10 theSun | FRIDAY JULY 24 2009

speak up! RUKUN NEGARA: THE PRINCIPLES

BELIEF LOYALTY TO KING THE SUPREMACY THE RULE COURTESY AND
IN GOD AND COUNTRY OF THE OF LAW MORALITY
CONSTITUTION

THE OBJECTIVES
TO achieve greater unity TO maintain a TO create a just society in TO ensure a liberal approach TO build a progressive society
among Malaysians democratic way of life which the wealth of the nation to her rich and diverse which shall be oriented to modern
shall be equitably shared cultural traditions science and technology

outright hate? Indeed, we were given sent a note of congratulations thus:

Believing in Malaysia
a nasty dose of such irrationality in “All men of goodwill and peace must
the charges of racism following the fight against poverty… so that the
awful death of Teoh Beng Hock, children of God may live in peace
which was tragedy for all Malay- and share the fruits of prosperity
sians. and plenty. I know that St Andrew’s
Several conferences I’ve attended Presbyterian Church is doing all it
cite the political expediency of delib- can to spread the message among
MY cousin who brazenly ancestor is Sultan Zainal despite the church literature stating erately conflating race and religion Malaysians in all corners of this
identifies herself as a Abiding Abidin III, who I am told “for non-Muslims only”. The con- which has led to a situation where
many events in the public sphere
country and I have no doubt it will
succeed. May I wish the church in
staunch Malay-Muslim included both Maliki and cern was that either he was similarly
conservative remarked
Times Shafie scholars in his an undercover journalist and thus are now ostentatiously tinged with the coming years all success and the
that half my Facebook by Tunku ‘Abidin court – was digesting this, desecrating the sanctity of the place division. But there’s more to it than blessing of God.”
friends seem to be non- Muhriz I capped it off by revealing of worship, or that he was bait who that. It’s not merely that much of the What is profound about this state-
Malay, non-Muslim and that one of my squash was gathering material that would public don’t trust the institutions of ment is not merely that it is a state-
rather liberal. Well, I buddies is an atheist who implicate the church in propagating state, which is why the calls for a ment of hope but also an indication
replied somewhat irksomely, I would quotes Richard Dawkins’ The God of trust that non-Muslim Malaysian
have been living in a box if, after 12 Delusion (not banned in Malaysia) congregations would contribute to
years of merantau, I knew only Ma- in between points (he will now call
All men of goodwill and peace must fight against the national cause. This is the same
lay-Muslim conservatives. me and scream that he is in fact an poverty… so that the children of God may live in peace man who, after establishing Perkim,
I then went on to emphasise agnostic). and share the fruits of prosperity and plenty. I know that St constantly stressed that “Malaysia
the demographic variety of my list: Speaking with such people Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is doing all it can to spread the must continue as a secular state with
among my schoolmates there’s a Ti- about their faith, or lack thereof, is Islam as the official religion.”
betan Buddhist, a Nigerian Catholic, interesting and educational and not,
message among Malaysians in all corners of this country and In 1968, the then mentri besar of
an American Hindu, a Jew against despite the paranoia of “religious” I have no doubt it will succeed. May I wish the church in the Negri Sembilan, Tan Sri Datuk Dr
Zionism (who would don orthodox authoritarians everywhere, scary or coming years all success and the blessing of God.” Mohd Said Mohamed, laid the foun-
Jewish robes and march against subversive. dation stone, blessed by a bishop,
Israeli aggression), and a smattering But the tone of my Malaysian of St Mark’s Anglican Church in
who were confirmed into the Church Presbyterian friend was rather urgent Christianity among Muslims. If this royal commission of inquiry were so Seremban. It was being rebuilt after
of England. I pointed out that among when, after the story of the Al-Islam were successful it would be cata- loud (I doubt its establishment will a fire had gutted it, and the federal
my Muslim friends there is variety reporters who had attended Catholic strophic for the church. satisfactorily assuage those who had and state governments made a dona-
too: there’s my Canadian Ismaili col- mass in an undercover investigation The level of distrust was palpable, great hope for the MACC). But it’s tion to help in the construction work.
league, my Iranian-English Twelver emerged, he confided that he too had and I wondered how have we come also that the institutions of state don’t That, surely, is what our first Rukun
university mate, and my formerly seen a Muslim in his usual church, to this? Why are there Malaysians trust non-state institutions. Negara is all about.
Protestant friend who was so moved and he was worried about his mo- who are so completely inured with On the fiftieth anniversary of
by Jalaluddin Rumi that she is now tives. Apparently evidence had been this fallacious “us” and “them” St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Tunku ’Abidin Muhriz is director of
a Sufi. seen confirming that this chap was a mindset where “their” group must Tunku Abdul Rahman, the future the Malaysia Think Tank. Comment:
As my cousin – our shared Muslim but he would not admit to it, treat the “other” with suspicion or first secretary-general of the OIC, letters@thesundaily.com.

letters
letters@thesundaily.com
Suffer the students
LIFE in Malaysia for a teenager is
certainly different from that in Hol-
land. I am shocked. I am perplexed. I
am indeed saddened!
I’m a 15-year-old teenager from
the Netherlands visiting my mater-
nal grandma and other relatives in
Malaysia. I decided to write this let-
ter as I was alarmed at the mundane,
routine, monotonous lifestyle of my
three younger cousins studying in
public schools in Malaysia.
It was 6pm, when I went to my
pati’s (grandmother) and was sur-
prised to hear that one of my cousins
hadn’t come home yet – he was still
at school while the others were
already home as they attended the
morning session. When he finally
came home it was close to seven. He
was immediately shipped off to the
shower – hardly anything said – fol-
lowed by his prayers and continued
by homework.
Sadly, I see this happening almost
everywhere in Malaysia. I observe
the student’s life has only one
purpose – studying! There is little
room for self-discovery, forming an
opinion and deciding for themselves
what to do with their life. It makes
me sad that I have to write this. You
see – they are gradually trapped in
this rigid system and no longer have
an opinion and don’t know that it
can be different.
I’m in what here would be called
Form Four. My average day starts
at about 7am. I have precisely half
an hour to get ready and cycle to
school. I’m there at ten to eight and
meet my friends. I go to my locker,
stuff my 15kg of books in my locker
and take out only the mandatory
stuff. My good friend and I get there
around the same time and otherwise
I chat with the guys from my year.
We discuss what is happening in
the world or just the simple things
in life (teachers, weekend, etc.). At
times, we also do some last-minute
studying or homework.
We have nine 50-minute periods
of classes, about 40 periods a week
comprising 14 subjects of which
I take each two or three periods a
week.
Now let’s look at my dear cousins:
they don’t seem to have the oppor-
tunities to become well-rounded
– they seem to be at a loss as how to
lead their life and how to manage it.
They look only at tomorrow and live
day-to-day. While my entire school
in Holland spent their first half year
of secondary school following com-
pulsory lessons on how to manage
their time well, how to study intelli-
gently and smartly, my counterparts
in Malaysia don’t seem to have this
privilege. A suggestion: perhaps this
is a subject worth considering in the
Malaysian curriculum.
This is where I see now a great
negligence, restriction, deprivation
of Malaysian schooling; but not only
that, Malaysian afternoon-session
school contact hours are scheduled in
such a way, it is not possible to lead a
proper, well-managed life. How can
anyone expect to manage time when
he only starts his day at 1.15pm?
Some will oppose this by saying that
he could study in the morning, but if
you think about it, isn’t school there
to help us get involved in the mat-
ter you are studying before coming
home and spending your own time
examining it – you need first the
basis for your own work, before you
can continue on your own.
When my schoolday ends, I still
have ample time for my homework
and my social life. My cousins don’t
seem to have a second to idle after
school – not even time to read a
storybook – because finishing
their homework is such a struggle.
Furthermore, I have enough time
to discuss my day with friends and
parents and take my time to gather
my thoughts before starting on my
homework. I’m then invigorated to
venture into my homework and can
feel a great satisfaction besides a feel-
ing of accomplishment on finishing
my assignments.
Johanna Hettinga,
‘s-Hertogenbosch
The Netherlands
Dry, dark days at
Labuan campus
MY recent visit to Universiti Malay-
sia Sabah-Kampus Antarabangsa
Labuan (UMS-KAL) caught me by
surprise. The hostels were in a
state of disrepair and run-down.
However, yet another major crisis
has hit the campus.
I am trying to provide as much
support as possible to the UMS-
KAL, so that the Education Ministry
can provide the necessary funds
for upgrading and maintenance.
When the federal government
decided to put up a branch campus
in Labuan, no planning was done
to ensure sufficient infrastructure
support was taken care of?
I plead with the federal govern-
ment to take some emergency
measures by providing the uni-
versity sufficient funds to drill for
ground water if no other sources
of water are available.
The hostels do not have a
steady supply of water. While the
country is going through a dry
spell, the dams are pretty much
well stocked.
Some of my colleagues sta-
tioned in Labuan tell me that as
a result of development projects
over the last 10 years, the infra-
structure is insufficient to cope
with the increased population.
My daughter informed me that
there is 6am-6pm water rationing
in many parts of the island.
Instead of preparing to go for
lectures at 8am, students are seen
walking 1km or so to find a place to
take a decent bath. The UMS-KAL
management has done its best by
placing extra water tanks for the
students use, but this should not
become a norm for an institution
of higher learning.
How can we expect more West
Malaysians to take up courses
in UMS-KAL under such living
conditions? I understand a good
number of students decided to
drop off due to the rough living
conditions. This is not a National
Service camp but a university.
It is going to be a pretty mis-
erable scenario for the students
for the next three-four months,
hoping that there is good rainfall
from September. Then the whole
process repeats itself next year.
While we are collecting dona-
tions and sending aid to other
countries, I hope that someone
will focus on the plight of our
students in this university.
The electricity supply is also
erratic and I was told there were
more than three power outages in
the last two weeks lasting several
hours.
Concerned Father
Putrajaya

Football fan swears off public transport

THE MU vs Malaysia XI match at
Bukit Jalil Stadium last Saturday
was a dream come true for my fam-
ily since it was the first time we got
to see our favourite EPL team in the
flesh. However, getting to the stadium
and back was a nightmare. We had
planned to beat the rush and escape
the traffic jams by taking the LRT
but apparently tens of thousands of
others had the same idea.
First, there was a big crowd at the
Masjid Jamek station ticket booth. No
one was controlling the queues and
there was no signboard saying that
return tickets from Masjid Jamek to
Bukit Jalil and back were being sold
at counters on the opposite end of the
station. Return tickets were the best
option if you didn’t want to get stuck
in another queue in Bukit Jalil.
Coming back from the stadium at
8pm was even worse as there were
big crowds outside the LRT station.
The commuters couldn’t get in as the
metal shutters were closed, another
crowd was stuck inside the station
waiting for the security guards to al-
low them up the stairs onto the train
platform and another crowd waiting
at the platform itself.
Again, there was a lack of crowd
control and my family along with
many other families with younger
children were fearful of being
pushed and squashed from behind
as the crowd got impatient and bois-
terous. The same thing happened
when boarding the train as my wife
was almost tripped over by people
rushing in from the sides of the train
door. The situation was chaotic.
I vowed that it was the last time I
would take public transport to such
events and I put most of the blame
on RapidKL for failing to anticipate
the huge crowd and their lack of
crowd control which may have led
to casualties. The rest of the blame
goes to inconsiderate, indifferent and
selfish Malaysians of whom I am
sadly a part of.
Syed Hakim
Petaling Jaya