Sebuah persidangan anjuran Yayasan 1Malaysia bersama ISIS kelmarin menampilkan Khairy Jamaluddin dan Teo Nie Ching antara lainnya sebagai penceramah. Kedua-dua Ahli Parlimen tersebut telah membincangkan cara-cara untuk mewujudkan perpaduan nasional.
Khairy mengemukakan cadangan supaya diadakan satu sistem persekolahan bersepadu.
Kata Khairy:
“Let us agree on a unified education system so that we can be more Malaysian.”
Sementara itu, Nie Ching menyalahkan “racist politics”, iaitu formula BN, sebagai punca perpecahan kaum.
Laporan The Star:
“She [Nie Ching] said DAP had supported the Vision School concept but it did not get the backing of the Chinese and Indians because they felt that it was a way to do away with their mother tongues.”
Nie Ching mendakwa DAP menyokong Sekolah Wawasan tetapi oleh kerana kebebalan orang Cina dan India yang enggan memberi persetujuan kami, maka hanyutlah konsep tersebut.
Dulu lain, sekarang lain
Seperti lazimnya, wakil DAP bukan sahaja tidak konsisten tetapi tak berapa ingat juga.
Nie Ching – timbalan ketua biro penerangan DAP – jelas sekali tidak membuat homework sebelum dia tampil di depan khalayak umum.
Sekiranya Ahli Parlimen Serdang itu ada membuat sedikit kerja menyemak arkib partinya, dia akan mengetahui bahawa Lim Kit Siang pernah mengeluarkan kenyataan akhbar mempertikaikan pelaksanaan Sekolah Wawasan (Lihat screenshot).
Kit Siang pada April 2001 telah mencabar menteri-menteri MCA, Gerakan dan SUPP (parti keahlian majoriti Cina) untuk memastikan Kabinet akan memadamkan apa-apa rujukan kepada konsep Sekolah Wawasan dalam Rancangan Malaysia ke-8 seandainya ia tidak dipersetujui semua lapisan masyarakat.
Sebuah lagi kenyataan akhbar Kit Siang menyeru supaya dibatalkan pembinaan Sekolah Wawasan di Subang Jaya. (Lihat screenshot bawah)
Itu pendirian DAP lama. Pendirian DAP 2.0, iaitu versi baru parti pasca Mac 2008, kini berbeza.
Sekarang ini pula Nie Ching mencanangkan sokongan partinya terhadap konsep Sekolah Wawasan. Maklumlah mereka sudah Malaysian First.
Adun Subang Jaya ialah Hannah Yeoh. Hannah ini perangainya sebiji dengan Lim Guan Eng — amat mudah menuduh sebagai ‘rasis’ barang sesiapa yang tidak sealiran dengan tafsiran anti-sifat perkauman mereka.
Memandangkan begitu, wartawan arus perdana harus mengajukan soalan berikut kepada Hannah Yeoh jurucakap Malaysian First: “Adakah kamu akan membina sekolah Cina atau 1Sekolah di kawasan kamu?”
Cina bukit = Chinese First
Beralih kepada kandungan di laman Satu Sekolah Untuk Semua (SSUS). Pihak admin (pengelola) kempen SSUS terpanggil membuat respon kepada penulisan saya berjudul ‘Sebab Cina dan India menolak sekolah kebangsaan’.
Pendirian SSUS secara ringkas:
(1) Tidak salah bagi Kementerian Pelajaran dan sekolah-sekolah membenarkan penyembelihan lembu di waktu perayaan Hari Raya Korban di perkarangan sekolah juga.
(2) Rumusan di atas berpautkan hujah bahawa semua rakyat perlu hormati dan patuhi Perlembagaan negara serta Perkara 3, yakni “Islam ialah agama bagi Persekutuan”.
(3) Pelajar bukan-Muslim dikehendaki berdiam diri semasa doa dibacakan tatkala perhimpunan [dan bukannya membantah ciri-ciri keIslaman pada 1Sekolah seperti doa atau korban].
Manakala komen-komen pembaca laman SSUS adalah seperti berikut:
Seorang bergelar ‘Enchon’ berpendapat saya umpama “ultra kiasu” bila bertanyakan adakah 1Sekolah akan menyerap nilai-nilai kaum lain selain Melayu. (Jawapannya ‘tidak’.)
Enchon berkata saya tidak sedar bahawa budaya di 1Sekolah harus berteraskan budaya Melayu dan Islam serta dia memberi contoh-contoh pemakaian songkok, baju Melayu, kain samping, dsb.
Enchon juga berpendapat bahawa sambutan perayaan-perayaan agama lain tidak perlu diberikan tempat di 1Sekolah kerana [religion of the Federation] ialah Islam.
Seorang lagi pembaca iaitu ‘antu’ telah meninggalkan pesanan berikut:
“Harap cina bukit seperti Helen Ang ini memberi perhatian kepada perkataan ‘TERAS’ ataupun dalam bahasa Inggerisnya “core” [merujuk kepada Melayu dan Islam], di sini.”
M’sian First mematuhi Perlembagaan
Tak apalah kalau SSUS dan pembaca-pembacanya mahu menggelar saya ‘Cina bukit’ yang tidak mengerti untuk tabik Perlembagaan. Lagipun saya tidak pernah sesekali mengaku diri Malaysian First.
Yang Cina pasti mahu mempertahankan sekolah vernakular.
Yang Malaysian First/Anak Malaysia akan berpaling kepada Perlembagaan, iaitu kerangka yang menggariskan tiang-tiang negara.
Adakah Sekolah Wawasan yang didokong DAP – mengikut dakwaaan timbalan ketua biro penerangan parti itu – akan membolehkan penyembelihan lembu, menidakkan sambutan-sambutan keagamaan yang lain serta mengharuskan bacaan doa?
Adakah DAP juga mengesyorkan pemakaian songkok, baju Melayu dan kain samping oleh semua murid pelbagai kaum serta pemakaian tudung untuk acara-acara rasmi sekolah (mencontohi YB-YB perempuan parti itu yang bertudung secara rela)?
Intipatinya: SRJK (C) dan SRJK (T) masing-masing untuk kaum Cina dan kaum India. Yang bangsa Anak Malaysia mestilah mahu mendaftarkan anak di sekolah Malaysia.
Apakah wajah dan bentuk sekolah Malaysia? DAP sebenarnya sehaluan dengan SSUS dalam perkara ini, bukankah begitu?
Disyorkan:
Din Turtle, pandangan bernas seorang blogger Melayu terhadap usaha Chua Soi Lek membela sekolah Cina
Helen Ang 
Thank you for the discussion Helen. I agree with Din Turtle. Malaysia is a special place with a very special set of problems. I’m very interested to know what your vision is for our schools, taking into consideration everyone’s concerns about national unity, quality of education and preservation of racial identity.
Schools is not about national unity, the moment you understand and appreciate this, the so-called unity and quality would start to come into sight.
Btw, unity is another strawman created by politician, the more we talk about unity, the less unity we have.
But before we delve deep into all this, try asking yourself a simple question, what is unity?
“the more we talk about unity”
If I can’t understand you, how can we talk? Can we be united by NOT talking?
Same school would at least mean similar mode of communication, no?
Hi Iqraq,
Responding to you (& A Voice’s comment on my previous posting), yes, I’ll be taking the discussion further. What I see is that if we’re willing to be open-minded & honest in our debate/disagreement, then we can all get a clearer view of things & where we each stand.
The idea of 1School should not be objectionable in itself. Hence the issue is not with the Idea on its own but with the People, both the implementers (SSUS) & their proposed framework for it as well as the families (I say family b’cos parents make the decision where to enrol their kids) who will be affected.
Helen,
This is what I’ve been saying all along, the SSS horde can only realize their dream by working close with DAP, they share the same ideology and vision but too proud (or coward?) to admit it.
But on another note, I am pretty skeptical toward the SSS pusher sincerity, beside a small number that could talk sense (I recall one with moniker Sepadu), most are with only one intention, try to lecture us who is the master. The more I read these guys, the more I want to preserve my Chinese school, if possible, from preschool to university.
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The SSUS position seems clear enough. It is the DAP which must be called upon to clarify theirs. — Helen
Helen, my point is working close with DAP, since DAP vision and ideology is Malaysian First, while BN has apparently fail in this aspect, why asking DAP to clarify their stance? What is a political party? Political parties bring people together to achieve control of the government, develop policies favorable to their interests or the groups that support them, and organize and persuade voters to elect their candidates to office. Thus the simple solution is to give our support to DAP, being a Malaysian First, DAP are ever ready to develop policies favorable to our interest, and in this case, SSS la.
________________________________________________________
I support vernacular school. — Helen
“I support vernacular school. — Helen”
Glad to know that, me too :)
this is indeed true. i’ve been reading the SSSS horde’s manifesto, have debated with them, and observed their underlying ideology. they are all for abolishing J-type schools, but when you mention replacing race quotas in colleges with economic status based quota and such, they go flipping bats*it insane.
it seems they are more keen on ensuring minorities are subservient to them and dont question discrimination, rather than promoting equality and ethnic understanding. beneath their facade lies the ugly true colours.
the ssss people would be more suited to the Perkasa and umno types than dap. Helen is certainly barking up the wrong tree by hitting at dap instead
Thanks for your comment and it’s a comfort to know that you also see through the SSUS facade. I hope there are many more people like you out there, Obefan.
I concur with you and Hua Yong about the one-sidedness of the SSUS approach, in that they want to abolish SJKs but refuse to acknowledge that MRSMs, residential schools, Sekolah Agama and UiTM are also one race in enrolment and hence similarly pose the same problem of polarisation that they’re accusing Chinese schools as being responsible for.
Furthermore there’s the big difference in that Malays are free to enrol in any Chinese school but the institutions I’ve mentioned above are not welcoming of Chinese and Indians.
As to why I’ve tread ‘softly-softly’, I appreciate that the Malay readership of this blog is middle ground — indicated through the responses to my opposing views on korban in school.
Whereas in the SSUS pick-up of my posting, the comments there expressed hostility against me and Chinese in general as well as a supremism attitude. [See their website]
I believe it’s more useful to let the discussion here flow from the Malay voice and Malay angle/POV. Otherwise the outcome (if the tone of the discussion were to take the Chinese view) would be like the Malaysiakini or M’sian Insider environment where Malay opinions are shut out and shut up by an equally nasty Chinese-Indian opposition horde, and ultimately there is no engagement and no fruitful cross-cultural exchange.
More than 90 percent of Chinese parents already support SRJK (C), so there’s no need for me convince any Chinese readers about the negativity of the SSUS group.
SSUS has little traction with the Chinese community (apart from the Christians) and will not sway any minorities. In fact, SSUS is easily identifiable as a ‘threat’ by those who do not want to see the Chinese education stream disturbed.
However this is not so with DAP which is the gunting dalam lipatan.
DAP has over 80 percent of the Chinese vote. Hence the deceit of its duplicitous ideology is more damaging to the Chinese position.
And the party must not be allowed to get away with having their cake and eating it.
Every day they incite the Chinese. They think they’ve got the Chinese securely in the palm of their hand, and so they turn to chasing the Malay votes and playing a double game — same case with DAP’s complicity in the PAS hudud push.
Why I take issue with DAP is this: My community spent many decades if not at least two centuries painstakingly building up our system of Chinese education in this land. DAP has done nothing, zilch! in bolstering Chinese education. Can you tell me a single Chinese school that DAP has built?
MCA is doing something and working on things like getting the UEC recognised, acquiring funding for SMJKs, getting scholarships for students from the vernacular stream. I’m not an MCA member and have never voted for them but let’s at least give credit where it is due.
Again DAP is doing nothing constructive in these areas. They only know to attack and tear down edifices.
The political ploys of the DAP [evangelist Bangsar M’sia PPSMI-loving] current leadership are undermining the very structures upon which we Chinese have been preserving the values of our ethnicity — the schools being at the forefront of transmitting Chinese ethos.
That’s why Hua Yong and are on the same page in being able to fathom the disastrous endgame should DAP’s ‘Malaysian First’ be pursued to its logical conclusion the way they’re doing now.
The SSUS campaigners – again in agreement with you that some of their prime movers are Perkasa types – would indeed like to close vernacular schools although I believe some of the supporters are well-meaning and honest in their intentions.
But DAP poses a more insidious threat from within, like a cancer growth.
Regards
“I believe it’s more useful to let the discussion here flow from the Malay voice and Malay angle/POV. Otherwise the outcome (if the tone of the discussion were to take the Chinese view) would be like the Malaysiakini or M’sian Insider environment where Malay opinions are shut out and shut up by an equally nasty Chinese-Indian opposition horde, and ultimately there is no engagement and no fruitful cross-cultural exchange.”
This is why I like your blog Helen. The lynch mobs of Malaysiakini and TMI can be exhausting at times, which is an unproductive waste of time for me.
in response to helen, we need to see and compare the umno-mca-mic power relation. mca and mic has and has always been treated like the anak angkat by umno. look and see how many % of education funds is given to J-type schools. this is despite increasing demand of parents and number of pupils signing up in J-type chinese schools, even also the melayu pupils.
you can’t fault dap or pakatan for not building chinese school as they are not even in federal government in the first place. mca has only manage to get scraps from the table for funding and has mostly angguk kepala to its abang besar. what keeps the j-type school alive is fundraising from parents and businesses. some of whom are dap/pkr supporter or comittee members.
i don’t hear any clamour of ssus from the dap/pkr/pas crowd, it is mostly from the perkasa/umno crowd, the ‘brother’ of mca. if the votes are given back to mca and mic, the result of the strengthening of bn is resumed marginalisation of chinese and indians. this finalises with the end of chinese education and closing of J-type school.
you look at muhiyiddin and his attitude. see his mishandling of ppsmi and our kementrian pendidikan. this is the man who is suppose to replace najib, and many do not have confidence.
think about it.
Hi Obefan,
I agree with most of your review above except the part “you can’t fault dap or pakatan for not building chinese school…”
I do fault DAP for its lack of commitment to Chinese education. (MCA built the TAR colleges and UTAR.) In the DAP’s eagerness to demolish MCA, they’re also tearing down in the process what holds up the Chinese pillars (SJKs being one of them) along with sweeping away their rivals.
It’s my contention that DAP has a destructive, not constructive, streak.
Of course the parents & fundraisers comprise DAP members as well but on a party level, DAP has not shown that it ever had any blueprint for SJKs or the future of the Chinese community.
We may not hear any clamour for SSUS from the DAP crowd but with their shooting-self-in foot clamour for M’sian First, they’re giving SSUS the ammo to put them in a corner, ideology-wise.
A parallel can be seen in the hudud imbroglio. No Chinese clamours for hudud but DAP’s duplicity has led them into a situation where the Chinese have acquiesced to hudud being implemented in K’tan.
Do I believe that DAP can safeguard Chinese interests? No. Look what happened when the Kg Buah Pala Indians (click) put their trust in Pakatan. Read esp. Wong Mun Chee’s comment and connect the dots from March 13 (meeting in CM’s office) to March 14 (sudden payment) viz. my own Comment #10.
MCA kowtows to Umno doubtless but how is DAP’s role vis-a-vis PAS-PKR? They “agree to disagree” on hudud, on PPSMI, on LGBTs. DAP is not powerless in Pakatan but they’ve not held a principled stand either. It’s been expediency and shape-shifting all the way.
and you said it yourself. MCA bows down to abang besar Umno.
Umno has considerable perkasa & far right factions who dream of closing J-type schools if they had their way. and mca-mic-gerakan will have no power to stop it. that is a more clear and present danger than this made-up Dap ‘threat’ to sekolah jenis. sudah terang lagi menyuluh
No, I have to disagree, Obefan.
Look at the PPSMI fiasco: Muhyiddin sering dimomokkan sebagai Melayu ultra oleh DAP. Although he’s pro-BM, he’s yet to manage putting his foot down firmly against PPSMI which deals with only two subjects. Whereas abolishing SJKs is a project on a much larger scale and more difficult to pull off.
The SSUS people have Muhyiddin’s ear, there’s no denying that. But so far the complaint from the Malay nationalists has been that they’re unhappy with Najib for pandering to the Chinese over vernacular education due to his vote fishing. The Perkasa types are the external threats who gertak and they’ll have to resort to physical force.
On the other hand, DAP is the internal threat corroding the legitimacy of the SJKs from within and giving the opponents of vernacular education the openings for moral suasion.
DAP rejects that we’re Chinese or Indian. Instead they insist that the minorities must be recognised as keturunan ‘Anak M’sia’. Since DAP wants to kill any identification of us as Chinese and Indian (mentioning of race is taboo), therefore logically who will the vernacular schools then serve? After all, DAP has banned us from identifying ourselves as Chinese and Indians.
Furthermore DAP’s insistence on M’sian First demands a clarification on what constitute the pillars of M’sianess. Here the SSUS have got the upper hand in Article 152 and you’ve seen how they’re pushing Article 3 in their response to my korban posting. SSUS has gone the tack that M’sian First means assimilation like the Chinese Thais, Filipinos and Indonesians. Malaysian Firsters logically study in Kebangsaan schools.
It is DAP’s political posturing that has exposed kami orang Cina to these ideological challenges by SSUS and put us on the backfoot. The Ibrahim Ali-type of belligerent noisemaking is not as ‘damaging’ as the SSUS arguments premised on the Constitution or on a tested framework of the nation-building process (going by the examples of our neighbours and other countries).
True about MCA knuckling down to Umno & now suffering the backlash from Chinese electorate. But DAP has been unprincipled in colluding with PAS over hudud, compared to the overt and unequivocal stand that MCA & Gerakan — at least presently and granting that they’ve been spineless in the past — have taken over the issue.
Read this about DAP’s callous indifference.
helen, your logic you put forward looks like a case of tidak menampakkan gajah kat depan mata, tapi mondok seberang dilihat. for some farfetched reason you claim the dap idea of regarding all race as similar and equal can be used as effective proof by ssss horde to attack J-type school.
and yet, in your recent articles you strongly support usage of bahasa melayu and abolishment of ppsmi. do you know one of the prime reasons of the ssss crowd to close J-type schools, is the belief the J-type students are bad in bm? they think by assimilating J-type students into national schools, they will be able to master their bm? (of course, their real agenda is to indoctrinate nonmalays not to question, as we both agree earlier)
in essence, you actually gave some ammo to these ssss crowd, which is far more efficient than the far fetched dap-malaysian 1st-ssus connection.
please don’t let your dislike of dap and lim guan eng (for some reason) blur your judgement.
Why give so much face..We need a strong farsighted leader
A country has to think long term
For short term peace and expediency, you give to the minority demand (while the majority is being silent as they are not being made implicitly aware of the implication)
The long term loss is great, for national unity. Lack of socialisation may breed the creation of a large gap – perfect breeding ground for suspicion,enmity or contempt among races, another May 13. This is compounded by the desperate mode of operation for some political parties – when lacking concrete issues, they fall back on the simple hate or racial politic.
The gap has become so apparent now.
2nd generation post Merdeka
It will be more come 10-20 year later, and generations to come.
Why is some people so greedy. There are always ways to retain mother language, even in kebangsaan schools. Reminds me of a normal free buffet lunch set for the normal Malaysian Joe- so selfish – take take everything on the plate, semua mau tapi last last banyak tinggal tak makan. Food go to waste due to selfishness and at the expense of others
Why not make a lawatan sambil belajar to Indonesia, see how the chinese there are being taught at school. Then come back and adopt the method.
What another May 13 are you talking about? I only see 308, Bersih 1 & 2, and progress toward a more democratic and free Malaysia, and finally the realisation of a two party system. Everything work and move fine to our aspire goal, and of course we would continue lawat Indonesia to hire more maid, no need give face, do whatever you want, okay?
What free Malaysia are you talking about?
Are we still not free?
An would also agree to the second jargon of being more democratic.
Perhaps we can benchmark our system to the most democratic country known.
So as to measure and know when “more” is enough
Hai nak free macam mana lagi Hua Yong. Tell me please?
Try setting up SJKC like schools in other countries, demand the Govt there to subsidize and pay their teachers salary and see what kind of freedom they will give you people.
Most probably their Immigration office will open a mini branch at all the gates of these Chinese schools.. sure wan.. Then don’t forget to come back at Helen and cerita kat kami sikit?
OKAY, USA supposedly the most democratic and free nation. Try there first!
1School can only be a success if we remove ALL religious related activities from it. What we should re-introduce are moral studies, civic mindedness, discipline and the value of hard-work to the students.
Religion is a private affair. Please just restrict the teaching to church, mosque, temple, religious schools and home. Let’s start to treat each other like fellow human. Your god is no better than my god. God the most powerful don’t need you to fight for him.
1School shd be a neutral ground.. where the sole purpose is to gain knowledge. Be it academic or social. It shd be where students are free from adults’ prejudice.. so that they can open their mind to possibilities.
I know this is wishful thinking.. coz our schools are already hijacked by racists, religious freaks and equally freaky politicians.
Hi Najmuddin,
I don’t think you get my point though we communicate using the same language :)
But never mind on that, i agree same school would at least mean similar mode of communication, but different school doesn’t mean we would have different mode of communication. The crux of no communication is perhaps not due to communication mode, rather we might have acknowledged the fact that there is issue which we never agree and concede, therefore we choose not to communicate?
I am not sure how to carry on the topic unless you enlighten me more what is unity and what kind of unity you look forward.
Hua Yong, I’m trying to understand where you are coming from sampai you don’t understand what national unity is and maybe don’t see the need for it. Please correct me if I’m wrong, I seriously want to understand. Can you also help explain how your worldview shapes your views on the education system? Should the system stay in status quo? What are the reasons that Malaysian Chinese support vernacular schools so ferociously when I have never seen this overseas? Maybe Helen can give her two cents here as well. I have lived and worked both in US and UK where there are large 2nd and 3rd generation Chinese populations which accept the prevailing national systems with no complaints, ok aje… Why isn’t it possible that SSS supporters are sincere? I’m honestly not trying to be difficult, I just want to know, sungguh. I believe the spirit of Helen’s blog is honest discussion, without hiding behind ‘political correctness’, about difficult issues but always in a polite civilized manner with ‘hujah’ and not name-calling or rhetoric (betul ke Helen?)
______________________________________________________
Thanks for your vote of confidence Iqraq. My next postings will be on PPSMI & vernacular schools. — Helen
Thanks Iqraq, let us read Helen first and see if i share her view, then i will expand on that.
My worldview is derive from our constitution, in short, you can’t have one’s cake and eat it too.
Newbie,
You can refer the free Malaysia i am talking about from Freedomhouse. You may question the methodology but generally, many from the survey are truth and fact.
The “more” is when we can express our view without fear, and choose the leader of our country in a just and fair election, and etc etc, but start with this two.
Thanks Hua Yong. Will double check that to compare how free the Malaysian rakyat are now
However beg to disagree on the term we are not yet “more democratic”.
Isn’t it a fact that Malaysian people are already able to express or spew their personal views without fear of persecutions via portals like Malaysiakini and the likes.
And hasn’t history shows that the previously opposition parties have been allowed to be chosen to takeover strategic states like Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Perak from the ex-ruling parties through conducted elections?
Regards
I think we are democratic and free enough since I see everyone shout out / express their their opinions freely in any topic, anywhere and anytime. look on facebook page, how malaysians call leaders (oppo/gov) with names, swearing and most of them are youngsters/students from ipt/s. shame on us.so that maybe the freedom and democracy that we seek?
Hi Newbie,
I don’t really grasp what exactly your point is. I try to understand more so perhaps we backtrack a little, you think we move toward 513 while my view is we progress toward ‘more democratic’, and you claim “Perhaps we can benchmark our system to the most democratic country known. So as to measure and know when “more” is enough”, I therefore cite Freedomhouse. However I think you contradict yourself with your earlier comment when you mentioned “However beg to disagree on the term we are not yet “more democratic”.
I did not in anywhere mention “we are not yet more democratic”. On the contrary, I am saying we progress toward more democratic and further imply that we shall strive for more. “More” is pretty subjective and to each his own to have our personal opinion, my POV is as follow :
Democracy is not limited to voting, two party system and who win, we need a constitution which enshrine our rights and freedom (speech / press / media / political expression…), rule of law, separation of power between legislative, execution, judiciary, and capable to protect the minority from “tyranny of the majority” (not necessary referred to race, this can be class, constituency, region, state, demography and etc), and many more to make it functional, and hopefully, this would lead us to good governance that appreciate merit base, and proceed towards a just and fair sort of society. The focus is to let our people to speak up and make a choice, in this context, I think we still need to do more.
While we progress toward our goal, we shall appreciate people like Helen that provide a platform that allow us to exchange our view, and further make an effort to reveal the hypocrisy as practiced by some political parties, though I think some of her post stretched a bit too far :), but our objective shall remain same, strive for a just and fair society that uphold democracy and right value, not limited to BN or PR.
Hope my comment clarified my stand. Cheers.
Apologies Hu Yong but I attempt to be constructive here.
1. Likewise, I have difficulty understanding your statement
You said – Quote “I did not in anywhere mention “we are not yet more democratic”. On the contrary, I am saying we progress toward more democratic and further imply that we shall strive for more.”. unquote
You also said on Nov 12, 9.44pm quote “I only see 308, Bersih 1 & 2, and progress toward a more democratic and free Malaysia, and finally the realisation of a two party system”
unquote.
Now it is akin to say Peter saying I am progressing to get fatter.
Hence would it be not correct for an observer to conclude that Peter not yet fat enough?
Simple enough. I have concluded you saying that we are not democratic enough
2. As you say, “more” is subjective. Thanks for sharing your benchmark on how much more democracy is required for your requirement. Repeated here are your standards
a) , “we need a constitution which enshrine our rights and freedom (speech / press / media / political expression…).” Comment: this “freedom” is also regulated even in the most perceived democratic country. Pls check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Doesn’t Malaysia allows free speech which is regulated with accompanying permit? Don’t we have much freedom in the internet? You see everybody particularly the majority has their own rights as well, not just the minority few. It would be horrible if anybody would be allowed to shout at his whim and fancy the word “fire” in an crowded cinema. Imagine the resulting mayhem
b) “rule of law” : Comment: don’t we have that now
c) “separation of power between legislative, execution, judiciary” – comment : pardon but again don’t we have that now,
d) “and capable to protect the minority from “tyranny of the majority” (not necessary referred to race, this can be class, constituency, region, state, demography and etc), and many more to make it functional”.
Comment: Nothing against your statement should it be a true fact that the minority is truly and indeed oppressed by the majority. However, the more important goal is to protect and uplift the weak ones (be it the minority or majority) for them to be on par with others for equality sake. Hence a skinny brother may be fed more and pampered at the expense of the other siblings by their mum. The bottom classes in school need more attention from the teachers while the good ones at the top whom also get tuition after class may be just given minimal attention by the teachers (in most cases the students may be cleverer than the teachers). Effective management on a wholesome basis and benefit of all.
e) “and hopefully, this would lead us to good governance that appreciate merit base, and proceed towards a just and fair sort of society” The focus is to let our people to speak up and make a choice, in this context, I think we still need to do more”
Comment: Of course it is ideal to always have more. Good governance reminds me of listed companies which by the virtue of being listed and overseen by many regulations and transparencies should be by default good companies. However as has been proven, again and again this is not the case for some companies be it on KLSE or on the board of any canggih Mat Salleh countries.
However we should be careful of the term more. Need to get it balance at an optimum level. Just like having more stock of food is good but we have to observe the fact that the stored food is subject to deterioration hence waste. The kid is thin. Eat more. However need to stop at the optimum before he becomes overweight.
There is always an optimum level of achievement. Is it good to overdo democracy(to the point of negative returns)?. I repeat my suggestion ie to bench mark the whole process to the most perceived democratic country as a standard.
And I take pride that the Govt is currently looking into the Bersih demands at the highest level. A compliment should be put forth here (instead of another mini demo at Australia). And note that Govt has also abolished the powerful ISA. A thank you note would suffice. However if these anomaly remarks continue people may suspect that there are ulterior motives. Why keep on saying the wheel is stationery when it is already moving?
Regards
4 of my siblings were fm SJKC.. (since the ’70’s) and 3 of their kids also attended SJKC. Dulu2 after May 13, my parents wanted to experiment (as the elder kids attended missionary schools) so they sent all their other kids to SJKC. My sons attended Chinese based Kindergarten.
Kindly allow me to compare…
They spent hours and hours practicing and learning how to write the charactors of the so called “bahasa ibunda”, the national language of China charactors.
Luckily our families can read and write BM and BI, so we teach them from home whereas the other classmates will spend their after school hours attending a tuition classes MUST esp for BM and BI. Grumbles from my Apek neighbours their having to spend minimum RM2.5K for these extra classes just for their 3 SJKC kids. (excluding transport cost). Even with these intensive extra classes, their kids can hardly communicate in our national language or English.
Malays and Muslim kids have to learn Arabic as it is compulsory to read our Holy Quran as is (not translated versions). For this purpose we send our kids to attend the Agama schools. So if these people want to learn their whatever so claimed “ibunda” languages, they should do so at their own leisure – and not bother the Government, follow the same as the practices of Private schools. (You pay for what you desire).
In terms of performances my siblings from SJKC were at a disadvantage as their command in English is a little bit better than Teresa Kok.
BTW Teresa Kok, this CNY make sure no noise coming from crackers and the drums of the Lion dances.. pekik kasi pekak kami punya not only telinga but otak. My area nanti penuh dengan bertimbun2 kertas crackers – all over the corridors and parking areas, an eyesore dah tu kami sendiri duk kena sapu kasi bersih!
To all my loving dear Chinese friends and families, and termasuk Cik Helen, SELAMAT MENYAMBUT TAHUN BARU CINA…
Thank you.
I have to disagree with HY and Helen on this. I think we have no choice but to go for one school system but we need to improve the system. So long we live separately and don’t grow up, laugh, cry and play with each other, the worse our race relation will be. Its a recipe for disaster.
Anyone who believes in Malaysian first but support segregation of our young by race, is highly hypocritical. In the case of guan eng who constantly accuses others of racism, this hypocritical stand epitomes an arrogant racist bigot attitude. It puts perkasa and Ibrahim Ali to shame.
Happy new year Helen HY and those celebrating CNY.
TQ
enjoy the holiday too, to buddy like ellese, hasan, s18, that’s the beauty of diversity.
ps/ to ellese, i might one day stand along with u to struggle for our ideal/version of one school, when we could find a ways to contain idiot n cb like rina in their ultra school.
I dont buy the DAP crap ‘Malaysia first’ but in practise and in heart it always Chinese, Chinese and Chinese. The Malays and Indians can fly kites and used them to project DAP as a model of pluralistic society founded on the principle of equality irrespective of race and religion. Ptui! Almost vomit typing this DAP crap.
Malaysia is a good model of integration where any race, language and religion can prosper as long these segments of communities understand the sensitivities of others and try to live within these constraints. The reasons why Malaysia can be a succesful model while other countries with minimal diversity of race, language and religion faced communal tensions because the Malays majority ready to compromise and accept others.
No one over here is forced to assimilate, no one is forced to speak Malay, adopt Muslim religion and Malay culture and no one is forced to abandon their culture . While we Malays are ready to accept others, why cant others reciprocate? Why cant others accept our language, respect our religion, oiur customs, our Kings. If it is okay the Chinese fight for their right for their Chinese education, why cant you accept our right to maintain our Malay language and culture. Why call us racists?
re: “Why call us racists?”
It is the DAP evangelistas who call you racists.
In all the years before the collapse of the MCA, Chinese politics was not played with calling Umno “extremists” and Malays “religious bigots”.
In the more than 60 years of Alliance-BN, no Wanita MCA leader ever wore a tudung to traipse in and out of mosques and in the same breath keep shrieking “racists”.
The current politics of hate has been gifted Malaysia by the evangelistas.