From the malaysia-today.net:
Reprising from an MSM -- so it's BN-leaning, what do you expect. Pennies from heaven, anywan?
A sign that people are beginning to warm up to PM
Posted by admin
Wednesday, 15 July 2009 11:27
By Zubaidah Abu Bakar (NST)
PAS' narrow win and severely-reduced majority in yesterday's by-election in Manik Urai signal one thing -- that it is losing its grip in a state it has been governing for the past 19 years.
That, and the fact that Umno has made significant inroads in Kelantan.
Sure, voters like Che Jalal Muda, who has been casting his vote in Sungai Peria in the past three elections, could not help Barisan Nasional candidate Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat win.
But his vote counted in drastically reducing the majority obtained by Pas -- the incumbent. Its candidate, Mohd Fauzi Abdullah, won by only 65 votes.
In the general election last year, the late Ismail Yaacob of Pas defeated BN's Zulkifli Omar with a 1,352 vote-majority.
In a democratic electoral system, a win is still a win, no matter how small the margin is.
Umno will have to live with that until the next election.
But, Pas cannot pretend that it is a victory that it can be proud of. Manik Urai was considered a Pas stronghold for more than two decades.
Pas can no longer thump its chest now that it has lost five of the nine polling stations.
It does seem like the frequent appearance of Pas spiritual leader Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, who has been menteri besar from 1990, in the constituency, appears to no longer have an overwhelming impact as before.
For Umno, it is a defeat. But by any measure, it is a moral victory.
It is a positive signal, given that the BN has lost all past by-elections in the peninsula since the coalition's dismal performance -- its worst -- in the 2008 general election.
One thing is certain: Umno must have done something right to be able to reduce the majority in the Pas fortress.
The BN surpassed Pas in youth votes by 61 votes. Still, it is not a clear sign that young Malays are returning to Umno's fold.
Umno's hard work has clearly paid off.
Credit has to be given to Kelantan Umno chief Datuk Mustapa Mohamed who traversed several hundreds of kilometres of the small constituency after the seat fell vacant following Ismail's death.
The decision by the Umno headquarters to have a central command centre, where activities were monitored, could have greatly contributed to Umno's performance.
Another factor is the exceptionally very high voter turnout -- 87.33 per cent, with a total of 10,736 of the 12,293 eligible voters casting their votes.
Pas has now to examine the outcome. Its leaders need to seek answers as the narrow win came as a complete surprise.
Pas was banking on its outstation voters but their contribution failed even to maintain last election's majority.
This, despite a hundred more of its supporters returning to vote compared with the 1,200 voters in 2008.
Dr Sivamurugan Pandian, of Universiti Sains Malaysia, thinks the young voters who returned to vote could be the factor that caused a reduction in support for Pas.
"They might want to see change and could also be fed up with the conflicts in Pas," he says.
The fact that Pas claimed it won by a 2,000 majority an hour before polling ended just showed how confident the party was.
"Its a combination of many factors; the major thing is that Nik Aziz is no longer the decisive factor in Kelantan," says Professor Mohammed Mustaffa Ishak of Universiti Utara Malaysia.
He feels that Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Mustapa and Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan deserve a pat on the back.
Professor James Chin, of Monash University Malaysia, says voters are annoyed with the infighting in Pas.
"Some wanted the bridge that they had been waiting since the 1980s," he remarked.
To say Umno's failure to wrest the seat from Pas is a rejection of Datuk Seri Najib Razak is flawed.
It's more a sign that people are beginning to warm up to the prime minister.
Umno's ability to regain support in a Pas stronghold may have probably found the prime minister his winning formula in future elections.
Its just a beginning of a much bigger battle -- to win the hearts and minds of the urban and more sophisticated voters.
**************************************
Also from an UMNO kaki,but at least he's writing as a Blogger named Sakmongol... trying hard to be "balanced"? -- Desi, fellow BUMmer
Thursday, 16 July 2009
Manek Urai- One Swallow does not make a summer..
One Swallow at Manek Urai?
But 191 will make a swarm. 191 UMNO divisions that is. If they carry out radical reforms on leadership, work ethics and a new vision.
The last thing to do is to treat the UMNO resurgence as a definitive turning point when it was actually flash in the pan. I am referring of course to the near miss by UMNO in winning Manek Urai.
I have written that the recent good showing may be indicative of an UMNO on the rebound. It proved that UMNO's rebound must be preceded and underlined by some necessary factors. These included a re-focused and united leadership, diligent ground troops and a re-branding of UMNO. So long as UMNO indicates that it is adopting these factors, the people's confidence will be there.
UMNO's future and longevity will depend on a leadership serious with the intent of remoulding UMNO's ethos. This brief reprieve is no excuse to slouch on changes that must be taken. For example, will the UMNO president continue with the intention to scrap the quota requirement and allow open contest for top leadership? Will the UMNO leadership implement direct selection of UMNO leadership by delegates at divisional meetings? These moves underscore the need to infuse UMNO with dynamic leadership and free UMNO from being strangulated by elitism.
UMNO's longevity needs quality leadership, the infusion of new talent, good work ethics. This brief interlude at Manek Urai, points to the POSSIBILITY of a continued UMNO revival. It has yet to be actualised and can only be achieved given good leadership. Good leadership that requires good men, dedication and visionary ideas. UMNO slackens to its peril.
Here is the danger- it may throw UMNO into complacency believing things are back to normal. Things aren't. There must be something that UMNO people have done up to the by elections that must served as object lessons.
But what if the UMNO's much touted improvement was achieved on overextended application of resources? Quite apart from the endogenous factors we spoke of above, what if UMNO's comeback was actually the result of explicit horse trading, pork barrel politics, outright buying of votes, intimidation and even fraudulent practices? What if UMNO's touted turning point was achieved on the back of duplicitous machinations? Simply put, they neutralise all the above factors.
One swallow does not make a summer. The fact was- UMNO still lost. This near miss at Manek Urai will no doubt serve as a jolt to PAS and they will redouble their efforts to correct their mistakes. What UMNO wants to do is our prime concern. What took place in Manek Urai must never be treated as a generalisation. Can UMNO duplicate the same intensity and application over the whole country as it did in Manek Urai?
**************************
DESIDERATA: I urge you be patient eh! ... I spied another item which is interesting but when I went back to that pasture,it went into hyding. Must find that guy -- is he taking a break doing it wit' Molly Flanders among the hay? -- Desi, knottyaSsusual...
Ah, sighted at lust, a GOoD INSIGHT!:):):)
FROM: http://wandering-troubadour.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
the other side of the story
Armchair warriors that wrote comments on Manik Urai by-election sitting comfortably from their study rooms based on information that they skimmed through the internet at best hit the outer ring of the target if not missed hitting the board at all! It is interesting to note that many did simply just that. Write from afar basing opinions on those that make a living on writing news.
I was there smack in the middle of the war, espionages and counter-strikes. BN has never been dirtier.
The amount of money that changed hands with voters was simply unbelievably high that almost every household can have a one month holiday to savour their fortune. Only the Almighty knows the extent of their guilt and no mortal soul can claim that what they did was immoral as nobody knows who votes for whom, at least for most of us that is.
It is amazing what money can buy. Maybe RM50 per voter did not work anymore but RM500 hooked even the very hearts that loathe corruption. They reason in their heads that it was a gift and hence free from any sin whatsoever associated with it. It was a meagre sum to the haves but a windfall to the haves not. For a household with three voters, they took home a month’s equivalent of a wage.
But in a climate of distrust alternative plans were laid in abundance. Coming from multiple sources, voters were spoilt for bounties. Some walked away with three sets of gifts each giving a person’s take-home present of RM1500. All one had to do was to wait for the go-between to approach him or her. It was a case of supply outstripping demand.
Keeping people (read voters) at poverty level and on the brink of starvation almost always pays in the end. They can easily be bought. After all it is not often such a by-election comes their way. Opportunity comes-a-knocking, it is a gift from above.
RM500 per voter was at most RM5Million. Considering three sources each armed with RM10Million, a total of RM30Million were spent with RM15Million went directly to voters and the rest as usual fall off the gravy trains into the hands of local warlords.
The majority of the people were veiled by beauty of dough and sweet smell of the ringgit and simply cast aside wafer thin belief in favour of worldly reward. Greed and selfishness are traits of human beings that will inevitably surface when income is scarce and food is hard to come by. BN knows this very well since their very existence and struggle is about nothing but money.
Analysts are coming out with a host of reasons for PAS’s dismal performance or BN’s success in gaining more territories. Some attributed BN’s “success” to Najib’s 11 points reward to people for allowing him to remain up to 100 days in power and also his “contributions” to economic excitement. I want to simply say “Bollocks”. This is what the BN think tank would like us the public to believe but if they themselves believe the spin as well, it spells disaster for them comes the 13th general election. We wait patiently for the day to arrive!
PAS and PR as a whole must not buy the argument that BN is gaining ground as a whole but opposition cannot simply brush it aside. BN has the “Money” part or access to it with little effort. But in the long run, tycoons’ and “taipans’” patience are running thin and coffers are running dry. If the economy that is very much in need of tending to is left to roam in the wilderness; comes 13th GE, BN rats will scuttle to hide in their holes.
The best part of this whole episode is that BN still lost despite all these brilliant manoeuvrings. Chinese people say luck is not on BN side. The British may call it lady luck chooses an opposing side. But Muslims say that it is an intervention from above, divine and oft-punishing.
BN simply cannot afford to continue this method in a general election or even a state election. Perak will prove to be a situation best kept as it is. By not seeking a fresh mandate BN can sit pretty at least for a little while until the 13th general election. It will bring little harm but it will not remove the bigger problem of impending defeat. A defeat it will be albeit a delayed one.
BN desperately needs a reverse of fortune. It is however proven to be very elusive. When BN refuses to accept that their way is the wrong way, their struggle is not a genuine struggle and that the people can no longer be hoodwinked; what choice do they have but to go back to the old drawing board. Again they have to lay another plan. They plan and Allah also plans; and He is the Best of Planner!
Posted by troubadour at 21:24 10 comments
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Doing some PR for PKR...
Yes, Desiderata is a card-carrying member for PKR, after graduating from DAP which he feels has become toomuch of a +++Sendirian Berhad... but that's DIGRESSION, so I won't impose meself on thee, my esteemed readers!:)
Here's conveying a COMMUNITY SERVICE MESSAGE that's good to read, for once, after all the bad news, although ***MU's winning streak continues with 65
"V"!:)
NB: *** please read the next Post -- see how far-sighted Desi's!:(
-- YL
+++ Buy me kambing at Lingam's if you want to no more... or aMore! -- Desi
*****************************************
PRESS STATEMENT
15 JULY 2009 (WEDNESDAY)
STRONG SUPPORT FOR PAKATAN RAKYAT GOVERNMENT
AND THE MENTERI BESAR
SHAH ALAM - A survey** by an independent organization found strong support from among the people of Selangor towards the state’s Pakatan Rakyat Government. The survey conducted by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research also revealed high approval ratings for Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
The survey - carried out between June 5 and June 15, 2009 - found that 60% of Selangor citizens feel that the state is heading in the right direction. A total of 63% are satisfied with performance of the Menteri Besar while 19% expressed dissatisfaction.
Some 64% of Selangor citizens are satisfied with the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat Government’s performance after winning the March 2008 General Elections, while 22 percent are dissatisfied. Broken down into ethnic groups, the survey found 59% of Malays, 69% of the Chinese and 69% of Indians expressing satisfaction.
Based on the feedback, reasons leading to the people’s good ratings include the state’s welfare programmes, transparent and efficient administration and reduction of corruption. Within 100 days of its administration, the state introduced its Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor agenda which includes several welfare programmes including Tabung Warisan Anak Selangor, Skim Mesra Usia Emas, free water of 20metre cube for all residents, an education fund for children of plantation workers and Hadiah Anak Masuk Universiti.
As for the State Government’s ability in the management and administration of the state’s economy, 58% said that they are satisfied – out of which 13% were very confident while 45% somewhat confident.
The State Government commissioned Merdeka Centre to conduct the survey with the objective of assessing the rakyat’s views and perceptions of its performance and gauge the effectiveness of its programmes.
The survey identified several areas that the state will need to improve upon, including its communication outlets, creating awareness of its various programmes, reduction of bureaucratic red tape and better service delivery for the people
The state is thankful for the confidence and trust expressed by the people of Selangor towards its performance and views the results as an encouragement for the state leadership to further improve its administration in line with its Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor agenda.
PRESS SECRETARIAT
OFFICE OF DATO’ MENTERI BESAR
** A total of 1,360 registered voters throughout Selangor was chosen using stratified structured randomly selected sample method for telephone interviews. Sampling was structured after taking into consideration the total number of registered voters in Selangor, race, gender and age according to the population breakdown in Selangor.
--
Salam Sejahtera.
Disertakan disini lampiran kenyataan media yang dikeluarkan oleh Sekretariat Akhbar Pejabat Dato' Menteri Besar Selangor. Jika ada sebarang pertanyaan sila hubungi Setiausaha Akhbar Arfa'eza A. Aziz di talian 03-5544 7452. Terima kasih.
Harap Maklum
Here's conveying a COMMUNITY SERVICE MESSAGE that's good to read, for once, after all the bad news, although ***MU's winning streak continues with 65
"V"!:)
NB: *** please read the next Post -- see how far-sighted Desi's!:(
-- YL
+++ Buy me kambing at Lingam's if you want to no more... or aMore! -- Desi
*****************************************
PRESS STATEMENT
15 JULY 2009 (WEDNESDAY)
STRONG SUPPORT FOR PAKATAN RAKYAT GOVERNMENT
AND THE MENTERI BESAR
SHAH ALAM - A survey** by an independent organization found strong support from among the people of Selangor towards the state’s Pakatan Rakyat Government. The survey conducted by Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research also revealed high approval ratings for Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.
The survey - carried out between June 5 and June 15, 2009 - found that 60% of Selangor citizens feel that the state is heading in the right direction. A total of 63% are satisfied with performance of the Menteri Besar while 19% expressed dissatisfaction.
Some 64% of Selangor citizens are satisfied with the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat Government’s performance after winning the March 2008 General Elections, while 22 percent are dissatisfied. Broken down into ethnic groups, the survey found 59% of Malays, 69% of the Chinese and 69% of Indians expressing satisfaction.
Based on the feedback, reasons leading to the people’s good ratings include the state’s welfare programmes, transparent and efficient administration and reduction of corruption. Within 100 days of its administration, the state introduced its Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor agenda which includes several welfare programmes including Tabung Warisan Anak Selangor, Skim Mesra Usia Emas, free water of 20metre cube for all residents, an education fund for children of plantation workers and Hadiah Anak Masuk Universiti.
As for the State Government’s ability in the management and administration of the state’s economy, 58% said that they are satisfied – out of which 13% were very confident while 45% somewhat confident.
The State Government commissioned Merdeka Centre to conduct the survey with the objective of assessing the rakyat’s views and perceptions of its performance and gauge the effectiveness of its programmes.
The survey identified several areas that the state will need to improve upon, including its communication outlets, creating awareness of its various programmes, reduction of bureaucratic red tape and better service delivery for the people
The state is thankful for the confidence and trust expressed by the people of Selangor towards its performance and views the results as an encouragement for the state leadership to further improve its administration in line with its Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor agenda.
PRESS SECRETARIAT
OFFICE OF DATO’ MENTERI BESAR
** A total of 1,360 registered voters throughout Selangor was chosen using stratified structured randomly selected sample method for telephone interviews. Sampling was structured after taking into consideration the total number of registered voters in Selangor, race, gender and age according to the population breakdown in Selangor.
--
Salam Sejahtera.
Disertakan disini lampiran kenyataan media yang dikeluarkan oleh Sekretariat Akhbar Pejabat Dato' Menteri Besar Selangor. Jika ada sebarang pertanyaan sila hubungi Setiausaha Akhbar Arfa'eza A. Aziz di talian 03-5544 7452. Terima kasih.
Harap Maklum
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
How long can Malaysians last without a job?
If they are lucky enough to have genuine fRiends -- don't talk about relatives! -- most would be able to hang on for beyong three months the most, my kind estimate. Without such rare species called fRiends or buddies or mateys, they may have to hit the streets after jest ***30days, or sit at the corners with an outstretched hat, asking for alms. *** DOWN UNDER, those blokes pronounce as "30dies", which to Desi seems quite appropriate, don't you think so?
CAN YOU DEPEND ON THY "CARING GOVERNMENT" IN SUCH TIMES OF NEED?
Pennies from heaven, anywan?
We do have a Second Home programme too. Maybe poor folks can move into there/dare?
Yes Malaysians have a NegaraKu often termed as a LUCKY COUNTRY with a company called PETRONAS -- otherwise named National Oil Corporation, yes, in nama only! -- which has been reporting after tax profits runnig around RM60 billion the last few years...
But blokes from another LUCKY COUNTRY named AUSTRALIA -- where many Malaysians have relatives too, either as migrants or Second Home residents -- they are indeed reality LUCKY! They can fall back on a safety net calledTHE DOLE (hey,just whisper it okay! ...Some Malaysian offcials are pretty SENsitive,don't like this blardy 'swear word!:(
News from NEWS.com.au:
Third of Aussies would not survive on savings if they lost their job
By Antonia Magee
Herald Sun
July 15, 2009 12:01am
Text size
+ - Print Email Share Add to MySpace Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Fark Post to Facebook Add to Kwoff What are these? Deadline ... four in 10 people said their savings would last only 30 days if they lost their job.
Third of Aussies would struggle unemployed
Don't have enough savings to last a month
Those aged 18-49 would be worst hit
MORE than a third of Australians would not survive on their savings for more than a month if they lost their jobs.
Debt collection agency Dun and Bradstreet's latest consumer credit survey found many Australians were unprepared for financial hardships associated with redundancies and sackings.
The survey examined plans for savings, credit use, spending and debt in the coming three months, the Herald Sun reports.
Four in 10 people said their savings would last only 30 days if they lost their job, while 38 per cent said they would have to use credit cards to cover household bills and other essential expenses.
D&B chief executive Christine Christian said the people struggling most were households earning $30,000 to $60,000 a year and aged between 18 and 49.
"There is a very large demographic of people who are first home buyers who have taken advantage of the government's first home owners scheme and many of them are feeling quite pressured at the moment," Ms Christian said.
Related Coverage
Women: It doesn't pay to be nice
Stressed households turning to credit
The Australian, 15 Jul 2009
Consumers forced into reality
Perth Now, 14 Jul 2009
Knives out for 'cynical' MasterChef finalist
NEWS.com.au, 12 Jul 2009
MasterChef's secret recipe
Daily Telegraph, 11 Jul 2009
Not so sweet seventeen
Perth Now, 29 Jun 2009 Your Say
I do want a nice car, I do want designer clothes, I do want to own my own home. I do want nice, luxurious travel... and y...
(Read More)
Derek of Melbourne
"They're OK at managing their mortgage repayments in these unusually low interest rate times, but if they were to lose their job, that would be dire for many."
Social researcher David Chalke said the results were not surprising.
"Many people in the younger demographics have not built up any liquid assets," Mr Chalke said.
"They either put their cash into superannuation or bricks and mortar and you cannot cash either of them in."
Mr Chalke said younger people had buffers against running out of cash.
"About a third of 18 to 34-year-olds live at home and another third could move home if money became really tight," he said.
Ms Christian said people should look at preparing a budget, changing insurance payments so they were more frequent and smaller and paying close attention to bills.
CAN YOU DEPEND ON THY "CARING GOVERNMENT" IN SUCH TIMES OF NEED?
Pennies from heaven, anywan?
We do have a Second Home programme too. Maybe poor folks can move into there/dare?
Yes Malaysians have a NegaraKu often termed as a LUCKY COUNTRY with a company called PETRONAS -- otherwise named National Oil Corporation, yes, in nama only! -- which has been reporting after tax profits runnig around RM60 billion the last few years...
But blokes from another LUCKY COUNTRY named AUSTRALIA -- where many Malaysians have relatives too, either as migrants or Second Home residents -- they are indeed reality LUCKY! They can fall back on a safety net calledTHE DOLE (hey,just whisper it okay! ...Some Malaysian offcials are pretty SENsitive,don't like this blardy 'swear word!:(
News from NEWS.com.au:
Third of Aussies would not survive on savings if they lost their job
By Antonia Magee
Herald Sun
July 15, 2009 12:01am
Text size
+ - Print Email Share Add to MySpace Add to Digg Add to del.icio.us Add to Fark Post to Facebook Add to Kwoff What are these? Deadline ... four in 10 people said their savings would last only 30 days if they lost their job.
Third of Aussies would struggle unemployed
Don't have enough savings to last a month
Those aged 18-49 would be worst hit
MORE than a third of Australians would not survive on their savings for more than a month if they lost their jobs.
Debt collection agency Dun and Bradstreet's latest consumer credit survey found many Australians were unprepared for financial hardships associated with redundancies and sackings.
The survey examined plans for savings, credit use, spending and debt in the coming three months, the Herald Sun reports.
Four in 10 people said their savings would last only 30 days if they lost their job, while 38 per cent said they would have to use credit cards to cover household bills and other essential expenses.
D&B chief executive Christine Christian said the people struggling most were households earning $30,000 to $60,000 a year and aged between 18 and 49.
"There is a very large demographic of people who are first home buyers who have taken advantage of the government's first home owners scheme and many of them are feeling quite pressured at the moment," Ms Christian said.
Related Coverage
Women: It doesn't pay to be nice
Stressed households turning to credit
The Australian, 15 Jul 2009
Consumers forced into reality
Perth Now, 14 Jul 2009
Knives out for 'cynical' MasterChef finalist
NEWS.com.au, 12 Jul 2009
MasterChef's secret recipe
Daily Telegraph, 11 Jul 2009
Not so sweet seventeen
Perth Now, 29 Jun 2009 Your Say
I do want a nice car, I do want designer clothes, I do want to own my own home. I do want nice, luxurious travel... and y...
(Read More)
Derek of Melbourne
"They're OK at managing their mortgage repayments in these unusually low interest rate times, but if they were to lose their job, that would be dire for many."
Social researcher David Chalke said the results were not surprising.
"Many people in the younger demographics have not built up any liquid assets," Mr Chalke said.
"They either put their cash into superannuation or bricks and mortar and you cannot cash either of them in."
Mr Chalke said younger people had buffers against running out of cash.
"About a third of 18 to 34-year-olds live at home and another third could move home if money became really tight," he said.
Ms Christian said people should look at preparing a budget, changing insurance payments so they were more frequent and smaller and paying close attention to bills.
Monday, July 13, 2009
If you enjoy SHORT STORIES...
Visit clarityofnight.blogspot.com, hosted by JASON EVANS..
Or just brush up on your English as a bonus!:)
Currently, you can seek TRUTH in WINE dare:)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Entry #84
Wine Sublime, Truth Divine
by YL Chong
CONFESSION1:
Naomi: Father, it's not good. The last time I did it with you, I felt guilty. Now I feel bad coming back ...
Pastor Parissh: Now, now, my child. That's perfectly normal. Eve after succumbing to temptation, she first felt shame. Adam too, but soon they began to enjoy the excitement of discovery. After all, we are all human...
Naomi: But I wronged my boyfriend...
Parissh: Let me fill you in. Garrett sleeps around too. He does it with the boys too...it gives him a different high.
Naomi: Father, you mean Garrett's has been confessing too?
Parissh: Oh yes!
Naomi: Oh, I see! No wonder he says he's not free on Friday nights...playing poker.
Parissh: You don't join him at the pub?
Naomi: No, I hate the taste of beer! But I enjoy our Communion wine. And last week, it was so ecstatic!
Parissh: Oh yes, we finished one whole bottle.
Naomi: The "blesssed" liquid, you said. Christ's sacrifice. Our bonding--'twas so divine!
CONFESSION2:
Garrett: Father, I feel so ashamed. I think I'm paying a price for my wandering ways.
Parissh: I worry for you, my son. It's been twelve months ...
Garrett: Father, My playing around...it has finally caught up with me...
(A pause)
I went for my annual medical last week--you know, Company's policy--and the results just came back...
(Another pause)
I have contracted AIDS. And I've been having such great sex with Naomi! Poor Naomi, she...
Posted by jason evans at 11:24 PM
Or just brush up on your English as a bonus!:)
Currently, you can seek TRUTH in WINE dare:)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Entry #84
Wine Sublime, Truth Divine
by YL Chong
CONFESSION1:
Naomi: Father, it's not good. The last time I did it with you, I felt guilty. Now I feel bad coming back ...
Pastor Parissh: Now, now, my child. That's perfectly normal. Eve after succumbing to temptation, she first felt shame. Adam too, but soon they began to enjoy the excitement of discovery. After all, we are all human...
Naomi: But I wronged my boyfriend...
Parissh: Let me fill you in. Garrett sleeps around too. He does it with the boys too...it gives him a different high.
Naomi: Father, you mean Garrett's has been confessing too?
Parissh: Oh yes!
Naomi: Oh, I see! No wonder he says he's not free on Friday nights...playing poker.
Parissh: You don't join him at the pub?
Naomi: No, I hate the taste of beer! But I enjoy our Communion wine. And last week, it was so ecstatic!
Parissh: Oh yes, we finished one whole bottle.
Naomi: The "blesssed" liquid, you said. Christ's sacrifice. Our bonding--'twas so divine!
CONFESSION2:
Garrett: Father, I feel so ashamed. I think I'm paying a price for my wandering ways.
Parissh: I worry for you, my son. It's been twelve months ...
Garrett: Father, My playing around...it has finally caught up with me...
(A pause)
I went for my annual medical last week--you know, Company's policy--and the results just came back...
(Another pause)
I have contracted AIDS. And I've been having such great sex with Naomi! Poor Naomi, she...
Posted by jason evans at 11:24 PM
Blow Up? Between two countries I'm close to...
for different reasons. I may share more on this "closetonurse" someday. When I'mmoody, OK!:)
Meanwhile, China-Australian temperatures are rising...
News
Chinese President behind Stern Hu 'spy' probe
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,25771643-462,00.html?referrer=email&source=eDM_newspulse
By staff writers
NEWS.com.au
July 13, 2009 07:31am
CHINESE Government sources say President Hu Jintao personally endorsed the Ministry of State Security investigation into Rio Tinto that led to the detention of Australian iron ore executive Stern Hu and three staff.
The investigation appears to be part of a big realignment of how China manages its economy, with spy and security agencies promoted to top strategy-making bodies, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The sources, who say they are familiar with details of the Rio Tinto case that have not been made public, say the inquiry began before Rio Tinto broke off its $US19.5 billion ($24.89 billion)
Investment deal with Chinalco and joined iron ore production forces with BHP Billiton on June 5.
The revelation comes as The Australian reports China has rebuffed the Rudd Government and may force Australian officials to wait a further month for a second visit to Mr Hu.
Related Coverage
The Australian: Kevin's humiliation
China shuts door on diplomats
Adelaide Now, 13 Jul 2009
President endorsed Rio probe
NEWS.com.au, 13 Jul 2009
China slams door on Rudd's reps
NEWS.com.au, 12 Jul 2009
Detained Rio executive 'in good health'
NEWS.com.au, 11 Jul 2009
Rio 'spy' in bribe claim
Courier Mail, 11 Jul 2009
Senior Australian ministers have warned that China risked damaging its international trade relations over Mr Hu's arrest, with new reports emerged that Rio Tinto was seeking as much as $9 billion in compensation for breach of contracts from Chinese steel mills.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday criticised Chinese efforts to communicate with the Rudd Government over the Hu case.
"We would have preferred that much of the information we have gleaned would have come from Chinese officials in the usual and normal diplomatic way, rather than it coming from the public statements of the spokesperson from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and from an official Chinese Government website detailing the advice of the Shanghai Bureau of State Security," Mr Smith said.
Chinese-born Mr Hu, the head of Rio Tinto's iron ore operations in China, and three other senior company officials were arrested in Shanghai by secret police and have been detained for a week without charge or legal representation.
Chinese officials have accused Mr Hu of espionage and stealing state secrets, sparking the most serious diplomatic challenge faced by the Rudd Government since it came to office in November 2007.
Arrest 'not revenge'
"This (arrest) is certainly not 'revenge' for the Chinalco deal not going through," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted a Chinese government source as saying.
"It is part of a considered, all-of-government response to the general resources question that was made after considering the likely international response.''
The Australian Government declined to comment yesterday night on the allegation that President Hu had endorsed Mr Hu's arrest.
Australian officials in Canberra and Beijing will seek more details from Chinese authorities today about the circumstances of his arrest eight days ago. He is accused of bribery and undermining China's economic security.
The elevation of Chinese economic policy to a top national security concern began late last year with the collapse of the Shanghai and Shenzhen sharemarkets, the weakening of the real estate market and difficulties with manufacturing exports in coastal regions.
Rio Tinto wanted compensation
Meanwhile, Chinese media reports said Rio Tinto - and possibly its one-time rival and new joint venture partner BHP Billiton - had been approaching Chinese steel mills in the past month, seeking compensation of up to $8 billion for broken contracts after the steel-makers allegedly reneged on promises to buy certain volumes of iron ore.
A Rio Tinto spokesperson declined to comment.
Mr Smith played down hopes of an early release for Mr Hu, warning that he was preparing for the "long haul".
The Opposition continued to attack the Government's response to Mr Hu's detention.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said China had effectively "snubbed" Australia.
Mr Smith defended the Government's handling of the Hu case, saying it continued to press Chinese authorities for more information in a "firm but appropriately diplomatic way".
In their first meeting with Mr Hu on Friday, Australian consular officials said the iron ore salesman was in good health.
Read more in The Australian.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25770793-601,00.html
Meanwhile, China-Australian temperatures are rising...
News
Chinese President behind Stern Hu 'spy' probe
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,25771643-462,00.html?referrer=email&source=eDM_newspulse
By staff writers
NEWS.com.au
July 13, 2009 07:31am
CHINESE Government sources say President Hu Jintao personally endorsed the Ministry of State Security investigation into Rio Tinto that led to the detention of Australian iron ore executive Stern Hu and three staff.
The investigation appears to be part of a big realignment of how China manages its economy, with spy and security agencies promoted to top strategy-making bodies, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.
The sources, who say they are familiar with details of the Rio Tinto case that have not been made public, say the inquiry began before Rio Tinto broke off its $US19.5 billion ($24.89 billion)
Investment deal with Chinalco and joined iron ore production forces with BHP Billiton on June 5.
The revelation comes as The Australian reports China has rebuffed the Rudd Government and may force Australian officials to wait a further month for a second visit to Mr Hu.
Related Coverage
The Australian: Kevin's humiliation
China shuts door on diplomats
Adelaide Now, 13 Jul 2009
President endorsed Rio probe
NEWS.com.au, 13 Jul 2009
China slams door on Rudd's reps
NEWS.com.au, 12 Jul 2009
Detained Rio executive 'in good health'
NEWS.com.au, 11 Jul 2009
Rio 'spy' in bribe claim
Courier Mail, 11 Jul 2009
Senior Australian ministers have warned that China risked damaging its international trade relations over Mr Hu's arrest, with new reports emerged that Rio Tinto was seeking as much as $9 billion in compensation for breach of contracts from Chinese steel mills.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday criticised Chinese efforts to communicate with the Rudd Government over the Hu case.
"We would have preferred that much of the information we have gleaned would have come from Chinese officials in the usual and normal diplomatic way, rather than it coming from the public statements of the spokesperson from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and from an official Chinese Government website detailing the advice of the Shanghai Bureau of State Security," Mr Smith said.
Chinese-born Mr Hu, the head of Rio Tinto's iron ore operations in China, and three other senior company officials were arrested in Shanghai by secret police and have been detained for a week without charge or legal representation.
Chinese officials have accused Mr Hu of espionage and stealing state secrets, sparking the most serious diplomatic challenge faced by the Rudd Government since it came to office in November 2007.
Arrest 'not revenge'
"This (arrest) is certainly not 'revenge' for the Chinalco deal not going through," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted a Chinese government source as saying.
"It is part of a considered, all-of-government response to the general resources question that was made after considering the likely international response.''
The Australian Government declined to comment yesterday night on the allegation that President Hu had endorsed Mr Hu's arrest.
Australian officials in Canberra and Beijing will seek more details from Chinese authorities today about the circumstances of his arrest eight days ago. He is accused of bribery and undermining China's economic security.
The elevation of Chinese economic policy to a top national security concern began late last year with the collapse of the Shanghai and Shenzhen sharemarkets, the weakening of the real estate market and difficulties with manufacturing exports in coastal regions.
Rio Tinto wanted compensation
Meanwhile, Chinese media reports said Rio Tinto - and possibly its one-time rival and new joint venture partner BHP Billiton - had been approaching Chinese steel mills in the past month, seeking compensation of up to $8 billion for broken contracts after the steel-makers allegedly reneged on promises to buy certain volumes of iron ore.
A Rio Tinto spokesperson declined to comment.
Mr Smith played down hopes of an early release for Mr Hu, warning that he was preparing for the "long haul".
The Opposition continued to attack the Government's response to Mr Hu's detention.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop said China had effectively "snubbed" Australia.
Mr Smith defended the Government's handling of the Hu case, saying it continued to press Chinese authorities for more information in a "firm but appropriately diplomatic way".
In their first meeting with Mr Hu on Friday, Australian consular officials said the iron ore salesman was in good health.
Read more in The Australian.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25770793-601,00.html
Saturday, July 11, 2009
More on PPSMI...my lust update -- Oops, my last!
and Desi's views mostly coincide with ***PKR's Sdr Tian Chua's:
Sighted in malaysia-today.net:
Reactions to scrapping PPSMI: After 6 years and RM4.5bil
Posted by admin
Thursday, 09 July 2009 20:21
I am saddened because the future of our children will be affected. They will be the victims. The government’s responsibility is to train the teachers, the problems cannot be solved overnight, because this is important for our future, we have to face the challenges. - Mahathir
By Wong Choon Mei, Suara Keadilan
After six years and spending RM4.5 billion, Prime Minister Najib Razak finally drew the curtains on the controversial PPSMI, a policy introduced in 2003 whereby Mathematics and Science were taught in English instead of in mother-tongue at vernacular schools and Bahasa Malaysia at government schools.
The originator of the policy, ex-PM Mahathir Mohamad, had pushed through the PPSMI during his last months in office, ostensibly fed-up with the stream of complaints from multi-nationals investing in the country that the standard of English – the lingua franca – was deteriorating too sharply.
But non-Malay groups accused him of trying to subvert their language rights while pro-nationalist Malays smelt a betrayal of their language in their own land.
“I am not sure if the latest decision is based on political expediency or because the government has suddenly realised PPSMI is a betrayal of the fight to respect and support our national language and has hurt many students especially those from the rural areas,” said Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Delayed implementation or political ploy
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the PPSMI would be scrapped from 2012 onwards. The delayed deadline has raised eyebrows, sparking concern that Malaysians may be in for more policy flips in the intervening two-and-a-half years.
Indeed, there is concern that the latest decision was merely to boost Najib’s popularity as he nears his first 100 days in office.
Despite high profile trips to China and South Korea, the 55-year old has little to show except a string of controversial court rulings over the Perak coup d’etat that he engineered in February and which has badly dented the integrity and image of the Malaysian judiciary.
The lifting of a 30 percent bumiputra quota on new share listings has also annoyed Malay groups and economist have said it would do little to revive growth in the short term. An RM60 billion mini budget – the largest ever – too has failed to show much impact.
***“We should not keep using our children as guinea pigs. The policy of English to teach Math and Science failed miserably due to flip-flops in between. This latest decision is again not based on educational consideration but political expediency,” said PKR strategic affairs director Tian Chua.
Related Story:
Gov’t drops use of English in a bid to boost popularity »
——————————————————————————————————————–
Suara Keadilan appends below the reactions from leaders from both sides of the political divides sourced from media:
Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister
I was only briefed about it, so after the briefing I gave my suggestions. I said even if it could not be implemented at primary level, at least at secondary level it should be maintained, so it was not a consultation only briefing.
I am saddened because the future of our children will be affected. They will be the victims. The government’s responsibility is to train the teachers, the problems cannot be solved overnight, because this is important for our future, we have to face the challenges.
I am confident our teachers can learn English. If they can train English teachers, they should also be able to train science and mathematics teachers,” said Dr Mahathir.
Najib Razak, Prime Minister
Its spirit and objectives remain the same, we are just changing the approach.We can achieve the same objectives if we increase contact hours in English teaching so that students can become confident in other subjects.
Muhyiddin Yassin, Deputy Prime Minister
The government made the decision after studying closely research on PPSMI that shows that PPSMI could not be implemented as expected. This decision is not political, we made the decision not for political mileage. What is Manek Urai compared to the future of our children.
Hishammuddin Hussein
It was not an easy decision and it is impossible to satisfy everyone. I would also like to congratulate Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who is Education Minister for putting forward a convincing argument on the matter based on facts.
Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister
If a sufficient number of parents in urban national schools want to continue in English, they should have an option of learning the two languages in English.
Lim Kit Siang, DAP MP for Ipoh Timur
It has been a costly 6 year experiment and a failure. Why wait till 2012 to scrap? Let parents have choose and decide what they want for their children and not be guinea pigs for the government.
Syed Husin Ali, PKR deputy president
We are of the view that the decision falls short of expectation and is a disappointment. It deliberately delays what ought to be implemented early.
What is disappointing is that the Cabinet decided that the termination of this unwise policy should take effect only from 2012 and not immediately next year.
***Tian Chua, PKR MP for Batu
The policy of English to teach Math and Science failed miserably due to flip-flops in between. This latest decision is again not based on educational consideration but political expediency.
Yusmadi Yusoff, PKR MP for Balik PulauThe decision to cancel PPSMI is politically motivated as no research results has been produced. As it has constitutional and financial consequences which go into the billions of ringgit, PKR calls on the education minister to prepare a white paper on the decision.
Anthony Loke, DAP MP for RasahIt is an admission that the Barisan Nasional government has implemented the wrong policy. We call for the details of the government’s research on this issue to be made public, as it is crucial for everyone to know what had happened over the last few years when the policy was in place.
It is also regrettable that the voices of students were rarely heard in the whole PPSMI debate and that the students now did not have the final say. The government has to be reminded that it was entirely its fault for not heeding the advice of the people in the first place and making so many students its guinea pigs.
Anwar Ibrahim, Opposition LeaderAkhirnya kerajaan mengakui hakikat kepincangan dasar PPSMI dan mengambil keputusan memansuhkan sepenuhnya perlaksanaan dasar itu mulai tahun 2011. Setelah sekian lama pejuang bahasa, budayawan dan sarjana menyatakan kebimbangan dan menyuarakan bantahan terhadap PPSMI, alhamdulillah keringat dan doa mereka dimakbulkan jua.
Saya tidak pasti keputusan tersebut didasari motif politik ataupun kerana menyedari PPSMI merupakan satu pengkhianatan kepada perjuangan memartabatkan bahasa kebangsaan dan merugikan ramai pelajar terutama dari kawasan luar bandar. Pastinya kenyataan Menteri Pelajaran bahawa dasar ini dimansuhkan kerana mempunyai banyak kelemahan memperlihatkan sikap tidak bertanggungjawab kerajaan Umno-BN.
Sekonyong konyong mereka cuba menutup sebelah mata setelah RM 4.5 billion ringgit dana awam dibelanjakan demi perlaksanaan dasar tersebut walaupun mendapat bantahan segenap lapisan masyarakat. Keadilan tuntas menekankan selama ini bahawa satu kajian yang menyeluruh sewajarnya diadakan sebelum perlaksanaan PPSMI. Ternyata teguran yang diberikan masuk telingan kanan keluar telinga kiri.
Sayugia Menteri Pelajaran mestilah menyediakan jawapan yang kukuh dan bertanggungjawab untuk dibentangkan kelak. Rakyat berhak mengetahui mengapa selepas 6 tahun ianya dilaksanakan, baru kerajaan mengakui kelemahan dan kepincangan PPSMI.
UPDATEd @11.15AM:
From one ofmy regular news portal sites, The Malaysian Insider:),and the bonus is that it's FREE!
Saturday July 11 2009Related Articles
Pitfalls of Putrajaya’s half-hearted policy
The Great Malaysian brain drain – Koon Yew Yin
Tengku Razaleigh welcomes decision on BM for Maths and Science
Poet laureate wants equal sum to raise Bahasa status
English is broken, just fix it – Paul Si
Dr M speaks his mind
Muhyiddin: We have enough time to upgrade teaching of English
Government flip-flop reckless and irresponsible
BN parties divided over English U-turn
KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 – Just days after the Malaysian government said it would scrap the use of English to teach maths and science in all schools, two parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition have called for the policy to be retained in secondary schools.
Others say individual schools should be allowed to choose whether they prefer to use English, Malay, Chinese or Tamil to teach the subjects.
At the other end of the spectrum, some want the policy to be abandoned now instead of waiting for three more years.
The calls from within BN – component parties Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Gerakan, and even Umno’s youth wing – are the latest round of responses to the government’s recent announcement that the six-year-old policy of teaching maths and science in English would be scrapped in 2012.
The issue has divided Malaysians, with most urban residents calling for the policy to continue, and those in the rural areas supporting its removal.
MCA central committee member Loh Seng Kok and Gerakan’s education bureau chairman Hsu Dar Ren argued for the policy to remain in place for secondary schools.
DESIDERATA: I will include a summary on PPSMI and the Government under Najib's FLIP-FLOP in my roundup on the last of the six-and-lust-predators -- oops, predicted-and-last, maybe also least! ! -- named as PM in RAHMAN theory -- Najib Tun Razak's first 100-days as the sixth Prime Minister later today. Godwilling/InsyaAllah!
Dr Hsu noted that many of those who opposed the policy were specifically against English being used in primary schools, where many rural students may not have had prior exposure to the language.
“But by the time they reach secondary schools, most of them would have already had a few years of English lessons,” he pointed out. “They would be able to understand simple instructions in English, which would be sufficient for maths and science to be taught in English effectively.”
The best combination, he said, was for students to learn maths and science in their mother tongues at the primary level, and in English at secondary level.
Others feel students should be given the option to choose.
The secretaries-general of Umno’s youth wing and the DAP both called for schools to be given the autonomy to choose the language of instruction.
“Give autonomy to local communities to decide the future of their schools,” said Umno Youth’s Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
DAP’s Lim Guan Eng, too, said: “The government could give an alternative, especially for those in the urban areas who want maths and science to be taught in English.”
But there were those who wanted the policy to be scrapped even earlier.
DAP leader Lim Kit Siang was among those who slammed the government for wanting to wait until 2012 before dropping the policy, known by its Malay initials PPSMI.
“If the RM4 billion (S$1.6 billion) PPSMI in the past six years had been a failure, what is the rationale and justification for the Cabinet decision to defer its abolition until three years later in 2012 instead of immediate implementation next year?” he charged.
The government, however, has so far defended its decision, saying it had not made it in haste.
“We had taken into account the time frame to make adequate preparations,” Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.
“I understand that the champions of the language would want to start right away if they could. But we have to be realistic.” – Straits Times
POST-SCRIPT,or Desi's afterthought...(You are allowed to think after the fact, you know!...)
From Th3 MI:
Under fire from Dr M, Round 2?
Dr Mahathir is increasingly becoming annoyed with Najib’s policies. — File pic (visualise that!:(
KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — With more than 65,000 votes and counting, a poll uploaded on former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's blog is quickly becoming a headache for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration.
Dr Mahathir started the poll two days ago to gather public opinion to prove his point that Malaysians are against the government's move to scrap his policy to teach maths and science in English. More than 85 per cent supported him.
A day later, a still annoyed Dr Mahathir gave his assessment of Najib's performance during his first 100 days in office, saying it was “more negatives than positives”.
He also listed oil giant Petronas' revenues year by year, asking the government to explain how the money had been spent. As he must have known the answer, the intention was clearly to plant an idea that the revenues could be in jeopardy.
The needling was quite an irony as Najib had in the past been labelled a Mahathirite who took his cue from Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister. But Najib has gone his own way.
The PM has so far avoided comment, so clearly he is still hoping to avoid a collision course with his one-time mentor. Najib's supporters say the premier does not want open confrontation and that he believes the situation can still be managed.
The Sunday Times understands that Dr Mahathir has made known his disagreement personally to Najib. According to a top Umno leader who is close to Najib, the former premier was unhappy over the measures to liberalise the economy, including removing the quota on Malay corporate ownership, and the proposal to build a third bridge to Singapore.
Dr Mahathir was, of course, also unhappy over the scrapping of the policy on teaching maths and science in English.
As it has yet to develop into a clash, Umno leaders are hoping to avoid a second round of bruising attacks. The first took place about a year after Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became prime minister, when Dr Mahathir began sniping at him.
It shook Umno badly as Dr Mahathir relentlessly fanned the image of Abdullah as an incapable and hapless leader. Many blamed the attacks for creating a situation ripe for the Barisan Nasional's stunning losses in last year's general election.
Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, a Perak Umno leader, said the party needed to be united. But, he added, he was confident that Dr Mahathir was mindful of this, and believed his criticisms have been sincere.
“He has a right to criticise, but if it's a personal attack, that's a different story. I believe he won't,” he said.
Najib's aides have privately said the same thing — that the PM respects Dr Mahathir's views and is prepared to accept criticism of his policies, but hopes that it will not turn personal.
With Abdullah, Dr Mahathir's attacks had also begun with his policies. Later, however, he took personal potshots, poking fun at his hand-picked successor for allegedly sleeping on the job and attacking his family members.
Some Umno leaders think that Dr Mahathir will not go this far this time, partly because his son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir is part of the government as deputy minister for international trade and industry.
A more pertinent reason, perhaps, is that Umno may begin to lose patience with a second battle between premier and predecessor. It may not take well to its president coming under fire yet again.
However, as political analyst Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said, even if Dr Mahathir took his attacks further, the severity of the damage may be contained if Najib continued to adopt the right measures.
He pointed out that Najib's approval rating has shot up to 65 per cent from 42 per cent when he started out as PM.
“Dr Mahathir is respected but the relevance of the attacks will be reduced and the sting minimised if Najib continues to perform well,” he said. — Straits Times
Sighted in malaysia-today.net:
Reactions to scrapping PPSMI: After 6 years and RM4.5bil
Posted by admin
Thursday, 09 July 2009 20:21
I am saddened because the future of our children will be affected. They will be the victims. The government’s responsibility is to train the teachers, the problems cannot be solved overnight, because this is important for our future, we have to face the challenges. - Mahathir
By Wong Choon Mei, Suara Keadilan
After six years and spending RM4.5 billion, Prime Minister Najib Razak finally drew the curtains on the controversial PPSMI, a policy introduced in 2003 whereby Mathematics and Science were taught in English instead of in mother-tongue at vernacular schools and Bahasa Malaysia at government schools.
The originator of the policy, ex-PM Mahathir Mohamad, had pushed through the PPSMI during his last months in office, ostensibly fed-up with the stream of complaints from multi-nationals investing in the country that the standard of English – the lingua franca – was deteriorating too sharply.
But non-Malay groups accused him of trying to subvert their language rights while pro-nationalist Malays smelt a betrayal of their language in their own land.
“I am not sure if the latest decision is based on political expediency or because the government has suddenly realised PPSMI is a betrayal of the fight to respect and support our national language and has hurt many students especially those from the rural areas,” said Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.
Delayed implementation or political ploy
On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the PPSMI would be scrapped from 2012 onwards. The delayed deadline has raised eyebrows, sparking concern that Malaysians may be in for more policy flips in the intervening two-and-a-half years.
Indeed, there is concern that the latest decision was merely to boost Najib’s popularity as he nears his first 100 days in office.
Despite high profile trips to China and South Korea, the 55-year old has little to show except a string of controversial court rulings over the Perak coup d’etat that he engineered in February and which has badly dented the integrity and image of the Malaysian judiciary.
The lifting of a 30 percent bumiputra quota on new share listings has also annoyed Malay groups and economist have said it would do little to revive growth in the short term. An RM60 billion mini budget – the largest ever – too has failed to show much impact.
***“We should not keep using our children as guinea pigs. The policy of English to teach Math and Science failed miserably due to flip-flops in between. This latest decision is again not based on educational consideration but political expediency,” said PKR strategic affairs director Tian Chua.
Related Story:
Gov’t drops use of English in a bid to boost popularity »
——————————————————————————————————————–
Suara Keadilan appends below the reactions from leaders from both sides of the political divides sourced from media:
Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister
I was only briefed about it, so after the briefing I gave my suggestions. I said even if it could not be implemented at primary level, at least at secondary level it should be maintained, so it was not a consultation only briefing.
I am saddened because the future of our children will be affected. They will be the victims. The government’s responsibility is to train the teachers, the problems cannot be solved overnight, because this is important for our future, we have to face the challenges.
I am confident our teachers can learn English. If they can train English teachers, they should also be able to train science and mathematics teachers,” said Dr Mahathir.
Najib Razak, Prime Minister
Its spirit and objectives remain the same, we are just changing the approach.We can achieve the same objectives if we increase contact hours in English teaching so that students can become confident in other subjects.
Muhyiddin Yassin, Deputy Prime Minister
The government made the decision after studying closely research on PPSMI that shows that PPSMI could not be implemented as expected. This decision is not political, we made the decision not for political mileage. What is Manek Urai compared to the future of our children.
Hishammuddin Hussein
It was not an easy decision and it is impossible to satisfy everyone. I would also like to congratulate Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who is Education Minister for putting forward a convincing argument on the matter based on facts.
Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister
If a sufficient number of parents in urban national schools want to continue in English, they should have an option of learning the two languages in English.
Lim Kit Siang, DAP MP for Ipoh Timur
It has been a costly 6 year experiment and a failure. Why wait till 2012 to scrap? Let parents have choose and decide what they want for their children and not be guinea pigs for the government.
Syed Husin Ali, PKR deputy president
We are of the view that the decision falls short of expectation and is a disappointment. It deliberately delays what ought to be implemented early.
What is disappointing is that the Cabinet decided that the termination of this unwise policy should take effect only from 2012 and not immediately next year.
***Tian Chua, PKR MP for Batu
The policy of English to teach Math and Science failed miserably due to flip-flops in between. This latest decision is again not based on educational consideration but political expediency.
Yusmadi Yusoff, PKR MP for Balik PulauThe decision to cancel PPSMI is politically motivated as no research results has been produced. As it has constitutional and financial consequences which go into the billions of ringgit, PKR calls on the education minister to prepare a white paper on the decision.
Anthony Loke, DAP MP for RasahIt is an admission that the Barisan Nasional government has implemented the wrong policy. We call for the details of the government’s research on this issue to be made public, as it is crucial for everyone to know what had happened over the last few years when the policy was in place.
It is also regrettable that the voices of students were rarely heard in the whole PPSMI debate and that the students now did not have the final say. The government has to be reminded that it was entirely its fault for not heeding the advice of the people in the first place and making so many students its guinea pigs.
Anwar Ibrahim, Opposition LeaderAkhirnya kerajaan mengakui hakikat kepincangan dasar PPSMI dan mengambil keputusan memansuhkan sepenuhnya perlaksanaan dasar itu mulai tahun 2011. Setelah sekian lama pejuang bahasa, budayawan dan sarjana menyatakan kebimbangan dan menyuarakan bantahan terhadap PPSMI, alhamdulillah keringat dan doa mereka dimakbulkan jua.
Saya tidak pasti keputusan tersebut didasari motif politik ataupun kerana menyedari PPSMI merupakan satu pengkhianatan kepada perjuangan memartabatkan bahasa kebangsaan dan merugikan ramai pelajar terutama dari kawasan luar bandar. Pastinya kenyataan Menteri Pelajaran bahawa dasar ini dimansuhkan kerana mempunyai banyak kelemahan memperlihatkan sikap tidak bertanggungjawab kerajaan Umno-BN.
Sekonyong konyong mereka cuba menutup sebelah mata setelah RM 4.5 billion ringgit dana awam dibelanjakan demi perlaksanaan dasar tersebut walaupun mendapat bantahan segenap lapisan masyarakat. Keadilan tuntas menekankan selama ini bahawa satu kajian yang menyeluruh sewajarnya diadakan sebelum perlaksanaan PPSMI. Ternyata teguran yang diberikan masuk telingan kanan keluar telinga kiri.
Sayugia Menteri Pelajaran mestilah menyediakan jawapan yang kukuh dan bertanggungjawab untuk dibentangkan kelak. Rakyat berhak mengetahui mengapa selepas 6 tahun ianya dilaksanakan, baru kerajaan mengakui kelemahan dan kepincangan PPSMI.
UPDATEd @11.15AM:
From one ofmy regular news portal sites, The Malaysian Insider:),and the bonus is that it's FREE!
Saturday July 11 2009Related Articles
Pitfalls of Putrajaya’s half-hearted policy
The Great Malaysian brain drain – Koon Yew Yin
Tengku Razaleigh welcomes decision on BM for Maths and Science
Poet laureate wants equal sum to raise Bahasa status
English is broken, just fix it – Paul Si
Dr M speaks his mind
Muhyiddin: We have enough time to upgrade teaching of English
Government flip-flop reckless and irresponsible
BN parties divided over English U-turn
KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 – Just days after the Malaysian government said it would scrap the use of English to teach maths and science in all schools, two parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition have called for the policy to be retained in secondary schools.
Others say individual schools should be allowed to choose whether they prefer to use English, Malay, Chinese or Tamil to teach the subjects.
At the other end of the spectrum, some want the policy to be abandoned now instead of waiting for three more years.
The calls from within BN – component parties Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and Gerakan, and even Umno’s youth wing – are the latest round of responses to the government’s recent announcement that the six-year-old policy of teaching maths and science in English would be scrapped in 2012.
The issue has divided Malaysians, with most urban residents calling for the policy to continue, and those in the rural areas supporting its removal.
MCA central committee member Loh Seng Kok and Gerakan’s education bureau chairman Hsu Dar Ren argued for the policy to remain in place for secondary schools.
DESIDERATA: I will include a summary on PPSMI and the Government under Najib's FLIP-FLOP in my roundup on the last of the six-and-lust-predators -- oops, predicted-and-last, maybe also least! ! -- named as PM in RAHMAN theory -- Najib Tun Razak's first 100-days as the sixth Prime Minister later today. Godwilling/InsyaAllah!
Dr Hsu noted that many of those who opposed the policy were specifically against English being used in primary schools, where many rural students may not have had prior exposure to the language.
“But by the time they reach secondary schools, most of them would have already had a few years of English lessons,” he pointed out. “They would be able to understand simple instructions in English, which would be sufficient for maths and science to be taught in English effectively.”
The best combination, he said, was for students to learn maths and science in their mother tongues at the primary level, and in English at secondary level.
Others feel students should be given the option to choose.
The secretaries-general of Umno’s youth wing and the DAP both called for schools to be given the autonomy to choose the language of instruction.
“Give autonomy to local communities to decide the future of their schools,” said Umno Youth’s Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
DAP’s Lim Guan Eng, too, said: “The government could give an alternative, especially for those in the urban areas who want maths and science to be taught in English.”
But there were those who wanted the policy to be scrapped even earlier.
DAP leader Lim Kit Siang was among those who slammed the government for wanting to wait until 2012 before dropping the policy, known by its Malay initials PPSMI.
“If the RM4 billion (S$1.6 billion) PPSMI in the past six years had been a failure, what is the rationale and justification for the Cabinet decision to defer its abolition until three years later in 2012 instead of immediate implementation next year?” he charged.
The government, however, has so far defended its decision, saying it had not made it in haste.
“We had taken into account the time frame to make adequate preparations,” Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.
“I understand that the champions of the language would want to start right away if they could. But we have to be realistic.” – Straits Times
POST-SCRIPT,or Desi's afterthought...(You are allowed to think after the fact, you know!...)
From Th3 MI:
Under fire from Dr M, Round 2?
Dr Mahathir is increasingly becoming annoyed with Najib’s policies. — File pic (visualise that!:(
KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — With more than 65,000 votes and counting, a poll uploaded on former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's blog is quickly becoming a headache for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration.
Dr Mahathir started the poll two days ago to gather public opinion to prove his point that Malaysians are against the government's move to scrap his policy to teach maths and science in English. More than 85 per cent supported him.
A day later, a still annoyed Dr Mahathir gave his assessment of Najib's performance during his first 100 days in office, saying it was “more negatives than positives”.
He also listed oil giant Petronas' revenues year by year, asking the government to explain how the money had been spent. As he must have known the answer, the intention was clearly to plant an idea that the revenues could be in jeopardy.
The needling was quite an irony as Najib had in the past been labelled a Mahathirite who took his cue from Malaysia's longest-serving prime minister. But Najib has gone his own way.
The PM has so far avoided comment, so clearly he is still hoping to avoid a collision course with his one-time mentor. Najib's supporters say the premier does not want open confrontation and that he believes the situation can still be managed.
The Sunday Times understands that Dr Mahathir has made known his disagreement personally to Najib. According to a top Umno leader who is close to Najib, the former premier was unhappy over the measures to liberalise the economy, including removing the quota on Malay corporate ownership, and the proposal to build a third bridge to Singapore.
Dr Mahathir was, of course, also unhappy over the scrapping of the policy on teaching maths and science in English.
As it has yet to develop into a clash, Umno leaders are hoping to avoid a second round of bruising attacks. The first took place about a year after Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became prime minister, when Dr Mahathir began sniping at him.
It shook Umno badly as Dr Mahathir relentlessly fanned the image of Abdullah as an incapable and hapless leader. Many blamed the attacks for creating a situation ripe for the Barisan Nasional's stunning losses in last year's general election.
Raja Ahmad Zainuddin, a Perak Umno leader, said the party needed to be united. But, he added, he was confident that Dr Mahathir was mindful of this, and believed his criticisms have been sincere.
“He has a right to criticise, but if it's a personal attack, that's a different story. I believe he won't,” he said.
Najib's aides have privately said the same thing — that the PM respects Dr Mahathir's views and is prepared to accept criticism of his policies, but hopes that it will not turn personal.
With Abdullah, Dr Mahathir's attacks had also begun with his policies. Later, however, he took personal potshots, poking fun at his hand-picked successor for allegedly sleeping on the job and attacking his family members.
Some Umno leaders think that Dr Mahathir will not go this far this time, partly because his son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir is part of the government as deputy minister for international trade and industry.
A more pertinent reason, perhaps, is that Umno may begin to lose patience with a second battle between premier and predecessor. It may not take well to its president coming under fire yet again.
However, as political analyst Shamsul Amri Baharuddin said, even if Dr Mahathir took his attacks further, the severity of the damage may be contained if Najib continued to adopt the right measures.
He pointed out that Najib's approval rating has shot up to 65 per cent from 42 per cent when he started out as PM.
“Dr Mahathir is respected but the relevance of the attacks will be reduced and the sting minimised if Najib continues to perform well,” he said. — Straits Times
Thursday, July 09, 2009
For once, I completely agree with Dr Mahathir...
Which is seldom openly admitted by Desi -- but there's that rare blue moon occasion with regard to the Government's policy reversal on PPSMI announced by Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday which was, rightly, headlined on most frontpages of newspapers this morning.
PPSMI is of course the popular acronym in Bahasa Malaysia for the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, and after six-and-half-years' implementation, the UMNO politicians used to experiment with the nation's education policies every few years, decided to "gostan" on a key policy that will affect the current schoolgoing kids and future generation at the most important --growing up -- stage of their "education-receiving" lives.
Here's a take from the NST Online, which did not "spin" too much on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's stand of expressing sadness and disappointment with the policy about-turn, although when I glimpsed the TV3 news at 8pm last night at the warong, I believed it quoted Muhyiddin as saying that the former PM was happy with the policy change; I will compare and contrast with other news reports to get a better picture for my not-so-free esteemed readers, so maybe I can spin my propaganda eh!:)
NST Online » Frontpage2009/07/09
English in Schools: Dr M unhappy with decision
By : Regina Lee
Email to friend Print article
addthis_pub = 'nstonline';
PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday expressed dismay over the decision to revert to teaching Mathematics and Science in Malay and vernacular languages.
"I am sad for the future of our young, who will find it harder later to master the fields of Science and Mathematics."
Asked about statistics that showed a decline among students' proficiency in the two subjects, Dr Mahathir said the figures were "inaccurate".
"Naturally, the results would differentiate between the rural and the urban areas."
He said learning English from Mathematics and Science was never the point of the policy -- a brainchild of his that was rolled out in 2003. Rather, it was to prepare students for the globalisation in the fields of Mathematics and Science.
Speaking at a Press conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here, Dr Mahathir said it was the implementation, and not the policy itself, that should be blamed. He also said Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also deputy prime minister, and the ministry top brass had met him on Monday to brief him on the government's decision.
"I suggested that even if they don't have to have (teaching Mathematics and Science in English) at the primary level, they could always do it at the secondary level."That, too, was dismissed. There was no consultation at all. It was just a briefing."
DESIDERATA: I will elaborate with more comments later. Meanwhile, suffice at this stage for you to note the HIGHLIGHTED points, thus BOLDED. And come back to me with your comments after some reflection, Okay!
******************************************
Here's newbie (about two weeks old...) Malaysian Mirror take:
Dr Mahathir unhappy with decision
http://malaysianmirror.com/homedetail/45-home/4238-dr-mahathir-unhappy-with-decision
Wednesday, 08 July 2009 19:51
PUTRAJAYA – Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad regrets that his views had not been taken into account when the Cabinet decided on the issue of teaching science and mathematics in schools.
The government announced today that the two subjects would be taught in Malay effective 2012.
Writing in his blog, chedet.co.cc/chedetblog Dr Mahathir said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and officials from the Education Ministry had met him to brief on what the government had already decided to do.
“Although my views were sought, they are not reflected in the decision,” he said, adding that his views to the issue are written in his blog.
Wrong perception
Dr Mahathir said he was not pleased with reports that some Malay literary figures had opposed the policy of teaching science and mathematics in English.
“It is as if the policy would displace the Malay language as the language for knowledge and reduces its development as the national language.
“We must remember that education is not just a matter of advancing or developing a certain language. Education is about acquiring knowledge, all kinds of knowledge.
“The thing that can upgrade the position and advancement of language is the subject of the language itself and, at a higher level, the subject of literature.”
Dr Mahathir said science and mathematics, on their own, cannot help to develop any language, particularly the Malay language.
This is because the terms in science and mathematics were not originally Malay, he said, adding that a large portion of the words were Latin and later Anglicised.
“While we can (create words), there are not one or two but hundreds (of words) to think about. And some words are often the root words for others,” he said, giving ‘oxygen’ as an example.
“From the word ‘oxygen’, you get the derivatives like ‘oxygenation’, ‘oxidation’, ‘oxide’, ‘oxidants’ and others, among some 120 elements.’
Dr Mahathir said if all words were to be given Malay spellings, the Malay language would change to English. The spellings are different but they sound the same. Eventually, the Malay language would be no more.
He said science and mathematics are not static. They evolve continuously through research, discoveries, inventions and expansion through hundreds of working papers.
“Almost all of that is written in English. To translate them, we need people who are well-versed in Malay, English and the subject to be translated,” he said, adding that there were only a handful of people in just two or three areas of interest who have such capability at the moment.
Don't gamble on chidren's future
Dr Mahathir said it was unlikely that a person could acquire a PhD in science and mathematics by just studying in Malay and without an understanding of English.
He asked: “How many specialists are there in medical services who only learned in Malay, without any reference book in English?
“Is is true that students living in the rural areas cannot be proficient in English?”
He added that those who oppose the teaching of science and mathematics in English were also from the rural areas and often spoke in English.
In other fields, such as in the diplomatic corps and in the civil service, it is pertinent to be well-versed in English as they are expected to speak at international forums.
“It is important to acquire knowledge for the sake of advancing in the future. Let us not gamble on the future of our children just to show we are a nationalist and so protective of our language.
“The love for the language should not surpass the love for one’s nation,” said Dr Mahathir, adding that speaking in one’s own language does not necessarily makes one’s nation well-respected and admired by others.
******************************************
Okay, here's the "official" government version as represented by BERNAMA, the national news agency if you must know, which was used by theSun on its fronpage, continued on the second (as I also hold the print copy beside me as I type it...Yes, I subscribe at 30sen per copy to this "free paper" just for R Nadeswaran and his investigative A-team's sakes!...:):
Science and Maths in BM and mother tongue from 2012
PUTRAJAYA (July 8, 2009) : The teaching and learning of science and mathematics in national schools will revert to the Malay language effective 2012.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his both Deputy Education Minister,Datuk Wee Ka Siong (left) and Datuk Dr Puad Zakarshi Adek Hussein (right) during the press conference at his office inPutrajaya today.Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the teaching and learning of the two subjects in Chinese and Tamil national-type schools would be carried out in their respective mother tongue. Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said the cabinet today approved the suggestion by the ministry to empower the Malay language and strengthen the teaching and learning of the English language at all levels of schooling. "This strategy was drawn up based on the study and monitoring carried out by the Education Ministry on the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English since the policy was implemented in 2003," he said when making the announcement at the Education Ministry, here today. The first group of students who studied science and mathematics in the English language since Year One sat for their Ujian Penilian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) last year.
Muhyiddin said the implementation of the policy of using the Malay language in the teaching of the two subjects would be carried out in stages in Year One and Year Four in the primary school and Form One and Form Four in the secondary school beginning in 2012. However, he said, the change would not involve students in Form Six and matriculation class. He said in order to ensure that the implementation of the new strategy did not affect the achievement of students who were taught the two subjects in English, the teaching of and examination for the two subjects would be conducted in both languages until the last batch of students who were taught in English completed in 2014. He said the government made the decision after scrutinising the outcome of studies and surveys carried out on the teaching and learning of the two subjects in English which showed that it could not be implemented as desired. "What is implemented is the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English / Malay languages," he said.
Muhyiddin said monitoring by the ministry last year found that only a small group of teachers were using English language fully in the teaching of science and mathematics. "On the average, the percentage of English usage is between 53% and 58% out of the total time allotted for science and mathematics," he said. In addition, he said, only a small group of mathematics and science teachers in secondary and primary schools who took the English language Proficiency Level Evaluation test last year achieved the proficiency level. He said the precentage of students who scored grades A, B, and C for the science subject in the UPSR last year had dropped from 85.1% to 82.5% for the urban schools and from 83.2% to 79.7% for rural schools. "For mathematics, the achievement of urban schools dropped from 84.8% to 80.9% while the achievement of rural students dropped from 80.9% to 77%," he said. He said the gap in achievement between urban and rural schools in science and mathematics was becoming wider when the PPSMI (teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English) was implemented. Muhyiddin said the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study 2007 also stated that the position of Malaysian students in the science subject had deteriorated from the 20th spot in 2003 to the 21st spot in 2007. "For mathematics, the position of our students deteriorated from the 10th spot in 2003 to 20th spot in 2007," he said. He said studies by local universities revealed that the level of improvement in the command of the English language by students was nominal, that is, not more than 3% throughout the implementation of the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English. "The command of the English language among students, particularly in the rural areas, was still low making it difficult for them to understand the teaching of mathematics and science in English," Muhyiddin said. Based on this observation, he said, the government was convinced that science and mathematics must be taught in the language that could be easily understood by the students, namely Bahasa Malaysia in the national schools Chinese in the national-type Chinese schools and Tamil in the national-type Tamil schools. -- BERNAMA
*********************** UPDATES @6.26PM...
Let the PROTAGONISTS have their say,via The Malaysian Insider:
P1: Wrath of Tun M about to befall Najib
KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 – Ever since Datuk Seri Najib Razak took office as prime minister just under 100 days ago, the outspoken Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has held his peace and refrained from attacking the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
But today Dr Mahathir hit out at the Najib administration for “not listening to the voice of the people” when it decided to abandon the policy of teaching science and mathematics in English.
“I am not surprised over the disappointment and even anger towards the government’s decision on the teaching of maths and science,” he said.
“Seems to me like the government is not listening to the voice of the people,” the former prime minister said in a short posting on his blog today.
Dr Mahathir also appeared to be planning a campaign to stop the government from reversing a policy he had initiated six years ago just before he retired.
He has started a poll to ask readers of his blog if they supported or opposed the decision to now revert to teaching science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu.
A separate poll conducted recently of voters in peninsular Malaysia by the independent Merdeka Centre showed that a majority of Malaysians wanted English to remain as the medium of instruction for the two subjects.
But yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the government’s decision to scrap the policy, bowing to pressure from nationalists and education activists.
Dr Mahathir, who had been informed by the DPM prior to the announcement, said yesterday that his recommendations were not taken into consideration.
He had suggested the government at least keep English as the medium of instruction for secondary schools.
The former PM also punched holes in the government’s arguments, and pointed out that if the government was now going to train more English teachers, they could also train science and mathematics teachers in the same language as well.
Dr Mahathir had been a strident critic of the Abdullah Badawi administration, and his attacks against the last prime minister had contributed significantly to the latter’s eventual downfall.
Last year, Malaysia’s longest serving PM even quit Umno and only rejoined the party this year when Najib took office. Since then Najib has taken pains to pay homage to Dr Mahathir.
But in recent weeks, Dr Mahathir had begun to seethe over some of Najib’s decisions.
Besides ignoring Dr Mahathir and deciding to skip the recent Penanti by-election, Najib has also disregarded the former PM over the “crooked bridge” to Singapore.
Dr Mahathir had also recently come out to say that the liberalization of the economy was not the right move by Najib.
The ongoing attempt by the Najib administration in trying to appoint his aide Omar Mustapha to the board of Petronas has also irritated Dr Mahathir who is still the national oil company’s adviser.
But with the flip-flop on the government’s English policy, Dr Mahathir appears to be preparing to strike back.
________________________
;">
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P2: Najib defends scrapping PPSMI, ignores Dr M
Najib said discarding the PPSMI was a sound decision in light of its failed objectives. — File picBy Syed Jaymal Zahiid
PUTRAJAYA, July 9 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today completely ignored the concerns of his endorser Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and defended the government's call to scrap the teaching of maths and science in English (PPSMI).
This is perhaps a sign that Dr Mahathir's influence over Najib is slowly waning.
Najib today said discarding the PPSMI, a programme Dr Mahathir introduced when he was prime minister, was a sound decision in light of its failed objectives.
The prime minister reasoned that although the government will discontinue the programme, its objectives will remain.
"Its spirit and objectives remain the same, we are just changing the approach," he told a press conference at his office here.
He said the government has introduced other measures to improve the standard of English among the country's students through the employment of quality teachers.
Currently, out of the more than 30,000 English teachers nationwide, the prime minister said only eight per cent were confident enough to carry out the PPSMI.
Dr Mahathir yesterday contradicted Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's claim that the former premier had agreed with the decision to scrap PPSMI.
He claimed that his views had not been taken into consideration and that Muhyiddin had only "briefed" him on the matter. He said that the decision to scrap PPSMI would affect the future generation greatly.
Najib, however, said that the fact that the government is considering making English a compulsory pass subject reflects its seriousness in the matter.
"We can achieve the same objectives if we increase contact hours in English teaching so that students can become confident in other subjects," he said, adding that the government is considering increasing English teaching time in schools soon.
PPSMI is of course the popular acronym in Bahasa Malaysia for the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, and after six-and-half-years' implementation, the UMNO politicians used to experiment with the nation's education policies every few years, decided to "gostan" on a key policy that will affect the current schoolgoing kids and future generation at the most important --growing up -- stage of their "education-receiving" lives.
Here's a take from the NST Online, which did not "spin" too much on Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's stand of expressing sadness and disappointment with the policy about-turn, although when I glimpsed the TV3 news at 8pm last night at the warong, I believed it quoted Muhyiddin as saying that the former PM was happy with the policy change; I will compare and contrast with other news reports to get a better picture for my not-so-free esteemed readers, so maybe I can spin my propaganda eh!:)
NST Online » Frontpage2009/07/09
English in Schools: Dr M unhappy with decision
By : Regina Lee
Email to friend Print article
addthis_pub = 'nstonline';
PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday expressed dismay over the decision to revert to teaching Mathematics and Science in Malay and vernacular languages.
"I am sad for the future of our young, who will find it harder later to master the fields of Science and Mathematics."
Asked about statistics that showed a decline among students' proficiency in the two subjects, Dr Mahathir said the figures were "inaccurate".
"Naturally, the results would differentiate between the rural and the urban areas."
He said learning English from Mathematics and Science was never the point of the policy -- a brainchild of his that was rolled out in 2003. Rather, it was to prepare students for the globalisation in the fields of Mathematics and Science.
Speaking at a Press conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation here, Dr Mahathir said it was the implementation, and not the policy itself, that should be blamed. He also said Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also deputy prime minister, and the ministry top brass had met him on Monday to brief him on the government's decision.
"I suggested that even if they don't have to have (teaching Mathematics and Science in English) at the primary level, they could always do it at the secondary level."That, too, was dismissed. There was no consultation at all. It was just a briefing."
DESIDERATA: I will elaborate with more comments later. Meanwhile, suffice at this stage for you to note the HIGHLIGHTED points, thus BOLDED. And come back to me with your comments after some reflection, Okay!
******************************************
Here's newbie (about two weeks old...) Malaysian Mirror take:
Dr Mahathir unhappy with decision
http://malaysianmirror.com/homedetail/45-home/4238-dr-mahathir-unhappy-with-decision
Wednesday, 08 July 2009 19:51
PUTRAJAYA – Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad regrets that his views had not been taken into account when the Cabinet decided on the issue of teaching science and mathematics in schools.
The government announced today that the two subjects would be taught in Malay effective 2012.
Writing in his blog, chedet.co.cc/chedetblog Dr Mahathir said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and officials from the Education Ministry had met him to brief on what the government had already decided to do.
“Although my views were sought, they are not reflected in the decision,” he said, adding that his views to the issue are written in his blog.
Wrong perception
Dr Mahathir said he was not pleased with reports that some Malay literary figures had opposed the policy of teaching science and mathematics in English.
“It is as if the policy would displace the Malay language as the language for knowledge and reduces its development as the national language.
“We must remember that education is not just a matter of advancing or developing a certain language. Education is about acquiring knowledge, all kinds of knowledge.
“The thing that can upgrade the position and advancement of language is the subject of the language itself and, at a higher level, the subject of literature.”
Dr Mahathir said science and mathematics, on their own, cannot help to develop any language, particularly the Malay language.
This is because the terms in science and mathematics were not originally Malay, he said, adding that a large portion of the words were Latin and later Anglicised.
“While we can (create words), there are not one or two but hundreds (of words) to think about. And some words are often the root words for others,” he said, giving ‘oxygen’ as an example.
“From the word ‘oxygen’, you get the derivatives like ‘oxygenation’, ‘oxidation’, ‘oxide’, ‘oxidants’ and others, among some 120 elements.’
Dr Mahathir said if all words were to be given Malay spellings, the Malay language would change to English. The spellings are different but they sound the same. Eventually, the Malay language would be no more.
He said science and mathematics are not static. They evolve continuously through research, discoveries, inventions and expansion through hundreds of working papers.
“Almost all of that is written in English. To translate them, we need people who are well-versed in Malay, English and the subject to be translated,” he said, adding that there were only a handful of people in just two or three areas of interest who have such capability at the moment.
Don't gamble on chidren's future
Dr Mahathir said it was unlikely that a person could acquire a PhD in science and mathematics by just studying in Malay and without an understanding of English.
He asked: “How many specialists are there in medical services who only learned in Malay, without any reference book in English?
“Is is true that students living in the rural areas cannot be proficient in English?”
He added that those who oppose the teaching of science and mathematics in English were also from the rural areas and often spoke in English.
In other fields, such as in the diplomatic corps and in the civil service, it is pertinent to be well-versed in English as they are expected to speak at international forums.
“It is important to acquire knowledge for the sake of advancing in the future. Let us not gamble on the future of our children just to show we are a nationalist and so protective of our language.
“The love for the language should not surpass the love for one’s nation,” said Dr Mahathir, adding that speaking in one’s own language does not necessarily makes one’s nation well-respected and admired by others.
******************************************
Okay, here's the "official" government version as represented by BERNAMA, the national news agency if you must know, which was used by theSun on its fronpage, continued on the second (as I also hold the print copy beside me as I type it...Yes, I subscribe at 30sen per copy to this "free paper" just for R Nadeswaran and his investigative A-team's sakes!...:):
Science and Maths in BM and mother tongue from 2012
PUTRAJAYA (July 8, 2009) : The teaching and learning of science and mathematics in national schools will revert to the Malay language effective 2012.
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his both Deputy Education Minister,Datuk Wee Ka Siong (left) and Datuk Dr Puad Zakarshi Adek Hussein (right) during the press conference at his office inPutrajaya today.Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the teaching and learning of the two subjects in Chinese and Tamil national-type schools would be carried out in their respective mother tongue. Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said the cabinet today approved the suggestion by the ministry to empower the Malay language and strengthen the teaching and learning of the English language at all levels of schooling. "This strategy was drawn up based on the study and monitoring carried out by the Education Ministry on the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English since the policy was implemented in 2003," he said when making the announcement at the Education Ministry, here today. The first group of students who studied science and mathematics in the English language since Year One sat for their Ujian Penilian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) last year.
Muhyiddin said the implementation of the policy of using the Malay language in the teaching of the two subjects would be carried out in stages in Year One and Year Four in the primary school and Form One and Form Four in the secondary school beginning in 2012. However, he said, the change would not involve students in Form Six and matriculation class. He said in order to ensure that the implementation of the new strategy did not affect the achievement of students who were taught the two subjects in English, the teaching of and examination for the two subjects would be conducted in both languages until the last batch of students who were taught in English completed in 2014. He said the government made the decision after scrutinising the outcome of studies and surveys carried out on the teaching and learning of the two subjects in English which showed that it could not be implemented as desired. "What is implemented is the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English / Malay languages," he said.
Muhyiddin said monitoring by the ministry last year found that only a small group of teachers were using English language fully in the teaching of science and mathematics. "On the average, the percentage of English usage is between 53% and 58% out of the total time allotted for science and mathematics," he said. In addition, he said, only a small group of mathematics and science teachers in secondary and primary schools who took the English language Proficiency Level Evaluation test last year achieved the proficiency level. He said the precentage of students who scored grades A, B, and C for the science subject in the UPSR last year had dropped from 85.1% to 82.5% for the urban schools and from 83.2% to 79.7% for rural schools. "For mathematics, the achievement of urban schools dropped from 84.8% to 80.9% while the achievement of rural students dropped from 80.9% to 77%," he said. He said the gap in achievement between urban and rural schools in science and mathematics was becoming wider when the PPSMI (teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English) was implemented. Muhyiddin said the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study 2007 also stated that the position of Malaysian students in the science subject had deteriorated from the 20th spot in 2003 to the 21st spot in 2007. "For mathematics, the position of our students deteriorated from the 10th spot in 2003 to 20th spot in 2007," he said. He said studies by local universities revealed that the level of improvement in the command of the English language by students was nominal, that is, not more than 3% throughout the implementation of the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English. "The command of the English language among students, particularly in the rural areas, was still low making it difficult for them to understand the teaching of mathematics and science in English," Muhyiddin said. Based on this observation, he said, the government was convinced that science and mathematics must be taught in the language that could be easily understood by the students, namely Bahasa Malaysia in the national schools Chinese in the national-type Chinese schools and Tamil in the national-type Tamil schools. -- BERNAMA
*********************** UPDATES @6.26PM...
Let the PROTAGONISTS have their say,via The Malaysian Insider:
P1: Wrath of Tun M about to befall Najib
KUALA LUMPUR, July 9 – Ever since Datuk Seri Najib Razak took office as prime minister just under 100 days ago, the outspoken Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has held his peace and refrained from attacking the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
But today Dr Mahathir hit out at the Najib administration for “not listening to the voice of the people” when it decided to abandon the policy of teaching science and mathematics in English.
“I am not surprised over the disappointment and even anger towards the government’s decision on the teaching of maths and science,” he said.
“Seems to me like the government is not listening to the voice of the people,” the former prime minister said in a short posting on his blog today.
Dr Mahathir also appeared to be planning a campaign to stop the government from reversing a policy he had initiated six years ago just before he retired.
He has started a poll to ask readers of his blog if they supported or opposed the decision to now revert to teaching science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu.
A separate poll conducted recently of voters in peninsular Malaysia by the independent Merdeka Centre showed that a majority of Malaysians wanted English to remain as the medium of instruction for the two subjects.
But yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the government’s decision to scrap the policy, bowing to pressure from nationalists and education activists.
Dr Mahathir, who had been informed by the DPM prior to the announcement, said yesterday that his recommendations were not taken into consideration.
He had suggested the government at least keep English as the medium of instruction for secondary schools.
The former PM also punched holes in the government’s arguments, and pointed out that if the government was now going to train more English teachers, they could also train science and mathematics teachers in the same language as well.
Dr Mahathir had been a strident critic of the Abdullah Badawi administration, and his attacks against the last prime minister had contributed significantly to the latter’s eventual downfall.
Last year, Malaysia’s longest serving PM even quit Umno and only rejoined the party this year when Najib took office. Since then Najib has taken pains to pay homage to Dr Mahathir.
But in recent weeks, Dr Mahathir had begun to seethe over some of Najib’s decisions.
Besides ignoring Dr Mahathir and deciding to skip the recent Penanti by-election, Najib has also disregarded the former PM over the “crooked bridge” to Singapore.
Dr Mahathir had also recently come out to say that the liberalization of the economy was not the right move by Najib.
The ongoing attempt by the Najib administration in trying to appoint his aide Omar Mustapha to the board of Petronas has also irritated Dr Mahathir who is still the national oil company’s adviser.
But with the flip-flop on the government’s English policy, Dr Mahathir appears to be preparing to strike back.
________________________
;">
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P2: Najib defends scrapping PPSMI, ignores Dr M
Najib said discarding the PPSMI was a sound decision in light of its failed objectives. — File picBy Syed Jaymal Zahiid
PUTRAJAYA, July 9 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today completely ignored the concerns of his endorser Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and defended the government's call to scrap the teaching of maths and science in English (PPSMI).
This is perhaps a sign that Dr Mahathir's influence over Najib is slowly waning.
Najib today said discarding the PPSMI, a programme Dr Mahathir introduced when he was prime minister, was a sound decision in light of its failed objectives.
The prime minister reasoned that although the government will discontinue the programme, its objectives will remain.
"Its spirit and objectives remain the same, we are just changing the approach," he told a press conference at his office here.
He said the government has introduced other measures to improve the standard of English among the country's students through the employment of quality teachers.
Currently, out of the more than 30,000 English teachers nationwide, the prime minister said only eight per cent were confident enough to carry out the PPSMI.
Dr Mahathir yesterday contradicted Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin's claim that the former premier had agreed with the decision to scrap PPSMI.
He claimed that his views had not been taken into consideration and that Muhyiddin had only "briefed" him on the matter. He said that the decision to scrap PPSMI would affect the future generation greatly.
Najib, however, said that the fact that the government is considering making English a compulsory pass subject reflects its seriousness in the matter.
"We can achieve the same objectives if we increase contact hours in English teaching so that students can become confident in other subjects," he said, adding that the government is considering increasing English teaching time in schools soon.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Some Hearty News from the International Stage
From The Washington Post, which updates Desi daily on what's happpening with regard to the on the key protagonist on the world stage, and the other bits/bytes players; and remember, my fave writer The Bard, has said: "All the world is a stage...", do you remember, though 'tis not yet September? -- YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual...
U.S.-Russia Summit Brings Series of Advances
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/07/06/ST2009070601807.html?sid=ST2009070601807
» Links to this article
By Michael A. Fletcher and Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
MOSCOW, July 7 -- President Obama called Tuesday for a new relationship between the United States and Russia, saying that the frequent rivals would both prosper by joining forces to combat common threats and pursue their mutual interests.
The modern scourges of stateless terrorism and nuclear proliferation threaten both the United States and Russia, Obama said, demanding that the two nations shed past suspicions and confront those problems as partners.
"There is the 20th-century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another," Obama said in a speech to economics graduates. "And there is a 19th-century view that we are destined to vie for spheres of influence and that great powers must forge competing blocs to balance one another. These assumptions are wrong."
Obama's speech came on the final day of a summit here in which he met with Russian political leaders, business people, activists and dissidents as part of his effort to "reset" U.S. relations with Russia. In recent years, ties between the two nations hit what many analysts described as the worst point in more than two decades.
During his two-day visit, Obama reached accords with his Russian counterparts on a series of agreements covering such issues as nuclear disarmament and U.S. military shipments through Russian airspace, as well as on jointly assessing the threat posed by nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.
At the same time, the two nations continue to disagree on major issues, including U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe.
"I can't think of a summit that was so comprehensive in what we are trying to do as a government," said Michael McFaul, special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs.
Yury Ushakov, a senior aide to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, told the Interfax news agency that Obama emphasized that "Russia and the United States could cooperate more intensively on Iran, that Russia's role is extremely important there and that America is interested in stronger cooperation."
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Obama began Tuesday with a breakfast meeting with Putin, who is widely regarded as Russia's most powerful political leader. Aides said the session lasted more than two hours -- half an hour longer than scheduled -- and both men called it candid and open.
Just last week, Obama criticized Putin in an interview, saying he clings to a Cold War paradigm that Obama wants to leave behind.
"It went very well," Putin said later, at a signing ceremony for a $70 million joint venture between Boeing and a state-owned Russian firm to produce airline parts. "We covered the issues from previous years, and we defined things for the near future and middle term."
Delivering the commencement address at the New Economic School, Obama said the United States does not benefit from a weak Russia. "The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game -- progress must be shared," he said.
Page 2 of 2 <
» Links to this article
Even as Obama called for greater cooperation with Russia, he raised issues that continue to be sources of friction between the two nations.
This Story
U.S.-Russia Summit Brings Series of Advances
Obama Greeted With Skepticism Rather Than Cheers in Russia
Obama Addresses Russian Graduate Students
Obama, Medvedev Sign Nuclear Understanding
In Mother Russia, She's 1st Lady of Gardening
View All Items in This Story
View Only Top Items in This Story
') ;
// -->
He said the United States is committed to "universal values," including freedom of speech, an independent press and competitive elections -- values that he said promote peace and stability. They are also values that many critics say Russia routinely violates.
Obama invoked his own example as the nation's first African American president.
"If our democracy did not advance those rights, I -- as a person of African ancestry -- wouldn't be able to address you as an American citizen, much less a president," he said.
Obama also said modern times require countries to respect the sovereignty of other countries. "That is true for Russia, just as it is true for the United States," he said. "Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. That is why this principle must apply to all nations -- including Georgia and Ukraine."
Russia has been irritated at the United States' support of the two former Soviet states, arguing that the countries lie within its geographical sphere of influence. Russia has also opposed the efforts of Georgia and Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, saying their membership would bring the security alliance right to its border, which it views as a potential threat.
Obama rejected that view.
"For any country to become a member of NATO, a majority of its people must choose to; they must undertake reforms; and they must be able to contribute to the alliance's mission," Obama said. "And let me be clear: NATO seeks collaboration with Russia, not confrontation."
Sergei Rogov, director of the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies, said Obama's visit was more successful than most in Russia had expected. Obama "made all the right sounds in a very respectful way" and did much to reduce mistrust in Moscow, he said.
"It's not only a change in tone. It was a change in substance," he added. "The new agenda is much broader than ever."
U.S.-Russia Summit Brings Series of Advances
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/07/06/ST2009070601807.html?sid=ST2009070601807
» Links to this article
By Michael A. Fletcher and Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
MOSCOW, July 7 -- President Obama called Tuesday for a new relationship between the United States and Russia, saying that the frequent rivals would both prosper by joining forces to combat common threats and pursue their mutual interests.
The modern scourges of stateless terrorism and nuclear proliferation threaten both the United States and Russia, Obama said, demanding that the two nations shed past suspicions and confront those problems as partners.
"There is the 20th-century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another," Obama said in a speech to economics graduates. "And there is a 19th-century view that we are destined to vie for spheres of influence and that great powers must forge competing blocs to balance one another. These assumptions are wrong."
Obama's speech came on the final day of a summit here in which he met with Russian political leaders, business people, activists and dissidents as part of his effort to "reset" U.S. relations with Russia. In recent years, ties between the two nations hit what many analysts described as the worst point in more than two decades.
During his two-day visit, Obama reached accords with his Russian counterparts on a series of agreements covering such issues as nuclear disarmament and U.S. military shipments through Russian airspace, as well as on jointly assessing the threat posed by nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.
At the same time, the two nations continue to disagree on major issues, including U.S. plans for a missile shield in Europe.
"I can't think of a summit that was so comprehensive in what we are trying to do as a government," said Michael McFaul, special assistant to the president and senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs.
Yury Ushakov, a senior aide to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, told the Interfax news agency that Obama emphasized that "Russia and the United States could cooperate more intensively on Iran, that Russia's role is extremely important there and that America is interested in stronger cooperation."
if ( show_doubleclick_ad && ( adTemplate & INLINE_ARTICLE_AD ) == INLINE_ARTICLE_AD && inlineAdGraf )
{
placeAd('ARTICLE',commercialNode,20,'inline=y;',true) ;
}
') ;
}
// -->
Obama began Tuesday with a breakfast meeting with Putin, who is widely regarded as Russia's most powerful political leader. Aides said the session lasted more than two hours -- half an hour longer than scheduled -- and both men called it candid and open.
Just last week, Obama criticized Putin in an interview, saying he clings to a Cold War paradigm that Obama wants to leave behind.
"It went very well," Putin said later, at a signing ceremony for a $70 million joint venture between Boeing and a state-owned Russian firm to produce airline parts. "We covered the issues from previous years, and we defined things for the near future and middle term."
Delivering the commencement address at the New Economic School, Obama said the United States does not benefit from a weak Russia. "The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game -- progress must be shared," he said.
Page 2 of 2 <
» Links to this article
Even as Obama called for greater cooperation with Russia, he raised issues that continue to be sources of friction between the two nations.
This Story
U.S.-Russia Summit Brings Series of Advances
Obama Greeted With Skepticism Rather Than Cheers in Russia
Obama Addresses Russian Graduate Students
Obama, Medvedev Sign Nuclear Understanding
In Mother Russia, She's 1st Lady of Gardening
View All Items in This Story
View Only Top Items in This Story
') ;
// -->
He said the United States is committed to "universal values," including freedom of speech, an independent press and competitive elections -- values that he said promote peace and stability. They are also values that many critics say Russia routinely violates.
Obama invoked his own example as the nation's first African American president.
"If our democracy did not advance those rights, I -- as a person of African ancestry -- wouldn't be able to address you as an American citizen, much less a president," he said.
Obama also said modern times require countries to respect the sovereignty of other countries. "That is true for Russia, just as it is true for the United States," he said. "Any system that cedes those rights will lead to anarchy. That is why this principle must apply to all nations -- including Georgia and Ukraine."
Russia has been irritated at the United States' support of the two former Soviet states, arguing that the countries lie within its geographical sphere of influence. Russia has also opposed the efforts of Georgia and Ukraine to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, saying their membership would bring the security alliance right to its border, which it views as a potential threat.
Obama rejected that view.
"For any country to become a member of NATO, a majority of its people must choose to; they must undertake reforms; and they must be able to contribute to the alliance's mission," Obama said. "And let me be clear: NATO seeks collaboration with Russia, not confrontation."
Sergei Rogov, director of the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies, said Obama's visit was more successful than most in Russia had expected. Obama "made all the right sounds in a very respectful way" and did much to reduce mistrust in Moscow, he said.
"It's not only a change in tone. It was a change in substance," he added. "The new agenda is much broader than ever."
Sunday, July 05, 2009
I like this SIRmon...
Hence a second post this exemplary Sundae from a lazy BUMmer God believer who still has the fear of God in him, but I confess I have stopped going to church about two decades now after becoming a hugely liberalised and deeply critical "Christian". The faith identification is put within inverted commas because I think a lot of mainstream preachers from their holier-than-thou pulpit would condemn Desi to that place burning beyong 1,000degrees Centigrade, brimming with brimstone and fire.
But on most nights, I still strive, and sometimes succeed, in sleeping like a babe.
From mGf in exile, Raja Petra Kamarudin as posted in malaysia-today.net, I pray thou art inherently GOoD! Wherever thou art and will be, GODbless:)
I:
S:
A: men
***********************************
Your Sunday sermon
Posted by admin
Sunday, 05 July 2009 15:45
Are you really a good person who has earned the right to preach or are you actually a hypocrite who is not really good but is just a coward who does not dare become a bad person like how you would rather be if given that opportunity?
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
They say there are two types of people. There are leaders and there are followers. 1% of the people are leaders while the majority are followers.Within these two categories are further sub-categories. There are good people and there are bad people.Within the good people category, they can again be subdivided into two more categories. There are people who are good by nature and there are people who are good because they are scared of being bad. If they were not scared of being bad then they would certainly not be good because being bad is more fun than being good.And within the bad people category there are people who are bad because they are bad by nature while others are bad because they feel they can get away with being bad without getting caught or that later they can always repent and become good whereby they would be forgiven for all the bad they have done.And this is why people need religion. Religion stops you from being bad and forces you to be good. Without religion there would be no stick and carrot. You get the stick when you are bad and you get the carrot when you are good. It is a form of punishment and reward system. You get punished when you do bad and you get rewarded when you do good.In short, religion works on the concept of the bribery system. You are bribed through the punishment and reward system when you do bad and good respectively. And since most people are susceptible to bribes they would conduct themselves accordingly depending on whether they wish to be rewarded or whether they do not fear the punishment and do not care much for the rewards.Over thousands of years mankind has had to conduct itself based on what religion tells them they should do. Religion has been the guideline for our conduct long before the invention of the police force and the legal system comprising of laws and courts.The history of religion, however, is a history of violence, persecution, cruelty and brutality. In the name of religion mankind has been subjected to much suffering.The question is who invented religion? And is religion something that God sent us or something that man created to conveniently oppress and suppress fellow man?I do not wish to engage in a debate as to the existence of God or otherwise. There are some who believe that there is a God (or Gods). Others believe in the existence of a higher power although they are not quite sure what it is and whether God is the correct word to use for this higher power. Then there are others who believe that man is the product of nature and not of a higher being named God or whatever. I leave it to you to decide how you came to be.All religions have what we could call holy books. The ‘main three’, also called the Abrahamic religions, have the Old and New Testaments and the Quran. A study of all three holy books would reveal that there are a lot of similarities and overlapping doctrines. You would not be mistaken if you were to think that the three Abrahamic faiths are actually one faith divided into three sects. Of course, these three ‘sects’ are further divided into many sub-sects who are at most times in conflict with one another.Man has a natural instinct to be bad. But they are forbidden from being bad basically because the religion they believe in forbids it. If the religion they believe in were silent on the issue then most would choose to be bad rather than good. But they have no choice but to be good because they fear that if they are bad they would receive punishment and not receive the rewards promised to good people.You could say that most people are not good by nature but are reluctantly good. It is not that there are no good people who are good by nature. There are, although they would be in the minority. And you will find that most of the people who are good by nature do not have any religion. Some do not even believe in God. They are good just because they are, by nature, good and for no other reason -- in particular not because they believe in the system of rewards and punishment that religions propagate.Has religion succeeded in its job of turning us into good people? Or has it instead turned us into hypocrites? How many of us are good because it is in our heart and how many are good because we have no choice but to be good? If religion were silent on what constitutes good and bad and if there are no rewards and punishment for being either what kind of person would we become?That is something to ponder upon this Sunday. And before you adopt that holier than thou attitude and start moralising, ask yourself: are you really a good person who has earned the right to preach or are you actually a hypocrite who is not really good but is just a coward who does not dare become a bad person like how you would rather be if given that opportunity?
But on most nights, I still strive, and sometimes succeed, in sleeping like a babe.
From mGf in exile, Raja Petra Kamarudin as posted in malaysia-today.net, I pray thou art inherently GOoD! Wherever thou art and will be, GODbless:)
I:
S:
A: men
***********************************
Your Sunday sermon
Posted by admin
Sunday, 05 July 2009 15:45
Are you really a good person who has earned the right to preach or are you actually a hypocrite who is not really good but is just a coward who does not dare become a bad person like how you would rather be if given that opportunity?
NO HOLDS BARRED
Raja Petra Kamarudin
They say there are two types of people. There are leaders and there are followers. 1% of the people are leaders while the majority are followers.Within these two categories are further sub-categories. There are good people and there are bad people.Within the good people category, they can again be subdivided into two more categories. There are people who are good by nature and there are people who are good because they are scared of being bad. If they were not scared of being bad then they would certainly not be good because being bad is more fun than being good.And within the bad people category there are people who are bad because they are bad by nature while others are bad because they feel they can get away with being bad without getting caught or that later they can always repent and become good whereby they would be forgiven for all the bad they have done.And this is why people need religion. Religion stops you from being bad and forces you to be good. Without religion there would be no stick and carrot. You get the stick when you are bad and you get the carrot when you are good. It is a form of punishment and reward system. You get punished when you do bad and you get rewarded when you do good.In short, religion works on the concept of the bribery system. You are bribed through the punishment and reward system when you do bad and good respectively. And since most people are susceptible to bribes they would conduct themselves accordingly depending on whether they wish to be rewarded or whether they do not fear the punishment and do not care much for the rewards.Over thousands of years mankind has had to conduct itself based on what religion tells them they should do. Religion has been the guideline for our conduct long before the invention of the police force and the legal system comprising of laws and courts.The history of religion, however, is a history of violence, persecution, cruelty and brutality. In the name of religion mankind has been subjected to much suffering.The question is who invented religion? And is religion something that God sent us or something that man created to conveniently oppress and suppress fellow man?I do not wish to engage in a debate as to the existence of God or otherwise. There are some who believe that there is a God (or Gods). Others believe in the existence of a higher power although they are not quite sure what it is and whether God is the correct word to use for this higher power. Then there are others who believe that man is the product of nature and not of a higher being named God or whatever. I leave it to you to decide how you came to be.All religions have what we could call holy books. The ‘main three’, also called the Abrahamic religions, have the Old and New Testaments and the Quran. A study of all three holy books would reveal that there are a lot of similarities and overlapping doctrines. You would not be mistaken if you were to think that the three Abrahamic faiths are actually one faith divided into three sects. Of course, these three ‘sects’ are further divided into many sub-sects who are at most times in conflict with one another.Man has a natural instinct to be bad. But they are forbidden from being bad basically because the religion they believe in forbids it. If the religion they believe in were silent on the issue then most would choose to be bad rather than good. But they have no choice but to be good because they fear that if they are bad they would receive punishment and not receive the rewards promised to good people.You could say that most people are not good by nature but are reluctantly good. It is not that there are no good people who are good by nature. There are, although they would be in the minority. And you will find that most of the people who are good by nature do not have any religion. Some do not even believe in God. They are good just because they are, by nature, good and for no other reason -- in particular not because they believe in the system of rewards and punishment that religions propagate.Has religion succeeded in its job of turning us into good people? Or has it instead turned us into hypocrites? How many of us are good because it is in our heart and how many are good because we have no choice but to be good? If religion were silent on what constitutes good and bad and if there are no rewards and punishment for being either what kind of person would we become?That is something to ponder upon this Sunday. And before you adopt that holier than thou attitude and start moralising, ask yourself: are you really a good person who has earned the right to preach or are you actually a hypocrite who is not really good but is just a coward who does not dare become a bad person like how you would rather be if given that opportunity?
When the US coughs blood, the world catches D-Influenza!
D is Depression, and the picture in the largest economy of the world does look grim.
On the other hand, remember China? When it was said when the giant communist sneezed, the rest of the world would catch a cold ... Please correct Desi if his recolllection ain't on the spot. Blame it on Rais Yatim's deversionary tactic of sticking with "swine flu" when the rest of the universe has moved on fine wit' A(H1N1) flu...
Here's the contrasting pictire of some "gleaming" new initiatives taken by the roaring Chinese government to keep its economy's growing yet keeping inflation down, and somewhere there's that "CAPITAL CONTROLS" factor that Dr Mahathir Mohamad "borrowd" for use back in 1997/98, remember? Sombre topics for Sundae's rumination which I won't add any toppings so you are heartily welcomed to add thy thoughts as I take my CON BF!:)
From the Malaysian Insider:
It’s back to the 1930s for US economy — Paul Krugman
JULY 4 — OK, Thurday's jobs report settles it. We're going to need a bigger stimulus. But does the president know that? Let's do the maths. Since the recession began, the US economy has lost 6.5 million jobs — and as that grim employment report confirmed, it's continuing to lose jobs at a rapid pace.
Once you take into account the 100,000 plus new jobs that we need each month just to keep up with a growing population, we're about 8.5 million jobs in the hole.
And the deeper the hole gets, the harder it will be to dig ourselves out. The job figures weren't the only bad news in Thursday's report, which also showed wages stalling and possibly on the verge of outright decline. That's a recipe for a descent into Japanese-style deflation, which is very difficult to reverse. Lost decade, anyone? Wait — there's more bad news: the fiscal crisis of the states.
Unlike the federal government, states are required to run balanced budgets. And faced with a sharp drop in revenue, most states are preparing savage budget cuts, many of them at the expense of the most vulnerable. Aside from directly creating a great deal of misery, these cuts will depress the economy even further.
So what do we have to counter this scary prospect? We have the Obama stimulus plan, which aims to create 3.5 million jobs by late next year. That's much better than nothing, but it's not remotely enough. And there doesn't seem to be much else going on.
Do you remember the administration's plan to sharply reduce the rate of foreclosures, or its plan to get the banks lending again by taking toxic assets off their balance sheets? Neither do I.
All of this is depressingly familiar to anyone who has studied US economic policy in the 1930s. Once again, a Democratic president has pushed through job-creation policies that will mitigate the slump but aren't aggressive enough to produce a full recovery. Once again, much of the stimulus at the federal level is being undone by budget retrenchment at the state and local level.
So have we failed to learn from history, and are we, therefore, doomed to repeat it? Not necessarily — but it's up to the president and his economic team to ensure that things are different this time.
President Barack Obama and his officials need to ramp up their efforts, starting with a plan to make the stimulus bigger.
Just to be clear, I'm well aware of how difficult it will be to get such a plan enacted.
There won't be any cooperation from Republican leaders, who have settled on a strategy of total opposition, unconstrained by facts or logic. Indeed, these leaders responded to the latest job numbers by proclaiming the failure of the Obama economic plan. That's ludicrous, of course. The administration warned from the beginning that it would be several quarters before the plan had any major positive effects.
But that didn't stop the chairman of the Republican Study Committee from issuing a statement demanding: 'Where are the jobs?' It's also not clear whether the administration will get much help from Senate “centrists”, who partially eviscerated the original stimulus plan by demanding cuts in aid to state and local governments — aid that, as we're now seeing, was desperately needed. I'd like to think that some of these centrists are feeling remorse, but if they are, I haven't seen any evidence to that effect.
And as an economist, I'd add that many members of my profession are playing a distinctly unhelpful role.
It has been a rude shock to see so many economists with good reputations recycling old fallacies — like the claim that any rise in government spending automatically displaces an equal amount of private spending, even when there is mass unemployment — and lending their names to grossly exaggerated claims about the evils of short-run budget deficits. (Right now, the risks associated with additional debt are much less than the risks associated with failing to give the economy adequate support.)
Also, as in the 1930s, the opponents of action are peddling scare stories about inflation even as deflation looms.
So getting another round of stimulus will be difficult. But it's essential.
Obama administration economists understand the stakes. Indeed, just a few weeks ago, Christina Romer, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, published an article on the “lessons of 1937” — the year that FDR gave in to the deficit and inflation hawks, with disastrous consequences both for the economy and for his political agenda.
What I don't know is whether the administration has faced up to the inadequacy of what it has done so far.
So here's my message to the president: You need to get both your economic team and your political people working on additional stimulus, now. Because if you don't, you'll soon be facing your own personal 1937. — NYT
China continues to push forex system diversification
A worker inspects US dollar bills inside a money changer in Manila. — Reuters file picBEIJING, July 2 — China hopes for diversification of the international currency system in the future and it would be “normal” for the issue to be raised at next week’s Group of Eight summit, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said today.
But He, who is in charge of China’s G8 preparation, told a news briefing he had not heard that Beijing had requested a discussion about reserve currencies at the meetings in Italy.
G8 sources told Reuters yesterday that China had asked for a debate on proposals for a new global reserve currency in Italy and the issue could be referred to briefly in the summit statement.
That news pushed the dollar down to a three week low. It is particularly sensitive to comments from China because bankers estimate the country holds perhaps 70 per cent of its US$1.95 trillion (RM6.9 trillion) in official currency reserves in the dollar.
“I have not heard that China has this request,” He said in response to a reporter’s question about the matter. “I have not heard of China raising this for discussion.”
A Russian Finance Ministry source told Reuters today that Moscow had not seen any official requests from China regarding a debate on a global reserve currency.
“At the Finance Ministry level, at the level of financial sous-sherpas, at deputy ministers’ level we have not received such information. We also have not heard anything like this from our colleagues at the Foreign Ministry,” the source said.
The dollar ticked higher after the comments by He, who also said the dollar was the main global reserve currency and he hoped it would be stable.
But he flagged that Beijing expected the issue to come up at the three-day G8 meeting starting next Wednesday.
“This financial crisis has fully exposed some shortcomings in the international currency system,” He said. “Of course we hope that in the future, the international currency system can diversify.
“I think this is an objective that the international community naturally wants to realize, and as I just said, if in the meetings some leader raises this issue for discussion, that would be normal.”
China’s central bank last week renewed its call for the creation of a super-sovereign reserve currency to reduce the dollar’s global domination, which it said had worsened the financial crisis.
President Hu Jintao, who will be in Italy to attend the G8 summit, has yet to make any public statement about the idea for a new reserve currency.
The People’s Bank of China caused a stir with its suggestion, first made in March, that the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Right (SDR) could eventually displace the dollar as the principal reserve currency.
The SDR is an international reserve asset allocated to IMF members and its exchange rate is determined by a basket of dollars, euros, sterling and yen.
WANTED: STABLE DOLLAR
“At present the US dollar is the main reserve currency,” He said. “We of course hope the exchange rate of the main reserve currency maintains stability.”
Chinese officials have expressed concern that massive US fiscal and monetary stimulus will generate inflation and drive down the dollar, handing Beijing big losses on its vast portfolio of US bonds.
But these holdings also make China nervous about any tough talk that can drive down the value of the dollar, creating uncertainty about how aggressively it will press for debate on reforming the global currency system.
“We will see more diversification, but I don’t think anything’s going to happen quickly because it would almost be like shooting yourself in the foot,” said Mitul Kotecha, global head of FX at Calyon in Hong Kong.
The SDR proposal has not just been idle talk from China. The IMF this week unveiled its long-awaited plan for issuing debt denominated in SDRs, and China has committed to purchase up to US$50 billion of the notes, more than any other country.
Despite China’s economic clout, its ability to press for changes in the global reserve currency system is circumscribed by the fact that its currency, the yuan, is not fully convertible on the capital account.
“When the SDRs are revised, China would gain little of a sympathetic hearing if it hasn’t done further work to reform its FX system,” Patrick Bennett, economist with Societe Generale, said in a note.
At the G8 summit, Vice Foreign Minister He said China’s focus would be on the financial crisis, with the hope that countries will be able to harness their policies to help the global economy recover as soon as possible.
“The international crisis is still spreading,” he said. “The outlook on whether the world economy can revive or when it will revive is still unclear.”
He said China also wanted the summit to improve coordination between the Doha round of world trade talks and climate change negotiations. He said Beijing was worried that some countries might use global warming as a pretext for trade protectionism, imposing tariffs on exports linked to carbon emissions. — Reuters
Bank of China announces yuan trade deal with HK’s HSBC
BEIJING, July 4 — China's largest foreign exchange bank, the Bank of China, has reached a yuan trade settlement agreement with HSBC bank in Hong Kong, taking advantage of new rules allowing such deals.
Under rules announced this week, foreign banks will be able to buy or borrow yuan from Chinese mainland lenders to settle trade in Hong Kong and Macau under a pilot scheme.
The central bank chiefs of China and Hong Kong signed a memorandum on Monday, paving the way for the scheme, which analysts say is a move to greater international use of the yuan, also called the Renminbi.
Today, the Bank of China (BOC) announced on its website that it reached agreements with HSBC and BOC's own separately listed Hong Kong unit to carry out yuan trade transactions.
"With the signing of these agreements, the Bank of China can begin carrying out cross-border settlements and clearances using Renminbi funds with these banks," said the statement.
It did not detail the size or other details of the deals.
Last month, HSBC also became the first foreign bank to sell yuan-denominated bonds, raising funds for its mainland operations at a time when China is trying to increase acceptance of its currency in the region.
The new rules make clear that China will be checking to ensure that banks and companies do not try to use the pilot programme to get round the country's capital controls. To that end, any yuan loans must be supported by trade documentation. — Reuters
China statistics chief sees no inflation risk this year
BEIJING, July 4 — China's chief statistician said today that he saw no risk of inflation for the country in the second half of 2009, reinforcing recent comments playing down worries about credit-fuelled price rises.
"I believe that in the second half of this year there are no risks of inflation in view," Ma Jiantang, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a forum in Beijing.
Ma's remarks came a day after Li Yang, a former adviser to the People's Bank of China, said China's rapid money and credit growth would not fuel inflation.
Consumer prices fell 1.4 per cent in the year to May, marking the fourth straight month of falls in the CPI.
But some economists have expressed concern that a record burst of bank lending is feeding into money supply growth and will eventually generate inflation. Others are more worried that part of the flood of money is finding its way into the property and stock markets, inflating new bubbles. — Reuters
On the other hand, remember China? When it was said when the giant communist sneezed, the rest of the world would catch a cold ... Please correct Desi if his recolllection ain't on the spot. Blame it on Rais Yatim's deversionary tactic of sticking with "swine flu" when the rest of the universe has moved on fine wit' A(H1N1) flu...
Here's the contrasting pictire of some "gleaming" new initiatives taken by the roaring Chinese government to keep its economy's growing yet keeping inflation down, and somewhere there's that "CAPITAL CONTROLS" factor that Dr Mahathir Mohamad "borrowd" for use back in 1997/98, remember? Sombre topics for Sundae's rumination which I won't add any toppings so you are heartily welcomed to add thy thoughts as I take my CON BF!:)
From the Malaysian Insider:
It’s back to the 1930s for US economy — Paul Krugman
JULY 4 — OK, Thurday's jobs report settles it. We're going to need a bigger stimulus. But does the president know that? Let's do the maths. Since the recession began, the US economy has lost 6.5 million jobs — and as that grim employment report confirmed, it's continuing to lose jobs at a rapid pace.
Once you take into account the 100,000 plus new jobs that we need each month just to keep up with a growing population, we're about 8.5 million jobs in the hole.
And the deeper the hole gets, the harder it will be to dig ourselves out. The job figures weren't the only bad news in Thursday's report, which also showed wages stalling and possibly on the verge of outright decline. That's a recipe for a descent into Japanese-style deflation, which is very difficult to reverse. Lost decade, anyone? Wait — there's more bad news: the fiscal crisis of the states.
Unlike the federal government, states are required to run balanced budgets. And faced with a sharp drop in revenue, most states are preparing savage budget cuts, many of them at the expense of the most vulnerable. Aside from directly creating a great deal of misery, these cuts will depress the economy even further.
So what do we have to counter this scary prospect? We have the Obama stimulus plan, which aims to create 3.5 million jobs by late next year. That's much better than nothing, but it's not remotely enough. And there doesn't seem to be much else going on.
Do you remember the administration's plan to sharply reduce the rate of foreclosures, or its plan to get the banks lending again by taking toxic assets off their balance sheets? Neither do I.
All of this is depressingly familiar to anyone who has studied US economic policy in the 1930s. Once again, a Democratic president has pushed through job-creation policies that will mitigate the slump but aren't aggressive enough to produce a full recovery. Once again, much of the stimulus at the federal level is being undone by budget retrenchment at the state and local level.
So have we failed to learn from history, and are we, therefore, doomed to repeat it? Not necessarily — but it's up to the president and his economic team to ensure that things are different this time.
President Barack Obama and his officials need to ramp up their efforts, starting with a plan to make the stimulus bigger.
Just to be clear, I'm well aware of how difficult it will be to get such a plan enacted.
There won't be any cooperation from Republican leaders, who have settled on a strategy of total opposition, unconstrained by facts or logic. Indeed, these leaders responded to the latest job numbers by proclaiming the failure of the Obama economic plan. That's ludicrous, of course. The administration warned from the beginning that it would be several quarters before the plan had any major positive effects.
But that didn't stop the chairman of the Republican Study Committee from issuing a statement demanding: 'Where are the jobs?' It's also not clear whether the administration will get much help from Senate “centrists”, who partially eviscerated the original stimulus plan by demanding cuts in aid to state and local governments — aid that, as we're now seeing, was desperately needed. I'd like to think that some of these centrists are feeling remorse, but if they are, I haven't seen any evidence to that effect.
And as an economist, I'd add that many members of my profession are playing a distinctly unhelpful role.
It has been a rude shock to see so many economists with good reputations recycling old fallacies — like the claim that any rise in government spending automatically displaces an equal amount of private spending, even when there is mass unemployment — and lending their names to grossly exaggerated claims about the evils of short-run budget deficits. (Right now, the risks associated with additional debt are much less than the risks associated with failing to give the economy adequate support.)
Also, as in the 1930s, the opponents of action are peddling scare stories about inflation even as deflation looms.
So getting another round of stimulus will be difficult. But it's essential.
Obama administration economists understand the stakes. Indeed, just a few weeks ago, Christina Romer, the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, published an article on the “lessons of 1937” — the year that FDR gave in to the deficit and inflation hawks, with disastrous consequences both for the economy and for his political agenda.
What I don't know is whether the administration has faced up to the inadequacy of what it has done so far.
So here's my message to the president: You need to get both your economic team and your political people working on additional stimulus, now. Because if you don't, you'll soon be facing your own personal 1937. — NYT
China continues to push forex system diversification
A worker inspects US dollar bills inside a money changer in Manila. — Reuters file picBEIJING, July 2 — China hopes for diversification of the international currency system in the future and it would be “normal” for the issue to be raised at next week’s Group of Eight summit, Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said today.
But He, who is in charge of China’s G8 preparation, told a news briefing he had not heard that Beijing had requested a discussion about reserve currencies at the meetings in Italy.
G8 sources told Reuters yesterday that China had asked for a debate on proposals for a new global reserve currency in Italy and the issue could be referred to briefly in the summit statement.
That news pushed the dollar down to a three week low. It is particularly sensitive to comments from China because bankers estimate the country holds perhaps 70 per cent of its US$1.95 trillion (RM6.9 trillion) in official currency reserves in the dollar.
“I have not heard that China has this request,” He said in response to a reporter’s question about the matter. “I have not heard of China raising this for discussion.”
A Russian Finance Ministry source told Reuters today that Moscow had not seen any official requests from China regarding a debate on a global reserve currency.
“At the Finance Ministry level, at the level of financial sous-sherpas, at deputy ministers’ level we have not received such information. We also have not heard anything like this from our colleagues at the Foreign Ministry,” the source said.
The dollar ticked higher after the comments by He, who also said the dollar was the main global reserve currency and he hoped it would be stable.
But he flagged that Beijing expected the issue to come up at the three-day G8 meeting starting next Wednesday.
“This financial crisis has fully exposed some shortcomings in the international currency system,” He said. “Of course we hope that in the future, the international currency system can diversify.
“I think this is an objective that the international community naturally wants to realize, and as I just said, if in the meetings some leader raises this issue for discussion, that would be normal.”
China’s central bank last week renewed its call for the creation of a super-sovereign reserve currency to reduce the dollar’s global domination, which it said had worsened the financial crisis.
President Hu Jintao, who will be in Italy to attend the G8 summit, has yet to make any public statement about the idea for a new reserve currency.
The People’s Bank of China caused a stir with its suggestion, first made in March, that the International Monetary Fund’s Special Drawing Right (SDR) could eventually displace the dollar as the principal reserve currency.
The SDR is an international reserve asset allocated to IMF members and its exchange rate is determined by a basket of dollars, euros, sterling and yen.
WANTED: STABLE DOLLAR
“At present the US dollar is the main reserve currency,” He said. “We of course hope the exchange rate of the main reserve currency maintains stability.”
Chinese officials have expressed concern that massive US fiscal and monetary stimulus will generate inflation and drive down the dollar, handing Beijing big losses on its vast portfolio of US bonds.
But these holdings also make China nervous about any tough talk that can drive down the value of the dollar, creating uncertainty about how aggressively it will press for debate on reforming the global currency system.
“We will see more diversification, but I don’t think anything’s going to happen quickly because it would almost be like shooting yourself in the foot,” said Mitul Kotecha, global head of FX at Calyon in Hong Kong.
The SDR proposal has not just been idle talk from China. The IMF this week unveiled its long-awaited plan for issuing debt denominated in SDRs, and China has committed to purchase up to US$50 billion of the notes, more than any other country.
Despite China’s economic clout, its ability to press for changes in the global reserve currency system is circumscribed by the fact that its currency, the yuan, is not fully convertible on the capital account.
“When the SDRs are revised, China would gain little of a sympathetic hearing if it hasn’t done further work to reform its FX system,” Patrick Bennett, economist with Societe Generale, said in a note.
At the G8 summit, Vice Foreign Minister He said China’s focus would be on the financial crisis, with the hope that countries will be able to harness their policies to help the global economy recover as soon as possible.
“The international crisis is still spreading,” he said. “The outlook on whether the world economy can revive or when it will revive is still unclear.”
He said China also wanted the summit to improve coordination between the Doha round of world trade talks and climate change negotiations. He said Beijing was worried that some countries might use global warming as a pretext for trade protectionism, imposing tariffs on exports linked to carbon emissions. — Reuters
Bank of China announces yuan trade deal with HK’s HSBC
BEIJING, July 4 — China's largest foreign exchange bank, the Bank of China, has reached a yuan trade settlement agreement with HSBC bank in Hong Kong, taking advantage of new rules allowing such deals.
Under rules announced this week, foreign banks will be able to buy or borrow yuan from Chinese mainland lenders to settle trade in Hong Kong and Macau under a pilot scheme.
The central bank chiefs of China and Hong Kong signed a memorandum on Monday, paving the way for the scheme, which analysts say is a move to greater international use of the yuan, also called the Renminbi.
Today, the Bank of China (BOC) announced on its website that it reached agreements with HSBC and BOC's own separately listed Hong Kong unit to carry out yuan trade transactions.
"With the signing of these agreements, the Bank of China can begin carrying out cross-border settlements and clearances using Renminbi funds with these banks," said the statement.
It did not detail the size or other details of the deals.
Last month, HSBC also became the first foreign bank to sell yuan-denominated bonds, raising funds for its mainland operations at a time when China is trying to increase acceptance of its currency in the region.
The new rules make clear that China will be checking to ensure that banks and companies do not try to use the pilot programme to get round the country's capital controls. To that end, any yuan loans must be supported by trade documentation. — Reuters
China statistics chief sees no inflation risk this year
BEIJING, July 4 — China's chief statistician said today that he saw no risk of inflation for the country in the second half of 2009, reinforcing recent comments playing down worries about credit-fuelled price rises.
"I believe that in the second half of this year there are no risks of inflation in view," Ma Jiantang, the head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a forum in Beijing.
Ma's remarks came a day after Li Yang, a former adviser to the People's Bank of China, said China's rapid money and credit growth would not fuel inflation.
Consumer prices fell 1.4 per cent in the year to May, marking the fourth straight month of falls in the CPI.
But some economists have expressed concern that a record burst of bank lending is feeding into money supply growth and will eventually generate inflation. Others are more worried that part of the flood of money is finding its way into the property and stock markets, inflating new bubbles. — Reuters
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