Sybreon Ones Nought

I watched the speech given by David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, in an emergency parliament sitting. Boy, I wish that we had a parliament like that.

However, what caught my attention was the stance taken by Mr Cameron including, the threat to cut out certain Internet services if they are used for criminal activity and the increase in the number of police and use of police force on the ground, particularly the part where he refused to back down on considering all options including military, when pressed.

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I don’t think that it’s the right stance to take.

Fighting words must ultimately be backed with fighting force.

I just read an article in TMI, which says that, “Datuk Donald Lim has pledged to relinquish his post if the Barisan Nasional (BN) party fails to capture more seats in the frontline state in the coming polls.” Personally, I think that he should just quit anyway – regardless of how MCA does in the coming polls. He is a lame duck who cannot even quack properly.

While I don’t know him personally, I still remember watching his public debate against Chua Jui Meng on live TV. It was then that I realised how terrible he is as a politician. As long as he does not open his mouth, I can still give him the benefit of a doubt but not after.

I think that he will do MCA a favour if he steps aside to let the younger generation of leaders come up. While I do not know of anyone worth voting for within MCA, I still think that MCA should be able to do better than him. Otherwise, it’s just kinda sad.

The way that things are going for them, MCA seem destined to join their Gerakan brothers and sisters in the coming GE.

According to an article in TheStar, “Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham said the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) cannot raid the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) because Syariah laws do not apply to non-Muslims or non-Islamic agencies.”

I think that people who do not understand the law, should neither make uninformed comments on the law, nor should they become law makers. Maybe Universiti Malaya should withdraw the Law degree that they have conferred on him as he is not tendering proper legal advice.

We need to institute an qualification examination, explicitly to filter out uninformed people like Ngeh. Article 11 of our constitution states that:

1. Every person has the right to profess and practice his religion and, subject to Clause (4), to propagate it.
2. No person shall be compelled to pay any tax the proceeds of which are specially allocated in whole or in part for the purposes of a religion other than his own.
3. Every religious group has the right –
   (a) to manage its own religious affairs;
   (b) to establish and maintain institutions for religious or charitable purposes; and
   (c) to acquire and own property and hold and administer it in accordance with law.
4. State law and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, federal law may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.
5. This Article does not authorize any act contrary to any general law relating to public order, public health or morality.

If the DUMC are being accused of prostelysing to Muslims, the law draws its powers from the Federal Constitution while the specific sections are governed by State Law, not Syariah Law.

Of course, the onus is on the authorities to prove that the law has been broken in this case. If it was, the organisers of the dinner should be hauled to civil court (not a Syariah one).

Nothing to see except a Lawyer Beruk blabbering away.

According to an article in TheStar, we have been running a pilot programme for students in our MARA Junior Colleges where 180 students are in a programme to take Cambridge IGCSEs alongside our national SPM examinations.

A quick read of the website shows that there’s even a Malay Language paper to take. I’m guessing that all our students would ace that paper. I’m also guessing that the IGCSE papers are in English, which would place more emphasis on learning that language.

The article claims that the programme would equip these students for education abroad by arming them with an internationally recognised school certificate – “we want our students to be global, but at the same time, maintain the character that is synonymous with Malaysia”.

This got me thinking (a silly thing, I know).

Our SPM rot has gone so deep that nobody recognises it as a school certificate anymore. Actually, even Malaysians no longer think much of the SPM exams where even mediocre students are capable of scoring strings of As. The right thing to do would be for our government to tighten standards or scrap it altogether.

However, that would have repercussions across the country if students start losing their As and their ‘right’ to pursue a higher education. Many a kampung kid’s dream to climb the ivory tower would come to a pre-mature end if standards are too tight.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that this will change our government’s view of the GCSEs, which are still not going to be recognised in Malaysia as entry qualifications. However, if the government does recognise it, that will open the doors for more people to continue their studies in Malaysia – in line with our plans to be a regional education hub.

I do welcome our governments plans to incorporate IGCSEs into our education system. I think that our local SPM/STPM exams should be scrapped until such time when the government can get it’s act together. We’ve become experts at out-sourcing in recent years.