Archive for June, 2010

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HRP, MIC and MCA on scholarship problems

June 4th, 2010
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MCA have met the DPM  and PSD people, and come out with some interesting analysis and report (so they say). Refer MCA website for the article below:

MCA President Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek today announced that a delegation comprising of himself and MCA Youth National Chairman cum Deputy Minister of Education Datuk Dr Ir Wee Ka Siong as well as other officers, had a discussion with the Director General of the Public Service Department (Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam [JPA]) this morning about the appeals for JPA scholarship that have been received by MCA.

Explaining that according the its Youth wing, there had been 1,304 appeals.  After a thorough check it has been discovered that all the 214 students who had managed to achieve A+ in all subjects have already received offers of scholarship from JPA, except for 2 cases which are under consideration.

The President then went on to stress that there was a difference in between the different grades of A, which are A+, A, and A-. “The problem arises when the media reports the mark as A. There is a difference between A+, A, and A-. For all those that have achieved A+ for all subjects, all have gotten JPA offers, except for 2 cases which are currently under consideration. After re-marking, we have found that these 2 qualify for JPA scholarships,” he said.

Soi Lek then said that out of the 1,304 cases that they have analyzed, 232 of them have gotten full A’s, meaning A+ and A’s, whereas another 857 have managed to achieve A+, A and A- for the 9 core subjects. He added that after discussion, MCA stated that the people who had gotten A and A+ should be considered for scholarships as well with priority given to them. Stressing that the analysis done does not follow any racial composition, he said that “We have received complaints form all races-Malays, Chinese, and Indians.”

Declaring that MCA is not a postman that merely receives complaints before forwarding them to the JPA, Soi Lek then proceeded to reveal a complicated chart, explaining that MCA Youth has had to analyze the names and the subjects of the complainants as well as to compare the results to the subjects taken to ensure that the appellants have attained the necessary results to enroll in their chosen courses as per the guidelines which have been set out.

Earlier, they mentioned they wanted to meet PSD and looks like they did.

MIC, in the mean time, has this to say:

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will resolve the controversy over the awarding of Public Service Department (PSD) scholarships, namely involving the overseas programme, and entry into matriculation programmes in local universities.

MIC vice-president Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam, who is also the Human Resource Minister, said he had raised the two issues at the weekly Cabinet meeting here yesterday, and the Prime Minister had agreed to look into them personally.

“The PM has given an undertaking to resolve the matter,” he said in a statement here.

It was reported that many SPM leavers with excellent grades complained that their applications to do the matriculation programme and to secure the PSD scholarship were rejected.

Many of them have since appealed against the decision.

Many parents of the affected students also took up the matter to the relevant government departments and to the various political parties, including the MIC.

Dr Subramaniam said he also spoke to Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on the matriculation issue where many Indian students with good grades had their applications rejected.

He said a series of discussions were also held with the Education secretary-general on the intake of students to do matriculation courses.

“On the PSD scholarship, I have already held several meetings with the PSD and several more rounds of discussions will be held over the next few days,” Dr Subramaniam said.

He expressed confidence that the issues could be resolved through negotiations with the Govern ment.

“While I agree that there appears to be unhappiness and a sense of mistreatment amongst the affected students and their parents, it has to be understood that the entire process is not over yet,” said Dr Subra-maniam.

“The Government is still in the process of considering appeals from the students. Besides, the results for the PSD scholarship for local universities have also yet to be announced.” — Bernama

Pity the PM. He has bigger things to worry about, and yet also have to handle these problems. Makes us wonder what’s the point of have so many ministries and agencies if everything also need PM to solve. Whatever it is, looks like MIC also doing something, and everyone will live happily ever after soon. And wait for next year to repeat the drama 🙂

Oh, PSD also issued a statement after meeting MCA:

The Public Service Department (PSD) has delayed announcing the names of its scholarship recipients by a week after meeting the MCA over applications sent by top SPM scorers.

A PSD source confirmed that the announcement, orginally set for June 4, will now be made on June 11.

During the meeting, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek and Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who is the party’s Youth chief, brought up the case of 1,304 students to PSD director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam.

The MCA Youth Education Bureau had put together the appeals over a week and those involved were students of all races.

“All cases should be treated equally and we should not have a fixation on the number of Malay, Chinese or Indian appeals,” said Dr Chua in a press conference at Wisma MCA yesterday. [oh oh..PERKASA alert!]

“The MCA treats all cases based on merit and I’m sure that the Government – under the concept of 1Malaysia – wants to take care of deserving students with good results.”

And finally, the story won’t be complete without some radical action. Well, trust HRP to help out in this area. They have sent a petition to PM Najib to ask for royal commission and threatened to torch 1Malaysia logo if the students are not helped. There’s also an online petition to demand equal rights for students. You can download petition form here.

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17 year old banished under emergency ordinance!

June 3rd, 2010
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Can only wonder in amazement at the things we can do. Malaysia Boleh 🙂 Can he be added to the Malaysian Book of Records?

The story below is from The Malaysian Insider. I’m curious to know how this boy can end up in this situation. I thought you go to juvenile court. There must be some logical explanation (well, maybe a perverse one is possible) from the authorities on why an “alleged” motorcycle thief can be banished under Emergency Ordinance which practically kills his future. Two year of banishment. Can he get an education and job after this? Or would he end up deeper in crime and later end up dead after “being in the wrong place at the wrong time”?

Until that logical explanation is put forth, this looks like blatant abuse of power and perversion of justice.

Teenager Jiegandran Panir Selvam has been grounded. Not by his parents, but by the home ministry.

Arrested at 17, he was taken by the police and locked up for 60 days under the Emergency Ordinance before being banished. He was then brought to this sleepy hollow and left to fend for himself for the next two years.

“I am a labourer,” Jiegandran told The Malaysian Insider in a low voice.

In his first interview, the boy who should be getting ready to sit for the SPM examination this year but was expelled for being absent for three months from school, related his daily routine since being thrown out of his home state by the authorities.

The Selangor-born has been pulling 10-hour shifts at an oil palm estate for the last two months to earn RM15 a day.

The bulk of his wages go towards food. The rest of it is spent on paying for the calls home to his family on his prepaid cellphone. He no longer keeps in touch with his schoolmates.

He works daily, from 8am to 7pm, before returning to the company quarters he currently shares with two Indonesian workmates.

Jiegandran has to be in the house by 8pm and remain there until 6am the next day, under the strict terms of the banishment order.

He washes his clothes while they take care of dinner, which is usually ready by 9pm.

His kitchen skills are limited to making instant noodles and frying eggs, so he pays his housemates for his share of the evening meal. Breakfast and lunch are provided for by the “tauke” at the plantation.

“We eat rice, curry, vegetables. Sometimes fish,” the thin boy described.

“It’s OK,” he shrugged, but added, it was nothing like his mother’s cooking.

His eyes darted to his mother sitting across the table from him at a Malay food stall in what passes for Linggi town — two rows of double-storey shophouses huddled around a T-junction.

Sumathy Ramasamy, 44, who works as a cook in a university near Broga, looked away.

The mother of three last visited her middle child two weeks ago and promised him a slap-up meal to make up for missing his birthday, but failed to keep her word.

Jiegandran turned 18 on May 22.

His employer gave him an extra RM20 for the occasion and offered to buy him a birthday cake. Jiegandran declined.

All in, the working life is alright, the boy said. No one bullies him at the estate even though he is the youngest there.

But Jiegandran misses home.

“Life here is hard. I want to go home,” said the boy who — before this — had never before spent a night away from his family in Semenyih.

Jiegandran who has no history of causing trouble in school, let alone a criminal record, is challenging the home ministry’s harsh order, which is normally served on suspected terrorists and hardcore gangsters, in court.

But precedent may be against him.

Another 17-year-old boy from Pahang, who two years ago had been detained under the Emergency Ordinance (EO), had also taken the home ministry to court, but lost.

“I remember it because he was sent to Simpang Renggam the day before the general election,” Suaram co-ordinator, E. Nalini, told The Malaysian Insider.

The Pahang boy is now spending time in a prison in Machap, Kelantan.

The human rights watchdog has been championing the fight against detentions without trials.

Nalini is also not sure how many children under 18 have been detained and claimed the ministry has been very secretive over the statistics.

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Cost of dying to increase!

June 3rd, 2010
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Hmm..die also no peace. I like Saravanan’s logic. Last time salary to cut rubber tree how much ah? So, logically should also increase the rate right? Maybe can increase 5 times? Last time work in factory earn how much? So now can increase kot? 🙂 Plus comparing private entity which has operating cost and profit in mind with a public infrastructure seems to be ludicrous. How he arrived at the subsidy of RM400, pure genius!

How much is the cost of maintaining a crematorium, and how many crematoriums are there which are managed by government? Is it that much a burden on our economy until can cause a major budget deficit? Hmm…need to analyse the impact of crematorium subsidy on national economy and budget. Maybe can be PhD topic.

Looks like the community get the short end of stick again. Die easily from suicide, bullets, and sickness and end up need to pay more for cremation.

BTW, wasn’t the graveyard already in existence since estate time? Need to check on this.

The cost of cremating the dead is expected to increase significantly when the government reviews the charges for public crematoriums soon.

Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan said the cremation fee charged by government-managed crematoriums was low compared with the fee charged at privately-managed crematoriums.

According to Saravanan, the cremation fee at public crematoriums was RM100 compared with RM500 at private crematoriums.

“Based on the RM100 fee, the government has to subsidise RM400 for every cremated body and this is the cost based on 20 or 30 years ago.

“The time has come for the government to raise the fee to may be RM200 or RM300, to overcome the cost of maintaining and managing such crematoriums,” he told reporters after visiting the Putrajaya Crematorium here today.

He added that the government was also considering reserving special plots for the burial of dignitaries, especially at Hindu cemeteries, since there was no such allocation.

The Putrajaya Cemetery at Presint 20 comprises an area of 87.457 hectares, with 59.32 hectares allocated for a Muslim cemetery and 24.857 hectares for non-Muslim cemeteries.

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MCA to meet JPA over scholarship fiasco while MIC..

June 1st, 2010
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MCA seems to be moving fast and publicly telling so. Their new president Chua Soi Lek have already announced that MCA will talk more now, and for the first time, informed how much they request for Chinese schools in 10th Malaysian Plan.

Now, in view of the annual JPA scholarship appeal event, MCA is to meet JPA to highlight the cases of hundreds of students who have minimum 9As.

MCA leaders will be meeting with Public Services Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam on Wednesday to discuss scholarship applications by SPM high scorers.

Party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek will attend the meeting with Deputy Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong, also the party Youth chief.

“We have 755 students who scored nine As and 73 who scored A-Plus.

“We want to go through the list with Ismail to discuss who are the deserving ones,” he said before attending a dinner at SM Chung Hwa here yesterday.

At the same time, there were also 338 students who are children of public servants and had excelled in the examinations.

MIC how la? When is the meeting? How many students appeal have been collected? Some of the students who contacted me said they’ve send appeals to MIC but no news so far.

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Residents more aware now…

June 1st, 2010
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I guess many cases of residents being hung out to dry, have helped to create awareness among similar cases. People won’t simply belief what authorities said because more often than not, its been stories of failures, abandoned projects, and promises not kept. The residents also want to get the possible deal and don’t consider relocating if the location is far. That’s why some of the development projects face difficulties in moving out the residents (or sometimes labelled as squatters).

Anyway, I smiled to myself when I read what one of the councillor said: “It is difficult to convince the residents that it will be finished but they have to take it in good faith,” she added.

Good faith? You gotta be kidding right? 🙂

THERE is some hope for the 35 families staying in the PJS 1 longhouse in Taman Petaling Utama as they have agreed to the rent money and ex-gratia payment until the proposed low-cost flats project in the area is completed.

Residents were offered RM500 in rent for two years and RM2,280 as relocation compensation.

The families have been staying at the transit homes for 10 years now while waiting for the low-cost flats promised to them, but the project was delayed indefinitely due to legal and technical problems.

The wait was further prolonged when the longhouse occupants refused to move to PPR Lembah Subang.

The matter has become more urgent now as the federal land on which the longhouse is located would be taken back for the construction of a school in Jalan PJS 1/52.

Another site, in Jalan PJS 1/52, has been proposed for a new block of low-cost flats. The units are offered at RM35,000 each.

The developer has also agreed for the temple in the area to be relocated near the low-cost flats.

The National Unity and Integration Department had issued a cheque for RM30,000 as compensation while the state government had also given RM20,000 for the temple relocation.

During a meeting yesterday, the residents, who were represented by S. Velan, said they wanted the Petaling Jaya City Council (MPBJ) or state government to guarantee the rent should the low-cost flats project take more than two years to complete.

The meeting was held at the MBPJ multipurpose hall in PJS1, Petaling Utama, with the affected residents.

Velan also said they wanted to see details on the sales and purchase agreement for the low-cost flats before signing.

“Right now, it all sounds good but based on our past experiences we’d rather not take any chances. So, we want everything in black and white for the rent and guarantees,” he said.

MBPJ town planning department assistant director Mohd Bakri Salleh said they would ask the National Housing Board to help the families with bank interests during the construction of the project.

Councillor Associate Professor Dr Melasutra Md Ali said perhaps a task force would be set up to oversee the development of the low-cost unit project.

She said this was to ensure the development took place within the time frame given.

“It is difficult to convince the residents that it will be finished but they have to take it in good faith,” she added.

This is what NST reported:

Thirty-five long house residents in PJS1 have refused to move out because the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) has only given a verbal agreement to one of their demands. The residents are to be relocated to make way for the last of the long-house families in PJS 1 to move out to make way for the construction of a primary school.

MBPJ issued an offer letter agreeing to pay them the ex gratia sum of RM2,280 each to cover moving costs after a meeting between the council representatives led by town planning assistant director Mohd Bakri Salleh, town planning assistant officer Kamariah Yahya and the residents yesterday.

However, the letter did not say that the council would pay each family RM500 a month for rental until the their low-cost flats were built, which MBPJ had agreed to do in earlier meetings with the residents.
The residents want the council to put what it has promised in writing as they are uncertain if the flats will be ready in two years’ time.

Residents’ representative Velan Subramanian, 32, said: “We are glad that the council has agreed to offer the ex gratia sum and has clearly stated it the offer letter. But the RM500 monthly rental is not stated anywhere in the letter. We want it in black and white.”

Velan said the residents have been informed by the council that the low-cost flats will be ready within two years. But he and his neighbours are worried that the construction of the low-cost flats might take longer than that.
The new flats are located opposite their present residence. It is not known how many blocks the flats will have but the residents have been allotted Block F.

All 35 residents have bought the flat priced at RM35,000 each.

“What if the construction work prolongs to three years. We will be in financial difficulties because we are already paying the interest to the bank for our yet-to-be-built low-cost flats.”
MBPJ has reiterated that the flats will be ready in two years and said that the flats will take two years to complete but the residents only want to move out when the flats are ready.

The residents have stated their case to the council representatives, who said MBPJ will look into it.

The construction of SRK PJS1 has been delayed by the residents’ reluctance to move out.

The 35 families are the last of the 276 families who first moved to the PJS1 long house residence seven years ago. Over the years, many of the families had moved elsewhere.

In June last year, the Education Ministry gave the green light for a primary school to be built there.

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