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Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Chinese Mother Tongue Education


I observe that in the recent UMNO divisional AGM, many divisions have passed on a resolution calling for the Government to either abolish SRJK (C) or to stop the construction of new SRJK (C) schools. This is an old issue often used by politicians from both political divide to make them look great and good.

In the MCA AGM, Education, especially in mother tongue education is a sure hot topic. Politicians must not forget that freedom of education and the right to study mother tongue education is enshrined in the Constitution. Blaming Chinese education for disunity sounds like a desperate politician unable to understand the underlying cause of disunity in a multi racial country.

Opposition like any opposition party of the world is there to discredit the Government. Unfortunately UMNO politicians seem to take the bait, like hook line and sinker. Mother tongue education will not be an issue and the opposition will have no opportunity to exploit it if the Government gives adequate, equal and fair treatment to the Chinese education without neglecting Bahasa Melayu. It is only the naive that believes a singular education system will create unity in Malaysia.

I thought Malaysians are always proud of our strength in diversity. 57 years after independence, we seem to lay the blame on diversity and a bilingual education system as a root to our disunity among the ethnic groups. 15% of the Chinese school enrolment comes from Non-Chinese and the percentage is increasing everywhere. Are you saying parents are not sensitive to their children’s needs? A parent is most concerned about their children’s education irrespective of their social status. They want the best for their children.

There are many examples in the world that in a mono ethnic country with same religion and mother tongue but they are the most disunited people. In these countries, opposition do not come from a single ethnic group; there are deeper issues involved in disunity, on which I do not wish to go into detail.

So, hopefully some UMNO divisional leaders will wake up, this issue will not bring any benefit, both to the party and in the General Election. It is the intolerance and refusal to accept the different stream of education that causes us more ethnic tension. If some UMNO leaders does not wake up to today’s political reality in Malaysia, UMNO and BN will miss the train and start the blame game. Progressive and competitive nation should encourage its citizen to be multilingual but unfortunately, some politicians just ignored the elephant
in the room. They choose to get the 5 minutes publicity.

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我发现在最近召开的巫统区部大会上,许多的巫统区部通过议决,促请政府废除华小或停止兴建新的华小。这其实是朝野政客惯用的老调,他们无非是要借此来逞英雄。

在马华全国代表大会,教育课题特别是谈到母语教育,始终是一项热门的辩题。从政者必须谨记,享有自由教育和学习母语教育的权力,是我国联邦宪法赋予和保障的。归咎于华文教育导致人民不团结,显然的失意政客根本不了解,在多元种族的国度里,到底什么才是造成不团结的原因。

我国的反对党,就和全世界的反对党一样,目的就是要抹黑政府。不幸的是,巫统的政客似乎竟然也采取这种伎俩。如果政府是公平、合理和适度的对待华小,而同时又没有忽略国语,那么母语教育将不会成为课题,反对党也就没有机会加以利用渲染。只有天真无知的人士,才会认为单一语文教育才会促进全民团结。

我想全体马来西亚人都会对我们拥有的多元特色感到骄傲。独立57年以来,我们好像一直把多元和多语教育制度,看成是造成不同族群无法团结的根源。目前华小有15%的学生是非华裔,而且这个比率还往上升。难道你认为父母对子女的需求不甚在意吗?任何的家长,不管他们是怎样的社会背景,都是非常关注子女的教育,他们要给孩子最好的一切。

世界上有一些国家,虽然它们是单一种族,而且是相同宗教信仰和同样的母语,可是他们却是最不团结的民族。在这些国家里,反对党并不是来自某个单一的族群。实际上国民不团结有许许多多的远因近由,不过我不愿在这里详谈。

所以我希望一些巫统的区部领袖能觉悟,这样的课题对党和大选,都不会带来任何的好处。其实就是因为无法容忍和拒绝接受不同源流的教育体系,才导致族群之间的关系紧张。如果一些巫统领袖还不能认清今时今日大马的政治现实状况,那么巫统和国阵将会丧失时机,最后落得互相指责的地步。

一个进步和更具竞争力的国家,是应该鼓励她的子民掌握多种语言,遗憾的是许多政客却不愿面对和接受事实,而只是选择沉醉在短暂的自我宣传。



Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Azmin Ali: MB Selangor with no honeymoon period

Now that Azmin Ali is the MB of Selangor, he will be under the microscope from his enemies within the Party, DAP, PAS, BN and finally the rakyat. One should not forget that the Sultan of Selangor would be monitoring him closely as well. After all, he is appointed by the Sultan and his appointment is perceived by many to be extra constitutional.

It is only by performance as a MB that will vindicate him from these accusations. Azmin’s worst enemy will be his own party members. The unprecedented long period of party election has only served to aggravate infighting among the members of PKR. How Azmin reaches out to his enemy within the Party and whether or not he takes care of his own supporters will in a way influence his performance as a MB.

DAP and PAS are not going to give Azmin an easy ride, especially after he reduces the PAS EXCO from 4 to 3. If he gives in too much to DAP, Azmin will be perceived as pandering to the Chinese based party. How Azmin manages his relationship with the Palace will be crucial. The Palace’s support will be his trump card but if he over display the Palace card, it will work to his disadvantage in the long term.

Having work in the state as an EXCO in Johor, one cannot deny that the State Government’s relationship with the palace is crucial if you want to get things done. Although the Sultan is regarded as a Constitutional Head, but often his influence is palpable, especially in running the daily affairs of the state. Any MB who wish to ignore this would have to accept the consequences at his own peril.

Honeymoon is not with Azmin when he has to contend with a lot of state and federal issues that need to be resolved. Time may not be on his side. The six highway crisscrossing Selangor and the issue of the water consolidation within the state are elephant in his room. If he is not firm and at the same time not inclusive towards his own state assemblyman from PR, and the interest of Selangor rakyat, he will be seen to be a lackey of UMNO and BN.

For the water issue, time to resolve is of essence in view of water shortage in Selangor. So there is little room to maneuver, more so that his predecessor has signed a series of agreement with the federal government. For the toll highway crisscrossing the state, Azmin can play for time by holding public hearing in the name of being mesra rakyat. He can always insists on a detailed study of the socioeconomic impact of the highway in Selangor and play for time. After all, acquisition of land is a state matter.

The Bible issue will be a sensitive issue that Azmin needs to address. Since religion comes under the state with the Sultan as the head of Islamic religion, Azmin has to walk a tight rope to balance the state religious authority under the Sultan and taking care of the religious sensitivities of the minorities.

After PR has won big in the 505 election in Selangor, the rakyat has high hope that the PR will implement its state election manifesto. This includes no toll highway, affordable housing and water consolidation. While Khalid has undertaken steps or initiatives to consolidate the water issues, no toll highway and affordable housing seems to be a far-fetched dream to Selangor rakyat.

The plate is full for Azmin. As the richest state, Azmin must maintain the momentum of development to ensure rapid economic growth and adequate state revenue. Much has been written about Khalid’s RM3 billion in reserve. It is unwarranted praise because what Khalid did was to increase revenue collection from land conversion and development charges. This is not difficult because of the property boom. It would be a challenge now that it is anticipated that there is going to be a property slow down.

A perusal of the state budget shows that the development budget for this year is lesser than last year. However, management expenditure has gone up by 20%. Azmin needs to revisit the unwarranted 400% increased of salary of state representatives. It’s unthinkable for the State Speaker to be paid a salary of a Cabinet Minister.  In the state, the speaker of the Dewan is the most leisurely job as PR has more than 2/3 ADUN. How his colleague in Pakatan Rakyat will react when their salary are brought down to earth having enjoy sky-high salary for the last few month?

Khalid was criticized as aloof and do not reach out to his colleagues in the State Assembly. Hence, a lot of PR ADUN claimed they are unaware of the development within the state. Azmin needs to strike a balance of disclosing what the wakil rakyat need to know and at the same time ensuring confidentiality of the state information.


At the hike of the Selangor MB crisis, I predicted a month ago that Azmin will finally be the Menteri Besar. Now that he is the anointed successor, Azmin has to answer the call of duty by the Sultan, Rakyat of Selangor, Anwar, Wan Azizah, PKR and PR’s partner. He must prove that he is the boss in Selangor to Anwar and his cronies. With resources at his disposal, he needs to stamp his mark that he will ultimately succeed Anwar and not a puppet MB. His distractor will continue to poke holes in his administration.

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