4 theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 19 2009

news without borders

Husna Yusop and Giam Say Koon at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday

New assessment for

Rais: No plan to STPM from 2011
BEGINNING 2011, the assess-
ment for the Sijil Tinggi Perse-
potential instead of examination
results only.

register bloggers
THE government has no plans to
list or register bloggers and they are
still free to post information on the
internet, Information, Communica-
tions and Culture Minister Datuk
Seri Dr Rais Yatim said yesterday.
“There are various processes of
disseminating information these
days.
“Whatever the authorities do,
the websites are still free to post
any information on the internet.
“At the moment, we do not list
or register bloggers operating on
the Net.
“And, there is no plan to do that.
However, to maintain harmony in
society, they (bloggers) must follow
the laws,” he told Lim Kit Siang
(DAP-Ipoh Timur).
Lim in his supplementary
question said the plan to register
bloggers, made by some quarters
recently, was a backward move.
Last month, Rais was reported
saying the proposal was good but
required in-depth study.
Lim also complained about the
broadband service which he said
can also be called “narrowband” or
“snailband”.
To this, Rais said the govern-
ment has put aside RM2.4 billion
to improve the service in the long
term so that it could meet the origi-
nal objectives.
He said at present, the rate of IT
penetration in households is at 23%
and the government is confident it
can reach 50% by end of next year.
“At the moment, this service is
widely enjoyed by the people in
the Klang Valley. However, we will
do more to improve it to reach the
remote areas and all schools,” he
added.
To the original question from
Datuk Ismail Abdul Mut-
talib (BN-Maran), Rais said from
2005 until now, action has been
taken against 24 cases involving
compounds worth more than
RM380,000 under the Communica-
tions and Multimedia Act 1998.
“These private broadcasters
were compounded for various
offences, including breaching the
conditions set under the broadcast-
ing licence,” he added.
As for offences regarding abuse
of websites, six cases involv-
ing eight individuals have been
brought to court for insulting the
Sultan of Perak whereby one of
them had pleaded guilty and fined
RM10,000.
kolahan Malaysia (STPM) will be
changed from the current termi-
nal system to a modular system,
said Deputy Education Minister
Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.
He said the Malaysian
Examination Council (MEC) has
reviewed the Form Six assess-
ment system in line with its
function as a bridge between
schools and tertiary institu-
tions.
Wee said this in reply to a
question from Salahuddin Ayub
(PAS-Kubang Kerian) who
asked whether the government
will conduct a holistic study to
look at the effectiveness of the
present examination system.
(For the record, under the
modular system, assessment
is conducted throughout the
study programme while under
the terminal system, the assess-
ment is held at the end of the
study period.)
MEC chief executive Omar
Abu Bakar was reported saying
in April, under the modular as-
sessment, four components will
be applied, namely the normal
examinations, school projects,
practical work and open-book
tests.
Wee said the country’s edu-
cation system was undergoing a
transformation process with the
implementation of the National
Education Assessment System,
taking into account students’
“This holistic assessment
concept is capable of enhancing
the quality of students in terms
of human capacity building and
strengthening not only their
cognitive ability but also their
inner strengths,” he said.
Salahuddin also asked how
the ministry was dealing with
what he termed as the “A-
Syndrome” whereby students
become the victims as their
parents, teachers and society
put too much emphasis on scor-
ing As.
Wee said the government
had decided to introduce a new
curriculum next year whereby
only 30% of the Primary School
Assessment Test would account
for a child’s results and the
remaining 70% would be based
on several approaches.
They include psychometric
tests, school-based assess-
ments and achievements in
extra-curricular activities and
sports throughout the six years
of study.
As for the Penilaian Menen-
gah Rendah (PMR) and Sijil
Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exami-
nations, Wee said the proposed
weightages were 50% and 70%
respectively.
The pilot project started last
year involving Year One pupils
in 50 schools nationwide and it
was extended to 500 schools
this year, he added.

338 ex-communists allowed to return home

FOUR hundred and thirty-one
former Communist Party of Malaya
(CPM) members applied to return
home but only 338 were allowed
to do so following the “Agreement
To Terminate Hostilities” signed
between the government and CPM
on Dec 2, 1989.
“They were allowed to return
home in the one-off arrangement
after the ex-communists had gone
through all the required procedures
and met all conditions imposed,”
said Home Minister Datuk Seri
Hishammuddin Hussein.
“The other 93 were rejected for
various reasons, such as failure to
comply with the conditions and
problems in terms of citizenship
status. Of this, there were also ap-
plications which were withdrawn
by the applicants themselves,” he
told Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh)
in a written reply.
According to the agreement, he
said, former CPM members who
wanted to return must notify the
authorities within a year after the
signing of agreement, submit their
particulars and go through an inter-
view and documentation process.
Hishammuddin said not all
CPM members chose to return to
Malaysia as many of them opted to
stay in southern Thailand.
“Under the agreement, the
government did not force them to
return. They were given the op-
tions whether to retun or continue
staying in southern Thailand,” he
said.
Kok also asked for the names of
former communists accepted back
into the country and those rejected
and the reasons.
Hishammuddin said the
names would not be disclosed
due to security reasons.
“To avoid any incident which
can threaten or jeopardise the
country’s stability as well as the
former communists themselves,
their names cannot be disclosed.
For the same reasons, their
homecoming process were not
given any publicity,” he added.

Set up task force to address human

trafficking issues
CHARLES SANTIAGO (DAP-Klang) urges Home
Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to
immediately set up an independent task force
to address human trafficking issues which had
caused the country to be blacklisted by the
United States.
In a press conference in Parliament lobby,
Santiago said Malaysia’s credibility on the in-
ternational arena was at stake and if the home
minister fails to take decisive action, Malaysia
would continue to bear the humiliation of being
lumped with North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan and
Zimbabwe in human trafficking.
“The condemnation of Malaysia in the US an-
nual Trafficking in Persons Report 2009 should
not come as a surprise as the government was
put on notice a year ago on active trafficking in
persons in the country by local NGOs, questions
raised in parliament …,” he said.
Santiago also accused former home minister
Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar for misleading the
house and the country.
In July 2008, the Home Ministry announced
that a special committee would be established
to investigate accusations highlighted in a NTV7
documentary titled Refugee for Sale … but the
producer (of the documentary) was not con-
tacted for further information and evidence,”
he said.
Santiago said the report placed Malaysia in
tier three which has ramifications for securing
international loans from multilateral financial
bodies and eliminates all opportunities for
civil servants to take advantage of Fulbright
scholarships and other educational and cultural
exchanges with the US.

Caught in the act ...

Police released the images of
two men who were among seven
members of a gang who robbed
11 victims at five restaurants and
a hotel in less than an hour on
Tuesday in Puchong. Selangor CPO
DCP Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said the
images were grabbed from a CCTV
video footage recorded at one of the
restaurants. He urged those with
information on the whereabouts of
the suspects to call the Selangor
police hotline at 03-2052 9999 or the
nearest police station.