Karpal to govt: ‘Be compassionate, host Dr Shaariibuu’

14 Feb, 10 4:36pm | Malaysiakini

A tenth of the remains of the murdered Altantuya Shaariibuu were taken on Nov 17, 2006, back to her native Mongolia by her father Dr Shaariibuu Setev for purposes of her burial rites.

It is time, said lawyer Karpal Singh, that the government – on compassionate grounds – host Dr Shaariibuu once more so that he can collect the remaining 90 percent of Altantuya’s remains and complete the last rites in Mongolia to appease her soul.

In a statement, the DAP leader said the Honorary Consul-General of Mongolia in Malaysia Syed Abdul Rahman Al Habshi was informed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers that Altantuya’s remains could be released for the purpose of burial in Mongolia.

Following an enquiry from the Mongolian government, Syed Abdul Rahman had written to Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan asking for the Malaysian government and the Royal Malaysian Police Force to foot the bill for Shaariibuu and a representative’s journey to Malaysia for that purpose.

This enquiry by the foreign and justice ministries of Mongolia arose out of the conviction and sentence to death of chief inspector Azilah Hadri and corporal Sirul Azhar Umar in April, 2009, said Karpal, who said a copy of the request relayed through Syed Abdul Rahman was extended to Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail .

Since Syed Abdul Rahman’s letter dated Nov 26, 2009, however, there has been no reply from either Musa or Abdul Gani, said Karpal.

Appeasing her spirit

Reiterating the request, Karpal said: The expenses incurred by Dr Shaaribuu and the representative for the purpose of coming to Malaysia to collect Altantuya’s bone fragments will not exceed RM20,000.

I cannot understand why, on compassionate grounds, the request made by the foreign and justice ministries of Mongolia cannot be favourably considered.

The government should not forget that Altantuya met her horrendous death by being blown up by C4 explosives by police personnel while she was in Malaysia. The least that the government can do is to bear the expenses requested, said Karpal.

In the event that the government is unwilling to bear the expenses, Karpal said he would be forced to seek public funds on compassionate grounds to bring and accommodate Dr Shaaribuu in Malaysia to collect his daughters remains.

Until her burial has been completed with the last fragments of her bones, said Karpal, her spirit will not be appeased.

Public interest demands that Malaysia show compassion, he added.

Justice delayed

On a related matter, Karpal criticised the judiciary’s delay in expediting the appeals of Azilah and Sirul Azhar against the death sentence ruled on them by the Shah Alam High court in April last year.

Given chief justice Zaki Azmi’s crusade against delays in the finalisation of trials and appeals in other matters, Karpal said there appears to be an exemption in the Altantuya murder appeal.

Having regard to the international spotlight on the issue, I wold have thought every effort would be made to speed up the appeal (of Azilah and Sirul Azhar) so that the adverse impact on the country could be minimised, and with the spirit of Altantuya being appeased.

The murder trial received overwhelming attention after a close aide of Prime Minister Abdul Razak – Abdul Razak Baginda – was charged with abetting Azilah and Sirul Azhar.

He was, however, later acquitted, and walk out a free man after the court found that the prosecution had failed to furnish adequate proof of conspiracy.

The court’s failure to address the issue of motive, among others, has sparked speculation that greater powers were involved in the case.

Najib has repeatedly denied having any links with the matter.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 14 February 2010, 7:05 pm and is filed under
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Umno’s Chinese whispers — The Malaysian Insider

The Malaysian Insider

FEB 13 — Today is the day Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should learn former US president, Ronald Reagan’s favourite phrase: “Trust, but Verify”.

If he had learnt the phrase before today, the deputy prime minister would not look silly for castigating the Penang government which he alleged had cancelled the annual Maulidur Rasul procession.

He accused the Pakatan Rakyat government led by Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng of not supporting the aspirations of Muslims.

All this based on a report by the Umno-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia.

In other words, Muhyiddin appeared irresponsible for stoking racial and religious tension when talking about the apparent cancellation of the Maulidur Rasul procession in Penang, where Malays have been complaining about being sidelined.

The responsible thing to do would have been to double check with the Penang state government and not rely on what is reported by Utusan Malaysia, which has stretched its credibility in the past when reporting about Umno’s political foes.

To paraphrase Reagan, trust, but verify.

It is no good to parrot what Utusan said without checking. Then it becomes a game of Chinese whispers, which has been an ongoing past-time in Penang where even the lawful enforcement against illegal hawkers is turned into a racial issue.

After all, Muhyiddin is a national leader, not a petty politician trying to break into the big time by grabbing attention where possible. Even former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a Penang son himself, weighed in on the matter based on the erroneous Utusan report.

National leaders have to be statesmen and above the fray. They have to carefully consider what they say or do because even an involuntary nod of the head or the wave of hand could signify something to their followers. All the more so when it comes to matters of faith in a country treading gingerly over the ‘Allah’ ruling.

Someone who wants to lead Malaysia one day must avoid the temptation of playing the race or religious card, be it behind closed doors or out in the open, especially in issues which Umno leaders have always deemed ‘sensitive’.

Muhyiddin must know this.

His words and actions, even when slamming his political foes based on an unverified Utusan Malaysia report, will add credence to cynics who wonder if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia has the full support of his own administration.

Trust, but verify. Reagan practised it well and was a popular US president. Muhyiddin would be wise to follow the dictum.

                This entry was posted on Sunday, 14 February 2010, 7:03 pm and is filed under
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New land policy for Orang Asli: boon or bane?

By
Yip Ai Tsin | Feb 14, 10 2:56pm | Malaysiakini

A new land policy purported to be a boon for the 150,000-strong Orang Asli community has all but been received as good news, given the many questions surrounding the announcement, said activists.

Unless further details are forthcoming from the government, the policy announced by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin last December may even undermine the rights and interests of the Orang Asli, they alleged.

On Dec 4 last year, Muhyiddin announced that some 20,000 Orang Asli families will be given by state governments freehold land titles for residential use and for oil palm, rubber and other crop cultivation under an agreement between the government and developers.

The number made up 72 per cent of the total of 27,841 Orang Asli families and involve 50,563.51 hectares of land in Peninsular Malaysia, said Muhyiddin according to reports.

The size of the land for each family would range between two to six hectares for farming and 5,000 sq feet to one tenth of a hectare for housing, depending on what the state governments can afford, Muhyiddin said further.

At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur organised by the Bar Council recently, Orang Asli activists said the policy raised more questions than answers.

For one thing, asked the council’s Orang Asli Affairs Committee head Augustine Anthony, how is the plan expected to improve the lot of Orang Aslis when it envisages them to be paying for the costs – such as surveying costs, premiums, registration, and “other payments advanced by the developers” – of the land ‘granted’ to them?

The reception of the freehold land titles, said Anthony, may result in the Orang Asli families concerned incurring debts of up to thousands of ringgit as a result of the developers’ initial outlays on the land.

“The methods of financing have not been discussed and revealed in depth,” said Anthony, and these must be ironed out and explained to the Orang Asli in detail before any deals are cut.

Another question raised by Muhyiddin’s announcement is the effect of the policy on the Orang Aslis’ communal traditions of land ownership, given the plan to give individual titles to the heads of Orang Asli families.

Social activist Tijah Yok Chopil, meanwhile, expressed concern that the varying availability of land in the different states may lead to confusion as to which families qualified for how much land, or what is to be done when the size of the land grants differ from one family to another.

Compounding the problem even further is Muhyiddin’s statement that the land policy plan bars those awarded the land grants from filing any claims in court.

“This is a restriction that is against the Federal Constitution,” said Tijah, citing the right of every citizen to access to legal justice.

Former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan, similarly, lamented the restriction recourse to the court, and described the land policy as a “terrible bargain to the Orang Asli”.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 15 February 2010, 11:56 am and is filed under
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No other Chinese New Year with such a blizzard of conversational topics and talking points

Probably in no other Chinese New Year since Merdeka has there been such a blizzard of conversational topics and talking points, from hot-oven scandals like:

the two missing jet engines disappearing all the way to Uruguay;

a multi-billion ringgit submarine that cannot dive;

Robin-Hood blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s son’s trial and tribulations in Sungei Buloh prison;

to perennial subjects like

the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal still awaiting the prosecution of “big fishes”;

who killed DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock who went willingly  to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters on July 15, 2009 and came out as a corpse the next day;

when MACC will break its apron-strings to its political masters making it the catspaw of Umno/BN political agenda to declare war on Pakatan Rakyat instead of declaring war on corruption;

Malaysia’s unchecked plunge down the slope of decreasing international competitiveness accompanied by avoidance of FDI and flight of domestic capital;

approaching anniversary of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia slogan and concept dogged by the worst politicking of race and religion in recent years, spearheaded by none other than the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno media Utusan Malaysia;

the difficult birth of Najib’s Malaysia.2 new economic model with the continuing and even worsening crisis of brain drain, demonstrating that Najib’s administration lacks the political will for the government transformation to win the international competition for talents needed to successful free Malaysia from the middle-income trap and catapult to a high-income country.

And on the political front, the perennial political persecution and trials of Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim; the false light at the end of the tunnel for restoration of national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary highlighted by the 5-0 Federal Court decision on the two Perak Mentri Besar case and the escalation of Umno/Barisan Nasional conspiracy to cause the disintegration of Pakatan Rakyat.

More problems have been created than resolved even before the end of first year in office of Najib as Prime Minister.

This is not good sign either for Najib as Prime Minister or the country.

                This entry was posted on Monday, 15 February 2010, 10:35 am and is filed under
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Towards A Developed Malaysia – Part 2

By
M. Bakri Musa

[Presented at the Third Annual Alif Ba Ta Forum, “1Malaysia Towards Vision 2020,” Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, December 5, 2009, organized by Kelab UMNO NY-NJ.  The presentation can be viewed at www.youtube.com (search under “Bakri Musa RIT”) or through
this link
]

Part Two of Six:   Diamond of Development

In my book
Towards A Competitive Malaysia
, I relate how the four cardinal elements – leaders, people, culture, and geography – govern a society’s trajectory of development.  Each element influences and in turn is being influenced by the other three, as illustrated by my “Diamond of Development” diagrammatic representation.  When all four factors are favorable, we have a virtuous cycle propelling that society quickly towards progress.  When one element is wanting, it quickly exerts its negative influence on the other three, and soon we would have a vicious cycle leading towards a quick downward spiral.

            An important caveat to my diamond of development is that it presumes peace.  When a nation is at war or in conflict, the only certainty is death and destruction, not development.  This is a much-needed reminder for a plural society like Malaysia.  Just look at Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka.

            I do not wish to discuss geography as there is nothing we can do to alter it.  As for leaders, we are fortunate to live in a democracy and can choose and reject our leaders freely.  As for culture, Dr. Azly will discuss that, specifically the role of education in changing it.

            In this presentation I will discuss “us,” the people, and how we could mobilize ourselves so we could influence our leaders and culture, as well as take full advantage of our geographical attributes.  It is “We, the people” who will drive Malaysia towards Montreal.  We will get there by developing our people, not by building fancy freeways or driving Formula One cars.  If we do not develop the skills of our people, those freeways will become nothing but killing alleys, and the cars lethal machines, literally and metaphorically.

            The challenge then is in enhancing the skills of our people and making them more productive.

            If we were to measure any human attribute, we would find that its distribution in the population would follow a normal curve.  At one end would be the fortunate few blessed with super ability; at the other, those less fortunate.  The vast majority would, as expected, have average ability.

            For illustrative purposes, I will choose an attribute that has minimal emotive association:  The ability to fish.  At one end would be those who have the uncanny knack of finding the best fishing holes and hauling in the trophy catches.  At the other, those who would not even know which end of the fishing pole to stick in the water.  The vast majority would be average, able to catch a pound or two, enough to feed the family but not to win fishing derbies.

            If I were to do a similar survey of another group, for example the Polynesians, the curve would be also bell-shaped, but it would be shifted to the right, to use the language of the statistician.  Meaning, the average Polynesian would catch more, and their star fishermen would haul in even bigger trophies than ours.  This is not surprising; surrounded as they are by the ocean, they learn to fish soon after taking their first breath.

            On the other hand if I were to do a similar survey of sub-Saharan tribesmen, I would still get a normal curve, but this time it would be shifted to the left.  Meaning, more of them would not know which end of the pole to stick in the water.  This is not surprising as the only water they see is at the occasional oasis.

            This is all mildly interesting, a reflection of the diversity of humankind, of divine design.  Not so to the nationalists and chauvinists.  To them this is a serious matter of tribal pride.  The nationalists differ from the chauvinists only in degree, not in kind.

            Forgetting about tribal pride, if as a
penghulu
 (village head) I wish to increase the amount of fish caught by my people, what strategy should I adopt?  Should I focus on the super-achievers, the average villagers, or the underachievers?

            Focusing on the super-achievers would be the easiest and most rewarding.  They are already highly motivated; they love what they do.  With the slightest support and encouragement they would take off and haul in the biggest fish.  Then the rest of society would bask in the reflected glory and share the bragging rights.  Because of the immediate and visible results, it would also be easier to secure even greater funding for them in the next budget.  Their success would also inspire the rest to strive harder so they too could reap the rewards and adulations.

            However, teaching these super achievers is no easy task, especially in finding the teachers.  These superb fishermen would be more interested in fishing, not lecturing; the adage of those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.  The other point is that even if you do not give them any extra attention, these super achievers will do well anyway; all society has to do is not stand in their way.

            Supporting these super achievers would also send a clear statement of society’s values:  the recognition and rewarding of excellence.  With the message percolating down, that society would be inspired towards excellence.

            There are also good grounds for focusing on the underachievers.  For one, it would be easy to teach them.  Improving their results would also be easy as they start from a very low base.  There would be challenges of course; for example, their commitment and motivation would be low.

            There is another –and moral – reason for helping them.  It is the right thing to do.  They too are a part of our community, and being a part of a community means just that:  we are in it together.  Even if they could only catch the occasional fish, that would be achievement enough; you would see that in their faces.  It would also mean their being less dependent on society.

            The more pragmatic reason for teaching them is that when they are busy fishing, even if they were not to catch anything, they would be occupied and not have time to bother the other fishermen or create mischief, like swimming in the water and scaring the fish away.

            As for the middle group, teaching them should also be easy; merely provide them with better rods, stronger lines, and bigger hooks.  In large volumes those things are also fairly cheap.

            Now consider the aggregate results of the different strategies.  Even if we were to double the yield of the superb fishermen (a major challenge as they are already at their best), their combined contributions to the total catch would still not be much because of their small number.  The same holds with the underachievers, and even more so.

            The greatest aggregate yield would be if we were to focus on the huge middle group.  If we were to improve their individual production by only 10 percent, their total contribution would be tremendous.  Sure, they would not haul in the trophy catches and we would not have the opportunity to brag about their achievements, but where it counts – the total poundage of catch – you could not beat their contributions.  This gain would also be the most sustainable and enduring as it is broad based.

Nehru’s India Versus Tunku’s Malaysia

My fish story is not mere fanciful imagination.  Consider the approaches to education in India under Nehru and Malaysia under Tunku Abdul Rahman during the late 1950s.

            The Cambridge-educated Nehru believed that smart Indians should be given the opportunities he had.  Since they all could not go to Cambridge, Nehru established a string of elite colleges, The Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), modeled after Imperial College and MIT, the best.  In short, he focused on the super-achievers.

            Tunku was also Cambridge-educated, but he was a humble man and his goals more modest.  More critically, he knew the limitations of his country, especially its resources.  Equally important, he sensed the acute needs of his people; he therefore emphasized schools over colleges.

            Soon after taking over, Tunku’s Minister of Education Tun Razak embarked on the massive Operation Torch (
Gerakan Lampu Suloh
), training thousands of teachers and building hundreds of new schools, especially in the villages.  In my youth, within a ten-mile radius of my kampong there were no fewer than seven new schools being built.  It was a remarkable civil and social engineering initiative.  It truly brought light to the countryside hitherto dark because of illiteracy.

            Childhood illiteracy has long ago been wiped out in Malaysia but remains a severe blight in India, afflicting far too many.  As economists now acknowledge the major role of education in development, it is not a surprise that Malaysia outstrips India.  From 1970 to 2000, India’s per capita GDP merely doubled while Malaysia’s nearly quadrupled.  There are of course other contributing factors.  For one, Malaysia embraces free enterprise; India is enamored with socialism, but there is no denying the importance of providing basic education to citizens.

            A more practical test of the wisdom of the two strategies would be this.  Today, if there were no immigration rules, millions of Indians would grab the opportunity to migrate to Malaysia, but few Malaysians would opt to move to India.

            This did not mean that Nehru’s worthy efforts were wasted.  Many of those IIT graduates went on to great western universities and later became CEOs of Citibank and Coca Cola, or professors at leading universities.  A few went on to win the Nobel Prize.  Fellow Indians back home rightly bask in the reflected glory; alas back in their villages, things remains pitiable and pathetic.

            Even if those successful Indians had wanted to return, their motherland had minimal capacity to use their talent.  Perhaps in the long run the average Indian would benefit from Nehru’s bold vision, but then in the long run, as Keynes famously noted, we are all dead.

Next:   Part Three of Six:  Encouraging Malays Entrepreneurs and Scientists

                This entry was posted on Monday, 15 February 2010, 10:19 am and is filed under
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Proposal of principal KPI for MACC – to arrest enough “big fish” every year to reduce annual RM28 billion government loss from corruption by at least 10 per cent

During the Chinese New Year, the media first reported that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had arrested a political secretary to a Cabinet Minister and raided his apartment in Teluk Air Tawar in Butterworth, seizing cash in bundles of RM5, RM10, RM50 and RM100 notes totaling about RM2 million. Also seized were a 4WD vehicle and a BMW car.

This was followed by a one-paragraph statement from the Prime Minister’s Department on the r
esignation of Hasbie Satar
, the political secretary to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

Malaysians can put the pieces together to fathom what is happening.

For me, I am reminded of two recent reports.

The first was the report last Monday where Nor Mohamed announced that the government has set aside RM15 billion for the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) programme under the 10th Malaysia Plan to help businessmen.

Nor Mohamed, who is in charge of the Economic Planning Unit, said the government would provide financial aid and other forms of assistance to any major business deemed viable so as to spur the economy and provide job opportunities for locals.

How much would be lost or “leaked” from this RM15 billion Private Finance Initiative under the 10th Malaysia Plan – whether through corruption, abuse of power or other improper means?

There have been cases of government “leakages” going up as high as 90 per cent of the stated amount, but even at the very moderate and minimum rate of 10 per cent “leakage”, we are looking at a loss of RM1.9 billion from the PFI initiative under the Tenth Malaysia Plan.

Secondly, I am also reminded of the government admission in the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap that according to the PEMUDAH estimate, corruption could cost Malaysia as much as RM10 billion a year, or 1-2% of GDP.

However, this is generally regarded as a gross under-estimate. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah has publicly estimated that corruption cost the government some RM28 billion a year.

I will propose at next month’s Parliamentary meeting that Parliament should set a principle KPI (key performance index) for MACC – to reduce the annual RM28 billion government loss from corruption by at least 10 per cent, i.e. RM2.8 billion, which should be evidenced by enough “big fish” arrests for corruption to the value of this amount.

I hope Barisan Nasional MPs will join Pakatan Rakyat MPs in the next parliamentary meeting to establish such a KPI for the MACC to demonstrate that Parliament is in the forefront in the war against corruption.

Just before Chinese New Year, MACC announced that it had cleared eight political personalities whom it had investigated of graft.

One was DAP Tronoh Assemblyman V. Sivakumar, the ousted Perak State Assembly Speaker, who was investigated by MACC for abusing his Speaker’s powers during the Perak political crisis arising from the illegal, unconstitutional and undemocratic coup de’tat orchestrated by none other than Datuk Seri Najib Razak in February last year when he was Deputy Prime Minister.

MACC had clearly abused its powers in harassing and intimidating Sivakumar by investigating him for corruption in the illegal and undemocratic power grab in Perak last year and MACC should penalize the officials responsible and publicly apologise for this blatant abuse  of power.

Pakatan Rakyat MPs will pursue this issue in the next meeting of Parliament if such an apology from MACC for its blatant abuse of power against Sivakumar by acting as the Umno/BN catspaw is not forthcoming.

[
Speech at the Perak Pakatan Rakyat Chinese New Year Open House at Kwang Tung Association Taiping on Tuesday 16th February 2010 at 12.30 pm
]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 16 February 2010, 5:42 pm and is filed under
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Why top Defence Ministry officials, including Defence Ministers, did not know for 18 months that the two missing F5E jet engines cost RM300,000 and not RM50 million each?

There are many questions about the scandal of the two missing F5E jet engines, which had made Malaysia the international laughing-stock.

The first question I want to ask when Parliament meets on March 15 is why top Defence Ministry officials, including the Defence Ministers – Datuk Ahmad Zahid the incumbent and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was Defence Minister when the theft took place in December 2007 – did not know for 18 months that the two missing jet engines cost RM300,000 and not RM50 million each.

Who was the first to say that the missing jet engine cost RM50 million each? It was Ahmad Zahid when the news about the theft first broke in the media on December 19 last year.

Who was the first to say that the RM50 million figure for the cost of the jet engine was wrong and that it cost only RM303,570? Again, it was Ahmad Zahid, in the press on January 8, 2010 – a day after two persons were charged in the Petaling Jaya sessions court with the theft of the two F5E jet engines.

Ahmad had explained that the Ministry took some time to clarify the engine’s price due to procedural matters.

He said: “We needed time to carry out internal investigations and this required time in obtaining the information and related documents”.

This is a completely unacceptable and unsatisfactory explanation. According to official accounts, the theft of the two jet engines took place in December 2007 and the military only realized that the engines were missing on May 22, 2008.

Why did the Defence Ministry take 18 months from May 22, 2008 to January 2010 to find out that the cost of the F5E jet engines were RM303,570 and not RM50 million each in 1972?

Something stinks in the Defence Ministry – as this is not the only aspect of the scandal which has raised questions about accountability and integrity which cry out for answers.

[
Speech (2) at the Perak Pakatan Rakyat Chinese New Year Open House at Kwang Tung Association Taiping on Tuesday 16th February 2010 at 12.30 pm
]

                This entry was posted on Tuesday, 16 February 2010, 6:11 pm and is filed under
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How can Tsu Koon be a credible Minister in charge of Najib’s 1Malaysia GTP when he dare not speak out against the vicious Umno campaign?

This Chinese New Year is a most unusual Chinese New Year.

As I have pointed out, probably in no other Chinese New Year since Merdeka  has there been such a blizzard of conversational topics and talking points, from the two missing jet engines disappearing all the way to Uruguay; a multi-billion ringgit  submarine that  cannot dive; the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal still awaiting the prosecution of “big fishes”; Friday’s continued inquest into the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock and the question every Malaysian is asking, “who killed the  DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock who went willingly  to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters on July 15, 2009 and came out as a corpse the next day” and the continued trial and tribulations of Anwar Ibrahim – with the Court of Appeal decision this afternoon on DAP National Chairman and Anwar’s defence lead  counsel Karpal Singh’s application to review its judgment  and to strike off  the Sodomy2 charges against Anwar and the decision tomorrow  of the Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah to recuse himself from hearing the Anwar Sodomy 2 trial for bias.

I will not be at the Court of Appeal decision at the Palace of Justice in  Putrajaya  this afternoon but will be in the Kuala Lumpur High Court tomorrow.

But there is another reason why  this year’s Chinese New Year is the most unusual in the nation’s history since Merdeka 53 years ago – the manner the Prime Minister’s Chinese New Year Message is openly undermined and torn to pieces  by his own Ministers and political machinery.

In his Chinese New Year message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak hoped all Malaysians would look ahead with greater optimism and resolve to build a stronger and more dynamic 1Malaysia.

But what happened just before and even during the Chinese New Year is the very opposite of Najib’s Chinese New Year message, for the people of Penang and Malaysia are witnessing a most irresponsible and vicious campaign to play the racial and religious card to create division, discord  and disunity in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia – which goes against everything advocated by  Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan and concept.

How can Najib’s 1Malaysia slogn and concept to create a united Malaysian nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first and by race, religion or region second have any credibility when Umno has been unleashing a vicious campaign to play the race and religion card aimed at falsely painting the Pakatan Rakyat Penang state government and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan as anti-Malay and anti-Islam?

How can the Gerakan President and the KPI Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon be a credible Minister in charge of Najib’s 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP)  when he dare not speak out against the vicious Umno  campaign through Utusan and other Umno-controlled media baselessly attacking Penang Chief Minister as anti-Malay and anti-Islam?

Penangites and Malaysians are reminded of Tsu Koon’s ignominous period as Penang Chief Minister, especially in September 2006, when he was publicly humiliated by Penang Umno leaders in the presence of the then Prime Minister, Tun Abdullah and he dared not emit even a protest.

After the political tsunami of March 8, 2008, Gerakan and MCA leaders said that they have learnt the lesson of their electoral debacle in the 12th general election and would no more be “dumb and deaf” and would speak up courageously for what is right and just.

But clearly, Tsu Koon has not changed, or as the Minister entrusted with the 1Malaysia GTP campaign, he should be the first to speak out publicly against the irresponsible and vicious campaign by Umno’s Utusan Malaysia and other Umno media to falsely accuse the Penang Pakatan Rakyat government and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

Tsu Koon was in Penang during the Chinese New Year and he did make criticisms, but against Guan Eng and not against Utusan Malaysia and other Umno agents in their irresponsible and  vicious campaign to play the race and religious card against the Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government and Guan Eng – violating all precepts of Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan and concept.

I am not surprised to read in some of the more independent-minded pro-Umno blogs great disillusionment with the present set-up in the Barisan Nasional and calling for fundamental shake-up.

For instance, one pro-Umno blogger, who have no kind thoughts for BN Ministers whether MCA, Gerakan or Umno, wrote this blog on Chinese New Year Day:

“The Prime Minister appears to have become a one man show who is running the country all by himself. This does not seem to be by choice but necessity because the rest of the Cabinet is just not there. And sometimes when they speak, it becomes obvious it is better they do not speak.

“The PM can fire anyone from the Cabinet and nothing will happen to him, his Government, his party or the BN. This is a really rare alignment of the stars which is presenting itself to Dato Najib.

Lets look at it case by case. Lets say the PM drops the MCA Ministers. What will happen? Will the MCA leave the BN? If they do, then what? …If the MCA remains in the BN, does it bring back the Chinese vote? Nope. If they leave the BN will it get the Chinese vote? Nope. Or maybe it will. So whats the big deal with the MCA, yo?

“What about the Gerakan Ministers? Who? What animal on the almanac is that? We must have Chinese Ministers in the Cabinet but they need not be from the MCA or the Gerakan.

“Lets look at the MIC. Does the MIC represent the Indians? Well there are Indians in the MIC. If the MIC Ministers are dropped, it may even bring back the Indian vote. We must still have Indian Ministers but it need not be from the MIC or the PPP.

“Now lets look at the UMNO Ministers. If the PM drops a dozen of them, what will happen? Nothing. The party will not split. In fact, hearing all the comments coming out of UMNO and Perkasa, it is better for the PM to drop a dozen UMNO Ministers from the Cabinet than to keep them. It will certainly strengthen UMNO.”

Let me advise Tsu Koon that if he is to lose his Ministership, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, do it with honour and principles rather than without honour or principles.

Let him take a stand against the race and religious card played by Utusan and other Umno political operatives especially as it goes against the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme entrusted to him by Najib.

DAP and Pakatan Rakyat are determined to make the next general election, the 13th general election, a historic one for Malaysia.

We want Pakatan Rakyat to be in power not only in Penang and the various state government level, but most important of all, at the Federal Government to unseat Umno and Barisan Nasional  from Putrajajaya.

We admit that Pakatan Rakyat is undergoing internal problems but a shake-out in the Pakatan Rakyat will be to the good if it leads to a more disciplined, cohesive and committed political movement for change for the people and country after more than half a century of Umno monopoly of power in the Barisan Nasional.

For this reason, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat cannot be anti-Malay and anti-Islam, just as we cannot be anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Iban, anti-Kadazan, anti-Christian, anti-Buddhist, anti-Hindu or anti-Sikh.

If we are anti-anything, we are anti-Umnoputras, anti-corruption, anti-injustice, anti-racialism and anti-religious fanaticism.

Bottom line, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat are for Malaysians and all the races and religions which can make Malaysia a great nation again from our pluralism and diversity.

[
Speech at the Penang DAP Chinese New Year Open House at Penang Chinese Town Hall, Penang on Wednesday February 17, 2010
]

                This entry was posted on Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 10:28 am and is filed under
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Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid should give comprehensive ministerial statement on the scandal of the two missing jet engines when Parliament meets on March 16

It will be not be easy to pick the five top topics which dominated conversations and discussions among Malaysians during the Golden Tiger Chinese New Year celebrations as there are so many issues contending for a place among the top spots.

Undoubtedly, those contending for placing among the top five topics would include the following:

The scandal of the two missing jet engines which disappeared all the way to Uruguay;

The multi-billion ringgit submarine that cannot dive;

The RM2 million cash seized from the apartment of a political secretary to a Cabinet Minister;

The continuing mystery of the death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission headquarters last July;

Sodomy 2 trial of Parliamentary Opposition Leader and Prime Minister-in-waiting, giving Malaysia another national and international “black eye”;

The Federal Court 5-0 decision upholding the undemocratic Umno grab of power from Pakatan rakyat and coup de’tat of Perak State government in February last year;

The vicious and systematic Umno conspiracy through Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian and other UMNO-controlled media to play the race and religious card by painting Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as anti-Malay and anti-Islam – tearing to pieces Najib’s own 1Malaysia slogan and concept.

What is indisputable however is that the two military scandals of the two missing jet engines and the submarine that cannot dive are quite assured of placings in the ‘Top Five” conversational topics during the Golden Tiger Chinese New Year celebrations among Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

This is why I have given notice to Parliament yesterday that my first oral question when Parliament next meets on the first day on March 16, 2010 is on the scandal of the two missing jet engines, asking the Defence Minister Datuk Ahmad Zahid what lessons had been learnt and the remedial measures taken and why top Defence Ministry officials – including Zahid himself and the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was Defence Minister at the time the two jet engines went missing – did not know for 18 months that the jet engines cost RM303,570 and not RM50 million each.

If Zahid and Najib go down to meet the people, he will find that there are teeming questions throughout the country about the scandal of the two missing engines. In fact, such queries have crossed national borders as it is also an international issue.

Zahid should give a comprehensive ministerial statement on the scandal of the two missing jet engines when Parliament meets on March 16 to demonstrate that neither he nor Najib has anything to hide.

Zahid should not only give a satisfactory explanation why the top Defence Ministry officials did not know for 18 months that the two missing F5E jet engines cost RM303,570 and not RM50 million each in 1972, but whether the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court had been misled on January 6 about the value of the two missing jet engines as to set the very high bail of RM150,000 for Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) sergeant N. Tharmendran and a company director K. Rajandran Prasad who were charged in connection with the theft of the two F5E jet engines.

According the media reports, the Deputy Public Prosecutor Raja Rozela Raja Toran had requested for a bail of RM200,000 for each accused on the ground that the offence involved was a serious one and “involved two high-valued jet engines”.

However, the very next day, Zahid announced that the actual value of an F5E jet engine is RM303,570 in 1972 and not RM50 million as he had mentioned when the news of the scandal first broke three weeks earlier.

The charging of only two persons have also raised query as the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail had earlier been reported as saying that  “so many people” were involved in the scandal – but he had vowed that “there will be no compromise on this”.

Why then only two persons charged? Does the Attorney-General really want Malaysians to believe that only two lowly personnel were involved in the scandal of the two missing jet engines, which have brought adverse international publicity to Malaysia to the value not in terms of hundreds of thousands of ringgit, or even tens of millions of ringgit – but easily in hundreds of millions of ringgit in causing a further slide in Malaysia’s international competitiveness!

Malaysians have also been told that some components from F5 jetfighters had also been stolen – but as far as is known, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)  had not been able to get any useful information from the Defence Ministry officials and I have my grave doubts that the PAC will be able to present any meaningful report on its inquiry into the scandal of the two missing jet engines when Parliament meets next month.

There is also another intriguing angle to the scandal of the missing jet engines, summarized by one tweet on my twitter, viz: “
Jets dont fly & subs dont submerge. Purportedly during PM’s tenure in Mindef. R there attempts frm within 2 undermine him?
”

This is why Zahid should be responsible, accountable and transparent enough to present a fulsome and comprehensive Ministerial statement covering all these and other queries swirling in the public mind on the scandal of the two missing jet engines when Parliament convenes for its first working meeting on March 16.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 February 2010, 1:22 pm and is filed under
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Gerakan has lost Penang for good, says Keng Yaik

The Edge Financial Daily

Thursday, 18 February 2010 11:12

In the first part of our interview with Gerakan adviser Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik yesterday, he spoke about the problems plaguing both the Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalitions. What of his own party?

Lim expressed concern over whether his anointed successor, current Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, can take the party out of its decline.

Although the veteran politician said Koh was the best he had in terms of intellectual capacity and integrity, he feels that Koh is unable to make politically difficult decisions and provide leadership.

He thinks that Gerakan would need to go back to its core ideology based on a multiracial approach before it can pick itself up again.

Lim, who headed Gerakan for 27 years, believes that Gerakan has lost Penang for good.

“Should it (regain Penang)? No! We missed our chance. In cricket, they say you had a good innings and 39 years is a long and good one. What more do we want?” said Lim in his office in Bandar Utama in Petaling Jaya recently.

Lim, who was in government from 1972 to 2008, is also pessimistic about efforts to turn the country into a high-income economy.

The basis for a knowledge economy is human resource, he said, and to restructure this, the government would need to change its education policy.

On the controversy over the usage of the “Allah” word, Lim said that both sides of the divide were right and wrong at the same time.

“The issue has been over-politicised and maybe the solution lies with the Council of Rulers,” he added.

This is the second and final part of his interview with Sharon Tan, Cindy Yeap and Chan Kok Leong of The Edge Financial Daily (TEFD).

TEFD: Can Gerakan retake Penang?

LKY:
 No. (Laughs) Should it? No. You missed your chance. In cricket they said you had a good innings. A long and good innings of 39 years. What more do you want?

TEFD:
 What does Gerakan need to do to get back Penang? Gerakan is seen as Penang, Penang is Gerakan.

LKY:
 No more. The long innings is gone. Gerakan has to look after its base which has been lost. It is baseless. It has to revert to its ideological background. And it must play a more prominent part as the influencing partner in future politics to move towards our ideological path.

TEFD: Is Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon the right man for the job?

LKY:
 What to do? He was the best I had in terms of intellect and integrity. Nobody can fault me. But in terms of politics, he is still struggling. If he is not careful, there will be a quiet revolution within Gerakan.

TEFD:
 Now there is talk about reallocation of seats in Barisan Nasional (BN).

LKY:
 More so that we need an ideological approach rather than trying to maintain base lah. Then at least we are part of this ideological move to mature politics on a multiracial basis. Don’t think in terms of numbers or try to still be in government. Get that out of our bloody minds.

We had a good run in 39 years in a place where we used to have a base. So instead of hankering for your base, why don’t you follow your ideological path and choose partners which can fulfil your ideological base? After March 8, politics is going towards an ideological base that is multiracial in approach.

TEFD:
 Where do you see Gerakan in this? Gerakan is a multiracial party and the conscience of BN.

LKY:
 We always say that we are too far ahead of ourselves (laughs). That is why I keep saying that there will be a realignment in future.

TEFD: Which party has most to lose in this realignment?

LKY:
 Even if PAS joins Umno, do you think they can maintain the majority on a pure Malay, racist and Islamic agenda? You think they can? I don’t know.

TEFD:
 The numbers favour them…

LKY:
 I don’t think so. I think the young Malays if you get a charismatic multiracial Malay leadership, you may just beat them with a total block of non-Malays on their side.

You can get 60% and this new multiracial Malay leadership will get 40% but with overwhelming non-Malays. I am not saying Chinese and Indians only but with Kadazans and Ibans.

You try lah.

You think they can get 80% with Umno and PAS joining? The more you push, the more likely but there are also people in PAS that don’t think they can do it although Umno wished they would.

It takes a lot. That is why politics is very interesting and challenging in Malaysia. That’s why as a young man of 28 or 29, I got immersed in politics. I could see the challenge.

My thoughts and feelings could make a difference. I intended to make a difference.

But unfortunately 36 years of it makes no difference (laughs). I don’t know. If in my retirement I can still carry on explaining and guiding the people to make the right choice, I feel grateful that I am still alive today.

So in this respect, we need politicians who are more thinkers than those with personal agendas. We need people to think for our complicated society and challenges facing our country to allow the people to become part of this maturing of democratic politics.

TEFD: What is Gerakan’s ideological base now?

LKY:
 Multiracial, non-racial approach, not only care about Chinese even though your base is Chinese, but all other races.

TEFD:
 Gerakan used to have a lot of thinkers but…

LKY:
 Being in the beehive, the bees start to sting our own people until they cannot stand it, they start to leave.

TEFD: Are you advocating that Gerakan should get out of BN?

LKY:
 There is nothing to get out to. How to get out?

TEFD:
 Within BN there are no multiracial parties except in Sabah and Sarawak.

LKY:
 You see lah who is not working with the Ibans and Kadazans.

TEFD: Does Gerakan plan to go to East Malaysia?

LKY:
 You don’t tell people what you are going to do early. When PBS and Gerakan wanted to do the joint council, (former prime minister Tun Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) saw it and killed it. Killed it!

Will (Tan Sri Abdul) Taib Mahmud stay? He has good control but will it split when he’s not there anymore? That will depend on who provides the leadership for the Ibans. Are they a satisfied lot? I don’t know.

How about in Sabah? Are the Kadazans okay? There is a big difference between (Tan Sri) Bernard Dompok and (Datuk) Joseph Pairin Kitingan. One is too complacent while the other one is still very much a reformist. Maybe (Gerakan) can even play second fiddle to DAP.

TEFD: What do you make of the “Allah” issue?

LKY:
 (After deep thought) Both sides are right and both sides are wrong. Using constitutional rights and universal rights, the Christians might be right. But in the context of Malaysia, they may be wrong. So both sides are right and both sides are wrong.

The issue has been over-politicised. To me you should let the Council of Rulers decide and take it away from the politics and then we may be able to maintain peace and harmony.

If they decide otherwise then so be it. Even if it is loaded on the Malay and Islam side, let it be. After all they are rulers.

That is the time for the constitutional monarchy to play its part. Take it off politics since it has been politicised. And to take it off from politics, let the rulers decide.

TEFD: You were in the cabinet in 2007 when the issue first came up. How did they get so far? Was it discussed at all?

LKY:
 Pak Lah (Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) with one hand just brushed it off just like that. Bernard (Dompok) reported back to the Catholic church that they cannot do anything. So they went to the court to plead for their constitutional and universal rights.

You have a situation where the Peninsular Malays/Muslims feel bad but those in Sabah and Sarawak don’t feel bad because they are used to it.

In Sabah and Sarawak, they use the Bahasa (Malaysia) version because they are not well-versed in English while in the Peninsula they use English which uses the word God.

The court will rule on constitutional and universal rights but people are not prepared for that. So it’s better to refer back to the constitutional monarch which is the rulers in council.

TEFD: Tun, do you think we are more polarised now than before?

LKY:
 Yes. The implementation of the New Economic Policy. The rise of religious extremism. And the application of human and universal rights by the non-Malays. And education and facilities in schools and universities which have not been balanced over time.

I use that word because they have enough doctors and accountants and lawyers and yet the quotas still apply.

Opportunities in education and universities have not been balanced over time. This kind of things, you have to rebalance from time to time.

TEFD: Talking about a high-income economy, can we do it?

LKY:
 This is difficult. If they don’t change the education policy, they cannot achieve high-income economy status. If the education policy doesn’t change with the passage of time, to produce the right human resources for the needs of this country, then we will regress and not progress.

A high-income economy must be based on people, equipped with the best knowledge and retained for the country’s use. Then we may stand a chance. If not, we can talk till the cows come home and we will regress and not progress.

TEFD: So, isn’t the PPSMI reversal a step back for the high-income economy drive?

LKY:
 In my memorandum to Dr Mahathir, I said that Maths and Science should be taught in their mother tongue in primary schools while English periods should be increased.

And then English should be made the medium of instruction for Maths and Science in secondary schools.

In modern education methods, there are better ways of educating people in languages than what we are currently doing. We can use audio and video to teach languages instead of the rote system. For that, I used to argue with Dong Jiao Zong in 1972 when I was still in MCA and asked them, how much Chinese do you want a Chinese to know?

The East Ender Londoner speaks English which none of us can understand and yet they are Englishmen.

Equip students with enough content in Chinese to enable them to read and write and converse in Mandarin. Or do they want every Chinese to be a literature expert and quote proverbs only Chinese in China understand? If 3,000 words is enough I can’t see how they can’t pump the students with the words within six years.

I’m English educated but can they say that I’m not a Chinese. Those days I couldn’t even speak Mandarin although I’ve picked it up now and can give a two-hour lecture in Mandarin without being able to read Chinese.

They want their mother tongue education, forgetting they are in Malaysia. Undoubtedly, the Chinese Malaysian is very appreciated in the last 20 years in the international circuit.

To those who have been exposed, the Chinese from here are better appreciated than those from other countries like mainland China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Hongkong and Singapore.

Chinese from Singapore are very educated but have their noses in their foreheads. China Chinese are hillbillies although they are very much different today.

Those from Taiwan will eat you up and swallow you lock, stock and barrel. There won’t even be bones coming out.

And the Hongkong Chinese only care for themselves and nobody else.

There is nothing to say about the Indonesian Chinese as they have even lost their names.

To appreciate that, the Chinese in Malaysia, being influenced by other races here, their mannerisms, eating habits and appreciation of multiracial society that makes them what they are, should be confident of that.

People outside the country compliment the Chinese Malaysians for being well mannered, know how to mix with people, caring and don’t impose on people. All these good characteristics come from here.

What’s wrong?

If 3,000 characters are enough to maintain our mother tongue then that should be good enough. And then we can spend more time learning English and Bahasa Malaysia.

There is no doubt that the Malays in this country need help. In any country, it’s the rural people who need the most help. It so happens that the rural people in Malaysia, 90% are Malays. It’s a rural problem and not just a Malay problem. Like Dr Mahathir in The Malay Dilemma says, “You change the environment, you change the race.”

The NEP should help Malays and enlarge the cake to allow others to have a piece of the cake. But you must help the great proportion of Malays who live in the rural areas and change their environment, state of mind and thinking.

What the government has failed to do is help build entrepreneurs from the Malay masses. Although professionally they have built up enough people, there are not enough businessmen. The Chinese entrepreneurs are needed to help.

Instead of being jealous of them because they have the experience and capability, they should make use of them by instituting genuine bumiputera-Chinese joint ventures. Genuine and not Ali Baba style. Incentivised and monitored by the government, by certain departments.

If we can monitor capital and business structure in the country, why can’t we incentivise these local joint ventures for a purpose? That is to build up local entrepreneurship among the Malays.

But those who are not working must be removed without fear or favour, whether they are Umno or not. But it must be monitored by the government so that those who are sleeping, lazy or have their own agenda should be removed and replaced by more genuine ones.

This will stop (Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim) from saying that we are building Umnoputeras and not bumiputeras. But we have wasted 40 years. The ones who think they can become rich quickly by joining politics should be condemned and kept out of politics and government. You know it but don’t dare say it. I’m saying it now.

In a way, I’m saying that Umno should remove these fellas. There are 50,000 Class F contractors, what for? The famous words are sub, sub, sub, sub. No wonder, our computer labs have only two “tiangs” and one roof and then collapse.

If you appreciate the experience and capability of the Chinese, why can’t we do it? The Malays should be inculcated with the value that you can make money not only through your own people but through others as well. It can be tax-free and exposure to capital when there is a Malay partner. It can be incentivised by the government and monitored.

I always ask, do you need a Malay to help a Malay?

When oil palm went up, it benefited the 75% Malays. 50% of the oil palm is produced by Felda and 25% by PNB corporates.

But I’m a Chinaman who has helped the small Malay stakeholders be it rubber or oil palm planters.

They wanted to subsidise cooking oil when the bulk of it is consumed by Chinese. Want to die ah? Taxing the poor Malay to subsidise the Chinese. They wanted to impose excess profit taxes on oil palm because of envy of KLK, IOI’s profits but they forgot about Golden Hope, Sime Darby and Guthrie and that 50% of the smallholders are from Felda.

I tell you, I give up la talking to this government.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 February 2010, 4:56 pm and is filed under
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #2

Introduction and Overview

I write because I have something to say, one person speaking to many.

—Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Celebrated Indonesian writer banished by Suharto.

In writing, I am mindful of the lesson imprinted on me during my freshman English class.  That is, what is the author trying to say, and has he or she said it well.  It is for readers to answer the second part of the question, but as to the first, my brief response is as follows.

            Throughout the world and at all times there have been differences in the social and cultural development of societies.  Today while citizens in the West are enjoying unprecedented wealth and material comfort, many in the Third World are struggling with subsistence living.  This book explores why such differences exist, and more importantly, what lessons Malaysians can learn so that our society too can be counted in the future to be among the developed.

            My first thesis is that there is much that the West (America specifically) is doing right that is worthy of our emulation.  My second is that Malaysians should look upon each other as potential clients, customers, and partners, and not in terms or “us” versus “them,” specifically, Malays versus non-Malays.  Thus what is good for one should be good for all.  The converse, what is bad for one will inevitably adversely impact the others.

            Likewise, we should look upon the rest of the world in a similar fashion and not in adversarial terms.  One sure way to make the outside world our enemy is to treat it as a potential one.  Colonialism is now long gone; there is no need to resurrect it.  No benefit would accrue in making it into our new or phantom enemy.  Malaysians are more likely to progress if we are in partnership with the rest of the world, including those who were once our colonizers.

            Today globalization shapes the world.  Malaysians must actively participate in this new arena if we want to be on the next trajectory of development.  The September 11, 2001 terrorists’ attacks on America and the 2007 global financial crisis may have dampened the enthusiasm for globalization, but rest assured that the setback is only temporary.  Globalization is still very much a dominant force, and will remain so.  We ignore this at our own peril.

            My third point is that current preoccupation with special privileges or Ketuanan Melayu (Malay hegemony) is precisely the wrong approach especially in this era of globalization.  The more pertinent issue is how to make all Malaysians, Malays in particular, competitive.  If we are competitive and productive, we will be able to contribute to our well being as well as that of the nation.  Special privileges and other preferential policies serve merely to redistribute, not create, wealth.  We should be encouraging our citizens to be makers, not takers in the economy.  We have to first create the wealth before we can distribute it.  Besides, excellence has never emerged from behind protective barriers.

            Societies do not develop in a linear or predictable pattern, rather in starts and spurts, with many ups and downs as well as changes in direction.  Often changes are forced upon them by specific stresses and events, from within as well as without.

            The arrival of Islam emancipated the ancient Arabs out of their Age of Jahiliyah (Ignorance).  In contrast, the arrival of Christian Spaniards to the New World devastated the ancient and highly-developed Aztec civilization.  In the first instance the change was from within and the development positive; with the second, it was external, and the consequences, destructive.

            Malaysia’s own recent history is instructive.  Unlike many Third World countries that had to fight for their independence, Malaysia chose the more civilized route of negotiations rather than resorting to glorified wars of independence.  (Honoring those killed in such struggles as “freedom fighters” or “national heroes” would not in any way lessen the loss felt by their loved ones.)  Malaysia then went on, with some hiccups along the way, to be a successful modern state.  Why was Malaysia’s experience with colonialism and its consequences so unlike that of Algeria or Indonesia?  Where did Malaysia go right and the others wrong?

            Returning to my first thesis, the enduring qualities of the West that are worthy of emulation are its commitment to personal liberty, civil and open society, representative government, and free enterprise.  We must learn from the West to respect the dignity of the individual, and be tolerant of and receptive to new and differing ideas.  We should be like Muslims during the Golden Age of Islam when they eagerly learned from the Greeks and Romans.  Those early Muslims did not consider learning from the infidels sinful or wrong.  They learned from the Romans and Greeks because they were the most advanced societies at the time.  Far from being insular, those early Muslims strived hard to master the existing state of knowledge.  That required of them to venture beyond their own language and to master Greek and Latin.  Only after that could the Arabs then go on to make their own seminal contributions.

            Consider the Arabic numerals.  The early Muslims learned mathematics from the Hindus, Greeks, and Romans.  The prevailing numbering system then was the Roman numerals, with their cumbersome letters – IX for 9, X for 10, and XI for 11.  While that is easy enough for low figures, the system becomes extremely cumbersome once we get to larger numbers.  Try putting into Roman numerals the year 1828!  (It is MDCCCXXVIII.)

            The Arabs came up with the decimal system that was so much more convenient and easy, and now universally adopted.  Today Roman numerals are seen only on the parchment papers of provincial universities with classical pretensions, and to denote Super Bowl Championships.  Equally worthy of note is that those ancient Greeks and Romans readily accepted the new Arabic numbering system because it was so much simpler.  Try subtracting MCMVIIIII (1973) from MCMXCIX (1999)!  The Romans and Greeks did not insist that their existing system was the best and that they had nothing to learn from the upstart nomadic Bedouins.

            Similarly today, Malaysians must learn from the West simply because it is the most advanced and successful society.  The fact that it is a predominantly White society of infidels is irrelevant and should not deter us.  Our only concern should be what aspects of the West are worthy of our emulation.

            I am reminded of the commercials of many “get-rich-quick” schemes where the promoters would earnestly (and with feigned hushed tone) expound on their secrets to success.  The way to be rich, they would intone with such gravitas, is to study the rich and follow their ways!  A revelation that at first blush seems both blarney and profound.  To be successful, emulate those who are!  I venture this is sound advice for individuals as well as nations.

            The crucial question is this:  What aspects of the rich and successful must we emulate?  For if we begin by imitating their expensive lifestyles – exotic vacations, splashy cars, and fancy dinners – that would surely be the fastest way to the poor house, even if one’s brother were the Sultan of Brunei.  Those are the superficial manifestations of success, and not the cause.  They are merely the epiphenomena.

            Consider Bill Gates, the American billionaire software genius.  If all one sees is his massive lakeside mansion in Seattle or his hopping around in his private jet, then one is missing the crucial point.  However, if were to read accounts of his being a studious student and smart enough to be accepted to Harvard, then may be we would be on to something useful.  Granted, he dropped out of college but I would not recommend that course of action to anyone.  Instead read about how hard Gates worked to market his first software, the disc operating system.  (Remember old DOS?)  Consider how committed he was to that project to the extent that he was willing to give up Harvard, and how he struggled to have IBM, then the sole industry giant, accept his software.

            Fortunately for Gates, IBM did not buy but merely licensed DOS.  What a bonanza that later proved to be for him.  Had he successfully persuaded IBM to buy his operating software, he would now be just another brilliant tinkerer in that vast corporation.

            So in advising Gates wannabes, I certainly would not recommend that they drop out of college.  Instead I would exhort them to study hard at school so they would be accepted to a top college, and then strive diligently at their chosen career.

            Similarly with nations; there is much that Malaysia can learn from successful societies of today and great civilizations of the past.  In our study however, we must be careful to differentiate between useful causative factors and mere epiphenomena.

            Lest we think that the current state of affairs (with the West reigning supreme) is the natural order, it is good to be reminded that centuries before Shakespeare was penning his sonnets, the Iranian mystic poet Jalal al-Din Rumi was already producing volumes of his spiritual couplets, the Masnavi.  While England was mired in the Dark Ages, the ancient civilizations of the Middle East were already flourishing.  Muslim scholars then were contemplating the universe beyond and experimenting with novel medical therapies while Europe was still convinced of the flatness of the earth and treating patients with leeches.

            Today of course the Iranians and Brits might as well be living on different planets, so wide is the gulf separating their living conditions.

            In the past such disparities were hidden.  Today with modern communications, the world is fast becoming a global village, and an increasingly smaller one at that.  What occurs in Afghanistan is immediately beamed into the living rooms of America and elsewhere.  In the past such capabilities were the exclusive domain of journalists with expensive television cameras and satellite hook ups; today anyone with a cell phone and access to the Internet could achieve the same at a fraction of the cost.

            While the pros may disparage the contributions of the minions of these amateur journalists, the impact and consequences of their work cannot be dismissed or underestimated.  It can be dramatic.  In Malaysia (and elsewhere) we have seen egregious police abuses exposed in such a fashion.  Also in Malaysia, we have seen blatant attempts at fixing the highest personnel of the judiciary, as we saw in the infamous Lingam Tape.  All it took was someone with a cell phone and being alert.

            Today, traveling to exotic destinations presents very little challenge.  Unlike the ancient Arabic explorer Ibn Battuta who took nearly a lifetime to travel the landmass abutting the Mediterranean, today a local travel agent could arrange such a trip within minutes (or you could do it yourself on the Web).  You could also complete a similar itinerary in a time frame of your choice.

            In your travels instead of finding complete strangers and being unable to converse with them, you would more likely encounter natives who could speak English and been educated in the West.  Along the way you might stay at familiar lodgings like Hilton, and eat in recognizable restaurants like McDonald’s.  You might also encounter Malaysian businessmen peddling their wares and oilmen from Petronas exploring for oil and gas.  The local colleges and madrasahs (religious schools) might even have a few Malaysians.  When strolling in the bazaars and markets you would likely meet youths sporting T-shirts emblazoned with portraits of their favorite Western pop idols or athletes.

            In the time that it took me to travel to the next village as a youngster would today land me in the opposite corner of the globe.  With modern means of communications, glaring inequalities between nations and societies become just that – glaring, for all to see.  The luxurious lifestyle of an American football star is flaunted not only to fellow Americans but also to children in the slums of Soweto and the back alleys of Bombay.

            Similarly when citizens of oppressed societies see the freedom enjoyed in the West, they wonder why draconian laws and restrictions are shackling them back home.  Previously the expression was, once they have seen Paris, you can’t keep ’em down on the farm anymore.  Today with globalization, Paris comes to them, via television and the Internet.

Next:   A Father’s Query

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 February 2010, 7:23 am and is filed under
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No action on Lim, Nizar

Police find no element of sedition in their comments on Federal Court ruling

G. PRAKASH | Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 Malay Mail

PUTRAJAYA: Police will not take any action against DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and former Perak Menteri  Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin for criticising the Federal Court’s decision on the legitimacy of the dismissal of the Pakatan Rakyat State government in February last year and the installation of the Barisan

Nasional government.

A police report lodged against the two on Feb 11 by a retired Royal Malay Regiment officer in Kuala Muda, Kedah, had been transferred to Putrajaya for further action.

Putrajaya district police chief Supt Abdul Razak Abd Majid told The Malay Mail the decision was made after going through the report.

“No further action will be taken as we found no element of sedition as alleged in the report,” he said.

He said only one police report was lodged against the two Opposition leaders for their alleged statements reported in a Malay daily and several online news portals.

The 50-year old retiree had stated in his police report that the statements by Lim and Nizar questioning the Federal Court’s ruling were seditious and asked that police take the necessary action against the two.

The statements had allegedly caused an uproar among some NGOs and politicians, who had also called for  police to investigate the matter.

Among those who slammed Lim and Nizar were Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) president Datuk Ibrahim Ali, Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin, Port Klang Authority chairman Datuk Lee Hwa Beng and Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S.  Subramaniam.

Even Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had called on the police to investigate the report lodged  against Lim and Nizar.

He had said that the court’s decision was final and the Perak menteri besar issue should be put to rest once and for all.

Copies of the police report had been posted in many blogsites. The Federal Court had on Feb 9 declared Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir as the valid menteri besar of Perak.

A five-man bench led by Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff unanimously ruled that Sultan Azlan Shah had exercised his royal power to appoint Zambry to succeed his Pakatan Rakyat opponent, Nizar, after he was satisfied that the latter had lost the majority vote in the State Legislative Assembly.

Alauddin sat with Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria and Federal Court judges Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, Datuk Wira Ghazali Mohd Yusof and Datuk Abdull Hamid Embong.

                This entry was posted on Thursday, 18 February 2010, 2:51 pm and is filed under
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An Unhappy Chinese New Year?

By
Martin Jalleh

A Chinese new year has dawned. The PM declares that Malaysian Chinese should be more daring to help build a more dynamic 1Malaysia. Such a dramatic invitation by Najib is made against the dark and depressing background of jarring discordant voices by Umnoputras which the drums and deafening firecrackers fail to drown out and exorcise.

We hear the disturbing insult of all the Ahmad Ismails labelling the Malaysian Chinese “immigrants” and “squatters” and adding that they have no right to equal treatment with the Umnoputras – who just happened to migrate here a little earlier than the rest of us.

We hear the deranged Nasir Safars spitting on us in 1Malaysia seminars with their vile claim that our mothers and grandmothers came here to sell their bodies, whilst never mentioning how the Umnoputras sell their principles, souls and even the country away.

We hear the devious speeches of Umno “intellectuals” in the Biro Tatanegara such as the ridiculous claim of a Chinese conspiracy with Singapore, when the Malays are disunited, to topple the Malay government, when very obviously the BTN courses are meant “to promote certain government leaders” (Nazri Aziz) and to protect, perpetuate and preserve their political power!

We hear the disgraceful racist rant of all the Abdul Rauf Yusohs in closed-door Umno functions abroad and at home calling non-Malays “‘bangsa asing” and accusing them of “trampling on the Malays in ‘Tanah Melayu’”, when the glaring reality is that of Umnoputras trampling on each other and on ordinary Malays to grab and gobble the largest piece possible of ‘Tanah Melayu’ that is left!

We hear the despicable and highly racist hysteria of Perkasa whose president Ibrahim Ali has hopped back as the saviour of the hapless Malay by waging war against the supposedly avaricious Chinese, whilst hiding the fact that the real enemy of the Malays are people like him and his cohorts who have been Umno’s self-serving sycophants who suck up to the powers that be to satisfy their insatiable greed.

We hear the dementiated views of Dr M claiming (without any substantiation, solid evidence or statistics) that the Chinese are the real masters of the country – when in reality it is he, his cronies and a few Chinese capitalists whom he had created who are the real “tuans”. He is also the real mastermind of Umno’s racist policies – the “Father of all racists” as Nazri Aziz has crowned him!

We hear the disgusting attempts to make the Chinese the scapegoat of Malay poverty when for the last 39 years of the NEP it was the Umnoputras who have squeezed and bled this country dry, siphoned and stashed their ill-gotten gains overseas and sent their children abroad to study in premier schools, whilst deceiving, denying and depriving the poor Malay of what was due to them.

We hear the deafening silence of the Umnoputras on the many bail-outs, buy-outs and the mind-boggling billions wasted and still more which went missing without being accounted for or anyone held responsible for, especially during the Mahathir years, and which goes on unabated till today, whilst the Chinese are accused of getting richer at the expense of the Malays!

We hear the derogatory remarks of Umnoputras against the Chinese newspapers while Umno-owned English and Malay papers, especially the Utusan Malaysia, are allowed to go on a spree of spinning falsehood, spouting lies, spewing seditious articles and spreading what Nazri Aziz calls “outdated racist propaganda” with impunity and immunity by the Umno Home Minister.

We hear the diabolical voices in Umno who politicise religion for the party’s survival by creating unfounded fears and insecurities amongst Muslims, deepening distrust of adherents of other religions and derailing sincere efforts at inter-religious dialogue whilst declaring those who detest their devious ways as anti-Islam and anti-Malay.

We hear the desperate attempts by Umnoputras to manufacture imaginary threats and bogeymen such as the Chinese wanting to conquer this country from the Malays, the Christians hell-bent on confusing and converting every Muslim and even the CIA having covert operations here! Alas, Umno can only survive with a siege mentality which Khairy Jamaluddin had urged it to abandon.

We hear the deceiving hypocrisy of Umnoputras who portray themselves as the protectors of the Malays to revive their comatosed political careers, and when in actuality Malay rights have always been outlined, stated and guaranteed clearly by the Federal Constitution (Professor Dr Abdul Aziz Bari), i.e., the Malays do not need further protection from Umno or the likes of Ibrahim Ali!

We hear the Umnoputras’ drummed-up danger of the Malays losing their rights – when they in fact control all the (Malay) institutions, dictate all laws and policies, own all the state-owned companies, GLCs (Petronas), banks and national assets and resources and are accorded priorities and privileges when it comes to properties, public contracts and scholarships! If indeed the Malays do lose their rights – it is to the Umno elite!

We hear the delirium of the Umno warlords who are drunk with power, warning non-Malays not to push the Malays too far (who is pushing?) or they would go amok, create a bloodbath and start another May 13 “or Feb. 13”, when it is obvious that such intimidating threats of thuggery and mob violence are meant to defend “the most corrupt institution in this country” (Lim Kit Siang), Umno!

We hear Najib’s voice spurring the country towards oneness, but will it be silenced by Umno’s cacophony of racism? Will the PM show spine, substance and nerves of steel and stop the mounting dissonance by the Umno warlords, government officials and extremist groups like Perkasa or will he be satisfied in being a sloganeer and somnolent PM and meet the same tragic fate as his predecessor?

We hear Najib’s invitation to the Malaysian Chinese to be more courageous, committed and to contribute to a more dynamic 1Malaysia. At the same time Umnoputras are allowed to gamble away the country by playing the racist card to the hilt! Is this part of Najib’s charade and chicanery of “concrete change” on Chinese New Year’s Day? If it is, he and Umno will not last very long.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 February 2010, 8:51 am and is filed under
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“I give up la talking to this government”

What is most damning in Tun Dr. Lim
Keng Yaik’s second part of his Edge Financial Daily interview
 yesterday was not his prediction that “Gerakan has lost Penang for good” or his poor assessment of his successor Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon but his contemptuous dismissal of the Najib Razak premiership when he said: “I give up la talking to this government”.

Coming from one who had headed Gerakan as its President for 27 years and was in Barisan Nasional government for 36 years from 1972 to 2008, serving as Cabinet Minister for a quarter of a century, there can be no more categorical a dismissal of the first year of Najib’s new premiership – despite all the Najib sloganeering about 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme.

It is ironic and tragic that since January 1 this year, Najib’s 1Malaysis slogan and concept had suffered one blow after another, rubbished by none other than by his own people in Umno and government, the most recent example being the vicious and irresponsible exploitation of the race and religion card by Umno leaders and Umno-controlled media like Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian to falsely paint the Penang Pakatan Rakyat state government and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

It is sad that Najib does not realize that in condoning the vicious and irresponsible exploitation of the race and religious card by Umno leaders and Umno-controlled media, it is not just the Pakatan Rakyat Penang State Government and Guan Eng who have been put to the test, Najib and his 1Malaysia slogan and concept are themselves on trial.

For Keng Yaik, the verdict on the Najib administration seems foregone with his dismissive statement: “I give up la talking to this government”.

It is reported that the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council is meeting tonight at the coalition’s newly-renovated headquarters on the eighth floor of the Menara Datuk Onn building in Kuala Lumpur.

The BN Supreme Council meeting cannot do better than to place Keng Yaik’s contemptuous dismissal of the Najib premiership as the top item of its agenda and to decide how to salvage the 1Malaysia slogan and concept before it is totally discredited.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 February 2010, 2:19 pm and is filed under
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PhD student in USM who does not understand English or Malay!

Can you believe it? A PhD student in Universiti Sains Malaysia who cannot understand English or Malay!

What medium of instruction is the student using in USM?

Read the following Bernama report:

Iraqi Doctorate Student Charged With Reckless Driving

NIBONG TEBAL, 19 Feb (Bernama) — An Iraqi, who is taking a doctorate at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), was Friday charged in the Magistrate Court here with reckless driving and causing the death of a student at the university, Fadilah Abdul Halim, 27, last Thursday.

Hamood Sheehab Hamid, 45, is charged with committing the offence at the traffic light exit to USM, at Jalan Transkrian about 9.45am.

Hamood, who is taking a doctorate in electronic engineering, is charged with driving in a reckless and dangerous manner under section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987.

However, no plea was recorded because Hamood could neither understand English nor Malay.

Magistrate Mohd Izham Ali ordered Hamood’s passport be surrendered to the court and set bail at RM5,000 in two sureties, a local and a foreigner.

He fixed March 23 for mention.

Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Ghazali Muhamad Nadzri prosecuted, while Hamood was represented by lawyer Badrul Hisham Abdullah.

                This entry was posted on Friday, 19 February 2010, 4:04 pm and is filed under
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Just commission public opinion poll and Najib will know whether majority of Malaysians buy his claim that Anwar’s Sodomy 2 trial is “a personal, not political trial”

In rejecting my call for an emergency meeting of Parliament on Parliamentary Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy2 trial, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak does protest too much.

Najib said the Anwar Ibrahim Sodomy2 trial does not warrant a special sitting of Parliament as it is a private matter between two individuals, that it does not involve government policy and not a matter of national interest.

I challenge Najib to commission a public opinion poll and the Prime Minister will know whether the majority of Malaysians buy his claim that the Anwar Sodomy2 trial is “a personal, not political trial”.

Extend the opinion poll to all keen observers of Malaysian affairs world-wide and there can be no doubt that the overwhelming majority of opinion – whether national or international – will be of the view that  the Anwar Sodomy2 trial is a political, not personal, trial!

Najib can entrust the Minister for KPI and 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon with the responsibility to commission such national and international opinion polls, and I have no doubt of their outcomes.

This is why Najib was only demonstrating his “denial syndrome” when he claimed that the  Anwar Sodomy2 trial did not involve government policy and was not a matter of national interest.

Is Najib really unaware that national and international confidence in Malaysian governance, an important element for Malaysia’s declining international competitiveness, hinges considerably on the process and outcome of the Anwar Sodomy2 trial, which explains the presence of international observers at the trial?

Furthermore, if Anwar’s Sodomy2 trial was a strictly personal and not a national matter, why is Najib dispatching a high-powered mission comprising three top officials comprising the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and former Chief Justice, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad to Washington next week to sell the Barisan Nasional Government’s case in response to the criticism by John Kerry, chairman of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Anwar Sodomy2 trial?

In fact, the demonstration by a handful of Barisan Nasional MPs outside the Australian High Commission on Thursday, protesting against the call by 50 Australian MPs for the dropping of the Sodomy2 charges against Anwar, has further internationalized the issue, debunking the stance that Anwar’s Sodomy2 trial is “a personal, not political trial”.

If Anwar’s Sodomy2 trial is escalating into an increasingly bigger international issue, Najib must thank the handful of BN MPs who had attracted even greater international attention with their puerile demonstration outside the Australian High Commission to the issue.

The handful of BN MPs who protested outside the Australian High Commission against the 50 Australian MPs two days ago had misrepresented the stand of Parliament on the Anwar Sodomy2 trial and this itself would be sufficient reason for the convening of an emergency meeting of Parliament on a matter which vitally concerns the restoration of national and international confidence in the independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions in the country.

Is Najib worried that he will not be able to get the solid support of every Barisan Nasional MP if there is an emergency meeting of Parliament on the matter?

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 February 2010, 12:03 pm and is filed under
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Muhyiddin is among the most unqualified persons in the Najib Cabinet to talk about the doctrine of separation of powers

I never thought that a day would come when Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin could prate about the doctrine of separation of powers.

Who is he to suggest that I am confused and do not understand separation of powers for asking for an emergency Parliamentary meeting on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy2 charges.

This is because Muhyiddin is among the most unqualified persons in the Najib Cabinet to talk about the doctrine of separation of powers.

The doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary suffered the worst erosion and emasculation, subversion and sabotage since the “mother of all judicial crisis” in 1988 when the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and Supreme Court judges were sacked for not complying with the whims and fancies of the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

If Muhyiddin had any doubts about the perversion and subversion of the doctrine of separation of powers in the past two decades, he need only ask his Cabinet colleague, Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim who had written a doctoral thesis on the subject – although Rais had recanted his views to get back to the Cabinet.

Did Muhyiddin, who was already occupying high government and political office in 1988, ever spoken up or lifted a finger against the subversion and sabotage of the doctrine of separation of powers in the past two decades – when the judiciary fell from its high international fame and standing before 1988 to the lowest depths of world-wide notoriety equivalent to  a “rogue judiciary”?

If not, what right has he now to feign or claim concern about separation of powers?

It is precisely because the doctrine of separation of powers had been so battered and subverted, with the Malaysian judiciary fighting a losing battle to regain national and international confidence in its independence, impartiality and integrity seven years after the end of Mahathir premiership, that the dropping of Anwar’s Sodomy2 charges is generally regarded as an important step to re-establish the doctrine of separation of powers in Malaysia.

Hence, the relevance and importance of the call for an emergency meeting of Parliament on Anwar’s Sodomy2 charges.

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 February 2010, 12:11 pm and is filed under
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On “Singapore Maths” and world-class education

By
Azly Rahman

The article below, from The Seattle Times and which was linked to the online publication of the National Educational Association (NEA) should be of interest to Malaysian educators teaching Mathematics.

Costructivism as a paradigm of teaching and learning has been around for quite some time and infused in many a school in the advanced countries. Constructivism is drawn from the work of Socrates, Piaget, and Brain Science theorists. It is essentially Deweyian in philosophy as well..

The superiority of the Singapore education system is something the Singaporeans have worked hard to build.

Essentially the Singapore Malays, arguably have learned the meaning of affirmative action and meritocracy well. The idea of “Mendaki” as a means to help the academically underachieving Malays in the city-state is admirable, perceived from an educational standpoint. Born in Alexander Road Singapore and growing up in Johor Bahru, I have always been fascinated by the way the Singaporeans run their city-state. As a teenager , I spend my weekends roaming the streets of Singapore, fascinated by the buildings, the food stalls, the bargain stores, the movie theaters, and how law is enforced.

Political and historical ego aside, Malaysian educationists must start looking across the causeway to find solutions to the educational system that needs constant improvement.

We have a world-class education system in our neighbour.

———————————————————————————————

The secret of Schmitz Park Elementary School is Singapore Math

One elementary school in Seattle — Schmitz Park Elementary — bucks the trend toward reform or constructivist math by offering Singapore Math, writes Seattle Times columnist Bruce Ramsey

By
Bruce Ramsey

Seattle Times editorial columnist

Sally made 500 gingerbread men. She sold 3/4 of them and gave away 2/5 of the remainder. How many did she give away?

This was one of the homework questions in Craig Parsley’s fifth-grade class. The kids are showing their answers on the overhead projector. They are in a fun mood, using class nicknames. First up is “Crackle,” a boy. The class hears from “Caveman,” “Annapurna,” “Shortcut” and “Fred,” a girl.

Each has drawn a ruler with segments labeled by number — on the problem above, “3/4,” “2/5” and “500.” Below the ruler is some arithmetic and an answer.

“Who has this as a single mathematical expression? Who has the guts?” Parsley asks. No one, yet — but they will.

This is not the way math is taught in other Seattle public schools. It is Singapore Math, adopted from the Asian city-state whose kids test at the top of the world. Since the 2007-08 year, Singapore Math has been taught at Schmitz Park Elementary in West Seattle — and only there in the district.

In the war over school math — in which a judge recently ordered Seattle Public Schools to redo its choice of high-school math — Schmitz Park is a redoubt or, it hopes, a beachhead. North Beach is a redoubt for Saxon Math, a traditional program. Both schools have permission to be different. The rest of the district’s elementary schools use Everyday Math, a curriculum influenced by the constructivist or reform methods.

Reform math is known for several things. Instead of showing kids how to solve a problem, which Singapore Math does, reform math has them work in groups to discover ways to solve it. It wants them to explain how they did it, sometimes using a special vocabulary.

Sabrina Kovacs-Storlie, a supplemental math teacher at Schmitz Park, taught reform math for several years. “It is full of words,” she says. “So many words.”

Reform math also aims at exposing kids to advanced concepts at an early age. As a result, it jumps around. Kovacs-Storlie opens an Everyday Math book. Here is a lesson on calculating the perimeter of a shape. Next is a lesson about probability.

“It is teaching to exposure,” she says. “We are teaching to mastery.”

Schmitz Park’s curriculum is more like the math parents remember. They came out big for Math Night a few weeks ago. Their PTA pays for the Singapore books — and also for Kovacs-Storlie’s salary.

Test results are encouraging. At Schmitz Park, 86 percent of the fifth-graders passed the WASL test in math, compared with 68 percent districtwide. At Schmitz Park, 67 percent passed with a Level 4 (high) result. Seattle schools have different mixes of kids and show a wide variation in math scores. Some schools did better than Schmitz Park. Most did worse.

Curriculum is not the only factor. Another is the enthusiasm of the teachers, which Garrit Kischner, Schmitz Park’s principal, says this curriculum has. Being among rebels, and having to prove something, can be invigorating.

The kids sense it, too. One of the girls in Parsley’s class says proudly that hers is the only school in Seattle with this math.

Next year, these kids will be at Madison Middle School. They will have the reform math. Kathleen Myers, who teaches sixth-grade math there, says the Schmitz Park kids will do all right. They are very good at solving problems.

Of the Schmitz Park curriculum, she says, “I’m happy with it.” Two of her kids are there.

SOURCE:
The Seattle Times

                This entry was posted on Saturday, 20 February 2010, 5:00 am and is filed under
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