Perils of education?

There are some upheavals at the Js (and K’s) school right now. Need to do some more research. More on this later.

Today’s headlines both amuses and saddens me

The Star today is peppered with various stores on the “illegal” (this word is used very liberally) BERSIH rally, traders who lost their biz on that day are paraded in front of the camera with various hand written signs (they look kinda blur and I think there’s an MCA man about in the pix, if I can remember lah, I can’t keep track of these guys LOL). Mr. “De Facto Govt Lawyer” is claiming no need for reform, ok what.. it’s lasted 50 years blah blah blah.. No:2 is “amused” by the EC Chairman’s knowledge of the election dates, he says he also doesn’t know. (yeah, what do you know, matey).

But what I find interesting is that the EC themselves says there should be a forum to discuss electoral reform.So are they delicately (or indirectly) saying there are more areas for improvement in our electoral system? (since we can’t out and out tell Mr. “De Facto Lawyer” that err, mate, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick AGAIN (or they thinking sticks and tunnels in the way that MP always seems to do).

I do feel sorry for the journalists though, I bet they find it frustrating (if they do indeed care anymore lol) that they can’t portray or report things as they are, rather than what has to be said. Licences are dependent on corporations with unashamed links to political parties. Sigh. And yet certain people kept repeating “wah, got avenues for you to speak mah”. Sure, right. Even as a person in the street, I can see the stifling. But then are Malaysians that bothered? Are they just as apathetic and tidak apa and get inured to all this? Again the “desensitised” view (sorry, not sure if I spelt anything correctly lol). We get excited and then it blows over and we are still back to square one.

So PM fella now says we have a royal commission, but he has to decide who and when and “what scope”. And it’s only on the lingam tapes (oh, now got no more mention of its authenticity kan? the two implicated in the video all very silent hor), nothing on the judiciary. We have to keep watching I guess. I wonder if they will keep delaying and delaying until we become “desensitised” as the Cousin would have us become. Oh, and isn’t the RC supposed to be set up by the Agung? you know, having the word ROYAL in it might be an indication. I really wonder what TM’s views would be. I wonder if he’s smacking his head again thinking “doh! I really dunno how to choose deputies do I?!”. but then what choices did he REALLY have?

Goodness, I’ve never blogged so much about politics and news headlines rather in the last few months. Sadlah. The opposition doesn’t seem a great alternative. If they were as concerned as they like to tout, then why don’t they have a non-race/religion based party either?! I think Jeff Ooi made a tactical error by allowing Al Jazeera to mention he was an independent journalist, that coloured the report already as we know he’s a DAP man now. Sigh. We so need a party with strong leaders, no race or religion, a REAL ALL-MALAYSIANS party. Do we have that?

I watch carefully the Education portfolio cos the Js are due to go to Primary school next year. Rumours that in the grounds of their school, they are building a kindy. With the rather gila rise in some areas of school fees, it would be interesting. However, I do like the teachers in their present school but man, their fees pengsan wei! Take out a 2nd mortgage to send them to school? and This is kindy! Not even private or international school. We definitely have to take out a 2nd mortgage to do that LOL Not sure it would be any better also. I don’t have the patience or resources to homeschool etc. Sigh. Most importantly our Education system needs a major overhaul, we have to be more competitive but then if you think macam jaguh kampung, I guess you wouldn’t care. Keep changing their minds and policies, English/Malay or what. Dunno. Even China is trying to improve its english standards to compete globally and their economy is the hottie choice now. Still obsessed with the whole “colonial past” things. Thats why I guess they keep tearing everything down also (both architecturally and societial speaking). Boy, I’m good at making up words today hehe Mebbe I should be in Parliament too! Mind you, I’m not so good at insulting and shouting at everyone (ok, shouting is one thing) and I can’t stomach idiots and nonsense, so that’s out too hehe. Some weeks ago, Al Jazeera did a short report on Malaysia and the increasing marginalisation (People and Power series, unfortunately I can’t remember the date) and they showed excerpts from tv coverage of May 13th riots. It was a shock to D and myself cos we have NEVER seen that kind of footage. Are we the only ones? We barely see pix or things like that. I guess they like to “move forward” and “forget the past”. hehe

So the long silence from the Agong has allegedly been broken. A statement was read out by one of the Palace officials and I quote:

“Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin has expressed displeasure over claims that he and the Palace approved and supported Saturday’s illegal rally in the city.

The King also regretted the gathering that was organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) and supported by opposition parties.

Tuanku Mizan stressed that he and Istana Negara had at no time approved or given any support – directly or indirectly – to any quarters which organised or were involved in the illegal assembly or any other activities that contravened the law. “

The conspiracy theorists are having a field day! Whether it’s among the political commentators (btw RPK sir, could you please add a RSS feed to your blog?!), the readers/commentators of those blogs etc, it’s a buzz. Rocky;s Bru summed it up nicely. If he was so against it, I should imagine he’d appear in public before the event (plenty of time and warning given kan?) and sound off against it. He wouldn’t have accepted the petition etc etc. So a statement is read by an official. Hmmm. I remain cynical and with a dose of skepticism. I understand the Agong has to proceed carefully, we wouldn’t want a major constitutional crisis or a breakdown also lah. He’s a constitutional monarch (and a rotational one at that) and he has to choose his language carefully and thoughtfully. Well, it’s going to be interesting!

This year should be interested indeed and next year! Will PM call elections, won’t he? Would he raise fuel and toll prices? New fuel scheme which would prob hit the middle class much harder than the poor or the rich?

I dunno why there has to be a headline like “First bumi-owned facility” for the shipyard in Teregganu. What’s it trying to tacitly say? NEP still needed cos we don’t own everything yet? Sigh. Beijing University now has a Malay Chair (no,no, not furniture, the academic chair). and what Prof Awang said was “regarded it as an honour for Malays, their language and civilisation”. Eh? It sounds so colonising and sounds so …. Funny LOL all hail the conquering hero!!! Is it the first Malay Chair for virtue of being the first Malay fler to get on the chair? There’s been a Malay Language centre in ‘61 and a Malay Studies centre in 2005. So who was the head honcho there before then? I really must stop being so cynical and skeptical!

Oklah, enough already. On the up side, today is the kids school concert. usually an amusing time I wonder how I will survive the school hols, I’ve lined up some playdates, some activities in mind, including one page of a work book, following by art/craft activity of their choice. Let’s see how long I can tahan. At least the parents are around for a week and we are going to penang too later on. One of my fav things the other day was to take a walk with the kids with my dad, looking around at their surroundings, plants, flowers, insects. Something that reminds me of when I was a kid. I really think that childhood memories would be made up of these kind of things. Not academic kiasuism.

Ok, time to get on with the biz of the day! Have a great weekend y’all!

And the sandiwara (drama) heats up! Or not.. Shall we just whinge instead?

I was going to post more on last night’s interview, the headlines etc but friends, I malas (lazy) already! It’s too taxing on this sleepy, overtired mum, especially today hehe.

Hokay, whats my whinge of the day?

After much searching, I finally found the HRDF (Human Resources Development Fund) website here. Now from what I can understand from this site (and admittedly I’m running on lower “fuel cells” today), only certain industries can apply for this fund to train their employees etc. I couldn’t find anything that suggests that small biz/partnerships etc can apply for this fund in order to “upgrade” the quality of their staff (ok, admittedly it’s only D and myself LOL). Botheration if that’s the case.

D’s interested in animation etc courses but no one (as yet) has got anything that’s part time. It’s all full time and in many places, you have to do their foundation course for a year! Aiyooooo.. Life Long learning campaign my *$%(% (ok, I’m cynical today k?). Anything online is usually WAY too expensive. It’s not like elsewhere where you can pick and choose what modules you want, short term evening classes etc. why not?! HAH! not everyone wants to do an MBA only k? hurmph. Any suggestions from anyone? (for the 2 people who prob read this blog haha)

Ok rant over for now. Today’s the last day of school before the looooooooong hols.. oh lordy.. LOL

When kids are colour blind..

This is the full gallery here.

But these are great examples of how kids can play together and are colour blind.. what happens to us after that? (thanks Joseph for the pix again!)

A .. RANT (yes again)

doing our next year budget etc…. wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

prices going up like…like… our space tourist, ahem, angkasawan.. just got told some of the kindy fees going up..like MAJOR up..

oh the pain.. the pain.. the bank accounts cry..

ok.. minor rant only..

Rocky’s Bru pointed this out.

more pix from the rally etc. Very interesting hehe

ok lah, sudah cukup

GRRRRRRR…Geram/jelak today..

EDITED:  Btw BigPumpkin mentioned to me that she was more ashamed of how they wouldn’t let them conduct the rally etc, now I understand! It wasn’t clear to me in that post and I happily stand corrected! She herself has experienced govt idiocy and stuff  I stand corrected and I apologise  

Reading the papers today.

Pak Lah’s opinion

DPM’s opinion

Just cheeses me off. Is it a case of “mine is bigger than yours”? They’ve belittled the opinion of concerned citizens, dismissing it as opposition attempts at salvaging votes. What racial card was played that day, huh, mr. DPM? There were folks there from ALL walks of life, irrespective of race/religion/political convictions. I’m not a member of any opposition party, I don’t always share their political views either but I’m MALAYSIAN. I have concerns about how things are going down here, where our tax money is going, the obvious corruption and yet nothing is being done about it. The patronising tone and idiotic remarks that come from our Parliament. The bailouts. The mega projects that don’t come through and we pay MORE compensation than the project is worth. The rising costs but stagnant wages. The increased segregation. The increasing supremacy talk of certain parties. The whole idea that despite being here for generations, we are pendatang asing and if you don’t like it, you could go back to your country. (err, I AM in my country, matey). No fields/areas to play in for our kids. Trees etc chopped down willy nilly. Billboards jungles. Historical buildings like Bok House or The Sg. Buloh Leprosy Settlement get torn down as and when the authorities like. Even getting a sound barrier to protect homes from the noise/pollution etc of a nearby road is such a tough thing to get.

Some POVs from those who were there.

View 1
View 2
View 3

To be honest, I’m not a raging political commentator, but I;m concerned. I worry about the future of my kids, yes, what they will pick up in govt school, I can’t afford college for them, I want them to have a happy healthy childhood but how can I when we have “haze” season where our govt just shrugs their shoulders and say what to do lah.. I’m concerned about how they can cope with National Service, with the people who seem to think we hav to Out-Islam the Arabs or b/c one. I don’t know.

For example, this.

This letter and what BigPumpkin mentioned made me think. I guess people will have that view. 

To the person who wrote the letter, yes, it was inconvenient but was it spread that the roads were closed by the police for a far greater net than the roads expected for the rally to go by? (ok that English is so cacat lol), did you think the rally would happen and take steps to get around it. LRT trains were not allowed to stop at the usual stations, whatever means necessary to make sure less people hit the streets. 40, 000 people. Despite the “official” figures. Look at the pictures, look at the first hand accounts, the other news channels. I dunno. Yes it was inconvenient but imagine how cheesed off those people who went were. For once, Malaysians got off their usual apathetic arses and spoke up. It’s not just about the elections lah. It is concerned people who are worried about how things are going in the country. PM and his cronies may say folks have avenues to speak up etc. How can they? Any criticism or comments reg: the Islamic state thing was not allowed to be printed in the newspapers etc. Not even by the component parties. How can like that? What avenue is there? Where can complaints go?

It just makes me mad I guess. (no, not so much the views of the above, the other stuff hehehe). I dunno. It’s monday morning, kids got up early, I;m prob cranky and tired and it’s almost the end of the school hols and I’m just pissy at what was said this morning. Like 40, 000 people’s view doesn’t matter. Whether or not NGOs or opposition parties were involved, do those opinions count? Or even within their own parties,do opposing views matter? Where in Parliament “toe the party line” is way more important than “what’s best for the people”. It really does seem like what 50 years of independence (or technically less) had achieved is unravelling.

Ballot boxes will be the next round definitely. The V for Vendetta line is very apt (not advocating any violent demos or that sort of thinglah). “Govts should be afraid of the people, not people afraid of the govt” (i’m paraphrasing badly here). What does it say about us, as we were the ones who allegedly voted them in? Apathy and tidak apa attitude are too common. Civic consciousness, HAH! Malaysians who are overseas and aren’t allowed to vote or register to vote? (non students and non civil servants I mean). Are they not still Malaysians?

And yes, there’s prob heaps of typos etc but this is one of the longest rants I’ve done. Now I’ve got to get back to work and sorting

Malaysia is for all Malaysians, no matter what the heritage.

So what’s the official spin and other news items on BERSIH rally?

The Star (online) had this and this

NST had this.

As usual, playing the blame game lah. The spin? well, the road closures etc had a higher news priority than the actual rally. No mention of WHY the rally was held, WHO started spraying the water cannons as people were just WALKING, no mention of the NUMBERS. Typical. Reality indeed. Apparently it was the demonstrators’ fault that the roads were closed (or at least portrayed that way) but it was the overexcited police (by whose orders I wonder). Hmmm..

DPM said this (along with Information Fella within same article). I found it ironic that the Penang CM said this. HAHHAHAHA how ironic. the BERSIH rally was a PRIME example of how Malaysians worked together. Oh, the polls are going to be an interesting one. I wonder when it is going to be, early next year (before they can hike up more prices I’m assuming).

No mention of PM’s view as yet (mebbe he was taking a nap).Looking forward to seeing more pix of the rally. Hope everyone didn’t get sick but you guys were just awesome!

Other news links:

BBC

BERSIH official blog

Al-Jazeera

IOL

CNN

NY Times

What is amazing is that the Agong (Daulat Tuanku) himself instructed guards to step aside and let them present their petition. It is rumoured that one of the regiments under his command also were at the ready to protect the demonstrators. Not sure how true that is, but I guess the ordinary rakyat would be pleased that the royalty at least were willing to hear their grievances.

What’s next I wonder? I really am curious.

BERSIH rally was a success!

And what is the BERSIH rally?

check Screenshots

Malaysia Today

Elizabeth Wong

Rocky’s Bru

I bet there will be more news as things go on. Watched the NTV7 version and the AlJazeera version.What a DIFFERENCE! NST and thestar online had the “oh by the way” style headlines. the last NST update I could see was 1:30pm whereas the star’s version, you had to click on the nation news and it was a hidden headline. Oh how to toe the line

Today was a day I was proud to be Malaysian! I wish I could have been there to see the throngs of yellow in solidarity with each other. a True Malaysian rainbow (bukan saja Truly Asia yah?) All walks of life, colour, faith, expressing their concern with the state of the country today, with fair and free elections our hope, with corruption truly stomped on, a check and balance system really in place, a real future for us, our children. how Malaysia should really be, as it once was.

Before I wax lyrical and get all sentimental etc etc, just a note. How proud I am to be Malaysian and how the peaceful demonstration went through. 40,000. Hot Canai!

HAPPY DEEPAVALI/DIWALI!

Here’s wishing all our hindu friends a happy deepavali/diwali!