Jumaat, 25 Disember 2009

Satu Sekolah Semua: Lee Kuan Yew ngaku polisi dwibahasa gagal


SIngapura sering diguna pihak cauvanis CIna sebagai model negara maju, tetapi negara yang 75% kaum Cina pun tidak mengamalkan sistem sekolah vernakular. Malah Lee Kuan Yew sendiri memperakui sistem dwibahasa melibatkan bahasa CIna yang dijalankan di Singapura pun tidak berjaya.

Baca artikel berikut:

Anguish over bilingualism

INSIGHT DOWN SOUTH
By SEAH CHIANG NEE

There’s renewed debate over the decades-old language grind after surprising remarks by the architect of the republic’s bilingual education policy.

FOUR decades of bilingual education have been shaken up by its architect Lee Kuan Yew, who now says it was a mistake from the beginning.

In a rare self-criticism, the 86-year-old Minister Mentor blamed it on his own ignorance in thinking that people could easily master two languages.

It showed a side of him that Singaporeans rarely get to see or hear – expressing contrition in such harsh tones about himself for something he did four decades ago.

Over state TV, he said recently that he was “wrong” to have insisted on the bilingual policy, which was launched in 1966.

“At first I thought, you can master two languages. Maybe different intelligence, you master it at different levels,” he said, but after 40 years of learning it, he was convinced otherwise.

“We started the wrong way,” said Lee. “We insisted on ting xie (listening), mo xie (dictation) – madness!

“Nobody can master two languages at the same level. If (you think) you can, you’re deceiving yourself.”

As a result, Lee added: “Successive generations of students paid a heavy price, because of my ignorance, by my insistence on bilingualism.”

It was as close to a public apology as Singaporeans are likely to get.

Most observers saw it as his retraction of a major strategy that he introduced for his multiracial people. The republic’s bilingual system is watched with interest by many multiracial countries in Asia.

Under the system, aimed at bonding races and cultures, English is taught to all — but ethnic Chinese, Malay and Indian students need a mandatory pass in their own mother tongue.

The rationale is simple and logical. Singaporeans can communicate with each other, and the outside world, in English, as well as use it to earn a living. At home, however, they are encouraged to speak their mother tongue.

For the Malays and Indians, learning Bahasa Melayu and Tamil has not been too difficult, but among Chinese who hail from English-speaking homes, passing – let alone mastering – Chinese, a totally dissimilar language, is very tough.

Lee’s remarks were immediately taken by many Singaporeans as an indication that the government plans to do away with the policy.

This is unlikely to happen, particularly with the emerging economic power of China and Singapore wanting to serve as a bridge between Beijing and the West.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong quickly put paid to that speculation, saying: “To put it very simply, we are affirming our bilingualism policy. We have never wavered in this fundamental...”

However, PM Lee said, “We are in a dynamic situation because the position is changing, and we have been updating our policies progressively.” Lee Senior put the future this way: “It doesn’t matter what level (of Chinese) they reach, they will like the language, it is fun, and later on in life they’ll use it.”

The study of Chinese has undergone changes since 2004 that make the process less torturous for English-speaking Chinese.

The aim is for the average Chinese here to continue to be bilingual in English and Chinese, but without forcing him to master Chinese as well as English.

Those with higher abilities to do so could choose a fast and higher Chinese language track. Some have been sent to top universities in China.

The change of mind may have come too late for the hundreds of thousands who have gone through the language grind in the past four decades.

Many of them had adopted the attitude of just doing enough to pass exams, realising they wouldn’t need to use it for much of their working lives.

One out of four people surveyed said they considered it unnecessary to learn Chinese in this global world, where even the Chinese themselves are flocking to learn English.

A former Singapore scholar recently blogged: “I am a typical byproduct of Singapore: a Chinese who can speak Mandarin, passed Mandarin classes but can still barely read and write the language well enough to be considered proficient.

“Technically I am illiterate,” he declared. “And, while that may not speak for all of us, there are sufficient numbers to justify the label ‘typical’”. The worst cases are the talented children who fared so miserably in Mandarin that they had to continue their studies abroad.

An early casualty of Singapore’s bilingualism was the Golden Girl of swimming, Junie Sng, who won 10 gold medals in the 1983 SEA Games, compared to nine four years earlier.

Her English-speaking parents migrated to Australia, where she now resides. The Chinese language dilemma has contributed to Singapore’s brain drain.

Every year, about 1,000 bright students join the immigration outflow, including a fair number who want to escape the exam requirements.

In 1989, a Singaporean mother, Pauline Tan, wrote a passionate letter to The Straits Times criticising the way Chinese was being taught.

She said her Primary 3 son was having suicidal thoughts because he hated having to study Chinese every day. “He was constantly ridiculed and scolded by his Chinese teacher. He felt ashamed and shunned his classmates.

“He found Chinese boring. It is spelling, dictation, writing, tests and more spelling, dictation, writing and tests,” she said. Finally she and her husband migrated to Australia “to spare our kid further misery with Chinese.”

Today, her son – aged 29 – is an IT specialist, while his younger brother is doing his doctorate in mathematics at Oxford University.

It is partly such losses that have forced Singapore to import talent from abroad – and probably explains Lee’s feeling of anguish.

Source: The Star, December 19th, 2009
Baca juga tulisan blog Bonjour Planet Earth bertajuk Singapore icon Lee Kuan Yew admits that bilinguism policy in education was a serious mistake....

Apa lagi Dong Zong mahu guna sebagai hujah jika tidak sikap racis cauvanis dan keengganan berintegrasi sebagai 1Malaysia.

Khamis, 10 Disember 2009

Pelancaran Perkasa di Sabah dan Sarawak

Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa (PERKASA) akan mengadakan Majlis Pelancaran cawangan Perkasa di Malaysia Timor.

Perkasa Sabah akan melancarakan cawangan mereka pada hari Sabtu November 12hb, 2009 di Le Meridien Hotel Kota Kinabalu dari pukul 8:00 malam.

Pelancaran Perkasa akan dirasmikan oleh Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak.

Menurut Pengerusi Penaja, Encik Musli Oli sini, satu seminar bertajuk "Rakyat Didahulukan Pencapaian di Utamakan. Sekadar Retorik?" akan diadakan di tempat yang sama pada jam 8 pagi sempena pelancaran tersebut.

Pelancaran Perkasa Sarawak akan diadakan esok harinya pada Ahad 3 petang bertempat di Kelab Golf Sarawak di Petrajaya, Kucing.

Bagi sesiapa yang berminat, kedatangan anda amat dialu-alukan.

Selasa, 8 Disember 2009

Anwar, Pas, DAP hancurkan Melayu Islam - Ibrahim Ali


TAIPING 7 Dis. - Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) menegaskan, orang Melayu akan hancur selagi terus menyokong bekas Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dan konco-konconya.

Presidennya, Datuk Ibrahim Ali (gambar) menegaskan, orang Melayu juga tidak boleh bergantung kepada Pas kerana parti itu hanya mempergunakan agama Islam dan menjadi tunggangan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) serta DAP.

Pada masa sama, katanya, kehancuran orang Melayu akan lebih kritikal jika tidak bersatu menentang DAP yang semakin melampau dan kurang ajar memijak kepala penduduk bumiputera dan Islam.

"Ini merupakan tiga ancaman yang boleh menghancurkan orang Melayu di negara ini. Tidak ada makna pembangunan pesat negara kalau Melayu akhirnya hilang kuasa di negara sendiri.

"Selepas Pilihan Raya Umum (PRU) Ke-12, perkembangan ini kalau tidak ditangani dengan betul, Melayu boleh jadi bangsa Palestin dan Melayu Singapura yang kehilangan negara," katanya.

Beliau berucap di hadapan kira-kira 2,000 orang pada ceramah perdana mengenai isu-isu semasa di Dataran Kampung Paya, Batu Kurau dekat sini malam tadi.

Menurut Ibrahim, kejahatan Anwar, yang dahulunya ditatang 'bagai minyak penuh' semasa zaman pemerintahan Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad telah dihukum Allah SWT 'secara tunai' di dunia ini kerana sikapnya itu.

Kata beliau, selaku Ketua Pembangkang, Anwar sanggup menjanjikan 'bulan dan bintang' kepada Pas dan DAP tanpa memikirkan kepentingan dan nasib orang Melayu dan Islam.

"Sebab itu pemimpin DAP sanggup pijak gambar tiga wakil rakyat Bebas di Perak. Mereka pijak gambar orang Melayu dan Islam. Melayu dalam pembangkang jadi pengecut dan hanya diam bila DAP kurang ajar.

"Apabila DAP menghina institusi raja, menyamakan Islam dengan agama lain dan memperlekeh bahasa Melayu, Anwar hanya diam membisu, sampai sekarang tidak bersuara," katanya.

Pas pula menurut Ibrahim diibaratkan sudah sampai ke peringkat 'masuk wad gila' kerana kenyataan pemimpin-pemimpinnya yang mengarut terutama sekali Mursyidul Am, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat.

Katanya, Pas hanya dipergunakan oleh DAP dan PKR untuk memecahkan undi Melayu di negeri-negeri tertentu terutama sekali di Perak, Selangor dan Pulau Pinang hingga menang beberapa kerusi.

Jelas beliau, dominasi Pas di Kedah dan Kelantan tidak dikhuatiri kerana masih diperintah oleh Melayu Islam tetapi kehadiran Pas di negeri lain adalah amat bahaya.

"Walaupun Nizar (Datuk Seri Ir. Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin) jadi Menteri Besar Perak tetapi beliau hanyalah patung. Pemerintah Perak yang sebenar ialah DAP. Mereka marah sangat dan pijak gambar orang Melayu selepas kuasa mereka dirampas.

"Pas pula sibuk mendoakan kehancuran umat Islam lain. Kalau benar doa Tok Guru Pas berkat sudah tentu Kelantan sekarang negeri paling maju dan mungkin sudah ada sepuluh menara berkembar Petronas di sana," katanya.

Ibrahim menambah, kemenangan besar DAP dilihat hampir sama dengan kejayaan mereka semasa PRU 1969 walaupun pada masa itu pergerakan komunis telah dibubarkan selama enam bulan.

"Bagaimanapun perjuangan mereka tidak mati. Bekas penyokong komunis kini berada dalam pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO), parti politik, Dewan Undangan Negeri dan Dewan Rakyat.

"Sebab itu mereka begitu berani (nak) bawa Chin Peng balik. Apa tandanya itu? Masih tidak sedar lagikah rakyat Perak?" ujar beliau.

Katanya, walaupun bukan ahli UMNO dan hanya wakil rakyat Bebas, beliau menegaskan orang Melayu perlu kuat dan bersatu kembali di bawah payung UMNO dan Barisan Nasional (BN) demi kepentingan agama, bangsa dan negara.

"Orang Melayu dari dulu memang kalah dari segi ekonomi tetapi kuat dalam politik. Malangnya sekarang politik pun sudah mula kalah. Jadi jangan menyesal kalau Melayu terus hancur pada PRU Ke-13 akan datang," katanya.

---------------------------------



Gambar pemimpin DAP pula dipijak, dibakar

TAIPING 7 Dis. – Suasana di ceramah perdana di Dataran Kampung Paya, Batu Kurau dekat sini malam tadi kecoh seketika apabila orang ramai bertindak memijak dan membakar gambar lima pemimpin DAP.

Tindakan itu diambil sebagai tanda marah terhadap perbuatan pemimpin DAP memijak gambar tiga wakil rakyat Bebas di Perak baru-baru ini.

Presiden Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa), Datuk Ibrahim Ali yang menyampaikan ceramah pada majlis itu berkata, pihaknya menyokong tindakan tersebut sebagai amaran kepada DAP.



"Ada kalanya tindakan jahat perlu dibalas jahat. Kalau tidak pemimpin DAP tidak akan sedar.

"Dulu selepas pijak gambar wakil rakyat Bebas mereka beri alasan tak nampak, jadi sekarang kita pun boleh buat alasan sama. Kita pijak selepas itu minta maaf dan bagi alasan tak nampak juga,” katanya ketika ditemui pemberita selepas majlis tersebut.

Gambar-gambar pemimpin DAP yang dipijak dan dibakar itu ialah Lim Kit Siang; Pengerusi DAP Perak, Ngeh Koo Ham; bekas Speaker Perak, V. Sivakumar; Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang, Lim Guan Eng dan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri (ADUN) Tebing Tinggi, Ong Boon Teow.



Mengulas lanjut, Ibrahim berkata, pemimpin DAP sepatutnya tidak memulakan tindakan biadap sebegitu jika mahu dilayan dengan baik oleh masyarakat.

Jelas beliau, insiden lompat parti merupakan agenda Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim dalam usahanya mengambil alih tampuk pemerintahan negara selepas Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-12 lalu.

"Dulu semasa ADUN Bota, Datuk Nasaruddin Hashim lompat ke Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) tak ada pun orang Barisan Nasional (BN) pijak gambar dia.

"Jadi DAP patut pijak gambar Anwar kerana beliaulah yang menganjurkan perkara ini dan akhirnya jadi punca kepada insiden lompat parti ini,” ujar beliau.

Sumber: Utusan Malaysia 8hb Disember 2009

Isnin, 7 Disember 2009

Mengapa peruntukan MARA tidak cukup untuk tampung pelajar?

Ekoran tulisan kami sini berhubung anak Melayu dinafikan biasiswa yang mana ini adalah hak asasi anak-anak Bumiputera di bawah artikel 153 Perlembagaan Persekutuan, Menteri Kemajuan Luar Bandar dan Wilayah Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal memperakui peruntukan tidak cukup.

Laporan berikut:

Peruntukan Pinjaman Mara Belum Cukup Tampung Permohonan Pelajar - Shafie

KUALA LUMPUR, 3 Dis (Bernama) -- Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) belum dapat memenuhi semua permohonan pinjaman pelajaran ekoran kekurangan peruntukan.

Menteri Kemajuan Luar Bandar dan Wilayah Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal berkata sepanjang tahun ini, Mara hanya dapat memberikan pinjaman kepada 13,419 pelajar berbanding 19,457 permohonan yang memenuhi kelayakan.

"Pada 2008, seramai 37,846 orang menerima pinjaman berbanding jumlah pemohon yang layak iaitu 39,220 orang.

"Adalah diunjurkan pada 2010, Mara memerlukan sejumlah RM1.998 bilion bagi meneruskan usaha-usaha membiayai pinjaman pelajaran di dalam dan luar negara. Dijangka seramai 86,871 pelajar akan mendapat manfaat daripada program penganjuran pelajaran ini," katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian dalam jawapan bertulisnya kepada soalan Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) pada persidangan Dewan Rakyat hari ini. Lim mahu kementerian menyatakan kedudukan kewangan semasa yang terperinci bagi semua pinjaman Mara kepada pelajar yang diluluskan pada 2008 dan 2009 serta peruntukan untuk pinjaman seterusnya.

Mohd Shafie berkata pada tahun ini, Mara menaja 76,534 pelajar melibatkan 69,538 pelajar dalam negara dan 6,996 pelajar di luar negara membabitkan nilai pinjaman RM1.794 bilion.

Tahun 2008, katanya Mara telah memberi pinjaman pelajaran kepada 75,138 pelajar melibatkan 68,956 pelajar dalam negara dan 6,182 pelajar di luar negara.

"Jumlah kelulusan pinjaman adalah sebanyak RM1.451 bilion," katanya.
Ini mengesahkan tanggapan penulis bahawa kenyataan beberapa pemimpin termasuk Perdana Menteri mengatakan ada peruntukan tambahan untuk MARA cuba menutup realiti yang dihadapi anak-anak Bumiputera di bawah itu.

Mana boleh mencukupi jika semua pihak yang berada dan tidak berada mahukan baisiswa dan sekolah berasrama penuh MARA? Pastinya mereka yang ada "know who" dan pengaruh akan menggunakan kelebihan itu untuk mandapatkan kemudahn untuk keluarga, dan anak buah mereka mendahulu mereka yang tidak berkemampuan.

Jika kewangan tidak dapat memenuhi semua permohonan, sudah sampai masanya kerajaan menetapkan orang Melayu dari golongan kelas pendapatn menengah ke atas berhenti dari bergantung kepada kerajaan.

Polisi kerajaan yang condong kepada meritokrasi hanya akan menindas golongan pendapatan rendah dari peluang untuk memperbaiki nasib mereka kerana terpaksa bersaing dengan mereka yang lebih bernasib baik dan kemampuan kewangan.

Pemimpin yang laungkan rakyat didahulukan. Bila istilah disebut adalah rakyat, ianya jelas bermaksud membela rakyat rakyat marhaen? Adakah cara yang tidak ada jelas membantu rakyat marhaen? Sila fikirkan betul-betul untuk realisasi apa yang dislogankan.

Adakah kini anak Melayu dan Bumiputera bukan rakyat lagikah? Sudah lupakah mereka ini rakyat asal yang ditindas sejarah? Adakah hak mereka dalam Perlembagaan sudah tiada lagi?

Dalam kerajaan dikatakan konon dalam kedudukan kewangan yang serba kekurangan, kerajaan boleh utamakan biasiswa untuk semua bagi belajar ke Universiti elit luar negara yang berpuloh kali ganda lebih mahal dari peruntukan pelajar biasa? Ia dibuka pula kepada semua anak orang-orang berada yang punya kelebihan hidup untuk mendapat markah baik sama-sama menikmati biasiswa itu?

Dimana prioriti kerajaan? Pencapaian yang mereka mahu utamakan nampaknya caca marba hala tuju dan cara untuk mencapai.

Rabu, 2 Disember 2009

Surat seorang MP Melayu S'pura kepada PM S'pura

Dear Prime Minister

May you and family be in the best of health and blessings. If there is a way, can you ask local papers or media channels to stop from reporting or discussing the remarks made by MM Lee about Malaysian Chinese?

I say this coz comments published in Singapore (supporting MM’scomments) are made from a skewed angle and do not take into account the historical reasons. The comments so far are made by Chinese Singaporeans who do not really understand the issues. They also seem to suggest that similar problems do not exist in Singapore when, in fact, Singapore Malays in their own motherland, Singapore, are treated more dismally that Malaysian Chinese in the land of Malay Bumis.

Indeed, if this issue is to continue, then it is only fair to show that Chinese leaders in Singapore are doing greater injustice to Singapore Malays than Malay Malaysian leaders to Malaysian Chinese.

The Malaysian Chinese are not bumis in Malaysia yet they get nearly every thing:

a) Right to have Chinese vernacular education from preschool to university.
b) Right to retain their Chinese names [The Chinese in Indonesia and Thailand get nothing of that sort. Worse, they have to have Thai or Indonesian names]
c) Right to display Chinese names in Chinese characters in huge public adverts in buildings and public places
d) In development projects, they reap early profits as all projects require infrastructures and these materials are controlled by Malaysian Chinese
e) Voting strength by constituencies also show so many Chinese advantage.
It is good for us not to say that Malaysian Chinese are “marginalized”. If they want to talk about marginalization or injustices, it is better that they talk about Singapore Malays who, in their own motherland, are marginalized and subject to so many injustices:

1. Malay language has lost its stature in the State and industry
2. Chinese language has now become a universal precondition in employment
3. Malays are “cordoned off” in National Service. Many key security sites are out-of-bounds to Malays [Even Malay Ministers and MP’s are not allowed to enter such areas]
4. The Civil Defence takes in high proportion of Malays consideringthelower stature of CD and the higher death and injury risk in CD services
5. No Malays are holding key positions in government and statutory boards.
6. Malay MP’s are given sinecures. In fact Malays are deemed fit only to be Ministers in Sewerage, Drainage, Refuse, Welfare and Drugs matters
7. Promotions and postings in government and statutory boards also show the Singapore Chinese’ disdain towards Singapore Malays
8. Recent retrenchments also reflected that Singapore Malays “should go first”
9. Proportion of Singapore Malays who remained unemployed is high, notwithstanding good educational and vocational qualifications
10. Vast in-take of Chinese from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan into Singapore but strict control of Malays from Malaysia and Indonesia.
I hope your office would do something to stop this, or rectify the matter by giving the issue its proper balance.

I cc this note to BH Singapore and Malaysia.
I do not cc to Straits Times as they do not publish letters of this kind.
I cc to TODAY coz two strong letters were published in today’s TODAY edition.

Regards

Mansor Haji Sukaimi
Former Member of Parliament (1976-1984)


Dipetik dari blog Pemuda UMNO Nibong Tebal