2 theSun | THURSDAY JULY 9 2009

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Hope for those waiting for citizenship for years

by Charles Ramendran
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
PUTRAJAYA: There is hope for those
who have been applying for citizen-
ship for years but have been rejected
despite meeting the criteria.
The Home Ministry said yesterday
it was serious in addressing the mat-
ter, which had brought anguish to tens
of thousands of residents without
citizenship status.
“These cases have to be resolved
and I want them resolved. These are
people who have been in the country
for years and they have no other
place to go, they only have Malaysia
to rely on,” the minister, Datuk Seri
Hishammuddin Hussein, said in his a
post-cabinet media briefing.
“They have appealed many times.
Some of them are elderly and they
have been loyal to the country ... their
spouses and children are Malaysians.
I do not think they are a threat to the
country. So why not we resolve it
quickly?”
He said there are cases of those
who had applied for citizenship with
the National Registration Department
but had not received a decision or
reply for years.
“We will announce a solution to
the matter soon. The processing of
such applications will depend on who
they are, whether they are here to
work, visit or married to Malaysians,
including those with Chinese wives.
“For example, a Malaysian man
who is married to a Chinese citizen
and he needs to get a visa extension
every now and then. They are truly
in love, they have children. In such a
case, why do we need to wait?
“We should approve the neces-
sary documents immediately. Such
consideration and goodwill should not
be be a threat to security and taken
advantage of by certain quarters for
monetary or other gains.”
Hishammuddin declined to state
the number of residents caught in
such a predicament.
He said the ministry would have
units focusing specifically on those
having problems with citizenship,
permanent residence, and birth cer-
tificates, including those in Sabah and
Sarawak.
“Street children ... this is also the
phenomenom I want to address per-
sonally.These are issues that are not
easy but we have the will to overcome
them,” he said.
He said the ministry was undergo-
ing major restructuring and among
the plans were the formation of at
least four units to resolve a number
of issues. The units will focus on:
» restructuring changes to current
laws such as the ISA;
» improving communications with
the media to create a better under-
standing of government policies and
agendas among the public;
» planning and survelliance into un-
resolved matters so that the govern-
ment can smoothly pursue the 10th
Malaysia Plan; and
» international matters, such as hu-
man trafficking.
Hishammuddin also urged those
with information on corrupt practices
by his officers to contact him through
the ministry’s web portal.

A realistic
decision,
says Gapena
KUALA LUMPUR: The National
Coalition of Writers (Gapena) is
happy with the government’s
decision to revert the teaching
of science and mathematics to
Bahasa Malaysia.
Its First Leader, Tan Sri Ismail
Hussein said yesterday: “We feel it
is realistic for us Malaysians when
facing the problems of language.”
He said Gapena would support
any move to promote English by
the Education Ministry.
“He (Deputy Prime Minister
and Education Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin) stressed that
English would be improved to a
similar level as Bahasa Malaysia,
and we pledge to cooperate fully
and give all the assistance we can
to improve the teaching of English
in rural areas by forming English
clubs in suitable schools,” Ismail
said.
Gapena Second Leader Datuk
Abdul Latiff Abu Bakar called for
Bahasa Malaysia to be “prioritised”
as the national language.
“While the level of English
proficiency is improved, it should
not be at the expense of Bahasa
Malaysia,” he said.
He said the teaching of science
and mathematics in English has
left the rural students disadvan-
taged.
NUTP wants govt to focus on
improving standard of English
by Tim Leonard of English is improved. For a start, it
newsdesk@thesundaily.com should hire more English-proficient
teachers, including those on contract
KUALA LUMPUR: The basis. There should also be more
National Union of Teach- English classes for pupils.”
ing Profession (NUTP) She said the mindset of students
wants the government to and teachers must change to accept
Give me have a proper mechanism the fact that English is equally im-
to improve the standard portant in today’s world.
the keys, of English following the The English Speaking Union of
rep cabinet’s decision to teach Malaysia (ESU) said students must
tells Khir mathematics and science be prepared and well-equipped
in Bahasa Malaysia. with English knowledge to meet
pg 5 NUTP secretary-general future challenges .
Lok Yim Pheng told theSun Muhyiddin, flanked by his deputies, “Today’s world is constantly
the teaching profession Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong (left) and moving and we cannot downplay
will abide by the cabinet’s Datuk Dr Puah Zakarshi Adek the importance of English,” ESU
decision but wants the Hussein, at the press conference in secretary Beatrice Nalini said.
government to take the nec- Putrajaya yesterday. “Malaysian students have to
essary measures to focus on be equally competent with their
improving the proficiency of counterparts from other countries,
English among students and and since English is the language of science
teachers. their mother tongue for vernacular schools, and technology, we have to accept the fact that
Asked to comment on the decision, an- while secondary school students must learn it is important to be proficient in the language.
nounced by Deputy Prime Minister and mathematics and science in English. Unless we take the proper measures, we will
Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin “So I would say 50% of our request has lag behind our counterparts.”
yesterday, Lok said: “NUTP had made its been fulfilled. The ESU is an independent educational
stand clear previously that we want primary “The important thing here is that the gov- charity with members in the United Kingdom,
schools to go back to Bahasa Malaysia and ernment must from now ensure the standard the United States and 50 other countries.

No marked improvement in English

Johari apologises,
gets one-month
suspension instead
PENANG: Johari Kassim, the
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)
member of the Seberang Perai
Municipal Council (MPSP) who
was sacked from his councillor’s
post recently, apologised yes-
terday for the negative remarks
he made about the Penang
government in the media.
Following his apology, the
state government revoked his
sacking but gave him a one-
month suspension instead.
This was announced by
Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor
Othman after Johari made the
apology in his presence at a
press conference here.
Mansor said the decision
was taken after state PKR
leaders discussed his case with
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng
yesterday.
Johari was sacked from the
post on June 29 after leading a
PKR boycott of the swearing-in
of the new MPSP president,
Mokhtar Mohd Jait, on June 4.
He had alleged that
Mokhtar’s appointment had
been done without any consul-
tation with PKR.
proficiency, says Muhyiddin
» From Front Page
were teaching science and maths
in both languages, English and BM,”
he said.
Among the observations made
in 2008 were:
» Only a small percentage of teach-
ers use full English in the teaching of
science and mathematics;
» Only 53% to 58% of the whole
period allocated for the two subjects
were conducted in English;
» Only some of the mathematics
and science teachers who took the
English Proficiency Level Assess-
ment test reached the proficiency
level; and
» The gap between the perform-
ances of the urban and rural schools
in mathematics and science has
widened.
Muhyiddin said the percentage
of pupils who scored A, B and C for
science in the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah
Rendah (UPSR) has declined from
85.1% to 82.5% in the urban schools
and from 83.2% to 79.7% in the rural
schools.
As for mathematics, the achieve-
ment of the urban pupils has dropped
from 84.8% to 80.9%, and the rural
pupils from 80.9% to 77%.
“In addition, according to a report
on the Trends in Mathematics and
Science Study 2007, the position
of Malaysian pupils in maths has
plunged from the 10th place in 2003
to 20th place in 2007 and for science,
it has gone down from 20th place in
2003 to 21st in 2007,” he said.
He said surveys by local universi-
ties found the improvement in the
pupils’ English proficiency was nomi-
nal at 3% during the implementation
of the PPSMI.
Muhyiddin said the government
will, at the same time, enhance the
teaching and learning of English
at all levels by introducing several
measures, including increasing the
number of teachers by 13,933.
“These comprise 1,000 foreign
teachers, 600 retired teachers and
12,333 additional teachers from the
teachers training institute and public
and private universities. Priority will
be given to rural and remote schools
to get the best teachers,” he said.
“There would also be English
assistant teachers for Year One and
Year Two classes with more than
35 pupils in each class in order to
increase the contact time between
teachers and pupils.”
There are now 31,893 teachers in
English in schools nationwide.
The other steps to be taken
include:
» Increasing the periods for English;
» Increasing the periods for the
Malaysian University English Test
for Form Six, and English classes for
matriculation;
» Introducing the English Contem-
porary Literature Programme for
Children at upper primary level; and
» Creating English language labo-
ratories.
Muhyiddin said the PPSMI was
not a complete failure but it had yet
to achieve the desired objectives.
As to whether the students under
PPSMI were considered “guinea
pigs”, he said: “They are not. They
are still human. I don’t see them
changing.”
On a more serious tone, he
said that as far as knowledge is
concerned, the situation was not
compromised much, but in terms
of English proficiency, there has not
been a marked improvement.
Asked why the change would
only start in 2012, he said the
government wanted to have a “soft
landing” to allow for some time to
make the necessary preparations,
such as recruiting new teachers and
preparing new curriculum.