Sunday, October 01, 2006

Of Chinese School Policy & More...

Well, given that we are hot on the issue of Chinese and vernacular schools at the moment (see here and here), I thought I'd also point you guys to a short interview by Oon Yeoh with Khoo Kay Peng on the recent controversies around Chinese schools. Kay Peng is the Executive Director of the Gerakan think-tank, Sedar Institute, of which Kian Ming was part of prior to his departure to Duke for his further studies.

On a slightly related note, you might remember that I wrote on the storm brewing over vernacular schools, whereby the Chinese press were given specific instructions from publishing news on the corruption in the repairs carried out at the schools. Well, MerdekaReview.com has managed to obtain a copy of the letter providing the official instructions, which I shall reproduce here:
Tuan,

PENYIARAN BERITA MENGENAI ISU TIMBALAN MENTERI PENGAJIAN TINGGI, DATUK ONG TEE KEAT

Adalah saya dengan segala hormatnya diarah merujuk perkara di atas.

2. Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri ingin menarik perhatian tuan berhubung penyiaran berita, rencana serta ulasan akhbar-akhbar harian berbahasa Cina arus perdana tempat mengenai isu Timbalan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Ong Tee Keat berhubung peruntukan sekolah jenis kebangsaan Cina (SJKC).

3. Berdasarkan kepada pemerhatian Kementerian ini, isu ini telah disiar dan diperbesar-besarkan sehingga menimbulkan salah-faham serta mengelirukan pembaca sedangkan perkara ini telah pun selesai berikutan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, YB Datuk Mustapa Mohamed telah memohon maaf kepada Menteri Pelajaran, YB Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

4. Pendekatan pihak akhbar memanipulasi dan mensensasikan isu ini adalah dikhuatiri boleh mewujudkan kesangsian dan kehilangan keyakinan rakyat dan masyarakat terhadap kerajaan dalam menyelesaikan masalah rakyat. Sehubungan itu, Kementerian ini ingin mendapatkan kerjasama daripada pihak akbar tuan dengan serta-merta berhenti daripada membangkitkan isu berkenaan.

5. Kerjasama dan sokongan tuan dalam perkara amat dihargai dan diucapkan ribuan terima kasih.

Sekian.

"BERKHIDMAT UNTUK NEGARA"

Saya yang mengikut perintah

(Che Din bin Yusoh)
b.p. Ketua Setiausaha
Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri
It's quite interesting some of the words which are utilised - "memanipulasikan" and "mesensasikan", if they are not a corruption of Bahasa Melayu with the English language, I'm not sure what is. I'm not even sure if you can find these words in Kamus Dewan! :)

Anyway, there's a simple reason why the Government has decided to restrict civil discussion of corruption in the implementation of Chinese school repair projects by the Ministry of Education. And it has nothing to do with the unsolicited apology by Datuk Mustapa Mohamed on behalf of Datuk Ong Tee Keat. It has to do with the fact the ultimate losers of the leakage of up to 90% of the funds allocated for repairs in Chinese schools are the upset Chinese community.

As a result, instead of promoting greater transparency and encourage greater exposure of corrupt practises, the corrupt contractors and officials get away scot free. Why? So that the position of the incumbent Minister(s) and the leaders of the major Chinese political party will be protected. Sigh.

10 comments:

  1. cant read malay. care to translate? =D

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  2. Obviously, another failure in Pak Lah's (that's what you all called him right?) pledges that made him won 92% of Parlimentary seats. So now, you must "pandai-pandai" (hope this is correct) and be careful in who you choose to lead the country. There has been some hint on the coming election. It has been widely publicized throughout the world.

    I am just a passer by. Hope to see some positive changes in Malaysia next time i pass by.

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  3. Can anyone give more information on who is merdekareview.com? What are their credentials? What is their source?

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  4. Not particularly important - just wish to point out that 'manipulasi' and 'sensasi' has been accepted into mainstream Bahasa Melayu quite a long time ago. I'm pretty sure Kamus Dewan will have it listed. On a further note, you'll be surprised at the amount & type of 'kata pinjaman' you can find in Kamus Dewan.

    Though, the usage and context of both the words leaves much room for argument..

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. This BLOG behaviour is no different from the parties it accused. It censored views that do not conform or agreed to its agenda. There goes the freedom of speech. Hyprocrite...

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  7. I hope that our dear Tony P will allow all comments from all quarters to be published in the blog and then let the public judge them per se. As the Internet is the only avenue we are left of, why not use it to the fullest?

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  8. Hi Real Academia (with PhD) and Nerd,

    Please read my earlier post "A quick editorial note" on the editorial policies on this blog.

    Simply said, readers are welcome to debate and give differing opinions on the issues raised by the bloggers. The idea of the blog is not to have everyone agree with everything we say, but to open the way for more discussion so that everyone of us may end up more enlightened.

    However, parties who choose to abuse that liberty e.g., focusing the attacks on the bloggers, the other readers, a particular ethnic or religious group without reason or rationale, then, it'll be absolutely up to the bloggers' absolute discretion to delete the posts.

    Tony P

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  9. Tony,

    Is it possible you just delete the offensive words instead of the entire comment?

    Thanks.

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  10. merderkareview.com is an independent chinese online media owned by Knowledge Venture Sdn Bhd.

    Address:
    15-2 (1st Floor), Jalan 10/116B
    Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park
    Off Jalan Kuchai Lama
    58200 Kuala Lumpur
    Malaysia

    This is extrated from the website:

    The chief editor, 庄迪澎 (teck peng), is a graduate from University Science Malaysia in Journalism. After graduating in 1996, he joint Sin Chew as a reporter and wrote about politics and the government. Two years after that, he wrote an article in USM criticising Tun Dr Mahathir of manipulating the medias. In the year 2000, he joined New Era College in Kajang as an academia and setup a Media Research Studies there, thinking of retiring from journalism for good.

    However, after 7 years he returned to his previous profession and wrote several articles. Unfortunately his careers did not live long. In one of his work, an interview footage he had done for RTM had been sensored, the case had been brought up to the opposition party MP to question the government.

    He decided to return to his Journalism career as he believes that "In the age of the Internet, those in power will not always be able to suppress freedom of speech. As long as there is a will to speak out, the voices of the intellectuals will be heard".

    The other journalists for merdeka review are also graduates from local universities.

    Want to know more, go there to find out lah.

    ReplyDelete