A school that unites all races

Malaysian politicians are a strange lot. Most of them have vision problems that are pretty hard or impossible to correct at all. They can only see extremely very short distances. So, they are actually as good as blind.

Look at our education system. We start dividing children up at such an early age. They only know their own race and religion. Worse still, some racists teachers start teaching these y0ung innocent children to be racists too. Every Barisan party only cared for their own race and fought for schools that based on language and indirectly race-based. If they really cared for the country and people, they would have fought for a school that unites all races. Shame on you politicians.

A SCHOOL THAT UNITES ALL RACES

My suggestion is that we have only one type of school but catered for all races.

1. Have one session schools 8.30 am - 3.30pm so that there will be more time for all activities. However, ensure they have at least 2 breaks - 20 minutes breakfast at 9.30 pm and 40 minutes lunch and rest break at 1.00 pm. Provide children with individual lockers and bathrooms to freshen up.
2. Use English as the medium of instruction for subjects like Science, Maths and Geography to improve the standard of English to be able to compete globally.
3. Have English literature classes and lots of comprehension and composition lessons.
4. Use Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction for subjects like History, Moral, Arts, etc. In fact, Moral should not be taught as a single subject. It is really ridiculous. It should be integrated into Science, English and Bahasa Malaysia. This way, the children have one less subject to study. Be sure to include lots of topics that talks about racial unity and respect for one another. Let children brainstorm ideas on how to achieve racial unity.
5. Teach Mandarin and Tamil (mother tongue) everyday during the last period of the day. Those who do not want to attend, have to stay in the library to study, read a book or complete their homework. Give parents and children a choice to choose.
6. Set aside three periods a week like in the good old days for group activities like football, netball, basketball, rounders, softball and so on. Play games that encourage cooperation.
7. Encourage small group activities and projects where children can socialise as well as brainstorm ideas and teachers must make sure it is a mixed racial group.
8. While Muslim children are studying religion, the others can either opt to study their own religion or go to the library to study, read books or complete their homework.
9. Do not group children into classes based on their abilities as it makes them feel bad.
10. Encourage peer teaching and learning in small groups.
11. Reduce homework, get it all done in school so that children have time to study and have some time for themselves at home.
12. Get qualified, native English speakers to teach our children subjects taught in English if our local teachers are not proficient enough in English until we can produce our enough of our own.
13. Additional activities like clubs, sports training or games for competition should be held after school hours, 3.30 pm - 5.00 pm. Make sure all children join at least one activity. Leave weekends free for spending time with families. No extra classes or tuition.

I encourage readers to provide more positive suggestions here.

A note to PKR runned states

Today an uncle from another state visited and asked this question "How is Penang doing under the new government?" I was like err..., nothing much yet really. Yes, how is Penang doing under the new government? This is my question too.

Last week, I attended a conference and it was during our break where a group of us, Malays and non-Malays were seated together and the same question popped up. Someone there mentioned that since the new government took over, no new projects have been approved. Geez, if this is the truth, it is very bad indeed. The rakyat did not vote for a new government to freeze all projects. We want to see development in Penang. We want to see business get approved without all the red tape. We want to see new business ideas, brainstorming, etc to get Penang and all the PKR governed states doing better than before. The poor must be helped, not with just cash but with a programme to help them to be financially indepdent in the long run. Give them free business training programmes or know how. Team them up with people who have funding. We know that the Barisan Government has punished us by taking away the important mega projects but let us now sit down and sulk over it. Do something to prove to them that PKR can do it without Barisan.

I suggest PKR take the initiative of setting up a rakyat think-tank online and offline and invite the people to give ideas on how to bring about development, business, solve transport problems, etc. As the saying goes, more heads are better than one. Choose the good ones and work on it.

Digging up Barisan's trash is good but if it is only that and nothing else, the rakyat will be very disappointed. Don't fail the rakyat. Stay focused and be result orientated.

Is Ahmad Ismail willing to do the same for the Malays?

It is a shame that Ahmad Ismail of UMNO resorted to describing the Chinese as immigrant squatters and therefore not to be treated equally. He also questioned the Chinese’s willingness to share and distribute their wealth equally with the other races.

I really cannot understand why some people, especially those from UMNO can come up with such remarks. But then again, coming from someone in UMNO, I really shouldn't be so surprised.

He also has the cheek to question the Chinese's willingness to share and distribute their wealth equally with the other races. What does he mean by sharing and distributing our wealth equally? Giving away our wealth to those who are not willing to work for it? Come on. Would he and other rich UMNO politicians and Malays willingly do that? I don't see any rich UMNO politicians or Malays sharing their wealth wih the poor Malays. The point is, I and I am sure that most, if not all, Chinese or any race or any one would do that.

However, I would be willing to employ, go into partnership or work together with Malays who are hardworking and capable. I would not hesitate to teach them what I know so long as I know they are not racists. Why should I share my knowledge or work with people who hates my race or me? In all my life, I have very good relationship with my Malay and Indian friends and staff. I love them just as much as I love my own race friends. Why? It's because they do not see me as a Chinese but as a friend and I see them they same way too.

So, do not ask others to do what you are not willing to do for your own race. Instead, ask all races to come together and help each other. Ask the Malays to be willing to work hard and be efficient instead and you will see opportunities opening up for them to succeed.

Political websites need to be interactive

A visit to MCA's website some time ago to try to post some suggestions came to a dead end. No where to post comments or suggestions. Today, I clicked on a link from a blog site and it ended up in Gerakan's site. Again, there was no where to post suggestions or comments.

Seems to me that they do not want feedback from the people. How can they, as representatives of the people improve their services or their party without feedback from the people who put them into power? Thnk about it, MCA, Gerakan and all those who do not allow feedback or comments. This is the age of the internet - Web 2.0. Be part of it or be dead like a dinosaur.

How do we unite all the different races in Malaysia?

Racism in Malaysia is a very hot topic these days. Let us not harp on this and condemn each other with vulgarities and sarcasm anymore. Instead, put all our minds to work and suggest to the government here on how and what they can do to unite us. The government does need help here, don't you agree? They, especially UMNO, is totally lost so let us, the citizens of Malaysia help them.

I invite all races to participate. One exception though, racists are not welcomed here. You can join UMNO instead. However, please do not do what the politicians do. Use common sense, have respect for other races and moderate language to express yourselves. To sum it all up, mind your language and be civilized.

Do put a subject title for your suggestions okay? I will put up those exceptionally good ones on a page by itself. Helps readers to locate it easier.


My first suggestion will be coming soon. Mine will be about schools.

Why are Malaysians so divided? The answer.

Malaysia has a very strange educational system. We have schools that are categorised by language and also religion. We have Chinese schools where most children are Chinese and some non-Chinese, Malay schools where majority are Malays and Tamil schools where almost all are Indians.

Does it have to take a genius to try to figure out why we are so divided? Come on, the children are taught from young to mix only with their own race. In doing so, they are not given the opportunity to mix with other races, learn other cultures and have other races as close friends. Therefore, is it suprising that why the different races look at each other with suspicion?

The best years for teaching tolerance and getting along with other races are when children are young. These are the years where they have best friends. These are the years where they play with everyone regardless of race because children are not born racists. Racism is taught directly or indirectly to children.

So, to all the Chinese, Indians and Malays who fight so hard to have this type of schools, this is the result you get - racism.

I know many of you out there, especially the Chinese will not be happy with what I mentioned here but you have to face the fact that this is the truth.

My next blog will be on suggestions on how to help solve this problem without taking away the right to learn your mother tongue.

Gone are the days when kids of all races played together

I remember my days as a kid where mixing with different races was a norm. In Kulai, Johor, my first neighbour was an Indian family. Their son, Ravi and me used to play together everyday. His mom would put the puttu or the "red dot" on my forehead. After they moved, a new Malay neighbour moved in, the Majids. They had four children namely Din, Noor, Nina and Nini. We played a lot together and my parents and their parents also got on very well. I was only about 5 or 6 years old when my parents gave permission for me to follow my neighbour to Muar for a week to attend a kenduri. We trusted each other fully.

Unfortunately, it was our turn to move after several years later. My dad was posted to Perak. He was in the civil service so we had to move quite a bit.

In Perak, my first neighbours were Chinese. When they moved, a Malay family with nine children moved in. I cannot recall all their names as it was such a long time ago. I can remember Mahathir and Marzuki the most as we played with our other friends of different races everyday.

Our parents, on the other hand would sit down at their stairways to chat every evening. We also helped each other to make kueh or some snacks for tea frequently. Other times, we would teach each other on how to make simple crafts.

Thursday nights saw our house packed with Malay friends. All were here to watch Malay movies together. At that time, we were one of the very few who had a television.

Every Chinese New Year, my parents would hold an open house day and the house would be packed with Chinese, Indians and Malays. We had a lot of fun without looking at the skin colour like today.

When we had to move again, this time to Kelantan, my father's colleague's son, Azhar followed us to Tanah Merah. He stayed with us for a whole full month. We respected each others faith. He would slaughter the chicken the muslim way with prayers and we cook it, making sure it was halal for him. He didn't condemn us for praying to our God either. We were like a family.

These days, we don't see much of this scenario around. Chinese kids stick with other Chinese kids, Malays with Malays and Indians with Indians. The muhibbah spirit is lost. Just look around you closely and you can see how divived we are.

What really went wrong? Why are we worse off than before? I'll share my views on this in my next blog.