Pre-schooling Education System in Malaysia

Parents: What do you think about pre-schooling education system in Malaysia?

The Malaysia pre-schooling education system started to develop since 1986. Under section 22 of the Education Act 1996 - Programmes and activities of every kindergarten shall follow the curriculum guidelines for kindergartens approved by the Minister. In 2003, the Ministry of Education officially directed every kindergarten to comply with the standard syllabus.

Comparing the pre-schooling education system in Malaysia with other countries in Asia, Japan and China,we can see that these two countries have used the similar syllabus like us for example but they have gave different priority to each syllabus;

(i)  Japan emphasis on: Health, Society, Language, Natural and Music;
(ii) China emphasis on: Health, Language, Society, Science and Art;
(iii)Malaysia emphasis on: Language & Communication, Cognitive Development, Moral, Social & Emotion, Physical Development, Creativity & Esthetic

Japan and China respectively concerned more on the health’s issue and therefore have allocated plenty of outdoor activities, group discussion and music in their syllabus. As a result, we can observe that the children in Japan and China have grown up healthily and less pressure as compared to the children in Malaysia.

Challenges of pre-schooling in Malaysia
1.    Most of the parents pre-decided what they want teachers to teach to their children;
2.    Parents lacking of knowledge and awareness on pre-schooling education system. Hence they are unaware that some of the teaching method does not comply with the curriculum of Malaysia and the standard of pre-schooling system.

 

Conflict Management Workshop

The “Conflict Management Workshop” conducted on 20 May 2007 at Wawasan Open University was a replication of IAF training by FAN Malaysia, with the co-operation of YMM Central Training Committee and Jalan Kepong branch.

The primary purpose of this workshop is to introduce participants to the concepts of conflict prevention, management and resolution, develop participant’s appreciation of the fundamental causes and conditions of conflicts in Family Level, Organization Level, National Level and International Level, as well as explore the applicability of traditional conflict resolution mechanisms and their effectiveness.

Participants will be exposed to key theories of conflict and concepts of conflict prevention, management and resolution as it relates to Malaysia; learn the key analytical frameworks in understanding conflict and conflict resolution processes, and be exposed to different approaches to prevention, management and resolution of conflicts, as well as understand the role of culture in conflict and its resolution.

The workshop opened with light introduction to FAN Malaysia by its chairman, Ms. Ng Yeen Seen and a survey on the most important conflicts since 1990 and also the expectation of the participants. The facilitator, Gideon Chiong introduced selected levels and instruments of conflict management: Conflict settlement, Conflict resolution and Conflict transformation before breaking into small group to discuss on Mediation and arbitration techniques, Structural reform and peace efforts, Transforming cultural conflict and NGO activities.

After lunch, participants were required to apply the techniques in 4 types of conflicts: Domestic conflicts, Organizational conflicts, National conflicts and International conflicts. Their solutions were presented to the group and being critically evaluated. The workshop ended with a closing speech by the YMM Central Training Committee Chairman, Mr Yong Khai Wah and a certificate presentation by Dr Busarin Dusadeeisariyawong.

The 25 participants were a good mix from youth organization leaders, community association, Tour Guide Association, staffs & members of political party, working adults and students. Views from all level of society were presented on the discussed topics of both local and international issues, whereby they could apply a more structured frame work to analyze and resolve these conflict areas in a more systematic manner.

The knowledge learnt were well accepted and started to spread into other sectors of the society when Representative from the Tour guide Association called to make arrangement with the facilitator to conduct similar course days after the workshop.

 

Who we are & how do we engage with the world?

Our country, Malaysia is an active member of various international organisations, including:

the Commonwealth of Nations,

the United Nations and many of its specialized agencies, including

• UNESCO,
• World Bank,
• International Monetary Fund,
• International Atomic Energy Agency;
• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,
• Association of Southeast Asian Nations;
• Asian Development Bank,
• Five-Power Defense Arrangement,
• South Centre,
• East Asia Summit (EAS),
• Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC),
• The Commonwealth,
• Non-Aligned Movement, and
• Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Under the leadership of Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohammad, Malaysia’s foreign policy stance began to take a much greater economic orientation that before.

Coupled with a strong and nationalistic defence of the rights, interest and aspirations of developing countries and the advocacy of south-south co-operation and also a program of outreach to Islamic countries through the OIC.

Other issues the are interesting for discussions:

• Relations with Singapore
• Spratly islands and Limbang,
• Foreign migrants (Indonesian and Filipino migrants)
• Malaysia’s Foreign Policy Principle
• Islamic Positions (Palestine, Iraq, Islamic terrorism)
• 9MP on Federal Government Development Allocation and Expenditure for Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

No one follow the plan

” No one follow the plan”

This line strikes me most when reading through the introductory materials in a strategic planning seminar organized by the International Academy for Leadership of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

Working for the HQ of a party, I have the chance to handle the national strategic planning meetings headed by the party president when all sorts of visionary strategies, policies, plans etc were formed. On the other hand, we can see how things diluted down when visited the grass root members during our national tour.

Handling the daily operations of the party, we often feels the frustration of the tug-of-war between the vision & mission of the top leaders and the bread and butter demand of the grassroots. It is easy to fall into the psychological trap of ‘no one follow the plan’ and take the easy way out by applying short sighted tactics.

It is worse when people take things into their own hands as observed in our government, which is famous for manipulations (of the ‘little napoleons‘, as said by our Prime Minister) in the implementation of visionary plans.

I would opine that when planning strategically, the psycho-graphics of different levels of implementors be take into consideration to ensure the plan is carried out properly.

 

Attitude of Chinese Youth towards Politics

The Political Value of youth today has to be viewed from the aspects of Political Psychology & Political Theory.

Look at the 2006 Merdeka Center Youth Survey. It shows that:

• 64% of the surveyed youth think that Politics are complicated
• 35% admitted that they don’t understand politics while
• 26% think that politic is dirty.

IF government can guarantee economic growth, 41% youth are willing to give up election, among them

• 49% Chinese
• 37% Malay and
• 48% Indian

Only 27% think that election is conducted fairly while only 8% think that they can affect the government.

On the other hand, the 2004 New Era College Youth Survey which focused on Selangor concluded that:

• Political awareness is high but the involvement is low.
• Most youth are concerned about corruption while
• agree that the government policy affect Chinese youth significantly and
• should allow more space for opposition.
• These youth think that they are good citizens but
• are willing to compromise law to achieve certain task.

Conclusions derived from these surveys indicated that our youth care about social issues more than political issues, which can further described as having a mindset of a residence in this country more than citizen. Their awareness is high but never participates in politics.

Development of youth mentality from the Agricultural age to industrial age then the information age has posed the following problems:

1. Polarization – It’s a result from the heritage of anti colonial mindset from our education system, media, and (race based) political parties
2. Education System – Its aim is to train worker for economical development using the social engineering approach. Hence trained generations of non-thinking youth – controlled with Higher Education Act.
3. Economical Structure – Individualism, consumerism, materialism act as catalyst of the mindset of the youth.

Characteristic of these mindsets are: Hatred on politicizing of issues, Self-marginalization – think that their own vote is not important and would prefer migrate than the long term struggle of participating in politics.

Reason of the development: Lack of Political Idealism which caused the materialization of politics, and Lack of motivation which is a product of emptiness of the soul.

Never the less, facing these grey sentiments, youth worker like YMM have to determine in promoting the positive concept of Vertrical Heritaging & Horizontal Interaction actively among the youth. It is important to Seek the common value within the difference among the multiracial context of Malaysia.

 

How group study helps me

Study groups is very important for a distand learner. For me, it helps to retain the information I learned. It is like unconciously applying the learning techniques.

First of all, the study group ‘forces’ me to Study Regularly as it is out of the tutorial class and on top of my usual self studying schedule.

By coming out and meeting with fellow classmates to discuss the ideas not only i have to review & Organise the Information before hand but also motivates me to study better in order to have ‘face’ and keep up with the discussion in the group.

Besides that, the group Make the Material Meaningful, as there there will be group members that always ask about how to apply the information. Either by explaining or listening to the explaination, I got first hand experience on the relevance in daily of the newly acquired knowledge.

More importantly, as our group members are from different industries, this sharing of experience really broaden my view on how the things we learn in class can be applied to fields other than my own.

Combined all the above, all the interaction in the group and preparation need to come to a group, facilitated a environment that truely enables Studying Actively. The group sometimes mixed jokes, gossip and also some lunch/dinner session, whereby all the group members have to participate, think about and discuss (sometimes argue) active about the knowledge they learned. It has become part of our life, the paticipation has make it as if these learning are directly from our live experience.

Most of the time after a group session, though not long due to time contrain, there is a sense of familiar with the topic discussed.

 

Opinion Polls

Anxiously looking at a possible election, any opinion polling this time would again  create talking and debating points among political pundits, media watchers and the interested Joe Public.

Before getting into these discussion, it is worth it to take some time to set the record straight on what surveys are meant and not meant to do.

First of all, it is important to remember that surveys are but a snapshot of a point in time. It is meant to gauge voter sentiment at that particular point in time i.e. the period in which the survey was conducted.

Former British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson once said that ‘a week is a long time in politics’. Elections can be made and unmade in the space of a week. In the space between a survey and the election, a lot can and will happen which might affect the sentiment of the voters.

Secondly, a national survey is meant to reflect sentiment on a national scale. A voter, from assessing the conditions in his particular constituency might find that a significant proportion of the voter sentiment is still anti-establishment while a national poll might refute that sentiment. It does not mean that the national poll figures have been rigged. Rather, local conditions cannot be extrapolated to national figures and vice versa. On the other hand, a poll conducted at the state level, with the appropriate boost in the sample size, would paint a more accurate picture of voter sentiment at a more localized level.

Besides that, in conducting any survey, sample size and selection is always a tricky issue. One cannot hope to meet all the criterion of ethnic, gender, age, education and income representativeness because of various constraints. Hence, the presence of a margin of error for every poll. All polling agencies including international renowned ones such as Gallup or MORI would include a margin of error for every poll they conduct.

It is also important to the method of polling and the cultural context in which the poll takes place. Every polling method has its pros and cons. Telephone polling, which has been used by some research agency, has the advantage of low cost and more accurate targeting but excludes those without phones who are usually the economically marginalized.

However, a face to face poll, is more inclusive but is also more expensive to run. Malaysians, who are generally suspicious of strangers, are sometimes reluctant to answer questions and may even answer in a way which they think would please the questioner. Most polling agencies in Malaysia have found that it is the Chinese community that is, by and large, the most reticent especially in regards to perceived ‘sensitive’ questions.

These cultural factors perhaps explain why some of the political surveys recently show a high percentage of unknowns or no responses especially for certain questions.

All in all, surveys are a useful indicator of what people’s perceptions are at a certain point in time. If they are analyzed and interpreted correctly taking into consideration other factors and supporting evidence, commentators, policy makers and even the man on the street can benefit from it.

 

Mind Mapping For Strategy Thinking

Mind mapping is a good technique to conceptualize ideas as there are pictures and colors. Why Pictures and colors are important in blue print? Pictures and colors are the most important element for blue print because picture can tell thousands words and colors able to make things more interesting and exciting.

A good Mind Map should consist of five criteria as below:-

• S Single – used single word to explain your thinking
• P Picture – picture can tell more words
• Unlimited Colors – colors make blue print more interesting and attractive
• Memory Link – A linking list of expanding ideals which could be connected back to the keyword
• Space Repetition – always practice to use blue print in daily life

Mind Mapping is important and is also useful to everybody and also to company, it enable you to see the whole picture and it is good for future planning and decision making. Some consultants have even used blue print to help corporate company especially in the stock exchange and to consult some financial problem company.

Mind Mapping was suitable for all age level and all sector as it is good for decision making, planning and it is easy to learn and master.

 

The way forward - hope in our hands

It’s the same calm Gummersbach winter outside my window and now I’m supposed to say good bye. However, there is no doubt in my mind that it’s worth it to come here. The world is not the same like it used to be, many things are advanced, so are the conflicts. We all need to do our part, to be a responsible resident on earth. A seed was sown in Malaysia and it’s my responsibility to make sure it grows.

Plans to replicate the training and many mini-workshops on (localized) conflict management is already stirring my mind; and much more work need to be done in my country. I am glad I came, as it is a very different Chinese New Year for me, for it truly brings hope, and it is all in our hands.

 

Last 2 days

At the last 2 days of the seminar we were all good friends, while all learnings were put together when regional groups were formed to exemplary international conflicts in their respective region. Everything seems to fit nicely together like the pieces of puzzle when members debated on the approaches and exchanged views on the practical considerations.

It was like second nature to the group, especially in the presentation and discussion of work group results, which compared and evaluated the three presented conflict management approaches for conflict in the 4 different region.