Month: March 2009

Language policy: The Utar-Mara Chicken and Duck Talk

by

 

Last weekend, Utar held its convocation for 1,313 graduands. Of the graduating cohort, 99.9 percent were non-Malay. Aside from a sprinkling of Indians, the university enrolment is overwhelmingly Chinese even though there is no bar on Malay entry.

Utar’s mono-racial counterpart is UiTM which on the other hand does close its door to the other races. A Mara entity, UiTM is presently home to almost 120,000 predominantly Malay students.

Aimst University – the brainchild of Samy Vellu – is a private institution established by MIED the education arm of MIC, whose marquee courses include medicine, pharmacy and dentistry.

Read more

More Defence scandals

by

http://www.tianchua.net/en/2009/03/18/more-defence-scandals-2/

18 March 2009

It is wrong to think that Defence scandals confine only to submarine, Eurocopter, Sukhoi, and big-time weapons.

Today I held a press conference in the lobby of the Parliament to expose more scandals in awarding Defence contracts. Last week, I received a written answer from the Ministry of Defence revealing that in 2008 54% of the RM8 Billion worth contracts had been awarded through direct negotiation.

The justification for direct negotiation was due to secrecy and sensitivity of national security. However here is a case that required high level secrecy:

Read more

Mahathir: Call not to appoint Najib PM illogical

by

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/20811-mahathir-call-not-to-appoint-najib-pm-illogical

Published by The Malaysian Insider

19 March 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today it is illogical to call on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong not to appoint Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as the prime minister.

Read more

A Voice on … Limbang: One flop for the road?

by

http://anotherbrickinwall.blogspot.com/2009/03/limbang-one-flop-for-road.html

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My blog comrades, Bigdogdotcom, the blogger who first called Abdullah as PM Flip Flop, showered Abdullah with praises for settling the long dispute with Brunei over Limbang territory.

He said Abdullah finally did someting right for getting Brunei to drop claims on Limbang, after berating over many issues, in particular with the Johor-Singapore issues.

Subject to no sudden twist of event, Abdullah is expected to resign as Prime Minister to transfer power to Dato Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak after the UMNO GA. The date is still subject to be official as the speculated dates range from month end 30th March, to 3rd or 5th April and an outlier predicting another four months.

Read more

Malik Imtiaz Sarwar: Kebebasan memilih

by

(terjemahan daripada Bahasa Inggeris)

‘Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a’ (Harvard; 2008) berupa suatu karya yang nyata kuat pengaruhnya. Ianya dikarang Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim, seorang sarjana ternama. Beliau mengatakan tidak mungkin ada sebarang masyarakat yang kepercayaan agama, iltizam dan keprihatinan seseorang ahlinya dapat dipisahkan daripada perancangan dan keputusan politik.

Beliau berpendapat rakyat jelata tidak mengasingkan antara yang berunsur agama dengan yang tidak tatkala mereka menjalankan hidup sehari-hari. Ini kerana sebagai manusia, pemahaman kita tidaklah diagihkan secara kemas kepada dua kotak: satu kategori berciri agama dan satu lagi kategori berciri secular. Adakalanya pendekatan mencampur-adukkan agama dengan politik membawa kepada ketegangan dan persengketaan, dan adakalanya keganasan.

Justeru itu, An-Naim berpendapat adalah lebih praktik dan munasabah bagi semua orang untuk mengenali peranan yang dimainkan agama. Pemahaman ini boleh kemudiannya ditimba bagi membuat perancangan politik, tetapi tertakluk kepada had batasan tertentu. Namun begitu, ianya mesti dilaksanakan dalam konteks negara secular.

Read more

The earthinc on …. Of mini-budget fails to reduce friction and cost of doing business

by

http://maddruid.com/?p=3218

March 18th, 2009

Despite being a person who is generally skeptical to the idea of economic stimulus, I did hold high hope for the second stimulus package or the mini-budget as it is called. I thought this would be the time when we would finally do things differently. Like a crystal glass thrown into the air only to meet the harsh earth, that hope of mine was crudely shattered into millions of pieces.

As it turned out, it was business as usual. Same old same old.

Read more

Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English?

by

Consolidated post on Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English

The current topic involving the nation’s Education Policy under much public scrutiny and debate for some time now is the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. CPI in this post consolidates several viewpoints on the issue culled from several media, representing the perspectives seen by various groups and individuals, and indeed the Government is placed in a dilemma of its own making.  Its present review of this policy will soon result in a key decision that will continue to impact — for better or worse — almost every Malaysian family with a school-going child. — YL Chong, Editor, CPI

Read more

Global Crisis – The Poison and the Antidote

by

Greed is the poison in our global plight.
 
“Greed may have plunged the current economy into global crisis, for which both individual and increasingly materialistic culture are to blame,” states a  British Columbia university report.
 
“America has an economic system set up to create the kind of mess we’ve seen recently,” said social psychologist Tim Kasser, Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois and to drag the rest of the world into it being the epicentre of the global economic earthquake, I should add.

Read more

Zorro on James Masing Parrots his Penisular Masters

by

http://zorro-zorro-unmasked.blogspot.com/2009/03/james-masing-parrots-his-peninsular.html

Nothing original from this PRS President. Pet canines run alongside their masters, and fleas dig deep into their “home”. Of course Bloggers make noise, as long as the noise they make registers with the right people. But, this “NOISE” Masing will not like.

APAI commented this on Cobbolt Johns Blog HERE.

Read more

Mini Budget causes major problem for SMEs

by

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/20397-mini-budget-causes-major-problem-for-smes

Published by The Malaysian Insider

15 March 2009

PETALING JAYA, March 15 – The RM60 billion mini Budget might provide guarantees for local businessmen but it has also brought on a  huge problem, crippling double levies for both new and existing foreign workers that keep Malaysian exports competitive.

The government imposed the levies in the mini Budget to encourage Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to employ locals but factory managers and even restaurateurs say Malaysians ask for too much but produce too little, forcing them to rely on foreign workers.

Read more