Confusion over Deepavali holiday in IPTAs

/* October 14th, 2011 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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The 1Malaysia Indian Students Movement (1MISM) launch at UM July this year by PM Najib saw an important announcement regarding extra holidays for Deepavali. It seems, the letter from JPT MOHE to IPTAs on 15th September stated that such holidays are to be given for Indians students only (There’s a copy of the letter here but not sure if untampered). Meaning, Indian (actually should be Hindu, this also don’t know means who la???) students will miss out classes because the classes will still go on.

Worse still, according to one FB entry, there was a comment “Najib bukan VC UKM” (refer here) when students asked why got class on 25th evening and 27th morning.

This will reflect badly on PM Najib and MIC since they were touting extra holidays, but actually its like time off only in some IPTAs. MISM (MIC) better clarify before they cause more damage.

Obviously the IPTAs are in a bind because PM already promised, but to implement, they are the ones who have to figure out ways. I think the IPTAs can do it like schools, by declaring “cuti peristiwa” (event holiday) and replace the classes on Saturdays. If they think that tolerance/sensitivity/acceptance/understanding of various cultures is important, they will find a way and not use reasons like MQA rules as an excuse.

Coming to the question: is convenience of the majority is of more importance than the convenience of the minority, even if the convenience of the minority doesn’t cost/affect much? We talk about national unity and sacrifices, but it doesn’t work for others?

It is very sad that education institutions that are supposed to instill good values of understanding others cultures, acceptance, tolerance etc is in the forefront of being ignorant, apathetic, intolerant and insensitive. What kind of impression are they giving to the students and staff? Should we blame the IPTA management entirely, or the education and social system that they grew up in? Being minority is not easy, and to think its going to get worse is indeed scary.

Even want to implement in IPTA is difficult, imagine want to ask IPTS to provide extra days off for Deepavali! So far heard that MSU having exam on the eve, while Segi KL is closing on eve (half-day) and 27th.

Certain universities are ignoring the government’s directive to give Indian students a longer break to celebrate Deepavali, said the Human Rights Party (HRP).

HRP sec-gen P Uthayakumar (right) in an open letter to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today complained of the “year in and year out recurring problem” for Hindu students who fail to enjoy similar accomodations granted other holidays such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Christmas.

According to him, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) was only exempting Indian students from lectures rather than giving an official break.

“This would cause the Indian students to miss their lectures for three days,” said Uthayakumar.

“Apart from UKM, we are also receiving complaints from in particular Indian students studying in Unimas and UMS that lectures will be conducted as usual even on Deepavali day, which is not even a public holiday in Sarawak,” he added.

Najib, he said, had at the launch of the 1Malaysia Indian Students Movement at University Malaya on July 27 announced that the government would direct  universities to make provisions for the Hindu festive period.

The Ministry of  the Higher Education followed up with a circular on Sept 15 to all public universities to reschedule classes and examinations to allow for a longer break for Indian students.

“In that circular, Indian students nationwide were promised a longer break from 25 to 28 October to celebrate Deepavali which falls on 26 Oct,” said Uthayakumar.

He added that they have received complaints that universities are not implementing other provisions cited by Najib, such as a students’ shuttle service to nearby Hindu temples for students and making available vegetarian food.

“Or is this part of ‘the government policy was good but it’s  implementation was bad’ political play gimmick?” said the HRP sec-gen.

source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/178646

 

Excerpt from a report in FMT is below:

… In an open letter to Najib, HRP’s pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar, named Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) as among those defying the directive.

“UKM’s deputy vice chancellor, Professor Noor Azlan Ghazali, even told the student leader, Kok Kiong Lum, that there are too many holidays in Malaysia,” he stated.

“He said that even Hari Raya and Chinese New Year holidays are only two days long so it is only fair that just one day be given for Deepavali.”

Uthayakumar further said that UNIMAS was conducting lectures on Deepavali day itself as it isn’t a public holiday in Sarawak.

“The Indian students there must also be given the opportunity to return home and be with their families on this auspicious day,” he said.

source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/10/14/keep-to-your-word-hrp-tells-pm/

 

 

 

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matriculation exam starting day after Deepavali

/* October 14th, 2011 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Time after time we notice the same issues. Officially of course its a one day public holiday, but where’s the sensitivity, acceptance, understanding and empathy? You don’t expect students to go back for the festival and return in a day, do you? We don’t see any exams on the very next day of Hari Raya, Chinese New Year or X’mas, even though official holidays are one or two days only.

Conclusion: convenience of the majority is of more importance than the convenience of the minority, even if the convenience of the minority doesn’t cost/affect much?

And MIC, is still at the stage of “hoping” after so many years. They should have blasted the relevant departments instead of dragging ministers into this. Simple thing also want to see PM or minister. Very embarrassing.

It is very sad that education institutions that are supposed to instill good values of understanding others cultures, acceptance, tolerance etc is in the forefront of being ignorant, apathetic, intolerant and insensitive. What kind of impression are they giving to the students and staff? Year in, year out the same thing happens. But since everyone is hopping on to 1Malaysia bandwagon in recent times, the folks at Bahagian Matrikulasi should thought ahead and foreseen this issue. Should we blame them entirely, or the education and social system that they grew up in? Being minority is not easy, and to think its going to get worse is indeed scary.

MIC president Datuk G. Palanivel said he had spoken to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak about the matriculation examination that has been fixed a day after Deepavali on Oct 27.

Palanivel said he had also spoken to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who said the Education Ministry was aware of it.

“Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also Education Minister, said they were considering postponing the exam to a new date,” he said via SMS to Bernama here on Friday.

Palanivel, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said he raised the matter after receiving complaints through SMS and phone calls from the Indian community.

He said postponing the matriculation exam would go down well with Indians celebrating Deepavali and hoped the deputy prime minister would make an announcement soon. – Bernama

source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/14/nation/20111014152506&sec=nation

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Parliament Sitting on Deepavali Eve Issue

/* October 11th, 2011 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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The parliament sitting on 25th October, a day before Deepavali  is causing some negative news. Obviously those involved should know that the next day is Deepavali and that chances are high the sitting will drag until night. Of course, being people’s representatives, one can expect the MPs to brave through such inconveniences and challenges.

Being Hindus, its important to fulfill one’s dharma (duties).  So,  if its critical to be in the Dewan on that day, then the relevant MPs should be there. However, if there’s nothing much involving them, then I’m sure their absence will be accepted. You can imagine MPs balik kampung to their constituencies to celebrate with the constituents, which is also part of their duty.

DAP’s Kulasegaran had raised the issue with Minister Nazri and the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, so I hope these people will make the right decision. Perhaps can adjourn the session by late afternoon as a  mark of respect/muhibbah (whatever you want to call it) for the diverse cultures and religions in the country. Of course if the sitting is adjourned for the whole day, it would be good news for the relevant MPs.

Worse case, as mentioned above, the Hindu MPs can inform in advance of their absence to the relevant people.  Shouldn’t be a problem.

However, how about the civil servants on duty, the reporters, and others who are involved in the parliament sittings? They would also be affected if the sitting runs into night. Well, yes, its their duty as well. Probably they can try make arrangements to get colleagues who are not celebrating to cover their shift.

Interestingly, this time around MIC was able to get IPTAs to provide extra days off for Deepavali. I think the fact that semester is starting in September is also partly a reason, since the semester exams won’t be near Deepavali.

Deepavali, being a religious event, involve prayers on the eve (for the departed). However, probably the lack of exposure of the planners/authorities led to this situation. We can’t ignore this because the lack of proper exposure to the diverse background of Malaysians and too much focus on only one segment of the society (from school till tertiary education) may have led to this condition. Perhaps those in charge (not only in parliament, but in schools, IPTAs, and other dept/agencies) should be given some knowledge through courses/seminars on the diverse cultures. If not we can expect this issue to occur again and again.

So, while one hand we expect the elected representatives to do their duty, I also expect that sensitivity, acceptance and common sense is also used when making preparations. After all, if this was eve of Hari Raya or Chinese New Year or X’mas, would there be a sitting? Hypothetical question, of course. Perhaps someone should check the records and verify if there were any cases of parliament sitting being held on eve of other major religious festivals.

Wonder if we can say that the sensitivities of the majority is more important than the sensitivities of the minority. I hope not.

DAP parliamentarians have expressed displeasure that Parliament will remain in session on Oct 25, the eve of the Hindu festival of Deepavali.

“This year, Deepavali falls on Oct 26. I am therefore surprised that a parliamentary meeting has been scheduled on Oct 25,” Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

Reading out a joint statement, he said the situation would hamper preparations to hold ‘open house’ on Oct 26, as well as disrupt prayers for ancestors that are traditionally conducted on the eve by those observing the festival.

“The party hereby calls on the prime minister who is the government leader in the House to cancel the Oct 25 meeting, as it is a practice for Hindus to pray to their ancestors on the eve of Deepavali and (hold an annual) reunion with family members,” Kulasegaran said.

He pointed out that the all the main roads would be congested on Oct 25, making it difficult for the Hindu MPs to get home from Parliament.

“This morning (M) Manogaran (Teluk Intan MP, left) and I met de facto law minister (Mohd) Nazri (Abdul) Aziz and speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia and requested them to vacate the sitting on Oct 25. Both agreed to consider our request favourably and will revert soon,” he said.

The DAP representatives questioned the premier’s sincerity in announcing that issues faced by Indian Malaysians would be resolved – for instance, examination dates have often clashed with that of the festival.

They recalled that, when launching the 1Malaysia India Students Movement at Universiti Malaya in July, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had announced that public tertiary institutions would revamp their curriculum and examination schedules to ensure that these do not clash with Deepavali.

Najib was also quoted to have said the decision would resolve the two-decade-old problem affecting Indian students, who have had to miss the celebrations as their examinations have almost always fallen a day before – or even on the day of – the festival.

“Would this have happened if it were Hari Raya?” asked Batu Kawan MP P Ramasamy who was present.

‘Be sensitive in fixing schedules’

If the premier’s promise holds true, the DAP members said, the government should show the same sensitivity in scheduling sittings of Parliament and government functions.

“This could well be an oversight, but it certainly reflects the need for government officers who are involved in planning meetings to have better knowledge of all festivals (observed),” stressed Kulasegaran.

source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/178303

There was a side issued raised, about the teachers and exam papers.

I did some checking: between 2008 and 2010, the exams dates are such that it doesn’t fall within a week or two of Hari Raya. The nearest was in 2009, where UPSR ended about 10 days before Hari Raya. For this year, the last day of PMR is about 2 weeks before Deepavali, so I think there’s ample time for the teachers involved to mark the exam papers and return them on time. Unless the answer scripts are delivered late and teachers end up having just few days to mark.

Anyway, here its mentioned “to check exam papers” so not sure what that means. But to arrange it on the next day after a public holiday is only inviting bad publicity because if the teachers take leave to balik kampung, they are forced to come back or cancel the festival plans. Not exactly a good motivation or planning by employers.

Meanwhile, Manoharan slammed the education ministry for assigning Indian Hindu teachers to check PMR question papers the day after Deepavali.

“It is embarrassing to assign Indian teachers to check question papers when they will be celebrating Deepavali. We want the education ministry to revoke the idea as well,” he said.

source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/10/11/dap-respect-time-honoured-hindu-tradition/

In short, if its not critical (life and death) matter, can always postpone. No big deal. Unless you are the type of sadistic employer that likes to torture employees.

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Budget 2012

/* October 7th, 2011 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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You might want to have a peek at Budget 2011 last year to get an idea of this year’s budget. This year around, PM Najib spoke for an extra 19 minutes. The budget speech can be found here.

The budget costs RM232.8 billion, up 9.4%, with the operating expenditure at RM181.6 billion or 78%, (up 11.5%) and development expenditure at RM51.2 billion or 22% (up 4.1%).  RM20.5 billion would be for servicing debt.

You can compare with Pakatan Rakyat’s shadow budget here.

Last year, Malaysia’s FDI growth was the strongest in Asia and in the first six months of this year have reached RM21.2 billion. Economic growth for 2012 is expected to be between 5 and 6 percent, despite a global economic slowdown. In 2012, private investment is forecast to climb 15.9%, supported by foreign and domestic investment. GDP in the first 6 months of 2011 was 4.4%, driven by strong domestic consumption. In 2012, the service sector is expected to grow 6.5%, the construction sector 7% and GDP is forecast to be between 5 and 6%.

RM29.8 billion allocated for investment in infrastructure, industrial and rural development. RM13.6bil allocated for the social sector, including education and training, welfare, housing and community development.

Some of the main points:

Economic/Industry

  • Government to further liberalise 17 services sub-sectors, including healthcare and logistics, and in places enabling 100% foreign equity. This will allow 100 per cent foreign ownership of  the 17 service subsectors.
  • RM18 billion of the RM20 billion PPP Facilitation Fund will be used for high-impact projects, with RM2 billion for bumiputera entrepreneurs.
  • KL International Financial District –  income tax break 100% for 10 years, duty stamp exemption; development allowances and capital allowances; income tax break 50% for property developers in KLIFD
  • RM978 million allocated to accelerate the development in five regional corridors: Coastal Highway JB-Nusa Jaya; Taiping Heritage tourism project; Besut agropolitan project; Lahad Datu palm oil cluster project; Water supply in Samalaju
  • Felda to be listed in Bursa, along with “windfall” for settlers.
  • To extend tax exemption on issuance and trading on foreign currency sukuk by three years
  • To cut tax for three years on expenses incurred in issuance of sukuk wakala starting 2012.
  • To implement RM6 billion private sector-financed special stimulus package for infrastructure works.
  • To implement RM98.4 billion rolling plan until 2013 for high-impact development projects
  • To grant tax benefits to investors who use Malaysian Treasury Management Centre to accelerate financial markets development. These include income tax exemption of 70 per cent for five years, withholding tax exemption on interest payments on borrowing and stamp duty exemption on loan and service agreements.
  • subsidies will be maintained at same amount (RM33.2 billion).
  • franchise fees borne by local franchisees will be allowed tax deduction in efforts to develop the local franchise industry and Malaysian brands.
  • Pulau Langkawi will be redeveloped with the Langkawi Five Year Tourism Development Master Plan, to be launched with an allocation of RM420 million to be used to restructure the Langkawi Development Authority, set up a park rangers unit, upgrade museums, beaches and small businesses as well as provide a more efficient transportation system.
  • Hotel operators in Peninsular Malaysia investing in new four and five-star hotels will be given pioneer status, with 70 per cent income tax exemption or 60 per cent investment tax allowance for five years.

Education

  • RM1 billion allocation through a special fund for the construction, improvement and maintenance of schools in need of upgrades. RM500 million would be allocated to national schools while Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools, mubaligh schools, government religious schools and Mara junior science colleges will receive RM100 million each. (as usual, too little for vernacular schools).
  • development allocation amounting to RM1.9 billion would be spent on all types of school consisting of national schools, national-type Chinese and Tamil schools, mission schools and government-assisted religious schools
  • Abolishment of school fees for primary and secondary education. Currently, students in primary and secondary schools are still required to pay RM24.50 and RM33.50, respectively, for co-curriculum, internal test papers, Malaysian Schools Sports Council fees and insurance premium. These payments will be abolished from 2012
  • One-off RM100 for each school pupil aged six to 16
  • One-off RM200 cash voucher for books  for all school pupils and higher learning institution students
  • Private schools to get 70% income tax break, 100% tax allowance for up to five years, double deduction for overseas promotional expenses to attract more foreign students and import duty and sales tax exemptions on all educational equipment.

Civil Service

  • Civil service salary hikes of between seven and 13 per cent (for those who accept the new scheme, SBPA).
  • Increase in the rate of automatic annual increments in civil service salaries of between RM80 and RM320 (not salary revision as many report/understand).
  • retirement age raised from 58 to 60.
  • teachers to be given promotion on time-base promotion.
  • Tuition fee assistance for civil servants who want to study part-time – for 5,000 places for masters and 500 places for doctorate degrees. Total allocation – RM120 million

Police/Army

  • One-off cash payment of RM3,000 for each family of ex-military and police personnel who served the country during a decades-long communist insurgency (62,000 families)
  • RM200 million for upgrade to modern policing and RM442 million to upgrade housing quarters, stations and training.
  • RM500 million under the Army Care programme for upgrade and maintain army camps and quarters.
  • RM50 million for ex-servicemen retraining.

 Pensioners/Retirees

  • Increase of 2% annually for pensioners starting from 2013.
  • bonus RM500
  • 50% discount on LRT and monorail
  • no outpatient fee for government hospitals/clinic including dental clinics (doesn’t make much difference because its the medicine that costs a lot)

 Transportation

  • full exemption of import tax and excise duty for hybrid and electric cars to be extended until end of 2013.
  • 100% excise duty and sales tax exemption for locally-made taxis.
  • No excise duty or sales tax for transfer ownership.
  • No road tax for individually-owned budget taxis.
  • 2% subsidy on loan for new locally-made taxi.
  • RM3,000 assistance for disposal of old taxies exceeding seven years but less than 10 years. If 10 years old and above, RM1,000 is given. (wonder what’s the focus on taxis is all about. I thought we have too many taxi licenses?)

 Property

  • Real Property Gains Tax increased from 5% t0 10% if property sold within 2 years, 5% if sold between 2 and 5 years, and no tax if sold after 5 years.
  • Ceiling for house prices under a government deposit guarantee scheme for first-time house buyers to be raised to RM400,000 from RM200,000 (My First House Scheme)
  • RM443 million fund to build 15,000 units of housing for lower- to middle-income earners

Employment

  • 1% increase in employer’s EPF contribution (12% increase to 13%). (Most likely to cause unhappiness among employers).

Household

  • One-off cash assistance of RM500 to all households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below, costing RM1.8 billion, to benefit 3.4 million households (54% of households). Head family must register with LHDN.

Orang Asli

  • RM90 million for basic needs, including treated water and income generation, RM20 million for the community affected by Cameron Highlands landslide.
Rural Development
  • RM1.1 billlion for rural electricity supply, especially Sabah and Sarawak.
  • RM5 billion will be given to develop rural infrastructure, including RM1.8 billion to the Rural Road Programme and Village-Link Road Project.
  • RM2.1 billion allocated to expand clean water to rural 220,000 homes.
  • The government will expand the programme to supply clean water to the rural community in Sabah by RM50 million.
  • In Felda settlements, RM400 million upgrade of water supply system in Pahang, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.
  • RM150 million for rural public transportation, via SME bank for bus companies in low interest loans of 4% interest
Poverty/Low-income issue/Welfare
  • Build 85 government-subsidised discount grocery stores nationwide (Kedai 1Malaysia)
  • RM20 subsidy for electricity bill to be continued (only if your bill is RM20 or less).
  • RM1.2 billion for welfare programme: for senior citizens RM300 per month, poor children RM100-450 a month, disable RM150-300 per month.
  • To open 30 Agro Bazaar Rakyat for agriculture products.
  • Extend Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia to 3,000 operators, where breakfast provided at RM2, lunch at RM4.

SME

  • To establish RM2.6 billion worth of funds for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
  • RM100 million SME Revitalisation Fund, for loans of up to RM1 million made available for entrepreneurs to be made available from January 2012
Social Justice
  • contributions to missionary schools and houses of worship will become tax exempt (hopefully its not an excuse to reduce allocation. As it is, there’s no mention of any allocation in the budget for houses of worship).
Health
  • RM15 billion operation expenditure and RM1.8 billion for development expenditure. Upgrade of 81 rural clinics and 50 new 1Malaysia clinics.
  • Hospital Kuala Lumpur, the oldest in Malaysia, will be upgraded to be the country’s premier hospital. RM50 million to construct outpatient block for Hospital Kuala Lumpur. This will come from the RM300 million allocation to upgrade the hospital with new equipment

Sports

  • Aim to build 150 futsal courts and 30 football fields with artificial turfs. RM50 million allocated for football fields, RM15 million for futsal courts (We get rid of open areas and then scramble to build courts/fields again).

This time around, the impact for those in the middle income (household > RM5000) and those who are single can’t be found. There’s no mention of income tax reduction, nor any sin tax. There are plenty of benefits, but my worry is that its value is quite small until can’t make any immediate crucial impact for citizens. Perhaps the housing schemes and education benefits would be the ones which are impactful enough. Good thing that the subsidies are maintained for the coming year.

The budget targets the relevant groups: police/military, Felda, teachers, pensioners, retirees, rural areas, East Malaysia, civil servants.

sources:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/7/nation/20111007162147&sec=nation

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/10/07/shot-in-the-arm-for-domestic-economy/

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/178023

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/178022

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/178016

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/178029

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/177993

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/school-fees-scrapped-in-budget-2012/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/snapshot-of-budget-measures/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/cash-handouts-for-lower-income-households-students/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/putrajaya-moots-1pc-rise-in-employers-epf-contribution/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/real-property-gains-tax-up-to-curb-speculation/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/with-eye-on-polls-government-pledges-more-cash-all-around/

http://www.mole.my/content/wide-ranging-perks-budget-2012

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Pakatan Rakyat’s shadow budget

/* October 4th, 2011 by poobalan | View blog reactions No comments »
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Update: Some details of the shadow budget is available on Lim Kit Siang’s blog here.

I haven’t read the federal opposition’s shadow budget in full, but only the points mentioned in newspapers. The budget costs RM220 billion and will reduce the deficit to 4.4%.  Revenue is RM181 billion, with the expected income from auctions of approved permits (APs), higher oil prices and reintroducing import tax on 200 luxury items that was lifted by federal government last year.

The shadow budget proposed that

– RM22 billion is used for subsidies

– RM5.9 billion to implement minimum wage of RM1100 for civil servants

– reallocate RM10 billion from PM’s department to other ministries.

– an annual allowance of RM1,000 to be given to mothers to encourage them to enter the workforce

– a RM1,000 bonus for senior citizens with annual income of less than RM18,000 as well as for qualified housewives

Other details are not available yet, so I’m not sure how the budget will be provided for.  The news in cyberspace so far seem to indicate a less than enthusiastic response, mainly with the proposal to implement minimum wage for civil servants.

I would have proposed that bonus for senior citizens to be RM3600 instead of RM1000, probably in the form of vouchers. The annual allowance of RM1,000 for mothers also too little. I would have proposed to have a compulsory creche/nursery in workplaces or buildings with tax incentive given to those employers who provide such facilities. Also, provide tax incentive to those employers who promote telecommuting. Maybe also encourage employers with more than 500 employees to provide bus free services to their employees to reduce pollution and traffic jams.

I would also propose a big allocation for education to implement single session schooling which can kill many birds with stone.

I would also proposed a gradual reduction in civil service size in line with the international norms, which can help alleviate the salary increment cost. Probably also toss in some privatization exercise to reduce size of civil service.

We have to wait till Friday to see how the federal government’s budget turns out before able to make any comparison.

sources:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pakatan-budget-cant-rein-in-spending-says-bn/

 

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/4/nation/20111004151734&sec=nation

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/pakatan-says-can-add-rm15.5b-to-government-revenue/

 

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