Silver Lining - Movement Control Order

Silver Lining

Its the third day of Movement Control Order

This is what I noticed so far:

1. Listening from my room, the noise of morning traffic is reduced.

2. I can hear more of the birds chirping. But that could just be me, not hurrying to work every morning. I wake up as I wish and go to bed when I wish.

3. We have lunch and dinner together as a family, now that no one is out for one reason or another. 

4. This is the best ‘holiday’ I can ask for. I don’t have to rush from one tourist spot to another to cover everything. I don’t  have to worry about the price of meals at tourist eateries  and I don’t have to worry about the odd client calling on some outstanding matter.

5. I get to watch all the television I can take, practise my sitar and read till I doze off, all without a tinge of guilt.

6. The supermarkets and grocers are open. I can buy almost any food that I want. Bought milk, ice-cream and chips for my kids. They ran out of kuaci. That’s the main reason I walked up to the grocer in the first place. That’s OK, I can’t have it all, all the ti

7. Like the waters in the canals of Venice that are clearing up as the sediment settle, so is my mind. Things look clearer. Priorities are sorting themselves out and are settling into their rightful order.

8. I feel for my sister. Her daughter, my niece is working around the clock at the Segamat Hospital. She is worried sick about her daughter’s well being. Her son who just graduated from Medical school might also be called up anytime soon due to shortage of doctors. The previous generation sent their sons to battle-front and waited anxiously at home to keep everyone safe. This generation is sending out their sons and daughters to  the battle-front in the form of doctors, nurses, policemen, lorry drivers, cleaners, supermarket cashiers and all the other essential service workers to keep us safe. The least we can do is not to put them at risk by our own sense of self-entitlement and foolishness. We owe it to them to bring them home safe. We are in this together. 

Education, the Foundation of a Nation

With all the political circus that is going on around us, I doubt if many would be interested in talking about the ‘mundane’ issue of education. However, it is a subject close to my heart and I would like to jot down some views here.

Education is the very foundation of a country. It is the one fundamental that must be set right to build a strong nation. Our education system, though not terribly wrong, is not right either. Each Minister of Education will be sworn in and he will proceed with ad hoc changes to the system before moving up the political hierarchy. We are left with an education system that is incapable of producing students in keeping with the demands of the global economy or contribute towards national integration.

Each year we spend billions on mega projects and on military expenditure, yet we don’t spend enough to develop our education system. I am not referring to the money spent on maintaining our schools but about the fund needed to expand and upgrade the entire system.

Here are some facts that indicate that all is not right with our education system:

1. It has become a norm rather then the exception to send children for tuition. Children not only take tuition on subjects that they are weak in but for all subjects.
2. Most Chinese parents send their children to the Chinese Type National Schools and not National Schools. Chinese students form a distant third ethnic group in National Schools despite being the second biggest group in the country.
3. We still don’t have enough buildings to cater for a single session school system despite being independent for more then 50 years. Countries like India that has lesser per capita income then ours, could manage a single session school system.
4. A significant number of National Type Tamil Schools and schools in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak lack basic infrastructures and are in such a state that is not conducive for learning.
5. A significant number of affluent upper middle class families prefer to send their children to private schools and those with ‘connections’ prefer to send their children to International Schools.

Where are we heading with a system that does not command the confidence of the populace? Why should parents spend extra on tuition fees when a comprehensive education system is supposed to cover all our educational needs?

Another area that must be looked into is the quality of teachers. Yes, there are dedicated and able teachers but do they form the majority of the staff or are they in the minority? Those with the ability to produce excellent results often end up dedicating their time in giving tuition. It is perplexing when a student takes private tuition from the very teacher that is teaching him the same subject in school.

Teachers Training College should not be the dumping ground for graduates with degree in courses that no one else will hire nor be the last choice option for students with no where else to go. Government must make Teachers Training College a centre of excellence in education and attract the ablest students to enroll there.

In order to attract the best, the government must make teaching an attractive profession with paychecks and perks to match. Why shouldn’t we spend more on training our teachers and retaining the best? The quality of students will be in direct proportion with the quality of the teaching staff.

It’s about time the government look into our education system comprehensively and holistically. We should formulate mid-term and long term education policies that involve the entire government machinery, just like the Five Year Economic Policies and Overall Perspective Plan (OPP) that we have for our economy.

In the long run, we will not be able to compete globally and retain our edge if we rely on an outdated and limping education system. If we are to set our country back on the right track, we have to strengthen the foundation of our education upon which the tracks are to be laid.

Murugesan Sinnandavar

Election 2008

" A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his. In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty. Great works of art have no more affecting lesson for us than this. They teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humoured inflexibility then most when the whole cry of voices is on the other-side. Else to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another"

- Ralph Waldo Emmerson

Election 2008. As the dust begins to settle, Malaysians, including politicians, are searching for explanations on the how and why. The results are there for all to see. Barisan Nasional (BN) lost its two third majority in Parliament and four states in addition to Kelantan. It came as a "great wave" said some and "it spread like wildfire" lamented others.

But what went wrong and what went right? While the respective post-mortem reveal an array of causes, one thing, however, is certain - democracy went right.

I was the BN candidate for the Subang parliamentary seat. In the past, political pundits regarded this constituency as 'safe'. But nothing was safe from the March 8 Tsunami.

Yes, I lost and yes, it hurt. But I take a little consolation knowing that I was defeated by fellow lawyer R Sivarasa, a credible and respectable adversary.

Although I am upset with the results as other party members are, the people have spoken. And they did so in a thundering voice. So its time for us - on the BN bench - to sit up and listen. We thought we were listening but obviously something was lost in transition. Its time to take stock of what went wrong, as an individual, as a party and as a coalition.

Are the results of Election 2008 merely a collective venting of anger by the voters or is it part of the changing landscape of Malaysian politics?

If it is the venting of anger, then the signs have been there.

Alarms have been raised but were either ignored or reasoned away. The saying "beware of the fury of a patient man" resonates yet again. Issues that gave rise to the anger must be looked into with fresh eyes, open mind and resolved at it's fundamental level.

If the election results is part of the evolving Malaysian political landscape, then we as a party and a coalition must change to keep up with and if possible, stay ahead of the trend. Change is easier said than done. Harder still is to be attuned enough to detect it.

Often changes happen in small increment that it is seldom noticed until it stares us right in the face. The need for change stands before us like a mountain now. Change we shall or perish we will. Of course the question is about what needs to be changed and how.

However, what is right within the party must be reinforced.

I, like many other members, joined MIC to work to uplift the community. I am convinced that this is still the spirit and motive of most of its members. That being the case, where did we lose the plot?

I have my own thoughts on most of these issues but right now, as an individual and a member of MIC, I would like to hear the views of the people we represent, painful as it may be in some cases.

The ultimate ownership of MIC rests in the community. We party members are merely the stakeholders who hold it in trust on your behalf.

Murugesan Sinnandavar