National laureate A. Samad Said who is 76 years old choked on teargas at the ‘Daulatkan Bahasa’ gathering to uphold the sovereignty of our national language. Police fired volley upon volley of teargas; some reports said up to 200 rounds. Pakciks, Makciks, Uncles and Aunties, undergrads and students were smothered by the stinging gas too.
Gerakan Mansuhkan PPSMI (movement to abolish Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris/PPSMI) had organised the rally to urge a reversal of the misguided policy to teach Math and Science in English.
Solidarity for the cause clearly cut across ethnic lines last Saturday afternoon when a crowd of about 8,000 collected in the vicinity of Masjid Negara. Someone on a loudhailer invited all of us, irregardless of religion, to enter the mosque premises for sanctuary.
Angular Aunties and plump Makciks in the spirit of
muhibbah took to the streets patrolled by riot squad and where FRU and police trucks were stationed, where water cannon awaited and chopper persistently swept the air. It might conceivably have been a first for some of the non-Muslim participants to be within the grounds of the iconic national mosque, and welcomed.
Veteran leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah got it right on the March 7 march when he says ours is a government that sets itself against the rakyat it was appointed to serve.
Meanwhile, in Putrajaya, the Prime Minister wants the Education Ministry to resolve the PPSMI issue before it blows up. From his reaction, I can imagine Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wringing his hands. Poor guy... Dollah was saddled with the PPSMI albatross around his neck just like he was with the Crooked Bridge of his predecessor.
Dr M’s baby, we get the diapers PPSMI was implemented in January 2003, coming at the tail-end of Dr Mahathir Mohamed’s tenure.
Prof. Mohamad Tajuddin Rasdi of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia commented that PPSMI was done with “such rapidity that it boggles any management team to implement”. The public did not hear about any feasibility study or forward planning.
Nor were there any debates or concerns that built up to culminate in the radical switch, Prof. Tajuddin noted. “Tun Mahathir sort of woke up one day and decided to change the languages of the two subjects”.
Why did the Tun doctor wake up on the wrong side of his bed one morning and in a single stroke, sign the PPSMI prescription? After all, Malaysian kids have been learning Math and Science in Malay for almost four decades.
Prof. Tajuddin’s observation is that there was massive unemployment among local graduates at that time. Dr M conveniently placed the blame for the malaise on their lack of proficiency in English.
According to renowned writer-cum-poet Baha Zain, the private education sector was around the same period attracting foreign students from China, Indonesia and other countries who were taking college courses in English.
Prof. Tajuddin characterised PPSMI as a “selfish political move” by the ex-premier whilst
Baha sees it as Dr Mahathir’s “personal initiative”, in that the directive did not originate from the Education Ministry but was instead the premier’s executive order.
This was how the country was run – at the whim of one man.
On Aug 10, 2008 Dr Mahathir blogged in
Chedet: “I admit that I am responsible for the decision to teach Science and Mathematics in English.” He’s sticking to his guns as rarely does he admit that he could be human, a creature who errs.
Follow the stench There is widespread opposition to PPSMI and from all quarters. Tamil school headmasters object to it. Needless to say, Chinese educationists with Dong Jiao Zong are dead set against.
Naysayers include luminaries like Royal Professor Ungku Aziz, Gapena’s Prof. Emeritus Ismail Hussein, former Education Minister Abdul Rahman Yaakob, former director-general of Education Abdul Rahman Arshad and a host of Malay academics.
The teachers say it’s a bad, bad idea. Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat are anti-PPSMI. Even the PM’s son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin does not support it in primary schools. But some loud vessels in Umno will want to continue Mahathir’s legacy come hell or highwater.
Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said whether there is any turnaround will have to be a Cabinet decision. But wait! Dollah said the Education Ministry should decide. Oh dear, such crossed lines. For an informed opinion, they should just ask former schoolteacher Muhammad Muhammad Taib since ‘he-no-speak-Inglis’ is an insider on the linguistic predicament.
Hisham also added that the gathering was not orchestrated by adversaries in his own party to undermine him the upcoming Umno elections. It is always nice to know to where his priorities and thoughts tend.
Ku Li wrote in his blog: “Umno is utterly alienated from its meaning, purpose and spirit. No longer the party of the Malay schoolteacher but of the power that directs water cannons and teargas at them.”
A commentator ‘Bangsamalaya’ responded: “Umno baru is not the party of the schoolteacher as Umno used to be. Umno baru is the party of the contractor and the alibaba. It is not your Umno.”
‘No’ indeed. Umno Baru given birth in 1987 by Dr Mahathir is Umno new politics. It is the new party of money politics.
The PPSMI project – it was revealed in Parliament last May – has already cost taxpayers RM3.2 billion over the last five years. A huge portion of the money was ostensibly spent on ICT hardware, software and peripherals. In comparison, the six million thrown for canopy rental to shelter police personnel during the recent Kuala Terengganu by-election is chickenfeed.
Further billions have been budgeted to see through the programme. Wouldn’t you like a close accounting of where the money allocated for PPSMI is going or went?
How much more did the Education Ministry pay for syllabus adjustment, teaching aids and other equipment? On training courses to facilitate the transition, on retraining teachers and you name it! Or ponder the artificially created supply-demand side, translation and printing revamped textbooks, worksheets, etc.
Sounds like a goldmine if we trace the vein of money, contracts and cronies. For the cohort of school kids sacrificed at the altar of PPSMI, do the math lah – who says the world is fair? For some there’s profit, and for others there’s loss. Too bad.
Next, Part 2: The numbers crunching 
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