Teachers in Sabah and Sarawak felt “very insulted and demoralised” as none of the schools from the two states made it to the list of the country’s top 20 schools. Read The best schools in Malaysia
Teachers’ Union Association for Sabah and Sarawak joint committee chairman William Ghani Bina said he had received calls from many teachers and parents who conveyed their strong feelings on the matter.
“They said the announcement of the 20 highest-performing schools came as a great insult to teachers in both Sabah and Sarawak. The results were demoralising to them.
“They felt strongly that 43 years after Sabah and Sarawak became part of Malaysia, the national education policy has failed. Something is wrong,” he added when asked yesterday.
The Education Ministry had announced an annual budget of nearly RM1mil for each of the schools besides allowing students to finish a year earlier as reward for high performance.
Ghani, who is also Sarawak Teachers’ Union president, said parents and teachers questioned the impartiality in picking the 20 schools. There are 1,624 primary schools and 107 secondary schools in Sarawak.
He said the association, which shared the sentiments expressed by the teachers and parents, found it unfair to grade all schools in the country with only one measure.
Ghani said unlike Singapore where most schools were in almost the same situation, schools in Malaysia were classified as urban or rural.
For the rural schools, he said there were three different classifications based on hardship allowances for the teachers, ranging from RM500 to RM1,500.
“The differing hardship allowances means that the Government accepts the disparities between schools. It is therefore unfair to rate schools with a single grade.”
Ghani said the Education Ministry should be serious in addressing the longstanding teacher shortage problem in Sarawak.
“We are not asking for 100% trained teachers. There is even a shortage of untrained (temporary) teachers,” he added.
Ghani said he had asked the ministry to train temporary teachers who had taught for many years, but the ministry had not accepted their applications to be trained as permanent teachers.
He urged the ministry to accept applications from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (Unitar) graduates with education degrees to increase the number of professional teachers.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday announced that 20 schools -- 14 secondary and six primary -- had been accorded the status of high performance schools (SBTs). Of the 20 high performing schools, none of it is from Sarawak or Sabah.
Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said of the 14 secondary schools, 10 were fully residential schools and the rest were day schools.
“These schools were chosen from among schools that showed outstanding performance in the field of academia, co-curricular activities and niche areas.
“The schools will be guided and monitored closely to ensure they continue to attain even higher levels of performance,” he told reporters at his office here Monday.
The 10 fully residential schools are Sekolah Tun Fatimah (Johor Bahru), Sekolah Dato’ Abdul Razak (Seremban), Malay College Kuala Kangsar, Sekolah Seri Puteri (Cyberjaya), SM Sultan Abdul Halim (Jitra), Kolej Tunku Kurshiah (Seremban), Kolej Islam Sultan Alam Shah (Klang), Sekolah Menengah Sains (SMS) Tuanku Syed Putra (Perlis), Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah (Putrajaya) and SMS Muzaffar Syah (Malacca).
The four day schools are SMK (P) Sri Aman (Petaling Jaya), SMK Aminuddin Baki (Kuala Lumpur), SMK Sultanah Asma (Alor Setar) and SMK (P) St George (Penang).
The six primary schools are SK Seri Bintang Utara (KL), SK Taman Tun Dr Ismail 1 (KL), SK Bukit Damansara (KL), SK Zainab (2) (Kota Baru), SK Convent Kota (Taiping), SK Bandar Baru Uda 2 (Johor Bahru).
Muhyiddin stressed that SBTs were not elite schools which benefited only a limited number of students.
Instead, he said each school in the country had the same opportunity and a level playing field to be recognised as an SBT.
“Any school that meets the targets of excellence and criteria set (by the Education Ministry) will be recognised as an SBT and get the same privileges,” he said.
Muhyiddin said the ministry targeted 30 SBTs by next year and 50 in 2012.
He said the rationale in having SBTs was to raise the quality of the best schools in the country to be world class, produce outstanding students and narrow the gap between schools within the system.
He said SBTs would be given additional autonomy to pursue innovation in school management and raise the productivity of students.
As for the curriculum, he said, it would be flexible in terms of teaching and learning as well as syllabi for compulsory and elective subjects, conforming to public examinations and the use of the national language as the medium of instruction, or multiple languages.
Muhyiddin said the schools concerned were also given leeway in fixing the minimum periods for subjects, extending schooling hours and allowing students to complete their studies a year earlier, just like the express promotion system that was introduced previously.
In terms of budget, he said a lump sum grant would be channelled to the schools at the beginning of each year and that they would have the full flexibility to spend it as needed and were exempt from the ministry’s centralised procurement system.
“Every school has its own budget, but with this status, they will be given additional funds and they can use the money as needed,” he said, adding that the grant might be less than RM1mil but had not been fixed yet as this depended on the size of the SBT.
He also said management of staff at these schools would be based on meritocracy and not seniority, besides flexibility given for the paying of overtime and performance incentives.
“There will also be flexibility to re-assign under performing staff and delegation of functions based on academic and non-academic reasons,” he said.
Muhyiddin said the SBTs would be appraised yearly based on their annual reports with the appropriate performance indicators and inspections by the ministry’s officers in accordance with the revised Malaysian Education Quality Standard.
In relation to this, he said the SBTs would have to fullfil six criterias -- attain academic excellence, produce outstanding students, win awards at the national and international level, be invovled in community work and network with other schools and higher learning institutions, both locally and internationally.
One of the roles the SBTs would have to play was having their teachers act as mentors to teachers in other schools through the “immersion” programme involving principals, headmasters and teachers, he said.
Towards maintaing their status as SBTs, he said their strategic plans, management structure, academic and co-curriculum programmes should serve as benchmarks for other schools, locally and abroad.
Muhyiddin said that schools in rural areas could also be selected as SBTs if they fullfilled the criteria.
“I know not all the 10,000 schools (in the country) can reach this status, but irrespective of whether they are urban or rural schools, they stand an equal chance of being accorded SBT status.
“But if the (rural) schools are constrained because they do not have the same facilities as their urban counterparts, we will speed up action to narrow the gap,” he said. -- Bernama
An old joke but funny nevertheless.
In November 2006, President George W Bush is about to visit several Asian
countries including Indonesia and Singapore.
Bush: Well Condi, is there anything you need from Singapore that I can
pick up for you while I am there next month?
Rice: That's very kind of you, Mr President, but no, there's really
nothing I need right now from there. But Laura will certainly enjoy the
shopping there, sir.
Bush: Ah yes, she's been talking about it. Lee's wife has promised to take
her shopping at the newly opened Vivocity.
Rice: I'm sure she'll enjoy a trip to Sentosa too. Especially now, that
the haze from Indonesia has more or less lifted. Talking of which, you're
going to Indonesia too, aren't you sir?
Bush: Yes I am, and while I'm with the Indonesian President, Laura will
visit Acheh and give away a cheque to the tsunami victims.
Rice: How sweet. Would you be dropping by Malai Shia, sir?
Bush: Naw, giving them a miss.
Rice: Don't blame you sir, they have some rough motor cyclists there. Call
themselves "Mad Ram Piss" or something. They think they're the Asian
equivalent of our Knievel. They would certainly scare Laura to death.
Bush: Nah, Laura is made of sterner stuff. But that's not the reason why
we're not going to Malai Shia, Condi.
Rice: Oh. Then it must be their traffic jams. They even have monorails
that run off the tracks and dangle in mid-air. And highway pillars that
crack.
Bush: Really? Incompetent, that's all I can say. But no, that's not the
reason why we're skipping Malai Shia either.
Rice: Oh I know. You don't want to distract the Prime Minister right now,
do you? Heard he's getting some shitty stuff from his predecessor telling
him off like a kid.
Bush: If Clinton did that to me, I'd personally throw him off an F-16. But
no, that's also not the reason why we're skipping Malai Shia.
Rice: Must be the floods then, sir? It's the monsoon season now and it
floods bad after just two hours of rain. Landslides too; bring down houses
but then people there build 4-storey bungalows without approval.
Bush: Naw, the rain wouldn't bother us. That's also not the reason for not
going there.
Rice: I give up. Why are you visiting Indonesia and Singapore, and yet not
go to Malai Shia, Mr President?
Bush: The reason, Dr Rice, is that I don't want their Religious Department
people banging on our hotel room door in the middle of the night,
demanding to see our marriage certificate. Now THAT would scare the hell
out of Laura!
As part of a short term damage control, the government today said that it allows the use of the word “Allah” by East Malaysian Christians when referring to God in the Malay language.
The apparent concession is seen as a damage control move as Christians in the states of Sabah and Sarawak primarily conduct church services in the Malay language.
In an interview with a Kuching-based daily, The Borneo Post, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz (picture) said the word has been used traditionally in the two states and that the local Muslims are used to the practice.
The daily is circulated widely in the two Christian-majority states.
“Christians in Sarawak and Sabah need not worry over this issue because it is a common tradition there. I have been to an Iban church service and I heard the word “Allah” used there,” he reportedly said.
The “Allah” row started in 2007 after the Home Ministry invoked a 1986 Cabinet directive banning non-Muslims from using certain Arabic words when it refused to renew the publication permit of the Catholic tabloid, Herald.
The Catholic church later challenged the government’s decision and on Dec 31 last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the Herald has the right to use the word “Allah” for its Malay edition.
Another legal battle over the word “Allah” is also expected, as a Sarawakian Christian, Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill had earlier this week challenged the seizure of religious compact discs containing the word “Allah”, which took place in 2008 at the Sepang airport’s low cost carrier terminal.
Nazri’s pledge, which was front-paged by The Borneo Post today, comes just about one year before Sarawak is scheduled to have its state election.
The current state assembly’s term expires in mid-2011.
“Muslims here in Semenanjung cannot accept it as ‘Allah’ was never used in Christian preaching until recently and they questioned the motive behind the substitution of ‘Tuhan’ for ‘Allah’,” said Nazri in justifying the ban in the Peninsula.
“It is clearly stated in our constitution that no other religions can be propagated to Malay Muslims and this article has been enacted in all the states in Malaysia where the Sultan is the Head of State … so this excludes Federal Territory, Penang, Malacca, Sarawak and Sabah,” he added.
The daily also quoted Nazri to have said that the series of attacks against the houses of worship has proven that the government was right in its decision to restrict the use of the word.
“Banning the use of ‘Allah’ by Christians was a pre-emptive move to stop outbreaks of religious violence in the nation,” he reportedly said.
Nazri also drew a parallel between the “Allah” dispute and the ‘cow head protest’ in Shah Alam last year, against the relocation of a temple in the Selangor capital.
“Take for example, there is no law in the country that states stepping on a severed cow head is wrong but when a group of Malays did that in their protests against the building of a Hindu temple we hauled them up and charged them because that act was disrespectful to the Hindus,” he reportedly said.
The Muslim extremists have shifted their target from churches to Sikh temple in protest for the usage of the term "Allah". A glass window of the entrance door of the Sikh Temple in Sentul here was found cracked late yesterday by a barrage of stones, making it the first non-Christian house of worship hit since the controversial landmark “Allah” ruling.
The stoning of the Sikh temple or gurdwara in Jalan Haji Salleh near the former Sentul Railway Yard comes a week before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib makes a three-day official visit to India on Jan 19 to meet his counterpart Manmohan Singh, a Sikh himself, and reflects the government’s struggle to contain the issue and keep it from spiraling out of control.
Recommended reading:
* Malaysian Churches Under Threat
* Allah and the misinformed Muslims
* Allah was used to refer to God by Arabic-speaking Christians before Arabic-speaking Muslims existed
A reminder on the original term of "Allah". One thing for sure, Allah is an imported term to Malaysia.
The danger of paranoia — Gwynne Dyer
JAN 12 — In the late 1980s, when I was in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, a friend suggested that I drive out into the desert near Jubail to see the oldest extant Christian church in the world. And there it was, surrounded by a chain-link fence to keep casual visitors and foreign archaeologists out. Experts who saw the site before it was closed said that the church was built by Nestorian Christians, and was probably used from the 4th to the 9th century.
Its existence embarrassed the Saudi government, which prefers to believe that Arabia went straight from paganism to Islam. But it confirmed the assumption of most historians that Christianity was flourishing in the Arabian Peninsula in the centuries before the rise of Islam. So what did these Arabic-speaking Christians call God? “Allah”, of course.
I mention this because the High Court has struck down a three-year-old ban on non-Muslims using the word “Allah” when they speak of God in the Malay language. The decision was followed by firebomb attacks on three Christian churches in Kuala Lumpur last Thursday night. And last Friday, protesters at mosques in Kuala Lumpur carried placards reading “Allah is only for us”.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has condemned the attacks on the churches, but the Malaysian government is appealing against the High Court decision, and in the meantime, the ruling has been suspended.
“We...have the right to use the word ‘Allah’,” said Reverend Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, the newspaper of the Catholic Church in Malaysia, whose use of the word in its Malay-language edition triggered the crisis. Parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang simply observed that “the term ‘Allah” was used to refer to God by Arabic-speaking Christians before Arabic-speaking Muslims existed’.
Of course it was. Arabic-speaking Christians predate the rise of Islam by 300 years, and what else were they going to call God? The word “Allah” is a contraction of the Arabic definite article al- and the noun ilah, which means God. In parts of ancient Arabia, it once referred to the creator-god (who was not the only god), but for a very long time it has meant the One God.
This Arabic word was imported into the Malay language by converts to Islam, which arrived in the region several centuries before Christianity. Ethnic Malays are Muslim, but there are numerous Malay speakers, especially in north Borneo, who are Christian and not ethnically Malay. They also use the word “Allah” for God.
What’s the harm in that? Why are Malaysia’s Muslims so paranoid? The real paranoia, alas, is ethnic.
Malaysia is an ethnic time-bomb that has turned itself into a peaceful and prosperous country by a huge effort of will. The original population was mostly Malay, but under British rule huge numbers of Indian and Chinese immigrants were imported to work in the mines and plantations. By independence, Malays were only 60 per cent of the population, and much poorer than the more recent arrivals. They resented the past, the present and the probable future.
After several bouts of anti-Chinese and anti-Indian rioting, the country arrived at its current, highly successful compromise. The Malays dominate politics, but the Chinese and the Indians thrive in trade and commerce — and most people understand that they are ultimately in the same boat, which is called Malaysia.
The state spends a lot of money to raise the living standards of the Malays, and gives them preference for university places and government jobs. They have not done badly out of this deal, but nevertheless they feel perpetually insecure. Since they are all Muslims, while few other Malaysians are, they also feel their religion is under threat. Some respond by being aggressively intolerant of minorities.
Not all Malays behave this way. Major Muslim organisations, including the Islamic political party Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), have agreed that the other “Abrahamic religions” — Christianity and Judaism — may call their God Allah in Malay. But the situation is getting ugly, and it is high time for the government to stop playing along with the extremists.
It should take a lesson from the early Muslims of Arabia. Both the archaeological and the textual evidence suggest that most Arabs in northern Arabia and along the Gulf coast had already been Christian for several centuries when Islam first appeared in the 7th century. They were swiftly conquered by Muslim armies, but they were not forcibly converted.
As in all early Islamic empires, Christians had to pay higher taxes, but they were allowed to keep their property and practise their religion. It is highly improbable that they were forced to change the word they used for God. They did gradually convert to Islam, but the last Christian churches in the region probably survived into the early 9th century.
The Christians, Hindus, animists and others who make up 40 per cent of Malaysia’s population pay higher taxes, in the sense that they subsidise the poorer Malay-Muslim majority. Few of them will ever convert to Islam, but they are not its enemy either. Malaysia has achieved a fragile but workable compromise that gives its people a good life. It should not endanger it so frivolously. — The Straits Times
This post keep track on the chronology of threats to Malaysian Churches (and temples) beginning 2010 due to the dispute on the usage of "Allah" in a christian publication. Although Christians and Muslims in Malaysia enjoyed a harmonious relationship, there were “immature minds” out to cause havoc. Burning places of worship of others is wrong, not only in the eyes of the law but also in Islam. The spat of arson attacks on Malaysian churches could affect the business sector as foreigners might not want to invest in Malaysia. Attack tally so far: Churches: 9, Schools: 1, Temples: 1
Attack #11 - The St Elizabeth Catholic church in Kota Kecil, Johor near here was splashed with red paint early Thursday morning.
Attack #10 - A glass window of the entrance door of the Sikh Temple in Sentul (Jalan Haji Salleh) here was found cracked late Jan 12, 2009 by a barrage of stones, making it the first non-Christian house of worship hit since the controversial landmark “Allah” ruling.
Attack #9 - The entrance door of the Sidang Injil Borneo church in Seremban 2 was partially burnt in an arson attempt early Monday (11/01/2010), said Negri Sembilan Deputy CPO Datuk Abd Manan Mohd Hassan. It is the eighth church to be affected in the past three days.
Attack #8 - Kes terbaru turut membabitkan insiden vandalisme di Gereja Good Sheperd dekat Lutong Bazaar, kirakira 10km dari Miri, Sarawak, dua daripada tingkap kacanya pecah selepas dibaling bata hari ini (10/01/2010). UPDATES: The police claimed it is the work of teenage delinquents.
Attack #7 - The fourth attempted arson attack, at about 1am on Friday (08/01/2010), scarred the outside wall of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya.
Attack #6 - The staircase leading to the All Saints' Church at Jalan Taming Sari, Taiping was slightly burned.
Attack #5 - Molotov cocktail thrown into the SMK Convent school along Jalan Convent, Taiping failed to explode.
Attack #4 - In Malacca, it was the Malacca Baptist Church in Durian Daun. Black paint was splashed on the outer wall of Malacca Baptist Church.
Attack #3 - On Jan 08, 2010, the Assumption Church in Jalan Templer, Petaling Jaya come under arson attack.
Attack #2 - On Jan 08, 2010 the Life Chapel Church in Section 17, also in Petaling Jaya come under attempted arson attack. A Molotov cocktail was found at the porch of Life Chapel Church at 8.30am.
Attack #1 - On Jan 08, 2010, the Metro Tabernacle Church in Desa Melawati was damaged after a group of youths threw flammable materials into the ground floor of the church located in a shoplot. No one was injured in the incident as the church was empty at that time.
Photo gallery on the attack to Malaysian churches
Attack on Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Attack on Metro Tabernacle Church
A letter from A Rahman, a muslim reader of MalaysiaKini on the current issue of "Allah". A Rahman feels that the protests over 'Allah' ruling is embarrassing to him and other fellow moderate Muslims in Malaysia.
I refer to the Malaysiakini report Home Ministry applies for stay on 'Allah' ruling.
I fail to understand the logic of some of my fellow Muslims protesting in Penang and the federal government's (our prime minister, the Prime Minister's Department, the home minister and home ministry) stand to appeal over the High Court's decision over this issue. Why should Muslims get 'heated up' ?
The reasons given were:
1. As quoted by Syed Hassan Syed Ali, secretary-general of Malay rights group Pribumi Perkasa: 'We fear that the court victory will mean that Christian missionaries will now use the word, confusing (the identity of) Muslims and undermining religious harmony.' This is the 'confusion theory' that has been given as a reason. There is also a claim by the federal government that it will threaten national security.
2. Due to this 'confusion', it seems we Muslims are not able to distinguish between the 'Allah' of the Christians or that of the Muslims.
Now, when we debate this matter, it has to be done with a sound mind and a clear understanding of whether the ban on the term 'Allah' was done fairly to us Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Consider the facts :
1. The word 'Allah' has been used by pre-Islamic Arabs for God. There is evidence that the word 'Allah' existed before the birth of Muhammad (PBUH) for thousands of years. It is probably the oldest name man used to call God. Prophet Muhammad's father's name was Abdullah (The slave of Allah). This name was common among the Arab pagans and Jews. Abdullah bin Salam was one of the first Jews to convert to Islam in Medina.
2. We know for a fact that the Arabic Christians still use the term 'Allah' for their God. The word Allah is used in all Arabic translations of the Bible.
3. Our Sarawak and Sabah non-Muslim indigenous people have been using the word 'Allah' for God since the 1800s. I have seen, via the Internet, an 1818 version of the Christian bible, with the words 'Allah'. I am not sure of its origins though but it makes use of the word 'Allah'.
4. Other religions too do make mention of 'Allah' as their God.
a. 'Allah' in Sikhismis one of the names by which Gurunanak Sahib refers to God.
b. 'Allah' in Hinduism
i. 'Allah' in Rigveda Book 2 Hymn 1 Verse 2. Even in the Rigveda which is the most sacred scripture of the Hindus, one of the attributes given to God Almighty in Book No 2 Hymn No 1 verse II, is 'Ila' which if pronounced properly is the same as 'Allah'.
ii. Allo Upanishad. Amongst the various Upanishads, one is named as 'Allo' Upanishad in which God is referred to as 'Allah' several times.
5. I remember too that in the Quran, it states that the Christians do call their God as 'Allah', This in Al-Qur'an 5:72-73.
I am not an Islamic scholar but claiming that the use of the word 'Allah' would confuse us Muslims is really rubbish and to go beyond to claim that it will threaten national security is preposterous. Are we so weak in our faith that we cannot differentiate and we would turn apostates easily just because of the works of some Christian missionaries using this word?
Do Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak get confused? Come on, this is an insult to us Muslims. Are we saying we do not have depth in our faith that we can simply convert out of Islam just because of this? Does our Islamic faith carry such teachings? Is this more of the work of Man rather than of Allah?
We do not need Islamic scholars to tell us this. True Muslims do not need the government and self-proclaimed champions such as these Muslim groups to protest on our behalf. Their very act of claiming to protect our faith shows how shallow-minded these people are - both the protesters and the government.
They seem to capitalise on the political aspect of the situation rather than championing for the true cause of Islam. I'm not sure whether these protestors themselves understand the logic of why they are protesting. This is embarrassing us Muslims - not protecting our Islamic interests.
I shared this news with a few of my old Muslim friends overseas in Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Indonesia and Jordan via e-mail. They could not even believe me when I told them that the Malaysian government bans the use of this word and that some Islamic groups protested in support. They thought I was joking!
We should observe fair administration due to the fact that many of our ministers and department heads are Muslims. We should have treated the non-Muslims fairly as well. The government has confiscated 15,000 Malay bibles of the indigenous people of Sabah and Sarawak even though the word 'Allah' has been in use since 1800s.
This news has been published throughout the world. We impose and claim exclusiveness on the word 'Allah' when such as act is not even found in our Islamic faith while our Holy Quran even says that Christians do, in fact, use the word 'Allah'. Is this how Muslim leaders act? Is this called fairness to the peoples of other faiths?
You know what is the talk of the town now? That the court of appeal will override the high court decision. This is already expected by the man-on-the-street. So predictable that many of my non-Muslim friends are betting on the odds that it will be overturned. This makes our court of appeal a 'kangaroo court'. Is this how the people should think of our government - of which the majority of leaders are Muslims ?
We talk so much about this '1Malaysia' and 'People First' (Rakyat di Dahulukan). Looks like this is just more empty talk. We are back to square one as far as the man on the street is concerned . The Muslim leaders in the government and some self-proclaimed 'champions of Islam' are the ones giving Islam a bad name, sad to say.
All I am saying is let us put this issue to rest with the high court's decision and let us move on as Malaysians. If this issue of using the word 'Allah' by any other religion is not prohibited by any our Islamic teachings as spelled out in the Holy Quran and the Hadith, then what is the fuss by some misinformed Muslims?
Further appeals and counter-appeals would do more damage to the nation's reputation in the eyes of the international community and to the unity of the various races of different creed within Malaysia. To the prime minister and the home minister, shouldn't the government act like true and just Muslim leaders and spend more time rectifying the economic situation rather than appealing over this issue?
