Sajakkini

Sim Kwang Yang

Now that parliamentarians are going to be given a 10% increase in their remuneration, the role of our elected representatives has suddenly become media focus.

As one letter writer to malaysiakini puts it, he wants to get his money’s worth. He is a taxpayer who pays for the increase in MP allowance. As a towkay, whenever employees ask for a raise, he wants to know the justification for such a demand. For a start, he wants the parliamentary proceedings to be televised live, so at least the voters will know what goes on inside that august chamber sitting a stone’s throw away from Kuala Lumpur city centre.

This view of our legislators is a common one among Malaysians.

Perhaps, living and working in our capitalist market economy for so long has conditioned many citizens to consider every human relationship as that of a commercial exchange, including that between legislators and the electorate at large. (more…)

Josh Hong

I do at times wonder if I should blame the Malaysian authorities for their decades-long indoctrination exercise that has rendered some part of the Malaysian population unable to read and think out of the box. Still, I believe the Malaysian government - although it is not entirely unblemished - cannot be held responsible for some Malaysians who obstinately refuse to digest alternative views and opinions with an open mind.

Despite Chinese racism being a topic frequently raised among the Chinese in private, some Chinese Malaysians are still outraged by my audacity to wash the dirty linen in public not so long ago.

Similarly, so zealous are these people in defending the great socialist motherland, although they prefer to live comfortably outside of it, that they have overlooked my warning over the increasingly aggressive foreign policy of Japan, and chosen to tag me, conveniently, an antsy anti-Chinese when I disagree with them on the way the global Chinese community has been handling the most recent Sino-Japanese spat. (more…)

Hishamuddin Rais

Krisis diesel meruncing - Jawatankuasa khas bermesyuarat hari ini cari jalan atasi kemelut. Apa sudah jadi? Sistem kuota yang diperkenalkan mulai 1 Januari lalu untuk mengekang kegiatan penjualan diesel subsidi secara haram, kini mencetuskan masalah baru. Sistem itu telah mengakibatkan berlaku krisis bekalan diesel yang paling buruk dalam sejarah negara.

Di merata-rata tempat di seluruh negara, rakyat sedang gelisah. Minyak diesel yang digunakan untuk pengangkutan terutamanya, sudah tidak cukup.

Kesan paling teruk ialah di Sarawak sehingga menyebabkan persatuan lori tunggal mengancam untuk melancarkan mogok 2 Mei ini jika isu itu tidak selesai. Utusan Melayu - (April 28)

Almost nothing, however, is heard of the phenomenon of “peak oil”. According to conventional wisdom, we have plenty of oil left. The current high oil prices will come to an end, whereafter we will be able to look forward to a return to cheap oil, and continuing supplies of it well into the century. Ergo, our oil-addicted economies can remain healthy and continue to grow. We have plenty of time to develop alternatives to oil. No need for concern, much less panic.

Yet, according to increasingly vocal whistleblowers, oil is depleting fast, and the age of cheap oil will soon be over. Economies can’t function without cheap oil. We have no time to develop energy alternatives. Economic depression akin to that of the 1930s lurks around the corner. Independent - London (April 25) (more…)

“Remember when we were kids? Even at 20, we were more interested in making the grades at uni, making friends, travelling, than sex and drugs. At 15, we didn’t even know what sex was about. I hated boys then; they were noisy and stupid,” my sister, Liza, laughed ruefully.

My second sister and I came of age in the late 80s and 90s. Nora, being the youngest, is a 21st century baby, wise and very with-it, compared to her two decrepit sisters.

Like many of our peers, Liza and I grew up in a modern Malay household. Because of our East Coast roots, religion was, and still is a very important factor in our lives, but it wasn’t a hindrance to our lives when we were growing up. Going to a disco as it was called back then, was something you did after final examinations or to celebrate an occasion. It wasn’t a must to dance night after night in a disco, and back then, there weren’t club nights like how they have now with world-class DJs flying in and out of the country. (more…)

Lee Ban Chen

Kata yang bijaksana: Seseorang itu selalunya menghina dirinya terlebih dahulu sebelum dirinya dihinakan orang lain.

Apabila Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Nazri Aziz diminta memberi komen mengenai kontroversi yang ditimbulkan oleh sebuah artikel dalam NST tulisan Zainul Ariffin yang bertajuk “Our MPs are not ready for prime-time TV”, beliau berhujah:

“Anggota-anggota Parlimen hanya mengundang kritikan apabila membangkitkan perkara-perkara bodoh dan tidak relevan dalam persidangan Dewan. Kalau tiada isu jangan hentam sahaja. Lebih baik diam dan biar orang kata bodoh daripada kita bercakap dan orang sahkan kita bodoh.”

Hujah ini mirip dengan falsafah ‘menghina diri sebelum dihina orang’ seperti yang tersebut di atas, walaupun Nazri berkata, ia adalah ajaran ayahnya. Dan apabila didesak dalam Dewan Rakyat, beliau kemudian terpaksa mengaku bahawa semua ahli Parlimen adalah “bijak” belaka! (more…)

Salbiah Ahmad

Too much time had elapsed since my column, Let’s be civil about religion, for me to pick up where I left off there. There are also bits of arguments and analyses not covered in my last two columns and I am of two minds to pick these up as well.

But May, a friend, had recently called and that got me going again. She asked among other things, if the campaign on moral policing was also championed by the 100 or so Muslim ‘victims’ in the Jawi raid on Jan 20. We both laughed at the poser. I did not ask May why she laughed. My laughter was prompted by memories of our trial and error engagements with the public.

May’s query is part and parcel of a rule concerning agency. As activists, we share common induction courses. In several of these courses or sharing of experiences, locally and regionally, we learn to acknowledge, respect, build and support the agency of beneficiaries, the marginalised, the victims and the survivors. Beneficiaries are to be first empowered and consequently, as partners with activists, equally participate in mapping out the direction for change.

Thus our training in the field, the turun kepadang (going to the ground) experience, places much weight on consultation, public education or awareness-raising, only then mobilisation of the public including the victims/survivors in change for social transformation. (more…)

Aman Rais

Seorang wartawan kanan akhbar NST, Zainul Ariffin menjadi sasaran beberapa ahli Parlimen minggu lalu. Ini gara-gara tulisannya yang mengkritik ahli Parlimen kerana gagal berhujah dengan bernas di Dewan Rakyat. Rencana Zainul bertajuk “Our MP are not ready for prime time TV” telah dihentam kuat oleh Ketua Pembangkang, Lim Kit Siang dan tiga ahli Parlimen Barisan Nasional (BN).

Kit Siang menyifatkan tulisan Zainul yang mengatakan ahli Dewan Rakyat suka bercakap mengenai isu-isu bodoh, remeh-temeh, tidak relevan dan kurang membuat “homework” sebagai tidak adil dan menghina Parlimen. Beliau mahu wartawan itu dihadapkan ke Jawatankuasa Hak dan Keistimewaan Parlimen.

Nampaknya begitu mudah ahli-ahli Yang Berhormat (YB) kita melenting dan melatah apabila dijolok dengan kritikan yang mendedahkan kelemahan mereka. Bukan sahaja wakil rakyat BN yang terlalu “sensitif dan manja”, malah “orang tua” di Dewan Rakyat, iaitu Kit Siang, juga berperangai begitu. (more…)

Fathi Aris Omar : Tiada Noktah

The political processes of all nations are wider and deeper than the formal institutions designed to regulate them; some of the most critical decisions concerning the direction of public life [….] are made in the unformalized realms of what [Emile] Durkheim called ‘collective conscience’…. – Clifford Geertz, The interpretation of cultures (2000: 316)

Rumusan Geertz, ahli antropologi tersohor Amerika Syarikat, ini tidaklah baru. Gianbattista Vico, seorang pemikir Itali pada abad ke-19, pernah merungut: “homo non intelligendo fit omnia.” Maksudnya kira-kira, “manusia menjadi dirinya seperti hari ini tanpa memahami apa yang berlaku (yang telah membentuknya)”.

Demokrasi dan Islam, tidak terkecuali. Sama ada sekular atau agama, ideologi politik terjaring dalam satu himpunan faktor pengaruh yang cukup kompleks untuk dikenali kecuali dengan kesedaran, penelitian dan renungan yang mendalam. Kalau kita jujur, sejarah idea demokrasi dan Islam, dalam konteksnya di negara ini, haruslah disemak kembali agar kita tidak terserempak dengan ‘buaya di air yang tenang.’ (more…)

By all accounts, mine is a pretty safe life. Have never smoked, used to go to pubs for the music but have never drank, never done drugs except for what they’ve managed to hide in legalised medication. Been on rollercoasters once or twice but couldn’t figure out exactly how the adrenaline-thingy is supposed to be fun - if you have to practically put your life on the line to feel alive then what the hell is wrong with you?

Never had a one-night stand. Entering premature old age as I am, I’ve even come to consider recreational sex as being over-rated. Too much hassle for three minutes of pleasure, really. If it even gets to be that long.

I have discovered/invented other ways of having fun, but to the typical man they’d probably be about as exciting as putting on three condoms and a deepsea-diving suit when you’re with Monica Bellucci. My main cardinal sin is that I sleep too much. How much more boring can a person be? I’m so grey that if I stood next to a tombstone, drunks would ignore the grave markers and piss on me instead. (more…)

Sim Kwang Yang

From the fringe of our national consciousness, a news report on malaysiakini informs us that the natives of Sarawak are getting together in Miri on Labour Day, to discuss the 120 or so court cases they have brought against the government of Sarawak, in defense of their customary rights land.

There have been sporadic reports in the past on the same issue, without attracting much attention from the general readership. This current report will probably suffer the same fate of neglect.

To the ruling parties and their coteries of satellite media organizations, the matter of land rights for the natives of Sarawak and Sabah is bad news for their vision of good governance.

To them, the long-standing protests of the indigenous peoples of Sarawak against encroachment of their customary land by “development projects” is an unpleasant thorn-in-the-side of their official grand vision of macro-economic development. The vocal cord of this large chunk of our Malaysian population has been severed and silenced in our national narrative. (more…)

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad

Dina Zaman has been pestering me to write something on Islam for Rentakini for quite some time. She wanted to have a different perspective. For various reasons I have postponed her request. For one, I can only speak as far as an interested observer, who had undergone secular education throughout my life. I do not want to be pulled into specific issues of which I do not have knowledge of. Furthermore, controversies have erupted over a whole array of issues related to Islam which has polarised the debate.

In her last e-mail she provided me with the opportunity to take a different perspective vis-à-vis Islam: about a Malaysian Muslim (or as some prefer, Malay Muslim) student in the United Kingdom, on the eve of coming home.

What are things I cherish more back home? (more…)

Lee Ban Chen

Mengikut yang empunya cerita, Raja rimba (Sang singa) yang terlalu tua dan uzur hanya mampu menangkap seekor anak kambing hitam yang sedang minum air dari sebatang sungai, dan hendak dijadikan makanannya. Maka berlakulah dialog berikut:

Anak kambing hitam: Ampun beribu-ribu ampun Tuanku, patik hanya minum air dari sungai, kenapa patik patut dihukum mati?

Raja rimba: Kerana engkau sudah mengotori air minuman beta.

Anak kambing hitam: Tetapi patik minum di hilir sungai, tak mungkin mengotori air minuman Tuanku di hulu sungai!

Raja rimba: Jika begitu, kerana anak beta dimakan ayah kau. (more…)

Aman Rais

Perkataan yang “in” ketika ini ialah “rebranding”. Makna mudahnya dalam bahasa Melayu ialah “penjenamaan semula”. Sedap bunyinya, ramai orang suka menyebutnya. Pak menteri, tokoh politik, tokoh korporat hingga kepada orang kampung dan kanak-kanak sekolah menyebutnya ketika ini.

Semua orang hendak buat penjenamaan semula. Untuk menonjolkan imej baru, meningkatkan keberkesanan kerja dan operasi serta menambahbaikkan produk. Terima kasih kepada Menteri Penerangan, Datuk Seri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir kerana mempopularkan istilah ini sejak menerajui kementerian berkenaaan lebih setahun lalu.

Beliau nampaknya bersungguh-sungguh mahu mengubah RTM. Mahu menjadikannya badan penyiaran berwibawa. Sejak Kadir masuk, logo RTM diubah wajah, para pembaca berita yang jelita dibawa masuk dan beberapa program baru diperkenalkan. (more…)

Fathi Aris Omar : Tiada Noktah

Soal ‘padang tidak sama rata’ dan hubungannya dengan PAS, harap janganlah mengulang-ulang hujah sedemikian dengan saya. Tulisan seseorang yang memperkenalkan dirinya sebagai ‘Ahli PAS Bangsar’ (APB) dalam suratnya ‘Tulisan Fathi Dijawab’ (Malaysiakini.com, 14 April 2005) dirujuk.

Selain muak, saya telah berkali-kali menulis di kolum ini dan beberapa penerbitan lain sejak bertahun-tahun yang lalu. Saya sendiri tidak faham kenapa parti Islam ini, dan rakan-rakannya dalam Barisan Alternatif, ‘tidak serius’ dengan persoalan ini – usaha-usaha membesarkan ruang demokrasi tetapi tanpa sepenuhnya disedari, mereka turut menganut nilai-nilai dan amalan – amalan tidak demokratik.
Malah, saya sendiri bingung kenapa PAS (atau aktivis Islam) sendiri menghayati budaya buruk tidak demokratik itu, ingin menyekat orang lain daripada bersuara. Sedangkan tidakkah pada asalnya mereka turut menentang realiti buruk ‘padang permainan yang tidak sama rata’ itu?

Misalnya, kenapa susah bagi mereka menulis jawapan, atau memberi penjelasan, dengan tenaga dukungan hampir 500,000 ahli dan penyokong di serata negara? Sudah terlalu sering saya bersuara di sini sehingga tidak wajarlah saya mengulang-ulangkan lagi hal ini di sini. (more…)

4.30 on a Friday afternoon. I’m supposed to be working on the artwork for an upcoming exhibition to be held soon but I find myself discovering increasingly innovative ways to procrastinate. It doesn’t help that I am sitting in my glorious home in the middle of a balmy afternoon when everyone else is hunched over their keyboards in the office, busily working and trying to ignore e-mails like this.

How much would you pay for this kind of freedom? In my case, it’s costing about two-thirds of my last-drawn salary. I’d be happier with half, but it’s only been six months. So give me another year before you start proposing to me, yeah. Unless you don’t mind your (I mean, our future) children going to school wrapped in old pieces of carpet and eating the tupperware in which their bekal (rations) is supposed to come in every now and then.

A friend of mine who has been freelancing for the past six years and consequently has a conjugal relationship with maggi mee thinks this is the kind of life humans are meant to lead. I agree with him in that the 9 to 5 routine is sometimes unnecessary, but in terms of it being artificial, I’d now have to wonder. The Quran plainly states that God created the day for working and the night for remembrance, so spending half your life in an office must be how it’s meant to be. (more…)

Sim Kwang Yang

So now, it’s official. The government will take action against malaysiakini for their April Fool’s prank because they “tell lies”, according to the ominous announcement by one junior minister in Parliament recently.

By now my friends involved in this Internet publication should be running desperately for cover. The reporter and the editor responsible for this allegedly heinous crime should now be packing their toothbrushes, and saying goodbye to their loved ones, anticipating an uncertain period of incarceration under any one of our many laws tailored for the purpose of fixing irreverent journalists. Meanwhile, subscribers to malaysiakini shiver in their boots; will their identity be uncovered in this witch-hunt of a dragnet?

Of course, the scene at the new malaysiakini office will be one of hysteria and chaos, as their skeleton staff members race against time to pack away their precious computers and servers. Another raid, another confiscation by the you-know-who, and they can kiss their costly equipment goodbye.

The whole affair sounds like a page taken out of a typical novel by Franz Kafka. (Some budding writer in Malaysia should really write a novel of the absurd with malaysiakini people as their anti-hero.) On the other hand, another writer with the mental bend of a Dostoevsky may give the story a darker nihilistic tone on the inevitability and inaneness of evil working in the world. There would be great confusion about where the evil lies. (more…)

Josh Hong

Amidst the flurry of anti-Japanese protests across China over Japan’s new history text books that gloss over the nation’s militarist past in recent days, a friend of mine asked, ‘Would any nation be forthright in telling the world about its darkest past?’

‘Fat chance.’ I said without a second thought.

The latest effort by Tokyo to whitewash the war crimes of the Imperial Army against much of Asia is indeed deplorable and despicable. With many of the victim countries still reeling from one of the most savage wars waged by an Asian nation against its neighbours, the recalcitrance of the Koizumi government - from the controversial visits to the Yasukuni Shrine to the revision of history – will only make Japan’s path to become a normal country strewn with greater distrusts and perils. (more…)

Daniyal Yusof is good-looking, works for an IT consultancy and is divorced with four children. He is on a spiritual mission: to find himself through religion. It is through religion that he is able to save himself and protect himself from worldly temptations and sins.

When I first met him, he was hell-bent on redeeming himself and absolving himself of his past wrongdoings. He has been attending religious classes somewhere in Sri Damansara, and applying all the teachings into his life. He goes to work in a somnambulistic state - every night he recites Surah Al-Ikhlas 3,000 times. It is his only way of coping with loneliness and the unbearable silence that reverberates in his small flat.

“I lost so much,” he says softly. He has lost his family, house, car and high-paying job as a consultant for a multi-national. Just as he was picking up the pieces, he met someone and fell in love deeply. When it ended, it devastated him.

“My marriage was a practical one. I had everything except a wife. She was a friend, we knew and liked each other, got married and then everything went downhill. Divorced, lost everything except the clothes on my back, and then…” he faltered, “… I met her…” (more…)

Lee Ban Chen

The Second Malay Education Congress organised by the Malay Education and Development Organisations was held on March 26-27, 2005 in Kuala Lumpur. During the congress it was revealed that half a million of the Malay students might drop out if the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics is to continue.

Hence, the plenary session of the congress has unanimously adopted a resolution urging the government to cease implementing the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English, and the Malay language should be reinstated as a medium of instruction for all subjects, including in universities.

The impact of the astonishing revelation - half a million dropouts - and the firm resolution of the congress is so great that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi subsequently promised to review the policy. (more…)

Aman Rais

Minggu lalu, seorang tokoh muda Umno, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim “merajuk”. Beliau kecewa setelah didapati bersalah oleh lembaga disiplin parti kerana melakukan rasuah politik pada pemilihan bahagian tahun lalu.

Lantas peguam tersohor itu menimbangkan untuk mengundurkan diri dari politik dan menumpukan perhatian pada perniagaannya sahaja.

Ketua Umno bahagian Kota Bharu itu merasakan dirinya dianiaya oleh pihak tertentu. Beliau pelik bagaimana lembaga disiplin boleh mendapatinya bersalah sedangkan tiada bukti-bukti kukuh dia melakukan kesalahan yang didakwa.

Zaid didakwa melanggar tata ektika 2.2 kerana terbabit dengan ejen ketika pemilihan bahagian berlangsung. Lalu beliau diberikan amaran. (more…)

In the doldrums of mid-Sunday afternoons I would sit and gaze out over my balcony at the world beneath my feet, munching on buttered toast laced with blueberry jam, sipping on Japanese mocha (freeze-dried and instant, maybe, but handcrafted, ma’am; read the label and see). And then, upon finishing, I’d feed my ants.

It’s easy - I just leave my plate out overnight. By next morning it would have been stripped empty of crumbs, leaving the china pristine and white. This always give me great pleasure, knowing that my subjects have been well-fed for yet another week of mischief and leisure.

I am a benevolent dictator. A tyrant most kind, I give them the space to roam about, but other than that they have no say. Like every good genial monarch, I look upon them with condescending affection. Every morning I check my dry bathroom sink before I fill the basin with water lest I accidentally drown someone down it (and to his family that would surely be a bother). I tread carefully wherever I go for, like Solomon, I constantly hear their distress over children being trampled beneath the feet of yet another arrogant regress. (more…)

Fathi Aris Omar : Tiada Noktah

Ketua Pemuda PAS menggesa kerajaan mengambil tindakan undang-undang ke atas 50 badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) dan lebih 200 individu yang mengirim memorandum agar persoalan ‘moral’ (maksudnya di sini, dari perspektif mereka) dipisahkan daripada pentadbiran negara.

“Jika kerajaan boleh menggunakan (akta) ISA ke atas ahli politik, Al-Arqam, Kumpulan Militan Malaysia (KMM) atas alasan keselamatan negara, maka kerajaan juga boleh menggunakan tindakan undang-undang ke atas kumpulan 50 NGO ini,” Salahuddin Ayub dilaporkan berkata (Harakahdaily.net, 7 April).

Beliau juga dilaporkan mendesak dengan tegas agar kerajaan menyiasat dan mendakwa badan-badan bukan kerajaan itu di mahkamah berikutan “tindakan liar mereka yang jelas telah mengancam keselamatan negara”.

Bagi Salahuddin, 50 NGO dan lebih 200 individu itu menyebarkan “pemikiran yang berbahaya kepada akidah dan keselamatan negara”! (more…)

Sim Kwang Yang

If a mother-tongue is the language one learns first from one’s mother in infancy, then my mother tongue is Teochew, a Chinese dialect that has its home in about 12 districts in the Southern Chinese province of Kwang Tung.

Teochew is a colourful language, especially when it comes to cursing and swearing. My late father could, when he was irritated by someone, deliver an eloquent torrent of obscenities at the object of contempt in his native tongue.

Fortunately, Teochew is also a refined dialect. I have watched old timers reading ancient poetry or play scripts aloud in sing-song Teochew. The dialogue and the lyrics in the famous Teochew opera are fit for any emperor’s royal court. Reading the Chinese script in my mother tongue is one skill that has eluded me all my life.

In Malaysia, in the early days, the Teochew speaking Chinese were mostly operators of sundry shops and traders in primary commodities. That seemed to be what they did best in Southeast Asia, notably in Thailand and Vietnam, where they dominate the Chinese migrant community. (more…)

Salbiah Ahmad

Islah (reform) as sulh signifies peaceful action which leads to reconciliation and accord. Sulh is sometimes rendered as consensus, a democratic precept by any other name.

If we are guided by sulh in all the critical questions that affect our Malaysian society, then we should be prepared to listen to the multiplicity of voices of our entire population. The more important consideration of sulh to my mind is the assurance that the negotiation process or debate is fair, open and fully inclusive of all segments of the population.

Abdulaziz Sachedina in his spiritually-affirming thesis The Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism, (2001) proposes that Muslims identify with the growth of a religious consciousness that points beyond particular religious traditions to embrace pluralism. (more…)

Salbiah Ahmad

One of the more important outcomes to the Inter-Faith Commission conference (IFC) and the Jan 20 Jawi (Federal Territory Religious Department) raid is the rise of civil society voices. Another significant point which is worth noting is the restraint of the use of accusations of blasphemy, unbelief or of insulting Islam by civil society groups including the ulama (religious scholars) associations.

Most activists, writers and human rights defenders clearly remember when these unfortunate accusations used to inundate engagements and kill the public discourse. The discourse by civil society actors, to my mind has spiraled with new actors and arguments have become more sophisticated or least more argumentative.

Sim Kwang Yang, a fellow columnist is right, we have malaysiakini to thank, for fair reporting of views and exchanges.

Reform may sometimes be seen and taken to mean opposition, but reform is also a multiplicity of ideas which complicates the debate. It is this multiplicity and complication which interest me. (more…)

My short sojourn as a location manager for the Malaysian segment of a regional documentary was quite a reflective experience. I had expected it to be hectic, but I did not expect my trip have me question my role, my individuality as a Muslim. March 18, 2005 was also a momentous day for me (personally) and that kicked off the trip.

Mitra Media Komunika was an Indonesian production house, and Yuli Yismartono, an editor at Tempo magazine, had contacted me, asking if I wanted to be part of the team that was travelling around the region to film Muslims in Southeast Asia.

The documentary would investigate five countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, The Philippines and finally Indonesia. ‘Living Faith’ (the working title for now) is an exploration of Muslims at work, play and home, questioning themselves as Muslims. Malaysia was the second leg of the shoot.

To say that both the crew and I had multiple discourses on religion and Southeast Asia would not be true: we were too tired from all the running around, and trying not to kill the hired drivers that drove us to all our engagements. Apart from this little incident that demonstrated our language differences, it was all work: (more…)

Lee Ban Chen

Dalam Kongres Pendidikan Melayu Kedua (KPM2) anjuran Persekutuan Badan Pendidikan dan Pembangunan Melayu (PBPPM) pada 26 dan 27 Mac 2005 di Kuala Lumpur, didedahkan bahawa setengah juta pelajar Melayu akan tercicir jika program pengajaran dan pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI) diteruskan.

Justeru itu, sidang pleno kongres tersebut, sebulat suara meminta supaya kerajaan menghentikan pelaksanaan PPSMI dan kembali menggunakan bahasa Melayu sebagai bahasa pengantar untuk semua subjek, termasuk di universiti.

Pendedahan menggemparkan itu dan rumusan tegas KPM2 meminta dihentikan pelaksanaan PPSMI, memberi impak yang begitu besar sekali sehingga Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi bersetuju untuk mengkaji semula program tersebut. (more…)

Fathi Aris Omar : Tiada Noktah

Ketika seorang penulis ingin mengupas satu isu Islam, tidak lama dulu, Farish A Noor dan saya dihubungi melalui e-mel. Dia ingin bertanya beberapa hal agar menjadi lebih jelas. Berhati-hati sekali penulis bukan Islam itu cuba ‘mencampuri urusan’ yang dianggap berhubungan dengan orang Islam.

Walaupun kami tidak berdiskusi lanjut, tetapi Farish dan saya sepakat bahawa bukan Islam harus lebih yakin, berani dan aktif mengupas isu-isu orang Islam dalam konteks demokrasi. Sikap yang terlalu berhati-hati (psikologi) dianggap tidak sihat, pada hemat saya, walau sikap teliti dalam mengkaji, berfikir dan berhujah itu dalam semua bidang (bukan hanya agama) sentiasa mustahak.

Masyarakat bukan Islam ada ‘suara’ dan ‘hak’ dalam kehidupan bersama dengan orang Islam. Interaksi ini sama sahaja seperti berjual beli di pasar atau minum di restoran, kenapa pula harus dipisah-pisahkan antara Islam atau bukan Islam? Bezanya, sesuatu tulisan atau pandangan itu bersifat komunikasi akliah dan ideologi, bukan hanya interaksi antara peribadi atau fizikal.

Tidak ada salahnya orang bukan Islam mengupas atau menunjukkan sikapnya dalam urusan kehidupan orang Islam. Soal kejahilan atau salah faham mereka terhadap Islam tidak timbul. Yang penting dia menyatakan pandangannya dengan rasional dan matang, maksudnya bukan dengan sengaja bertujuan menghina atau memprovokasi ketegangan (fizik). (more…)

I live somewhere near Kampung Kerinci, I told him. He’d been so curious to know where I go home to at the end of each night. Oh, he said, your own place? Yes, I said. You live alone? Yes, I said. Wow, he said, so you can walk around naked in your apartment then, huh?

And this was a straight Melayu guy.

You know, I don’t get it. That’s the third guy - three of them in six months - who’s said the same thing. I kid you not - they were, at best, only half joking. (Actually, it would be even more damning if they really were joking: you know what they say about jesting and the truth.)

It’s enough to make me wonder: what the hell is it with Malay guys and this fantasy of walking around starkers in the privacy of their homes, anyway? What is going on?
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Sim Kwang Yang

The debate on the issue of language vis-a-vis our nation’s education policy continues. That could be a good sign; it does indicate that some people are beginning to examine critically some of the most entrenched ideas on the fundamental principles of our social contract.

One consensus that seems to have emerged from this discussion on malaysiakini is that the quality of education offered by our Malaysian national school system is deeply flawed.

Of course Chinese and Indian parents send their children to vernacular schools for other more deeply rooted motives, and not merely because the vernacular schools offer better education. ( I myself have some reservations about the quality of education in the Chinese schools as well, but that is beside the point.) Nevertheless, the philosophy behind formal education within the ambit of officialdom has doubtless outlived its relevance and usefulness, and ought to be overhauled inside out and upside down. We need an education reform now like a man on the desert needs water. (more…)