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Selangor State Govt Chinese New Year Dinner on Thaipusam Eve

February 2nd, 2012
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This is being compared with last year’s Parliament sitting on Deepavali eve by MIC and MIC-friendly folks.

The Parliament sitting was cancelled by Cabinet after some noise were made by various groups (and DAP reps sent a memo), as it was considered a disrespectful and insensitive move.  Read about it below:

http://poobalan.com/blog/borninmalaysia/2011/10/11/parliament-sitting-on-deepavali-eve-issue/

http://poobalan.com/blog/borninmalaysia/2011/10/21/parliament-sitting-on-deepavali-eve-cancelled/

This time, its Selangor state government which is organising its Chinese New Year Dinner on 6th February (6pm till 11.30pm) at Rawang, which is on the eve of Thaipusam.  Refer here:

http://www.selangor.gov.my/main.php?Content=vertsectiondetails&VsItemID=423&VertSectionID=373&CurLocation=481&IID=

The difference between the two events are clear:

- one is an official “serious” event, the other is a official celebratory dinner.

- One involves all elected reps, govt staff and media, while other involves elected reps in Selangor and also includes public in addition.

- One is covering whole nation (imagine MP Bagan Serai balik kampung after parliament sitting) while the other is covering Selangor state. Probably the number of Hindus involved is very small (even the Selangor state EXCO don’t have Hindus).

- Deepavali eve is important as most Hindus will travel back to hometown. Thaipusam is not necessarily celebrated at hometown as some Hindus make pilgrimage to certain temples while other take opportunity to visit different temples for the celebration. Also, not all temples have chariot procession on the eve.

- Parliament sitting is usually arranged at beginning of the year. The dinner, was probably arranged few weeks ago.

- Deepavali came midweek, thus many other people will be working. Thaipusam this time around is on the end of a long weekend holiday (4 days if Saturday is off day), thus most people would have already made plans to travel elsewhere if they intend to celebrate Thaipusam.  The dinner may not be of consequence to them.

- Note that the last day of CNY would be on 6th February, thus the state could have organised the dinner on 23rd Jan, 24th Jan, 28th Jan, 29th Jan, or 4th Feb (maybe 4 is not lucky number?). 5th is Prophet’s birthday, so that’s definitely a no-no.  Those who are fasting (like for 10 or 30 days) would not be attending, so its likely that whichever day the dinner is organised, you’ll see lesser Hindus.

Similarities:

- both fall on the eve of a religious event.

- both are organised by governments.

- both are considered insensitive due to proximity to religious festival.

For me, even though the function is a non-compulsory “fun” event, the organisers could have chosen another day to do it, as perception of public is important. It would seem like the CNY dinner did not take into consideration participation of Hindus as majority Hindus are not expected to attend. Maybe its just targeted at the Chinese community.

Again, this maybe due to the lack of sensitivities among the officers in state government. Being from the majority race, probably they lack proper exposure to cultures and religious beliefs of others.  None may have thought of asking a fellow Hindu colleague/friend about the suitability of the date.

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Bumiputera Education Fund

February 2nd, 2012
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 This a rather old news (announced on 26th November 2011), but till date I can’t find any info about this Yayasan. Don’t ask me how to apply etc.

So, RM30 million from government for this education fund, and to be supplemented by contribution from GLCs etc to the tune of RM158 million so far. Very huge some indeed.

Wonder if the same can be done for other Malaysians. We also human beings la.

In launching a new strategic roadmap to boost Bumiputera participation in the national economy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced today a RM30 million endowment from the government into a new private education trust fund for Malaysia’s largest ethnic community.

The Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera, he said, is aimed to fund 12,000 Bumiputeras in private education all the way through to PhD level.

“Raising the capability is important to ensure the Bumiputera workforce can raise their individual potential income in line with the nation’s objective to achieve high-income status,” the prime minister said in his opening speech.

The trust fund is to start operations early next year, and is targeting to build a RM500 million fund within five years.

Najib (picture) said 21 companies and institutions have pledged a total of RM158 million for the fund to date.

Among a group 10 businesses injected funds of RM10 million each, included CIMB Bank Berhad, Felda Holdings Berhad, Sime Darby Berhad, UEM Group Berhad and Yayasan Al-Bukhary founded  by magnate Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, Malaysia’s richest Bumiputera corporate figure reported to be worth US$1.7 billion (RM5.4 billion).

In his speech, Najib noted the number of registered Bumiputera professionals had risen with the most recent record in 2008 showing there are now 51,306 or 45 per cent out of the entire group of professionals nationwide.

But he said it was not enough.

Najib said the transformation roadmap is a three-pronged approach to push Bumiputera stake of the national economic pie from the existing 21.9 per cent to fulfil the original New Economic Policy goal of 30 per cent.

Apart from setting up an education fund,  the government is looking to grow entrepreneurship by setting up one-stop business centres in every state or economic corridor.

Najib announced the Northern Economic Corridor Region will be the first to open its doors by the first quarter of next year.

He added that the third strategy is to groom large-scale Bumiputera businesses.

He said by setting up such an economic ecosystem where the big companies help the smaller firms, it will ultimately result in more Bumiputera businessmen.

“Among the main steps that will be taken is to encourage company participation through joint-ventures and acquisitions.

“Besides that, the divestment of GLC involvement in non-core [businesses] can create business opportunities for Bumiputera companies,” Najib said.

As an example, he highlighted the recent distribution of 43 per cent of the overall value of the MyMRT project to Bumiputera.

The PM said a separate Bumiputera unit had been set up under MRT Corp to manage the Bumiputera interest in the rail project.

source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/putrajaya-pumps-rm30m-into-new-bumi-education-trust/

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Gerrymandering of election seats

February 2nd, 2012
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I wonder what is the reply from the respective groups on this revelation by a citizen on gerrymandering of election seats. It would be good to see EC come out with some report to rebut or  justify the presentation given below. Just maintaining silence means agreeing to what the presenter revealed.

Its horrifying to note that its possible to gain power to run the country by getting win seats in areas that total up to only 15.4% of voters! would the election reform also cover this issue?

 

A retiree arrested the attention of opposition members at the public hearing by the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform, when he told them to forget about marching to Putrajaya under the current electoral system.

ng chak ngoon complain to psc 271111Armed with printouts of his presentation slides, Ng Chak Ngoon (right) who described himself as a retiree, presented the panel with a graph that showed 222 lines with every one being taller than the other as it progressed.

The graph, said Ng at the hearing in Kota Kinabalu yesterday, which saw several others testifying, was plotted against the population size of all the constituencies in ascending order for the 2008 general election.

“All on the left (in blue) are won by BN, on the right (in red) are all won by the opposition. The BN constituencies are very small and the opposition constituencies are very big. So what is happening here?

“It’s not by chance that all the people in big constituencies like the opposition and all those people in the small constituencies like BN. I would think there is a design here for the Election Commission (EC) to sub-divide all the BN areas into smaller areas to increase their number of MPs,” he said.

Ng added that the smallest constituency, BN-held Putrajaya only had 6,008 voters but Opposition-held Kapar had a staggering 112,224 voters, 17 times more than Putrajaya.

‘Kapar can have 17 MPs’

“If we break down Kapar to the size of Putrajaya, you would have 17 MPs from Kapar instead of just one.”

If all the seats are made into equal size, Ng added, the last general election would yield a result where BN and Pakatan Rakyat would only have a difference of seven seats in Parliament as opposed to the actual results of 140 to 82 seats.

He further estimated that if a party relied on all the small seats to win power, it would only require 15.4 percent of the total votes to form a majority in Parliament.

“If the opposition thinks they can march to Putrajaya, forget about it.”

At this point, PSC member Anthony Loke who is DAP’s Rasah MP quipped: “Very demoralising.”

Explaining further, Ng said the smallest constituency in Malaysia was 13 percent of the national average while the largest was 288 percent, in contrast to the UK’s which smallest and largest constituency are 77 percent and 153 percent of the national average respectively.

“If the EC is sincere, it should redraw all the constituencies, this is not gerrymandering, this is outright cheating.”

psc size of constitutencies general election 2008

PSC member Dr Hatta Ramli later concurred, pointing out that the Baling parliamentary constituency, supposedly a rural seat, had an unusually large number of constituents at around 70,000.

“This was because PAS has won the seat before,” said Hatta, who then asked if Ng thought this was ethical.

“Unethical is a mild word, Can I answer outside?” replied Ng in reference to parliamentary rules that require members in the hearing to abide by appropriate language.

State by state breakdown

Ng later proceeded to present similar graphs with a state by state breakdown at which PSC member Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said: “Can you rate Kangar?”, in reference to his own constituency.

“If you have Negeri Sembilan’s, I would like to see my chances of winning,” added Loke.

At this, Ng quipped: “I’ll have to charge you for consultancy.”

When asked by PSC member Fong Chan Onn (right) on how the panel can accommodate the increase of seats for Sabah and Sarawak to meet the Malaysian Federation agreement of 34 percent into his recommendations, Eng replied: “What is your objective?

“To win the election or to have an equitable dispersion of votes? If these are conflicting desires, obviously we cannot come to a compromise. BN has to answer that question, not me, I’m a retired man.”

psc general election bn votes needed to win majority

source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/182546

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KGNS membership transfer price by race

January 31st, 2012
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update: Some more news, this time form FMT:

… According to a source who took the photo, the membership price list came from a copy of KGNS’s official newsletter, Berita Subang, printed for the October to December 2011 period.

The source told FMT that he found it very “peculiar” that KGNS would practice racial policies in admitting members to the club.

“It is hard to believe that the club, being established by an Act of Parliament still practices somewhat offensive racial discriminatory policies in admitting members. This admission policy somewhat offends my ideology of what Malaysia is.”

“I would like to stress that I have no malice towards the club when posting the picture,” he told FMT.

Predictably the photo caused an outcry over Facebook, with many reacting in disappointment and anger over the racially-charged prices.

“Where goes the 1Malaysia concept (Where has the 1Malaysia concept gone)?” said a Md Farhad Rahman.

Another, only known as PuiSee Ch, said: “What’s in the minds of these pepps (people)? Now ‘race’ can be purchased? They gotta be kidding.”

Other comments were tinged with sarcasm. One Calvin Wong said: “Wow. I never knew Chinese and Indian (were) worth so much more.”

Aiman Baharum said: “Ahh, so good to be the cheapest one lol.”

Janson Chen said: “One day petrol is going to be like that too lol.”

Balancing the racial imbalance

One Facebook user claiming to be a KGNS club member said that the price list had little to do with racism, and more to do with the racial mix in the club.

“This isn’t racism. They’re trying to balance the number of races (there). Currently, there’s lots of Chinese and Indians but very little Malay club members. I know (this) because I’m a club member myself,” said Norman Zakaria.

“So in order to balance it, they charge higher for the Chinese and Indians so not many will apply, and charge less for Malays in order to promote membership to the Malays and increase the number of Malay club members.”

One of the names listed on the photo – who requested to be anonymous- told FMT that the membership payment was part of a United Overseas Bank (UOB) move to finance loans for potential KGNS members.

According to her, UOB had nothing to do with the price list.

“The price was fixed by KGNS according to their quota. We are not selling this (the membership) on their behalf … As a bank, we are running a campaign for the payment,” she said, refusing to elaborate further.

When contacted, KGNS refused to comment.

source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2012/01/31/racial-tint-to-golf-club-membership/

My initial post:

I first got news of this via Twitter (refer: https://twitter.com/#!/inbarajs/status/163875141623885825/photo/1) yesterday. Today’s TMI article gets some response from KGNS president (refer excerpts from thel article below).

In my opinion, its hard to justify why there should be difference prices as its totally not related to the quota. You had already put a limit based on racial composition, so the price should be the same. However,  since the limited places available, then you can find the demand is pushed up for those under limited quota.  The selling of memberships (even if facilitated by 3rd party) based on racial lines is considered a racial discrimination (wonder if it will be illegal under the proposed Race Relations Act). Its just like hiring people (and paying them differently) or renting out houses (and charging them different rental amount) based on race.

And to claim that its put up by others and not related to the club is flimsy indeed. How can such transfers/sales happen without the club management’s knowledge? How can a finance company offer to facilitate loan/easy-payment scheme without club’s knowledge?

Yes, supply and demand can play a role in determining prices, but here it looks like the company is setting the price. One can google “easi-cash” and identify which bank is involved.

To be fair to KGNS, refer to their membership fees at website (http://www.subanggolf.com/content/fees+mode+of+payments-117.aspx):

 

The ordinary membership is RM25k. Ordinary membership is closed except for government servants, but its possible to get a membership transferred (willing seller-willing buyer basis). And there’s a Membership Dept to help facilitiate this transfer. So, don’t tell me they don’t know about such “pricing”.

The club should ask the finance company to remove such notices before its image is spoilt further.

BTW, one can go through the whole website, and there’s not a single reference to any racial quota for membership. I wonder why. If you are proud of your multi-racial membership, then surely you would highlight how its achieved right?

 

A photograph of a membership price list for one of the country’s most prestigious golf clubs that apparently charged by race triggered an outcry on Facebook, with many condemning the different rates for the different races.

… A picture purportedly of Subang National Golf Club (Kelab Golf Negara Subang — KGNS) membership prices surfaced on Facebook yesterday, showing rates of RM35,000-RM65,000 for Malays, RM45,000-RM80,000 for Chinese, RM60,000-RM80,000 for Indians and RM40,000-RM50,000 for “Others”.

Reactions to the photo, which was posted on Facebook community page “Malaysia”, ranged from disgust to defensive.

“Apa nie??? Racist nye! (What is this? How racist!),” said Wan Hairina Ayin.

“In Singapore, I am a Malaysian. In US, I am a Malaysian. In Australia, I am in Malaysian. But in Malaysia, I am belong to the group OTHERS…” said one Frisca Freddy.

“Malaysia and Spore is the only country that allow companies to advertise ….preferably chinese, or malay or indian…so am not surprised of this la…,” said Julian Maria Intachat.

Some respondents, who appeared possibly to be foreigners, chose to respond with humour.

“So many forms in Malaysia ask ‘Race?’ I simply write ‘human’ no one has ever questioned this ” said Chris Frankland.

 When contacted, KGNS president Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas said the notice in the picture was put out by a finance company and had nothing to do with the club.

He said that while KGNS had long practised racial quotas to ensure a good mix of races in its membership, it had never mandated the prices at which memberships could be sold.

Megat Najmuddin said that due to the race quotas, a member can only sell his or her membership to a person of the same race but at any price they wished and the rates in the notice could be reflective of supply and demand among the different racial groups.

He stressed however that the prices that appeared in the notice were just “indicative” and that the club’s philosophy of imposing race quotas was a noble one and not sinister.

“We are the most multi-racial club in Malaysia,” he told The Malaysian Insider. “If you go to other clubs you see it dominated by one race or the other.”

Megat Najmuddin, who also sits on the Umno disciplinary committee, said it was sad that in Malaysia it was getting rare to find the different races mixing together.

“In KGNS, you have all the races mixing together,” he said.

 The KGNS president said there have been no cases of members being unable to find a buyer for membership from his or her own race.

 “This race quota policy has been a cornerstone of the club and no member has ever asked for it to be removed,” he said.

KGNS, the only club in Malaysia incorporated by an Act of Parliament, limits Malays to 45 per cent of its membership, Chinese to 35 per cent and Indians and others to 20 per cent.

When contacted, “Zainah”, one of the names listed on the notice, immediately started denying having anything to do with the notice.

Calls to the rest of the numbers listed on the notice were not picked up or returned.

Megat Najmuddin said he did not know the finance company behind the notice but criticised the photo as “mischievous” for making it look like it was the club that had issued it.

source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/racist-price-list-for-golf-membership-sparks-backlash/

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Malaysian students ranking in PISA survey for reading, mathematics and scientific literacy

January 16th, 2012
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The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) arose from OECD policy initiatives in the latter half of the 1980s aimed at improving the quality of education throughout OECD countries.

PISA  is an international study which began in the year 2000. It aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students in participating countries/economies. Since the year 2000 over 70 countries and economies have participated in PISA.

PISA is an international comparative survey of 15-year-olds’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.

PISA seeks to measure how well young adults have acquired the knowledge and skills that are required to function as successful members of society.

Sixty-four countries or economies originally participated in PISA 2009: all 34 OECD countries plus 31 partner countries and economies. These 65 participants administered the PISA 2009 tests in 2009.

An additional 10 economies were added in 2010, under PISA2009+. Malaysia is one of the 10, along with Costa Rica, Georgia, Himanchal Pradesh (India), Malta, Mauritius, Miranda (Venezuela), Moldova, Tamil Nadu (India), and UAE.

PISA 2009+ involved testing just over 46 000 students across these ten participants, representing a total of about 1 377 000 15-year-olds.

The PISA sample is drawn from the population of students aged between 15 years and three months (completed) and 16 years and two months (completed) who attend educational institutions and are in the equivalent to Grade 7 or above.

PISA assesses outcomes primarily in the areas of reading literacy, mathematical literacy and scientific literacy.

Reading literacy: An individual’s capacity to understand, use, reflect on and engage with written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society. Mathematical literacy: An individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgements and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen. Scientific literacy: An individual’s scientific knowledge and use of that knowledge to identify questions, to acquire new knowledge, to explain scientific phenomena, and to draw evidence-based conclusions about science related issues, understanding of the characteristic features of science as a form of human knowledge and enquiry, awareness of how science and technology shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments, and willingness to engage in science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen.

So, let’s see how our 15-year olds performed among the 75 economies which includes OECD countries:

Students in Malaysia attained a mean score of 414 on the PISA reading literacy scale. This mean score is below the means attained in all OECD countries and equivalent to the mean scores estimated for Brazil, Colombia, Miranda-Venezuela, Montenegro, Thailand and Trinidad and Tobago. In Malaysia, 56% of students are estimated to have a proficiency in reading literacy that is at or above the baseline level needed to participate effectively and productively in life. Students in Malaysia attained a mean score of 404 on the mathematical literacy scale. This mean score is below the means attained in all OECD countries. In Malaysia, 41% of students are proficient in mathematics at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the kind of skills that enable them to use mathematics in ways considered fundamental for their future development. In Malaysia, there was no statistically significant difference in the performance of boys and girls in mathematical literacy.

Malaysian students were estimated to have a mean score of 422 on the scientific literacy scale. Malaysia’s mean score was significantly higher than that estimated for the lowest scoring OECD country, Mexico. In Malaysia, 57% of students are proficient in science at least to the baseline level at which they begin to demonstrate the science competencies that will enable them to participate actively in life situations related to science and technology. In Malaysia, there was a statistically significant gender difference of 10 score points in scientific literacy, favouring girls.

FYI, The top economy in the survey, across all 3 areas was Shanghai (China). Singapore was consistently among the top 5, while India’s two states were quite bad, occupying the lower 3 rungs. Other countries which were consistent in top 10 places were Hong Kong, Japan, Finland, Canada and Korea.

Below are some snapshots of the comparison tables.

Reading:

Math: Science:     The full report (PDF) is found here. (caution: its a 13.5MB size file). sources: http://www.acer.edu.au/media/acer-releases-results-of-pisa-2009-participant-economies/ http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_32252351_32235731_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

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