Improve Our Schools, Not Tinker With Examinations

Improve Our Schools, Not Tinker With Examinations
M. Bakri Musa

In about two weeks nearly half a million Malaysian school children will be sitting for their UPSR, the national examination taken at the end of Year Six. Today there is raging debate on abolishing this as well as the PMR (taken at Year Nine) examination. A decision is expected within weeks. There is however, minimal discussion on the timing of these examinations, administered as they are so early in the school year.

This year UPSR will be on September 20th, with PMR two weeks later. From then till the year-end holidays in late November, there will be no effective teaching or learning at these schools. With the examinations out of the way, the entire school – students and staff – will already be in holiday mode. The staff will effectively be makan gaji buta (paid but not working).

Come January when these students begin their classes, they would have already suffered through considerable attrition in their learning skills as a result of the three-month hiatus. The first few weeks if not months would be diverted to re-learning lessons of the preceding grade.

The problem only gets worse when they sit for their SPM examination (at Year 11). Although that is held in mid November, the results would not be out till late March. Visit Malaysia at the end and at the first half of the year and you will see thousands of these young boys and girls loitering. Query them and the typical answer would be, “Waiting for exam results!”

The next public option for those wishing to continue their formal schooling would be either matrikulasi or Sixth Form. Both however would not start till June.

When they were sitting for their UPSR and PMR, these students wasted away only three months; with SPM they would be fritting away over half a year, a substantial period in a young student’s life.

This terrible wastage of time escapes the attention of policymakers. They should be addressing this more pertinent and pressing issue instead of the non-productive controversy over abolishing UPSR and PMR.

Better Timing of Examinations

I fail to see why UPSR and PMR have to be set so early in the third term. Delaying it to mid or even late November would greatly extend the students’ instructional time by at least a couple of months.

Similarly I cannot comprehend why the Examination Syndicate takes such an inordinately long time to process the SPM examination. The Syndicate should ban its staff from taking holidays from October till the results are out so it could devote fully to processing the examination. Additionally we could reduce the number of subjects tested to a few core ones like language, science and mathematics. As for the rest, rely on the teachers’ assessments.

Even with the core subjects, have the final examination contribute only about 60-70 percent to the total score, with the rest made up of the student’s year-round work. With modern statistical techniques we should be able to reduce inter-school variations in teachers’ assessments.

After Form Five I see no reason why students could not proceed directly to matrikulasi or Sixth Form come the following January. In the 1960s there was a special entrance examination whose only function was to select students into Sixth Form. Alternatively, use the SPM trial examination as the basis for selection. That would certainly give the examination some clout! An even better proposal would be to make Form Six an integral part of secondary schooling, with everyone expected to continue on.

Keeping these young folks with raging hormones (as those Fifth Formers are) not occupied for over six months only invites trouble. Idleness is the root of mischief; we ignore that at our peril. That is quite apart from the learning attrition that inevitably occurs during the long hiatus.

Rich parents of course have wider options for their children, like enrolling them in the many excellent private pre-university programs. Those are expensive, beyond the reach of the poor. In the context of race-conscious Malaysia, this means Malay and Indian children.

By June when Sixth Form and the other public pre-university programs begin, those children of the rich who are accepted there would have a head start since they had spent the past six months in private pre-university programs. That gives them a substantial advantage in what typically is a one-to-two-year program.

I recently met a group of students enrolled in such a program, this one meant to prepare them for American universities. There was an incentive put into it whereby if the students were to perform well in the first six months, they would be sent abroad earlier.

Guess what? Of the students who excelled and thus sent abroad earlier, the vast majority were non-Malays. Those poor Malay students left behind were confounded. In the poisonous sociopolitical landscape where race considerations are never far from the surface, those poor Malay students not unnaturally felt their acute sense of deficiency, feeding the already ugly stereotype they have of themselves.

However, when I asked them what they were doing in the interim between sitting for their SPM and enrolling in the program, to a person they all replied that they did nothing! They idled the time away while waiting for their results. In contrast, those non-Malay students who did well were already ahead of them at the time of enrolment as they had been in private pre-university classes while waiting for their SPM results.

Interestingly, of the Malaysians who are privileged to attend elite American universities, few are from matrikulasi or Sixth Form. Instead they come from the many private pre-university programs in Malaysia. That is an indictment of our national education system, specifically post-Form Five.

Malay College IB Program

Malay College (MC) is embarking on its IB program next June, after about ten years in the planning. This is certainly long awaited and much needed. Up till now MC is nothing but a glorified middle school; its students have to go elsewhere to prepare for university.

The program will take in only MC students; presumably there will be enough to fill the class. Back in the 1950s and 60s MC had difficulty filling its Sixth Form, and the program was frequently threatened with closure if not for the many Malay students from other schools to fill the vacancies.

Those potential IB students will sit for their SPM this November and then return home to wait for the results. Come June next year, based on their SPM results, they will return to begin their IB class.

IB is radically different to what these students are used to. For one, it is English-medium while MC, like all national schools, is Malay-medium. Those students will thus encounter significant language and other adjustments.

As such I would have expected the policymakers to have planned a suitable “Pre-IB” program to prepare those students. What better time to do that than in the six-month hiatus while waiting for the SPM results! At the very least these students should have intensive English immersion classes.

Without such careful preparation, those first batch of IB students risk not being successful. Were that to happen, then those otherwise bright and promising students would forever suffer the blight of being tagged a failure, and perpetually carry the stigma of the presumed inadequacies of their race.

Public pressure would then arise and the authorities would be tempted to terminate the program. That would be a monumental tragedy not only for those students but also for MC and Malays. Thus far there is little concern among college and ministry officials in avoiding this possible disaster. Based on past experience, this lack of concern is unjustified.

Our education minister and policymakers should not distract themselves with such non-productive issues as scrapping the UPSR and PMR. They should instead focus on making 13 years of schooling as the new norm for our children, as they do in Germany. We should make Form Six an integral part of secondary education, available to everyone. Unlike the Germans however, we should stream our students into the academic, general and vocational streams (comparable to their Gymnasium, Realschule and Hauptschule) not at Year 5 but at the upper secondary (Year 10).

Such a move would better prepare our students for the increasingly competitive world and help advance our economy up the value scale. Tinkering with examinations does nothing; it is a “make busy” project for policymakers.

Rakyat lebih percaya media baru, fikirlah Najib

Rakyat lebih percaya media baru, fikirlah Najib

Radio swasta terus siar tazkirah Nik Aziz

Radio swasta terus siar tazkirah Nik Aziz

27 Aug 2009
BEBERAPA KENYATAAN MENGHINA ISLAM OLEH PEMIMPIN UMNO DAN AKIBATNYA
Kategori: Isu Semasa
Dalam akhbar HARAKAH bertarikh 30 Syaaban – 2 Ramadhan 1430/21 – 23 Ogos 2009, saya tertarik dengan dua fakta yang ditulis oleh Mohamed Hanipa Maidin dalam artikel beliau bertajuk “Sejak bila Umno tidak hina Islam.” Ia berbunyi seperti berikut:i) Ucapan Dato’ Rais Yatim di Hotel Equatorial, Bangi semasa merasmikan seminar Inter Faith Commission (IFC) antara lain menyatakan (dalam bahasa Inggeris) yang terjemahannya: “(Dalam masyarakat majmuk) tiada orang yang boleh mendakwa bahawa agamanya adalah agama terbaik dengan mengenepikan agama-agama lain kerana dengan mengatakan demikian akan memusnahkan prinsip persamaan (agama) dan prinsip kemanusiaan.” Ucapan Rais Yatim ini telah diterbitkan di dalam Infoline Majlis Peguam. ii) Dato’ Nazri Aziz pernah secara terang-terang di satu forum anjuran Majlis Peguam berkata Umno terpaksa menggunakan Islam kerana jika parti itu tidak berbuat demikian ia akan hilang undi kepada PAS. Buat Rais Yatim dan orang-orang yang berfikiran seperti beliau, saya ingin bertanyakan begini. Dimana nak diletakkan pengesahan Allah S.W.T tentang taraf ugama islam melalui Ayat yang bermaksud: “Sesungguhnya Deen (agama) yang diredhai Allah hanyalah Islam? Inna deen na in dallah hil Islam? (Sebahagian Ayat 19: Surah Ali’Imran).” Inikah caranya seorang pemimpin Islam membuat kenyataan? Dengan kata-kata seperti ini, syahadah kita yang bermaksud “tiada Tuhan yang disembah melainkan Allah” akan menjadi satu lafaz kosong. Ia bo;eh menukarkan “Asyhadu” ; langsung tidak berfungsi. Sepatutnya secara pengertiannya yang bergerak, dia(Asyhadu itu) memberi erti bahawa kita yakin sampai sanggup menjadi saksi. Perihal seriusnya kalimat syahadah ini sampai ia tidak boleh diwakili kepada orang lain untuk dilafaz. Ucapan dan pegangan pemimpin Umno yang sebeginilah sebenarnya yang perlu direnung oleh seluruh umat Islam. Inilah salah satu puncanya sehingga saya berani membuat penegasan bahawa Umno ini membawa Islam dari benih kacukan. Islam dari jenis palsu dan plastik. Memang tepat sungguh sikap PAS yang telah menolak sebulat suara teori Kerajaan Perpaduan. Jika samalah kedudukan rakyat yang ada agama seperti Islam, Kristian, Hindu dan Buddha maka apa pula halnya dengan mereka yang berfaham Atheis yang langsung tak beragama? Apa pula kedudukan golongan komunis yang menolak agama dalam kerangka pemikiran Rais? Sama? Tak serupa? Atau serupa tapi tak sama? Yang peliknya, dalam hal semangat Melayu, pemimpin Umno bermati-matian pula mempertahankan ketuanan Melayu. Apakah Rais bermaksud, faham kebangsaan Melayu itu berada di atas dari segala-galanya termasuk Islam itu sendiri? Malu sangatkah untuk iktiraf ketuanan Islam? Tidakkah Islam itu tempatnya di atas dan tiada yang mengatasi ? Sedarkah kita bahawa jika dilayan logik pemikiran pemimpin bertaraf Menteri di Kementerian Penerangan, Komunikasi dan Kebudayaan ini, maka bila semua agama ini serupa tidakkah Hukum Murtad sudah tidak lagi diperlukan? Kubur muslim dan Non- muslim pun sudah menjadi tidak perlu kerana semua orang boleh ditanam bersekali? Mayat muslim pun apakah halal dibakar? Sedarkah kita bahawa pemikiran jenis ini boleh membawa kita kepada fenomena perkahwinan campur antara muslim/non-muslim yang berleluasa tanpa perlu menukar agama. Ini juga bermakna Mahkamah Syariah tidak diperlukan lagi. Tak timbullah isu sebat Kartika sama ada perlu dibedal atau tidak mengikut peraturan dan syariat Islam. Pendek kata, kenyataan ini sudah tidak syak lagi telah menimbulkan keresahan yang bukan sedikit kepada umat Islam. Menyentuh tentang kenyataan Dato’ Nazri Aziz pula, yang secara terang-terangan berkata di dalam satu forum anjuran Majlis Peguam bahawa Umno terpaksa menggunakan Islam untuk meraih undi kerana bimbangkan kehilangan sokongan kepada PAS jika tidak berbuat demikian; maka jelas di sini bahawa Umno tidak menjadikan Islam ugama untuk mengabdikan diri kepada Allah SWT. Kenyataan ini mengesahkan bahawa Islam bukan menjadi landasan perjuangan Umno. Islam itu bukan “a complete way of life”. Sahlah dengan ini, Umno hanya menggunakan Islam untuk tujuan-tujuan upacara dan “ritual” semata-mata. Ugama Islam hanya sekadar untuk cari makan dengan mengekalkan kekuasaan? Jika timbul keperluan, Islam itu boleh diperalatkan. Yang penting ialah hegemoni dan kekuasaan politik. Jika begitu apa pula fungsi tilawah, perarakan maulidurrasul atau sambutan maal hijrah di sisi Umno yang dianjurkan selama ini? Dalam hubungan ini, jangan salahkan rakyat jika mereka menuduh Umno sebagai parti yang hanya pentingkan kuasa. Segala komitmen terhadap projek-projek agama hanya bertujuan kosmetik, pameran atau bahan perhiasan semata-mata untuk tujuan-tujuan materialistik. Sebenarnya, inilah yang mendorong saya untuk mengatakan bahawa Umno ini sebuah parti politik sekular yang oportunis. Ia gemar dan selalu menggunakan faham kebangsaan dan Islam bagi mengelirukan orang Melayu. Umno menggunakan kesempatan sistem sekular yang memisah agama dengan kehidupan dan kadang kala mencampur adukkan segala benda itu untuk hidup sepenuhnya dalam tubuh pergerakan Umno. Ini yang menjadikan perjuangan mereka berkecamuk, tidak berhaluan dan tidak berdasar. Dasar Umno ialah “tiada dasar”. Inilah juga alasannya ; saya mengistilahkan Umno ini sebagai parti yang mengamalkan Islam dari baka kacukan. Inilah juga Islam palsu yang saya telah namakan kepada parti Melayu ini kira-kira dua minggu yang lalu. Saya kata Umno ini beramal atas Islam plastik, dia memfitnah saya pula yang kononnya saya mengatakan mereka mengamalkan Islam Palestin. Inilah susahnya bermain dengan parti yang tidak menjaga agama dan menjadikan dosa pahala sebagai dasar, agenda dan program perjuangan. Pendek kata sebelum Umno menuduh saya sebagai orang yang kononnya sedangkan mengelirukan umat mengenai Islam maka melalui bukti-bukti ini rakyat sekalian boleh melihat siapa dan parti manakah sebenarnya yang sedang keliru dan tekun mengelirukan rakyat dalam segenap segi. Sambil-sambil beriktikaf di masjid dalam bulan yang semulia ini, eloklah juga kita semua membuat renungan bagaimanakah cara yang sebenar untuk menyelamatkan Islam dan umat Islam dari tipu daya rakan-rakan kita dari Umno ini ? Sebagai penutup, izinkan saya berundur dengan menumpang doa Nabi Allah Ibrahim a.s. yang berbunyi, “ya Tuhan kami, beri ampunlah aku dan kedua ibu bapaku dan sekalian orang-orang mukmin pada hari terjadinya hisab (hari kiamat).” (Surah Ibrahim : Ayat 41).
NIK ABDUL AZIZ BIN NIK MATBertarikh : 5 Ramadhan 1430 / 26 Ogos 2009.

Same Old UMNO, Same Old Ethics

Same Old UMNO, Same Old Ethics
M. Bakri Musa
Biar mati anak, jangan mati adat! (Sacrifice your child if need be, but never your tradition!) Growing up in Negri Sembilan, that wisdom of my culture was continually drummed into me. To those outside the clan, that adage may seem extreme, an ugly manifestation of unyielding and irrational conservatism.
With my children now grown up, I recognize the verity of that village wisdom. Yes, it was hammered into me on the importance of our cultural tradition of fealty towards elders (our parents in particular), but there was also the equally important reciprocal tradition for the elders (who are presumably wiser) to be more patient and forgiving of their young.
It is this fidelity to adat that made my parents not put a guilt trip upon me when I chose a path that was not what they had expected. Cognizant of this adat too is what made me not stand in the way of my children when they too decided to venture on a journey beyond what is familiar to me.
My old Negri saying could be more accurately re-stated as: Jaga adat, jaga anak! (Save our tradition, and save our children!) Such an intricate system of social norms however, would easily be shattered if any of its component parts were to be compromised or exploited.
Consider the esteemed cultural trait of respect and loyalty to leaders and kings, and the associated severe penalty for derhaka (treachery). In tandem with that however, there is the reciprocal tradition encapsulated in the saying: Raja adil raja di sembah; Raja zalim raja di sanggah (Venerate the just king; defy the tyrant).
Yes, my culture demands that I revere and be loyal to my leaders and elders, but they must also be fully aware of the traditional countervailing restraints not to abuse that reverence I have of them.
Consider the nomination of Isa Samad to be UMNO’s standard bearer in the upcoming Bagan Pinang by-election. He was a Mentri Besar for 22 years and a Federal minister for a few years after that. He is the archetypical ‘local boy done good.’ His fellow villagers in Port Dickson have every right to be proud of him. To them, no honor however exalted would be adequate for him; they would wish upon him even more.
Thus it should not surprise us or Isa Samad that they would want him, and no one else, to have the singular honor to represent them in the state legislature. The surprise is that many are surprised by this expected and proper gesture of generosity on the part of Isa’s people towards him.
As per our adat however, it is not for the people to deny Isa Samad this honor; that would leave a bitter taste in their collective mouth as well as an affront to their cultural sensitivities. Rather it is for Isa Samad to have the wisdom and magnanimity to decline that honor. If he were to do that at the first round, again as per custom, they would once more beg him to reconsider, and again Isa Samad should decline.
The social norms demand that these back and forth offers and declines would go on for at least three rounds, all to demonstrate (or at least make a show of) the “genuineness” of the gesture. Anything less and it would risk being interpreted as perfunctory, and less than genuine.
It is through such displays of finesse and subtleties that our culture and traditions have stood the test of time and smoothed our social order. Alas today our traditional values and generosities have been abused not by outsiders but by our own people. It is our own leaders and kin who betray us and our values, as so crudely and ruthlessly demonstrated by Isa Samad.
Nonetheless true to our tradition of “Raja adil raja di sembah; Raja zalim raja di sanggah,” we should not hesitate, and do so in no uncertain terms, to sanggah (defy) these leaders.
UMNO’s Wet-Finger-In-the-Air Leaders
When UMNO chose a disbarred lawyer to contest the recent by-election in Penang, I commented that the next time around expect the party to scrounge even lower in search of even slimier characters to represent the party. I ventured that it would be difficult to find someone more unworthy than a disbarred lawyer, but trust those UMNO folks, they would find someone. I did not expect to be proven right, and so soon.
In Isa Samad UMNO has someone who had been expelled from the party for “money politics,” the euphemism for corruption. Knowing UMNO’s shady ethics, to be expelled for that must take some doing.
In justifying his party’s pick, UMNO’s Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin declared, “We have decided that this is what the people want.” He was jubilant when making that declaration. Surrounded as he was by senior leaders of the Barisan and fellow ministers, and judging by their beaming smiles and other body language, they too shared his enthusiasm for the candidate.
Just in case we might miss the point, Muhyiddin went on to reassure everyone that the choice was made “after much thought and scrutiny.” Meaning, it was deliberate.
Even ignoring Isa Samad’s blatant bribing of UMNO delegates and then bragging about it (the reason for his expulsion), the more fundamental issue is this. The man has nothing more to offer the state after serving as Mentri Besar for over 24 years. If he had any talent or innovative ideas, that should have been obvious during all those years.
At this stage of their careers, leaders like Isa Samad should be seeking out and mentoring the next generation of leaders, not desperately hogging the stage, and their followers’ fast dwindling reservoir of respect and gratitude.
Only last week Muhyiddin was at pains to point out that he was intent on seeking fresh talent, especially after the Bagan Pinang branch folks brazenly declared that Isa was their only choice. In succumbing to local pressure, Muhyiddin’s leadership is nothing more than wet-finger-in-the-air variety. That is fine in leading a herd of kerbau (water buffaloes) but not a nation aspiring for Vision 2020.
There is nothing wrong with a leader sticking his wet finger in the air to check the prevailing wind if that would lead him to trim his sails and steer his ship of state better, while keeping his eye on the compass. Indeed that is the hallmark of a skilled skipper. However, if you keep changing course and be oblivious of the compass, you will never reach your destination.
The earlier rhetoric about UMNO having “to change or be changed” is now proven to be nothing more than just “cock talk,” to put it in the local vernacular. Muhyiddin is also Deputy Prime Minister, a heart beat away from the nation’s top job. This preview of his leadership does not reassure me.
In picking Isa, Muhyddin obviously had to compromise his principles and abandon his commitment to reforming the party. He should be reminded of the old Xeno mathematical paradox: You will never reach your destination if you are satisfied at reaching only the halfway mark at every try.
Once you start compromising your principle at the first obstacle, then it gets easier the next time. Soon you would have no scruples compromising all your principles. By that time you would not only be willing to dispense with your adat but you also would be willing to part with your first-born, just to get your way.
Your corruption then would have been complete, with nothing worthy left to defend or honor. Then it would be: Mati adat dan mati anak (Death to your culture, and death to your children).

September 6th, 2009
Voters Drawing the Line
M. Bakri Musa

In the heyday of UMNO the joke was that the party could field a dog as an election candidate and it would still win. The party leaders must still harbor that delusion for in the recent Permatang Pasir state by-election they fielded a disbarred lawyer. This time however, voters wisely drew the line at the dog.
The surprise was not that Rohaizat Othman successfully hoodwinked UMNO leaders to secure the nomination rather how easily those senior leaders were taken in by this shyster. Now that their candidate has been thrashed, those UMNO leaders were belatedly bemoaning the fact that their chosen man had been less than truthful to them. That is the quality of UMNO top leadership, folks!
Even after the sordid details of the man’s sleazy professional past and checkered personal life had surfaced, UMNO leaders still vigorously defended their choice. They had the nerve to suggest that those critics were trying to smear the UMNO candidate. Those UMNO leaders obviously did not realize that their man was already soiled.
Reflection on Muhyiddin
Consider UMNO Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin’s comments. He went to great lengths defending the integrity of his party’s standard bearer. He likened the Bar Council’s sanctions as nothing more than a traffic violation! I recognize that traffic in Malaysia is terrible, but really! I wonder what it would take to be branded a crook and thus be disqualified by Muhyiddin’s reckoning. I am making a huge assumption here, that is, the man has some standards.
A commentator in the mainstream media reported that Muhyiddin was apparently livid on hearing the details of Rohaizat. Only his severe poker face belied his anger, so she claimed. If Muhyiddin was truly angry he sure did not reveal it in his actions; he was ‘gung ho’ right to the end. That commentary revealed more about the writer – ‘sucking up’ to Muhyiddin so early on. She should try a better excuse next time.
It is a recent tradition with UMNO that its deputy leader be in charge of by-elections. This Permatang Pasir election was the first to be under the direct leadership of Muhyiddin. Hence his comments and actions bear scrutiny.
Muhyyuddin’s decision to continue with Rohaizat’s candidacy despite all the revealed blemishes says volumes on the judgment as well as ethical standards of Muhyiddin. Not to scare readers, this character is also Deputy Prime Minister, and going by our recent history, he could very well be Prime Minister one day.
If a two-bit disbarred country lawyer could easily dupe Muhyiddin, imagine him as Prime Minister negotiating with his counterpart across the causeway on selling our precious fresh water, or his participating in crucial international treaty conferences! That is a scary thought.
The brief Permatang Pasir election campaign revealed more than we ever wished to know about this crooked lawyer and his equally slimy personal life. While Rohaizat was disbarred by the Bar Council, he could still practice in the Shari’a court. This is the same court that recently sentenced a young mother to be whipped for drinking beer. That should tell us something of the ‘Islamic’ (at least the Malaysian variety) standard of ethics.
To me, the Permatang Pasir campaign revealed more about UMNO, specifically its culture and top leaders. What has been revealed should scare all Malaysians who are concerned with our nation’s future.
Muhyiddin’s ethical blind spot was disturbing enough. More reprehensible was his performance during the campaign. He fell into the predictable pattern of past ambitious UMNO leaders-in-waiting. There he was, freely and irresponsibly playing up the race card, eerily reminding me of Najib’s and Hishammuddin’s brandishing of their kerises. Aspiring UMNO leaders like Muhyiddin have this primitive urge to display their chauvinistic manhood during tough election campaigns. That is their culture.
Unfortunately, as the party still garnered over a third of the votes (presumably Malay votes), UMNO leaders will continue with their bigotry. Now they are blaming non-Malay (specifically Chinese) voters for abandoning Barisan.
UMNO of The Future
To be sure there were a few – very few, in fact only two – UMNO leaders who spoke out against Rohaizat, and did so early. Mahathir wondered out loud whether a liar could be a people’s representative. Tengku Razaleigh was much more forceful, “… UMNO is projecting the image that it lives by a different moral code from the rest of Malaysia.”
“Either that, or this is the best we can do,” he continued. Indeed!
Alas, both Mahathir and the Tengku represent UMNO’s past. To gauge UMNO’s future, look at the leaders of its Youth and Puteri wings. They not only endorsed Rohaizat but aggressively campaigned for him. I would like to ask UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin specifically whether he feels that a disbarred lawyer and a man who lied about his wife is a worthy representative of UMNO.
The situation with UMNO Puteri is even more interesting. I wonder how those pretty young girls in their distinctive pink baju kurong feel about campaigning for a man who took a second wife secretly, and then lied about it publicly. The Puteris’ stand-by-your-man stance may be praiseworthy in other circumstances but not when your man is a cheat and a crook. Instead of campaigning for him, Puteri members should be contacting the second wife to see whether her man had been providing for her.
The Permatang Pasir by-election could have been a splendid opportunity for UMNO to shine if only their leaders had been smarter and pursued a radically different tack. Imagine if upon knowing the sordid details of Rohaizat, UMNO leaders publicly admitted their mistake and demanded their candidate withdraw on pain of being expelled from the party.
Yes that would give PAS a walk-over, but that would not have changed the end results. Besides, UMNO had done this a few months earlier in the Penanti by-election. Think however, the message the party and its senior leaders would have sent to their members and Malaysians generally, and the impact that would have on all. UMNO would have won a great moral victory. As it is, UMNO lost the election as well as the moral high ground. The party had set a new low on what is acceptable.
Judging from the post-election comments by UMNO leaders, from Najib Razak and Muhyiddin on down, UMNO has yet to learn this pertinent lesson from this latest debacle. The party still harbors the delusion that even its flawed candidates could still win.
The next time around expect UMNO to reach even lower to a new bottom in their search for talent. I must admit it would be difficult to find someone more unworthy than a disbarred lawyer. Trust me however, UMNO will find one.

Fraudulent Defenders of Our Faith

August 9th, 2009

Fraudulent Defenders of Our Faith
M. Bakri Musa
With Ramadan soon upon us, Muslims everywhere are caught up in a heightened sense of spirituality. That is the good news.
Take last Thursday evening, for example. The San Jose, California, masjid was inundated with believers staying late into the night. It was the 15th of Shaaban, an especially blessed time in the Muslim calendar. Shaaban is the month before Ramadan, and serves as a ‘warm-up’ to it. As my Imam Ilyas noted wryly in his Friday khutba, what struck him was that many that evening had never before set foot on the premises. That is the bad news.
Malays too are struck by this wave of religious fervor with the impending arrival of Ramadan. Thus the recent local governmental agency raid on a 7-Eleven store in Selangor, stripping the store of its beer inventory. Never mind that the store had been selling that beverage for decades without any harassment from the authorities.
Then there was UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin calling on his PAS counterpart to ‘unite’ against DAP (and thus Pakatan) for allegedly ‘insulting’ Islam. Not to be outdone, Khir Toyo, a fellow ‘fighter’ in UMNO Youth, chided PAS for not standing up to the Pakatan state government’s ‘insulting’ Islam by ordering the beer loot be returned to the store.
It turned out that the local agency had no authority to conduct such a raid. Alas, observing the niceties of the law has never been a strong point with these Malaysian jihadist wannabes.
Our Malaysian jihadists may consider themselves ‘modern’ and of a different breed. After all Khairy has been to Oxford while Khir is a trained dentist. Alas they are ‘modern’ only in their outward appearances, what with their fancy suits and palatial bungalows. In mindset and attitude however, they are no different from those madrasah-educated, disheveled bearded Talibans dwelling high in the caves of Afghanistan.
More to the point, I am not all assured that these overzealous ‘defenders’ of Islam are doing our faith any favor. On the contrary, these fraudulent defenders of our faith are smearing the image of Islam.
As my Imam Ilyas rightly pointed out on noting the large crowd at the masjid on the evening of 15th Shaaban, while he was pleased with the turnout he gently reminded us that it is far more important to do the many little “good” gestures required of us by our faith all the time than be focused on doing the spectacular ultra religious deeds during Ramadan.
For example, it is much more important to be generous throughout the year rather than making a highly publicized generous donation during Ramadan. On another level, there is no point for us to live a life of vice and corruption and then once a year undertake a Hajj or umrah in an attempt to ‘cleanse’ ourselves.
If the average citizen could see through the hollowness of such ‘pious’ gestures, rest assured that Almighty Allah would have minimal difficulty figuring out the hoax.
The late Zakaria Mat Deros, a former railway guard turned fabulously wealthy politician with the obscenely ostentatious bungalow squatting amidst the squalor of the Malay kampong in Port Kelang, was a prime example. He was accompanied on one of his frequent umrahs by no less than the head of Islam Hadhari, then Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
I wish that characters like Mat Deros were the exception; unfortunately they are the norm. Consider that self-admitted adulterer Razak Baginda. Not only did he try to cleanse himself religiously by visiting (yes, ‘visiting’ is the appropriate term) Mecca, he went on to ‘purify’ himself by going to Oxford. Presumably he thinks that a doctorate from that august institution would purify him in the eyes of the secular crowd.
I wonder how Razak Baginda felt when he undertook his umrah knowing that a young girl his daughter’s age was blown up to smithereens as a consequence of his philandering. Did he offer any prayers for the soul of his former lover and for her still grieving family? Charity and generosity after all are one of the pillars of our faith.
These Malays should heed the advice of my young but wise Imam. They should instead focus on being ‘good’ in their every day existence instead of trying to display their piety in dramatic ways during special occasions.
The central injunction of our Quran – Amal makruf, Nahi mungkar (Command good, forbid evil) – should be our daily creed. Frequent trips to Mecca, glamorous iftar parties during Ramadan, and having a surau as part of your palatial mansion will not make up for your ignoring this elemental and recurring Quranic refrain.
I wish that Khairy Jamaluddin and Khir Toyo, being young and the future leaders of UMNO, as well as others would address the gross injustices perpetrated on our citizens, the corruption that is infesting our society, and the poverty that blights far too many Malaysians, instead of being unnecessarily obsessed with 7-Eleven stores selling beer. In the same vein I do not see Khairy, Khir and others of their ilk being outraged at UMNO stalwarts serving on the boards of Carlsberg and the Genting casino company.
The pair’s selective outrage baffles me. Or stated differently, I, like others, readily see through their hoax.
There is nothing Islamic about a society infested with corruption, dehumanized by poverty, and riddled with injustices. It would be the height of hypocrisy, and mock our great faith to boot, for Khairy and Khir Toyo to claim the mantle of Islamic leadership if they are a part of the state apparatus that allows these evils to continue.

Himpunan Anti ISA: Pengalaman pertama bersama rakyat.

Himpunan Anti ISA: Pengalaman pertama bersama rakyat
Zaid Ibrahim Thu Aug 06, 09 10:26:35 am MYT
Hari ini (1 Ogos 2009) buat kali pertama dalam sejarah hidup saya, saya menjadi mangsa bom gas pemedih mata. Pedih sungguh mata dan hati saya! Inilah pengalaman saya berhimpun dan berarak bersama dengan berpuluh ribu rakyat Malaysia di Kuala Lumpur. Ia benar-benar membuka mata saya di samping memberi banyak pengajaran.

Saya amat terkejut kerana tidak menyangka betapa kejamnya polis bertindak terhadap rakyat yang hanya berhimpun dan berjalan secara aman. Rakyat hanya mahu meluahkan perasaan tentang buruknya Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) yang perlu dimansuhkan secepat mungkin. Rakyat kita tidak membawa senjata, mereka hanya membawa anak-anak untuk menyedarkan warga kecil betapa kejamnya ISA.
Lelaki, perempuan, tua dan muda, pelbagai kaum, bermacam agama, semuanya berhimpun secara aman di ibu kota. Hak untuk berhimpun secara aman adalah hak asasi rakyat. Tapi nampaknya hak yang dijamin oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan ini sudah tidak ada guna lagi. Hak kita sudah hancur kerana polis yang bersenjata, yang berkuasa penuh, yang sombong dan angkuh, kini telah menentukan hak kita.
Bila polis kata perhimpunanan itu haram, maka kita semua yang berhimpun atas dasar kebebasan dan hak yang telah dijamin oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan, telah menjadi mangsa kekerasan polis. Ya, polis yang mengaku diri sahabat rakyat, kini menunjukkan belang sebenar mereka. Tak sangka, dengan sedikit kuasa itu, mereka sudah merasakan diri seperti Fira�un.
Saya sebagai warga Malaysia yang prihatin telah turut sama menyertai perhimpunan aman ini. Tapi saya bersama dua anak saya dan kawan-kawan lain tak tahu ke mana mahu dituju kerana polis telah tutup banyak jalan. Kami hanya mahu ke Istana Negara untuk menyaksikan penyerahan memorandum anti-ISA.
Kami telah tersepit di sebatang jalan dekat Masjid Negara. Ramai yang berarak menghala ke Jalan Kuching ke arah Selangor Club, kami pun ikut sama. Niat kami hanyalah untuk bersama-sama orang ramai menunjukkan sokongan. Tetapi bila sampai sahaja di belakang Selangor Club, polis dengan ganasnya telah menyembur gas pemedih mata dan menggunakan pncutan air tekanan tinggi. Lintang-pukang orang berlari. Saya pun tunggang-langgang lari.
Polis kemudian meminta orang ramai bersurai. Tetapi ke mana nak bersurai kerana semua jalan sudah ditutup. Tak ada cara lain kecuali patah balik ke arah Masjid Negara. Saya pun bersedia untuk bersurai. Tapi bila sampai dekat dengan Masjid Negara, ada pula sekatan jalan polis. Di situlah saya lihat orang ramai angkat tangan supaya polis membenarkan mereka bersurai ke arah bagunan Dayabumi.
Saya juga angkat tangan kerana kami memang nak bersurai. Ada dua orang wanita tua bersama saya yang merah serta berair mata mereka di samping terbatuk-batuk akibat bom gas pemedih mata. Seorang peserta lelaki yang cacat anggota dengan crutches nya tidak dapat lari. Saya tak tahu apa nasib manusia berani ini. Kasihan saya melihat mereka semua.
Rupa-rupanya polis sudah berniat jahat. Tanda angkat tangan tidak ada erti kepada mereka. Walau pun melihat ramai antara kami yang sudah mahu bersuara, polis terus melepaskan bom pemedih mata. Saya dapat lihat wajah-wajah polis berkenaan, kebanyakannya orang Melayu, yang penuh benci dan kesumat dendam.
Maka terpaksa lagi kami berlari elakan diri. Tapi nak ke mana lagi? Di Jalan Kuching dekat Selangor Club pun polis sudah melemparkan bom pemedih mata. Bom dari canisters yang tidak ada jenama kata kawan saya. Bererti bom jenis buatan haram. Dinegara kita apa pun boleh dilakukan Ramai orang termasuk saya terpaksa lari masuk ke dalam hutan kecil berhampiran Jalan Kuching dengan melompat pagar bangunan di situ.
Mujur juga ada pengawal keselamatan di situ yang baik hati yang telah melepaskan kami keluar dari perkarangan bangunan tersebut. Semoga Allah membalas budi baiknya. Di sana barulah kami dapat keluar untuk bersurai. Masa itu mata kami semua sudah merah, suara parau dan seluar koyak akibat terpaksa melompat pagar. Saya pun baru sedar bila sudah berumur begini lutut sudah tidak sekuat waktu muda dulu.
Memang jelas hak dan kebesan kita semakin terhakis. Apa yang polis lakukan dengan cara mengepung orang ramai yang hanya mahu berhimpun secara aman dan membelasah mereka dengan semburan air dan bom pemedih mata adalah untuk menunjukan kepada rakyat bahawa kerajaan Barisan Nasional tidak peduli dengan kehendak dan keperluan rakyat.
Mereka mahu mengajar rakyat Malaysia bahawa era Pak Lah yang mahu mencuba membuka ruang kebebasan sudah tidak wujud lagi. Ini era Najib yang tak mahu dengar dan tak terima pandangan rakyat.
Bagi polis yang jelas bekerjasama dengan Umno dan Barisan Nasional, mereka mahu rakyat takut kepada mereka. Mereka tidak mahu kita di Malaysia bebas seperti Indonesia dan Filipina yang memberi rakyat peluang bersuara dan berhimpun secara aman.
Mereka mahu semua rakyat sedar bahawa Malaysia adalah Negara Polis seperti Myanmar. Sesiapa yang berhimpun dianggap bersalah kecuali mereka yang berhimpun untuk menyokong Najib dan pemimpin Umno yang lain. Inilah mesej 1Malaysia ciptaan Najib yang memberi amaran kepada rakyat bahawa kekerasan akan digunakan pada bila-bila masa sahaja demi mengekalkan kuasa.
Tapi rakyat Malaysia termasuk saya juga ingin menyampaikan berita kepada Najib. Kita akan berkorban apa saja untuk menentang kekejaman dan kezaliman. Kita yakin kita di pihak yang benar kerana kita menentang salaha guna kuasa, penyelewengan dan rasuah. Kuasa rakyat akan menang juga suatu hari nanti di negara Malaysia yang tercinta ini,
InsyaAllah. Pejuang Rakyat akan sentisa dingati selalu, InsyaAllah.
(Penulis adalah bekas Menteri di JPM, bekas MP Kota Bharu yang kini menyertai KeADILan). - mr_

Enough of Pledges! We Need Actions!

August 2nd, 2009
M. Bakri Musa

Prime Minister Najib Razak’s pledge to improve six key areas (crime, corruption and poverty reductions as well as education, infrastructure, and public transportation) would have met widespread applause if only he had indicated just a wee bit more on how he would go about achieving those lofty goals. Malaysians are rightly fed up with highly optimistic targets and stirring slogans; what we desperately need are leaders who could execute things and get us there.
Najib refers to those objectives as national “Key Results Areas” (KRAs). If he is not diligent and imaginative in the execution, Najib’s KRA could very well end up as KeRA (monkey). Kera would then join up with Najib’s earlier glokal Malay to be the next laughing stock of the nation.
The very manner in which Najib made the announcement does not give us much confidence. He made it at a huge gathering of civil servants and on a working day. Thus during that entire morning work at the various government offices was at a standstill.
More than likely the afternoon too was a washout, with those officers busy rehashing the speech. With their superiors absent, the subordinates would even be more sluggish than usual. I pity members of the public who had urgent businesses with the government on that day.
Najib has acquired one of the many bad habits of his predecessor. Abdullah Badawi used to convene his ministry officials for a monthly lecture a la school assembly. And just like a headmaster, Abdullah would stand on the podium sermonizing in his soporiferous monotone voice, putting everyone to sleep. That is, if he himself had not dozed off first. Of course work at the ministry would come to a screeching halt.
The Chief Secretary to the government Sidek Hassan has not thought of advising Najib to use other more effective and cheaper ways to communicate, like newsletters or even taping the message onto a CD and then distributing it. Perhaps Sidek is in awe of Najib, imagining him to be the civil service’s Steve Jobs. Apple’s Jobs used to gather his employees in a huge hall at the launch of a new product or to make significant announcements.
If only Najib has a fraction of Job’s charisma and executive ability, perhaps such large gatherings could be excused and defended as a means of rallying and inspiring the troops. Having seen the videotape of the assembly however, it was more a torture session, torture for those civil servants to remain awake!
Najib deludes himself if he thinks that simply assigning a responsible minister would solve the problem of execution. None of the six ministers he has selected had excelled themselves or impressed us with their executive talent. Muhyyuddin, for education, has not ‘wowed’ us with his flip flopping on the policy of teaching science and mathematics in school. As for Hishammuddin, responsible for crime reduction, his previous tenure in Education did not enthrall us with his competence.
Then there is Ong Tee Keat, responsible for infrastructure development. This poor soul has yet to explain the rapidly ballooning boondoggle that is the Port Klang Free Zone Development scandal.
I would have been more impressed had Najib in assigning the areas of responsibility also indicate the price for nonperformance. Would Hishammuddin be relieved of his cabinet post should he fail to reduce the crime rate? Heads must role when there is a major lapse. That is the only way to make people accountable and take their responsibilities seriously. If there is no price to pay for failure, there is little incentive to perform, much less excel.
Take crime reduction; Najib is needlessly reinventing the wheel. All he has to do is revisit the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Police of four years ago. Along the same vein, if during the tenure of the present Police Chief Musa Hassan the crime rates have soared, that is compelling enough reason not to renew his contract.
My hunch is that Najib will renew Musa’s contracts, thus making a mockery of the commitment to crime reduction. Najib would do more for crime reduction by firing the glaringly ineffective and incompetent Musa Hassan. Otherwise all those lofty goals would merely be cakap kosong (empty talk), KRA morphing into KeRA.
Likewise in his battle to curb corruption, Najib would do well to get rid of the present director of MACC, Ahmad Said Hamdan. His agency’s record in the two latest high-profile cases is abysmal. Then there is the tragic death of one of its ‘friendly’ witnesses.
Simply upgrading or renaming the old Ant Corruption Agency to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission would not combat corruption if you are still stuck with the same personnel, procedures, and mindset.
A Better Approach
A more effective approach would have been for Najib to gather his assigned minister and the relevant senior officers to a private meeting where he would lay out his goals and inquire from them the steps and initiatives they would recommend in reaching those goals.
Those meetings would be working sessions, dispensing with time-wasting unnecessary protocols. Everyone would literally roll up their sleeves. That is not the time to be in your three-piece suit. There is much heavy lifting to be done, with ideas critically examined, resources allocated, and markers put in place.
Such meetings would not only be cheap they would also not disrupt the normal workings of the various departments, especially if they are held outside regular office hours. Those meetings would be the time to monitor progress, get feedback, and modify strategies accordingly.
Najib’s meetings thus far have been heavy on press coverage and laudatory comments especially in the mainstream media. This is not the time for premature accolades; there will be plenty of time for that later those objectives are achieved. Meanwhile we should all be critical lest these leaders get carried away with premature and unmerited applauses.
Like his predecessor Abdullah Badawi, Najib is satisfied merely with making highly publicized public pronouncements instead of attending to the necessary nitty-gritty of governance. It is attention to such practical and mundane details on which the success or failure of a policy would depend.
Najib must act more as chief executive and less a sultan satisfied merely with issuing endless titahs (edicts). Malaysia has enough sultans already with the nine that it has; there is little need to add to the roster.