hak55

Restrict military uniforms to members of the Malaysian Armed Forces

2017-11-19T20:26:00.001-08:00

As far as I know, as a former Army officer who earned an Agong's commission, no countries other than Malaysia allow the use of military ranks, for officers and other ranks, other than its use by their military personnel.

A check with some friends, retired and serving military personnel from USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, India and Pakistan, confirms my statement above.
I wonder what it would feel like for someone without the right credentials, qualifications and experience, to wear the rank of a Major General, Lieutenant General or General with two, three or four stars respectively on their shoulders, for example.
Does he know what the implications are and what are the duties and responsibilities of people with two, three or four stars on his shoulders adorning his uniform?

Of late, we seem to see many people being conferred with senior military ranks by different people who do not have the authority or ‘who only assume the authority’ such as ministers and head of departments and this practice seems to be proliferating. Recently, even a president of an association of people who are entertainers, including some clowns among them, was given the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel (RELA). These people who are given honorary ranks are not even involved in the business of keeping peace and security of the country so, what were the criteria used for them to be given honorary ranks.

Has the King’s authority been diminished or taken away?

Do ministers or head of departments have the authority to confer them?

Rightfully, in this country, only the Agong (King) has the authority to confer commissions to officers in our army that is after they have completed an approved scheduled theory and practical training for at least one year. We have our own Royal Military College to train qualified candidates, men and women, to become officers. Upon successful completion of their officer cadet training, they are commissioned by the King as 2nd Lieutenants and they are then sent to various units to serve. There are others, after completing basic training locally who are sent to officer cadet schools either in USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, India or Pakistan. These officers will receive their commissions from the heads of state of the respective countries they go to.

All officers of the Malaysian Armed Forces take the oath of allegiance and loyalty to the King and country which states more or less as follows, “I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the country and the Constitution of Malaysia against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter."

The oath of allegiance is accompanied with a full length photo and fingerprints of all ten fingers of the officer and not just the thumbprint like what is done in other oath or agreement documents.

As the officer progresses in his career, he will have to undergo further training, attend courses and sit for and pass scheduled examinations at various stages of his career before he gets promoted to Lieutenant, Captain, Major and so on and he is given added responsibilities to shoulder until he gets to be a four star general. The higher the rank, the fewer are the holders. In the Malaysian Armed Forces, the rank of four-star general is accorded to only four officers, viz. the Pangilma Angkatan Tentera (Chief of the Armed Forces), Panglima Tentera Darat (Chief of the Army), Panglima Tentera Laut (Chief of the Navy) and Panglima Tentera Udara (Chief of the Air Force).

The Malaysian Volunteers Corps Act 2012 (Rela Act) which came into operation on 22nd June 2012. As members of the Volunteers Corps, RELA members are not military officers but in the schedule (Section 22) of the Rela Act, officers of RELA are accorded ranks exactly like the military with the ranks of Majors up to General considered as officers and from the ranks or privates up to Captains, they are known as members. The insignia and rank designs, including the number of stars used, are almost exactly like the ones used by the Malaysian Army.

RELA personnel, officers and members, wear uniforms that has a military-like look complete with berets and they are now commonly seen everywhere; to take care of traffic at weddings, at shopping complexes, markets, schools, for example. Their presence may give a wrong impression to foreigners and tourists who may think that military personnel are being deployed everywhere and questions may rise about our security situation. Worse still, if foreign journalists write about wrong assumptions they perceive after seeing the indiscretion of RELA officers everywhere in this country.

We, former and existing members of the Malaysian Armed Forces, are unclear about the rationale in the use of military ranks by RELA and we wonder if the people who approve the Act have the authority to do so. I also do not think that the formation of RELA and the drawing up of the Act were ever discussed with MINDEF at all.

The Act makes light, if not fun, of military ranks.

RELA officers and members may use insignias to indicate the respective and different positions or appointment but they must never use insignias and ranks similar to the ones use by the military. Military insignias and ranks are only for military use and it is like a trademark or a copyright of the world’s Armed Forces. This has to be respected and honored by all.

Military uniforms, insignias and ranks must be restricted in their use to military officers only.

Of course, officers providing essential services such as the Sea Ports and Malayan Railways, for example, who during an emergency or a war, may be mobilised as military personnel, are allowed to use uniforms, military ranks and insignias similar to the ones used by the Malaysian Army and that is provided by law.

In a wedding ceremony of a major local male celebrity not too long ago, the groom even had the gall to put two stars on his shoulders similar to the stars use by an officer with the rank of Major General in the Army on the military ceremonial dress he wore at his wedding and he even had the gall to have people who look like police officers as sword bearers at his wedding do.

Only genuine military and police officers are entitled to sword bearers to grace their weddings and no one else.

All the above has made a total mockery of military ranks and the novelty of being officers is now lost. No one seems to be in control of the situation and the government, including the Prime Minister, seems to be silent about it. In addition to that, none of the senior serving military officers have said anything about the situation.

If similar actions happen in the countries I mentioned above, there will sure be a big hue and cry about it. People there respect and honour dearly people in the military and their rights and no one makes fun of them.

If the use of military uniforms, insignias and ranks are not controlled or restricted, we will soon have military style organisations complete with military uniforms and ranks and equipped with weapons and, they may and can create unnecessary and unwanted problems that may undermine the country’s security.

We, the retired and serving members of the Malaysian Armed Forces, hope that the Prime Minister and the government will take a serious look at this matter and correct the situation as soon as possible.

Hussaini Abdul Karim, Shah Alam

ISLAMISM

2017-06-28T18:34:00.000-07:00

"ISLAMISM" - The new world's superpowers dangerous ideology.

Yes, Islamism is all about the "New World Order". The extreme urge of powerful countries banding together for ultimate control of the world and it all involve the killing of millions of innocent people. It is an ideology that is extremely dangerous for the weaker countries. Similarly, there were dangerous ideologies before, communism in (Russia and the East European countries, China, Vietnam, North Korea) Fascism (Italy, Nazi Germany and Japan) and now Islamism (USA, Israel and the NATO countries).

Islamism took off after the Arab Spring that started in Tunisia and followed by Egypt, the destruction of Iraq and the destruction of Libya by the US Forces assisted by Israel and NATO countries and the attempted destruction of Afghanistan. Now ongoing are Syria and Yemen. All Muslim countries.

Despite such a suggestive name, Islamism has nothing to do with Islam at all. The world's superpowers do not want to see power transferred to the hands of Muslim leaders even in Muslim countries and a good example is the staged and coordinated overthrow of Ikhwanul Muslimin under Morsi who, in spite of winning the general election in Egypt, was not allowed to form a government instead, the Military Chief, Sisi, took over control of the country and rule Egypt with help that came from USA and Israel. Morsi was charged, tried and sentenced to death. The sentence has not be commuted yet and he remains in jail indefinitely.

Islamism, just like the other dangerous ideologies mentioned above, is the banding together of powerful nations viz. USA, Israel and, NATO countries operating as Al - Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS, ISIL, DAESH (all fronts with Islamic names used as a decoy to trick the whole world). All these terrorist groups were formed and financed by the US, Israel and the NATO countries and by "blackmailing" rich Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf states to finance them.

The Qatar issue raises many questions about how they manipulate those Gulf states. We now know that the appointment of the Saudi King must meet conditions set by the US.

Malaysia, in the video report, is said to be one of the few "Muslim" countries that support the death penalty for "apostasy" but we all know that never once an apostate was sentenced to death or executed. That video report therefore contains some inaccuracies. The Malaysian government should act against such false report lest it may threaten the country. Our security is now being compromised, so to speak.

I have some friends who wanted to join the freedom fighters cuz. Hamas and Hezbollah, to free Palestine from the Israeli crutches and they were all told to go home. They were all told, "This is our fight, it's not your fight!"

You disagree with me? By all means, speak up but no expletives or name calling please.

Thank you.

ISLAMISM

2017-06-27T09:33:00.002-07:00

"ISLAMISM" - The new world's superpowers dangerous ideology.

Yes, Islamism is all about the "New World Order". The extreme urge of powerful countries banding together for ultimate control of the world and it all involve the killing of millions of innocent people. It is an ideology that is extremely dangerous for the weaker countries. Similarly, there were dangerous ideologies before, communism in (Russia and the East European countries, China, Vietnam, North Korea) Fascism (Italy, Nazi Germany and Japan) and now Islamism (USA, Israel and the NATO countries).

Islamism took off after the Arab Spring that started in Tunisia and followed by Egypt, the destruction of Iraq and the destruction of Libya by the US Forces assisted by Israel and NATO countries and the attempted destruction of Afghanistan. Now ongoing are Syria and Yemen. All Muslim countries.

Despite such a suggestive name, Islamism has nothing to do with Islam at all. The world's superpowers do not want to see power transferred to the hands of Muslim leaders even in Muslim countries and a good example is the staged and coordinated overthrow of Ikhwanul Muslimin under Morsi who, in spite of winning the general election in Egypt, was not allowed to form a government instead, the Military Chief, Sisi, took over control of the country and rule Egypt with help that came from USA and Israel. Morsi was charged, tried and sentenced to death. The sentence has not be commuted yet and he remains in jail indefinitely.

Islamism, just like the other dangerous ideologies mentioned above, is the banding together of powerful nations viz. USA, Israel and, NATO countries operating as Al - Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS, ISIL, DAESH (all fronts with Islamic names used as a decoy to trick the whole world). All these terrorist groups were formed and financed by the US, Israel and the NATO countries and by "blackmailing" rich Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf states to finance them.

The Qatar issue raises many questions about how they manipulate those Gulf states. We now know that the appointment of the Saudi King must meet conditions set by the US.

Malaysia, in the video report, is said to be one of the few "Muslim" countries that support the death penalty for "apostasy" but we all know that never once an apostate was sentenced to death or executed. That video report therefore contains some inaccuracies. The Malaysian government should act against such false report lest it may threaten the country. Our security is now being compromised, so to speak.

You disagree with me? By all means, speak up but no expletives or name calling please.

Thank you.

More examples of bribery and corrupt practices in Malaysia

2016-09-29T07:47:00.002-07:00

Corrupt practices in Malaysia are not confined to the land only in this country, it is also rife on the high seas. I have foreign friends who like sailing and they regularly take their yachts to sail along the Straits of Malacca from Singapore right up to Cheng Mai in Thailand, sometimes. At other times, they would sail to Port Klang or just to Port Dickson from Singapore and back. Their trips take a few days to as long as two weeks depending on the distance they travel and the number of calls in between the destinations that they make.

According to some of them, sailing along Malaysian waters subject them to several checks by several different Malaysian authorities such as the Marine Police, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Authority (MMEA) and the Royal Malaysian Navy.

Many times they were stopped, checked and even when everything was proper and despite all papers were in order, they were still asked to pay some ‘fines’ in cash amounting to a few hundred RMs.

They said ‘fines’ but neither summons nor receipts were issued. At times only one maritime authority would demand the payment and at other times, when they were unlucky, all three demanded payments and that can total a few thousand RMs. The amount was large by any standard maybe because people who go sailing in luxury yachts were supposed to be rich. Besides that, some things that attracted their attention get confiscated for no apparent reason or reasons, they just took them away. Their treatment of the recreational sailors were normally very rough and with rifles and pistols pointed at them to intimidate them.

Pirates were not the only threat that recreational ‘weekend’ sailors encounter and sometimes, the Marine Police, MMEA and the Royal Malaysian Navy, who were supposed to provide protection for them, drug trafficking and to prevent smuggling or human trading activities, among some of their duties and responsibilities, are sometimes worse than those pirates.

In another case, this is more akin to extortion than bribery but back to the safety of being on land, so I thought and once, my Indonesian maid, during one of her free weekends, went out to town one afternoon, somewhere in PJ and she was stopped by policemen in a patrol car. I received a frantic phone call from my Indonesian maid and she told me that she was stopped by the police and now held in a patrol car and that the police officer wanted me to see him.

Without asking about the location, I straightaway headed for the PJ IPD but upon arriving at the station, they were not there. After calling my maid, the police officer, speaking through my maid’s phone, told me to meet them at a secluded back lane not far from PJ lPD and somewhere in the industrial area.

Upon meeting them there, he (the police officer) demanded RM2000.00 rom me for the release of my maid. I told him that she is brought in to this country and employed legally by me and that she had a permit to work as a maid. The police officer didn’t want to hear anything of that at all because at the point of time when she was stopped, she did not have the permit with her. Arguing with the police officer was of no use as he said, if I did not pay, they will send her to a detention centre in Nilai,

Negeri Sembilan and I would have to go through more hassles and probably spend more money for her release not to mention the indefinite number of days the process would take. Not wanting to go for a long period without a maid since I had young children who needed to be looked after when my wife and I were not home as we were both working, I paid the RM2, 000.00 for her release.

World Corruotion Index (Malaysia is No. 54)

Ever wonder what happened to smuggled goods that are confiscated by the Royal Malaysian Customs Department?

I do not know the real answer but what I have heard is that those some goods are sent back into circulation and sold openly as ‘legal’ goods in the market.

So, who then pockets the money?

Try figure that out yourself.

Every time the government announces a campaign, for example now, the campaign against mosquitoes to stamp out the threat of zika and dengue, staff or agents with authority cards would go around the country to check mosquito breeding areas or spots in houses and business premises however, there will also be people who claim to be staff or agents with ‘fake’ authority cards going around and collecting money from unsuspecting money from members of the public. Some members of the public who feel that ‘something was not right’ would make police reports and it will take days or weeks sometimes, before announcements are made in the electronic and printed media. By then, thousands of RMs have already been collected by those rogue agents.

Many government’s service providers, contractors or their agencies, after satisfactorily completing their projects or jobs, are asked to pay some money before collecting their cheques.

The modus operandi is quite simple and this normally involves department accounts clerks. When a cheque is ready, the department’s accounts clerk would call the service provider, contractor or its agent to collect the payment due to them. Before the cheque is handed over to them, the accounts clerk would demand for money and the amount they are asked to pay depends on how big that cheque is and amounts such as RM10, 000.00 in cash are quite common.

Incidents of corruption, bribery and cheating happen everywhere; besides ministries and government agencies, there are similar cases happening in GLCs as well as private companies, in short, rogues are found everywhere.

What are the steps that can be taken to stamp out such an act?

Some of the suggestions that I have are as follows:

1. Rotate jobs of accounts clerks who deal with payments (do not let the same accounts clerk to remain too long in that position). Change them every one year or sometimes, every three months in cases of departments that issue a large number of payments.

2. Actions taken against staff (accounts clerks) caught for such acts should be carried quickly and the penalties or punishments must be seen to be heavy and tough as a deterrent so that the others will be fearful.

3. Keep inculcating in them integrity values.

4. Instead of paying by cheques, departments should use online payments, it is very much like us taxpayers paying our taxes to LHDN online. This will cut down inter-action between people and eliminates the chances of cheating.

I hope, sharing my experiences and stories about bribery, corruption and cheating amongst government staff or their agents in the country that involved several ministries, agencies and organisations will open up the eyes of the authorities and that steps can be taken to stamp out bribery and corrupt practices in the country and to make our country a better place for all.

Others may have different experiences that may be more imaginative or creative that I have never come across or experience and you may like to share your experience with readers here so that acts of bribery, corruption and cheating can be stamped out.

Wrong use of words changes their meanings

2016-05-24T10:25:00.000-07:00

10 MAY 2016 @ 11:01 AM MANY Malaysians are butchering the English language.

Many times, the meanings and the grammar of some words are ignored totally.

Often, English words are wrongly spelt and this was seen on some banners and posters posted by candidates in the recent Sarawak election.

Malaysians, especially those in broadcasting and journalism (Malay section), are fond of changing the meanings of English words when they are used as “Malay words”.

Here are some other examples:

Jury (juri) — a panel of the jury: a group of people who listen to the facts of a case in a court and decide whether or not somebody is guilty of the crime.

Juror: a member of the jury.

Jury (2) — A group of people who decide on the winner of a competition.

Judge (hakim) — a person who decides who has won a competition.

When we watch talent or reality shows produced in the United States or the United Kingdom, such as The Voice, America Has Talent and American Idol, for example, the group of people who listen and watch the contestants and who decide on the winner are “judges”.

Here, in reality shows such as Kilauan Emas, Raja Lawak Mega and Akademi Fantasia, for example, we have “juries”. We also have “juri professional” (professional juries). The question is: “Aren’t juries all professionals who are nominated from amongst the professionals in a particular industry?”

Preference should be to use hakim (judge) and not juri (jury) to make it consistent with the meaning of the word and the duties of those people who judge the contestants.

MCs announce, “Let the judges decide” and never, “Let the juries decide”. Another word is symbol (simbol), a noun meaning a person, object, event or etc that represents a more general quality or situation.

When used in Malay, the sentence we normally see is: “Warna merah, biru dan kuning digunakan sebagai simbolik negara kita”. The original word “symbol” is a noun but somehow, in Malay, the adjective “simbolik” is used.

Here are some examples of headlines from a Bahasa Malaysia newspaper all using simbolik (symbolic), an adjective, in a sentence as follows:

“Simbolik batal pantang tanah” (symbol for land taboo).

“Pesawat Jepun simbolik hubungan JSDF, TUDM” (Japanese aircraft used as a symbol for JSDF, TUDM relationship).

“Periuk, sudip simbolik bantah harga barang naik” (Pots, used as a symbol to protest against price rise of consumables).

Simbolik (symbolic) is an adjective; therefore, all the sentences above in Malay are the wrong uses of the word “symbol” (noun).

Using “to” (hingga) instead of “and” (dan) with “between” (di antara) is common in Malay speech or written sentences in Malay. As an example, we see or hear, “Di antara Kuala Lumpur hingga ke Ipoh” instead of “Di antara Kuala Lumpur dan Ipoh” or “Di antara pagi hingga ke petang” and not, “Di antara pagi dan petang”.

However, when it comes to indicate “time”, the prefix “di” is not as in “… antara jam satu tengahari dan dua petang”.

“Myth” is translated as “mitos”, which sounds more like “mythology”. Mitos Peribumi Malas by Syed Hussein Alatas is one example. It should be, Pribumi malas adalah satu pendapat yang tidak betul.

So, the use of “mitos” in Malay to mean “a fallacy” or “something that is not true” is wrong.

Here is what the dictionary says about the word “myth”.

Myth (1) meaning: a story from ancient times, especially one that was told to explain natural events or to describe the early history of a people;

Myth (2) meaning: something that many people believe but that does not exist or is false (a fallacy). This version of “myth” should be translated to Malay as pembohongan or penipuan, karut, pendapat yang tidak betul or kepercayaan yang tidak pernah berlaku.

Words related to “myth”:

Mythic: somebody/something (sb/sth) that has become very famous, like sb/sth in a myth (legendary); that does not exist or is not true (fictitious).

Mythical: existing only in ancient myths.

Mythological: connected to ancient myths. Mythology: something that many people believe but that does not exist or is false.

Mythos (noun, plural mythoi [mith-oi, mahy-thoi): the underlying system of beliefs, especially those dealing with supernatural forces, characteristic of a particular cultural group.

Myth (noun): a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature.

Mythology (noun, plural mythologies): a body of myths, as that of a particular people or that relating to a particular person (Greek mythology).

Another common mistake is the wrong use of “protocol” when “etiquette” is meant.

Just because some local comedians used 'protokol' to describe the arrangement of plates, forks, knives and spoons for a formal dinner and the procedure to use those cutlery (the term should be “etiquette”), others also follow.

“Protocol” is used when referring to dignitaries such as kings, presidents and prime ministers, and making seating arrangements and forms of address.

One more thing, a very common misnomer is the use of ‘bonnet’ to refer to the ‘boot’ (British) or a car’s trunk (American).

HUSSAINI ABDUL KARIM, Shah Alam, Selangor

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/05/144736/wrong-use-words-changes-their-meanings

'No need for DNA test to prove Hang Tuah's existence'

2016-05-03T00:04:00.002-07:00

'No need for DNA test to prove Hang Tuah's existence'

Michele Ng

New Straits Times

May 3, 2016

MALACCA: Hang Tuah definitely existed and a DNA test to prove his existence would be a 'waste of time', says Malaysian Institute of Historical and Patriotism Studies (IKSEP) chairman Adjunct Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Jamil Mukmin.

"A DNA test to prove the existence of the legendary Malay warrior Hang Tuah, as suggested by Professor Emeritus Tan Seri Dr Khoo Kay Kim, is unnecessary and a waste of time.

"The evidence of the Malay warrior's existence is strong enough and can no longer be disputed.

"Research on Hang Tuah had not been done recently but since the past six decades, IKSEP itself had conducted two seminars and a forum on this polemic debate," said Mohd Jamil.

Khoo had previously said that Hang Tuah might be mythical and that there was no strong evidence to prove the warrior’s existence.

Other, however, have countered that DNA tests on the remains in Hang Tuah's tomb might prove to be difficult due to religious sensitivities. Tests, they argued, should instead be performed on pre-historic findings.

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/no-dna-test-prove-hang-060330899.html

WASIAT RAJA HAJI KEPADA BANGSA MELAYU

2016-04-30T07:43:00.002-07:00

WASIAT RAJA HAJI KEPADA BANGSA MELAYU

Tokoh jihad berketurunan Melayu Bugis abad ke 17…..menentang penjajah Belanda di Kesultanan Johor….

Ketahuilah olehmu wahai umat Melayu, peperangan ini bukanlah peperangan orang-orang Bugis. Tetapi ini adalah peperangan untuk mengembalikan maruah dan kehormatan sekalian diri orang-orang Melayu yang telah dipijak-pijak oleh penjajah Belanda laknatullah. Akan tetapi Belanda itu telah mencanangkan bahawa aku dan sekalian orang Bugis tidak berpuas hati dengan pengagihan hasil rampasan tembakau dari Kapal Betsy kepunyaan Perancis yang menceroboh Selat Melaka itu.

Adapun kita adalah orang-orang Melayu yang beriman kepada Allah Taala juga menyakini bahawa peristiwa itu hanyalah asbab yang telah menyatukan orang-orang Melayu dari Teluk Ketapang, Selangor, Rembau dan dari Batang Tiga untuk menghambat Belanda keluar dari Punggor, Duyung, Pernu, Semabok, Ujung Pasir, Bunga Raya, Bandar Hilir, Bukit Cina, Tanjung Keling dan Tengkera sebelum kita berkubu di Teluk Ketapang. Orang Serani, Cina dan India turut bergabung dengan kita dalam peperangan ini. Kini Gabenor Belanda menjadi seperti tikus dikejar naga berkubu di Kota Melaka. Ke hilir kena kutuk sultan, ke mudik kena kutuk raja.

Yakni dengan kata lain, peperangan ini adalah untuk mengembalikan tanah, udara, air dan laut yang telah dirampas oleh penjajah kepada orang-orang Melayu yang sudah beratus tahun membina kehidupan, membina kota dan pelabuhan di tanah air ini. Jikalau terdapat satu pun kampung, daerah, kota dan pelabuhan yang terbakar dan ditawan oleh penjajah, maka seluruh orang Melayu di seluruh kampung, daerah, kota dan pelabuhan wajiblah bangun menentang dan menghalau mereka. Sesungguhnya orang-orang Melayu itu bersaudara dan kita tidak akan kalah dalam mana-mana peperangan pun, jika kita bersatu padu di jalan Allah.

Syahadan untuk kita bersatu di jalan Allah bukanlah suatu perkara yang mudah. Ia bagai mengepal pasir yang kering. Syaitan adalah musuh yang nyata sama ada yang terang-terang terlihat pada mata kasar mahupun yang berselindung di sebalik hati manusia. Terbukti kebenaran wahyu sejak kakiku berjejak di Terengganu, Pahang, Johor, Selangor, Kedah, Langkat, Inderagiri, Jambi, Bangka, Pontianak, Mempawah dan negeri-negeri Melayu yang lain.

Telah bersungguh-sungguh aku membantu meleraikan persengketaan yang berlaku sesama sendiri dan mematahkan muslihat penjajah laknatullah. Mana dapat dibuat damai, maka damailah yang kumeterai. Mana yang berkehendakkan peperangan, maka peperanganlah yang kupimpin kerana sudah dua ratus tahun lebih kita masih dijajah bahana berebutkan kuasa yang tidak habis-habisnya, saling berhasad dengki dan bersubahat dengan musuh. Yang ruginya rakyat jelata. Tanah diambil, hasil diperas dan tubuh diperhamba.

Maka pada hari ini, tanggal 19 Rejab 1198 Hijrah bersamaan dengan 17 Jun 1784, di Tanjung Palas Teluk Ketapang inilah warkah yang tertulis. Warkah ini kutulis di atas sejadah, mengadap kiblat dalam keadaan berwuduk setelah selesai solat dan doa panjang untuk sekalian umat Melayu. Al-Quran di sebelah kananku. Kitab Dalilul Khairat di sebelah kiriku. Badik pusaka di pinggangku.

Sungguhpun demikian, aku amat menyedari bahawa terdapat di kalangan armada perang Melayu yang aku satukan dan pimpin ini terdapat golongan Melayu yang menjadi musuh dalam selimut. Berwajah Melayu berhati Belanda. Usahlah ditanya bagaimana aku mengetahuinya kerana tahu di angin turun naiknya. Apabila Allah mengkehendaki terjadi sesuatu perkara, maka tiadalah siapapun yang dapat mengelakkannya.

Biarkan sahaja mereka menyelinap ke dalam kubu kami dan mengepung aku. Syak fasik, yakin salih; batulah yang jadi juadah! Nah, wahai si munafik! Aku sesekali tidak pernah takut kepada kalian. Marilah kita berdepan sebagai seorang lelaki Melayu yang sejati! Engkau kendonglah panji perjuanganmu. Aku junjung panji perjuanganku! Nyawa kita di tangan Allah. Matiku di medan perang ini, tandanya sentiasalah aku hidup di sisi Allah Taala. Matimu di medan perang ini, tandanya celakalah engkau di akhirat kelak.

Seyogia, ketahuilah saudaraku. Walau apapun yang terjadi kepadaku janganlah dimungkirkan kafiat jalanku ini kerana ia akan hanya mengulangi kekhilafan malaikat apabila Allah menyatakan kehendak-Nya mahu menciptakan manusia untuk dijadikan khalifah di atas muka bumi yang akan ada di kalangan manusia saling menumpahkan darah.

Janganlah kita lupa pengakuan azali kita di depan Allah. Janganlah kita melupai ilmu yang Allah ajarkan secara langsung daripada sisi-Nya kepada kita. Kerana dengan itulah kita, manusia ini, dibangga-banggakan Allah di hadapan para malaikat-Nya, kata Allah ‘Sudah kunyatakan bahawa aku lebih mengetahui daripada apa yang kamu tahu.’

Allah Maha Besar!

Andai aku mati di medan perang ini akan berlanjutan fitnah demi fitnah yang tidak habis-habis, menghujani orang-orang Melayu di sepanjang sejarah akan datang. Manusia Melayu munafik, pengkhianat, pendengki dan petualang akan sentiasa muncul di kalangan kalian sebagai semut hitam yang melata di atas batu hitam pada waktu malam, tanpa bulan dan bintang.

Akan ada di kalangan kalian, Melayulah juga ia, yang akan menyambung lidah Belanda menuduh aku berjuang dan berperang kerana mabukkan harta dan kuasa. Sesungguhnya moyang poyangku para Opu Daeng Lima Bersaudara bukanlah mahu disanjung-sanjung dan dimegah-megah. Memadailah kukatakan apa yang kami inginkan ialah bangsa kita umat Melayu ini hidup bermaruah dan mempunyai kehormatan diri.

Maka Maha Adillah Allah Taala sebagaimana terdapat golongan yang munafik dan petualang bangsa, akan ada golongan di kalangan umat Melayu sesudah kami ini yang akan menyambung perjuangan kami. Mereka menyambut panji perjuangan kami dengan penuh harga diri. Dalam hati merekalah aku hidup dan menjadi cita-cita mereka pula mati kerana berjuang. Semangat mereka menyerupai kami, walaupun bilangan mereka tidaklah seramai golongan munafik dan petualang.

Mereka berani mati sehinggalah si petualang bangkit daripada sujud tatkala imam dan jemaah masih bersujud, lalu ditancamkan pisau di belakang antara mereka. Maka sesekali tidak mengundang gundah kerana apabila sudah datang janji Allah, maka syahid lah dia. Jika yang ditikam itu masih terus hidup, maka dia akan menjadi saksi kepetualangan si munafik tersebut, lalu mudahlah dicam dan diberkas seketika itu juga. Maha Besar Allah Yang Awal dan Yang Akhir.

Ketahuilah wahai saudaraku. Bahawasanya umat Melayu tidak akan sesekali ghaib daripada muka bumi ini yang Allah telah takdirkan gunung, dataran, sungai, kuala, selat dan lautan untuknya. Semuanya akan diwariskan Allah kepada raja yang adil lagi saksama dan pembesar yang mukmin dan mukminat untuk memerintah. Maka Allah mengurniakan rahmat dan berkat daripada tujuh petala langit dan tujuh petala bumi dan semua penduduk bumi dan langit mendoakan kesejahteraan bagi segenap isi negeri.

Sesungguhnya akan tibalah pada hari dan zaman itu orang-orang Melayu semuanya akan bersatu dan sanggup mati di jalan Allah. Mereka bersedia berperang dengan musuh daripada belahan dunia mana sekalipun. Kota-kota mereka terbina daripada peradaban ilmu yang dihiasi dengan mutiara kebijaksanaan. Ulama dan cendikiawan diterima sebagai penasihat ulil amri. Para ahli sufi terbebas daripada fitnah ajaran sesat dan batil. Rakyatnya cukup makan dan untung berniaga, tanpa ada penindasan dan perampasan. Kaum-kaum lain mendapat naungan dan jaminan keadilan sehingga taat dan setia mereka tidak berbelah bahagi lagi. Zaman makmur itu akan tiba juga apabila hak-hak Allah dipenuhi. Hak-hak rakyat dilaksanakan. Peraturan-peraturan mereka ditimbang dengan syariat dan disukat dengan adat.

Syahadan, ketahuilah olehmu wahai saudaraku. Ingatlah bahawa ranting yang akan melenting, dahan yang akan mencucuk dan duri yang akan mengait. Justeru tetapkanlah waspada sebagai pengawal di pintu gerbang zaman makmur. Bulan terang paksa baik: payang ke laut, baluk pun ke laut juga. Runtuhnya zaman makmur kerajaan Melayu sebelum ini adalah kerana raja dan pembesarnya sudah ada biduk, tetapi serempu pula. Lalu timbullah perebutan, hasad, iri hati dan sengketa. Kalau rakyatnya pula suka menuntut piutang lapuk. Ditelan kemewahan dilambung mabuk. Ada juga yang menjadi seperti itik bertaji. Tandanya, keris tersisip di dinding, pedang tajam dalam sarungnya sahaja.

Musuh yang nyata disetiakawankan. Manakala sesama sendiri sanggup ‘berjuang’ hingga memancung leher. Kesudahan mereka adalah dengan suul khatimah kerana lekat pada ingatan mereka akan harta dan kuasa yang terlepas daripada tangan. Dipamerkan pula tempatnya di neraka jahanam, wa nauzubillah. Itulah jihad di jalan syaitan adanya. Benarlah, ujian-ujian daripada Allah turun bersama-sama zaman makmur.

Maka jika kita alpa dan lalai diri dengan melakukan kegiatan dan perbuatan yang dilarang Allah, maka tunggulah bala bencana daripada tujuh petala bumi dan tujuh petala langit bertali arus menimpa umat Melayu itu. Ya Allah menitis pula air mataku. Ketahuilah bahawa aku tidak pernah menitiskan air mata sebagai seorang lelaki Melayu berhati kecut. Tetapi air mataku ini mengalir apabila memikirkan anak cucu cicit yang terkemudian hari. Apalah pula ujian dan balanya; apalah pula sengketanya; apalah pula pengkhianatannya; apalah pula penyelewengannya dan apalah pula kesudahannya.

Segala ribut badai perasaanku menyatu bersama ingatan terhadap junjungan nabi kita ketika saat-saat sakaratulmaut menjelang, telah terucap di mulutnya yang mulia ‘umatku, umatku, umatku!’ Aduhai Nabi kekasih Allah! Ingatlah pada zaman manapun kalian berada sentiasalah berselawat ke atas nabi dan beramal dengan sunnah-sunnahnya kerana itulah penyelamat agung penyedar daripada alpa dan lalai, pengikis sifat munafik dan menghidupkan jiwa.

Ya Allah limpahkan selawat dan salam ke atas Muhammad pada awalnya
Ya Allah limpahkan selawat dan salam ke atas Muhammad. pada akhirnya.
Ya Allah limpahkan selawat dan salam ke atas Muhammad pada setiap ketika.

Tatkala sampai di baris ini, aku sedang melihat berpuluh kapal perang armada Belanda pimpinan Peter van Braam dari Betawi itu, sudahpun tiba di pantai. Demi Allah, yang hidup dan matiku hanyalah di tangan-Nya, sedikitpun aku tidak berasa gentar, apatah lagi untuk berundur walau seinci pun ke belakang kerana kuyakini Allah sentiasalah ada bersamaku dengan panji janji-Nya dan panji kebenaran-Nya. Biarlah luka di dada jangan luka di belakang.

Rencana si munafik itu sampailah ke kemuncaknya apabila mereka dapat masuk menyelinap ke dalam kubuku, merampas pemurasku yang disandarkan ke dinding, maka ketika itu sampailah ilham daripada Allah kepadaku. Bahawa aku kini hanya ada sebilah badik tersisip di pinggang dan hijap yang terangkat antara aku dengan Tuhanku. Seraya langsung aku memanjatkan doa, “Ya Allah sesungguhnya aku telah dizalimi dan dikhianati. Aku bentangkan ke hadrat-Mu seluruh pengharapan-Mu dengan segala fakir dan hina diriku, Engkau jadikanlah warkahku ini terhijab daripada pandangan mata setiap munafik dan musuh-musuhku serta Engkau peliharakanlah warkahku ini hingga sampai ke hujung zaman agar dapat dibaca dan ditilik oleh anak cucu cicit kami pada kemudian hari.

“Ya Allah. Tidak sampai hati mahu ku pinta celaka untuk segolongan Melayu yang bersubahat dengan penjajah itu. Ya Allah jadikanlah anak cucu cicit kami di kemudian hari berjuang dan berperang dengan lebih berani dan gagah di jalan-Mu. Ya Allah tempat aku juga di sisi kekasih-Mu, Rasulullah yang aku rindui dan cintai segenap hatiku sekiranya aku gugur di jalan-Mu Ya Allah. Sungguh Engkau Maha Mengabulkan doa.”

Tatkala itu munafik-munafik itu mahu menangkap aku yang masih bertimpuh di atas sejadah. Namun demikian dengan kuasa Allah Taala segala sendi pada tubuh mereka, terkunci kaku seperti patung adanya. Maka bingkaslah aku daripada duduk lalu aku pandang satu persatu wajah-wajah Melayu munafik itu. Benarlah, peluru perak pemecah kubu yang kuat. Sungguh kawat yang dibentuk, ikan ditebat yang diadang. Tiada gunanya lagi kata-kata kerana perut tidak bertelinga. Sesudah itu berjalanlah aku menuju ke muka kubu dan tersergamlah kapal perang penjajah laknatullah itu pada pandanganku. Inilah Raja Haji yang kalian cari-cari. Syarak yang mengata, adat yang memaksa. Dengan badik di tangan kanan dan Dalilul Khairat di tangan kiri, lidahku berwiridkan selawat.

Bammm!!!

Bunyi bedilan sebuah meriam daripada salah sebuah kapal Belanda yang muncungnya dihala ke batang tubuhku, bergema ke udara. Ah! Sungguh beruntung pengkhianat itu kerana dapat menyaksikan lagi kuasa Allah apabila peluru lela rentaka meletup di dalam lubangnya sendiri, lalu terpelantinglah askar Belanda berselerak di atas kapal dan sebahagiannya pula jatuh ke dalam laut. Beranak pinaklah pula bunga-bunga api membakar kapal perang itu. Panglima Perang Belanda Peter van Braam nyatalah amatlah terkejut adanya. Bertambah maraklah lagi semangat jihad yang menjulang-julang dalam dada pejuang-pejuang Melayu. Bertambah amuklah mereka hingga berkecamuk barisan penembak pasukan askar Belanda itu.

Lantas bertafakurlah aku apabila melihat keadaan itu. Aku berserah sepenuhnya kepada Allah untuk menetapkan apa jua keputusan-Nya. Beberapa ketika kemudian dapatlah aku ilham daripada-Nya seraya aku bermohon, “Ya Allah aku berserah kepada-Mu seluruh jiwa dan ragaku. Aku rela syahid Ya Allah di jalan-Mu, daripada kehormatanku dan kehormatan umat Melayu ini dipijak-pijak oleh penjajah laknat ini setelah ditipudayakan oleh petualang daripada bangsa kami sendiri.” Arakian Panglima Perang Belanda itu sendiri segera menyalakan sumbu ubat bedil merim lela rentaka yang muncungnya dihalakan tepat ke dadaku.

Bammm!!!

Maka sampailah janji Allah. Mencurahlah darah daripada dadaku.
Jasadku rebah ke tanah. Tiada Tuhan Melainkan Allah. Maka terpinga-pingalah para munafik dan petualang apabila melihat askar penjajah memijak-mijak batang tubuhku, membakar al-Quran dan Dalilul Khairat. Badikku pula dilemparkan ke dalam laut. Pecahlah kapi, putuslah suai. Datanglah masyghulku, tetapi seketika itu juga difahamkan Allah kepadaku bahawa itulah tanda-tanda doaku yang telah dimakbulkan Allah.

Wallahualam..al fatihah

-RAD-

we’ll be left far behind

2016-02-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday, 25 February 2016

we’ll be left far behind

IN “English not only language of science” (The Star, Feb 22), Prof Datuk Ir Wan Ramli Wan Daud, President of UKM’s Fuel Cell Institute, said, “It is more about being able to create new scientific knowledge from a deeper understanding of science and mathematics which can only be achieved by learning it in the mother tongue.” I very much doubt the accuracy of this claim.

Having studied mostly in English, he is obviously better off than most scientists in this country as he is bilingual and has access to science books in both Malay and English.

Prof Wan Ramli gave some examples of outstanding students whom he taught who have made a name for themselves in international academic circles as the world’s best scientists. But how many of them out of the hundreds or the thousands that he taught and trained achieved such accolades - 2%, 3%, 4% or 5%?

Thousands more, he said, a “few generations,” did not make that grade. Compare that to the proportion of students who were taught in English worldwide who made that grade.

Early this millennium, I was appointed a member of a team tasked to set up a local private university to offer arts, science and engineering courses, and we had some well-known universities from the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand as our twinning partners.

Part of the studies were to be undertaken here and the remainder at our partners’ campuses.

Among the Higher Education Ministry’s conditions was the need for us to have local academic staff, as we were not allowed to have more than a certain number of foreign academic staff seconded from our twinning partners’ universities.

We interviewed many local qualified and experienced masters and doctorate holders and despite the impressive credentials of many of the local applicants, mostly non-Malay candidates were appointed. The Malays weren’t hired simply because their command of English wasn’t good enough. Less than 10% of the Malays were taken.

Since the degrees were all awarded by the respective foreign twinning universities, we had to make sure that the standard of English of all our graduates was accepted internationally.

A local Bahasa Malaysia-speaking scientist who has a PhD in chemistry, for example, may not be able to communicate effectively with a scientist from a foreign country with a similar or an equivalent qualification, who uses English.

The Dual Language Programme (DLP) is not like the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI).

DLP is supposed to make our students understand English so that they will achieve a standard that is acceptable at both the local and the international level. Many are also suggesting that subjects like history and literature be taught in English.

If university dons like Prof Wan Ramli insist on using the mother tongue to teach mathematics and science without supplementing it with a programme for our students to learn English, how do they expect our graduates to understand scientific journals written in English?

If our graduates only work in the country and do not have to deal with people overseas at all, that’s fine but as a country, we will always be left far behind countries whose graduates use English and have access to new scientific discoveries and technology.

It can be argued that science books in English can be translated into Bahasa Malaysia but how many books can be translated in a year, compared to the number of new science books published during the same period?

Transfer of technology cannot be applied for the very same reason and as a country, because of that, we can never achieve first world status. Even after building or constructing new infrastructure, the operations and maintenance work will mostly have to be undertaken by expatriates.

Our own people will be delegated to subsidiary work and the less important non-strategic duties and responsibilities, and we will always be dependent on foreigners.

I am a former soldier who saw real action. The military made it a point that we had soldiers (and officers) who could speak the enemy’s language or languages, and know and understand all the codes and the sign language used by them in order to gain an advantage over them. That’s how crucial and important knowing more than just our own language is.

No concerned Malaysians who care for the well-being of the country should object to the implementation of DLP in national schools.

With the signing of the TPPA, please realise that our country wants to be an important global player, not just in trade but in many other areas, and education is definitely one of them. Without a good grasp of the English language, besides knowing the national language, we may not get the quality (of education) that we are looking for and without it, I and, I believe, many other concerned Malaysians, do not think that our country can get to where we want to be.

http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2016/02/25/well-be-left-far-behind/

HUSSAINI ABDUL KARIM

Shah Alam

Studying in BM just as good

2016-02-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

Studying in BM just as good

I COULD not agree more with Prof Datuk Ir Dr Wan Ramli Wan Daud on his take regarding the English language, “English not only language of science’’ (The Star,Feb 22).

He was spot on in his argument that “There is no evidence whatsoever that English proficiency is increased if English is used to teach science and mathematics.’’

It all boils down to the attitude of our students when it comes to the English language. The education system acts as a facilitator and not as the sole point where one masters the language.

The debate among many scholars, educationists and parents has been ongoing for many years on whether the Government must emphasise more on the English language.

Having had my education in Bahasa Malaysia/Melayu (BM) from the mid-1970s right up to university in mid-1990s, I do not see how one could be less proficient just because one was taught in BM.

All the subjects, be it from arts or science were taught in BM, except for the English Language.

During our time we studied Physics, Chemistry, Biology and the various maths in BM right up to Form Six. We even practised answering questions for the STPM exam that were from the United Kingdom and in English without any problems.

Learning of science and maths transcends any language as it involves reasoning, analytical acumen and above all intrinsic motivation.

There is just no logic to the argument that only if one is proficient in English can one succeed in these two fields.

Take the Chinese vernacular schools in the country. They teach maths and science in Chinese, though basically it is the national syllabus. It is an open secret that Chinese students fair better in these subjects.

No doubt the English language plays a bigger role at the international level but that does not imply that we will be left out just because our children study in BM or any other language.

Language is a communication tool or a means to acquire knowledge not a benchmark to measure progress of society at large.

The Japanese, Chinese and Koreans are way ahead in technology compared to Britain or the United States where English is their mother tongue. How could that be possible if English was the yardstick in technological advancement?

Just observe the United Nations meetings. World leaders still use their own languages proudly to address the assembly. Does that make them lesser leaders? In fact, even our leaders should be encouraged to use BM during such meetings.

It is a fallacy to assume that Westerners, especially English speaking natives, have an excellent grasp of the language. I know this from having worked with them.

Empowering a student to gain knowledge must be carried out in a holistic manner. There are various co-factors that work synergistically and the English language is just a component.

The main problem these days lies with the students who generally lack interest in reading non-examination materials. The culture of reading is far more important to enhance language skills, be it English or any other language.

It is common to see how youngsters truncate and mutilate the language especially when writing on social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and even SMS.

They think it is cool to do so but unfortunately they get carried away using such writing skills even in their exams.

Who do you blame then? The teachers, parents, sophisticated “smart’’ gadgets or the entire education system for their bad English.

Let’s not be hypocrites and berate education policy makers just for the sake of it on unfounded evidence that we as a nation and our children will be left out of the race if we do not make English a priority.

Master the language as a subject first and see how at ease one can be in mastering other fields on your own initiative.

In the past parents never made a big deal when we studied in BM. Yet our time has seen great achievements and advances.

I am proud to have a degree in BM and studied everything in BM, except English as a subject. It never made me smaller in the eyes of the world.

http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2016/02/23/studying-in-bm-just-as-good/

NARINDER PAL SINGH

Shah Alam

Give English the priority it needs

2016-02-25T07:52:00.001-08:00

Wednesday, 24 February 2016

Give English the priority it needs

I REFER to the letters by Prof Datuk Ir Dr Wan Ramli Wan Daud, “English not only language of science” (The Star, Feb 22) and Narinder Pal Singh “Studying in BM just as good” (The Star, Feb 23).

English may not have a monopoly on knowledge acquisition but it is an extremely important language that we need to master, and this is the real issue I think.

Historically, all that happened made sense given the circumstances of the time, but the real issues and challenges are forward looking. It is tempting or convenient to extrapolate the past into the future. But is that the right approach? Bases may have changed.

It is true that in the past, different communities and societies, with unique languages, cultures and resources have made impressive progress within their geographical and political boundaries, without a common language.

We need to ask ourselves what constitutes our “community”, where we want to compete or excel in, and can we do everything ourselves?

If we see our relevance as only within our own national borders, only our domestic markets are important, and we do not need to work with the rest of the world, certainly we can ignore English.

Nowadays, “community” is not defined by geographical or political boundaries. If we have access to a computer and the Internet, it is a finger click away. The world-wide web and ICT have made a borderless world a reality as far as knowledge sharing is concerned. And handling knowledge requires language proficiency.

Just as Microsoft Windows and Android have become the de facto “lingua franca” for operating systems for most computers and smartphones respectively these days, English is the recognised international language.

We are inextricably interconnected with the rest of the world through our rich trading and cultural ties. Whether we like it or not, we are actually an essential part of the other communities that we interact with. English is the common global operating system.

It has been reported that 400,000 Malaysians face difficulty in employment because of their poor command of English. If English is not important, how can this happen?

We need as many Malaysians as possible to emulate Prof Wan Ramli and Narinder, who I am sure have not been disadvantaged in any way by their mastery of the English language.

Be excellent in whatever we do, and things will be even better for us all if we are also good in English. Let us give English the high priority it needs.

http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2016/02/24/give-english-the-priority-it-needs/

SPI C75

Shah Alam

English not only language of science

2016-02-25T07:49:00.001-08:00

English not only language of science

http://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2016/02/22/english-not-only-language-of-science/

SINCE my name was mentioned in the letter “A common medium” (The Star, Feb 18) by Datin Noor Azimah on the Dual Language Programme (DLP), I would like to respond to some of the issues raised by her on why we should continue the DLP.

First of all, I beg to differ with Noor Azimah’s notion that English is the only language of science. All her arguments about the dominance of English in scientific communications merely show that English has become the de facto communication language of science but not the only language in which established science could be taught and new science could be discovered.

Major scientific discoveries of the 20th century such as the Relativity Theory of Einstein that has enhanced our understanding of the huge expanse of space in the universe and the Quantum Theory of Heisenberg and Bohr that let us understand properties of the very tiny nanoscale structures and of atoms, were discovered in German, the language of the discoverers and not in English.

Both theories underlie almost all subsequent scientific discoveries including the very recent discovery of gravitational waves by LIGO that vindicated Einstein’s Relativity.

According to the Princeton historian of science, Prof Michael Godin in his new book, Scientific Babel, English became the dominant language of scientific communication only recently, in the last 60 years, at the expense of the previous triumvirate of scientific communication languages, English, French and German.

The Anglicization of scientific communication started much earlier by the boycott of German scientists by Western European and American scientists who published in French and English in between the World Wars. German science was further decimated by the defeat in the Second World War and many German scientists were brought over to work for America and to use English in their work.

The dominance of the United Kingdom and American publishers in scientific publications after the War squeezed out French as a scientific communication language and literally forced the English language down the throat of the scientific community, who otherwise would have continued to publish in either German, French or English as was the practice before the War. As a world-ranked scientist at the top of my own field as attested by Thomson Reuters’ World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2016, and as a professor in chemical engineering for 36 years at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), I have taught many generations of Malaysian chemical engineers in Bahasa Melayu and have supervised successfully many MSc and PhD students, who used Bahasa Melayu in the practice of world class science in UKM’s labs and in the reporting of the scientific results in their thesis.

External examiners from other universities in Malaysia were amazed and surprised but enthusiastic that world class science could be done and reported in Bahasa Melayu very well. The students then rewrote their research results in English for publication in world renowned journals.

Hence, English does not contribute anything to the science but merely as translations or rewrites of it. Since the MSc and PhD students are among the brightest of the lot, they have no problem in communicating their scientific results in Bahasa Melayu or English at international conferences with confidence because their scientific works are world class.

Renowned scientists look for the science not the language in their presentations and papers because scientific talent is rare and far between whereas the language of communication can be easily learned on the job.

Their scientific education in Bahasa Melayu at UKM did not prevent many of my students from going on to become successful professional engineers in industry and excellent lecturers and world class scientists with many of them becoming professors and world leaders in their fields of research.

One of them in particular, Prof Dr Siti Kartom Kamarudin, a true blue alumnus of UKM who graduated from UKM with BEng, MSc and PhD all in Bahasa Melayu, is also sharing the same accolade with me as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds 2016.

The Malaysian PhD candidate at Glasgow University from the International Islamic University Malaysia, Hafizah Noor Isa who was involved in the seminal detection of gravitational waves recently, was taught science in Bahasa Melayu in primary and secondary school. Her Bahasa Melayu background does not impair her ability to do world class science at all.

I am sure this is also true for many science and mathematics teachers and professors all over the country, who have taught tens of thousands of students, science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu before PPSMI, and whose students have become very successful in their chosen fields.

The fact that we have produced so many successful professors, engineers, medical doctors and scientists varying in age from 25 to 55 years old, who were taught science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu before the PPSMI speaks volumes for itself. The logic that if only one is taught science and mathematics in English then one would be more successful in later life is a fallacy.

If this were to be true, then no Japanese, Korean and now Chinese technopreneurs would have succeeded as they apparently had with world-class brands without learning science and mathematics in English in their schools and universities.

Learning English through science and mathematics, I am sure every educator worth his salt agrees, is not the most appropriate way of learning a language. There is no evidence whatsoever that English proficiency is increased if English is used to teach science and mathematics.

On the other hand, there is abundant evidence to the contrary. The disastrous PISA and TIMMS results of 2012 where Malaysian students were behind other non-English speaking countries clearly demonstrated the failure of PPSMI because the Malaysian students who took the test were taught science and mathematics in English under the PPSMI.

Vietnamese students who were weaker in English fared a lot better than Malaysian students who were better in English. Why do we want to resurrect a programme that has clearly failed spectacularly? If the objective is to be proficient in English, then the right way to achieve it is to strengthen the teaching of the language by having better ways of teaching it in schools.

The Education Ministry should review the way English is taught and find ways and means to improve it, rather than rehashing the failed PPSMI in the guise of the DLP.

I think many people like Noor Azimah who wrote passionately about the DLP issue neglect to tell us or probably do not know the kind of science and mathematics learnt by our children in schools all over the world. Science and mathematics taught in schools are established scientific and mathematical knowledge that have been accepted by consensus of most scientists and mathematicians at that point of history. It should not be confused with new cutting-edge science and technology that a scientist and a professor like me has to deal with every day in my scientific work.

Established science and mathematics change very slowly because new scientific discoveries that would become established knowledge is rare and far between.

On the other hand, cutting-edge science changes rapidly as new theories are being postulated to explain newly discovered phenomena, which are accepted or discarded after undergoing rigorous scrutiny by the scientific community. There is no need for our children in schools to learn cutting-edge science because understanding it requires the scientific knowledge of a professor.

Not many people know that established science and mathematics have already been translated into Bahasa Melayu in numerous textbooks for primary and secondary schools as well as for universities published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) and the premier universities, Universiti Malaya, UKM, Universiti Sains Malaysia,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia over the past 40 years.

All scientific terms in all fields are already available at the Persuratan Melayu web page of the DBP. Our children can easily gain scientific knowledge by reading them.

Even fewer know that the discovery of new cutting-edge science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu is growing at the international level over the last few years with the indexing of bi-lingual Bahasa Melayu-English scientific journals such as SainsMalaysiana by major international scientific journal indexing services such as the ISI and SCOPUS! Now scientists from all over the world can access cutting-edge scientific knowledge in Bahasa Melayu.

The whole idea of learning science and mathematics in the mother tongue is not only simply about language patriotism as has been alleged by Noor Azimah elsewhere. The central issue lies deeper than mere patriotism. It is more about being able to create new scientific knowledge from a deeper understanding of science and mathematics, which can only be achieved by learning it in the mother tongue.

I am sure we are all familiar with the history of how both the great Islamic and the European civilisations first translated and then independently created scientific and mathematical knowledge of their own in their own languages.

No country in the world that is ahead in science and technology ever teaches its children science and technology in a foreign language.

PROF DATUK IR DR WAN RAMLI

WAN DAUD

President

Former Founder Director & Principal Research Fellow

Fuel Cell Institute, UKM

Prof of Chemical Engineering, UKM

More than Science and Math in English

2016-02-25T07:42:00.003-08:00

More than Science and Math in English

22 FEBRUARY 2016 @ 11:00 AM

I REFER to a report, in which a top-ranked Malaysian scientist has thrown his weight behind a coalition to abolish the dual-language programme (DLP), saying that we don’t need English to produce world-class scientists. Professor Wan Ramli Wan Daud of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s (UKM) Engineering and Built Environment Faculty was quoted to have said: “DLP will see students learning Science and Mathematics in English just to increase their proficiency in the language.” This, he said, was wrong as students should be taught Science and Mathematics in their mother tongue.

The report made me feel sad and frustrated, and the opinion given, especially by a local internationally-known scientist who is a university don and an educationist, was disappointing. While I do not totally disagree with his view, I am puzzled by the professor’s claim that, “the reason you need English is because the major scientific journals are now owned by English-speaking countries”. If that is the case, how does one ensure our students, including Science students, understand English if programmes such as the DLP are rejected?

DLP is not a programme like PPSMI, which was about teaching Mathematics and Science in English. It is more than that. DLP is supposed to make our students know and understand English until they reach a standard that is acceptable at the local and international level. Under DLP, schools have been given the option to teach Science, Mathematics, Information Technology and Communication, as well as Design and Technology in English or Bahasa Malaysia. Many are also suggesting that subjects such as History and Literature should also be taught in English to ensure that students learn both the subjects and the language better. Now, if university dons like Wan Ramli insist on using the mother tongue to teach Mathematics and Science without supplementing it with a programme for our students to learn English, such as DLP, for example, how then do they expect our graduates to understand scientific journals written in English?

It has been acknowledged that most scientific books, journals, papers and publications on new theories, re-proving or disproving long established theories, discoveries and new research and findings that are available are published in English. Therefore, in not knowing English at an accepted level, our students and graduates cannot use these publications even if they have access to all of them. Their knowledge will then be quite limited since they can only read and understand scientific books written or translated into Bahasa Malaysia, when they should be able to know a lot more than that. So, why deny them such knowledge?

I believe the professor must have been to an English-medium school or went through training or courses in English when he was young and had attended overseas universities that used English as the medium of instruction at some stage of his tertiary studies, where he eventually obtained his PhD.

I am sure that he is pleased, thankful and relieved that his knowledge of English is at a high level. Science is objective, fixed and definite and mainly dwells in formulas, remembering abbreviations or symbols used to name and identify liquids, solids and gases, determining the number of atoms and molecules in them, how they are structured and how they can be re-structured to create new things or new products and about things that are tangible.

Science is also about memorising facts, principles and accepted theories. General English, on the other hand, is something that can be considered “loose”, unstructured (unless, of course, if one talks about grammar, parts of speech or conversation), and the ability to express one’s thoughts, construct sentences based on ideas or subjects given, and allowing for the flow of thoughts, how to use reasoning, thinking, logic, rationale and/or common sense for many things that are mostly subjective and intangible. Because of this, Science or Mathematics can be taught in any language, and as the professor stated correctly, “much of the science in the world is produced in non-English languages such as German and French. Most of the discoveries in quantum physics are done in German”. Science English and General English are, however, two different things altogether and are not interchangeable. Unlike Science English, in General English, not all ideas will necessarily finally arrive at or reach conclusions. But, despite that, some may still be accepted, depending on the situation or circumstances. Sometimes, parties involved need to agree to disagree or come to a compromise so that things do not stagnate.

Science is mostly, if not all the time, objective and whatever theory introduced must be proven before it can be approved and accepted, otherwise, it will be discarded. If our graduates only work in the country and do not have to deal or collaborate with people overseas at all, that’s fine. But then again, as a country, we will be left far behind other countries that have graduates and people who know and use English and have access to new scientific discoveries and technology. We may then require the services of overseas consultants, such as scientists, engineers and technologists, to help our country when we embrace new scientific and engineering breakthroughs and the latest state-of-the-art technology, and this may prove exorbitant.

It can be argued that Science books in English can be translated into Bahasa Malaysia. But the question is, how many books can be translated in a year, compared with the vast number of new Science books published during the same period? Transfer of technology and knowledge cannot be applied for the very same reason, and as a country, because of that, we may never achieve first world status. Even after building or constructing new infrastructure, installations of hi-tech equipment and facilities — including those for the purposes of defence such as weapons, radar and monitoring systems — the manning, operation and maintenance work will have to be undertaken mostly by expatriates.

Our people will be relegated to subsidiary work and less important non-strategic duties and responsibilities, and we will be dependent on foreigners to operate these strategic equipment. If we are not careful, we may one day be at their mercy or worse we may find ourselves under their control and our country’s strategic interest compromised because of our dependence on them and that can lead to a very serious security threat to our country. Is this what we want and will we feel secure in such a situation?

As a former soldier who saw real action, the military made it a point that we had soldiers (and officers) who could speak the enemy’s language or languages, and know and understand all the codes and sign languages used by them to gain an advantage over our enemy. We had to be at least one step ahead of the enemy at all times. That’s how crucial and important knowing more than just our own language is. Soldiers engaged in war or multi-country exercises, such as those organised by the United Nations, must know English as many codes, code words, signs, commands and orders used are in English.

Most weapons, weapon systems and standard operating procedures used internationally are also in English. No concerned Malaysian who cares for the wellbeing of the country and the people, and who loves the country, should object to the implementation of DLP.

Regardless of political inclinations, Malaysians who are against the DLP and the expected enhancements in teaching and using English language in national schools should not let our country lose out in the process.

With the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, we must realise that our country has ambitious plans and that we want to be an important global player, not just in trade but, in many other areas, including education. By accepting DLP and gaining proficiency in English language everyone will gain. Without a good grasp of English, besides knowing the national language, we may not get the quality of education that we aspire and without it, I and, I believe, many other Malaysians, too, do not think that our country can get to where we want to be. Let us not be selfish and impose more obstacles on the many that we have to face and let the country and the people of Malaysia be what they want their future to be. Hussaini Abdul Karim, Shah Alam, Selangor

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/02/128809/more-science-and-math-english

Not good to leave DLP decision to school heads

2016-02-25T07:37:00.003-08:00

Not good to leave DLP decision to school heads

17 FEBRUARY 2016 @ 11:01 AM

I REFER to the reports last week about the education minister letting the dual-language programme (DLP) be implemented only as an option instead of as a directive by the ministry. I think it is a big mistake for the minister to leave it to schools to make the final decision on the implementation of DLP instead of making it a national policy and force the implementation.

This mindset shows that the ministry is either half-hearted about the programme, not ready or not sure whether it wants it . I would expect the ministry to be firm and sure about implementing a national programme of such magnitude, and a lot of homework should have been carried out and done before the announcement was made last year. At the same time, I would also expect that the infrastructure, logistics and the support required to implement DLP in schools would have been made ready to allow for a smooth implementation.

It looks like they are not, but nonetheless, the responsibility lies with the minister and not the school heads. Granted, it may not be easy to implement the programme fully and quickly, as a national programme of such magnitude takes time to be fully implemented and it has to be carried out gradually. However, this would have been studied during the planning stage. I thought the announcement last year, where 300 selected schools will implement the programme, would have been a excellent plan. I do not expect school heads, if they do not receive the support they need, to implement the programme.

I believe school heads will face objections, especially from the Parent-Teacher Association, and it is not fair to leave those problems to school heads to handle. Had it been a national policy and the directive comes from the minister himself, such objections could be put aside or they may not arise.

As a parent, I was pleased to hear the announcement by the prime minister during the 2016 Budget about DLP, and I look forward to its implementation. DLP has come about after more than 20 years of debates, deliberations and consideration by parties and stakeholders. It is seen as the best there is, other than re-introducing English-medium schools, which will never happen. The minister’s stand, therefore, is disappointing. Hussaini Abdul Karim, Shah Alam, Selangor

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2016/02/127923/not-good-leave-dlp-decision-school-heads

BERSIH 4.0 - 29/30 August 2015 at Masjid Jamek/Dataran Merdeka

2015-09-02T07:57:00.001-07:00

BERSIH 4.0

I received an e-mail from a friend in Berlin, Germany today and I was shocked to hear from him that he had heard from some of his acquaintances here (not from me) that their friends got threatening mails because they'd attended the BERSIH 4.0 rally last weekend.

I told him in my e-mail reply that I am most surprised to hear that because nothing of that sort, as far as I know, happened here. I told him that the BERSIH 4.0 rally was a very peaceful one and no untoward incidents happened or reported.

I wonder who would have the gall to issue such threats to anyone at all.

I further told him that what I did hear about was that the organisers have been called for questioning by the police.The City Hall (DBKL) is also mulling on the idea of slapping the BERSIH 4.0 organisers a summons of RM65,000 for littering which the latter indicated that they will protest.

Being a participant myself and one without any bias at all, I attended the BERSIH 4.0 Rally on both days. I was there the first day during the afternoon and the second day, at night so that I could be at Dataran Merdeka, or nearby, when the clock strike at midnight and to enjoy the national day atmosphere to celebrate the auspices day with many other Malaysians who were there.

What pleases me is that the few Chinese, man and women, whom I spoke to or those who approached me spoke in Bahasa Malaysia and some, carried the national flags with them. That only shows that their spirit of patriotism is alive and well. I must mention here that the rallygoers, all in all, were very friendly and courteous.

However, as I went along, I noticed, there are far too many banners and posters written in Chinese and, to me that was not very good.

Some mainstream newspapers and online news portals reported a couple of people stepping on the portraits (photos) of the PM and Tuan Guru Haj Hadi, the current PAS President and I thought that was not a healthy act to be done by anyone at all. I believe the authority (PDRM) will be taking action on those culprits.

Nonetheless, we saw actions such as that in all public protests before, BERSIH 1, BERSIH2 and BERSIH 3, for example, and in other public protests organised by the pro-government people, in some of those cases, the portraits (photos) of personalities they stepped on was that of the opposition leaders and that included Y Lim Kit Siang, YAB Lim Guan Eng and DSAI.

The authority (PDRM), should they take action, they should act on all and they must not be selective as those actions, if they are considered offences, are similar offences, only the ‘victims’ are or were different.

In the recent BERSIH 4.0 Rally, I found that my rough estimate of 3% Malays attending the rally that I have made last Saturday after being there on Day 1 was considered generous and I was made to understand that the estimated attendance, after Day 2, was 500,000 people. I therefore revised my new estimate down to just 1% (less than 5,000 people).

I decided to attend Day 2 of the rally at night and to stay late so that I could celebrate Merdeka Day with some old and new friends.

When a politician friend of mine told me last Saturday night about the poor attendance of Malays for Day 1 of the BERSIH 4.0 rally and related it to them, in general, not wanting to associate themselves with an opposition party as that was their general view about BERSIH 4.0, I did not agree with him but after being there on both days, I found that what he said may be true after all.

He further deduced that they (the Malays) will never vote for the opposition regardless what is happening now with their own party nor will they show any support for it. Even a 'do nothing' stand by them is better than showing any kind of support for the opposition.

What does BERSIH 4.0 mean when it is associated to GE14 (2018)?

Given that the majority of the estimated five hundred thousand BERSIH 4.0 rallygoers were Chinese, I could see that as a trend that will be duplicated at GE 14 and it will be most unfortunate for the ruling coalition that most of their Malay voters will stay away from voting at GE 14. Whilst the Chinese voters will come out in droves all over the country to vote for the opposition, the ruling coalition will have a lot less number of voters who will come to vote countrywide compared to GE 13 and the GEs before that.

It's very simple; the ruling coalition's loss is the opposition coalition's gain.

I spoke to some UMNO people at a wedding last Monday afternoon and at the mosque, after Subuh in the morning and they told me that UMNO/BN's Secret Service people who went undercover and who were at BERSIH 4 rally on both days have submitted their reports and recommendations and basically what they are coming out with are various strategies and plans to counter the situation that is now favouring the opposition. Of course, I don't know the details so please do not ask me for them.

I also spoke to some members of the opposition parties for their views and they agree with me that the situation that is now favouring them.

I can infer from what I saw is that the Chinese are showing that they are united or at least they are showing that they can or are capable of being united if and when events or circumstances require them to.

Now, about the Malays, if I take the reactions of my many Malay friends on my two day involvement at BERSIH 4.0 and the few 'teh tarik' and 'surau' sessions I had with them discussing the event, clearly to them BERSH 4.0 is not the Malay/Islamic way of doing things. They prefer the way of 'dialogues'.

Furthermore, I noticed that Malaysian Malays are clearly divided into two main groups, UMNO Malays and anti-UMNO (not non-UMNO) Malays.

Whilst we all can roughly tell that in GE14 who the latter group of people would vote for, if they do vote, there is no guarantee that all members of the former group of people would vote for BN, even if they come to cast their votes.

Come GE14, many, if not most, of the people (from both groups), will most likely stay home and will not cast their votes at all. The advantage will therefore go to the opposition.

Hussaini Abdul Karim, Shah Alam, Selangor

2015-08-23T07:53:00.003-07:00

The Demang Toyareka Clan

UE Convention Centre, Changi, Singapore on 16th August 2015on the occasion of the Singapore Toyareka Family Reunion

Ki Jadin, the assumed name of our earliest identified ancestor, whose real name is not known, had a son by the name of Jadin. His father took his son’s name as his own and called himself Ki Jadin. His birthplace was Jangli Desa Jogopaten Kabupaten Kebumen.

Ki Jadin was a soldier who served P. Dipanegara and he was involved in the war against the Dutch that ended in the year 1830.

Accompanied by his son Jadin and two soldiers from his unit they moved west leaving their birthplace after the war until they arrived at Kadenmongan in Toyareka. Ki Jadin’s wife died during the war with the Dutch.

Upon arriving Toyareka, Ki Jadin, his son and the two soldiers worked for their new employer Ki Demang Toyareka.

After some years serving Ki Demang Toyareka, he was betrothed to his employer’s eldest daughter. Nothing was known about the two soldiers who accompanied him from their birthplace.

Ki Jadin had another son, borne by his new wife who was known as ‘Bugel’. ‘Bugel’ was actually a nickname he gave to his baby son because the baby, whenever he was left alone, he would sit still and did not move at all and was very quiet. He was like a ‘bugel’ or a doll. His real name was unknown.

When he became an adult, he became a ‘Lurah’ or a village headman in Toyareka and he was known as Lurah Bugel Radanikrama.

Ki Jadin continued to reside in Toyareka for several more years and he died there in….. (/). He was buried at the Svenggi Toyareka Cemetry.

Bugel Radanikrama married a local Toyareka girl and their children remained in Toyareka Kalibinong Jalisaba Kedungmenjangan dan Purbalingga Watan.

According to some local records in Toyareka, there are two grave markers (batu nisan) near Yawirogi in Toyareka believed to belong to the two soldiers who accompanied Ki Jadin.

In 1914, three members of the clan; Ki Tahir bin Sardi his wife, Kyi Murshidah, their daughter Satimah and a family friend Ki Ahmad Tahir, left Banyu Mas for Singapore to seek a better fortune.

Today, we have some of their ancestors living in Purbalingga, Purworkarto, Semarang, Jogjakarta, Surabaya, Banyu Mas, Slawi, Tegal, Slatri, Bandung, Jakarta, Medan, Palembang, Pontianak (Kalimantan), Batam and at some other places all over Indonesia and Malaysia.

The family also has a number of relatives residing in Malaysia; Johore, Malacca, Selangor, Pahang and Kedah and only four families, excluding their offsprings ‘ families, are so far identified. They are Abdul Jamil’s family (Kuala Lumpur), Asmah’s family (Selangor), Hussaini Abdul Karim’s (Ali G) family (Selangor), the late Rubiati (Biah) Sariyot’s (the late Ismail Nasution) family.

Overseas, the family has relatives in Melbourne (Australia), Wellington (New Zealand) and London (England).
Diagrammatic summary:

Ki Demang – Nyi Demang (Toyareka)
1803
I
Ki Jadin – Nyi Jadin (Toyareka)
1803
I
Ki Bugel Radanikrama (Lurah Toyareka) – Nyi Idom (Toyareka)
1803 – 1864 (?)
I
Ki Rasid Kasandikrama – Nyi Sugini (Kayim Toyareka and later Purbalingga)
1864 – 1902 (?)
I
Ki Tahir bin Sardi – Nyi Murshidah (Singapore)
1914

Notes:

They altogether had three sons and three daughters, all born in Singapore except Satimah. Satimah was seven years old when they migrated to Singapore.

Ki Ahmad bin Tahir married Satimah bte Hj Tahir in 1923 (?) when the latter was 16 years old and they had their first son, Jamil bin Ahmad born on 29 January 1929. The couple went on to sire ten other children, five boys and five girls making it a total of eleven children.

At the first ever grand family gathering on 16th August 2015, a total of 391 family members were present. This represent a small portion of the total number of family members exceed 1000 people with more than 70% of them residing in Indonesia.

The ‘Buku Salasilah Keluarga Keturunan Demang Toyareka’ prepared by Ki Chasbullah (Yusro) of Bancar, Purbalingga on 31st December 1985 and updated every year identified a total of slightly more than 600 family members in Indonesia.

Ki Chasbullah (Yusro) was the third child out of seven children, six boys and a girl (Ngaishah) of Nyi Halimah bte Ki Rasid Kasandikrama, Nyi Murshidah’s eldest sister.

Nyi Halimah was the eldest daughter of Ki Rasid Kasandikrama and his wife, Nyi Sugini of Bancar, Purbalingga.

About Toyareka: Toyareka in Central Java (region) is a town located in Indonesia - about 194 mi (or 313 km) South-East of Jakarta, the country's capital place.

Time in Toyareka is now 10:32 PM (Thursday). The local timezone is named "Asia / Jakarta" with an UTC offset of 7 hours. Depending on your travel resources, these more prominent destinations might be interesting for you: Yogyakarta, Tasikmalaya, Surabaya, Sokaraja, Sidareja or Toyareka. Being here already, consider visiting Wiranaya, Sempor Lor, Purwareja, Purbalingga, Majasari and Dipatilujar. There are 3 airports in the area of Toyareka. The nearest airport we we have in our database is Tunggul Wulung Airport (IATA: CXP) with a distance of 27 mi (or 44.1 km) South-West of the city centre of Toyareka. See here:http://www.tripmondo.com/indonesia/central-java/toyareka/

As - Salaam. Ali G

The ‘Nasi Lemak Syndrome’

2015-02-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

The ‘Nasi Lemak Syndrome’

Often we see along streets throughout the country, in the mornings especially, in both big and small towns, thriving nasi lemak stalls with a long queue of people waiting in line to buy nasi lemak. Locals and people from neighbouring housing estates including those who pass by that street will stop to buy them. On Sundays and public holidays, the queue gets even bigger. It tastes so good that people do not want to miss them.

Not long after that, another stall selling exactly the same fare will open next to that thriving stall and the second one will also do quite well and then, one after another will follow until you find, sometimes, you will find eight to ten stalls along the same street selling exactly the same fare. Unfortunately, when it gets to this stage, not all the stalls will do well and the owners of the stalls that aren’t doing well will resort to some ‘tricks’ normally using ‘black magic’ provided by a local ‘bomoh’ or a ‘bomoh’ who hails from some neighbouring town or village to cast spells on the other peddlers. Each one of the stall owners will engage a bomoh to cast spells on their rivals. Often, only one ‘bomoh’ is used by all but without the knowledge of any of his ‘clients’. Soon, when the spells take effect, one after another stall will close their businesses and finally, even the first and the original stall too, because even his business, which was doing very well before, is getting less and less customers due to the effect of the spell, and he too has to close his business. The spells become believable after rumours are passed from mouth to mouth and spread like wildfire. The rumour will normally spins stories that that particular stall uses the help of spirits to make his business flourish and not knowing which stall or hawker does it, all will become suspects and this scare people away. The street will then become empty again.

So, in the end, everyone loses and that also include the customers and the only person who gains is the bomoh. This is known as the ‘Nasi Lemak syndrome’ and in this age of advance science and technology, even pagan practices and beliefs like these are still going on.

‘Nasi Lemak’ is just one of the many examples of the products preferred by Malay peddlers and other products may include, ‘Nasi Campur’, ‘Burgers’, ‘Cendol and Laksa’, and most recently, ‘Goreng Pisang with Cheese or Chocolate Shavings sprinkled on them’ (a recent craze).

The question is, why can’t the Malays cooperate and help each other and if at all they want to go into business, try something else. Somehow or rather, it is believed that generally a Malay cannot see another Malay succeed, each will become jealous of the other and he or she will destroy the successful Malay. The term given to this is PHD and it stands for 'Perasaan Hasad Dengki' (jealous and destructive).

Take for example a Chinese hawker, he opens a Tau Fu Fa or a ‘You Tiao’ (Char Kwai) stall and he does very well, one thing for sure, no other Chinese will open another Tau Fu Fa or a ‘You Tiao’ (Char Kwai) stall next to him or even nearby and the surprising thing is that neither would a Malay or an Indian hawker open a Tau Fu Fa or a ‘You Tiao’ (Char Kwai) stall next to him. The only Chinese Tau Fu Fa or a ‘You Tiao’ (Char Kwai) stall will continue to thrive undisturbed.

When talking about Malays and Chinese, it is inevitable that we also speak of the Indians and even among the Indians, they are more like the Chinese and they will not disturb the business of a successful Indian. If at all they want to start a business, they will do something different from the Indian hawker who had started his business earlier, maybe selling rojak pasembor and cendol, for example.

The Malays must get out of this mindset, change and be like the Chinese.

Sometimes, the way different races do business can best be illustrated in their choice of music, especially in the way they beat the drums.

If one listens to the ‘Ronggeng’ beat, one would hear drum beats that sounds like, ‘Tak Untung’ … ‘Tak Untung’… ‘Tak Untung’… ‘Tak Untung’ - sing it softly (piano) - (losing money, losing money,losing money...) and so on. Listen to a Chinese drum beat in their traditional music and you would hear’ Untung’ … ‘’Untung’… ‘’Untung’ - sing it slightly loudly (forte) - (making money, making money, making money ...) and if one hears the traditional Indian music, one hears, ‘Kadang-kadang Untung’ … ‘Kadang-kadang Untung’ …‘Kadang-kadang Untung’ … (sometimes make money, sometimes lose money,sometimes make money, sometimes lose money, sometimes make money, sometimes lose money...) - sing this loudly (fortissimo).

As - Salaam. HAK

CURRICULUM VITAE (C.V) OF HUSSAINI BIN ABDUL KARIM

2013-05-16T03:37:00.001-07:00

PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL

Name : Hussaini bin Abdul Karim

e-mails: hak5520072007@gmail.com, hak5020022002@yahoo.com, hak@jewelamps.com

Date of Birth : 14 March

Qualifications Sijil Tinggi Talaqi Al-Quran (Distinction), Diploma in Management Programme, Malaysian Institute of Management 1983, MBA (Business) (Camden University, USA), Masters in E-commerce (Camden University, USA), Diploma in E-Commerce (Camden University, USA)

Other Courses: Attended several management, leadership, motivational, IT (Application Software), marketing and sale courses over the years.

Courses in Progress: Diploma in Islamic Studies ( Usuluddin), University Malaya

Kursus Al – Hikam (Informal)

Talaqi Al-Quran (Taranum 1)

LL. B. (London, External)

Language: English ( Excellent in reading, written and spoken English)

Bahasa Malaysia (Excellent in reading, written and spoken Bahasa Malaysia)

Health : Excellent

Marital Status : Married with five children

Sports : Golf, futsal, scuba diving, wall scaling, orienteering and cycling..

Social Activitie: Participates in ‘ámal, religious and social and community activities

whenever time permits. Marine environmentalist. .

Hobbies and Interests : Assembling scale models of aircrafts, tanks, artillery pieces, cars and motorcycles, reading (current interests include reading Malaysian history, business, economics and books on English grammar and usage and fiction). Music, playing (bassguitar) and traditional instruments and listening to music. Design and making parts for guitars.

Computer knowledge and literacy : Familiar with Windows, XP and Vista and Windows based application programmes such as Words, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio and Excel.

Work Experience :

1971 - 1979 Served a total of six years with the Malaysian Artillery Regiment (now Regimen Artileri DiRaja) after earning an Agong’s Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant on 14 April 1972 upon successful completion of cadetship at Royal Military College, Kuala Lumpur.

Active service included fighting against the communist terrorists and providing resistance to their supporters, sympathisers and cadres including destroying their camps and bases and supporting infantry troops and cavalry in the whole theatre of war against the communists, Air-operations, psychological operations (pschyops) and psychological warfare (pschywar) were also part of the battle activities participated in. (Note: The communists put down their arms and accepted the offer of the government’s armistice programme in 1989).

Active battle service was alternately carried out and supported by continuous training and upgrading of skills, including weapons’ training, tactics, surveillance, administration, other technical skills and soft skills.

Community service involved included provision of flood relief operations and training of school cadets and providing security to Essential Points (EPs) and Key points (KPs), among others.

Promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and Captain in 1976.

Granted an honourable discharge with the rank of Captain in 1979. Appointments held during military service included operational and administrative ( staff ) appointments. Attended various military and civil and technical courses both locally and overseas (Australia). Awarded the Pingat Perkhidmatan Am (PPA) in 1976.

1979 – 1985 Joined Kontena Nasional Sdn Berhad in March 1979 as Traffic Officer and rose to the position of Administration Manager in 1981. Resigned in 1985.

First assigned as a Traffic Officer upon joining and later assignments included positions at Marketing, Planning, Customer Relations, Scheduling of Container Delivery departments, Trouble Shooting, Managing of Human Resources and Operations Planning.

Promoted to Assistant Manager, Research and Planning and transferred to company’s HQ. Job included Research, Operations Planning, Business Development, Project Management, Marketing, Market Planning, Development, extension and expansion of infrastructure and facilities and preparing board papers.

Promoted to Administration Manager in 1981and job included (Physical) Development, Extension and Expansion of Infrastructure and Facilities and Preparing Board Papers, Company Secretarial matters and Company Legal Matters, Procurement of Light and Heavy Equipment, Office Equipment and Office Consumables, Office Renovations, Purchase of furniture and Fittings, Telephone and Communication Equipment, Management of Buildings and Facilities, Advertising, Promotions and Public Relations.

Sat in the heavy transportation sub-committee and submitted proposals to the Cabinet Committee comprising the PM and Senior Cabinet Ministers, on Infrastructure and Highways headed by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, on Policies and Systems related to Heavy Transportation Infrastructure, including Design of Ports and Ports Facilities, Container Yards, Warehouses, Roads, Bridges and Highways, etc. for use by Heavy Equipment and Heavy Vehicles throughout the country and paving the way for Total Integrated Logistics Operations throughout the country.

The proposals submitted led to the creation, development and construction of additional seaports in Selangor, Johore, Pahang, Terengganu, P Pinang and Pahang including Inland Clearance Depots (ICD) Belgian in Perak, Selangor, P Pinang and Pahang.

Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) took over ownership of the company under the New Economic Policy (NEP) arrangement and requirement.

Assigned.as a logistics specialist for Car Manufacturing Supply Chain Services. Headed the team in developing the Computerised Real Time Operations Systems for ‘On-Time’ Car Logistics.

Doubled as Operations Manager, Tibbet & Britten/Kontena Nasional Sdn Bhd, a joint-venture company between Tibbet & Britten PLC, UK and Kontena Nasional Berhad as Manager, Business Development and Marketing, Market Planning. JV was discontinued due to policy incompatibility.

Resigned in April 1985 to take up a new challenge and a better offer with a Public Listed (Main Board) Company for more exposure and experience.

1986 - 2007 Joined SungeiWay Holdings Berhad on 1 May 1985 as Deputy Manager Production Administration in their ‘cash cow’ subsidiary, Sun Mix Concrete Sdn Bhd./Sun Block Sdn Bhd.

Appointed Administration Manager in 1987 and transferred to Group Hq as Group Operations Manager in 1987. Job included Business Development, Planning, Research, Special Projects and Miscellaneous as and when required by the Group Managing Director, Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah.

Helped formed and set up Sungei Way Group Transport Industries Sdn Bhd, a general bulk transportation company equipped with tipper trailers to deliver sand, bricks, rocks, limestone and granite aggregates to support the production of ready-mixed concrete.

Helped formed and set up Sunway Keramo Sdn Bhd, a RM50 million Malaysian-Belgian joint-venture company manufacturing vitrified Clay Pipes for local and export markets.

Assisted in the development of Bandar Sunway, Sunway College, Sunway Pyramid, Sunway Lagoon, Sunway Lagoon Hotel Resort.

The most significant experience was the setting up of Sunway College (now Sunway University) including obtaining approvals of courses and syllabus up to Degree Level, twinning programmes with Curtin University, Australia, Leicester University, UK, University of Western Australia, Australia, Western Michigan University, USA. The formation of Sunway College provided the basis for the approval of the Universities Act (Amendment) and the setting up of the Ministry of Higher Learning which was once only a department in the Ministry of Education, Malaysia and the plan to make the country an education hub. Sunway College received a full-fledged university status in November 2010.

Represented the Group at high level meetings with Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Prime Minister’s Department, Malaysia embarking on privatised mega-projects such as roads and highways, bridges, airport, universities, townships, etc.

Resigned from Sunway Holdings Bhd in 1995 to start own business.

Last monthly drawn salary: RM18,000. (plus company car).

Formed H.R. Engineering Sdn Bhd owning the majority share in the plastic resins recycling factory and manufacturing of semi-finished injection moulded plastic products. Sold all shareholdings in the business and resigned as executive chairman of the company. Business failed.

Business failed due to ‘out-of-control’ factor after operating for only one-and-half years.

2007 - Free-lancing as motivational speaker for teenage development programmes. Set up Q – HAK Foods Sdn Bhd and Q – HAK Technologies Sdn Bhd with the intention to start an SME manufacturing business selling high-end manufactured products to supply the global niche market for such products.

Conducts free community tuition programmes and seminars on English for primary and secondary school students.

Participants in public forums and discussions on education, crime-prevention and youth development programmes.

MOE Columnist – The Star

Letters: The Star, New Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, The Sun

Articles: Reader’s Digest (September 2010)/local magazines

Ghost writer

Member of GAPENA

Additional notes - Contacts with various governments were enhanced and besides EPU, contacts with PM’s Dept, Ministry of International Trade and Industry MITI, Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Higher Education, KPDNKK, RTM, TV3, Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), Ministry of Transport (MOT), Port Authorities, Ports, Ministry of Education (MOE), Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Tourism Ministry, RISDA, FRIM, FELDA, FAMA, Public Universities, Major Local Councils, GLCs, State Secretaries’ offices, Army, Police, Customs, Fire Department, etc. Contacts are maintained and updated as and when necessary.

Being active in the game of golf as a club-member, player, and officiating at amateur events also helped in enhancing and making contacts with important people in various industries and ministries, both from the public and the private sectors.

My work experience includes working with people of various nationalities besides Malaysians (Malays, Chinese and Indians) such as British, Belgians, Dutch, Germans, Australians, Singaporeans and Chinese (Hong Kong and China).

In all the organisations I served, I have always been actively involved in social work, sports and entertainment including organising and participating in annual sports events and dinners.

Member of Retired Armed Forces Officers Club (RAFOC), an NGO where its main interest is to take care of the welfare and well-being of retired Malaysian Armed Forces Officers who served the Army, Navy and the Air Force. Head of ‘Safety and Security’ sub-committee Surau Al – Islah, Sek 7 (Worldwide) and ‘Police Partner ‘ in prevention of crimes in the Shah Alam area.

Please see my blog for more of me and my stories here: http://www.hak55.blogspot.com/

Thank you.

The Beatles and the Bull

2013-04-15T07:26:00.003-07:00

Here's a true story I wrote sometime back, part of my childhood experience, which was published by Reader's Digest in their September 2010 issue in the 'My Story' section. Some of you, especially those who are subscribers to RD, may have read it.

Title: The Beatles and the Bull

My uncle and I were determined to watch the Fab Four on television, even it if meant defying our family. The spirit world seemed to have other ideas.

In 1964, my uncle Mohammad Said and I had to continue attending daily evening classes to study and read the Al-Quran with our aunt, who lived 200 yards away from us in our Singapore kampong. I was 12 years old and my uncle was three years older than me, and we were always looking for excuses to avoid these classes.

Said (pronounced Saa – Aid) and I had figured out that we could safely stay away just once a month. Our absence would be hardly noticed and if we were asked, we could offer any one of a number of excuses. If our excuses were not accepted or did not tally, we would be caned twice, once on each palm, and be forced to stay back for an extra hour of reading, but those things were quite tolerable.

This was just a year after black-and-white television had been introduced in Singapore. There was no electricity supply at our kampong but beyond a fenced area near our house were the staff quarters of a government hospital. They had electricity and some residents even had television sets.

We skipped out on Quran class specifically to watch TV. We had a distant relative who lived in one of the hospital units and owned a TV set and we were welcome to join the crowd that came to his house almost every night to watch TV. We watched anything and everything – My Three Sons, Have Gun Will Travel, The Lucy Show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Little Rascals, Perry Mason and my favourite Combat, as well as movies and locally produced programs.

The people in the kampong, located in the northeast side of rural Singapore, came from a variety of ethnic backgrounds: there was an Indian family who reared cows and goats and a Chinese family who had a chicken and frog farm that supplied eggs and frogs’ legs to the town’s market and supermarket. Another Malay family lives about 500 yards away.

All had extended families, sometimes up to three generations under one roof, and we knew everyone’s names. It was a tolerant and peaceful neighbourhood.

All the houses were large single-storey dwellings built the ‘gotong-royong’ way. While chickens were kept in a coup, cows were allowed to roam the whole kampong during the day.

The men worked as farmers, labourers, gardeners, hawkers, hospital attendants, drivers, soldiers, policemen, clerks and teachers. Some worked for the local government office, some for the hospitals and some for the Royal Air Force. Most of the womenfolk were housewives.

Children of school age would attend a state English primary school about five miles away. We would walk together to school, rain or shine, every morning. The Muslim boys and girls would attend the kampong’s madarasah in the afternoons. After school, all the boys would walk or cycle three miles to the only football field and play until dusk before returning home to bathe and attend Maghrib prayers at the kampong’s mosque. All the girls would remain at home.

It was into this traditional setting that, one day, the news arrived that The Beatles would be performing on The Ed Sullivan Show at 9 p.m. that evening. All of us, boys and girls, were crazy about The Beatles, and there was no way Said and I would miss the show.

As usual, after dinner, we left home to attend our Quran study session. However, Said and I had decided that when we reached the junction in the road, we would turn left toward the hospital staff quarters instead of right to our aunt’s house. However, when we reached the junction, we saw a black bull blocking our way. It was as big as an elephant and had huge red eyes.

“What is that?” asked Said, his face all white.

“A big black bull with red burning eyes!” I answered.

We ran back home as fast as we could.

When my grandmother, Satimah, saw us, she asked why we weren’t at our aunt’s house reading the Quran. We quickly told her about the black bull.

“Okay, let’s go and take a look,” my grandmother suggested. She picked up a torch and we walked towards the junction.

“There’s nothing here,” she said after we had a good look around.

My grandmother quickly figured out what was really going on. “Were you trying to skip class to watch TV?” she asked. Neither of us answered.

“That’s what happens to boys who play truant, the ghosts will come after you!” she scolded us. “Now, go to your aunt’s house and read the Quran!”

We didn’t get to see The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. In fact, we were so afraid of the ghosts that we did not watch TV for many years after that. Only much later did we realise that there’s no such thing as ghosts.

Our kampong didn’t get electricity until 1969. Fortunately, by the time we got our first black-and-white TV set, The Beatles were still very popular and we got to watch many Beatles shows.

Said and I both completed our Quran studies and moved on to lead our own lives. We would always laugh when either of us recalled the incident of the black bull.

In the late 1980s, the Singapore government made all the residents of the kampong move to new flats in Hougang Estate, after paying compensation. The land was used to build extensions to the hospital, and the area is now a modern satellite township with flats, shopping centres and high-rise buildings. The school, madrasah and the mosque we attended have been replaced by bigger and more sophisticated ones. The wooden attap roofed houses are long gone.

My uncle Said passed away last year after a fatal heart attack and my grandmother died of old age about ten years ago, may Allah bless both their souls. I still smile and recall The Beatles and that mysterious bull whenever I think about them.

Caption: In the group photo below (black & white) I am standing third from the right. The coloured photo was taken on Aidil Fitri (any knows when twas this photo taken?) before all the houses in the kampung were demolished to make way for development.

As- Salaam. ok Ali

Old bicycle

2013-04-15T07:19:00.001-07:00

Here's some old photos of my late grandfather's trusty bicycle, a British made Rudge.

After he retired from the Royal Air Force (RAF) based in Seletar Air Base, Singapore as a civilian truck driver in the late 60's, he and my late grandmother ran a school canteen selling nasi lemak and noodles. He used that trusty bicycle of his to deliver banana leave and newspaper packed nasi lemak from home to the school over a distance of about 5 km of rough terrain along tracks mostly. During the school holidays, I used to accompany him on foot and he found me very handy helping him to push the bicycle with a quite heavy load on its carrier everytime he had to go uphill. It was not possible for anyone to cycle through those hills with a load that heavy and there were few hills to climb. As that was the shortest route, he decided to take only that route to and fro. I can't imagine how he did it whenever he cycled alone. Later, my cousin joined us and when I wasn't around, he would accompany our late grandfather to deliver the nasi lemak six days a week.

The house in the photo below looks almost similar to our kampung house and in those days, kampung houses in Singapore were built on stilts because of the seasonal monsoon floods. My late gandmother's nasi lemak was a sellout item daily and however much we brought, they don't seem to be enough. Many who came to the canteen late had to be turned down disappointed for not being able to get their daily dose of that generously portioned nasi lemak which was only 50 cents a packet.

Lorong Buangkok is the only kampung left untouched in Singapore and it is located about 3 km from our house. Our kampung, nicely known as Trafalgar Estate and I still remember the address which was 289 - W, Trafalgar Estate, Singapore 19. It is located in the North - East of Singapore south of Kg Punggol (see map).

RAF Seletar Air Base is (it is still there but it is now known as RSAF Seletar Air Base) about 5 km to the west at the end of Jalan Kayu. On this road you can find the world famous Thasevei Singapore Roti Prata which serves the best roti prata in the island. What a sweet memory!

You haven't really eaten authentic roti pratha until you have tried the one at Thasevi, Jalan Kayu, Singapore. See here: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/thasevi_famous_jalan_kayu_prata_restaurant/

Viva la Olde Singapore!

Note: Wahid would be able to correct any mistakes in the story above, if there are, or add more to it as he was assisting Arwah nenek the longest. Arwah Said also helped out. Mima, Mak Esa, Arwah Abang Dol and Che Nah were running the canteen, consecutively, after Arwah Datuk and Arwah nenek retired.

As - Salaam. o.k. Ali

Don’t turn GE 13 into a circus!

2013-04-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, we definitely need a change to make this country a better one and the first thing we need to eradicate totally is corruption.

We want our leaders, whether old or new, to have the guts, commitment and the stamina to do and see that it is done and the aim achieved.

We do not want to see any more misdeeds done or committed by our future leaders.

With GE 13 lurking just round around the corner, many have already written in all media, electronic and printed, mainstream and alternative, about what they, the people, want GE 13 candidates should be like and how they want GE 13 to be conducted. As a layman, what they have asked for is pretty simple and straightforward and truly achievable and I also would like to give my 2 sen worth.

All media, electronic and printed, mainstream and alternative, must also be fair when coming out with statements or reports.

We have been an independent nation for over 56 years, a peaceful country with the multi-racial people of this country living harmoniously and the level of education and exposure of our people have remarkably improved by leaps and bounds and so please, we do not want to see, read or hear about gutter politics that can turn GE 13 into a circus full of clowns anymore.

Making allegations, accusations, innuendos, uttering rubbish or saying things that just do not make sense and cannot be believed should stop.

We do not want to hear or read anymore curses thrown at each other, contestants making stupid or childish statements. Everyone has to grow up.

What we want to see, read or hear about are sensible things, opinions, statements or arguments made with intelligence and rationale, well-researched and can be substantiated, promises that can be fulfilled. Would be leaders and GE 13 contestants must show dignity, be trustworthy, speak the truth, demonstrate integrity and giving us an indication that they are reliable.

It is good news to hear about former representatives returning assets such as cars and other perks back now that their time being lawmakers has already expired since Datuk Sri Najib, when he was still the Prime Minister, announced the dissolution of the Malaysian Parliament on 3^rd April 2013. All concerned should stop using public property, public funds and public servants in their campaigns. Actions like these are laudable and they carry with them a good name for the person or persons concerned.

Give us all a break please.

Let's all pray for a peaceful and safe GE 13.

We all must work together for a better Malaysia and move our country into the ranks of a developed 1st World status and a high income economy by 2020.

Hussaini Abdul Karim, Shah Alam, Selangor

Vote wisely!

2013-04-07T02:11:00.002-07:00

To All Malaysians:

We need a change to make this country a better one.

Soon, we all will have a chance to change things to make this country a better place for all of us and the generations to come. GE 13 will be coming in a few weeks’ time, so all of you please vote wisely and put the right people up there.

We shall have a new cabinet, revamp the MACC, the judiciary, the top guns in the Police Force, replace the AG, BN MBs and BN CMs, certain government controlled Banks CEOs, head honcos at GLCs, ministers, deputy ministers, troublesome spouses (wives and husbands), children and relatives and some top irresponsible civil servants, heads of departments, heads of respective religions, irrelevant, wrong and outdated laws and skewed policies, etc., etc., and put a stop to all the nonsense that have been carried out, committed, undertaken and done by irresponsible politicians who are only interested in enriching themselves, their wives (and husbands), relatives and cronies that have been happening in the country for far too long.

We do not want any more CORRUPTION!

We need to scrap all outdated laws.

We need to revamp our failed education policy and make English as important as BM in national schools.

Let’s all pray and work for a better Malaysia and let’s move our country into the ranks of developed 1st World status as soon as possible!

But if you return the same people and they repeat those very things that you all are not happy about, including their spouses (wives and husbands), don’t blame others, blame yourselves!

As - Salaam. HAK

Well Done Malaysian Security Forces!

2013-04-03T04:22:00.002-07:00

After a lull of several years, 24 years to be exact if I take the year 1989, the year the communist terrorists under Chin Peng laid down their arms and stopped fighting for their failed cause, the Malaysian security forces were tested again, this time by the self-proclaimed heavily armed members of the Sulu Royal Army in the incursion of Kampung Tanjung Batu in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

As a retired army officer who fought together with the victorious Malaysian security forces comprising PDRM and the Malaysian Armed Forces against the communist terrorists in the 70s and the 80s, I am very proud to say that now, the serving members of the Malaysian security forces, where many of the current senior personnel in the Army were our students and subordinates before, have done a great job and have continued to keep our name, reputation and flag raised very high, in the eyes of the world, in fighting against organised armed threats successfully. Needless to say here too that many of the younger and more junior members of the Malaysian security forces were not even born yet when the communist terrorists under Chin Peng laid down arms in 1989 but still, they also have helped keep our good record intact.

It is noted and acknowledged worldwide that Malaysia is the only country in the world that had successfully defeated the enemy, in this case, the communist terrorists, in guerrilla style warfare, fought by members of its security forces comprising police and military personnel.

When fighting enemies that threaten to attack the country either threatening to attack the country from within or threatening to attack the country from outside of the country, our Malaysian Armed forces and the Royal Malaysian police have always collaborated and faced the threat together and always end up victorious.

Comparing between the wars we fought before and the recent Lahad Datu incursion code-named ‘Ops Daulat’, there are surprisingly many similarities including strategies, tactics, weapons and logistics support. It looks like the way countries fight wars against terrorists now must have not changed very much even after so many years.

In the 60s, 70s and he 80s, Malaysian security forces comprising the military and the police were ‘at war’ fighting against communist terrorists and we were always prepared to be deployed anywhere in the country within short notice. Our security forces defences were already in place and operations were routine matters. Even during training, recruits and cadet officers were conditioned and were prepared for a ‘real war’. During the communist insurgency then, we heard reports of friendly forces and enemy casualties and ‘contacts’ almost every day. The situation was scary so to speak.

The situation now is different as our troops who have been on peace duties for quite a long time have to be re-deployed for a ‘war’ role within a very short space of time. Hence, there were some glitches and setbacks but nevertheless, they were all managed and settled by our very capable security forces fairly quickly.

I remember, as cadet officers a few days before we received our commissions on 14^th April 1972, tensions were already high amongst us even though we were all fully trained and equipped and were fully fit and ready to fight the communist terrorists (CTs) face-to-face in both West and East Malaysia. The training we went through was very tough. We were all very anxious to know where each of us was to be posted to especially those of us who had made our choices to join the Infantry, Artillery or the Reconnaissance Corps in the Army, all commonly known as the ‘Fighting Units’ of the Army. We were repeatedly briefed and reminded about the communist’s atrocities and how ruthless they were and part of our training was to get us all psyched up to defeat them, our national enemy and a threat to our developing nation. We had to stop them from destroying our country and our people to ensure a prosperous and peaceful future for all Malaysians.

Together with two other newly commissioned officers, I was posted to the 3^rd Regiment Malaysian Artillery in Kamunting, Taiping, Perak. Just three days after reporting for duty, we were all sent on a flight to Kuching from the RMAF base in Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur. Upon arrival at Kuching airport, we cannot help but noticed caskets of our dead comrades being loaded onto an aircraft returning to Kuala Lumpur. How, as a young officer 19 years of age, would I not feel scarred seeing that. Wars as portrayed in movies and comics are nothing like the real stuff.

In the war we fought, most of the time we were involved in ‘search and destroy’ operations and missions because the enemy was ’on the move’ all the time but in the Lahad Datu case, the enemy comprising over 200 men and women was located at one place. Comparatively, everything considered, the latter situation is an easier task to perform.

One day after my arrival in Kuching, I joined a convoy headed for Bau to join the battery I was assigned to. We all fitted into our respective units ‘like a glove’ and all due to proper training and conditioning. However, the three of us were still not yet specialist artillery officers. We were to undergo a basic gunnery officers in LATEDA, Port Dickson, course 3 months later. From time to time, we were sent for further short as well as medium term specialist training courses at local as well as overseas military training centres and ‘Artillery Schools’ in the US, UK or Australia, over a period of three years. Within three years, alternating between training and carrying out live operations, we became seasoned fighters.

All the other newly commissioned officers from our graduating class of ‘72 were sent to various units at various locations and some, like us, to units operating near the borders of West and East Malaysia near Sadao, Thailand and Kalimantan, Indonesia to join their respective fighting units. Some two hundred graduating cadets were posted to the various fighting units and the remaining forty newly commissioned officers were posted to the support, services and administrative units.

Although my gun battery members, from gunners right up to the battery commander were equipped with the old and very heavy but deadly 7.62 mm Belgian made SLR rifles before, like all the rest of the members in the regiment we belonged to, weapons like the 81 mm mortar, general purpose machine guns (GPMG), the Italian L5 Gun Howitzers, etc. the same ones we used before, are still in use now.

Comparatively, the main personal weapons of the soldiers and officers of the Malaysian Armed Forces now is the Steyr AUG A1 Assault rifles (Austrian designed) and they also have the updated and re-designed American made M16A1 Assault rifles, the 7.62 mm FN Minimi light machine guns and 7.62 mm FN MAG General Purpose machine guns, among others, in service.

Some of the infantrymen during our time were issued with the American Colt M16 carbines which are still in use now. The Carl Gustav 84 mm recoilless rifle, manufactured in Sweden in 1948, are also still in use now. Of course, they are new ones of the same model.

The police, on the other hand, are equipped with automatic rifles, carbines, sub-machine guns, general purpose machine guns, grenade launchers, etc. Some of the weapons they have are the Austrian Steyr M-9, M16A1 and the M16A2 assault rifles, the Bushmaster 7.62 semi-automatic sniper rifles, the M 79 and M 203 grenade launchers, FN MAG and M60 E1 machine guns and the HK G3/SG-1, HK MP 5 sub-machine guns in addition to the various types of 9mm semi-automatic handguns. They are also equipped with APCs like some of the military units.

RMAF’s Sikorsky helicopters and fast patrol crafts used by the RMN now, for example, are still the same types too, albeit newly purchased units of the same models or updated models. The Hornet and Hawk warplanes of the RMAF are new so are the Adnan APCs used by the mechanised infantry units.

During our time, we had the Tebuan jets, F5E interceptors, Sikorsky and Alloutte helicopters. The refurbished American Skyhawk fighter bombers came later o replace the Tebuans. There were also the Caribou, Dove, Dart Herald, Cessna transport and multi-purpose aircraft, etc.

The Army Reconnaissance Regiment, now known as the Armoured Corp, had the American V150s with a turret mounted with the 60 mm gun and the machine gun mounted V 100s APCs as well as the Ferret Scout cars. The French Panhard APCs were also available then for use by the infantry units.

I am not too sure if any of the Army’s new tanks from the Armoured Corp and the Artillery’s new medium gun howitzers were deployed at all in Lahad Datu however, I believe, if the situation had warranted it, our tanks such as the 105 mm gun mounted Polish PT 91 tanks, the Brazilian SIBMAS tanks and the light Scorpion tanks, the EH 70 155mm Gun Howitzers and the Denzel G5 Mk 3 155mm Gun Howitzers, for example, would have been deployed in Lahad Datu. Maybe the threat is not that serious or big enough to warrant the deployment of such weapons. Furthermore, it may not be feasible to deploy them due to the terrain and the condition of the soil in the operation areas which are too soft.

The Russian Sukhoi and MIG29 fighter planes were prepared for the LIMA 2013 Show and were not deployed in Lahad Datu. Likewise, the C 130 transport aircraft had other duties and some were non-operational and so, only few were available to fly troops from West Malaysia to East Malaysia. Several Air Asia Airbus commercial aircraft were chartered to fly troops from West Malaysia to East Malaysia. Flying troops in civilian al commercial aircraft is a common practice in many countries, such as the USA and the UK, among others.

In guerrilla warfare, where the mission is to attack and destroy the enemy quickly, fighting from two fronts or more is a tactical norm and among the strategies employed include two or three level defences, blocking all possible escape routes, blocking all supply routes including waterways by the Royal Malaysian Navy, the Malaysian Maritime Unit and the Marine Police and carrying out psychological warfare and heart and minds operations to take care of the people who are not involved in the fighting especially the locals.

The ultimate strategy would be to take control of the whole region including the waters off Sabah.

The Malaysian Security Forces is now into the third face of ‘OPS DAULAT’.

Flushing, mopping-up operations and searching for the remnant members of the rogue Sulu Royal Army who tried to invade Sabah must continue until all of them are either killed or captured.

Members of the security forces involved in the operations must still exercise caution and continue to be alert all the time as the enemy who is desperate will resort to anything for the sake of his or her survival.

I must compliment all the members of the infantry units including the commandos from the military and the police who are always in the front line and the first group to make contact with the enemies. Without them, victory cannot be assured.

Compliments are also due to the rest of the members of the Malaysian Security Forces from the lowest ranking private and police constable to the highest ranking four star general who is the Chief of the Armed Forces or Panglima Angkatan Tentera Tentera (PAT) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) who were all directly or indirectly involved in the fight against the rogue members of the Sulu Royal Army.

The members of the Malaysian Security Forces have re-assured us that they are always dependable in keeping the country’s peace.

My condolences are reserved for the families of the fallen policemen and soldiers, who have valiantly fought against the rogue members of the Sulu Royal Army.

An interesting development that had come after the Lahad Datu incursion is the formation of ESSCOM, closely resembling the now defunct Rajang Security Command (RASCOM) based in Sibu, Sarawak which was formed in the late 60s, it was formed to ensure that Eastern Sabah is secured from any armed threats by any group. At the same time, Eastern Sabah is also made an economic zone known as ESSZONE and this reflects the good vision of our leaders and the good of the state of Sabah’s long-term plans. This augurs well for the people of Eastern Sabah in particular and all Sabahans in general as everyone will gain from them.

Kudos is also reserved for our country’s leaders.

Sabah is assured of its safety and security and its economy will further develop and grow and this will be good for all Malaysians.

Captain Hussaini Abdul Karim (Retired), Shah Alam, Selangor

Photo above shows Tan Sri Ismail Omar, (IGP) and Gen Tan Sri Zulkefle Mohd Zin (PAT)

Note: Information on the Malaysian Military and Police weapons are available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_Army and here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_police_firearms_in_Malaysia

Malaysian Armed Forces: Are they prepared for war?

2013-03-18T02:46:00.002-07:00

http://www.mafhq.mil.my/index.php/ms/

http://army.mod.gov.my/

The incursion at Lahad Datu by members of the Royal Army of the Sultanate of Sulu is a wake-up call for all especially the Malaysian Armed Forces. It is now time to audit their personnel and equipment (weapons and weapon system) to make sure that they are prepared for any eventualities.

Questions regarding the delay in taking the offensive by our Armed Forces, 23 days after the standoff, still remain unanswered until today and this has invited even more questions and more speculations from many parties.

Were they waiting for the outcome of a negotiation?

Didn’t our leaders and our military top brass have enough faith in the military’s readiness?

Are the military’s manpower, equipment and weapons not good enough and are the soldiers unprepared to launch an early offensive?

Are the latest few billion Ringgit state-of-the-art weapons and weapons systems purchased over the last ten years faulty, out-of-service due to lack of maintenance or have no spare parts rendering them unserviceable?

Did our Armed Forces purchase the right equipment, weapons and weapons systems in the first place?

Are the members of our Armed Forces well and properly trained?

Given what we have seen so far, it is dreadful to think about our Armed Forces facing a threat 10 times bigger than the Lahad Datu incursion by members of the Royal Army of the Sultanate of Sulu equipped with more sophisticated weapons and better trained militants?

Surfing the internet and talking to some retired Malaysian Armed Forces Officers in the last couple of weeks, rendered the following information:

The main personal weapons of the soldiers and officers of the Malaysian Armed Forces is the Steyr AUG A1 Assault rifles (Austrian designed) but they still have the American made M16A1 Assault rifles in service. 7.62 mm FN Minimi light machine guns and 7.62 mm FN MAG General Purpose machine guns are also in service.

Several 81 mm mortars and 40 mm shoulder mounted Carl Gustav recoilless bazookas are used as support weapons by our infantry units.

Some of the equipment purchased by the Malaysian Armed Forces over the years are never put into operations because of ‘meddling’ by politicians or people with ‘vested interests’, ‘wrong’ specs or because of the low priority given to our country by the US when the country supplying the equipment (hardware) are American firms. Examples are as follows:

1. The SIBMAS tanks purchased from Belgium were never used in any operations due to the frequent breakdowns;

2. Only between two and four out of 14 units C130 aircraft are in service due to non-availability of spare arts (that's why they had to charter aircraft from Air Asia);

3. We have Scorpion light tanks but with turrets that do not work;

4. The Heckler & Koch assault rifles cannot be used by our soldiers because their magazines are too long for our ‘short-limbed’ soldiers and had to be scrapped;

5. 5.56 mm bullets manufactured locally cannot be used because of ‘misfiring’ and the whole factory in Bt. Arang had to be closed. Now all the 5.56 mm bullets used by the Armed Forces and the police have to be imported from a third country;

6. The Sukhoi and the MIG fighter jets we purchased are ‘mongrels’ and are not of the same types as those used by Russia, India, Ukraine, etc. so, yang Malaysian punya always ‘rosak’;

7. Many of our RMN warships and boats are also unserviceable because of the same reasons above;

8. Corruption and ‘vested interests’ have resulted in over-inflated prices of almost all of our weapons and weapons systems purchases.

Our Armed Forces cannot continue to operate and to go on with all the lingering problems listed above (and more) that they are facing still unsolved.

The Malaysian Armed Forces as well as PDRM may want to consider going through their inventory and reassess the capabilities of the equipment, weapons and weapons systems that they have now.

Listed below are some highly recommended equipment, weapons and weapons systems that the Malaysian Armed Forces may want to look at and study for their future defence procurement:

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (TUDM)

1. F 35 Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter Jets

2. Typhoon Eurofighter

3. Apache gunship attack helicopters
4. C-130J Super Hercules

5. Chinook helicopters

6. AWACs

Our closest neighbour Singapore regularly upgrades their arsenal in spite of them having one of the best equipped armed forces in the world. They also have quite a formidable standing army and a large pool of well-trained reservists due their well managed, very effective and successful national service programme.

“Singapore nears deal on F-35 warplanes” – NST Friday 15^th March 2013

SINGAPORE: Singapore is in the “final stages of evaluating” he F-35 to upgrade its Air Force, a process American sources say should turn quickly into orders for several dozens of the stealthy warplanes that have been beset by cost overruns and delivery delays. Singapore is expected to submit a “letter of request” soon for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, said two Unite States governments officials. The city-state could start the process as soon as this week to buy the planes built by Lockheed Martin Corporation, one of the officials said.

National Defence

See here to find out more about our military’s capabilities: http://www.malaysia.gov.my/EN/Relevant%20Topics/Security%20and%20Safety/Citizen/NationalDefense/Pages/myNationalDefense.aspx

The Malaysia's Armed Forces are responsible for the protection of the country against internal and external threats. They serve in a wide variety of situations such as assisting civil authorities in addressing domestic threats, maintaining public security, providing aid following the onset of natural disasters, and assisting in national development programmes.

The Malaysian Armed Forces comprise three branches of service:

The Malaysian Army (RMA) (or TDM) is responsible for the safeguarding of the nation against land-based threats.

The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) protects Malaysia's coastlines, territorial waters, and economic zones from potential trespass or illegal activity.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) maintains and operates a capability that is ready and able to project aerospace power to secure Malaysia's airspace and protect her national interests.

Army (TDM) - Fighting arms of the ARMY

Generally, to build an effective defence system in a country with a very long shoreline like ours, we need to beef up the strength of our field (light and medium gun howitzers) and air-defence artillery regiments (missile systems) and the regiments of the armoured corps (tanks). The units need to be strategically located throughout the country in both East and West Malaysia.

Field Artillery:

The units of the Royal Malaysian Artillery Regiment are equipped with the following light and medium field gun howitzers:

1. 15 units VSEL EH 70 155mm Gun Howitzers

2. 28 units Denzel G5 Mk 3 155mm Gun Howitzers

3. 200 units OTO Melara MOD 56 105mm Gun Howitzers

We need more of the above, may be up to 600 gun batteries of light and medium gun howitzers and sufficient ammunitions.

To add to the above, the Army (TDM) should consider the following in order to beef up its arsenal :

1.M109A6 Paladin 155-mm self-propelled howitzer

http://www.military-today.com/artillery/m109a6_paladin.htm

2. Excalibur GPS equipped ammunition: Some of the US Army M109A6 Paladins are being fitted with modification kits fire XM982 Excalibur extended-range precision guided projectiles. The Excalibur has a maximum range of 40 km. http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/excalibur/

The XM1203 NLOS-C self-propelled howitzer uses technology of the cancelled Crusader
http://www.military-today.com/artillery/nlos_c.htm

http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/land-forces/43188-new-m109-paladin-howitzer-readied-production.html

Artillery (Air Defence): More guns, missiles and radars.

Armoured Corp: More tanks.

Infantry/Guards/Commandos/Paratoopers/Mechanised Infantry: Need better and more equipment, parachutes, gun mounted vehicles, mortars, personal weapons (assault rifles, pistols, hand grenades,) and weapons systems.

Army Air Wing: Light aircraft and helicopters.

Equipment: Night vision equipment, ballistic helmets, better materials for uniforms, webbing, haversacks, anti-mine and waterproof combat boots, better combat rations, preventive medicines against common diseases such as malaria, snake and animal bites, influenza, cough and colds, etc.,

Communication equipment:

Re-look at all the equipment of the arms and support services:

RAMD
Rangers
Border guards
Armour
Signals

Engineers
Military Police

Intelligence

EME
General Services Corp
Kor Perkhidmatan Di Raja

Ordnance

Health services

General Services Corp

Kor Agama
Wataniah
Army Air Wing

Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM)

New Fast Strike Crafts
New Frigates

Low - depth submarines

Surface-to-surface missiles

Surface-to-air missiles

ICBM

Bigger caliber guns on navy fighting ships

Navy Air Wing Helicopters

Personnel:

Malaysia needs a large well and properly trained standing army as well twice the number of properly trained reservists in all the three wings of the Armed Forces viz. the Army, Navy and the Air Force. A form of national service must be introduced to achieve this.

Many are now obese especially senior officers and this is not acceptable.

Training needs to be stepped up and discipline needs to be improved.

Defence Industry

The country has a thriving defence industry, part of the manufacturing of new weapons and equipment can be done locally.

The Lahad Datu incursion:

It takes a lot of time, one year maybe, and planning, to get 200 people to cross the ocean to occupy foreign territory with a view to stake a claim of the state where that territory is located. These 200 people must be either very stupid or very brave, if it’s the latter, perhaps all of them have supernatural powers or made to think that they do in spite of knowing that they will face an army which is more than 10 times bigger and much more powerful than them or even larger.

Did they know that they were on a suicide mission - were all of them brainwashed?

They were just like the Japanese kamikaze fighter pilots who were fighting against the Allied Forces turning their aircraft into missiles and crashing into the Allied Forces naval boats and die when their aircraft perished.

The logistics include food, clothes, living quarters, medicine, weapons, ammunition, transportation, etc.

Who financed them?

Did the militants receive help from within?

Conclusion

I think all the three wings of the Malaysian Armed Forces should study my proposal seriously and make a decision quickly.

A new medium and a long - term defence plan must be instituted.

Captain Hussaini Abdul Karim (Rtd), Shah Alam, Selangor

Annex A

Equipment, weapons and weapon systems for the Armed Forces

Air Defence Artillery missile systems

Chinook helicopter

British Army – Jervas Rapier FSC (Field Standard C) air defence system

German 88th Element of Light Air Defence Artillery Battery prepare a Hawk missile unit

Three Nike Hercules Missile on Launchers at A Battery, 2nd Missile Battalion, 52nd Air Defence Artillery (A-2-52), US Army http://www.nps.gov/ever/historyculture/a-battery.htm

Patriot missiles

Scud missiles

Scud missiles

Armoured Corp: Main Battle Tanks

Main Battle Tanks - examples

Altay MBT – Turkey

MBT-3000 (Main Battle Tank 3000) – China

Type 10 MBT – Japan

ROTEM K2 (Black Panther) – South Korea

Ramses II (T-54E) – Russia

T-84 –Ukraine

Challenger 2 – UK

M1A1/2 Abrams - US

Air Force – aircraft (fixed wing and rotary wing including the latest fighters from the US and Europe)

Augusta Westland AW139M

Augusta Westland Chinook ICH-47F

Augusta Westland AW101 (Military)

Apache AH-Mk.1

Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning

Eurofighter Typhoon

C-130J Super Hercules

NATO AWACS

Naval warships – something to think about seriously.

Type 26 Global Combat Ship

Riverine Command Boat (Experimental) (RCB-X)

Navy Coastal warship

San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock Ships

Royal Navy’s eco-warrior frigates to be greenest ships ever. Thirteen environmentally-friendly combat ships, costing £350m each, will be in the service of the Royal Navy by 2020

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Defence/article778514.ece

INDIA INDUCTS NEW RUSSIAN-BUILT STEALTH WARSHIP INS TARKASH

http://www.newslivetv.com/?option=com_k2&view=item&id=1741:india-inducts-new-russian-built-stealth-warship-ins-tarkash&Itemid=689&tmpl=component&print=1

Different classes of Submarines

A re-look at the Malaysia ’s Education Philosophy

2013-02-08T17:48:00.001-08:00

Saturday, December 9, 2013, ‘A re-look at the Malaysia ’s Education Philosophy’ by HUSSAINI ABDUL KARIM, Shah Alam

EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY

“Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, so as to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to God. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards, and who are responsible and capable of achieving high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large”. Ministry of Education, Malaysia

Over the last 56 years or so, Malaysia’s national education policy has been changed many times. It was first changed when the Razak Report 1956 and the Education Ordinance 1957 which was dubbed the ‘Consolidation Era’ were introduced and the most recent one was the introduction of the New Education Policy (the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2012 - 2025) which was approved by the Cabinet on January 30, 2013.

The Rahman Talib Report and Education Act 1961 which saw the ‘Review Era’, ‘Features of the 1979 Cabinet Report’ emphasised on basic education in the 3Rs, reading, writing and arithmetic, strong spiritual education and the desired disciplinary elements. It also emphasised on a Malaysian oriented curriculum. The policy streamlined education management procedure to improve the overall quality of education.

The Education Bill introduced in 1995 was designed to produce world-class education in terms of quality in order to achieve national aspirations. It also looked at enhancing technical & polytechnic education and introduced provisions to regulate private education.

The recently cabinet - approved New Education Policy (the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2012 - 2025) will be presented to the King for His Majesty’s approval before it is implemented.

Although all the changes done to the national education policy always maintained the essence of MOE’s education philosophy, none of the changes made resulted in improving our standard of education, as a matter of fact, it continued to drop and is still dropping even further.

Therefore, besides changing the policy, we may also need to re-look at our education philosophy.

The education philosophy neither takes into consideration global competition nor making our education standard and quality to be among the best in the world.

The 1996 Education Act states that Bahasa Malaysia is the main language of instruction in schools and it is meant to uphold Bahasa Malaysia's rightful place as the national language in Malaysia as stipulated in Article 152 of the Constitution.

The Cabinet Committee Report (1979) also recommended that the Malay language be the main medium of instruction and that English be taught as a second language at all levels of education.

The MOE recognises that Bahasa Malaysia, as the national language, promotes unity and is also the main language of communication. English is the language of international communication and is necessary to explore knowledge at the global level.

The major transformation in our education policy was to change the medium of instruction from English language to Bahasa Malaysia which was implemented in the late 70s in schools and the institutions of higher learning. It took about twelve years to complete and is acknowledged to have produced many graduates from first degree to PhD levels. We are all proud of that fact however the quality of science, technical, engineering and medicine graduates is lagging behind if compared to our pre-70s graduates. Our graduates now are no longer able to compete globally especially with people from the other developing countries as well as from some of the third world countries even.

Many of our graduates are finding getting employment locally a problem mainly due to their poor command of English and there are now more than 70,000 of them still remain unemployed, some after three years since they graduated.

During the days when we were using English language as the medium of instruction we had many public schools and a public university, i.e. University Malaya, which were considered or listed as among the world’s best 50 schools and universities in the world during that period. Many of our teachers in schools and lecturers in universities were among the best in the world.

Those days, English medium national schools were the schools of choice of most Malaysians.

We were all mostly bilingual and many were trilingual or better. English language, Malay (Bahasa Malaysia), Mandarin, Tamil, Arabic, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese were some of the languages many Malaysians were proficient at, some less some more, and we even had judges who mastered Latin. The majority of our people mastered both English language and Malay (Bahasa Malaysia).

I believe, our teachers and lecturers in those days, if required to, can teach in any school or universities in any English speaking country and they will be as good as any teachers and lecturers of those countries.

Many students were courted during their final years at university by prospective employers and graduates remaining unemployed after completing their studies were not heard of at all.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) latest report place our country’s education level at 55 out of 77 countries, i.e. in the bottom third and in the report prepared by Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2012 - 13, our universities are not even listed in the top 400 in the world. If these are not the consequences of the policy change that the country has made in education, what are they then?

If Bahasa Malaysia was able to lift our standard of education or at least maintain our high pre - 70s level when we were considered and acknowledged as country with one of the best education systems in the world, then why are we now placed in the bottom third, 55th out of 77 countries, by PISA and that and our universities are not even listed in the top 400 in the world by Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2012 - 13?

The number of students taking up science subjects has also dropped to below 30% out of the overall secondary school population of 2.3 million students, which is well below the country’s target of 60%.

We may still have a few good teachers and lecturers but still, due to their very poor command of the English language, they can only teach in local schools or universities.

The question is: Is the New Education Blueprint 2013- 2025 designed to correct and improve the standard of education in the country and to raise our education level back to the level we were before?

Without changing the education philosophy and the education policy along with it, I doubt it will and without a good programme in our education curriculum in our national schools to allow for the proper teaching and learning of English in the new education policy to complement the teaching and learning of subjects in Bahasa Malaysia, it is impossible for our standard to be raised to the high and respected level we were at before. Our education philosophy and policy is however very successful in producing many ‘jaguh kampung’.

It’s very surprising that the government, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Higher Education and the people at the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education seem to be very happy and contented about it.

I do not think there is any country in the world where its education policy had been criticised so thoroughly, so vigourously and so heartily by Malaysians from all walks of life, from students to academics and professionals including foreigners, and for so long but, unfortunately, most if not all of the more critical and salient points and the more important criticisms, suggestions and proposals submitted, have fallen onto deaf ears.

Public housing

2013-02-07T05:21:00.001-08:00

The basic issue and problem in offering a successful public housing in this country are greed and to make matters worse all the currently available government programmes, schemes and plans throughout the country are not helping at all. Banks, financial institutions and developers are the ones raking in the profits at the expense of house buyers and with this has been going on with the knowledge of the government. The other problem is that there are also people in the government who have vested interests in this matter and the bane of it all, people who are corrupt.

All public housing matters must be put under one department and the unit is placed under the PM’s Dept. The head (Director-General) reports direct to the PM. The department also co-ordinates all the various states’ housing programme.

What I think will work and will bring house prices down is for the government (federal and states), to take over the full responsibility for public housing. The government (federal and states) should own the land if they are not already the owner and build houses on government land. Since the landowner is the government, the ownership of the houses is to be fixed for a period of a maximum of 60 years only. Prices of houses must not include the cost or prices of land as the government will remain the owner of the land. Loans to buy these houses are to be provided by the government at very low interest rates and allow up to 80% for them (buyers) to use their EPF money to pay for the houses. With this arrangement, some may not even need to borrow to buy houses. Keep house prices, either apartments or landed terraced houses, at not more than RM250, 000.00 each. Any qualified Malaysian citizen, aged 21 and above, is eligible to own a house in a public housing scheme and each is limited to purchase one unit only anywhere in the country in their lifetime. Units purchased cannot be rented out to third parties. The owner must sell any unit purchased and not occupied after a period of one year and it will be put up for sale and offered to the next person waiting in line to purchase a house for himself or herself. A public housing house owner may sell the unit he or she purchased but he or she will be placed last in the list of people waiting to purchase a unit should he or she decides to purchase a new unit.

The Ministry of Finance would be able to get the funds to use for loans to offer to qualified house buyers such as selling government bonds or sukuk.

Only government land is used for public housing. The government or its agents must not compete with the private sector. GLCs that are in the business of housing development must not be allowed to development houses on government owned land. They have to operate and compete just like any other private companies.

Every Malaysian citizen aged 21 and above or as soon as he or she is able to afford one upon reaching the age of 21, is eligible to own a house in a public housing scheme but each is allowed to purchase and own one unit only anywhere in the country.

A list of interested buyers shall be compiled by the department, on a first-come first served basis. They may state the area of choice in their application. A list shall be prepared for each area. Each hopeful must deposit a refundable sum of RM5, 000.00 for his or her name to be put on the list. If he or she wishes to withdraw, the deposit will be refunded otherwise, if he or she is successful in obtaining a unit, the deposit will be used as part of the payment for the house purchased.

administration and maintenance must also be the responsibility of the department. The department may appointment contractors to carry out these services. The department will collect a monthly service fee to cover for repairs, services and maintenance of common facilities and amenities such as balconies, corridors, verandahs, drains, car parks, etc . Faults and anything that is broken will be broken and those that require immediate attention must be attended to immediately. House owners, selected as representatives, may sit in a team with the department’s people to manage the housing estate. House owners can only do renovations within their units only. The facade shall not be changed or altered by house owners at all. Repairs of facilities, common amenities, painting of the facade (not the interior of the houses), etc. are to be carried out every three years and to be paid with the money collected from owners monthly as part of the service fees. All lifts for flats must stop at all floors from the third floor onwards.

Every six blocks must have sufficient open space, broadband connection (internet service), field, playground, a futsal court, basketball and a sepak takraw/badminton court, common areas under each block, a void deck preferably, among others. Each block must have a grocery/provision shop and sufficient car park space. All void decks and car parks must be lighted at night for safety and security reasons. The department may charge fees for the use of car parks and void decks for functions.

All public housing estates must have proper and necessary infrastructure such as, schools, library, roads, drains, bridges, bus stops, taxi stops, traffic lights, supermarket, markets, banks, post office, shops, food centre, community centre, places of worships, housing services office, sufficient open space and green areas, etc. There must be public transportation such as bus and taxi services available 24/7.

At a later stage, the government may build bigger and better houses/flats on government land to allow house-owners to upgrade. A buyer who wishes to upgrade must sell the house he or she already owned and the unit will be offered for sale to and offered to the next person waiting in line to purchase a house for himself or herself. If he or she declines, the unit will be offered to the next person waiting in line for a house in that area.

My proposal above should be given a serious thought. It can be made possible and successful if the government is interested in providing affordable houses to the people. The government must also have the commitment and the stamina to see it through.

In so far as private housing is concerned, it shall remain status quo and the market forces shall determine its fate.

Hussaini Abdul Karim, Shah Alam, Selangor