Here is the full text from Syed Imran's blog.
Friday, 12 September 2008
Pendatang!
The answer to Ahmad Ismail calling the non-Malays "pendatang" who do not deserve equal rights. Excerpt taken from Malaysians unplugged Uncensored:
Here is the full text from Syed Imran's blog.
Here is the full text from Syed Imran's blog.
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Don't Handicap Our Young Ones
For the past few days the debate on whether the policy on teaching Maths and Science in English should be continued or scrapped has continued to hog the pages in a local English daily. The astonishing thing is that the people who wrote in to the daily voicing their support for the continuation of the policy were Malay parents. One would expect vocal support to come from the English educated non-Malays. It wasn't so; and it is a positive indication that Malay attitude towards the English language may have undergone a paradigm shift. The main argument has been that they do not want their children to be handicapped by a poor command of English when they enter the private sector job market. They also exploded the myth that using the language would make them more an 'orang putih' and less a Malay.
A columnist also commented that the recent absurd advertorial must have dealt a terribly embarassing blow to Her Royal Highness. He described the blooper as "a howling shame". To add insult to injury, the institution is named after the third prime minister of the country, the father of the present Minister of Education. How's that for a double whammy? Undoubtedly, the advertorial was picked up by foreign readers and institutions on the net, and by those who are considering studying in our tertiary institutions. I shudder to think what must have crossed their minds when they read it.
"Wah, your Englis so powderful!"
Many have argued that improving the command of the language should be done by increasing the number of periods alloted to the teaching of English and not by learning it through Maths and Science. As it is, the teaching timetable is already heavily loaded, and increasing it for English would be at the expense of other subjects.
The long term objective of the policy however, is not only to expose students to the use of English for communication, but also English as a language of Maths and Science as the primary objective. But "Malay nationalists" as one parent wrote, have vehemently opposed the move as one that downgrades the importance of Bahasa Melayu as the primary language of instruction. Further, the present government under tremendous political pressure would most likely bend to the populist demand to revert to Bahasa Melayu just to appease both the Malay heartland and the vernacular educationists. As Pragmatic Revelations commented on my earlier post, when political expediency becomes the over riding concern, the educational system becomes a political football.
We do not need to go very far back to know how a switch in the medium of instruction could lead to either success or failure. The early 80's saw a switch in the medium of instruction from English to Bahasa Melayu. Teachers, who in the past received their education in the English medium were provided with only bilingual textbooks to teach and they did a remarkably successful job for the simple reason that they somehow had to be a role model to their charges and they worked hard to fulfil the role of a committed teacher, even though initially handicapped by a weak command of the language.
What has happened to that commitment, the drive to do a good job, to provide the best education for their charges? It is this commitment to do a good job that is sadly lacking in the teaching profession. Moreover, how many teachers are really proficient in English to explain mathematical and scientific concepts properly? Was the crash course they had undergone sufficient to equip them to teach effectively? It is not as though these teachers do not know English. They have studied the language for at least 11 years, so they are not exactly strangers to the language. I have seen how admirably quick the American Peace Corp Volunteers picked up Bahasa Melayu after one month of study and to this day, some if not several could still speak and write the language. Once my American friend, Nancy wrote to me in Bahasa Melayu and she acquitted herself remarkably after a lapse of so many years. I believe that behind their success is their spirit unfettered by prejudice, their desire to learn and their love for things unfamiliar and wonderful. And above all, their willingness to serve and contribute.
Below is what she has written to me:
Kepada sahabat2 yang jauh, Lee Chang Ngee dan Ng Yew Moi, dengansurat email ini saya hendak beritahu anda bahawa saya akan pergi ke Malaysia sana Malaysia Malaysia
Students are no fools; they can spot a phony a mile away. I contend that the failure of the policy lies squarely on the shoulders of teachers who accepted the change with lukewarm enthusiasm and taught with even less enthusiasm.
A columnist also commented that the recent absurd advertorial must have dealt a terribly embarassing blow to Her Royal Highness. He described the blooper as "a howling shame". To add insult to injury, the institution is named after the third prime minister of the country, the father of the present Minister of Education. How's that for a double whammy? Undoubtedly, the advertorial was picked up by foreign readers and institutions on the net, and by those who are considering studying in our tertiary institutions. I shudder to think what must have crossed their minds when they read it.
"Wah, your Englis so powderful!"Many have argued that improving the command of the language should be done by increasing the number of periods alloted to the teaching of English and not by learning it through Maths and Science. As it is, the teaching timetable is already heavily loaded, and increasing it for English would be at the expense of other subjects.
The long term objective of the policy however, is not only to expose students to the use of English for communication, but also English as a language of Maths and Science as the primary objective. But "Malay nationalists" as one parent wrote, have vehemently opposed the move as one that downgrades the importance of Bahasa Melayu as the primary language of instruction. Further, the present government under tremendous political pressure would most likely bend to the populist demand to revert to Bahasa Melayu just to appease both the Malay heartland and the vernacular educationists. As Pragmatic Revelations commented on my earlier post, when political expediency becomes the over riding concern, the educational system becomes a political football.
We do not need to go very far back to know how a switch in the medium of instruction could lead to either success or failure. The early 80's saw a switch in the medium of instruction from English to Bahasa Melayu. Teachers, who in the past received their education in the English medium were provided with only bilingual textbooks to teach and they did a remarkably successful job for the simple reason that they somehow had to be a role model to their charges and they worked hard to fulfil the role of a committed teacher, even though initially handicapped by a weak command of the language.
What has happened to that commitment, the drive to do a good job, to provide the best education for their charges? It is this commitment to do a good job that is sadly lacking in the teaching profession. Moreover, how many teachers are really proficient in English to explain mathematical and scientific concepts properly? Was the crash course they had undergone sufficient to equip them to teach effectively? It is not as though these teachers do not know English. They have studied the language for at least 11 years, so they are not exactly strangers to the language. I have seen how admirably quick the American Peace Corp Volunteers picked up Bahasa Melayu after one month of study and to this day, some if not several could still speak and write the language. Once my American friend, Nancy wrote to me in Bahasa Melayu and she acquitted herself remarkably after a lapse of so many years. I believe that behind their success is their spirit unfettered by prejudice, their desire to learn and their love for things unfamiliar and wonderful. And above all, their willingness to serve and contribute.
Below is what she has written to me:
Kepada sahabat2 yang jauh, Lee Chang Ngee dan Ng Yew Moi, dengan
Students are no fools; they can spot a phony a mile away. I contend that the failure of the policy lies squarely on the shoulders of teachers who accepted the change with lukewarm enthusiasm and taught with even less enthusiasm.
A Cold Crab Dish
I was fascinated by this cold crab dish served up by Jia Wee Restaurant. In fact it was my first taste of crab prepared in this way. Regrettably, I only had shreds of the crab meat as only two crabs were ordered for a table of 12. But I had the perfect excuse as I wanted to blog about this dish, so I needed to know what it tasted like. It was fantastic! Never have I had crabs that tasted so fresh and succulent before. The crab was first steamed with sliced ginger, spring onions and egg white; it was then left in the freezer for about one and the half hours to firm the flesh. I did not try the sauce that accompanied it; instead I opted for wasabe mixed in soya sauce. It was fantabulous. The restaurant has to be notified earlier so that it could prepare the dish.
The sauce for the crab
Jia Wee is wedged between two tall buildings, diagonally opposite the famous pet fish shop, Xian Leng. It is open for business only at night. Apart from the crab dish we also had others.
Jia Wee Restaurant
Deep fried 'kampung' or farm chicken. Every body is into kampung chicken as it is considered to contain less fat
This is guaranteed to raise your cholesterol level by many bars: steamed sliced belly pork
Close-up of sliced belly pork
This is my favourite fish: fried 'Kembong' or mackeral
The last dish: fried beehoon with bitter melon
The sauce for the crab
Jia Wee Restaurant
Deep fried 'kampung' or farm chicken. Every body is into kampung chicken as it is considered to contain less fat
This is guaranteed to raise your cholesterol level by many bars: steamed sliced belly pork
Close-up of sliced belly pork
This is my favourite fish: fried 'Kembong' or mackeral
The last dish: fried beehoon with bitter melonBald Heads
Nancy alerted me to this news item in the BBC News. We felt that this novel way of advertising would interest the readers.(Pic from BBC News/Asia Pacific)
Bald-head adverts
for NZ airline
New Zealand's national airline is looking for bald passengers to head up a new advertising campaign.
The carrier said it wanted 50 passengers to be "cranial billboards" and publicise a new check-in service on their heads.
The fliers will be offered money to have their pates temporarily tattooed with the message.
The airline said it would pay NZ$1,000 (£380; $666) per head, making it easy money for bald frequent fliers.
The airline's marketing manager Steve Bayliss said in a statement: "How better to tell our customers that Air New Zealand is going to do something about [long check-in queues]... than through messaging they can read while they're standing in a queue themselves?"Who Is Ahmad Ismail?
Oh, oh..Ahmad Ismail is not such a pompous nonentity after all. I got this from The Malaysian Bar. It reveals among other things that- he is the Executive Chairman of Peninsular Metroworks Sdn Bhd (with a paid up capital of only RM 50,000), which was given the RM 1.02 billion Penang Outer Ring Road concession, but the project was recently put on hold by the federal government
- he is the Director of Nadi Senandung Sdn Bhd (a hundred ringgit shell company) which holds a 55% stake in the above company
- he was declared a bankrupt in May 2006
- a police report was recently lodged by the Penang Development Corporation against him as a Director of the now defunct Popular Profile Sdn Bhd for not returning RM 500,000 belonging to the the state.
So much for the champion of the Malays.
Tuesday, 9 September 2008
Malaysian Wrongfully Detained For 11 Months
Today's news, more shocking than the ruckus kicked up by one pompous insignificant UMNO division chief is the wrongful detention of M. Rajeshvari in an immigration detention camp for illegal immigrants for 11 months. All because she forgot her identity card number and unable to speak Bahasa Malaysia. She was six months pregnant at that time and gave birth while in detention. She was freed last Friday.
Pic from Star Online
Pic from Star OnlineI just wonder if there is any legal recourse that she could have to compensate for the 11 months' of suffering she had endured in the camp. Couldn't the Immigration people find a Tamil interpreter to determine her status? But the Immigration Department has been known to be less than humane in its treatment of illegal immigrants.
What was it like to be detained for 11 months? Someone should interview her and write an account of her experience on her behalf. She might become the next celebrity after Ahmad Ismail, the hero or racist, depending on what colour your skin is.
What was it like to be detained for 11 months? Someone should interview her and write an account of her experience on her behalf. She might become the next celebrity after Ahmad Ismail, the hero or racist, depending on what colour your skin is.
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