monday- 27th july, 2009

Guest Article: NS Observations and Thoughts (I)

http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2009/02/guest-article-ns-observations-and.html

Below is Part I of an excellent piece written by Mei San on the NS program. She's one of the many young Malaysians who have inspired me and given and continues to give me hope in our country.

84 Days in Camp – NS Observations and Thoughts

Ever since the National Service (NS) programme was launched in the year of 2004, 339,186 trainees have graduated1. Up till 2007, RM2.37 billion has been spent on the programme2. As of June 2008, 16 trainees have died3.

Due to the unexpected deaths and the large amount of expenses involved, there have been many calls, by parents as well as the Opposition, for the NS programme to be called off. Citing reasons such as patriotism and racial integration, the Ministry of Defense has been insisting on the importance and the benefits of the programme. The Defense Minister, also Deputy Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak was even quoted saying that the government wanted to continue with the programme as it was “becoming more popular”4. During a Dewan Rakyat sitting, Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop also said studies on the effectiveness of the programme showed a positive response where success in instilling patriotism was 82 per cent, building confidence and leadership (88.3 per cent) and nurturing the spirit of community integration (86.7 per cent). 5

In the writer’s opinion, to call off or not to call off the NS programme, a thorough and transparent review of the programme will first have to be conducted. The review will then be brought up to the Parliament, where the relevance and the necessity of the NS programme to our youths will be decided through transparent, fair and constructive debates.

This piece of writing will present certain points, which, the writer opines, are worth included if any review of the NS programme is to be done in the future. Writing in the spirit of democracy, which appreciates the existence of checks and balances, the writer also hopes to create awareness about the necessity to question the realities behind the NS programme, as well as to invoke more debates and sharing of opinions regarding the NS programme. As a former NS trainee, the writer understands that her view might not be viewed as totally independent. Nevertheless, it should be kept in the minds of all readers that this piece of writing intends to ask questions, not to provide answers.

Integration Programme

The Integration Programme (Program Integrasi) was a one week programme aiming to promote racial integration among trainees and was conducted by external instructors. The daily sessions spanned from 9a.m. till 4.30p.m. Before the session started each day, trainees were first assembled to sing a song which comprised of greetings in five different languages commonly used in Malaysia- Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin, Tamil and Bahasa Jawa. The programme was divided into three subtopics: culture (kebudayaan), religions (agama) and the roles of men and women (peranan lelaki dan perempuan). For each subtopic, a textbook was provided. The programme culminated with a closing ceremony consisting of both traditional and modern cultural performances by the trainees under the supervision of their respective instructors.

The syllabuses for each topic, as outlined in the textbooks, are as followed: 6

Culture (Kebudayaan)

This subtopic aims to educate the trainees about the various race-based cultures in Malaysia and the differences as well as the similarities that exist between them. It is hoped that this will help to reduce the conflicts and to create an integrated, established Malaysian society. The topics included in the textbook are traditional costumes, traditional food and traditional music of the respective cultures.

Religions (Agama)

This subtopic aims to educate the trainees about the different religions in Malaysia. Apart from the elaboration on the virtues called by the religions, there is also emphasis of the importance to respect all the religions in Malaysia, which, the textbook claims can be actualized by “avoiding in-depth discussions about the different religions in order to prevent sensitive issues being raised”. The topics included the traditional festivals and traditional practices of different religions, but are very much racial inclined.

Roles of Men and Women (Peranan lelaki dan perempuan)

This subtopic aims to educate trainees about gender stereotype, the need to overcome it, to be aware of their own perceptions on the roles of each gender and to understand the importance of inter-gender unity.

On a side note, the instructors in camp often stressed the importance of building racial integration in the NS programme. Henceforth, in all events and activities, including meal times and night patrol, trainees were instructed to sit in groups which comprised of “Malays, Chinese and Indians”. There was no mention of the other minorities, such as Eurasians or the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, which could easily be dismissed by their absence in the camp. If the trainees were to be found to have disobeyed such instructions, harsh warnings of punishment could be expected from the instructors. More than often, it also involved remarks such as “Do you want May 13 to repeat?” or “The Chinese trainees want to return to China?”

The syllabuses of this Integration Programme resembled much of the syllabus of our national education system for the subjects of Moral Education, Civic Education and a small part of History. If a decade of national education system utilizing these materials has failed to reduce racial polarization in Malaysian youths, why should a one week integration programme in the three month NS programme be expected to do the miracle?

If a decade of such teachings has failed to meet its objectives, why are we still moving in the same direction?

Moreover, the textbook on religions is misleading and confusing. The overall contents are very race-based. Instead of writing on the teachings of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism or Christianity, it tells of the traditional practices and beliefs of the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Dayaks, Bajaus etc. The ambiguous distinction between races and religions only indicate the shallow mentality and insensitivity of the authorities towards the diversity that occurs within our dynamic Malaysian society. What is more, these are the very people who are preaching about integration.

Sports

Sports are the best ways to cut across all differences in order to achieve integration and unity. Hence, during the evenings, all trainees would be assembled and were allowed to play the different types of sports they like. During the writer’s training, a sports carnival was held from 9 July 2008 till 20 August 2008. The evenings were then spend on competitions for events which included netball, volleyball, football, cross-country run, tug-of-war, telematches (a.k.a. creative sports) and obstacle course.

There were two major problems with the sports carnival.

Firstly, no proper training was conducted and the players selected to participate were those who were already trained at school. The results was that those who were already skilled players continued to play in the field, dominating the games while those who did not know how to play continue to sit by the field, acting only as audience or supporters. No new player was produced. While unity and integration could also be inculcated and built through the players-supporters relationship, the teamwork that was supposed to be built and experienced in the field were only available to a certain group of trainees, who were fortunate to have received earlier training before NS.

Secondly, the trainees were taught a lopsided form of sportsmanship. Playing hard and giving your best in each game are the criteria of a good sportsman. Nevertheless, the respect for your opponents should also be instilled among trainees. During matches, trainees not only cheered for their own kompeni, but the cheers would occasionally turn into rowdy boos at their opponents. The instructors did little to quell those unruly name callings, as, most of the time, the instructors were themselves too engrossed in the proceedings of the games, too concern if their own kompeni would win the match.

Community Service

This module involved outings and visits to the various places as followed:

1. Maxwell Hill, Taiping. Trainees walked up 650m above sea level, approximately 6km.
2. Taiping Lake Gardens. Trainees participated in a Fun Walk and other activities, such as lucky draw, which were organized by the Taiping City Council (MPT).
3. Rumah Seri Kenangan Taiping. It is a governmental welfare home for the old folks. A presentation about the organization was given by one of the staffs to the trainees upon arrival. Trainees were later brought to visit some of the dormitories, doing a little cleaning up at the same time.
4. Bukit Gantang. The Great Durian Festival was held by the Ministry of Tourism and the event was launched by Dato Azalina Othman Said.
5. Kuala Sepetang mangrove swamp and charcoal factories. Trainees were given a presentation by an officer of the Perak State Forestry Department about the mangrove swamps and were later brought to the nearby charcoal factories by bus.

No explanation on the objectives of each activity was given to the trainees.

What were the trainees’ contribution and service to the community? Were the trainees anymore aware of their responsibilities as part of the community?

Outings to Maxwell Hill and Kuala Sepetang mangrove swamps can potentially serve to create more awareness about nature and the responsibility to preserve it. The visit to Rumah Seri Kenangan exposed trainees to the needs of old folks. Nevertheless, the visits were brief and provided little opportunities for the trainees to have practical experience in community service. The visit to Kuala Sepetang merely involved an audiovisual briefing without any venturing into the mangrove swamps. The dormitories in Rumah Seri Kenangan Taiping had little space for the large group of trainees. Furthermore, the dormitories were occupied by residents who were mobile and did their cleaning daily, prior to our arrival, thus offering the trainees little cleaning work.

The Malaysian Insider

July 27, 2009

Figuring out One Malaysia

http://dinmerican.wordpress.com/2009/04/12/najibs-one-malaysia-gagasan-satu-malaysia-is-the-status-quo-by-another-name/

What is One Malaysia? This has been troubling supporters of UMNO since Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak announced it in his maiden speech as prime minister nine days ago.

Opposition parties have claimed it mirrored the Malaysian Malaysia concept championed by the DAP and, before that, the PAP under Lee Kuan Yew when Singapore was part of Malaysia. This claim has troubled Barisan Nasional politicians aiming to regroup after the coalition’s disastrous Election 2008 outing.

Today, the UMNO-owned Mingguan Malaysia (read above) refuted that connotation in an opinion piece and put in perspective that One Malaysia means no one in the country will be sidelined but affirmative action policies will continue. In not too many words, it remains faithful to the two planks of the National Economic Policy (NEP) – the eradication of poverty irrespective of race and economic restructuring that was launched by Najib’s father Tun Abdul Razak Hussein in the aftermath of the May 13 race riots.

The opinion piece headlined ‘Satu Malaysia versi sebenar’ by Awang Selamat, a pseudonym used by the newspaper’s editors, allayed fears that Najib will end the NEP and ensure equality for all.

Among others, Awang wrote, it included elements of development based on unity and integration, the people’s interests and excellence to push the country’s progress, adding he was glad when Najib denied it had anything to do with a ‘Malaysian Malaysia’ although the government would be fair to all races to transform the country.

“Awang hopes the true version of One Malaysia is understood clearly. The affirmative policies to help the Malays who really poor and left behind (compared to other races) will continue.

“Indeed there is a need to continue the affirmative policies due to historical realities and the social contract while the government intensifies efforts to increase the quality of life for all,” he wrote.

While Mingguan Malaysia, which enjoys wide circulation in Malaysia’s rural areas where Umno still commands majority support and respect, has made its definition, it remains to be seen how Najib will put the slogan into action.

However, it is clear that the concept will not work with a top-down approach as Malaysians become more aware of the power of their vote and are willing to shop around for a political party or coalition more in tune with their desires and needs.

While the economy is at the forefront of their minds, Malaysians – particularly the young and those in the urban areas – have been clamouring for an independent judiciary, respectable police force, equal treatment and politicians who don’t speak from both sides of their mouths.

They have been demanding reforms in various government policies and institutions, handing former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a huge mandate in the 2004 elections but taking it back in 2008 when the reforms faltered.

The country’s sixth prime minister has added “People First, Performance Now” to his One Malaysia concept to recapture the people’s confidence and it will be up to him and his cabinet, which has already been maligned by the opposition, to ensure they live up to his slogan. And ensure that his “One Malaysia” is the same as their “One Malaysia”.

Right, the part about racial integration.

I seriously don't know why 63.9% of Malaysian youths think mixing with somebody of an opposite race would get you a funny disease, but wherever that came from, it didn't come from a good place.

Honestly, in my personal opinion, I feel racial integration in recent years has been somewhat of a forced, unnatural progression as the country enters (and has entered) the threshold of the 21st century.

50 years of trying (too) hard to integrate Malaysians, and probably somewhere along the way, we steered off path, and ended up in the murky waters of Sungai Gombak instead of cruising steadily on the North-South Highway (within speed limits. Of course. What would Dato' Samy say?)

Have we been too idealistic about ethnic cohesion?

Seriously, do we honestly think even for one second, that playing song clips that falsettos messages of the perfect nation comprising all races accompanied by images of Malaysians of pelbagai kaum playing congkak together, Indians wearing cheongsam and Eurasians dancing the bamboo dance, would hit Malaysians in the head and make them think, "whoa! I think I'm gonna make a new friend of a different race today!"?

And by randomly choosing youths to go for National Service, making them sit through National Integration Modules, they will all come out peace-loving and fully-integrated, regardless of their perception of racial identity which has been firmly etched in their minds for the last 2 decades of their life?

And similar modules implemented in public varsities, its accuracy to be fiercely debated and questioned by numerous parties, each with their own agenda for doing so, only to have the ministry recall the module, tweak it, and release it back into the waters, continue singing patriotic songs and proudly proclaim "It's okay! Everything's alright, we still love each other!"?

Is population imbalance a problem?
That question had been in running in my mind for last two months. I remember reading in the newspaper where an MP (can’t recall who it was) said that something to the effect that we have to follow the majority. This is of course very much true. Currently in our country, the population can be categorised into four areas of importance - Race (Malays versus non-Malays), Religion (Muslims versus non-Muslims), Bumiputra Status (Bumi versus non-Bumi) and gender.

In terms of racial composition, we have many races (Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc) in this country, but the most critical one is Malays versus the rest. This ratio is important to maintain the national security and harmony, if we are to believe our politicians. The majority race is Malays, which is above 50% at the moment and rising steadily. The second largest group is the Chinese which is less than 30% and declining steadily. Same with the Indians which are at 7++% and declining as well. So, in the near future, we can expect the population to be imbalanced in terms of race with up to 70% Malays. With the inflow of Indonesians, the population of Malays are boosted through marriages.

In terms of religion, Islam being the religion for the majority race, automatically becomes the majority religion. Second in place is Christianity, followed by Buddhism, Hinduism and the rest. As the majority race experiences significant growth, we can expect the majority religion to also improve percentage-wise. Coupled with the capability of non-Muslims to be not aligned to any religion (in other words be a free thinker or atheist), we can expect the number of Muslims to significantly overwhelm the other religions in the near future.

In terms of Bumiputra composition, I remember reading a statement few months back that Bumiputra percentage is 62.1% while the non-Bumis are 30++%. Again, this tied closely to the majority race which are automatically accorded Bumiputra status. Then we have the ethnic races in Sabah and Sarawak who also Bumiputra. So, obviously the percentage of Bumiputra will be higher than the rest of the categorization.

Finally, population in terms of gender. So far, our population is nearly evenly balanced between male and female. However, the number of educated females are on the rise and it won’t be long before the white-collar workforce is overwhelmed with female workers. Due to the lack dwindling percentage in the above three categories, it is highly possible that marriages in the future will be inter-racial or inter-religion.

With more chances for the minority groups to convert to the majority - either via religious conversion or marriage (future generation can be of different race), the problem is compounded.

Now, where does this lead to? The possibilities are aplenty. A country that still sticks to its constitution and provides equality to all, or one that is in favor of the majority, and discriminative towards the minority.

Guided by the constitution, there will be protection for the minority races and religion. But with majority race in place, this can change if there’s consensus among them. As time goes, it may be economically unviable for example, to maintain many vernacular schools (EXAMPLE ONLY!). At that point of time, it is likely that a scheme like the NEP is created to ensure the minority races are not discriminated or deprived of opportunities.

Many areas will be affected in the next 20 - 30 years. Education, health care, places of worship, public service, tradition and culture, living neighborhoods, working environment, services industry, restaurants, our multiracial identity, public holidays, economic equity, gaming industry, etc.

I feel that with the way things are going, a imbalanced population will be more volatile and may even be a threat to national security. The voices of the minority can be easily drowned. Thus it may be the right time to implement a national population plan to boost the population of the minority races in order to preserve the status quo, or to implement population control (one child policy?) for the majority race (which is quite impossible due to religious factor).

Of course, things will be much, much easier if we don’t think along racial and religion lines. But that’s wishful thinking at the moment.

This is my thoughts, so I hope readers can share your opinions and thoughts as well.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

dealing with malaysia's religious and racial diversity...part 1

it is said that multi-ethnic diversity is malaysia's strength, more than anything else. but it has also become the country's liability, as current events suggest. when ahmad sabri said that the chinese are "pendatang' and thus do not deserve equal status as the bumiputeras, he was summoned by the prime minister and a scores of other malaysians demanded a public apology from him. sabri said that he was being misquoted by a chinese newspaper and what he said was based on historical fact. as the dust of the ahmad sabri saga has about to settle, the outspoken mp for seputeh teresa kok angered the muslim community in selangor when she lodged a complaint on behalf of her constituents about the "nuisance" created by the azan prayer. teresa was then arrested under the controversial isa but only to be released indefinitely later. what do these episodes tell us and what lessons can we learn from them?

first, the ideal of creating a bangsa malaysia will remain an elusive dream as each of the ethnic groups still insists on defending its own religious and racial characteristics. the bangsa malaysia dream, if achieved, will see malaysians of all races putting their religious and cultural differences aside while at the same time recognising themselves as a one "race" called "malaysian race". by race here i do not mean that we abandon our racial distinctiveness and "embrace" a new one. i mean how many malaysians out there are willing to put their beloved country, malaysia, first, then after that, their own ethnic group? may be we should learn from the indonesians. during my recent visit to jakarta, i came across with a few chinese who conversed in indonesian languange among themselves. and it is quite rare to see a chinese using his/her chinese name as the indonesian name is preferrable, may be for integration purposes. it is indeed an envious sight to begin with. in malaysia, one normally shifts to english when meeting with the chinese; and the chinese to bahasa malaysia when meeting withnon-chinese. may be we should re-look our language policy and use it as a tool to unify malaysians.

second, "change" is not forthcoming in malaysia for there are certain people who still think along the ethnic and religious lines. while other countries are in the aggresive drive to modernise their economies, educate their people to be competitive and to accept each other's differences with an open mind, malaysia is still grappling with the ethnic and religious issue. if nothing concrete is achieved to tackle this malaise, i am afraid that malaysia would not be able to move forward, what more achieving the visions 2020 (do not forget that the first challenge in the vision is to create an integrated and united society that shares a common vision). while the word "change" is a powerful mantra in the united states nowadays, it is, however, seen in the negative light by some especially those in the corridor of power. this brings me to my next point.

while much has been said about the need to reform the judiciary and to tackle the problem of corruption and inefficiency, little attention has been given on the issue of how to educate malaysians to think beyond the ethnic and religious lines. the government's decision to come up with an act (race relations act) is laudable but its details must be thoroughly debated and scrutinised before it is passed. some in sabah and sarawak have lamented that there is no need to come up with a law to regulate race relations; in fact these people say race relations in both states have remained all time high. the problem i see here is not one of legal or lack of spaces to inculcate the spirit of acceptance and tolerance among races. but what is lacking is the political will of those in power to effect changes. it is sad that zaid ibrahim had to quit the cabinet after his plan to reform the judiciary was seen as too radical by his comrades in the government. the crucial question that needs to be asked here is: are our political leaders willing to abandon their exclusive ethnic and religious thinking and start fighting for other races?

KUALA LUMPUR: National Unity and Integration Department director-general Datuk Azman Azmin said the most probable reason some teenagers did not have friends of different races was because of the “environment they are in, especially in schools.

He said parents’ tendency to send their children to vernacular schools instead of national schools meant students lacked the opportunity to mingle and interact with their peers from other races.

“I attribute the findings to the current education system, which has resulted in lack of interaction among students of different racial backgrounds. There are also other factors that compound this, which we will try to determine,” he said when asked to comment on the findings of the survey.

Azman, however, expressed concern over the results of the survey where respondents said mixing with other races was not something that concerned them.

He said this did not reflect the “future Malaysians” which the Government aimed to inculcate and promote, adding that his department was working closely with the Education and Higher Education ministries on a programme to promote interaction and integration among students.

This would be known as the Students’ Integration for Unity Programme and Azman said it would involve students working together at various activities, including camping and motivation talks.

National Parent-Teacher Associations Collaborative Council president Assoc Prof Dr Mohd Ali Hassan felt schools should promote unity in diversity by encouraging racial integration among their students

Plan to enhance racial integration launched

Submitted by admin on 15 May 2007 - 4:48pm.

• Berita Perpaduan

KUALA TERENGGANU: Reducing racial segregation and inter- as well as intra-racial tension are among the five main objectives of the National Unity and Integration Plan 2006-2010.

The plan, which draws up the steps to be taken for the next five years to enhance racial integration in the country, was launched by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin here yesterday.

The plan was launched in conjunction with national-level Unity Month celebrations at Batu Burok.

Among the other objectives of the plan are to boost the spirit of unity and patriotism among Malaysians and to increase the level of tolerance and harmony among the various ethnic groups in the country.

The plan, which was approved by the Cabinet on May 17 last year, was drawn up in the hope of further strengthening racial unity and creating a sense of belonging in this country, as well as a feeling of being proud to be Malaysian. The plan outlined 19 strategies which government agencies and statutory bodies were supposed to implement.

The agencies were to foster close racial relations by applying principles like mutual understanding and to carry out steps like monitoring of current affairs or conflicts and gauging of the impact of unity.

The private sector, non-governmental organisations and the public are to be roped in.

The plan also sought to promote a national identity through a quality education system and to boost the people’s understanding of the Rukunegara and the Federal Constitution. The plan said one of the challenges faced was that integration among the various ethnic groups in the country was still at a “functional level”.

It said there was only integration among working peers while sincerity, a caring attitude, honesty and understanding of one racial group towards another was still not achieved.

On the Bangsa Malaysia concept, the plan stated that the definition was still unclear and had yet to be discerned by society.

During the event yesterday, former foreign affairs minister Tun Dr Muhammad Ghazali Shafie, former Sabah chief minister Tan Sri Peter Lo Su Yin, and previous Sarawak Dayak National Union vice-president Datuk Seri Tra Zehnder @ Philomena Tra ak Jemat received the first “Generators of Unity in Malaysia” awards.

Published on: Wednesday, April 28, 2004

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PETALING JAYA: The quality of the education system and the level of national integration need to be improved for a peaceful and stable society in the country, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

He said in order for the country to be truly great, there must be an understanding, recognising similarities and the appreciation of each other’s differences and strengths.

“I passionately believe that in order for Malaysia to be truly great, we must understand each other. We must recognise our similarities and appreciate our differences and our strengths.

“In that way, we became stronger to face the world together 47 years ago.

Who would even have thought that we could have come this far,” he said in his keynote address entitled “Revitalising Education: Equipping Malaysia for the Realities of the 21st Century” when opening the Malaysian Education Summit 2004, here, Tuesday.

He said the Government was concerned over the current level of racial integration and understanding where schools were becoming more mono-racial, with non-Malay enrolment in national schools growing smaller with time.

Abdullah said in multi-racial schools and universities, racial cliques were practically the norm and surely this kind of racial exclusiveness would sow the seeds of misunderstanding and mistrust for later in life.

“We may well drift apart only to have few superficial commonalities between us, and few genuine ties that bind us together in a common destiny,” he said.

Abdullah said for this reason, he split the education portfolio into the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education.

“The gaps in quality (education) and national unity are urgent issues that thus, I wanted the two Ministers to devote more of themselves and concentrate on smaller, but equally crucial areas of focus,” he said.

Abdullah said in order to ensure quality and improve racial integration as a twin mandate to reach the objective of the education system, two main strategies need to be pursued, namely improvement to national schools and to address the provision of subjects highly valued for cultural and religious reasons.

He said national schools need changes and improvement to make it as the “school of choice” while safeguarding the position of national-type schools.

National schools should be topmost in providing foundation skills and knowledge as well as in cultivating inter-racial tolerance and understanding.

Abdullah said that since the national schools did not reflect the character of multiracial Malaysia, there was a need to increase the number of non-Malay teachers and school heads.

Abdullah said one of the biggest areas of concern was the quality of teaching in national schools. The teaching profession was no longer highly regarded as it was before, he said.

“Thus, we need to have a serious, concerted effort to improve teaching, by increasing the motivation and stature of the teaching profession,” he said.

Abdullah also said the perception that certain subjects were not taught well nor given enough emphasis in national schools which gave the preference for vernacular schools and Islamic religious schools should be remedied.

“For a start, I would like to see high quality language lessons in Mandarin, Tamil or Arabic taught in all our national schools and to make these available on an optional basis to all students regardless of race.

“Furthermore, while I believe that learning our mother tongue is important, we should all start valuing languages as a worthwhile knowledge in and of itself and as an investment in an increasingly globalised world,” Abdullah said.

The Prime Minister said there was a need to strengthen Islamic and ethics education in national schools in order to instil the right values in the young. “The recent launch of the pilot project ‘J-Qaf’ is a step in the right direction with this programme. The teaching and curriculum of Islamic education is enhanced towards encouraging literacy in Arabic and the understanding of the Quran,” he said.

Abdullah said developing a world class education system was high on the Government’s agenda. However, he said, one of the symptoms of inadequacy was the high number of unemployed graduates, who accounted for 20 per cent.

He said these shortcomings were further reinforced by the reputation of Malaysia’s tertiary institutions, ranked 47th out of 77 universities in an Asiaweek 2000 benchmarking study of Asian universities.

The Prime Minister said tertiary institutions need to put in place sufficient support facilities to help market their graduates.

He said career guidance and industry networking were still at low levels in Malaysia and this should not be the case.

Abdullah said a university’s responsibility towards its students does not end with handing over a degree. Tertiary institutions should also pride themselves on how well their graduates perform after graduation, he said.

The Prime Minister said the Government alone cannot improve the education system and there should not be a wrong assumption that the education system was contained within the gates of schools or in the bureaucracy of the Education Ministry.

“Our education system also includes the role of parents, the support that the local community provides, the synergies that the private sector is willing to forge, the awareness of the media to create and how much successful Malaysians are willing to give back to their schools and universities,” he added. - Bernama

Issues in Malaysian Education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Due to the multiracial composition of the population of Malaysia, many somewhat controversial issues have cropped up in Malaysian education.

Contents [hide] 1 Gender issues and education 2 Language issues 3 Racial Quotas in Universities 4 Racial Polarisation in Schools 5 The tuition phenomenon 5.1 String of As 6 See also 7 References 8 See also

== Language issues ==
The issue of language and schools is a key issue for many political groups in Malaysia. UMNO championed the cause of Malay usage in schools but private schools using the Chinese and Tamil language are allowed. These schools are referred to as "vernacular schools" as opposed to the "government schools" where Malay is the medium of instruction. Officially, Chinese- and Tamil-medium schools are called national-type schools (sekolah jenis kebangsaan) whereas Malay-medium schools are known as national schools (sekolah kebangsaan). Up until 1981 in Peninsular Malaysia (and some years later in Sarawak), there were also English-medium schools, and these would have also come under the label ‘national-type schools’. Many well-known schools in the urban areas would have been former English-medium schools, including - in Kuala Lumpur - Bukit Bintang Girls’ School, Bukit Nanas Convent, Methodist Boys’ School, Methodist Girls’ School, Peel Road Convent, Pudu English Secondary School, St John’s Institution, St Mary’s School and Victoria Institution. The majority of these schools were set up by Christian (Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Brethren) missions. This is also true of schools in Ipoh, Malacca, Penang, Petaling Jaya and Seremban.

Following the severe race riots in Kuala Lumpur in May 1969, English-medium schools were phased out from January 1970, so that by 1982 these became Malay-medium schools (‘national schools’).

The existence of vernacular schools is used by non-Malays components of the ruling Barisan Nasional to indicate that their culture and identity have not been infringed upon by the Malay people. This is often a key issue as it is considered important by many. Dong Jiao Zhong (the association of Chinese vernacular school boards and teachers) and other such organisations still shape much of the views of the Chinese educated community, which is a key electoral constituency.

In [[2002]], the government announced that from [[2003]] onwards, the teaching of [[Science]] and [[Mathematics]] would be done in English, in order to ensure that Malaysia will not be left behind in a world that was rapidly becoming [[globalisation|globalised]]. This paved the way for the establishment of mixed-medium education. However, the policy was heavily criticized especially by [[Malay language|Malay]] linguists, fearing that the policy might erode the usage of Malay language in science and mathematics, which led to a massive rally in Kuala Lumpur on 7 March 2009.<ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |author= |coauthors= |title= Malaysian police fire teargas at protesters: witnesses |curly= |url=http://news.my.msn.com/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2722919 |format= |agency= AFP |work= |publisher= MSN News |location= |id= |pages= |page= |date= |accessdate=10 March 2009 |language= |quote= |archiveurl= |archivedate= }}</ref>

In [[2004]], the prime minister announced that only two percent of Chinese students attended government schools. Opposition figure, Lim Guan Eng also came out in saying that 60,000 non-Chinese students attended Chinese vernacular schools.

The next day, the prime minister made a statement in a written reply to a parliamentary question by Dr Tan Kee Kwong (another representative from the same coalition) that the policy of allowing vernacular schools may have to be re-examined. His specific statement was "various measures have to be taken to tackle this issue including a review of the education system which allows for different streams to be implemented in this country"<ref>[http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/30623 PM sends ‘shockwaves’ on education reforms<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. He was speaking on the issue of racial polarisation in schools.

Dr Wee Ka Siong of MCA (the main Chinese component party in the ruling coalition of [[Barisan Nasional]]) responded that it was shocking and "We can't draw a conclusion to say that the government is going to abolish the vernacular schools although (the statement) was hinting at that, because the premier said that the government will review the system".

Chong Eng deputy secretary-general of the DAP (opposition party) stated "We unite as citizens, we don't betray the country, we defend the sovereignty of the country and all these have nothing to do with what school we came from".

On April 2005, in an attempt to make national schools more competitive and the first choice of non-Malay students, the government announced that all national schools will begin teaching Chinese and Tamil, not as mother tongue course but as elective course.