PTAs Asking For Status Quo

Parents are voicing out now since they knew that their kids' PTAs could be used as an official channel to request the gahmen or the Ministry of Education to allow their kids' schools to remain status quo, i.e. to teach the Mathematics and Science subjects in the English language instead of reversing it back to the Malay language.

What to do? The gahmen went ahead without consulting the parents at schools. They are the ones that should be consulted but who cares about them. That's the gahmen that some have voted for and I hope that those voters are not the same people that are voting for the two subjects to be taught in English language now.

As PAGE has highlighted a possible avenue for PTAs to voice out their preferences, which was the school'one school did it via a PTA EGM as written in a previous blogpost.

Another school tried to do the same but was not that fortunate. The school authority of SMK Seri Hartamas managed to lock the school and bar those parents from entering the school premise to conduct the PTA meeting. The parents were adamant about the vote and it was conducted outside the school premise where majority of the parents that responded (more than 90%) voted for status quo.

The heat is picking ........ Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister apologised in a press conference saying that the parents or teachers shouldn't have been barred from entering the school to convene a PTA meeting.

On the other hand, the education ministry’s director-general Alimuddin Mohd Dom, has other feelings about it. Reason given - the PTA was not allowed to convene an EGM as its agenda to discuss the PPSMI policy placed the school’s teachers in a tight spot.

Now, more of the schools' PTAs are joining in .......... they are from SMK St Francis, SMK Gajah Berang, SMK Tinggi St David, SMK Canossa Convent, SMK Infant Jesus Convent, SM Catholic, SMJK Tinggi Cina, AM Yok Bin, SMK Tun Tuah, SM Pulau Sebang, Sekolah Tinggi Methodist Melaka and SMK (P) Methodist Melaka.

Is the gahmen or the education ministry doing anything about those requests? Or turn a deaf ear?

Related post - Parent Action Group for Education
Tags: Parent Action Group for Education, PAGE, Ministry of Education, Parent Teacher Association, PTA, Sekolah Kebangsaan, PPSMI, Science and Math in English, SMI, SMK Seri Hartamas

H1N1 Spreading Too Fast

As at todate, 32 dead, 203 new cases reported within last 24 hours, of which 15 were being treated inintensive care units and 67 patients are in isolation wards. A total of 1,982 cases have been confirmed and mostly were cured.

Anti-viral treatment has now been proven to be effective if the medicine was given to the affected people within 48 hours of getting the sickness.

If you have the following signs such as difficulty in breathing, fever, continuous chest pains, cough and diarrhea, please be aware.

Who are considered the high-risk groups of people?
* children who are below five years
* senior citizens 65 years and above
* children and youths under 19 who are on aspirin medication
* pregnant women
* people suffering from asthma, chronic lung disease, organ failure, cardiovascular, liver and blood system diseases
* diabetics
* obese people
* those with a low immunity

Drink more water and reduce unhealthy food!!

Lessen your exposure to the general public whenever possible.
Tags: H1N1, Swine Flu, Health, Anti-Viral Treatment

Leo & Kujo Session

My two puppies became 'larger' lately. Their appetite are growing too, gulping larger portion of food.










Good thing they do consume white rice too, if not the cost of feeding them will be really high.














Leo chewing on a small piece of chicken bone much to his delight.











Playing time after meal.
Tags: Puppy, Dog

Parent Action Group for Education

The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) met with several key PTA Chairmen or their representatives today at a closed-door session to brainstorm its next course of action.

Earlier, the Prime Minister had expressly stated that due consideration may be given to schools that desire to maintain the teaching of science and math in English (SMI) in their schools, either primary or secondary.

All schools that want to do so are advised to urge its PTA to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) to agree to maintain the policy and to convert the status of the school from Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) or Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) to SK(SMI) or SMK(SMI).

Failing that, parents are to initiate a signature drive to garner support for the cause indicating the name of the school, the name of the parent and the age of the child.

Meanwhile, PAGE urges the Ministry of Education to conduct its own studies as to which schools have benefited from the policy and which desire to maintain it.

Parents and stakeholders are also strongly urged to write to the Malay press (Berita Harian, Utusan Malaysia) seeking for the fourth option, that is, to maintain the policy in your school.

For secondary schools that want to retain the English option, you are encouraged to work with your primary feeder schools, to do likewise, to ensure the continuity of learning and to maintain the standards already proudly upheld by your school.

It is most important that PAGE needs to know the names of the schools interested. We need the numbers to succeed. Let us help each other out.

Copies of all EGM resolutions or signatures will be sent to PAGE for compilation and which will be forwarded to the Prime Minister in due course. PAGE may be contacted via email at pagemalaysia@gmail.com or visit our blog at PAGE Malaysia.

Thank you.

By Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, Chair
Parent Action Group for Education
--------------------------------------------

One school did convene such an EGM to decide on whether the school should maintain teaching Science and Math in English Language. Which school? In the EGM, the PTA of Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Damansara even changed the status of the school from Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) to Science and Math in English (SMI).

97% of the parents voted for the school to continue with the English Language for that two subjects. I think the parents should have their say and not just leave it to the politicians to decide our young kids' future. Did the government seek the public's viewpoint before this?

The school or PTA will have to let the Ministry of Education know of their EGM outcome. Must be a slap on the face of the ministry. Will there be more schools conducting such EGM too?
Tags: Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, Parent Action Group for Education, PAGE, Ministry of Education, Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Damansara, Parent Teacher Association, PTA, Sekolah Kebangsaan, PPSMI, Science and Math in English, SMI

Crazy Saturday Traffic

Was required to be at PJ Old Town this morning by 10.30am. When I got to the roads within my Taman Desa garden, I found that the traffic was a bit too heavy. The next thought that came was "don't tell me the roadblocks caused the traffic to overflow into my garden area?".

Very true indeed!

The moment I exit Taman Desa heading to PJ via Old Klang Road ("OKR"), the opposite traffic heading to KL was totally chaotic. My way of traffic going to PJ was also caught in it. How come? Traffic coming out from Kuchai Lama, United Garden and OUG into OKR stopped in the middle of the traffic junction causing cars heading to PJ unable to move across. Oh my ......

As my car crawled slowly heading to PJ Old Town, I noticed a police roadblock on the opposite traffic just after the Taman Sentosa traffic light junction. No cars were being stopped for suspicious characters.

In Malaysia or maybe in KL only???? the traffic on my side will slow down to see what's going on on the other side of the road. It was smooth right after I managed to turn right into Jalan Othman from OKR .... phew .... it took me almost one hour.

By the time I have to leave PJ Old Town, I headed back to the Jalan Othman roundabout. The traffic jam started from the town itself with no sight of the roundabout ...... my my. All because of that same road block. By the time I passed the roadblock, six police personnel just stood there beautifully (female police) and handsomely ....... no cars were stopped for suspicious characters too.

From there, I need to head to Happy Garden. Traffic was smooth till the OUG traffic light junction. Still as chaotic. Traffic heading down to KL literally stops right after this traffic light junction. My assignment done by 11am plus. Now to head back to Taman Desa. Few roads to take.

Exit via OUG traffic - out!
Exit via Pearl Point - out!

Exit via Kuchai Lama - the jam started from within Happy Garden itself right from the morning market area so - out too!

Exit via Kuchai Entrepreneurs' Park - I took the new uphill road to this area thinking it could be smooth ....... nope, the traffic jam started from the flats area - out!

Turned into the flats area and connected with the new road that is parallel with the new Putrajaya highway ..... yeah I'm smart I'm smart. No jam no jam all the way to the traffic light. I can connect to the Salak South highway and then up to the Federal Highway from there.

The moment I turned into the highway heading to Federal Highway, the jam started from there. How did the jam end up here??????????

It took me about twenty five minutes to turn into Taman Desa area.

Heard from friends about their experiences in other police roadblocks.

My conclusion on this police roadblocks - the police personnel were not looking for thieves or robbers today but are occupied with their best efforts in trying to identify common people who wants to go to the city centre to join the pro or anti ISA campaign.

Were the roadblocks successful? Total failure as news reported that up to 20,000 people managed to gather in the city centre causing total road closure. The roadblocks caused hundreds of thousands of people to be stuck for no reason when the people they intended to stop are already inside the city centre.

Did the police stop all the commuter trains, the LRT and public buses heading into the city centre? The roadblocks only delayed people heading into various places but it didn't manage to stop people from gathering for the campaign.

This is really crazy!
Tags: Kuala Lumpur, Traffic Jam, Police Roadblock

Investment Banking Explained

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.

The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day. The next day the farmer drove up and said, "Sorry Chuck, but I have some bad news. The donkey died.'"

Chuck replied, "Well then, just give me my money back."

The farmer said," 'Can't do that. I went and spent it already."

Chuck said, "OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey."

The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with a dead donkey?"

Chuck said, "I'm going to raffle him off."

The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!"

Chuck said, "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?"

Chuck said, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars a piece and made a profit of $898.00."

The farmer said, "Didn't anyone complain?"

Chuck said, "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back."

Chuck now works for one of the major investment banks.
Tags: Investment Banking, Raffle, Texas, Farmer, Donkey

Observations at Man Utd Match

Can't watch the first match due to body system breakdown after coming back from overseas. As Manchester United was staying in put in KL for a few more days, another match was arranged last minute. Yahooooooo at least can watch.

Was sick on that Monday but forced myself and drove over to the Bukit Jalil football stadium at 3pm and bought the tickets. Two counters were opened at the green ticket area and only five persons in front of me.

At first, I thought of giving up after reading the Monday Star newspaper that showed a long queue on Sunday afternoon where fans queued for long long time to purchase their tickets. Well, never try never know. So, I was rewarded.

When I reached home, I was planning on the route to the stadium. Seremban highway - out! Through Sri Petaling - out! From Puchong - out! I have to squeeze through an unknown route (not known to many) that is via OUG to Bukit Jalil via Vista Komanwel condos. I parked there and walked slowly for about fifteen minutes to the stadium. No jams.

Reached the stadium car park compound at 7.15pm and it was already full ...... knew it. When I was there at 3pm plus to buy the tickets, people are already hanging around the entrance gate and cars were streaming into the car park. Beat that.

The atmosphere there was fantastic ...... all red and not only ladies prefer red nowadays. There are exceptions hehe.

Lots of people were still queueing up for the tickets to the re-match. Bought mine at RM58, a steal from Saturday's match ticket prices.

Even the police joined in the atmosphere of feeling red. They sent their riot police squads in red trucks and buses.

Got a seat the second tier of the stadium. First tier went to those fellas that were at the entrance gate at 3pm plus. They must have been burnt by then.

Manchester United's Asia Tour 2009 being shown on the screen.

This was the crowd at 7.30pm. Already half full.

The Malaysian national team players came out first for their warm up and they received a great applause from the fans.

But when this Man Utd team just came out from the tunnel, the stadium almost came down with the thunderous greeting from the fans.

When the team acknowledged the crowd, the crowd went wild.

Man Utd going through their usual warm up for a match. Seen warming up were three referees for the match, dressed in red track suits.

While both teams were warming up, the crowd got themselves excited by doing the Mexican wave.

By 8.45pm, both teams came out with loud cheers from all supporters. At long last, my butt was getting upset with me for sitting so long on a hardened plastic chair.

Only one guy in front was smoking away, he was happy, but others frowned at him because lots brought their kids along. Very inconsiderate. I saw many smokers actually got out from their seats to walk up further for their ciggy but not this fella.

Kick-off at almost 9pm after the Crown Prince of Pahang state and Sir Bobby Charlton were introduced to the football players.

At one point, I noticed that the reporters/cameramen were all crowded at Malaysia's goal area. Why ah?

When I turned to the opposing's goal area, even the goalie was missing.

He backtracked a short while when Malaysia started to attack but it didn't work out. Maybe that's why the lesser number of reporters/cameramen on this side of the field. Must be boring for them.






At the end of the match, you'll be thankful that you have parked far away from the stadium. At 7.15pm, there were lots of parking attendants directing the cars here and there.

After the match, all the attendants disappeared totally leaving the poor car owners struggling to get out of the car park compound.

There were more than a dozen of other lines cutting into this line of cars trying to leave the car park. It took me a slow fifteen minutes walk and another ten minutes to reach home.

I wonder what time did the last driver got home? Hopefully he won't get into trouble with his wife which happened to another guy in the first match held on Saturday, when he reached home at 2am. What happened? He got stabbed!

Another eight years to wait before Man Utd comes round this corner of the earth? Or I'll be at Old Trafford witnessing it from its stand?
Tags: Manchester United, Man Utd, Asia Tour 2009, Bukit Jalil Football Stadium, Football, Soccer