Month: March 2009

Sin Chew via Malaysia-today on A Dubious Political Issue

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http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/19123/84/

Published by MT

The issue of teaching science and mathematics in English has become a dubious political issue that those involved are reluctant to give up.

Of course the unsettled issue is troublesome and it could trigger a more serious problem in the long term. For example, it has led to a demonstration that embarrassed UMNO and made things difficult for Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

UMNO is the so-called defender of the Malays while the Education Minister is the guardian of Bahasa Malaysia. Today, Malay racists held a massive rally to oppose UMNO’s language policy and critics government’s for belittling the status of Bahasa Malaysia. How should Hishammuddin respond to it?

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Rocky on…8 bloggers may be charged for insulting Sultan Perak

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http://rockybru.com.my/2009/03/8-bloggers-may-be-charged-for-insulting.html

March 12, 2009

The Malaysiankini story says 6 bloggers to be charged tomorrow. The Star’s sms alert says two more could be charged on Sunday. All for allegedly posting comments deemed to be insulting to the Sultan of Perak.

This is news to me as I thought the cybercops were investigating only Jed Yoong [here] and this blog h e r e [Bukit Aman took my statement again on Tuesday, 10 March, here]. I was on the phone with Jed just now. She was taken aback by the news but otherwise alright.

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Why must Najib be stopped from becoming PM

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13 March 2009

Minister Nazri Aziz’s barefaced denial of any wrongdoing by the Attorney -General and Inspector-General of Police in Anwar Ibrahim’s “black eye” case in the face of incontrovertible evidence is an affront to common decency and an insult to the people’s intelligence. 

Answering a question in Parliament on Mar 11, Nazri said the then Anti-Corruption Agency (now the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission — MACC) had completed the investigations and concluded as early as September last year that both AG Gani Patail and IGP Musa Hassan were innocent of Anwar’s written complaints of fabrication of evidence.  If that is the case, why didn’t the AG’s chamber use this conclusion to counter Sessions Court Judge Komatty’s decision to reject AG’s request to transfer Anwar’s sodomy trial to the High Court on ground of AG’s entanglement in the black eye case?  Shouldn’t the prosecutors have used the AG’s “confirmed??? innocence as the perfect argument in the first instance, instead of fighting doggedly from one court hearing to another just to ensure that Anwar’s trial could be taken away from Komatty and transferred to another judge in the high court?

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God only knows when our Economic Gloom will end …..

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A New Road Map To Vision 2020

The recent headline in one of the national papers ‘Gloom till end of next year’ together with a photo of our Second Finance Minister crying, has encouraged me to write this commentary article.  It touches on various sensitive issues that may seem to be disconnected but in fact are clearly part of a larger national problem.  

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In the grip of poverty

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http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=48426

Published by Borneo Post

Extreme poverty means living in an environment without food security, clean water, sanitation, basic health service, literacy and basic income

THERE are some in the interior born with silver spoons in their mouths but many also enter the world without even wooden ladles.

Despite ongoing efforts to eradicate extreme poverty, the hard reality is that there is no quick fix for this social scourge and a number of households, especially in the rural areas, are still living from hand to mouth as a result.

Two such impoverished families can be found in Kampung Sadir, one of the Bidayuh villages in the interior of Jalan Puncak Borneo, about 58km from Kuching.

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Seeds of its own Destruction

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Another ideological god has failed. The assumptions that ruled policy and politics over three decades suddenly look as outdated as revolutionary socialism.

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’??? Thus quipped Ronald Reagan, hero of US conservatism. The remark seems ancient history now that governments are pouring trillions of dollars, euros and pounds into financial systems.

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Math and Science: The case for BM (2)

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We have completed one cycle of PPSMI. In 2008, the pioneer batch that was taught Math and Science entirely in English finished their Year Six.  

Yet last year, only 31.1% of Year Six pupils elected to answer the UPSR Science paper fully in English, while 68.9% opted to use Malay, or vernacular (Chinese/Tamil) or a combination of three languages (English-Malay-vernacular). Good grief! We’ve formally brought the Malaysian rojak culture into the classroom.

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Maths and Science in English — a rocket which will never ever take off!

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http://art-harun.blogspot.com/2009/03/maths-and-science-in-english-rocket.html

Tuesday, 10 March 2009

I have written about this topic on Navel Gazing no less than twice, I think. And now, as the issue has transformed itself into a full blown political one, complete with a demonstration and the proverbial tear gas and all, I think I should write about it again.

First of all, I wish to make it clear that I support the freedom of expression. And that includes the right to assemble peacefully. I would therefore support the right of all the people who assembled in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday to make known their stand against the teaching of Maths and Science in the English language in our school.

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Full circle for Azizah

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KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 – There is quite a difference between what Dr Wan Azizah Ismail would like to do and what she knows she has to, and will, do.

Ten years from now, for example, the 56-year-old would like “to imagine herself conducting a peaceful life and spending more time with her six children, grandchildren and relatives???.

Yet she knows it is an unlikely scenario. “My husband will probably need help, and I have to do what is right for my country and for my husband.???

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