1-Naive-Malaysia

Har Wai Mun [Mar 26, 2010]
[Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/127617]

Ever since the development of Aristotle's rhetoric in forth century BC, slogans and motivational words played important roles particularly in politics. The best example was Alexander the Great, Aristotle's student but Malaysian political leaders certainly do not lack when applying this skill.

Thanks to plenty of political naivete political slogans are great assets in brainwashing Malaysians' minds due to the continuous suppression of freedom of speech and thought for them

In the Mahathir-Anwar era, we have the famous 'We are one family' slogan. Spoken in Mandarin by Malay leaders, this slogan fascinated many Chinese. Another top hit slogan was Dr Mahathir Mohamad's 'Malaysia Boleh'.

I still recall joining in the patriotic shouting of 'Malaysia Boleh' that successfully inspired the Malaysian hockey team at Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games. The biggest surprise was when the Australian hockey team supporters modified their slogan to 'Australia Boleh' in their final match!

Not to forget was Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's 'Do not work for me, work with me'. Yet after the March 2008 election, not much of his Umno colleagues were willing to work with him anymore.

The latest No.1 slogan is Najib's '1Malaysia', so aggressively marketed by the Barisan Nasional government that the Malaysian sphere has been unjustifiably assaulted by the aforementioned slogan from 'Salam 1Malaysia' to associating '1' in naming new business, housing areas and for a variety of promotional matters.

I wonder whether this slogan has been grammatically verified by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka or else it is merely language pollution.

What is it so grand about the '1' (satu)? Indonesia already has their 'Satu Negara, Satu Bangsa, Satu Bahasa' since a long time ago. What is the difference in being 'Malaysian' against being '1Malaysian'?

Why are we still calling ourselves 'Malay', 'Indian', 'Chinese' and 'Iban' (to name a few racial terms) instead of only 'Malaysian' if we all are '1 Malaysian'? Among the Chinese, we have for example the Hokkein, Cantonese and Hainanese people, yet nowhere in Malaysia or China are they called '1-Chinese'.

Why does the government still wish to appeal to restrict the use of the word 'Allah' by the Herald? Why are corruption investigations, ISA detentions and even the right to protest selective? There are already many critics against the '1Malaysia' slogan, hence there is no need to repeat more here.

Indeed, the alarming concern that needs to be highlighted is the naïve state of Malaysians' mindset on politics and rational thinking. Malaysians tend to 'give chance' too often to Barisan Nasional after the latter comes out with slogans and sky-high (but would not be fulfilled) promises.

Let me share a story told to me by a friend, hoping that it will help Malaysians to wake-up from being hypnotised by merely slogans.

There was a son who was so naughty and therefore tended to do many bad things. This son would apologise to his father after every bad thing he did but still repeated his misdeeds again and again. One day, the father asked his son to hammer a big nail into the house wall after every bad thing did while pulling out a nail for every good deed he performed.

Years after year, the son grew up to be a better adult. Finally, the numerous nails he once hammered into the wall had been all pulled out. What was the father reaction? He just said, 'Glad that you have finally turned over a new leaf but look at the wall. Despite no more nails, the wall has been disfigured by nail holes.'

In the Malaysian context, the Barisan Nasional is the son but one who never turned over a new leaf. Instead, this 'son' went on nailing and then pulling out the nails with slogans and sometimes with a 'hammer' (read: prosecuting the opposition with force like the draconian ISA).

Anyway, the damage (the nail holes) has been done. Look at Malaysia's competitiveness. Compare Malaysian education standards with Singapore's. Judge for yourself whether there is justice and democracy in Malaysia. How about the attitude of the government towards corruption and cronyism?

Hence, please wake up fellow Malaysians. Open your eyes and you may see another word between the '1' and 'Malaysia' that is mocking us – '1-naïve-Malaysia'.

Condemnation on Attack of Three Churches

The three churches namely the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati, the Assumption Church in Jalan Templer and the Life Tabernacle Church were fire-bombed last nights.

Heading the Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and DAP veteran leader Lim Kit Siang call, all Malaysian leaders and citizen should condemn in the strongest possible terms the spate of church attacks.

Net lingua

Lim Kim Hui & Har Wai Mun. 2009. Pengglobalan bahasa Internet (net lingua): Adaptasi dan hambatannya terhadap perkembangan bahasa (Globalization of Internet language (net lingua): Its adaptation and restriction to language growth). Bahasa. Vol. 18. September – December. Brunei: 27 – 45.


Conclusion part of the article:

Tidak boleh dinafikan bahawa bahasa Internet mempunyai kedinamikannya tersendiri, khasnya dari segi kebolehan adaptasinya. Antara jenis-jenis adaptasi yang utama, terutamanya dalam konteks bahasa Internet Melayu adalah singkatan huruf dan nombor, pengaruh bahasa Inggeris kreatif, bahasa kreatif dan gambaran “aksi dan emosi”. Ini membuktikan genre bahasa ini sememangnya pragmatik, justeru tentulah amat mudah menarik hati pengguna internet tetapi ditentang atas aspek sebab ketulenan bahasa perlu dipertahankan. Sehingga masa penulisan ini, nampaknya masih tidak ada jawapan bagi debat antara penyokong bahasa Internet dengan pencinta bahasa baku. Namun, di sebalik ketiadaan jawapan adalah jawapannya, yakni biarlah kedua-dua genre bahasa tersebut berkembang seiring demi memperkayakan keanekabahasaan dunia. Setiap bahasa di dunia ini, dari bahasa Melayu, bahasa Inggeris, bahasa Cina, bahasa Jepun, bahasa Jerman hinggalah bahasa Internet masing-masing ada hak untuk terus hidup dan merkah. Bukan saja begitu, kelebihan mana-mana bahasa patut dijadikan teladan untuk memajukan bahasa sendiri supaya dunia kita subur dengan keharmonian pelbagai bahasa dan budaya.

We must stop the rot

Article written by Terence Fernandez
[Source: http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=38039]
[Access date: 27 September 2009]

EVERY year, about 3,700 academics from around the world are quizzed on what they think defines a good university and to list down what they feel are the premier higher learning institutions in the world. Their responses are collated and at the end of the day, 500 universities are shortlisted and published on the Times Higher Education (THE) QS World Top University Rankings.

Each year, universities around the globe fall over themselves to gain entry into this prestigious list because it helps secure more grants and sponsors; helps attract a larger student population, where in the era of foreign education, it is used as a commercial boast to attract students.

In Malaysia, where one brags of frivolous achievements such as the largest fruit basket, longest teh tarik and a space tourist, being listed on the Times-QS rolls is indeed a big deal, which is why when the list is released, all and sundry crane their necks to see if they made the cut.

The latest global rankings list University of Malaya (UM) at 230; Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) at 250; Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) at 313; Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) at 320; and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 356.

In the Asian Top 200, UM is 39; UKM 51; USM 69; UTM 82; UPM 90 and the Multimedia University at 171.

But every year we see a decline in the achievements of most of these varsities. Why, can be traced at every level of our education system.

Dumbed-down examinations, lower passing rates, questionable marking methodologies and debatable literary content have all contributed to this decline.

Politicisation of the education system has added to the cause in standards of local varsities going south and this starts at school – from sub-standard teachers who join teachers’ training college as a last resort, exam-oriented syllabuses to vague admission criteria.

This was well-illustrated when the government recently had to explain that some of its top-scoring Pubic Service Department scholarship applicants may be book smart but do not have the analytical mindset to qualify for certain courses. Basically, it was trying to say that these straight A students cannot survive the real world beyond their books.

This is probably why even education officials send their children to international schools while espousing the virtues of studying in government schools and institutions.

We know we are in trouble if even Indonesia does not recognise our qualifications. What more with many parents considering educating their children abroad – irrespective of whether they can afford it or not, it is time we re-look our education system from kindergarten and stop making guinea pigs out of our children.

Back home, there are those who opt for a professional qualification via college diplomas rather than spending four years in university, only to join the unemployment line.

In my line of work, I regularly come across evidence of this decline in our education standards.

Errors in government statements on its websites and official correspondences are not unusual.

On Sunday, the Health Ministry through its website issued a statement on H1N1 which read among others: “This day was proclaimed a new 231 with symptoms pesakit influenza-like illness (ILI) has been incorporated into the hospital for treatment and at the same time some 166 have been didiscaj kes. This makes the tray seramai 1048 ILI being treated in hospital, including 106 fruit 14 private hospital ...”

Signed by Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Ismail Merican, the posting was removed as soon as Ismail (whose English is impeccable) was notified by a reporter. Obviously it was written by another staff but the lack of checks caused embarrassment to the director-general and the ministry.

We have on our desk a letter in English from a university professor littered with grammatical errors. Not too long ago, one university had to publish an apology to a member of the Royal House for its atrocious use of the English language in a congratulatory message to her published the previous day.

I cannot speak on other faculties but we have many journalism students interning with us. The knowledge that their lecturers have not spent a day in a newsroom sends shudders down our spine as we contemplate the future of journalism in this country. One intern even confided that the first thing she learnt was self-censorship – how to write favourably about the establishment.

Then there are those which border on the criminal. Last week, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia law lecturer Yasmin Norhazleena Bahari Md Noor opened a can of worms when she lodged a report on fixing of marks with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

Yesterday, theSun front-paged a report where two UPM lecturers were caught plagiarising. What more can you say? One is a professor and the other a PhD holder with a law degree.

UPM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Nik Mustapha R. Abdullah said this matter passed the institution’s Publication’s Committee as it usually only scans through materials and journals for submissions to Times Higher Education in an effort to scale up the university rankings.

One wonders which direction UPM would be headed now that it has been proven that some of its material is plagiarised. And this again brings to mind the shallow priorities of some. Improving the overall education standards would inevitably keep us on a reasonable level on the charts.

What’s the point of submitting tailored PR materials when the rot continues to stink?

As long as herd mentality and partisan policies continue to infiltrate our education system, we can bet that it will be a matter of time when Malaysian universities disappear from the rankings.

UM and UKM have already fallen out of the Top 200 list, and with questionable policies and dubious characters in charge and involved in shaping the next generation of our workforce, we are in for a tough time to compete with our neighbours, what more the rest of the world.

[My related article entitle "The end of academia?: From cogito ergo sum to consumo ergo sum Germany and Malaysia in comparison" available for download >> click here]

Anti-ISA Protest

Not long ago, an international news agency shown police forcefully using water cannon against Hindraf protesters in their television news. Yet, the most deep memory in the mentioned news is this phrase used to describe the situation at that time: "This is demorcacy - Malaysian style".

It seem that Malaysian style democracy remains the same as is in the recent protest against the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA). Herewith is the link to BBC News (Asia Pacific) video clip, which once and again shown that democracy is under siege (or perhaps, under ISA detention).

Link to BBC News (with video clip):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8179513.stm

Several free online information on the protest available at the following links:

Beatings, tear gas and water cannons a setback for Najib’s reforms (Malaysian Insider)

Tindakan terhadap peserta demo anti-ISA undang kecaman (Malaysiakini)

Pakatan claims anti-ISA success despite police action (Sinchew.com)

Mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock

BBC (20 July 2009) reported that Chua Jui Meng, a member of Malaysia's governing coalition, has quit to join the opposition Pakatan Alliance. He said he was concerned about alleged abuse of power and the unexplained death of an opposition leader's aide. …

"We see the abuse of power in the use of the federal institutions to harass, persecute and prosecute the leader of the opposition," he said. This was a reference to a sodomy trial, for which preliminary proceedings have begun, against Mr Anwar.

Mr Chua said the sudden death of a young opposition political aide, Teoh Beng Hock, was the tipping point in his decision to join the opposition.

"The tragic death of 30-year-old Teoh Beng Hock is the consequence of one such institution going overboard in its action." Mr Teoh, an aide to a member of the state cabinet in Selangor, ruled by the opposition alliance, apparently plunged from the 14th-floor offices of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

For further information on this tragedy, refer to My Sinchew (2009) online write-up entitle “Mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock”.

Meanwhile, Shannon Teoh (20 July 2009) highlighted three more similar high profile cases happened previously in Malaysia. Among them are the cases of Altantuya Shariibuu, Francis Udayappan and A. Kugan. Her write up is available in Malaysian Insider.

Seventeen civil society groups have dubbed the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock a casualty of politics and demands a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the incident. The groups include the Bar Council, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH), Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI), Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), Malaysia Youth and Student Democratic Movement (Dema), Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower), Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) (Malaysiakini, 18 July 2009).

Further public opinions could be viewed at Malaysiakini such as follows:

It's double standards we can't stomach

Uproar over harsh interrogation tactics

Reference:

BBC. (2009). Malaysia opposition group grows. Retrieved July 21, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8158481.stm.

Malaysiakini. (2009). Teoh 'the first political death' under Najib. Retrieved July 21, 2009 from http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/108784.

My Sinchew online write-up “Mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock” available at http://www.mysinchew.com/taxonomy/term/91.

Shannon Teoh. (2009). Who’s next?. Retrieved July 21, 2009 from http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/opinion/breaking-views/32786-whos-next--shannon-teoh.