For the sake of the future of Malaysia! We need to support BERSIH!!
An assistant nurse had to cover up for her delinquent senior. Both the nurses – the one who had absented herself and the one suddenly forced to relieve her duty – were Malay. The young patient lying on my operating table waiting to deliver her baby was Malay too. And also Malay, the anaesthesist and other operating theatre staff who gave me the cold shoulder after I remonstrated with the matron.
I had informed Matron right away after I found the young nurse shivering in fear because she was thrown into the deep end and unprepared to assist in a surgery. If I had expected disciplinary action to be taken, I was disappointed. My colleagues who rallied around the race banner sadly failed to see that the patient (someone belonging to their own ethnic community) about to give birth deserved the best medical care.
What if it had been an emergency case where a life was at stake? Malays have to be made aware that an incompetent and one-race dominated civil service may not be beneficial to them and as the majority, they would be the ones ultimately most affected. With such experiences, you can understand why I resigned from the public health sector.
One of my Malay superiors urged me to “think about the service” but then again, if only the Malays themselves could think about how racism among civil servants has hindered their own progress.
1Malay first and foremost
Malaysia has a “huge and largely ethnic Malay civil service, completely loyal to Umno, but increasingly incompetent” that is the biggest obstacle to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia. This was the view of former Economic Planning Unit deputy director-general K. Govindan, according to a leaked United States diplomatic cable.
The WikiLeaks that appeared in Malaysia Today on June 6 had the cable further quoting Govindan’s opinion that our civil service adopts “a very narrow worldview and will oppose, even refuse to implement, reforms perceived as damaging ethnic Malay interests, even if convinced of the long-run gains for Malaysia”.
Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has referred to the service as a “Malay administration”. He did not even bother to pass it off as a “bumiputera administration” in which case it can be claimed by the non-Muslim natives of East Malaysia. Alas, the Orang Asli indigenous to the peninsula do not even figure in the equation.
Non Malays have been gradually cleansed from the public sector with only a few remaining now in crucial and inevitable sectors such as teaching in vernacular schools. The Orang Asli have been totally excluded.
However recently this has been proven to be untrue as Wee Ka Siong admitted that 363 straight A+ scorers had failed to secure scholarships. Moreover, the government failed to mention what courses will be offered to student with 8A+s. This has led to disgruntled students who did not get their chosen field of study despite their “impressive” results!
One example is Selwyn Jong of Kuching who scored 9A+ but instead of a university placement, was given matriculation – a place he could have secured with 5As. Another example is P. Kugnethran from Selangor who scored 12A+. Instead of getting the medical course he so wanted, Kugnethran was offered a diploma in animal husbandry from Universiti Putra Malaysia while those with less than stellar results won choice courses at top varsities abroad.
One of the worst example I have see is Heamanthaa Padmanaban, 17-year-old from Seremban, who scored 10A+ and 1A in last year's SPM examinations and was an all-rounder in extra-curricular activities.
She qualified for cross-country runs and played hockey at state level, and was a school champion in chess and badminton. In April last year she was among those chosen to participate in the Malaysia-America Soccer Exchange programme with 12 other women.
Instead of giving her the opportunity to study medicine or biotechnology (which was her choice), PSD offered her a Diploma course in English at University Pendidikan Sultan Idris .
What makes matters worst is when you hear of unworthy recipients getting PSD scholarships. An example of this is Chai Sheng Min from SMK St Joseph in Kuching, Sarawak who obtained 10As was offered a scholarship to study engineering at Universiti Technology Petronas, however his two friends with 4As and 5As respectively were awarded scholarships to pursue science degrees in the United States.
Datuk Wee Ka Siong also mention (arrogantly), “Before you do that, make sure you understand the difference between 10As and 10A+ in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM).
This is a very good question which I the Deputy Education Minister should explain to all Malaysians!
What is the cut off mark between an A+, and an A grade? Is this cut off mark consistent for all subjects offered in the last SPM examination? If this is not the case, why!?!?
This is an extremely important issue to be clarified since the BN government has placed such great importance on the A+s with regards to the PSD Scholarship selection process.
Is rewarding the PSD scholarship solely on 8A+s a fair process? Especially when you consider the fact that there is a perception that the standard of awarding the A+ and A grades vary greatly between difference subjects in the SPM examination.
Can the Deputy Education Minister dispel this negative perception?
Why is there this negative perception in the first place? Could it be due to the fact that there has been complains that the Chinese subject in the SPM examination has questions of STPM difficulty? How about the fact that the Ministry of Education did not originally award a single A+ to any student who took Bible Knowledge last year! This is rather hard to believe, when you consider how generous the government has been with regards to awarding the As and A+s for the certain subjects in the last SPM examination.
Perhaps the single most suspicious problem is the length of time the Education Ministry took to release the SPM results!
How is it that while internationally coordinated examinations such as O Levels and A Levels takes only 1 month to release their results, it takes the Education Ministry nearly 3 full months to release the SPM results!
Why it that the Education Ministry only released the SPM results on the 23 of March 2011 when SPM markers were instructed to finish and submit their markings by the end of Dec? What was the Education Ministry doing with the marks for almost 3 months? Were they adjusting the marking curve for certain specific subjects?
Could it me that the government was adjusting the grades to please certain section of the population
Did the Education Ministry manipulate the marks and grades to ensure that only certain amount of people would get 8A+s?
Wee Ka Siong as the Deputy Education Minister needs to be open and transparent with the marking scheme of all the SPM subjects! He has to defend the integrity of the SPM grading system.
Especially after his arrogant remark to parents of last year SPM students , asking them if they know the difference between an A and an A+. The answer is NO! We don’t know the difference between an A and an A+! Please do explain it to us!
Is the cut off point for an A+ in Additional Mathematics the same as the cut off point for Moral Studies? It is not a far fetch idea that the BN government is using the PSD scholarship and the SPM results to gain political points for themselves. Or is it just a coincidence that every time a general election looming nearby, the SPM results seem to obtain an “improvement” in the statistic.
A government teacher explain to me that if the government gives out a lot of As in the SPM examination the students will be able to bring home proudly such “fantastic” results to show their parents. Thus those parents who are not aware of their child’s actual academic standards will perceived that the government is doing a good job educating their children.
This sad scenario is exactly what is happening to our country now and as a result we produce lawyers that can’t ever speak proper English (just watch the You Tube video of the Malaysian lawyer who question Dr Porntip with regards to Teoh Beng Hock case as an example).
JPA Scholarships and the SPM examination should not be used as a political tool to gain popularity and any government who is willing to sacrifice the long term future and growth of its citizens and country just to gain short term popularity has no business running this country!
In a sense the BN government is caught in a tough dilemma. If they don’t give a lot of As out, their charades of improvement in the education system will be destroyed. Now that they give a lot of As out, they are stuck with too many “qualified” SPM student but not enough PSD scholarships.
This whole SPM As and PSD scholarship has been nothing but one big public relation stunt which has failed badly for the BN government. The fact that out of the 4000 PSD scholarship given out, only 300 were given based purely on merit and over a thousand scholarship were given out on a race based selection criteria only reinforce the idea that the government is not sincere in their 1Malaysia concept and that they are colour blind!
So Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, please tell me what exactly is an A+ and an A? I would like to know what grade to give the BN government, or does the BN government deserve an F for running this country’s education system to the ground!
It was such a heavy responsibility and I had such a heavy heart at doing this because I there were so many very good applicants. How do I shortlist them? Most of them have 9As and above. A lot of them have very good curiculam vitae as well. Only other thing is based on needs. It was really heart ache to choose only 15 student from over 60 quality applicants (per course!)
Well the shortlist had been done and the interview had been completed and the candidates selected for the Scholarship! I just pray and hope that I have done my part proper in terms of choosing the right and worthy Scholarship candidate! I seldom write on my blog now with regards to politics but recently what Najib and Chua Soi Lek said with regards to the Malaysian Chinese community really piss me off! So this is my reply to their threat!
"They have to choose. If they want the opposition, they must sacrifice the party in government. If they want a bigger say to serve their interests, they have to support a Barisan Nasional component party," he told reporters here after opening Pangsapuri Rakyat on Duyong island in Kuala Terengganu.
(You can also read it here in Malaysian Insider, which is free)
This is such a disappointing statement coming from the Prime Minister who supposedly came up with the 1 Malaysia concept. I would expect such a statement to come from an uneducated, immature and racist person but certainly not from Najib.
A mature & wise government will choose their Ministers and leaders based on their capabilities and their character. They should not select their leaders based on their race, or religion.
A truly 1 Malaysia Government would have Ministers and leaders who will look out for the interests of all race regardless of their background , race or religion!
If the leader in BN government truly practise looking out for the interest of all races regardless of their own background, then it really does not matter how many Chinese, Indian, or Malay are in Ministerial position right?
Sadly it is clear (through Najib’s own statement) that that he does not understand his own 1 Malaysia concept. It is actually not that surprising lah! Any Malaysian worth his salt knows that most BN leaders do not have the capability or mentality to take care of anybody else apart from their own kind! (not necessarily their own race either)
(An example of this is what MIC leaders said here)
But why must Chinese only take care of Chinese or Malay takes care of Malay and Indian takes care of Indian only?? Is this the true 1 Malaysia way?? Speaking as a Malaysian Chinese, I rather have good God fearing Malay to represent my interest than to have a crooked MCA Chinese representing me! I am sure that any honest Malaysian Malay would also rather have a God fearing sincere Chinese to represent them than to have a greedy UMNO Putra representative to look out for their needs!
What is important is to have qualified, capable, honest and sincere hearted leaders in the Cabinet and not be bothered by which raced, religion or colour of his skin!
Unfortunately most Malaysian knows that this is not BN’s mentality or practice. We all know that certain Government positions are reserved exclusively to certain political parties only! These people are appointed to their position because of their race and political party and not due to their performance, credential or capability. And this has made the KPI initiated by Najib a real big joke!
To prove this point, you only need to ask, has anyone outside UMNO been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Home Minister, Defence Minister or even Education Minister in the last 30 years?
Is BN telling us that there were no leaders from all the other BN component parties (outside UMNO) capable of taking up these positions in the last 30 years? Of course this is not true. Most Malaysian knows that BN leaders choose their leaders based on their raced and political affiliation. It is a pity because that means that even if there is a brilliant Malaysian Indian Economist in MIC, that guy would never be considered for the Finance Minister’s post just because he was not from UMNO! So much for the 1 Malaysia concept!
Sadly this unhealthy culture has been passed down to the government officers and government servants as well. These have been one of the main contributing factors to the country’s brain drain!
I am sure most of us can sympathise with a person frustration when they see their colleagues who are less capable, less competent and less hard-working then them, getting a promotion to become their boss just because he/she is from a particular race or political party. Thus it is not surprising that most Malaysian don’t get the 1Malaysia concept. Maybe Najib and gang should learn and practise their own 1 Malaysia concept first before trying to teach it to the rest of Malaysia.
(You can read more of that here)
Firstly he is simply quite arrogant to assume that MCA is the sole representative of the Chinese community!
Secondly he assumes that the Chinese community will want Chinese representative in the government just for the sake of having a Chinese representative. The Chinese community in Malaysia is mature enough to look vote in capable, honest, God fearing leaders who are qualified instead of voting in a Chinese rep base solely on his race! Someone should teach MCA to win their own election based on their own merits instead of hoping on UMNO for a free ride!
Instead of just threatening the Chinese community with lack of representation, Najib and MCA should find out the real issues why the Chinese Community are staying away from BN leaders and how they can work to win their confidence again! MCA should work for their votes instead of issuing empty threats that don’t work well with the younger Chinese generation!
In any case it make no difference to the Chinese community anymore if MCA has any representative in the government as the Chinese community have already given up on any real representation by the voiceless, powerless, rubber-stamping puppets from MCA!
Finally most Malaysian do not believe for a second that MCA would reject all Ministerial, federal, state and local government position even if they lost all their seats because they can afford to lose their only strategic strength (money and power) in politics. Most Malaysian know that MCA will not have the strength and character to reject the post as they will be too greedy to reject the government’s position offered to them. Thus all Malaysian Chinese must call Najib and Chua Soi Lek bluff and see if they will really do what they says in the next general election! I am not a betting man but on this I will bet that they will not carry out these empty threats!
One final note as a Malaysian Chinese (of voting age) in response to Najib and Chua Soi Lek’s threat! You can take your government position and representation and shove it up ******!!!!
20 August 2010: Over the last 2 weeks there has been some racial tension created by a couple of secondary school principals from opposite ends of peninsular
The first on was from a principal in Kulai, Johor who had openly made racial slurs against her pupils by asking the "Chinese students to go back to China", and likening the Hindu prayer bracelet to a dog leash.
In her speech during the launch of the school's Merdeka celebration, she had also "reminded" the non-Malay students of their place in the country.
She had also allegedly given an example of owning a Proton Saga and then letting 'Munusamy' and 'Chong' in as passengers.
"Munusamy and Chong were only passengers. They cannot claim any right to the car. This is the same as
This was the remark allegedly made by SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra principal Siti Inshah Mansor.
The second incident is from Sekolah Menegah Kebangsaan Bukit Selambau. The principal was reported to have allegedly told off several non-Muslim students to "balik negara asal
According to the report the school cafeteria had closed for the fasting month and non-Muslim students were left to their own devices to find food.
But the sight of a group of them having breakfast at the canteen - a common area - had apparently raised the principal's ire.
Later, at the school assembly, the principal was alleged to have said that the Chinese students - comprising 10 percent of the student population of 780 - had been disrespectful and that "they should go back to
It was claimed that when the assembly was over, another teacher approached the Chinese students to say sarcastically that they should take an AirAsia flight, since the fares were cheap now.
Not surprisingly these incidents were met with outrage from not just the non-Muslim parents of these schools, but also from many peace-loving Malaysian as well. As a result of these racial incidents, many sections of the Malaysian community have demanded various stern actions to be taken against these principals. These have range from sacking these principals to even imprisonment. However one must asked, how should we, (as Malaysian) react to these unfortunate incidents?
Thought I am not against the idea that tough action to be taken against these principals, we must consider if this course of action is effective in solving the problem of racism among teacher and principals of government schools?
We must as the question: when we punished these “principals”, will it help them change their attitude towards the other races? Or will it only create more hatred and contempt among the offenders and the offenders’ close family and friends?
Can the fear of punishment really triumph over racial intolerance or are we merely covering up this “wound” with a simple plaster.
I believe we cannot fight fire with fire. We cannot use punishment and fear to win over these principals. All we will do is to create more hatred and resentment in them.
Love covers over a multitude of sins! A soft answer turns away wrath; but a hash word stirs up anger. These are proverbs which we must turn to when we consider how best to face these racial abuse! We need to turn the other cheek when we are spat upon!
It is not an easy thing to do! And that is why we must commend highly those who did not over react during the cow-head incident and the church burning incident. We must break this vicious cycle of racisms and the only way to do it is to love those who hate you.
Then hopefully they will see the error of their ways and be a shame at their actions.
The other issue however is also to ask the question; how does a racist teacher rise through the ranks to become a principal of a secondary school?
Or how does a teacher/principal turn racist? How or who evaluated these teachers and promoted them to become heads of government schools.
We must look carefully at their training and the appraisal system of the Ministry of Education.
This is where I believe the Ministry of Education and Biro Tata Negara must bear some responsibility for these racial incidents.
A person does not usually become a racist overnight. A person perception and values are usually molded over the year through his/her education, training, family or religious influences.
Thus one must ask the question to the Ministry of Education and Biro Tata Negara on what steps have they taken to promote the unity of this country to the public school teachers and principal. Or have the actually been the real culprits in influencing the teacher to become racist bigots in the hopes that they in turn will influence their young charges to be racist as well.
Thus while we must love back those who are racist against us but we must also question and challenge the system in which these principals were trained to become racist in the first place in order to stamp out future racist incidents in our Malaysian schools.
3. Speaking of playing dirty, I think the dirtiest player here is non-other than our very own Prime Minister! Just watch his speech below and come to a conclusion yourself on who is playing dirty!
If you can't watch You Tube, you can read the script here!
