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Karam Singh Walia nearly Karam

January 5th, 2011
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Before you view the video, read the statement by popular environmental issues journalist, Karam Singh Walia:

Wartawan penyiaran Sistem Televisyen Malaysia Bhd. (TV3), Karam Singh Walia (gambar) menafikan dia mabuk semasa didakwa mengeluarkan kenyataan berbau perkauman di sebuah restoran di Klang baru-baru ini.

Katanya, dia masih waras dan sedar apa yang diperkatakan ketika kejadian itu.

Menceritakan semula insiden itu, Karam berkata, dia pada mulanya menegur sikap sekumpulan remaja yang meletakkan motosikal dengan sesuka hati di hadapan sebuah restoran India Muslim.

“Saya marah mereka dan mengatakan ‘letak motosikal tidak pakai otak, bodoh punya orang’. Saya ulangi perkataan yang sama selepas duduk di dalam restoran sambil memesan makanan,” katanya ketika dihubungi Kosmo! semalam.

Karam berkata, tidak lama kemudian salah seorang penunggang motosikal terbabit telah menuduhnya menghina orang Melayu menyebabkan kira-kira 20 orang lelaki lain mengepungnya.

Apabila merasakan keselamatannya terancam, dia lantas meminta maaf kerana tidak mahu meneruskan perbalahan dan cuba meredakan keadaan.

“Ketika itu saya malu dan tertekan kerana bersama saya ialah anak saudara yang baru pulang dari England dan saya bimbang dia dicederakan. Sebab itu saya memohon maaf kepada kumpulan itu,” jelasnya.

Following the above statement, one wonders if Karam Singh was indeed drunk during the incident. If not (as per his statement), then he acted quite well (but maybe the flowery words were a giveaway). If he was drunk, then lesson learnt is not to drink until you lose sense and end up in trouble. Better still, don’t consume alcohol at all. (Anyway, its stupidity to be drunk and go to a Indian Muslim shop!).

Regardless of his state of sobriety, part of what he said can be considered as racist statement if he mentioned that a race is stupid. However, if he said “orang” (that person” referring to the group of motorcyclists) without mentioning any race, then its not easy to classify as racist statement. As for the origin of people, I’m not sure because I remember reading that genetically the people here came from Northern Asia thousands of years ago. Not sure how correct the info is.

Being a public figure, he should have known better.

Problem is that we only see the video from the part where he apologises, thus can’t know the actual situation that led to this incident.

As for the crowd, if they believed he was drunk, then they should know that drunk guys statements are not trustworthy. Going up to a drunkard and arguing is a waste of time and only makes you look foolish. Even if Karam Singh was willing to prostrate on their feet and apologise, its meaningless when he is drunk. One guy even asked him to pay the bills of the patrons in the restaurant! Probably some entreprising fellow who taught of making hay while the sun shines.

If Karam Singh did utter seditious or racist statements, then someone should make a police report. But I think it will be hard to investigate if no one else heard/recorded anything up to the incident. Just the word of the accuser against the suspect.

Note: video contains obscenities and threatening situations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2yz0bQR7H8

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IPTA intake date changed due to fasting month???

January 5th, 2011
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The new year has just begun and we are already facing few hot stories. The new Bandar Tasik Selatan Transport Terminal fiasco may not be affecting many of us, but the shifting of the new terms for local universities from July to September surely received shocked looks. Students (and parents) are left wondering what they are going to do with the extra 2 months holiday. Some forward thinking students are unhappy that their studies will take longer to finish (I really don’t understand what’s the hurry to enter workforce when student time is the most enjoyable time – can’t wait to work and earn your 1st million?).

Anyway, today’s Star’s report on the shifting of IPTA terms for 2011 would have angered more people. The ridiculous reason given was fasting month will cause orientation activities harder to organise and to save cost for Hari Raya travel by students!!!

The Higher Education Ministry has clarified that the timing of the new university academic calendar – which starts in September this year – was made in consideration of the fasting month and Hari Raya.

Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that it would be difficult to carry out orientation activities during Ramadan and it decided to delay the starting date after consulting university heads.

He added that students would return to their hometowns for Hari Raya after a month of study (had the starting date not been changed) and thus, the latest move would avoid additional travelling expenses.

Mohamed Khaled said although the synchronisation of the academic calendar to mirror countries in the Northern Hemisphere was intended, the ministry had planned to do it in stages to avoid sudden changes.

Under the original plan, new students would start their term on July 25 this year and Aug 13 in 2012, before a permanent date of Sept 2 was reached in 2013.

“Orientation cannot be done during this period (Ramadan) as it involves day-to-night activities and extensive commitment from the students,” he told a press conference at his ministry yesterday.

Mohamed Khaled said that he had talked to student leaders and they agreed with the ministry’s rationale.

Many, he said, were keen to spend Ramadan with their parents while older students preferred to resume their studies in September.

This year’s Ramadan is expected to start on July 31 or Aug 1, with Hari Raya to follow a month later.

While new students must register at their respective universities in the first week of September, no date has been set for older students and it is the prerogative of universities to decide on the matter

Funny, but I don’t remember any official being so concerned about Deepavali clashing with university exams. But here, they are very concerned over orientation activities and travel expenses?

And is it applicable for the IPTS? Are they going to force IPTS to follow as well, whereas in IPTS orientation is not so rigorous and travel expenses for holiday is least priority?

I think the people who come with these decisions and excuses should be flogged in public for spoiling our country’s name, and for making us look like fools.

To me, it looks like some firefighting excuses after their initial blunder. Let’s look at the earlier reports below. Earlier said everything standardised, now saying up to respective universities to decide for existing students. Duh!

The way the announcement was made made the ministry and IPTs look foolish indeed. There seems to be lack of coordination and communication with the IPTs. It seems the idea was discussed way back since 2009:

The start of the new academic term for public universities in September should not cause any confusion as these institutions of higher learning had been notified about the change, said Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

His recent statement that universities would start their new term in September this year instead of July was not “ground-breaking”, he said.

“They should know about this new calendar. The universities have been informed,” he said when questioned why some university students had not been informed of the change.

“It was not a new announcement as the minister (Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin) had mentioned this several times in the past.

“I was just confirming things to reporters who sought clarification,” he said yesterday.

AND YES, it seems the new term will start in September 2011 for ALL programs and ALL IPTAs. In fact, even private colleges and universities will be affected as well.

According to the Higher Education Deputy Minister, the reasons for the “alignment” are two-fold:

This is to align the academic term with that of universities abroad, he told reporters here yesterday.

Saifuddin said it was also aimed at circumventing public and private IPTs from losing outstanding Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia candidates to foreign universities.

“These bright students hardly have enough time to pick the best local IPTs after the SPM results, and ultimately they choose to study overseas, particularly in Singapore,” he said.

In addition, he said local IPTs failed to attract foreign students from pursuing their studies here as the academic term beginning July was not aligned with the summer break semester system abroad.

I really can’t believe that we are catering our education system to attract foreigners when local students themselves are having problems funding studies locally.  As it is, we seem to be attracting foreign students from certain developing countries only.  Are we looking at education as a money-making industry or as a tool to improve our local human capital?

Or does it got something to do with the our IPTA ratings which seems to score low on foreign students intake?

For the IPTS, they will have multiple intakes in a year and are able to cater for foreign students. You can see scores of students from Middle East, African continent, South Asia sub-continent, Eastern Europe, and China coming in throughout the year. I doubt the “alignment” will cause a major impact. And I don’t expect students from developed countries to make a beeline to Malaysia just because we changed the time of our IPT intakes.

As for the second reason that we lose our students to foreign countries like Singapore, well, another flimsy reason that doesn’t make sense. People would like to go where there’s quality education and to seek new experiences. Even below average students want to go to overseas to study. Some students enrol in foundation or pre-uni programs immediately after SPM in order not to WASTE time, and continue their studies as soon as possible. Pushing the intake dates further won”t be helpful because now the local IPTs have to compete with foreign colleges/universities.

Further more, “bright” students are snapped up by JPA/MARA/GLC scholarships. So why worry about them? Worry about the balance 80-90% average and below average students la. Where are your priorities?

Also, the shifting of IPT intake may affect entry into STPM and drive students towards private education. Let’s take a student taking SPM in November 2011 as an example. He gets his SPM results in March 2012 and enters Form 6 in July 2012. He sits for STPM in November 2013 and gets his results in March 2014. He enters IPTA (hopefully) in September 2014. Compare that to student who continues with a one-year foundation or pre-uni program in IPTS in January 2012 (using SPM forecast results). By early 2013, he would be enrolled in a degree program. That’s nearly 20 months ahead if compared with STPM pathway (currently the gap is 18 months). For the poor (and also mainly  non-bumiputra) students, they have to sacrifice nearly 3 years to gamble on a chance to enter IPTA to do a degree program.

This may mean that STPM will soon become extinct, but then, what are the alternatives for the students? They can’t afford to enter private colleges/universities, so end up in the workforce or apply for diploma level programs only?

I think the “alignment” should have been done gradually – this year start term in August, next year in September. (as per today’s report). Then the two months gap won’t exist. Secondly, the alignment should be done in tandem with the school system (especially STPM). Maybe can reduce STPM to one-year program or convert it into matriculation program (similar to government matriculation colleges) but open for all races. When you have a long gap between results and the intake, I worry that students will look for alternatives elsewhere, which will lead to brain drain.

So, who’s going to resign or this bungling act? Being in Malaysia, don’t expect the top people to do so. They’s just find some scapegoats or just wave the issue away.

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Blackmailed after posing for boyfriends

December 21st, 2010
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This article below was forwarded by Novinthen today.  It also appeared in NST. I have to admit that I have not come across any cases so far, but seem to recall reading about one such case in the newspaper recently.  We can’t get rid of the bad guys whom will be looking to prey on hapless victims. We should step up effort to “wake” these girls from their “dreamland”. Any guy asking to “proof the love” or other such crap is not fit to be a partner. We must remember that our lives are not like in the movies nor do we allow ourselves to be pressured by our friends to do something.

The other problem nowadays is the influence of new generation of entertainment, fashion, culture, values and morals. Nowadays, there’s not much respect for modesty; no sense of shame, no idea of humility. There’s self-confidence but in the wrong areas – doing things to challenge others, to irritate, to protest, to show off and so on. People looking towards escapism, short term happiness, oneupmanship.

Parents and teachers can only do so much. Unless the boys and girls have that maturity, the ability to think, to have self-esteem and respect, you can’t do much. And this is happening to all, regardless of race or religion.

Its good that MIC Youth has highlighted this problem, but I wonder if the youths are willing to listen to advice after advice from elders.

Local syndicates are targeting Indian girls as young as 16 by luring them to take pictures or videos of themselves naked, and then blackmailing the girls into having sex with them.

The syndicates were mostly based in Rawang, Selangor, with one or two in Johor, said MIC Youth secretary C. Sivarajah.

Based on its findings, the youth wing said that some of the groups were targeting schoolgirls as young as 16, as well as factory and girls working in supermarkets, promising them love and marriage before duping them into posing naked.

“After taking their nude pictures and videos, the girls were made to do whatever the guy wanted. Otherwise, their pictures would be uploaded on the Internet or circulated to others,” he told the New Straits Times in an interview.

The youth wing had also received cases of girls being forced into prostitution after their nude pictures were taken.

He recalled a case last year where a 17-year-old girl was asked by her boyfriend to pose naked, for a person said to be a loan shark, as payment for money loaned.

“The girl, wanting to prove her love, agreed. The guy who had pretended to be a loan shark, later blackmailed her to have sex with him if she did not want her pictures to be circulated. It was only after he made her have sex with five other men that the girl realised that her boyfriend was part of the syndicate. When she refused to do it any more, they released her pictures.”

He related another case early this year where three Form Five girls were befriended by a man from one of the syndicates, promising them love and marriage and persuaded them to pose naked.

“He later took them to Penang for a holiday and there threatened to distribute their pictures if they did not engage in sexual acts. He later sold them to a prostitution ring there.”

Sivarajah said the youth wing had tried to help the victims by approaching and negotiating with the men who took the pictures.

“But by the time the victims came to us for help, it would have been too late and their pictures would already be circulating via MMS (multimedia messaging service).”

He added that there have been cases of parents complaining that police allegedly did not take their complaints seriously.

“We urge the police to take this matter seriously. We are willing to work with anyone who can help solve this issue, which is increasingly becoming a big problem among young people today.

“It is not difficult to trace or hunt the men behind the pictures and videos. The question is, are the authorities willing to do it?”

He said amendments needed to be made to Sections 211 and 233 of the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, and Section 292 of the Penal Code.

“We need heavier punishments like a longer jail term or even caning for those charged under these acts.”

He said parents also needed to warn their children of such dangers and tactics by unscrupulous men who prey on vulnerable women.

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Justice for Johnny the Dog

December 21st, 2010
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I’m not sure if anyone remembers the story of Johnny the dog. He’s the one who was shot dead while being in the compound of his owner’s house by some criminals hiding behind their position as staff of Tampin Municipal Council. Its going to be 4 full months now and still the 55 year old Singaravelu is being made to go around looking for justice. Will justice be served? Can we still believe in excuses like “officer on long leave”?

Singaravelu is losing hope as the authorities are keeping pushing the buck. Whatever happened to “no wrong door” policy? Maybe he should complain to Public Complaints Bureau headed by Senator Murugiah. He shares his story below:

SEREMBAN: Security guard S. Singaravelu is losing hope the authorities will provide justice to the unlawful killing of his licensed dog, Johnny, shot inside the compound of his son’s house in Tampin allegedly by Tampin Municipal Council enforcement officers on Aug 24.”It has been nearly four months and the Tampin Municipal Council seems to be washing their hands off this case,” Singaravelu, 55, told The Malay Mail.

“Last month, I approached the Negri Sembilan Veterinary Services Department for help. A staff at the department listened to my woes patiently for almost two hours. She then advised me to write a letter to both the council and the department to explain my situation as well as to seek justice and compensation for my loss.

“I did that three weeks ago, and my letters to the council and department included my police report which I lodged after my dog was killed. I also sought compensation of RM1,800, including cost of burying Johnny. I am still waiting for a response from both parties.”

Over the past week, The Malay Mail tried to contact the council’s president, Razali Bakar, and council secretary Zulhilmi Marzuki, but to no avail.

Last month, Zulhilmi said a decision on whether the officers involved in the shooting of Johnny had erred would be made by Razali by this month.

Zulhilmi had earlier told The Paper That Cares that a committee comprising three division chiefs, appointed by Razali, was set up to probe Singaravelu’s allegation, and if the officers involved in the operation were found to have gone against the council’s rules, disciplinary action would be taken against them.

The council had, however, forwarded its investigation report to the Tampin Veterinary Department and Tampin District Office for action, too.

But the Tampin Veterinary Department revealed that it did not receive any such document from the council.

However, an officer at the department, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the department carried out an investigation into the matter and that its role in this case was just as an adviser.

“Our department’s regulation states we are not allowed to shoot dogs kept inside the compound of a house. We are also not allowed to shoot licensed dogs. Our investigations found that these officers had informed the dog-shooting team from the other two bodies about the regulations,” the officer told The Malay Mail.

“In fact, our officers even warned them not to shoot when they are about to carry out the act. Despite their best efforts, the shooting went on. I do not know whether their regulations allow them to shoot licensed dogs inside house compounds. We are definitely not involved in the shooting.”

On Aug 24, Singaravelu was dismayed to find Johnny, which he found two years ago at a market near his house at Taman Minang in Tampin, missing.

His suspicion was aroused when he saw three Tampin Municipal Council vehicles leaving the area at about 12.40am that day. He trailed them and when they stopped in Taman Batu Belang, he saw Johnny’s bloodied remains inside one of the vehicles.

The 10 men in the vehicles, one of whom had a gun, refused to let Singaravelu take away Johnny’s carcass, except to remove the dog licence and also allegedly challenged Singaravelu to lodge a police report.

The men also claimed they shot Johnny because of complaints by neighbours.

“I was traumatised and could not stop crying,” Singaravelu had said before lodging a report at Tampin police station.

The next day, he was shocked to find Johnny’s carcass in a jungle near Taman Batu Belang. He then brought the remains back and held a small funeral.

Singaravelu travelled to Ampang in Selangor to meet with officials of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) Selangor on Aug 26.

The next day, SPCA animal inspectors Danny Thang and V. Murugan visited him in Tampin to investigate the incident.

Earlier, this is the reason given by the council:

SEREMBAN: There will be more waiting before we know whether the Tampin Municipal Council’s enforcement department has violated regulations by allegedly shooting Johnny, a two-year-old licensed dog, on Aug 24.

The council’s secretary Zulhilmi Marzuki told The Malay Mail yesterday a decision whether the officers involved in the dog-shooting operation had indeed erred was to be made by council president Razali Bakar next month.

“He will be back early next month and only then a decision can be made,” he said, adding that only Razali, who was on his pilgrimage in Mecca, could make a decision.

Zulhilmi had earlier told The Paper That Cares that a committee comprising three division chiefs, appointed by Razali, was set up to probe the allegation, and if the officers involved in the operation were found to had gone against the council’s rules, disciplinary action would be taken against them.

He had also said disciplinary action, if taken, would not involve the other two bodies which were also responsible for executing the dog-shooting orders as both were beyond their jurisdiction.

The council had, however, forwarded their investigation report to the Tampin Veterinary Department and Tampin District Office for their action.

The Veterinary Department revealed they had not received any such document from the council and seemed to have washed their hands off the matter.

A veterinary officer from the department, who asked for anonymity, said the department had carried out internal investigations into the matter.

“Our department’s role in such operations is as an adviser. Our department’s regulation states we are not allowed to shoot dogs kept inside the compound of a house. We are also not allowed to shoot licensed dogs.”

The officer said two of their officers were involved in the dog-shooting operation on Aug 24 and statements had been taken from them.

… The officer said numerous complaints were often received by all three bodies regarding stray dogs in the neighbourhood where Johnny’s owner, S. Singaravelu, stays.

“We received complaints from the neighbourhood of dogs attacking and biting people.”

Its hard to imagine that some things have to wait until the boss comes from the holiday, but it does happen, as in this case. Earlier than that, Singaravelu said that he will pursue his cause for as long as it takes.

S. SINGARAVELU said he will ensure that justice is served to his beloved dog Johnny no matter how long it takes.

“The council is simply dragging the issue. I don’t care if it takes months or even years. I will still pursue this case.”

Singaravelu said three officers from the Tampin district veterinary department visited him about two weeks ago and asked him to retract the police report he had lodged.

“When they asked me to do so, I refused to budge. I asked them whether they admitted to being at fault and they said yes. They also said they will give me a new dog to replace Johnny,” he claimed.

However, a veterinary officer from the department — who asked for anonymity — said they had not asked Singaravelu to retract his police report.

“We did not ask him to retract the report. We just told him it was wrong to include our department’s name in the report as we were not involved with the actual shooting.

“Singaravelu said he did not know as he is illiterate. We did, however, tell him if he is sad with what happened to Johnny, we could get him another dog. To that, he said he will speak to our District Officer about it.

“But when we followed up with him, he refused to speak to our District Officer. We are not sure why.”

In fact, two months ago, he said he plans to sue those involved:

SEREMBAN: Emotionally tormented S. Singaravelu, who lost his two-year-old licensed dog Johnny to shooting by the Tampin Municipal Council officials two months ago, is planning to sue the council to seek justice for his pet’s brutal death.

“If the owner failed to take action, only then can they consider shooting the dog,” he told The Paper That Cares last week.

The 55-year-old security guard told The Malay Mail: “I don’t care about money. In fact, if I win the court case, I will donate the money to animal shelters such as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

“What I want is justice for my beloved Johnny. I do not want anyone else to go through such misery and injustice. No one should go through what I am going through.”

Since the death of his dog, SIngaravelu has forked out money, especially to travel to Ampang to meet up with officials of the SPCA Selangor, but felt the extra financial burden would be worth it if he managed to get justice for Johnny’s death.

“We humans know a lot of people, but it is not the same with dogs. The only people dogs know and love are their owners. Their owners are everything.

“Johnny’s world revolves around me. I am deeply saddened by his death. I still cannot believe he is gone. The emptiness inside me is indescribable. No other dog could replace Johnny.”

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Wira Chor Chee Heung, who was disgusted with the way Johnny was killed, had asked Singaravelu to take legal action against the council as “the authorities or those involved had no right to shoot a dog inside a house compound”.

Chor had said even if Johnny was a nuisance and many had complained about it, shooting the animal was not the solution as the council should have issued a notice to Singaravelu to explain the problem and gave him time to do something about it.

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Teacher Transfer Saga

December 19th, 2010
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I’m sure you are aware of the refusal by some 100 language teachers in some districts in Selangor to be transfered to other districts within the state. Same problem occurring in Penang as well. According to one reader’s letter to the Sun:

Many of those involved were English and Bahasa Malaysia teachers. The letter was dated Nov 25 and was effective Dec 1.

This showed that the redeployment was done in a haste and not thought of properly. This is only the first phase and I heard that the whole process, in three phases, will involve nearly 1,000 teachers.

Some comments from Malay Mail:

Some 100 teachers involved in a redeployment exercise have refused to be transferred to other districts in Selangor.

National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) president, Hashim Adnan, said the  84 English Language and 16 Malay Language optional teachers were redeployed under the programme to strengthen Bahasa Malaysia and English 2009–2010.

“Mismatch of teachers was among factors that gave rise to this problem. Transfer of teachers will cause more problems rather than solve existing ones,” he told a Press conference at Wisma NUTP here today.

Hashim said the ministry should consider factors like age, health and family when considering appeals from the 100 teachers redeployed.

Meanwhile, NUTP secretary Lok Yim Pheng, said the transfer of teachers to districts involves high transportation cost.

“They have to leave their families and only get to meet them on weekends, thus creating problems. Transfer on short notice is inhuman.”

Lok urged the government to increase the age of teachers pursuing the ministry’s long distance study to 48 years from 45 presently.

“The age for those studying on their own should also be increased from 50 to 53 years. We need to create professional teachers,” she added.

The problem in Selangor:

The redeployment of teachers announced in Selangor recently has drawn flak from the 100 affected by the exercise.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Hashim Adnan said the teachers were upset at being transferred to schools which were too far from the schools they were currently based in.

“For instance, a teacher who is teaching in Klang is being deployed to Sabak Bernam,” he told a press conference at the NUTP headquarters.

Hashim said 84 English option teachers and 16 Bahasa Malaysia option teachers were involved in the redeployment exercise in Selangor.

Teachers are transferred be tween the districts in the state to meet the shortage of language teachers in the rural areas, in support of the policy on Upholding BM and Strengthening English announced by the Government.

According to Hashim, more than 20 teachers have lodged complaints with NUTP to express their dissatisfaction.

“Teachers who are unhappy with their transfers are advised to appeal to the state education department,” said Hashim.

NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng urged the Education Ministry to look into the complaints of the teachers as many of them had to leave their families behind when they move to the new schools.

“Some of the teachers were given very short notice. Teachers with young children are the ones who are badly hit by this redeployment exercise,” she said.

“These teachers also have to fork out extra expenditure to pay for rent and the long distances travelled.”

A teacher who was at the press conference said she had to travel more than 100km every day in order to get to her new school.

NUTP suggested the ministry look at other measures, such as holding conversion courses to retrain the non-option teachers so that they could teach the subjects.

On another matter, NUTP appealed to the ministry to increase the age limit for teachers applying for the distance learning programme from 45 to 48.

The State Education Department says teachers can appeal and only 20 had appealed so far:

Teachers who are redeployed to schools far away from their current base are allowed to appeal to the Selangor Education Department.

“Each appeal will be looked through and given due consideration,” the Education Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

It has been reported that about 100 teachers in Selangor are upset about the transfers. Some of them were apparently sent to places that were 100km away from their present schools.

The ministry said in the statement that there was an imbalance in the distribution of teachers within schools in a district and within districts in the state.

“The redeployment is mostly to Kuala Selangor and Sabak Bernam as both districts are facing a critical shortage of English teachers.”

Other districts especially Klang, Petaling Perdana, Petaling Utama and Hulu Langat have a surplus of English teachers.

The redeployment also involves Bahasa Malaysia option teachers as there was a surplus in Sabak Bernam and Kuala Langat. Thus, these teachers would need to be sent elsewhere to minimise the mismatch, the ministry said.

In Shah Alam, a group of teachers held a demonstration in front the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) office yesterday to voice discontentment over their transfers to schools about 100km away from their current location.

The transfers were implemented on Dec 1. However, many have not reported at their new schools yet.

“Most of the teachers are from Klang but they now have to move to Sabak Bernam,” said a secondary school English teacher who identified himself only as Vijay, 47.

“We don’t want to leave because we’ve settled down here for years. We have our families to think of.”

Another teacher who wanted to be known as Anamalai, 47, urged the NUTP to fight for their welfare.

“We pay the union RM72 a year. What are they doing to protect us?”

They suggested that the NUTP appeal to the ministry and send fresh graduates to the rural areas instead as the older ones had been through transfers before.

“I taught in Sarawak for five years when I first became a teacher. Young graduates have fewer problems being redeployed,” said a teacher known as Bala, 46.

The teachers said that they were not against the ministry’s orders but being sent so far away would pose a major inconvenience.

Helmi Che Raus, 32, a Bahasa Malaysia teacher from Kapar, expressed concern over his transfer to Bukit Rimau.

“Travelling will require a lot of petrol and we were told to find our own accommodation. Think of our financial pressure. Our salaries are not increased,” he said.

Din, an English teacher with two children, said she had appealed for help from the NUTP.

“I have not heard from them yet.” .

Similar problem in Penang (hmm..earlier Selangor and now Penang? I guess its just a coincidence):

More than 100 teachers on Penang island are unhappy that they have been transferred to the mainland, including Sungai Petani and Kulim, from this month.

It is learnt that the group only received their transfer letters dated Nov 26 on Dec 13 at their respective schools.

An English teacher in Air Itam said he was transferred to a school in Bukit Mertajam, which is about 40km from his house.

“I will have to fork out an extra RM25 per day for the journey and toll charges which equals to RM500 per month,” he said yesterday.

He said about 80 teachers had submitted their appeals to the state Education Department.

He claimed that some teachers had decided to apply for six months unpaid leave while others had taken forms to apply for optional retirement.

State Education director Ibrahim Mohamad said the redeployment was necessary as there were excess teachers on the island.

He said a meeting would be held before the opening of the new school term to look into the matter and also to consider the appeals submitted by the affected teachers.

NUTP secretary-general Loke Yim Pheng said the Government should pay for the travelling expenses of the transferred teachers.

This is what the state education officer said:

According to The Star, state education director Ibrahim Mohamad said the redeployment was necessary as there were excess teachers on the island.

He said a meeting would be held before the opening of the new school term to look into the matter and also to consider the appeals submitted by the affected teachers.

Now, the Public Complaints Bureau has stepped in. However, I’m not sure how the PCB can interfere in the internal affairs of an organization. This isn’t a public complaint, but employee against employer. Should be handled by Human Resource Ministry. Unless of course parents complaint that education quality dropped or something.

Come Wednesday, the public complaints bureau will meet education ministry officials to seek a solution to the grouses of teachers in Penang and Selangor, who have received transfer letters.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk T. Murugiah, who is also in charge of the department, said he had received many complaints on the matter from the teachers concerned.

He said, if the teachers were unhappy over the transfers, it would affect their performance, and this in turn, would impact the students.

As the teachers had asked for the department’s assistance for a solution, Murugiah said he would speak to Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi on the matter.

“Some were transferred too far away. They need to rent a house and some had to spend extra for the petrol due to the far distance from their homes. All these will burden them with additional living costs,” he said on Sunday.

Murugiah was commenting on a report which highlighted the plight of more than 100 teachers on Penang island who expressed unhappiness over their transfers to the mainland, including Sungai Petani and Kulim, beginning this month.

My take – Shifting teachers around is merely hiding the actual problem. Why did the “excess” occur in the first place? These things don’t happen overnight. Who approved the posting of teachers? Who allowed for teachers to pursue bachelor/postgraduate in those fields and end up overqualified for current position? Who does the allocation of seats for teaching colleges for future need? Who come out with these policies? Is there any element of corruption or negligence in these procedures? I think accountability is important. When things go well, everyone wants to take credit. When things fails, try to cover up or blame others. Some people must take responsibility for the excess, be it previous or current ministers, top management, senior officers or junior executives. Its easy to say that as civil servants, the teachers must serve wherever they are ordered to. But that’s just hiding the real problem. Yeah, some may have established own tuition centers and earning handsomely. Shitfing will cost a big loss for them. But is this the right “punishment”?

As for solution, I think we need a better system of keeping track of available teachers and future needs for each subject. Secondly, probably there should be some allocation for those travelling more than 50km per day to cover their expenses.  The government provides for relocation cost but still there’s issue of relocating the children’s school, the spouse finding a job, and also renting a house. If given more time (like 2 months), then it may be acceptable.

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