I just cannot believe that some high level politicians can be so inward looking. And I am referring to the Deputy Education Minister when he said that “the government would spend RM5 billion in its effort to improve the teaching and learning of English in schools”, and in the next breath he says that “ the government would save RM40 million a year from 2012 when the teaching of Mathematics and Science is carried out in Bahasa Malaysia”. What sort of an argument is this, coming from a supposedly learned Deputy Minister.
Can someone notice the contradiction in the two statements above? On the one hand the government would spends RM5 billion (note the amount), and on the other hand the government would save RM40 million (million and not billion). Do we see any sense and logic in the Deputy Minister's statement? Please compare the amount spend against the amount saved. What do we get in the end; a huge drain in government spending against a meagre saving, just to improve the proficiency of English in schools.
Why can't that RM5 billion (if indeed the government has the funds) be used to continue the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English, and at the same time to continue improving the proficiency of English in teachers? What we will achieve in the end are students and teachers that will be proficient in English. Isn't this what our education system wants to achieve.........students and teachers that are English proficient?
And looking at the comments and responses received from the general public over this issue, a large majority is against the abolition of English in Mathematics and Science in schools. There was one particular blogger who even vowed that he and his wife will not vote for the BN in the next general elections because of the failure of the government to seek the views of parents first. And even our former PM Tun Dr. Mahathir is against the abolition of English, and the early results of the survey in his blog indicates a high disapproval rating of the government decision.
What does all this mean? To the ordinary people, it shows that the decision of the government is one that appears not to have taken the peoples views into account. I now tend to believe that even the teachers and academicians may not have been consulted. Any discussions may have been within the walls of the Education Ministry only, and for the government to say that its decision is one that is good for the future of our children, and the nation is a blatant lie.
There goes the 1 Malaysia slogan.........Rakyat di dahulukan, pencapaian di utamakan. I hope this slogan is correct.
CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION
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11 comments:
I am dillusioned and very dissapointed with Najib and Muhyiddin for cancelling the PPSMI, the protest is starting, maybe its a small wave now but soon it will be a tsunami afer the Parents and Teachers and students find out that the teaching of Maths and Science in Malay, Mandarin and Tamil will start from Standard one all the way to Standard five. After that it will switch to English for form 6 and University levels.
Dr Mahathir needs to knock some sense into Najib as he is really in need of good wholesome advise. Please refer also to this link which is an insight into the difference between Dr Mahathir's and many parents understanding of PPSMI and Najib's understanding of the PPSMI :
http://sensecredaccountability.blogspot.com/2009/07/patutle-ppsmi-dimansuhkan-ds-najib-pun.html
TQ.
This country WILL never have a consistant and successful education
policy as long as politicians and political parties ride on it to get support in elections!
Everytime a new education minister takes over the job he would announce education policy changes within 100 days to appear "smarter"
and of course, to counter the opposition party. In the case of Muhyiddin Yassin, he has made it and it is done before Manek Urai by-election!
BN is now successful in countering the PKR, Anwar Ibrahim and the
"champions" of Bahasa Malaysia
but our children in schools are going to suffer.
Countries with consistant education policies have sent their men and women to space and the moon. After more than 50 years of independence, we are still
discussing about education policy and arguing what language to be used in schools. It does not make sense!
The MAF does not need English to make it a credible deterrent in national defence.
There are many examples of nations not proficient in English and yet succeeded in creating a formidable military force, such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.
Their examples show that at the end of the day what matters are good leadership, correct strategy and training, workable equipment and weapon system, hardy troops, efficient logistics and well-proven mobilization plan of the citizens are the main prerequisite to military success.
If the members of the MAF can read/understand/write/speak proper English it stands to gain better in the fields of science and technology!
Military officers and men now serve at international UN peacekeeping missions world wide, and English is the spoken language most of the time!
Do we want our men in uniform to just shut up and not talk?
Otherwise, we need to translate all literature and military subjects into BAHASA MELAYU!
Have we got the time/experts/money?
Please Maurice care to justify your statement, thanks!
Dear Komando,
Suggest leave the field of science and technology to the civilian scientists and technologists.
The task of the MAF is to keep the peace, ie prevent the outbreak of war with neighbourng states.We do this by creating a 'credible' military force that our neighbours would think twice before attacking us. For if we have that that 'credible' military force, we can give them their own medicine should they want to be funny with us.
How to build that 'credible' military force? The answers would be: national cause (the reasons for defending our country), excellent military leadership at all levels from Junior Ranks to Generals, correct military structure, correct war fighting strategy, suitable/effective weapon system,intensive training especially in night operations, good logistic support, fully fit fighting soldiers and effective General Mobilization Plan (the rakyat will be mobilized to support the Armed Forces in times of crisis).
If we can show that we have all the above capabilities, then we can claim that have reached the threshold of 'credible' military force.The MAF then will be successful to keep the peace (prevent the outbreak of war with our neighbours.They will be frightened to attack us for they know they will get a severe beating from us).
As you can see it has nothing to do with the mastering of the English language.If the Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese can do it in their native language, why can't we?
Dear Maurice, ask the senior officers of each service and t then tell me the officers corp is okay!
They are fighting an uphill battle to select officers with good enough credentials to attend overseas courses!
The potential officers have failed the English test from day one, can't that be a good reason enough to say our system is hay wire?
You should know well enough the Armed Forces of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand,UK requires its course participants to communicate in ENGLISH!
IF THEY HAVE FAILED TO PASS THIS TEST WHERE ARE WE HEADING TO?
PLEASE HELP THE MAF SOLVE THIS PROBLEM NOW!
Dear Komando,
Please do not be misled that overseas courses will contribute towards the building-up of that 'credible' military force that I mentioned earlier.Actually it can retard the development of ingenious fighting doctrine for the MAF.Why? These officers when they return to Malaysia will try to promote the war fighting doctrines they have learned from the overseas institutions they went to.So you will have too many ideas that eventually will spoil the soup.
I believe the MAF is capable of formulating our own indeginous doctrines in Bahasa Malaysia.No need to borrow other people's doctrine, adjust here and there and claim it to be ours.It would be more effective to have our own indeginous doctrines as the MAF know how to defend every inch of our territory.
Look, the Japanese Imperial Army developed their own military doctrine and tactics when they invaded Malaya.They developed new tactics such as 'fish bone' tactics, attack from the rear, use small tanks to maintain the momentum of the advance, use bicycle for Infantry mobility, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Division moving with the frontline troops to be in touch with the latest battle situation etc.Likewise we need to be creative to make good use of our existing resources to good effect in our local terrain.Bahasa Malaysia can be used as the language of military knowledge for sure.
By the way, officers attending courses in China, Russia, Thailand, Korea, Japan, France and Gremany need to master their respective national language and not English!
Precisely said, thanks! If our soldiers and men can acquire another language isn't that a bonus? So why chop English? Cant really see what you are really getting at!
That means staff college and defence college must revert to BM only?
MY goodness...what a way to go !
How are we going forward then, if anything comes out in the latest military news and technologies let those poor souls "TIDAK FAHAM AT ALL LAH!
Maurice it is a lost cause, you are a bright officer I believe, don't kill the next generation of men in uniforms please I beg of YOU!
THE OFFICER CORP IS SADDEN BY THIS, MOVING BACKWARDS MENTALITY !
YOUR COMMAND OF LANGUAGE IS GOOD, LET OTHERS HAVE THAT CHANCE TOO!
WE OWE IT TO THEM, OTHERWISE ALL EXERCISES AND JOINT TRAINING WILL BE A BURDEN TO MEN IN UNIFORMS, ANY WHEN THEY ARE DEPLOYED FOR ANY UN MISSIONS....? SPEAK MALAY ONLY OR EACH GUY MUST HAVE AN INTERPRETER TAGGING ON?
NOTHING MORE TO SAY TO SAY, I REST MY CASE.
"AGI IDUP AGI NGELABAN"
Dear Komando,
Thank you for the input.
I would like to continue to offer my sincere opinion on the matter.Hope you are not offended.
Please do not worry too much about UN mission and exercises with other countries.Actually studies by foreign military experts have shown that involvement in UN mission can actually affect the fighting capability of any armed forces.Why?The job you are doing in UN operations are not actually military type combat jobs.Rather most of the jobs are related to peace-keeping duties, such as handling with tact the various opposing groups involved in a particular conflict, protecting and assisting the local population, providing military escorts to humanitarian assistance organizations etc.Therefore the experience gained in UN missions by our troops are not at all relevent to making the MAF a fighting machine for the defence of Malaysia.
We require totally different military skills from our officers and men to defend Malaysia.Not peace-keeping skills but military combat type skills.
Mindef should make in-depth study about our involvement in UN peace-keeping operations thus far.Need to find out the positives vs the negatives for the sake of our national military interest which is to maintain a credible mililtary force at all times here in our own national territory.
Dear Komando,
To continue our discourse, please also do not worry about our troops doing exercises with other countries.Actually the exercise is just one form of military diplomacy.Not serious activity really taking place in the exercise to improve our fighting ability.Each participating country will try to impress their counterparts with their military deterrent capability in order to disssuade us from any kind of military misadventurisms against their country.
Our military capability as argued before has nothing to with the English language.The English language issue in the military is just another red herring to mislead our decision makers.
I am yet to be convinced on your line of argument on learning and doing English. You for one demanded we follow British Army traditions!
If the whole country believes in YOU we are all doomed, there won't be any Malaysians left around to write, speak & read any useful materials and information in English, when YOU & I call it a day !
What more to be able to write and transmit effectively in the very near future!
All this country has is Malay magazines, movies, songs, MSM, sign boards - can you imagine this happening?
ALL LEARNING LITERATURE NEEDS TO BE TRANSLATED INTO BAHASA MALAYSIA, CAN'T IMAGINE THAT HAPPENING...WHAT IS THE TIME FRAME, WHAT IS THE COST INVOLVE AND ARE THERE RELIABLE AND CAPABLE PERSONS TO DO IT?
THE MAGNITUDE IS SO VERY SCARY, MAURICE !!!!!
By the way, do you and your children communicate only in BM? NO ENGLISH NO CHINESE?
I really wonder, or maybe a bit of it only....?
SO WHERE ARE WE GOING IF NOT BACKWARDS ???
PROOF ME WRONG!
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