Umno leaders don’t give a toss about ordinary Malaysians, says Nurul Izzah

The Malaysia Insider

December 08, 2013
Latest Update: December 08, 2013 06:04 pm

 

Umno leaders and members are living in a comfort zone without a care for the current issues affecting Malaysians, said Parti Keadilan Rakyat's Nurul Izzah Anwar (pic) today.

The PKR vice-president expressed dismay that issues like declining education standards, rising cost of living or threats to the nation’s security and sovereignty were never brought up or discussed at the recently concluded Umno general assembly.

 

Nurul, who is also the Lembah Pantai MP, said Umno was only interested in consolidating its grip on Putrajaya and introducing economic policies in various guises which only benefited the elite in Umno.

"At a time when the public, including the Malays, are being increasingly burdened by the rising cost of living, Umno leaders and delegates are busy talking about how to consolidate their hold on Putrajaya," she said in a statement today.

"The future prospects of Malays and Malaysia look bleak under Umno if they do not implement inclusive national reconciliation efforts."

The release recently of the 2012 Programme for International Assessment (Pisa) poll results by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that Malaysia was lagging far behind its neighbours. Malaysia ranked 52nd out of 65 countries.

"How would Malaysian parents feel when they find out that 11- and 12-year-olds from Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam are on a par with our 15-year-olds? The Government's failure to address this problem points towards a bleak future for the next generation.

"Putrajaya has failed to increase the standard of our educational excellence to enable our pupils to remain competitive in the global arena. What our children will inherit from us is low income and a culture of getting into debt just to support themselves with the increasingly higher costs of living.

"It looks like, in the future, Malay children will require the assistance of their parents by living at home, borrowing from their parents and sharing vehicles. Does Umno think that quality education is not important?”

She also hit out at Umno president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for repeating the mantra - "short-term pain for long-term gain" and "our path towards becoming a high-income nation".

Nurul Izzah hit out at Umno leaders for ignoring the rising cost of living which is hitting the public.

While acknowledging that credit ratings agency Moody's had upgraded Malaysia's outlook from stable to positive, she said it had been based on improved prospects for fiscal consolidation and reforms.

However, Nurul Izzah noted that none of the Umno delegates had asked an important question at the Umno general assembly. Why did global ratings agency Fitch Ratings revise Malaysia's sovereign credit rating outlook from stable to negative?

"Not a single Umno leader or delegate raised the issue of leakage, wastage, corruption and economic mismanagement. Are the public paying for these shortcomings in the form of the goods and services tax, increased fuel costs, removal of sugar subsidy, higher electricity tariffs and City Hall's assessment rates?

"Because of the overspending and leakages by Putrajaya, taxpayers have to suffer. All the additional revenue Putrajaya hoped to raise is to increase Malaysia's credit rating and to help the elite few in Umno through the Bumiputera Economic Empowerment Agenda."

She said the public was not blind, as former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently remarked that the level of corruption under the Najib administration was frightening compared with his time in office.

Nurul Izzah said the chest-thumping during the Umno general assembly for 1Melayu indicated the paranoia in the party.

Instead of focusing on issues of national security and sovereignty, the delegates and party leaders were more interested in the 1Melayu slogan.

"The recent statutory declaration by former city CID chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim regarding the Pulau Batu Puteh case, the intrusion by armed Sulu gunmen into Lahad Datu, the indiscriminate issuance of identity cards and the murder of a Taiwanese tourist on Pom Pom island did not even warrant a mention at the assembly.

"Are national security and the country's sovereignty no longer important to Umno? No one mentioned that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will be a new form of economic colonisation." - December 8, 2013.

 

 

 

 

Plundering in the guise of protecting the Malays

NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
December 07, 2013
Latest Update: December 09, 2013 09:17 am

 

 
Delegates at the Umno general assembly are becoming more strident in their demands for 'rewards' for those who support the party. – The Malaysian Insider pic, December 7, 2013.
 
When Umno started out in 1946, it united many Malay groups and organisations in the pursuit of Merdeka, an independent Malaya which later formed Malaysia with Sabah and Sarawak.

It fought for the race, religion and rulers. And it ruled Malaysia with its allies, MCA and MIC, and later expanded that to Barisan Nasional in the aftermath of the May 1969 race riots.

Its mission never changed and every annual gathering was focused on race and religion. But now, that is being used to profit the few rather than the many.

This year's assembly is no different, especially at a time of rising costs and shrinking surplus in the country. Malaysians are told to tighten their belts as assessment rates and electricity tariffs go up. Soon, toll rates will be raised while a consumption tax comes into effect in April 2015.

But over at the Putra World Trade Centre where Umno has its annual general assembly, it appears to be more like a gathering of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves as delegate after delegate speak about the economy and the need to reward only those who supported BN and Umno in the 13^th General Election.

They are all trying to parcel out and get more for themselves in the name of protecting the Malays! It is still about business opportunities just for Malays and corporate positions just because they are Malays.
There is so little talk about how far behind Malaysian students are lagging in mathematics, science and reading in the PISA rankings this year.

Not one squeak on the ticking time-bomb of household debt and income inequality in the country, except that people should tighten their belts. Even the cash handouts are a miserly amount which some delegates now want to restrict to just their supporters.

Just gimme gimme gimme.

Everything is for them and pity those who stand in their way and question what they are doing.
All the government-linked companies are for their own economic development and not for the rest of the country.

How then can we still have 1Malaysia? Even that might give way to 1Melayu if some delegates have their way.

Let's just cut the fluff and call the Umno assembly what it is: officially sanctioned plundering of Malaysia.
There can be no other reason to meet, except to find ways to profit for themselves at the expense of their community and country. – December 7, 2013.

 

PISA education tests: Why Shanghai pupils are so special

PISA education tests: Why Shanghai pupils are so special

By Tom Phillips
8:20PM GMT 04 Dec 2013

For the second time running, pupils in China’s financial capital have been world beaters in maths, science and reading. Here's why

Lucy Dong, left, and Amy Zhu. Outside school hours, the girls’ lives are a blur of extra-curricular activities: English class, flute class, drumming class, handwriting class, calligraphy class, Taekwondo training, modelling lessons and choir practice. 

 

 

 

Every day, Lucy Dong and her best friend Amy Zhu wake at 7am – 7.10am if they are lucky – munch through their breakfast of steamed buns and noodles, and head off to what may be the best schooling system in the world.

The 10-year-olds, who are natives of Shanghai, China’s sprawling financial capital, study in 35-minute bursts from around 8am to 4pm, with a small break for lunch – and a class meeting – sandwiched in the middle.

Outside school hours, the girls’ lives are a blur of extra-curricular activities: English class, flute class, drumming class, handwriting class, calligraphy class, Taekwondo training, modelling lessons and choir practice.

Over the coming years, as they chase their respective dreams of becoming an astronaut and a poetry reciter, Lucy and Amy’s lives are unlikely to be easy. But they will at least be part of an education system that appears to be paying great dividends.

This week, Shanghai was crowned – for the second time – the champion of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares the maths, reading and science skills of some 510,000 secondary school students around the world.

Shanghai’s students came top of the global class in maths with an average score of 613 (up from 600 in the last PISA tests of 2010). That was 119 points, or the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling, above the average, and placed Shanghai 25 places above Britain, which had 494 points.

Shanghai also came top in reading (570 points), just ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore, which joined it on the podium in all three PISA categories. Britain languished in 23rd place with 499 points.

Shanghai was also victorious in science (Britain came 21st) and excelled when it came to “top performers”. Twenty-five per cent of its students were placed in that bracket, the PISA results showed.

Some experts question the value of comparing cities and countries. Others point out that Shanghai’s relatively well-funded schools and well-paid teachers are not representative of the Chinese education system as a whole. Average pay for a Shanghai teacher is 4,400 yuan (£441) a month compared with 2,000 yuan in some cities in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

Even so, the latest results are likely to see more and more educators flock east in search of the mega-city’s magic formula.

Prof Kong Lingshuai of the College of Education at Shanghai Normal University has studied the city’s PISA successes. He says that the secret is a mix of “traditional elements and modern elements”. The former relate to the high expectations of “tiger” parents, and a belief instilled in Chinese children from a young age that effort is crucial to gaining a good education.

“Chinese parents pay great attention to their children’s education in the hope that their sons will one day become dragons and their daughters phoenixes,” says Prof Kong.

The “modern elements” include Shanghai’s willingness to constantly adapt its curriculum and teaching practices; its focus on improving under-achieving schools by pairing them with those that excel; its openness to foreign ideas; and the introduction of performance-related pay.

An obsession with training has also been key, says Prof Kong. As of last year, new teachers have to undergo a standardised, one-year training course before starting in the classroom.

Once qualified, they are required to complete at least 240 hours’ training in their first five years. Teachers are also encouraged to attend each other’s classes to promote a culture of “idea sharing, exchanging and positive competition”.

Outsiders often dismiss China’s education system as a pressure-cooker-style frenzy of exams that places too much emphasis on rote-learning and does little to stimulate creativity.

But in Shanghai at least, that may be starting to change. Authorities are attempting to move away from testing that relies too heavily on memorising facts and figures, and some schools are also giving students more time to play, rather than just study.

Gao Xinhong, a Shanghai student who became a minor local celebrity after getting the highest marks in this year’s “gaokao” university entrance exams, says the schooling system is becoming more flexible. “The greatest part of Shanghai’s education system was that it gave me a broad perspective compared to other Chinese cities. Shanghai’s education is good because it does not treat grades as the only thing for a student,” she says.

Zhu Yi, the father of 10-year-old Amy Zhu, agrees. “It is much better than before. Schools in Shanghai now focus on the all-round development of students,” says Mr Yi, a 44-year-old sports instructor.

He points to an ancient Chinese dedication to learning when asked to explain the city’s PISA successes, but warns: “Education is cultural. It can’t simply be copied or borrowed.”

Prof Kong says cultural factors have been central to Shanghai’s PISA glories but suggests western students hoping to catch up with their Asian peers would do well to take on some extra homework.

“The number of hours Chinese students put into homework is several times higher than their western pals,” he says.

Wang Huichun – a 40-year-old nurse who is the mother of Lucy – says that even Shanghai’s over-achieving students need to work harder if they are to keep succeeding.

“[My daughter’s] school is more interested in the arts than it is academic performance,” Ms Wang complains, in true “tiger mother” fashion. “There is not enough homework. It worries me a little.”