An Education System Worthy of Malaysia #25
Chapter 4: Deficiencies of the System (Cont’d)
Apart from neglecting those not in the academic stream, the system also fails the thousands now in religious schools. The whole philosophy of these schools is misguided. They are not concerned with education rather with indoctrination. These madrasahs and religious schools are not so much schools as seminaries. Their obsession is with preparing children for the hereafter, forgetting that these children would first have to live the present life.
The Malaysian model of religious education is patterned after those of backward Muslim countries. There is no Muslim country with superior education system that is worthy of our emulation. The obsession of these religious schools focuses on aping the Arabs rather than propagating the message of Islam. On the one hand Malays have a phobia about being colonized by the West, but they have no compulsion of being mentally and culturally colonized by the Bedouins. Malay students go out of their way to blindly ape the Arabs, never mind that those thick flowing robes and huge turbans are totally inappropriate for tropical Malaysia. Male teachers sport unshaven face and collect multiple wives, as if piety resides in those external manifestations. It is pathetic that of the many sterling qualities of our holy prophet (peace be upon him), these are the only attributes modern Muslims feel compelled to emulate. Pity them! It is the students who suffer from their particularly myopic interpretation of Islam. Students are not taught to think, rather how to memorize and parrot what had been said before.
Students in the religious stream are exclusively Malays, and those who are not academically inclined are also mostly Malays. Thus we have the supreme irony of an education system designed and controlled by and purportedly to help Malays failing to meet the needs of a significant number of them.
Malaysian schools remain dangerously segregated racially. The goal that national schools are for all is but a dream; today they are essentially for Malays, having failed to attract non-Malays. Increasingly Malays too are abandoning the national stream for the religious one.
Apart from their other failures, our schools have also utterly failed in their basic mission of uniting the young. This is not just my opinion, it is also shared by no less than Prime Minister Mahathir. Our schools are nothing but cookie-cutter versions of one another not only physically but also in their academic offerings. They all use the same textbooks and offer the same subjects. There is little attempt at differentiation. There are no schools that emphasize foreign languages or the performing arts. About the only specialized ones are the science residential schools. I venture that the school bells are also timed to ring at the same time throughout the country.
Teachers are allowed little room to display their initiative and creativity. Every school minute has been planned for or programmed by the bureaucrats. Just follow the script. Headmasters have little power; they do not get to choose the teachers, the ministry does that. When it assigns a science teacher when the school needs an English teacher, well, that is just too bad. That teacher will just have to teach English rather than science. No surprise then than many are unhappy and quit early in their career.
I asked one headmaster his annual budget to run his school, and he could not even venture a guess. He had no clue; the teachers were paid directly by ministry, and the books and supplies were shipped from headquarters. The headmaster is merely an administrative functionary, and not surprisingly, the post attracts not superior teachers rather administrative types. They look upon the promotion as an escape from the classroom. Headmasterships are rarely terminal appointments; headmasters are transferred as part of their promotion exercise. When you ask these headmasters their legacy at their former school, they would be dumbfounded. They have none.
Visit any school and chances are the headmaster is away off campus. One study by the teachers’ union showed that headmasters spend less than 20 percent of their time on campus! At one school, despite my making a prior appointment, I still could not meet the headmaster. On the morning we were supposed to meet, he was off to a district meeting concerning, of all things, rural development. I met him briefly at noon on campus while he was on his way out again to another meeting, this time for an upcoming Qur’an reading contest. He was busy with everything except his primary responsibility – running his school.
While the government is supposedly emphasizing the sciences, very few headmasters have that background, which is a curious way to encourage the subject. It is the unstated policy of MOE that only Malays be appointed to senior positions like headmasterships. And since most Malays have degrees in soft subjects like Malay Studies and rarely in the sciences, not surprisingly they do not understand the technical needs of science teachers and therefore rarely support the science program.
The weaknesses of our schools extend from their physical structures and management to the curriculum and teachers. All these elements will have to be reformed.
Next: Residential Schools and Matrikulasi
July 7th, 2006 at 3:47 am
Dr Bakri and I belong to the same generation – a generation when English was the medium of instruction in schools, when going to school means donning the uniform, attending the morning school assembly and wishing every teacher we see along the corridor “Good morning, Sir” and when respect for our teachers meant a lot as it also reflected the respect we had for our parents and our elders – a period when missing school even for a day meant like you have committed a capital crime (at least that was the way I felt). It was during a time when it meant something to say you have passed your Cambridge and HSC – at a time when our scripts were sent to England to be corrected, and at a time when scoring five As and Bs out of a possible eight were enough to gain a place on the list of ten top scoring students from the whole State.
Dr. Bakri and I also belong to a time when parents would send their children to Koran classes after school, and after lunch to learn to “read the Koran” as all Muslims must – without understanding what it said, when to ask “Why” would incur the wrath of the religious teacher who look upon it as blasphemy when the real reason for his impatience bordering on embarrassment rather than anger was probably not knowing how to cope with the curiosity and the zest and quest for knowledge of young and enquiring minds.
Now having spent years away from the country of my birth, I dread the prospect of one day having to return since that is likely to mean having to pass judgments on a school system that has long lost its qualities as a system meant to nurture young minds and guide tomorrow’s leaders. On the other hand, living in a country where family values have been under attack for a while now, where traditional institutions like marriage has long lost the respect it once held, where even the meaning of “marriage between a man and a woman” is fast being modified, supplanted even by a different concept of marriage between two individuals not necessarily of the opposite sex – when respect for the school teacher is long gone, when teachers have long lost their power to discipline students and when having sex with one’s students who are barely “legal” no longer makes the headlines, poses a major concern for ordinary mortals like me.
Wow…. I hope that helps put matters into perspective.
July 7th, 2006 at 6:11 am
WOW
You are living in the best country even though it is not perfect.
What you described are things of the past. Things in Malaysia have changed since you left. However things have also changed even in your adopted country. You cannot stop time and changes be it for the worse.
July 7th, 2006 at 9:49 am
any idea how to improve our malaysian education ?
July 7th, 2006 at 10:22 am
shaff
Please read Dr Bakri’s books which he has graciously put on line chapter by chapter.
The other things is to get education out of politicians control and avoid making policies based on racial reconstruction. As you can see it has caused the Malays to be left behind further. Let education be based on merit and may the best rise to the top.
July 7th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I agree with Ogre in total.
It’s time for the parents and community to step in and decide if their children needs “religious education”. It should not be mandatory requirement; there should be freedom of practice and parents should have the most pivotal role to decide what is good religiously and morally for their children, not politicians!
This will make sure that there aren’t unscrupulous individuals under disguise of “imams” who may prey upon youths and use them to their advantage. We see this happening in the all over the world within the muslim community to breed and pervert the muslim faith. Prevention is definitely better than cure. The BN goverment should not drag its feet any long before it’s too late.
July 7th, 2006 at 11:46 am
Sorry, slight correction to para 3, line 3 :
“We see this happening in all over the world within the muslim community to breed and pervert the muslim faith. Prevention is definitely better than cure.”
July 7th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
my apologies for my carelessness, someone just prompted me my other mistake:
Last sentence should read, “The BN govterment should not drag its feet any longer before it’s too late.”
July 7th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
Jong
In Los Angeles the Islamic Center of Southern California runs the New Horizon Schools. Students are taught subject matters normally taught in public schools plus Islam, Quran and Arabic language. New Horizon school has been awarded the Blue Ribbon for Academic Excellence in Education. The graduating class have been accepted to prestigious universities some with full scholarship. The teachers at New Horizon are not all Muslims. Some come from different faith and the school encourages inter school events with Christian and Jewish schools.
July 7th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
In case you guys do not already know me, I am Jamaluddin who was detained by Special Branch under ISA. They detained me for two years for being a Christian and for spreading Christianity to other Malays until the Supreme Court ruled that my detention was illegal and a motion for habeus corpus got me free. Praise the Lord!
It is time Article 11 of the Federal Constitution 1957 was applied the way it was meant to be applied – religious freedom for all, and nothing of that convoluted interpretation given to it so far i.e. that Malays were free to practice their religion which is Islam and not free to choose their religion whereas the non-Malays are free to choose and practice any religious beliefs.
The creation of the shariah court system parallel to that of the secular and civil court system is ultra vires the Constitution but for an amendment introduced in the 80s which was at the centre of controversy recently.
I have since fled Malaysia and now I am a pastor living happily in the U.K. You could see me every Sunday at the Charismatic Church at Earl’s Court, London.
Religious freedom is a human rights issue and should be viewed as such. There are many Malays reported in the thousands in and around KL who are Christian in their beliefs. Some even attended church.
Malay women like Lina has been robbed of her joy of being a Christian – and that is wrong.
July 7th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
This happens when one is the majority and being led by feeble-minded polticians whose only aim is to enrich themselves. Religion is being conveniently used as a tool and a means to an end. Look at the Malays in Singapore. They are very pliant and orderly.
I was at this housing koperasi AGM recently and the manner the meeting was conducted was disgusting, to say the least. The annual and financial reports were only made available at the meeting itself.
One very controversial issue was passed without much debate because the members were simply ignorant.
How could the meeting allow the committee to source a RM25 million loan from banks without any colletral? And when past investments in cattle rearing and smallholding failed due to mismanagement, the AGM saw it fit to allow the same committee to go on borrowing in order to invest. When one member stood up to question the proposal, the Presiednt told him to sit down as the motion had been passed with a huge verbal SETUJU, not a show of hands.
There were many more unanswered questions but the agenda was pushed through with much gusto. Obviously, the committee was not too keen to be on the firing line.
One lady enquired about the surau on a vacant lot which was promised by the koperasi last year. I was dumbstruck. A mosque is just a short distance away and has served the community well. This lady is more concern for a surau than the manner how the AGM is being conducted. Moreover, the vacant land is a green lung for recreational purposes.
This anecdote best describes a race that thrives on religion. Little wonder Mahathir remained in power for 22 years. He knows just too well how the Malay minds work. He is one smart guy.
July 7th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
I am a pensioner and have through the pre-merdeka period.
I can safely say that our education system has been deteriorating by the days.
In the sixties , just after merdeka, I was taught by teachers who were mainly trained in Kirby or Brinsford. The teachers, then, were knowledgeable in their subjects and the language they use was excellent.
The headmaster are disciplinarians. The very sight of him would send chills down your spine.
I would also say that the standard of education was higher than the present.As one writer rightly put it scoring a few “As” in Senior Cambridge or HSC would have your names published in the mass media. The number of students scoring distinctions in all subjects were very rare. Compare with the present system. The number of students achieving all ‘As’ in all subjects were too many to be really highlighted.
One may ask why was our education standard drifting southwards while our southern-tip neighbour’s standard is sky high. Sky high to the extent foreign countries are copying their syllabi, especially in mathematics and science.
The differences in standard can be caused by a few reasons:
(1) Our education policies are formulated by politicians particularly those from UMNO. Many of the so called education ‘experts’ are in actual facts not. Many of them are third graders, who by virtues of NEP, managed to scrape to the Universities and graduating with a degree. How do you expect these experts to know what is required for a good education?
To overcome this, the government must be bold enough to promote really good academicians from all races. let those real experts do the work withoutinterference from UMNO in particular.
(2) As Bakri Musa has rightly put it, it has been an unwritten rule that Pricipal are generally Malays. I do not intend to sound being discriminatory in nature, but what I am saying here is true. Many of them are not really of Pricipal materials. The reasons are the same as in 1. They are more interested in non academic activities lke ‘gotong-royong’, religious celebrations and beautifying the school compound. As far as discipline and academic performances are concern, they are deaf or blind to it. Most probably they do not know the real functions of a principal.
July 8th, 2006 at 12:35 am
I’ve come to the stage when I’m not too sure who is who that pops up at this blog every now and then.
Remember quite recently we had Tunku Abdul Rahman who rose up from his grave to say his piece? We also had our Malaysian No.1 Imam & PM Abdullah Badawi writing from Perth, also the great Tun Mahathir still suffering from post menopausal sydrome and not too long ago, the newly appointed VC of MU, Datuk Rafiah Salim with her swinging pendulum.
Anyway Yoshua Jamaluddin or whoever you are, welcome and appreciate your contribution.
July 8th, 2006 at 1:26 am
Welcome to cyberspace, Jong. In cyberspace name is a non issue. What matters is your comments.
Can the real Jong come to the fore?
July 8th, 2006 at 4:32 am
What for??
July 8th, 2006 at 4:57 am
Dear Jong,
You, like the revered Tunku, Mahathir and Badawi, hide behind a pseudonym and, therefore, is equally guilty as any of us.
Name is not the issue here but your views matter.
Touche.
July 8th, 2006 at 9:01 am
Ah Pek
Jong has a point there. He’s not upset about posters using pseudonym or names other than their own. But what irks him and me is the gall of these posters using names of real people and people in the limelight and trying to pass off as the real thing. And then making comments belittling the other person whose names they have hijacked. That is not fair. I don’t think Jong has a problem about using a pen name which I am sure Ah Pek is not your real name. Over and out
July 8th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
wow…! how do we know jong is not ah pek is not ogre??
July 8th, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Excuse me, someone just hijacked my name and posted: “What for??” .
My guess could be ….Ah Pek himself.
And Ogre, Jong is my real name and a she lah, not he. Over and out.
July 8th, 2006 at 5:47 pm
Btw wow, we are nice decent people lah.
Cheers from sunny vancouver!
July 9th, 2006 at 7:01 am
“Jumping from one problem to another without solving any, risks making you like a jittery joget (dance) girl, flipping from one partner to another whenever the song changes, leaving only her scent. You will leave no impression; there will be no legacy”.
Hello Bakri, comparing me to a jittery joget girl – are you.?? You are not talking about “Scent of a Woman” are you?
Sekalai sekali pun aku suka juga berjoget – untuk melepaskan geram! Hari hari aku hanya dengar suara Najib, suara Nazri, Khairi – telling me what to do. Aku bosan lah! Lihat - PM kita dahulu Tunku. Dia pun suka berjoget, suka tarian ronggeng, ramvong, zapin and he became Malaysia’s happiest Prime Minister – until doctor Mahathir came along and changed all that. After that he became our saddest Prime Minister – something the media didn’t tell us but I know that for a fact. Like me Tunku took to drinking to remain sober. In his case it went out of control – even his love for horse racing didn’t quite come so close.
Making fun of me and my legacy are you?? Wait a minute…! I believe I am still Prime Minister. So why all this talk about legacy ni?? Najib and his cohorts may be running the country even when I was back in Malaysia – but of course now that I am holidaying in Perth, Australia shaking hands with kangaroos and aborigines and sailing the Swan River behind my Sheraton Hotel I don’t want to think about legacy and stuff. Please let me have my day in the sun. Sometimes when daydreaming (and I do that a lot) I dream of being King Edward VI of England who abdicated the throne to pursue the love and affection of a commoner – except in my case, belum jumpa lagi lah.
Yes, in case you don’t already notice it, back in Malaysia they call me the 9th sultan – and Najib is the Prime Minister. And you know what? They are right. I cannot help it. People insist on kissing my hand. It is not my custom to be letting strangers kiss my hand – but if the good doctor did that why can’t I do the same.
Talking about our good doctor (not you lah Bakri), even when Prime Minister, he was suffering from split personality. There were times when he thought he was Malaysia’s tin pot dictator, at others he thought he was that GP back in his Kelinik in Alor Star who has since graduated to become a brain surgeon with a unique understanding of the Malay mind and how it works, and at others he thought he was the head of Al Qaeda dispensing justice as he thought fit from the caves of Tora Tora – yes, it is all about his Look East Policy. He looks upon “terrorism” as diplomacy by other means.
Hello Dr. Bakri, don’t be unkind to this “perempuan joget” too much lah! They have made a more positive contribution to the nation by putting their bodies on the line for king and country, and for us bored husbands with split personalities –more than all the Prime Ministers combined.
On that note, I leave you so I could enjoy the cool breeze of Perth and its Swan River. We have to wait for our good doctor to return from his visit to the Ottoman Empire.
July 9th, 2006 at 8:52 am
Jong
My apologies for getting your gender wrong. No offence meant. Vancouver is real nice city and Canada is a great country. My son went to school in Montreal. Visited him several times. 10-4
July 9th, 2006 at 10:24 am
McGill?! Yes frenchspeaking Montreal the city of jazz, fantastic place indeed.
July 9th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Jong
How did you guess? Yes he did attend McGill and is now practising medicine in Akron, Ohio. Montreal is a cosmopolitan city and surprisingly its citizen are bilingual and comprises of many ethnic background. In a French speaking province McGill has strived as the leading Canadian university. Montreal is also the cultural center for Canada. Wonderful city.
July 9th, 2006 at 4:49 pm
Mind if I suggest you two love birds exchange your email address to preserve privacy - yours.
July 10th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
Ah Pek
Mind your words. We are writing about cities with culture and an advance civilization here. We are talking about countries where there is tolerance, understanding and acceptance of differences between culture, religion and nationalities. You are welcome to join in or you can opt out. Just like the TV you can switch channel So Ah Pek, please crawl out from under your tempurong, see the world and experience life. Don’t be an Apek Tua.
July 10th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Ah Pek,
there’s a saying - ” You are only young ONCE, but can be imature FOREVER! ” Faham tak?
July 11th, 2006 at 8:19 am
Hi Malaysians who still love Malaysia,
I think most of the viewers here are from the different places around the world, me too!!!! Currently I’m staying in Singapore (7 years). I’m very sad to see Malaysia is going backward day by day and witness Singapore is growing at the same time,
when I saw the Singapore government is trying to welcome more investors, the Malaysia government is trying to “kick” the investors away. Why I say so? When everyone is going to do business with the world’s 2 fastest growing countries (India and China), Malaysia pula close the door.
For example, the Indian software engineers can’t get the permit to work in MSC and the comment from our dearest Najip on the banning “Mandarin is required” on the job advertisement issues. I don’t know whether he had read the TIME magazine when he commented on that issues, the TIME
These kind of policies really make me worry about the future of Malaysia? Is the Malaysia government scared of challenge? Or are they too protective?
July 11th, 2006 at 10:04 am
Challenger, you shouldn’t be worried about this country. You should stay put in wherever you are and don’t come back. This country is literally going to the dogs and there’s no turning back.
If you look deeply all the problems in this country started when the majority race of Malaysia started to have this notion of Ketuanaan Melayu and their perception of entitlement based on their birthright. The problems became worse under Dr Mahathir for that is the time when most race divisive policies were implemented. It will take a revolution to change things and it will be very costly if it ever happens.
Many non bumiputras wish to leave this god forsaken place but can’t so be thankful for your current position.
July 12th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Hi Jan,
Although I’m staying in Singapore, but I’m still a Malaysian, I really love this country. I do plan to go back and contribute back to my mother land. I want to let every Malaysian know how fierce the challenge out there. Now is not only India and China, Russia, Arabic countries, South America, East Europe…….. everyone is meaning business, they want to grow their economy, their want to share the profit among their nation, and they want to grow….. How about us? Are we still want to continue with our race issue, are we still fight among ourself for our own benefit? Are we calling ourself Malaysian or Bumiputera or Malaysian Indian or Malaysian Chinese? Is the color still that important now? Or is the future of our contry more important?
If all the leaders always shouting on how to protect Malaysia, are they doing something to protect it? Are they protecting through some special birth rights? Whatever rights it is, I strongly believe that, teaching a person to fish is far far more effective than you catch the fish for them.
-the end-
July 12th, 2006 at 10:36 am
Challenger, you see, my friend, our leaders are Malay leaders first and Malaysian leaders second. Their priority is Malays first under their concept of Ketuanaan Melayu. It’s not about to change anytime soon as they already indicated that the NEP will be extended to 2020. They don’t seem to give 2 hoots to globalisation even though the competition is knocking at our doors.
They rather admit under qualified bumiputra students into public universities under the fake meritocratic system than give up to bright non Bumiputra students. You’ll probably agree already how screwed up our education standard is and it’s not even the end. At the end of 2020 I am sure they will extend the NEP for another donkey years and when our oil dries out Malaysia will become a 4th world banana republic thanks to the current batch of racist leaders we have voted in.
July 12th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Worrisome isn’t it? We have no one to blame except ourselves! Every 4.5 years malaysians get sweet-talked into voting in the same batch of monkeys, again and again. We deserve to be treated so and should not complain.
July 13th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Dear Dr. Bakri,
In your last paragraph, you brought up an “unstated” policy of MOE, or our government. Policies like this one that are totally undemocratic and in fact, unlawful are being practised to perpetuate Ketuanan Melayu.
The civil servants are interpreting or more accurately, deciding what the policies are instead of our parliament. Because there are now far fewer civil servants of other races, almost all policies are biased racially or rather implemented with a racial bias. This is totally wrong and should not be allowed to go on further.