, AND ... Posted: 05 Jun 2013 02:25 PM PDT The ruthlessness of these cybertroopers that see no issue as taboo has attracted quite the attention. Perhaps, the fact they are mostly Chinese or their published name or nicname on the Facebook sounds Chinese maybe the reason too.
The discussion on RBA has now reached to the stage of whether there should be some tightening on the Internet freedom we are enjoying.
To us the pioneering bloggers, forumers and surfers, we are against it. It is tantamount to censorship and is against the spirit of the establishment of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC).
But, how do we address this highly seditous behaviour and total disregard for the law?
Law and Self Regulation
The News Straits Times published the views of few bloggers yesterday:
Bloggers: Self-regulation better than Internet laws
KUALA LUMPUR, 5 June : The Internet laws imposed in countries like China, Iran and Singapore are too harsh and should not be implemented in Malaysia, say bloggers and media analysts.
They felt that social media users should practise self-regulation and be prepared to face the music should their postings breach the accepted norms of the freedom of speech.
There were also those who felt that the formation of an independent body or institution to curb the emerging trend of social media users openly instigating and promoting hatred and chaos in cyberworld could assist in self-regulation.
Blog House Malaysia adviser Datuk Ahirudin Attan said calls for by certain quarters to monitor and impose Internet laws as practised by China and Iran would be akin to killing an ant with a hammer.
"It would be unfair to the majority of social media users, who use the platform wisely and they shouldn't be punished for the recklessness of a handful few who don't."
Ahirudin, more popularly known as Rocky's Bru, said emulating Singapore, which announced recently that news-based websites would be required to obtain a licence to operate, was also not the best option.
"We are far more advanced in terms of online freedom compared with Singapore and we shouldn't fully follow the laws implemented by our neighbour.
"In the end, it boils down to the individuals themselves who should exercise control over their postings and be ready to face the authorities should they breach it."
The Singapore Media Development Authority (MDA) had announced new rules stipulating that websites that had at least 50,000 unique visitors from the republic state every month and published at least one local news article per week over a period of two months must obtain an annual licence.
Websites granted a licence will have to remove "prohibited content" such as articles that undermine "racial or religious harmony" within 24 hours of being notified by the authorities
Licensed websites will also have to put up S$50,000 (RM123,000) as a "performance bond" that can be forfeited if the regulations are not followed.
This, however, has not gone down well with the online community, which raised, among others, the fear that bloggers would also be required to comply.
Ahirudin, a former journalist and editor, said Malaysia should mull the setting up of an independent body akin to the media council in the United Kingdom.
"The council should be formed with the help of the government and headed by a former media practitioner or someone of stature, like a judge or the head of a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
"It has to run independently and the council will decide on if an offence had been committed."
Ahirudin said once this had been ascertained, it was up to the authorities to mete out the necessary action.
"Restricting the Internet will only make matters worse. The government has to adhere to its promise of not censoring the Internet but come up with other solutions.
"At the same time, we should educate the youngsters and remind the elders that posting such materials online will only put them in trouble."
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's School of Media and Communication senior lecturer, Dr Sabariah Mohamed Salleh, said it was "too harsh" to block social media sites.
"Too many restrictions can make people retaliate. There should be rules and laws to curb this growing problem but, at the same time, I feel that one can never fully control the social media,"
Sabariah questioned how laws similar to those imposed in China, Iran and Singapore could be used to restrict Malaysians living abroad posting slanderous remarks.
"What about those living abroad? They're not in the country, so how are you going to restrict the things they post?"
She, however, felt that Singapore's Internet laws were a good example to follow but stressed that a thorough research had to be carried out to find out the best way to curb users from posting slanderous materials online.
Blogger Helen Ang echoed Ahirudin's sentiment, saying that the onus of accountability fell on the social media user.
"This is becoming a social problem. Defamation will be there, but users must be able to back their postings and be ready to face punishment according to the law should they commit an offence."
Ang also disagreed with following the footsteps of China and Iran in imposing Internet laws.
Blogger Y.L. Chong said it was impossible to impose such rulings.
"It would not be right to benchmark us against China which still struggles to fully contain the materials posted online despite the power-house's resources and manpower.
"Should we review the laws, we should benchmark against the likes of those imposed in the United States and UK so that we can aspire to higher standards,"
Chong also explained that in order to fully monitor and restrict the Internet, the country needed an immense amount of resource and manpower.
"If China can't do it, how can we? Huge volumes are posted daily on social media sites. It will be unthinkable to monitor everything,"
He said social media users must be educated on what they could post and what they shouldn't.
"The same rules and regulations imposed for the mainstream media should be used for the social media."
Datuk Ahirudin Attan says individuals should exercise control over their postings We concur with our fellow bloggers - Dato Ahirudin Attan aka Rocky Bru, Helen Ang and YL Choong. No comment on the non player University lecturer. She is just being theoretical. Yes, let the law takes it's course. The individuals must exercise self control. And, it is near impossible and costly to monitor and control. READ MORE HERE |
| Kisah Safwan Anang Dalam Penjara Sungai Buluh Posted: 05 Jun 2013 12:09 PM PDT Setelah 4 orang diikat jamin, tinggal lah aku seorang diri di dalam lokap mahkamah Duta..kemudian dipindahkan bersama 35 banduan lain yang telah selesai perbicaraan dan akan dibawa kembali ke penjara Sg Buloh. Lokap cukup bising dan ditambah dengan bau yang meloyakan. Aku dilihat seperti orang asing, sorang-sorang datang berjumpa bertanyakan " Kau ni kes apa? Seksyen berapa? ".
Apa yang sudah menjadi kebiasaan banduan ni adalah menghafal seksyen-seksyen yang berkaitan dengan kes mereka. Sorang ni cakap aku 39 (B) (kes dadah), aku ni pulak seksyen 9 (kes senjata api), yang sorang ni pulak seksyen 302 (kes bunuh), seksyen 376 (kes rogol) dan seksyen bla bla bla. Sekali aku pun menjawab, " Aku seksyen 4 Akta Hasutan ". Hah??? Semuanya ternganga mulut bila aku sebut kes yang aku dituduh. Tak pernah dengar pun! Aku hanya mampu tersenyum, nanti lah aku cerita panjang.
Datang sorang brader ni duduk sebelah aku, kepala masih botak licin dan hanya sikit je rambut yang baru tumbuh. (seperti orang baru). Aku beranikan diri bertanyakan soalan kepadanya dulu sebelum dia mula bertanya. "Abang ni baru lagi ke duk lokap penjara? Dia jawab, baru jugak lah. Ni dah hari ke-90. Terkejut aku dibuatnya, hari ke-90 pun masih dikira baru. Tapi aku nak tanye kau satu soalan ni, " Siapa ketua polis negara sekarang ni? Aku dengar-dengar dah tukar..Ya bang, dah tukar. Dulu Ismail Omar, sekarang Khalid Abu Bakar. Brader tu seolah-olah terkejut dan mengeluh, "Alamak, susah la aku macam ni.." (Agaknya brader tu tahu macam mana perangai KPN baru kot) Soalan kedua yang ditanya, PRU13 baru ni sape menang ye? lagi terkejut aku dibuatnya. (dan baru aku tahu betapa sengsaranya banduan, berita luar langsung tak tahu).
Datang pulak sorang brader terus menunjukkan lagak sebagai orang lama, dan kononnya niat hanya membantu. " Kau ni masuk dalam penjara nanti, kau duduk la dengan kami..selamat sikit kau ni, kalau tak nanti kau kena buli..(dalam hati, boleh percaya ke mamat ni) Aku jawab, ok ok.. Kau ada duit tak? Nanti nak beli rokok ke, roti ke, air minuman ke, aku boleh tolong dapatkan..Nah, aku dah agak tu point sebenarnya. Aku hanya tersengih dan jawab, " Mana ada duit bang, dalam dompet ni ada la dua ringgit..aku dah agak diorang ni memang nak "pau" duit.
Lepas aku kena, yang lain pun turut kena "pau". Ada yang bagi dan ada yang tak bagi. Lepas diorang dapat duit tu, diorang gulung jadi kecik dan diorang bungkus ketat-ketat dalam cebisan plastik roti Gardenia supaya betul-betul mampat. Kemudian (aku terpaksa cerita realiti), salah seorang dari banduan memasukkan apa yang di istilahkan di penjara sebagai "roket" ke dalam dubur. Itulah yang dinamakan proses penyeludupan di penjara. Hanya mahkamah tempat mereka boleh seludup, kalau penjara terlalu sukar. Sebab itu ramai dari banduan ternanti-nanti sekiranya mereka akan dibawa ke mahkamah, ia boleh diibaratkan sebuah percutian setelah lama merengkok di Sg Buloh.
Dan mereka akan menggunakan duit tersebut untuk berurusan di penjara kelak. Aku dapat mengagak sebab pernah dengar cerita-cerita sebelum ni. Kali ni aku lihat dengan mata kepala sendiri! Apalah nasib aku nanti kat penjara, dalam lokap mahkamah pun dah jadi macam-macam. Hampir jam 4 petang, aku masih belum solat zohor dek kerana urusan yang terlampau birokrasi. Aku buat keputusan, biarlah aku solat dalam lokap ni sahaja walaupun berbau air kencing yang teramat sangat. Perangai banduan, faham saja lah bagaimana. Aku ambil wudhu dan terus ambil penjuru hujung lokap yang padat dengan banduan. Sejurus aku mengangkat takbir, seorang konstabel polis menjerit, " Nanti !!. ni ambik sejadah ". Mujurlah, aku ingatkan masih tak dibenarkan solat tadi.
Usai aku solat, rupanya 4 ke 5 orang sedang menantikan aku habis solat untuk bergilir-gilir menunaikan solat Zohor kerana waktu sudah hampir tamat. Dalam hati terdetik, alhamdulillah..satu dakwah aku buat mereka..aku mulakan, dan mereka terus mengikut…
Hampir jam 5 petang barulah selesai semua urusan di mahkamah..dan aku dengan 35 banduan disumbat-sumbat sehingga muat ke dalam black maria untuk dibawa ke penjara Sg Buloh. Semua terpaksa berhimpit-himpit dengan gari yang berantai. Kesian betul aku pada seorang banduan yang aku rasa sudah warga emas (kantoi kes dadah) terpaksa berhimpit dan kadang-kadang aku tengok sehingga sesak nafas. Inilah nasib banduan rupanya.
Kami diiringi dua kereta peronda polis dan aku agak hanya lebih kurang 30 minit kami sudah tiba di penjara Sg Buloh.(memandangkan aku selalu ulang-alik ke rumah isteriku di Sg Buloh) Mana tidaknya, kami semua dah macam ikan sardin disumbat dalam black maria dan di bawa pecut laju semahunya. Tak kira lubang jalan ke, selekoh ke redah saja. Nasib kami aku lah. Aku hanya mampu berzikir dalam hati "cukuplah Allah sebaik-baik pelindung".
Sesampainya kami di Penjara Sg Buloh, semua bergegas turun. Kedengaran laungan dari jauh, " Wei, cepatlah sikit ". Brader sebelah aku cakap, " Ha, cikgu sudah datang ". Baru aku tahu. Oh itulah istilah mereka untuk pegawai penjara. Mereka semua dipanggil 'Cikgu'. Dan ada yang satu lagi dipanggil U.K.P. (nanti aku cerita) Mereka ini lagi digeruni daripada cikgu-cikgu.
Kami semua diminta beratur dihadapan sebuah pintu besi yang berwarna hijau. Semua banduan baru termasuk aku hanya diam membisu menantikan apa yang ada di sebalik pintu besi ini. Kemudian kami diminta masuk dengan pantas setelah pintu dibuka. Aku agak pintu itu setebal 6 ke 7 inci tebalnya. Cukup kukuh dan menggerunkan! Bermulalah kehidupan aku di penjara Sg Buloh… Read more at: Bahagian 2: http://wasiatpejuang.blogspot.com/2013/06/kisah-safwan-anang-dalam-penjara-sungai.html?m=1 Bahagian 3: http://wasiatpejuang.blogspot.com/2013/06/realiti-seorang-banduan-di-penjara-sg.html?m=1 |
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