Maths, Science grades classified as secret?

In 2003 the Trends International Mathematics and Science
Study (TIMMS) ranked Malaysia as 10th out of
46 countries for Mathematics, now we are 36th.

By Winston Way

KUCHING: A baffled opposition here has questioned Education Ministry’s need to classify students’ SPM grades in Mathematics and Science subjects under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen had written to the ministry seeking a breakdown of the grades for General Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and English Language for the years 2006-2012 and was told that the information was “secret”

“I cannot understand why Mathemaics and Science grades are classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA). How can revealing the grades jeopardise national security?” he asked.

All 3 Ex-Chief Justices in Singapore were former Malaysians

1st Singapore Chief Justice, Wee Chong Jin

The first,  Wee Chong Jin was from Penang Free School. The second, Yong Pung How (nicknamed the "Hanging judge"?) was an ex-VI boy in KL.

And the third, Ipoh-born Chan Sek Keong, hailed from King Edward VII School in Taiping, and later the Anderson School in Ipoh.

Had they remained in Malaysia, they might have made it to the level of a Sessions Court judge, if they are lucky.

Our nation's loss is the little red dot's gain.

Note:  CJ Chan wrote an average of 30 judgement a year, now compare that to Karpal's complaint that a Malaysian senior judge has yet to deliver his written judgement after 5 years
 

Hindraf calls on Prime Minister Najib to get cracking on the Hindraf BN MOU

By N.Ganesan, Hindraf National Adviser

The recent high pitched campaign by the police to address the rising crime rate in the country has helped to highlight the extent to which Indian youth are caught up in the whirlpool of crime. The fact that there is such a large involvement of the Indian young is a fairly recent phenomenon. This has not always been the case. This trend was set some 30 odd years ago in tandem with the massive forced displacement of Indian plantation workers out of their traditional abodes in the estates. This crime problem of the Indian young is only one of many, ailing the Indian community and is also only symptomatic of the more serious socio-economic problem.

Sabah Must Assert and Celebrate Independence Day on 31 August - Jeffrey

Kota Kinabalu:     Sabah must assert and celebrate its independence on 31st August as independence day is the most important milestone of any nation and more so when 2013 marks its 50th anniversary of independence” said Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, Chairman of STAR Sabah, in a press statement released today.

The people must know that Sabah gained independence on 31 August 1963 and was 16 days before being rushed into forming Malaysia with 3 other independent nations, Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore.  The correct history needs to be re-written and thought to our young that Malaya gained independence on 31 August 1957 while Sarawak and Singapore gained theirs on 22 July 1963 and 3 June 1959 and that Malaysia was formed as a new nation on “Malaysia Day”, 16 September 1963.

Egypt today; the challenges for the democratic popular movement

SAMIR AMIN   August 24

ONE:
Too much is written on Egypt, which is understandable, even when coming from people whose knowledge of the Arab world is limited.

Too many are absorbing the info given by the mainstream western media, which is in that case as well as it is with respect to Venezuela for instance, almost always systematically distorted and even often completely false.

Many are also simplifying the issue , the alternative being : "respect of elections’ results - we  say in Egypt rightly of so called elections - or support to a military power".

‘So who killed Altantuya?’

The verdict on the two former policemen illustrates
the failure of the system, says Lawyers for
Liberty's N Surendran, who is also a PKR leader.

PETALING JAYA: Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) has termed the release of the two policemen involved in the Altantuya Shaariibuu case as a ‘national embarrassment’.

LFL member and PKR vice president N Surendran labelled the Court of Appeal ruling this morning as such and said the verdict was expected.

“We expected this from the beginning since it was a set-up to hide the truth and protect the guilty,” he said.

“The bottom line is, she was murdered in the most gruesome and brutal manner and after so many years, no one has been held accountable or found guilty,” said the Padang Serai MP.

‘Slave labour rampant at Murum Dam’

Penan communities have been complaining for years
that their families are being abused by in-commers
and that many of their children are the product
of rape – this girl spoke out to Sarawak Report

PETALING JAYA: Independent online portal, Sarawak Report, alleged that migrant workers at the Murum Dam were being treated like slaves, with the state agency in charge hardly paying their wages.

In addition, the portal also claimed that Penan women are still being exploited sexually by travelling salesmen linked to the dam work camps, with no action taken against the perpetrators.

According to the report, several workers from the dam project, who managed to escape from the site revealed the shocking details to its reporters.

The workers are mainly Chinese, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and Burmese.

Salleh semakin lantang

Sebelum ini Salleh 'menembak' sekurang-kurangnya dua
kementerian persekutuan yang kebetulan diterajui
dua pemimpin Umno Sabah sendiri.

Oleh Jurle Sagayong

KOTA BELUD: Kebelakangan ini Timbalan Ketua Perhubungan Umno Sabah, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak ada beberapa kali membuat gesaan atau lebih tepat “teguran” kepada beberapa kementerian persekutuan berhubung Sabah.

Yang terbaru ialah gesaannya supaya Kementerian Pendidikan pusat memberikan lebih kuasa autonomi kepada Jabatan Pelajaran Sabah dalam perancangan dan pelaksanaan projek pembangunan pendidikan di negeri kedua terbesar itu.

Sebelum ini Salleh, yang juga Speaker Dewan Undangan Negeri, juga “menembak” sekurang-kurangnya dua kementerian persekutuan yang kebetulan diterajui dua pemimpin Umno Sabah sendiri.

Pushing out Malayans, pulling in S’wakians

They say all’s fair in love and war. But in Taib Mahmud’s case let me add politics. No one can grudge Sarawak’s top man his political strategy.

Taib’s a savvy politician, on his toes and ahead of his enemies.

He knows that in Sarawak, he is not the enemy, Putrajaya and Umno is.

And so he embraces Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion which states that “every action has an equal and opposite reaction”.

Heaviest Man Alive Airlifted to Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Shaari being transferred to
Medical Center

By Kochava Rozenbaum

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah took part in assisting the heaviest man alive, Khalid bin Mohsen Shaari, who weighs 1,345 pound (610kg), to the country’s capital Riyadh for medical treatments.

The obese young man had to be fork-lifted from his apartment bedroom to an airlift heading to the King Fahd Medical City, reported CNN yesterday.

Pencuri Raya pertama mandi darah kena belasah penduduk kampung

Ezra Haganez

KOTA KINABALU : Seorang lelaki yang dikhuatiri rakyat asing tetapi memiliki kad pengenalan Malaysia yang cuba memecah masuk dua buah rumah di Kampung Kopungit dekat sini pada Hari Raya Aidilfitri pertama bermandi darah dibelasah penduduk kampung yang berang dengan tabiat pencuri itu.

Abdul Malik, 36, dari Lorong 12, Kampung Sembulan, di sini, juga terpaksa bermalam di tempat tahanan balai polis Tanjung Aru untuk menunggu pendakwaan.

‘Syabu killed my only son’

By Thomas Pi

LAHAD DATU: Salomah Hamad, 30, is the heartbroken mother of  7-year-old Haikal who was slain by his father last week inside the living room of an unnumbered wooden house belonging to her adopted parents in Kampong Ipil.

During an interview, Salomah, holding a small photo of her son taken when he was aged two, said her 35-year-old husband was a drug addict. She believes that syabu caused him to lose his mind to the extent of slitting the throat of their only son and then allegedly drinking his blood.

“Syabu killed my son … my only son!” she cried.

Musa ‘lacks Malay-ness’ for Umno

By Luke Rintod of FMT

KOTA KINABALU: A political scientist in Sabah believes it would be better for the two Sabah Umno leaders, currently being propped to vie for Umno’s vice presidency, to work together.

In contention for one of the three coveted Umno vice-president posts are Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman and federal Minister of Rural Development, Shafie Apdal.

Shafie is an incumbent to this seat. The other two incumbent vice presidents are federal ministers Hishamuddin Hussein and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Pemilik halaman FB akan didakwa jika didapati bersalah

KUCHING: Timbalan Menteri dalam Negeri Datuk Dr. Wan Haji Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar berkata Kementerian dalam negeri (KDN) bertindak seperti satu badan payung yang akan memantau pihak polis kalau mereka sudah mengambil tindakan.

Beliau berkata di dalam perlembagaan negara sangat jelas menggariskan apa yang boleh dan apa yang tidak boleh, mengkritik sesiapapun jika bercanggah dengan perlembagaan, itu adalah satu kesalahan.

Revived FB page insults East M’sians

The page has been successful in using religion to divide
Malaysians, with many users using Islam and
Christianity as subjects of their arguments.

By Lisa J. Ariffin
PETALING JAYA: An anti-East Malaysia fan page which was previously shutdown has resurfaced on Facebook and is spewing racial and religious slurs.

The “Semenanjung (Peninsular) Malaysia Anti Sabah & Sarawak” fan page has garnered 321 ‘Likes’ since it resurfaced on the social-networking site on Aug 5, a far cry from the 4,870 ‘Likes’ it had before it was removed from Facebook.

Sabah cracks down on ‘opposition’ villages

By Joseph Bingkasan

KOTA KINABALU: Village chiefs in various district in Sabah where the opposition made inroads in the May 5 general election are starting to feel the anger of the Barisan Nasional government.

Several of them have received notices of termination of their services particularly in the Kadazan Dusun Murut (KDM) majority villages.

They believe that their dismissals are malicious and a form of revenge for the drop in support for the BN in the respective constituencies.

Insecurity – Greatest Failure of Federation Of Malaysia – Dr Jeffrey

Kota Kinabalu:    “The insecurity felt by Malaysians in Sabah is the greatest failure of the Federation of Malaysia and the reality is now turning into a nightmare even for lawmakers from the Barisan Nasional”, said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to the statement by YB. Datuk Seri Bung Mokhtar that he fears for his life to the extent he fears that he will be shot dead the moment he step out of Parliament House.”

The recent daily killings and violent crimeswere not confined to the Peninsular but has also spread to Sabah and with the rising crime rate, Malaysians are now living in fear.

Tanah sawah di Penampang dijual seekar RM1.7 juta

Oleh Percy Goliu
PENAMPANG: Segala-galanya adalah mengenai wang. Dan wang mengubah segala-galanya. Tidak hairanlah ramai pemilik sawah padi di Penampang menjadi ‘jutawan mini segera’ selepas menjual seekar dua tanah nenek moyang mereka kepada orang tengah yang kemudian membangunkan tanah itu untuk tujuan komersial.

Sawah padi di Kampung Kodundungan-Goliput, Jalan Pintas Penampang di sini, dikatakan dijual pada harga di antara RM1.5 juta dan RM1.7 seekar. Kawasan ini yang 10 tahun yang lalu masih aktif ditanam dengan padi, kini ditumbuhi dengan pelbagai bangunan komersial dan infrastruktur.

Correct Evaluation of the standard-bearer of mother tongue education

Contributions by Tan Lark Sye towards the 
establishment of Nanyang University

- An article in commemoration of Tan Lark Sye to be published in conjunction of the memorial gathering to be held by Nanyang University (Nantah) Alumni Worldwide in Ipoh

正确评价民族教育旗手 陈六使创办南大的功劳

Tan Seng Hin (from the 6th Batch, Economics Faculty)

(This text is translated by Sahabat Rakyat Working Committee Editorial Board from the original Chinese version released in July 2013)

“Since Perak Nanyang University Alumni Association is organising the memorial gathering for the late Tan Lark Sye in Ipoh on Saturday and Sunday, 7 - 8 September, I would request that a resolution “that the revocation of Tan Lark Sye’s citizenship is an unjust political act, and the Singapore government must reinstate Tan’s citizenship” or words to that effect, be adopted at the gathering.

It’s Malay rule, so no difference if BN or Pakatan in power, argues Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore’s first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (pic) has a sober message for those counting on Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to usher in a new era of race relations in Malaysia: get real.

And the chance of Malay special privileges dismantled by PR in the event that the pact captures Putrajaya? Next to nothing.

To begin with, he said, the chance of the opposition coming to power in the near future was a very long shot. And then there were also the structural problems with the coalition of PAS, DAP and PKR.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad is ANTI-CHINESE, Pure and Simple.

Not Malay Dilemma, Not Chinese Dilemma...
Its All About Mahathir's Own Dilemma

by Dato Din Merican

Dr. Mahathir has yet to deal with the ghosts of his past deeds. Here no one can help him but he himself.

This is indeed tragic for a once formidable leader of our country who is advancing in years (born in 1925). He just cannot let go and now he has taken upon himself the task of interpreting history.

It is not Malay or Chinese Dilemma. It is Dr Mahathir’s.

He is unwilling to come to terms with himself.

Pemilik Facebook hina Kristian & Jesus dikesan

Gary Louis Supi
4:02PM Ogos 6 2013

Menteri Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin berkata, pemilik laman sosial Facebook yang menghina agama Kristian dan Jesus sudah dikesan.

Anggota Parlimen Ranau itu berkata, identiti pengendali itu dikesan setelah pihaknya mengambil maklumat penuh profilnya di Internet daripada Cyber Security, agensi pakar keselamatan siber kementerian.

Election Court allows BN’s petition for Klias

The Barisan Nasional's election petition succeeds, and a full
trial has been ordered for the Klias state seat in Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: The Barisan Nasional has succeeded in its election petition for the Klias state seat in Sabah with the Election Court deciding to have a full trial to hear the case.

The court’s decision in allowing the first GE13 election petition, could pave way for an by-election, the second since the May 8, 13th general election.

The decision is likely to court protest by the opposition pact Pakatan Rakyat, whose election petitions so far have been dismissed with high costs.

Naib Presiden Umno: Musa tidak mahu terperangkap

Musa juga tahu kumpulan yang hendak menjatuhkannya
itu mungkin mereka yang berpura-pura menyokongnya

Oleh Jurle Sagayong

KOTA KINABALU : Ketua Menteri Sabah, Datuk Seri Musa Aman, yang mula dicanang sesetengah kumpulan dalam Umno Sabah, sebagai calon naib presiden Umno, tahu benar ada pihak yang mahu sangat jatuhkannya dari tampuk kekuasaan di negeri di bawah bayu itu.

Musa juga tahu kumpulan yang hendak menjatuhkannya itu mungkin mereka yang berpura-pura menyokongnya, termasuklah untuk bersaing dengan Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, seorang lagi pemimpin Umno Sabah, untuk jawatan naib presiden.

Musa an ideal candidate, says Salleh

KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Musa Aman is an ideal candidate to run for one of the three Umno vice-president posts in the coming party elections, said Sabah Umno liaison deputy chief Salleh Said Keruak.

Sabah Umno deputy liaison chief Salleh said Musa, who is the state Umno liaison chief and state Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, is a visionary and experienced leader with good leadership qualities.

Speed Up Work on 2 Bridges - Jeffrey

Keningau: The government should take serious action on the two bridges situated near the Tamu Ground and Sasaie Bingkor bypass for the convenience of the people. Bingkor Assemblyman, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan said this to told reporters on Wednesday after visiting the two bridges.

The bridges, especially that one near the Tamu Ground, have been neglected for 17 years after Typhoon Greg hit Keningau.

Muslim punches face of nurse

Why didn't they go to their Muslim hospital to give birth in the first place? This is the reward for Western tolerance and Fanatical Muslim intolerance.

LONDON: A muslim in France has been jailed after he punched a nurse who tried to remove his wife's veil during childbirth.