Back To Basics: Is Our Education System Helping Us Unite?

Upon independence, we inherited from the British a segregated system of schooling with different orientations and levels of academic achievement. Now more than five decades later, how far have we moved on?

Our forefathers placed Unity highly in the nation’s agenda when they wrote the educational road map. The aim is to integrate the various school systems into one national system that would be acceptable to all while preserving the languages and cultures of all communities.

However, as a matter of political compromise, we opted to retain the multilingual streams in the education system as a short term solution. Nonetheless, it did not stop our education system from growing and bridging the academic gaps between the urban/rural and ethnic divisions. As a result, the number of students in all levels of education increased greatly.

But the political bargain has allowed national Unity to take a back seat. Today our young children are separated with the majority of Chinese and Tamils educated at vernacular schools while the national schools are becoming more monoethnic, with the Malays dominating. The growing number of Sekolah Agama adds on another element of separation. Our children are separated during one of the most crucial formative years in their lives setting a nation that grew up with distinct socialisation processes from the other.

Is this good for Unity? Is this what we want? Where do we go from here?

Should we rise above politics and go back to basics as planned by our forefathers?

Or, if we opt for the status quo, can we make our national schools appealing enough to all Malaysians by adopting a more holistic approach coupled with good quality?

Do we have the political will to choose what is right, what is best? Can we rise above ourselves for the sake of our children?

Five decades in the future, how do we want to feel when we reflect upon our actions and choices today?

Will we stand proud saying that we had the courage to make a painful choice, we went back to basics and it made all the difference?

What should we do?


A programs draw strength from shared values and traditions. We believe that at heart, all Malaysians want good things for themselves and for their brother and sister Malaysians, simply because our nation cannot prosper as a whole if some of us are left behind.

Let us be first and foremost Malaysians.

Let us add value,

Why Anwar Ibrahim is not Prime Minister Material – Part 1

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar will attest that there are two people who have been consistent about Anwar Ibrahim since his days in UMNO; a chap in USM Penang and myself. I have since the first time I heard him speak found him to be a person who delivers grandiose entertaining lectures with little meaning. I found his speeches lack depth. (Unfortunately, we can find many of these folks in the training and development business too).

I am not saying that Anwar has no outstanding talent. On the contrary he has some really outstanding competencies which I will elaborate in part 2 of this article. However, his strength does not match the capacity and skills needed for general management. This is especially for the number one position of a CEO or PM. As early as 1990, I predicted that he was unlikely to become Malaysia’s Prime Minister – and if he did, he will not last for long. Events over the last two decades have proven me correct.

If you are an Anwar fan, or from Pakatan, or a supporter of the political coalition, before you go into conniption, spewing angry words, accusations, and going mad with this article, kindly note that I would have written this article even if Anwar Ibrahim is still in UMNO. I suggest you lend me your ear, and listen to my rationale. Thank you.

For a start, let me explain with three simple examples.

1)    When he was the Minister of Education he introduced Bahasa Baku – a more difficult way to pronounce words where we were told to pronounce BM words as they are spelt. For example ‘teknologi’ is pronounced as technolo-‘ghee’ and ‘universiti’ is pronounced as ‘oo’-niversity – articulating the ‘u’ as per the pronunciation of the first syllable for oolong (tea). Historically, language especially the spoken variety does not evolve that way. You cannot force it on the population. In fact spoken words evolved from the more difficult to pronounce to one that is easier to vocalize. For example, in the English language we have the silent ‘k’ in knife, know, knight etc.

These are remnants of Old English, and wasn't silent at all but was pronounced along with the 'n'. This change is believed to have transpired sometime around the 16th to 17th centuries. Basically, "kn" was considered to be difficult to pronounce and it is much easier and comfortable to follow the "new" pronunciation "n”. (Others: gn, hn, hl, hr, hw -to know more please Google phonotactics constraints). In modern day Indonesia when one says, “Ori”, it is understood it means ‘Original” as the language has evolved to make words simpler.

While we do not expect Anwar to know this as he is not a graduate of linguistic studies but top management must be equipped with the ability to ask the right questions to get to the right answers in order not to end up with such blunders.

2)    During his budget speech as the Finance Minister, analysts were made to pay attention to language rather than economics, the Dewan Bahasa Dictionary rather than to the calculator. That was Anwar’s biggest contribution to the budget speech. Big Bahasa Malaysia words. Unfortunately, bombastic words cannot make an economy fly let alone help us out of the 1997 Financial Crisis.

As a young man I was rather worried when most Malaysians were debating the meaning of BM words rather than the budget allocation and plan. I felt that perhaps as Anwar is not that confident with economics, he focuses on showing off language instead. It ended with Anwar not truly explaining the budget and the nation not really understanding his speech. Sigh!

3)    A more recent example is the push to abolish the PTPTN. Accordingly, the loan scheme was approved during Anwar’s time. Some say it was him who approved it too. Events today made it obvious that Anwar did not really understand the economics of the loan then when he sanctioned it. I am convinced that he has no idea on the repercussions of abolishing it in favor of free education for all. Loan schemes like PTPTN are not just good noble platform to help people; but rather it is also good economics and therefore good for business. Let me explain.

The purpose of business is to create customers.

Only when a business creates customers, do they add value to society. When a business creates a customer, it sets a chain reaction of interconnected, interrelated, and correlated businesses from raw materials to end products coupled with service needs like distribution and communications that is required for delivery and information. IN SHORT, BY CREATING CUSTOMERS, BUSINESSES CREATE JOBS. As such each time a business sells to one customer they touch the lives of thousands if not millions of people.

Any smart and pro-business government policy must help the creation of customers. Basically there are four main ways for businesses to create customers. Innovation, Advertising and Promotions, Selling and Credit.

For example, the INNOVATION of the hand phones has created jobs we never knew could exist. ADVERTISING and PROMOTION draws us to product and service offerings that we are not aware of – like waking up on a Saturday and discovering there is a furniture sale at Fella Design and making a trip to the store and get that nice easy chair you have always wanted. As for SELLING, sales people help us understand product features and benefits better thus helping us decide what, when, where, and whom to buy from.

Last but perhaps one of the most powerful components of customer creation is CREDIT. Credit can create customers almost out of NOTHING AT ALL simply because we humans have learned to trust each other with ‘a promise to pay back at a later date’ system. Can you imagine if we do not have credit facility to purchase houses, cars, and start a business? There would be a total collapse of the world economy and the loss of millions of jobs.

PTPTN is a credit facility. PTPTN has created customers not only by way of students but all other interconnected, interrelated, and correlated businesses from construction, teaching and administration, transportation, food and beverage, retail, entertainment, etc in an endless chain reaction that made not only the world a better place by giving needy people an education but by making our economy more viable, jobs aplenty, and profit for taxes.

It was PTPTN that helped spur and catalyst our education industry like the mushrooming of colleges and universities in the Sunway area. Not only we attracted students from Malaysia but also from all over the world who did not benefit from PTPTN but contributed to society and our well-being.

Let me put it simply. If we take away PTPTN, not only the lecturers, administrators and rich owners of the colleges and universities will lose their jobs and money but that poor Makcik selling nasi lemak in front of the institute of learning will need to close shop because there would be not enough customers buying her products.

End of part 1

“When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do Sir? “
 – John Maynard Keynes

The 13th General Election And Its Aftermath by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar

It is a shame that eight days after the 13th General Election, there are some Opposition leaders who continue to denounce the result as a “massive fraud.”

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s scurrilous allegation about 40,000 Bangladeshis and other foreigners being air-lifted to vote in the election has been exposed as a monstrous lie. Opposition parties such as the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and the Democratic Action Party (DAP) have not been able to produce a single foreigner who had voted in the election!

In fact, it is Opposition vigilantes who have harassed and humiliated legitimate Malaysian voters who they claim looked like Bangladeshis. If this isn’t vicious racial profiling, what is?

Opposition leaders and their supporters know that if they have any evidence of electoral fraud, they can always petition the Courts for remedy. A cursory look at the record of our Election Courts will show that they have been fair in their decisions.

It is wrong of leaders like Anwar and Lim Kit Siang to whip up mass passions on the outcome of a general election which both local and ASEAN observers have assessed as free of fraud. There is a lurking danger in this sort of mobilisation. Since the vast majority of attendees at the rallies organised by them come from a certain community, they could easily give rise to ethnic tensions.

These rallies also have implications for our national sovereignty. There is no doubt at all that Anwar has the backing of some powerful interests in the West. The overtly biased reporting in many Western media channels on the election and the post-election scenario testify to this.  By keeping alive in the media, challenges to an election result which did not go in their favour, these interests are seeking to undermine the legitimately elected government of the day and install their proxy in power. The larger aim is to pursue the US’s geopolitical agenda in Asia, specifically in relation to China, with the help of this proxy, as has been analysed by various commentators such as Tony Cartalucci. (see Global Research 9 May, 2013). Malaysians should be fully aware of the game that is unfolding before us.          
         
There are other important facets of the 13th General Election which we should reflect upon.

 a ) UMNO remains the most formidable political actor in the country. It increased its parliamentary    representation to 88 from 79 in 2008 and its representation in the state assemblies to 242 from 239 five years ago.

b ) The MCA, Gerakan, PPP, and SUPP continue to decline. Would this lead to their demise? Should the Barisan Nasional  itself be re-structured? What sort of role can UMNO play in this?

c ) Opposition parties command substantial support among the populace. Their growing strength means that a two-third majority in Parliament for the BN is a thing of the past. The emerging situation calls for greater mutual respect between the BN and the Opposition.

d ) Since Merdeka there has been both Malay and non-Malay opposition to the ruling coalition. There is rural as well as urban opposition. That pattern repeated itself in the 2013 Election.

e ) Three out of thirteen state governments are in the hands of the opposition parties. Given this scenario which may well continue into the future, it is imperative that the centre and the states cooperate closely for the well-being of the people.  The BN and the Pakatan Rakyat should be committed to ensuring the success of federalism as a mode of governance.

f ) What is unique  about the 13th General Election is the almost unanimous rejection of the BN by Chinese Malaysian voters and their complete endorsement  of Pakatan, especially the DAP. It is estimated that 90% of the Chinese who voted chose the Opposition.  The driving force behind their choice was the desire to “Ubah”( change)  --- to get rid of the UMNO led BN.

g ) What explains this rejection? Is it because many Chinese --- like the non-Chinese voters --- perceived the BN as corrupt and guilty of wrongdoings? Is it because they, like other Malaysians, were yearning for good governance?

h ) While integrity and governance were important considerations, they do not tell the whole story. If good governance was uppermost in the minds of the Chinese voters, why did they reject Dato Seri Muhammad Ali Rastam in Melaka and Dato Seri Abdul Ghani Othman in Johor? There is a deeper reason for their en masse vote against the BN.

i ) From the very beginning of the Malaysian journey, a lot of Chinese have felt that they are discriminated against, that they are marginalised, that they are “second-class” citizens. It explains why achieving equality with the Malays has been their overriding political goal --- a goal which they sought in the 13th General Election through “ubah.”

j ) This goal galvanised into a powerful emotion in 2013 for a number of reasons.
  1) The DAP’s stunning victories in Perak and Selangor in 2008 which indicated that they could control power in Malay majority states.
  2) The leadership provided by a Malay politician --- Anwar Ibrahim --- who was prepared to criticise “Malay supremacy”, pledge to end the NEP and eliminate “racial discrimination.”  
  3)  The enlargement of democratic space through the abolition of the ISA and other restrictive ordinances and the enactment of new laws such as the Peaceful Assembly Act which has emboldened the Chinese community to act as seen in their participation in Bersih 3 and Perhimpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat.
 4) The emergence of a host of new Chinese civil society groups focussed upon democracy and change and    
 5) The skilful exploitation of the new media by the proponents of  Ubah to create a mass emotional wave within the community.

j ) The critical question is:  are the Chinese justified in seeing themselves as a marginalised community? Is it true that the Chinese are the victims of inequality and injustice?  If we examined the real situation of the Chinese in almost every sphere of society what is the picture that emerges? Who dominates the upper stratum of the economy? Which community is the most significant component in the middle stratum of the economy? Given the cultural background of the land, isn’t the Chinese language and culture overwhelmingly pervasive in Malaysia --- a situation which has few parallels anywhere else in the world?  Even in politics, isn’t Chinese participation remarkable, considering that Malaysia evolved from Malay Sultanates?  Is it fair to describe a community with such a powerful role in society as“marginalised” and “unequal”?    

k ) How can we correct this widespread misconception that an entire community labours under? Are Chinese politicians, community leaders, business elites, social activists, academics and others with influence prepared to tell the truth to the community? Are they prepared to explain the background and the context of this nation to them for principles such as equality can only be understood if they are grounded in reality?  Are they prepared to make the Chinese aware that in reality the people who were actually unequal in the economic sense at the time of Merdeka were the Malays, 64% of whom lived below the poverty-line? Since their leaders were prepared to confer citizenship on a million Chinese and Indians on incredibly liberal terms, the Special Position of the Malays and later the indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak was incorporated into the Constitution in order to safeguard their economic interests.

l ) Are Chinese and Indian opinion makers willing to admit that all said and done Special position and the New Economic Policy (NEP) that grew out of it have contributed immensely to the nation’s well-being? Without the accelerated development of the Malays which the NEP was largely responsible for, a strong Malay middle-class with significant representation in almost all professions, and in the upper echelons of commerce and industry would not have emerged in less than a generation. It is this Malay middle-class which has stabilised ethnic relations.  It is because a once impoverished people enjoys an appreciable  degree of equity and justice today that the Malays continue to place their faith in a market economy and parliamentary democracy which in turn have benefitted everyone, including the Chinese.

m ) By acknowledging the positive aspects of the NEP, one is not denying that in its implementation there have been accesses and abuses. In a number of instances, opportunities for non-Malays in education and the economy have been unjustly restricted. Well-heeled Malays and other Bumiputras have also sometimes taken advantage of what is essentially an affirmative action policy meant for the poor and deprived, to advance their own interests.

n ) In the last four years Prime Minister Mohd Najib has sought to address some of these issues. Non-Malay recipients of Federal Government scholarships have reached an all-time high. There is a concerted effort to increase the number of non-Malay public servants and non-Malay personnel in the police and the armed forces. All 1Malaysia ventures are blind to ethnicity and religion. Even in strengthening Malay entrepreneurship, new approaches that discourage rent-seeking are being tried out.

These and other worthwhile efforts should continue, the negative Chinese electoral response notwithstanding. They should continue because it is a question of justice and fairness. Who knows they may persuade a small segment of the community to do some soul-searching.

It is this soul-searching within the influential stratum of the Chinese community that is the greatest need of the hour ---- a serious, sincere reflection on prevailing realities and the Chinese position; on its understanding of equality in the context of the larger nation; and on its future in a society whose very survival rests upon multi-ethnic cooperation.