Najib: Government to introduce new category of scholarships

By DHARMENDER SINGH

PUTRAJAYA: A new category of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships will be introduced next year based purely on merit, regardless of race.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said he was sure that such a category would be welcomed by all communities, including the Chinese.

“We are restudying the distribution of scholarships under the Public Service Department scheme to introduce a new category.

“We will announce it next year and with the plan to limit the Sijil Pelajaran Malay-sia to 10 subjects, we expect to see a more level playing field,” he said in his speech at a dinner organised by the MCA and the Associated Chinese Chamber of Com-merce and Industry Malaysia here yesterday.

Najib said this would allow Malay-sia’s best students to receive aid to pursue higher studies.

“So the best of the best and the creme de la creme will get aid for higher studies.

“I believe this will be accepted well and it will allow each individual a fair chance to realise his full potential,” he said, adding, however, that he was not “letting the cat out of the bag” just yet about the scheme.

“Like all Malaysians, they also want to see their children have a good education and become successful. All this involves costs,” he said, adding that every race had its needs and if the Government could bring policies that were fair, the Chinese would continue to support the Barisan Nasional.

Najib said the Chinese were not against Malays succeeding or were opposed to efforts to help the bumiputras, but that they wanted policies which looked at the needs of all Malaysians fairly.

“And that’s why I included it in the 1Malaysia concept,” he said, adding that he would also look into MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s request for more government land to build Chinese vernacular schools.

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This announcement was made in conjunction with the Chinese Chambers of Commerce dinner. Of late, PM Najib seemed to be introducing a lot of new ‘goodies’, as a political effort to entice the Non Malays, especially the Chinese back towards supporting Government and Barisan Nasional. First it was the dissolution of Ministry of Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development (MECD), deemed as a ‘specific’ ministry to look into the Bumiputra development affairs. Then the liberalization of 27 sectors from equity quota. More liberalization is expected. Of course not with standing, the real game plan behind “1 Malaysia” has not been spelt out yet and everyone is playing the guessing game to inteprete this. HRH Sultan Johor reacted adversely on PM Najib’s proposal to look into the development of the third bridge linking into Singapore, on the east coast of Johor.

The Government should seriously relook into this proposal. This is because, provision for scholarships has been enshrined in the Federal Constitution solely for the Bumiputras only. When scholarships are being dished out based on merit, that means Malay privileges as provided in the Federal Constitution inadvertently has been withdrawn.

The Federal Constitution states clearly that Malay privileges and quota are protected by the HRH Rulers. Any attempt to change, amend or implement it otherwise must be with the consent of HRH Rulers. It seems that PM Najib had acted ultra vires to the Federal Constitution by unilaterally announcing this scholarship scheme based purely on merit.

On the other hand, even if PM Najib wants to create another scholarship on top of the existing one, a totally merit-based scholarship will directly in effect challenge the scholarship which is affirmative action-based. In addition, a precedent is set in which Government scholarship can now ignore the Malay/Bumiputra privileges as stipulated in the Federal Constitution.

The fact is that, PM Najib has not sought the view and sentiments of the Malays, even through UMNO channel before prematurely annoucing this initiative. Whether or not the Malays perceive this initiative as ‘violating their privilege, as fundamental component of the Federal Constitution’ is not known yet. Many already talking about PM Najib is compromising more than previous Leaderships, for support which has yet forth coming. Now, it is something which is provided within trhe Federal Constitution. Having said all that, BN should not wait until the next General Elections to painfully find out the throughly ’true’ feelings of the rakyat again, especially the Malays and Bumiputras, which comprises more than 65% of the population.

Will this new initiative meet the objective to entice the Non Malays’ support?

Or has PM Najib exhausted all practical ideas to revive the economy, the real factor that should entice the Non Malays’ support, especially the Chinese, who are known to be materialistically centric?

PM Najib has the fondness to equate nostalgically what he is doing now to his late father, Second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. The visit to China last month and to the Kayan village earlier this month have been highlighted through the media. The ‘Thirteen Million Ringgit’ question is that would Tun Razak compromise so much of the majority’s support and gamble on winning over the minority?

Our bet is, he would have done it the other way around. He would even strengthened the interests of the majority via the Federal Constitution. As he did for MARA in 1966, under the MARA Act. Lately, even HRH Rulers are very concerned about the development of the Malays.

Regardless, don’t let the situation escalate till a point-of-no-return, where the Government wholesomely loses the support of all. The Malays would be slighted because they felt their privileges taken away from them and the Government no longer value their support, which had been the mainstay of Perikatan/Barisan Nasional power base since 1955 and the Non Malays would not be satisfied (as they had been despite so many concessions made available to them – like the Chinese schools, which clearly contravene the Education Act 1996) and still feel they are treated as ‘2^nd class citizens’, regardless what the Government do for them. As the Malays say it, “Yang dikejar tak dapat, yang dikendong berciciran”.

(petikan dari bigdogdotcom.wordpress.com)

"Unity Talks" tak mahu tapi "jambatan ke 2 minta.." Apa ni Guan Eng

PAS dengan desakan "DAP dan PKR yang kelihatan bimbang" membatalkan cadangannya sendiri untuk mengadakan "unity talk" dengan UMNO. Pembatalan ini mencerminkan kesetiakawanan ketiga-tiga parti itu dalam melemah, memberi persepsi negatif dan memecahkan benteng kedudukan UMNO yang semakin baik di mata rakyat. Walaupun perbincangan itu dibatalkan namun keinginan dan keyakinan kepada kebaikan perbincangan itu masih ada dalam hati pemimpin-pemimpin kanan PAS.

Setakat ini pendirian UMNO jelas. Reaksi pemimpinnya dalam perkara uniti Melayu/Islam untuk uniti seluruh rakyat Malaysia kemudiannya sangat baik, konsisten dan membayangkan pendirian yang boleh membawa kabaikan. Rakyat memerhatikan ini.

Yang peliknya sementara Pakatan Rakyat menolak "unity talk" pada masa yang sama mereka meminta orang yang mereka tak ndak berbincang itu untuk "mempercepatkan pembinaan jambatan ke dua", mempercepatkan "membina monorail" dan infrustruktur lain di negeri-negeri tadbiran mereka. Mereka juga menuntut untuk mengurus air sendiri, meminta peruntukan kewangan agar tidak terpaksa menjual reserve balak untuk dapatkan wang. Tidak kah kalau dengan unity talk itu semua perkara ini boleh dibincangkan sekali.

Sekarang, ada pula pemimpin mereka yang berkeras menentang perbincangan PAS - UMNO mengajak presiden UMNO berdebat pula. Menteri Besar negeri Kedah yang dibawah pemerintahan PAS kata debat itu bagus kerana akhirnya akan jadi pertemuan yang berupa perbincangan.

Nah, bagaimana ini. Perbincangan untuk perpaduan tak mahu diadakan. Sekarang perdebatan pula dicadangkan?

Dalam dunia ini bagaimana kuat pun sesuatu pihak itu bermusuh, akhirnya perbincangan juga yang menyelesaikan segala kekusutan. Lihatlah sejarah di mana juapun, hatta pada zaman Nabi sekalipun. Muzakarah, muhabalah, perbincangan dan perdebatan adalah "contact" atau "pertemuan" yang boleh membuka jalan penyelesaian kekusutan.

Sementera rakyat "dikatakan" menolak UMNO / BN rakyat sebenarnya menilai semua orang. Parti-parti Pakatan Rakyat dan pemimpin mereka juga sedang diperhatikan dan dinilai oleh rakyat. Bagaimana rakyat memandang UMNO / BN begitu jugalah rakyat meneliti PR / Pas, PKR, DAP. Percayalah

Dr M against "Little Emperor" Kuan Yew

With no love lost between him and Lee Kuan Yew, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pulled no punches today and called the Singapore leader “a little Emperor … of a tiny Middle Kingdom” lecturing Malaysian leaders on how to run the country in his recent “triumphant visit to Malaysia”.

The longest-serving Malaysian prime minister also took a swipe at his successor, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, calling him “the great 5th Prime Minister” who had decided not to build a new bridge or settle other outstanding issues with the island republic when Johoreans said they did not want to sell sand to Singapore for its reclamation works.

“During Lee Kuan Yew’s triumphant visit to Malaysia, he made it known to the Malaysian supplicants that Singapore regards the lands within 6,000 miles radius of Singapore as its hinterland. This includes Beijing and Tokyo and, of course, Malaysia,” Dr Mahathir said in posting at his popular www.chedet.cc.

He did not meet Kuan Yew, who is Singapore’s longest-serving prime minister, during the latter’s eight-day visit to Malaysia which ended today. The two leaders had an acrimonious relationship while in power.

“Of course this self-deluding perception places Singapore at the centre of a vast region. It is therefore the latter day Middle Kingdom. The rest are peripheral and are there to serve the interest of this somewhat tiny Middle Kingdom,” he added.

Dr Mahathir pointed out Kuan Yew’s explanation that Singapore Chinese would control the “Iskandar whatever” was not justified as Malays could work there, sarcastically saying “It is good to know that Malays can also work in their own country. I wonder as what? Maybe someone should make a study of the Malays of Singapore just to know what it is like to be a Malay minority in their own country”

He has been a long-term critic of the Iskandar development corridor launched by Abdullah three years ago, saying Singapore would dominate Malaysian territory, which is modelled on the fast-growing Shenzen region across Hong Kong.

Lee Kuan Yew meeting Perak's Sultan Azlan Shah while in Ipoh recently.

Dr Mahathir also picked up his pet peeve about the price of raw water being sold to Singapore at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons under two agreements made in the 1960s.

“Lee says it was absurd for the former Prime Minister of hinterland Malaysia to ask to increase it to RM8 per 1,000 gallons. I don’t know where he got this. Some Malaysian officers did suggest this figure but we were ready to bargain and maybe settle for RM3.

“And why not? Johor sells raw water to Malacca for 30 sen, 1,000% higher than to Singapore. And Malacca is, I believe, a part of Malaysia! Some Malaysians may see the irony of this,” he added.

Reserving some vitriol for his favourite whipping boy, Abdullah, Dr Mahathir said, “The great 5th Prime Minister has decided that since the people of Johor did not want to sell sand to Singapore, Malaysia would not build any bridge, straight or crooked, or negotiate and settle the other issues like the Central Provident Fund, the Railway land.

“Maybe the 5th Prime Minister thinks he is punishing Singapore. Actually he is giving Singapore what its wants, including the 3 sen per 1,000 gallons water until 2060. Think of how many grains of nasi lemak we can buy with 3 sen in 2060. Imagine what 1,000 gallons will earn for Singapore at that time. Can’t think of a more astute PM for Malaysia,” he added

He also made a stinging observation about Kuan Yew’s visit to Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, Ipoh, Penang, Kota Bharu and Kuantan with his delegation in the past week.

“All those who met the great man from the little country were lectured on how Malaysia should be run. We should not have any more problems now. We have been told the direction to take. MCA must help Umno to win because Singapore does not want an Islamic party like PAS to win. We must ensure this.

“Sorry, PAS. Working with the DAP, the offspring of PAP has not endeared you to Mr Lee,” he wrote.

But he promised this was not the end of his diatribe against Kuan Yew.

“I have a lot more to say about this little Emperor but I will reserve it for later,” Dr Mahathir vowed

(Petikan dari The Malaysian Insider)

"SPM with English" certificate ?

As the government is too eager to make Malaysian well verse in English; why not establish two type of certificates at SPM level. One the existing type "Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia" certificate which does not require "compulsory pass" in English, and another one a new certificate called "Sijil Pelajran Malaysia dengan Bahasa Inggeris" or "SPM with English" for sijil with compulsory English..

With the two type of certificates the government can avoids "serba salah" and looks good in the eyes of "the divide society"

BUT, think of it long term effects. Play safe by staying on as a "divide society" with multy divisional education system, or stick to the original plan with "main stream education policy" hoping the next two generation could really be the generation the country deserved - the true and better Malaysian. At least we would be somewhere after 60 + years

Chairmanship in Finas

WONG KAM HONG former deputy minster of KeKKWA was appointed as the new Finas Chairman, replacing Dato' Razali Ibrahim who was appointed as Deputy Minster of Youth and Sports in the Najib's cabinet recently. Read my prediction, here.

An interesting perception on the matter can also be read here

MCA takut gabungan PAS dan UMNO dalam parlimen

MCA membidas seruan dewan pemuda PAS agar dikekalkan ekuiti 30 peratus bumiputera dalam dasar ekonomi kerajaan.

Dasar 30% itu ialah dasar parti BN yang MCA adalah anggotanya. Dan kini salah sebuah parti lawannya yang berada dalam pakatan rakyat mahukan dasar tersebut dikekalkan. Mengapa MCA membantah. Dia membantah orang menyokong dasar yang mereka dokong. Mengapa.

Nyatanya MCA sememangnya duri dalam daging kepada UMNO, dan kepada kerajaan BN.

Mereka membuat kecuh pertama kerana mereka tidak ada idea bagaimana menghadapi suasana baru politik negara. Kedua kerana mereka takut kepada andaian UMNO dan PAS menggabungkan "kuasa Melayu + Islam" di parlimen.

30% ekuiti untuk orang Melayu itu sebenarnya bukanlah tinggi jika dibandingkan dengan ada 70% lagi bahagian untuk orang bukan Melayu dan lain-lain. Yang 30% bahagian Melayu itupun sebelum ini dipulon sebahagian darinya oleh taukeh-taukeh bukan Melayu kaum kerabat MCA juga. Barangkali kerana adanya partner jenis ini dalam keluarga BN lah yang menyebabkan dasar meningkatkan kedudukan bumiputera dimasa lalu di"terencat"kan oleh ahli dalam kerajaan sendiri.

Dalam keadaan sekarang saya rasa ahli-ahli MCA mungkin patut masuk jadi ahli kelab penyokong pas untuk mengetahui apa sebenarnya yang diperkatakan PAS dalam kontek ini..dan boleh memikirkan bagaimana cadangan tersebut boleh diterencatkan juga..

Dr M comment on Chin Peng

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose government signed a peace deal with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) in 1989, today said arguments that Chin Peng fought for freedom are undermining both Umno and the Malays’ fight for independence.

He pointed out that Chin Peng was not the first to rebel against the British, saying the Kesatuan Melayu Muda (KMM) or Young Malays Union began an independence movement before World War 2 but it did not get much support as it was leaning towards the left.

Other parties such as the Malay Nationalist Party, Angkatan Belia Insaf and Putera were also thought to be influenced by communism.

"Only after KMM came Chin Peng and the CPM. Chin Peng fought to set up a communist dictatorship where he can be the dictator," Dr Mahathir wrote in his popular www.chedet.cc weblog today.

"For the Malays, Chin Peng's success won't bring freedom but it will replace British colonialism with communist colonialism under Chin Peng with the majority being the Chinese. The Malays in a communist regime are just decorative pieces like what we see in Singapore now," he said, adding the Malays and the Malay language would be erased in time in such a regime.

Incidentally, Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who initially had a close relationship with Dr Mahathir when both were prime ministers, is visiting Malaysia next week but is not meeting with his former counterpart.

Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister pointed out that even left-leaning Malays did not join the CPM. "The internal situation in the CPM while it was trying to grab power, first from the British and then the Alliance and Barisan Nasional, reflected Chin Peng's regime if he was successful. The Chinese will be the leaders while the Malay and Indian communists will have a small role or none to play at all.

"This is why the Malays did not join the CPM revolution to fight the British and did not consider it as a struggle for Malaya's independence,:" he said, adding this led the Malays to form Umno to seek independence from the British colonialists without resorting to an armed struggle.

"The Malay and Umno's approach was within their capabilities. Maybe Umno's fight was not great as armed revolutions elsewhere but the independence won by Umno is more meaningful as Malaysia is on a higher moral ground and can criticise the big powers when they make mistakes," Dr Mahathir said.

"It is Umno that fought for independence until it was successful to get a meaningful independence. Chin Peng fought to set up a communist dictatorship that will colonise Malays and the other races as well," he added.