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This is an interesting letter in Malaysiakini. I respect the spirit and effort of the students to persevere against the discrimination. Of course this is view of one person. Wonder what the university would say to this.

USM’s 12-year Tamil language saga

by Senthil Nathan

It was indeed very surprising that there are suggestions to make Japanese a third language whereas learning Mandarin will be much more useful and economical as well as universal. Mandarin-speakers are the largest in the world with over one billion of them.

This also makes us wonder if importance is being given to our own citizens and their cultures. Having ‘little Napoleons’ in various places only makes such simple things seems so difficult to be exercised.

On my personal experience in USM, for more than 30 years there, were many, many languages in the Pusat Bahasa. This included Arabic, French, Thai and many more foreign languages. For some reason, there were no Tamil language and when we enquired , the dean said there was a lack of support from students etc.

So to prove a point, student volunteers became part-time teachers to teach other students the language as a trial programme. Mind it, it was on personal basis as no club or even the Indian Cultural Society not willing to undertake this cause.

After one year, the classes had many students but the dean said, ‘We need to see statistics, please show us statistics’. So the second year was full of paperwork while the students-cum teachers ran their classes on Fridays from 12- 3pm for an entire year.

When presented with the statistics on attendance, the dean, simply said, ‘You did not have exams for the students, so there is proof the teaching was done properly’.

Third and fourth year volunteer teachers kept on with their Tamil-language private classes without fail and even streamlined four different levels and had exams for the students. All this was happening while they themselves had their own coursework and degrees to think about.

After applying for recognition from the university authorities for the fifth time, they realised that the authorities were simply delaying the approval hoping that the matter would eventually be forgotten after those who started it left the university upon graduation.

Nevertheless, the torch was passed from seniors to juniors who kept the work going and even recruited Chinese students who were at the mercy of the whims and fancy of the Pusat Bahasa management.

I was among those who came in the sixth year and stayed on until the ninth year. Seeing the dedication of the student/teachers and the unsupportive university authorities, we pushed the matter to the vice-chancellor who again told us to meet the dean.

Some students who graduated even continued with their masters just to ensure the success of this project but to no avail. No arguments were valid for the university authorities; they gave us all kind of excuses including the economic value of the Thai and Japanese languages compared to Tamil and unsupportive students once the language is offered (this is ironic, because they never tried offering it in the first place).

They even had the cheek to say students who took Tamil for SPM might score high results for the university Tamil paper examination.

After 12 years of non-stop effort, The Pusat Bahasa in USM finally accepted Tamil language as a paper and classes are now officially run. Thanks to the dynamic students who wanted to make a difference while sacrificing their quality time in university.

This has been entirely their effort from the start and it only proves that we have to struggle for what should have been given to us in the first place.

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Posted in Indian

Tags: discrimination Education

More allegations on the Kampar bridge tragedy

November 15th, 2009

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A four-hour public inquiry held by the PR investigation committee produced more shocks. Malaysiakini reported that about 50 people. mainly parents, attended the inquiry.

One of the victim’s father said:

Lorry driver T Nathan, 44, who lost his 11-year-old daughter Dina Deve in the incident, demanded for the camp’s closure.

The visibly distraught father said he did not want the same fate to befall other parents.

“The lives of my daughter and her friends were sacrificed needlessly in the name of the 1Malaysia concept of (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak) which is a political stunt to fool Malaysians.

“My daughter would be still alive if not for the 1Malaysia concept camp,” he added.

Nathan cited seven reasons as to why the camp should be closed. They were:

1. There is a durian tree inside the compound of camp and there is a danger of the fruits falling on the children and killing them.

2. There is a six feet deep pond filled with greenish smelly water located in the compound which participants cross over using ropes.

3. There is a one-foot high broken wire squared maze on the ground where the children have to jump from one square to another to reach the other end of the maze. There is a danger that the children might hurt themselves in jumping from these broken wire squares.

4. The area of the 1Malaysia camp across the river is too small to accommodate the 298 pupils.
5. The area of the present camp is a former Orang Asli burial ground.

6. There is no proper water supply to the camp and the children had to break the closed water pipe to quench their thirst. [wah! this is serious!!!]

7. There is no proper lighting for the camping area.

Met later, Nathan told Malaysiakini that when he went looking for his daughter on the other side of the river on that fateful night, he saw that the camp tents were only about five feet from the edge of the river bank.

According to him, the camp authorities quickly dismantled the tents located near the river after the bridge collapsed.

More serious is the comment by some of the children:

Meanwhile, some of the children who attended the camp told the inquiry that they were the ones who threw the life-jackets to the 19 pupils who fell into the water and not the teachers as reported in the media.

They added that the life-jackets were kept in a storeroom away from the bridge.

Committee chairman assemblyman Sivakumar said that the contractor did not get permission from the relevant authorities with regards to building the bridge and the main reason it collapsed was because the foundation was weak.

Speaking to reporters later, Sivakumar said that the committee could not meet up with the director of the Perak state education co-curriculum centre situated in Pangkor Island as the state education director, the Kinta Selatan district education officer and the co-curriculum director were urgently called up by the Education Ministry to Putrajaya on Friday.

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Posted in BornInMalaysia, Indian

Tags: Crime Education Pakatan Rakyat Perak Politicians Tamil school

Application for IPTA for SPM leavers open for Sesi 2010

November 11th, 2009

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Application for SPM leavers to apply for local IPTA is OPEN already. Deadline for FASA 1 is 31st December 2009. No need to buy PIN number from BSN until next year, so just apply first!

Main url: http://upu.mohe.gov.my/

Application page: https://upu.mohe.gov.my/online1011/spm/mohon.php

New calculation of merit marks: PDF file

General guideline for SPM/STPM leavers:
http://www.portal.mohe.gov.my/portal/page/portal/ExtPortal/STUDENT/GENERAL_STUDENT/Student_Admission_Public/eguide/am

Schedule of whole process:
http://upu.mohe.gov.my/portal/epanduan/TARIKH%20PERMOHONAN%20KEMASUKAN%20KE%20IPTA%201011.pdf

Any questions, just leave a comment, and i’ll try to help.

8 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia

Tags: Education

SJKT Ladang Bukit Jalil still waiting for building

November 10th, 2009

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DPM Muhyidin came and went. 2 million promised (and reported by all major newspapers). Building to be ready in time for 2011 intake (another 13 months left). And forget to mention that there’s no field, no place for expansion.

Last cabinet committee on Indian community saw news that funds allocated were not enough, and the MIC requested for extra RM85 million or so. So, what’s the fate of this school?

Uthayakumar’s Human Rights Party organised a protest at the site:

One of the PIBG committee members, V.Shanthi, said that the committee were kept is dark by the Education Ministry, DBKL and the Wilayah Minister on the supposed extension building to be build at present school site.

At the proposed new site:-

1) With One acre only it is insufficient for future expansion.[this is normal. No thought is even given for future use. Typical planning (in)capability]

2) The classrooms are much smaller then the standard size. [this is serious accusation!]

3) There is no space for school field.

4) There is a future plan to build a LRT station nearby. This will cause a massive traffic jam and it is unsafe for the children.

5) There is no proper planning by DBKL because it involves a Tamil School. But when come to Malay and Chinese schools they will take into consideration the future expansion. These are the injustices that we are against.

Meanwhile at the present site, there is around 26 acres of reserved land and it is in a safe place for children away from main roads. Why can’t the UMNO government give 6 acres out of the 26 acres land to this Bukit Jalil Tamil School? They will have enough places to build a school field, an assembly hall for children and for future expansion.

Going back to history, when Bukit Jalil was slated to build a mega Sports Complex there RM Billions was for Commonwealth Games in 1998. During that time the UMNO government spent Billions building the Stadium, sports complexes, apartments, schools and etc but when it comes to this 80 year old Tamil school UMNO did not bother to upgrade as they had done for the Malay schools.

The Indian settlement in Kg Pandan KL will also be developed and majority of the residents are to be shifted to Puchong. Another big load of students will be coming in. How is SJKT Bukit Jalil going to cope with the sudden increase? Or would the students be pushed into national type schools?

The school was embroiled in controversies since last 2 years – flooding, relocation to cemetery plot, etc. (Just search in this blog). The parents and PIBG have done alot, putting to shame those in power. Even hired own contractors to fix proper drainage!

Today, The Star reported that the school is in the dark and no communication from the relevant government agencies.

THE SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), School Board and Residents Committee members are in the dark over a proposed new Tamil school.

School Board chairman K. Venkata Ramani said when Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhiyiddin Yassin visited the school in April, he gave an assurance of an allocation of RM2 million for the new school, which would have additional facilities.

“Tan Sri Muhiyiddin added that the proposed new school would be ready by 2011. There is now a signboard for a proposed SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil Tambahan about 1.1km from the existing school.

“We want the new school to have a field and more classrooms.

“We also want the existing school to remain here as it has been here for the last 80 years and has rich history,” said Venkata, who queried why the Education Ministry had not informed the PTA nor sought its suggestions on the project, although they had sent a letter to Muhiyiddin, the Education Ministry and Public Works Department last month. [because of inaction from the officers, the Minister is in a tight spot.]

“Our present committee wants to settle this before the next committee takes over,” he said.

SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil school board treasurer Gunasingam Veerasingam said that the school had 114 pupils and 15 small classrooms which could accommodate 10 to 15 pupils each. It has only a badminton court for the pupils to play sports and the grounds are hit by frequent flash floods.

SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil PTA chairman Balakrishnan Sadaian added that Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk M. Saravanan had said 200 Indian families from the Kampung Pandan Indian settlement would be shifting to Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s People’s Housing Project (PPR) Kampung Muhibbah flats next to school soon.

“The existing school won’t be able to cope with the influx,” he said.

The SJK (Tamil) Bukit Jalil PTA, School Board and Residents Committee members want a detailed report on the proposed new school.

So, who is going to do the fire-fighting this time? The Deputy Minister for KL, Saravanan? Maybe ask the parents and schools to look at the “bigger picture!” 🙂

Its this kind of news that erodes the faith of the community on the government and its leaders. Promises not fulfilled. Or promise something that is stop-gap measure. No long-term solution. Regardless of which coalition, the problem still remains.

Anyway, I did suggest that in 10MP, a project is created to convert about 30 schools a year from partially-aided to fully-aided status. Within 5 years, at least 150 schools will be converted, which is nearly half of the total number of partially-aided schools. Let’s see if any action is take this time, or more empty talks only.

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Posted in Indian, Tamil-Schools

Tags: discrimination Education Funds Politicians Protest SJKT Ladang Bukit Jalil