It’s not about national or vernacular schools; we need to master various languages

It’s not about national or vernacular schools; we need to master various languages — Liew Chin Tong

February 19, 2012

FEB 19 — Let me begin by saying that we need a new framework for a new era. The dichotomy between vernacular languages and the national language is an outmoded one. The old thinking presupposes that each of us can only master a language and not more than one. And hence the politics of which language should be taught at school.

Language gold mine

But the reality is that Malaysia is sitting on a “language gold mine”, just like Switzerland, Spain, Finland and Belgium, where everyone speaks at least two languages fluently. Some of us, let’s say a Chinese Malaysian from Kuala Lumpur, who has travelled overseas would have an experience of speaking near-perfect Mandarin with Chinese from Beijing, impeccable Cantonese to someone from Hong Kong, and some form of Bahasa to Indonesian friends.

The world is amazed with us Malaysians, yet we are not treating the diversity of languages that we have as our national asset. We are still caught in the thinking of the 1920s and the debate of the 1960s.

Before I talk about 1920s and 1960s, let me digress a little to reminisce some more recent history.

In 2002, when Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was thinking about retirement and his legacies, he thought of reviving English medium schools, which he closed down in the 1970s as Education Minister.

But the resistance from among Umno ranks was too strong.

So, typical of Mahathir, he came up with a quick fix – let’s teach mathematics and science in English. PPSMI, as its Malay acronym is known, was introduced hastily against the wishes of many.

Some were against it from the point of view of language vanguards. Some said no because there were just not enough good mathematics and science teachers, even fewer who can teach the subjects in English. And, frankly, there is not much language content in mathematics and science.

What should have happened is to give more weight to English lessons at all schools. Dr. Mahathir had no time for that. He was indeed a man in a hurry, all the time.

The issue of lack of teachers who were proficient to teach mathematics and science in English, especially in the rural areas, was brought up at the Umno general assembly of June 2002. Dr. Mahathir reassured the Umno delegates that the subjects would be taught through sophisticated electronic material. The teachers, said Dr. Mahathir, can learn English together with the students through the use of PowerPoint and other software.

RM5 billion was allocated to push for this policy over five years. The government spent RM3 billion on LCD projectors and laptop computers in the first year. As they say, the rest is history.

Likewise, when the then Prime Minister said Sekolah Agama Rakyat were bad, these schools immediately felt the brunt of the whole government machinery crushing them.

My point here is that in the last 55 years, power has concentrated in the hands of one party initially and in one person later. However ridiculous the policy was, it was bulldozed through.

Other BN party leaders in the government were just bystanders in the policy process, at best trying to tweak the outcome from the margin, such as the 243 formula.

Three lessons for Malaysians

So, lesson one, absolute power in the hands of a one-party state is not good for education.

Let us ask, where do we get the idea that schools must only focus on one language, one national language? The model came from the Sumpah Pemuda of October 28, 1928. The Indonesian revolutionaries wanted to establish an Indonesia with “satu bangsa, satu bahasa.”

I was in Surabaya in last December. My visit to JavaTV was extremely educational. The producer proudly announced that democratisation in Indonesia since 1998 came with media freedom, which in turn allowed media like his to flourish outside Jakarta while decentralisation since 2001 enabled the economies of cities outside Jakarta like Surabaya to boom. And more interestingly, the combined effect of democratisation and decentralisation was that his TV station became the promoter of Bahasa Suroboyo. No more language police to insist on just one language.

I would imagine when democratisation finally takes place in Malaysia, there will be a Kelantan TV promoting Bahasa Kelate or a Sarawak TV promoting Iban language.

Therefore, lesson two, even Indonesia, the source of Umno’s mono-lingual nationalism, has moved on.

Sadly, we are still caught in the debate of the 1960s. A week ago on February 11, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in Ipoh that the national education system is undergoing a comprehensive review. He said the education system has not been subjected to such review since the Razak and Rahman Talib reports on the system.

As an MP, I am surprised to hear such a review being conducted in secret. But then again that’s BN for you. Anyhow I agreed with Tan Sri Muhyiddin that the education system has not been reviewed for a long time. Mind you, Tun Razak passed away in 1976 before I was even born and the Razak report was released 55 years ago in 1957 while the Rahman Talib report was released 52 years ago in 1960.

In the 1960s, Malaysia was in the middle of the most volatile region in the fight between the West and the Communist bloc. The government, the United States and the Western bloc saw the Chinese language as the language of infiltration. But that was so long ago. There is no more Mao Zedong, no more Berlin Wall, no more Soviet Union.

Even if we do not consider the cultural value of being multilingual, it is an economic imperative for Malaysia to be multilingual.

Today, the declining US and European economies means Malaysia’s immediate economic future lies in our ability to connect with China, India and Indonesia, among others. Isn’t it that our language diversity an asset? Aren’t we sitting in a language gold mine?

Let’s be clear, lesson three, and I have to state the obvious, 2012 is not 1960. We need a new paradigm.

Lip service by means of recognising the contributions of Chinese and Tamil schools is not the way forward. More money to the schools in an “I help you, you help me” form is not going help Malaysia to unleash our full potential.

We can master more than one language

It is time for us to recognise that each of us can master more than one language; that we must not plan education by one man or one party’s wish, that we must move beyond the 1928 Sumpah Pemuda of Indonesia because they have moved on; and that 2012 is a different world from 1960s.

Bahasa Malaysia is and will always be our national language. And we are proud if it. Yet we should face the reality, and do our best to realize our full potential. At least think of our children, and our children’s children.

Let me close by saying, Malaysia deserves better, Malaysians deserves a better government. — The Rocket

* The writer is DAP MP for Bukit Bendera. This is his speech delivered at the Malaysian Chinese at the Political Crossroads conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.


(Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/its-not-about-national-or-vernacular-schools-we-need-to-master-various-languages-liew-chin-tong/)

Bingkisan Menjelang 40 tahun ABIM Selangor (siri 1)

BINGKISAN MENJELANG 40 TAHUN ABIM SELANGOR: DULU DAN KINI 

Oleh : Ustaz Hasri bin Harun

Penggerak Awal 

ABIM Negeri Selangor yang dahulunya dibarisi oleh beberapa pimpinan muda mempunyai tekad meneruskan usaha dakwah dikalangan masyarakat. Ini termasuklah nama-nama seperti Mohd Mokhtar Shafie, Arshad Taib, Mokhtar Ramli, Mohd Kassim, Ghazali Basri, dan beberapa orang lagi yang tidak mampu disebut kesemuanya, kebanyakan dikalangan pendidik dan pensyarah universiti meneruskan legasi pendakwah melalui program-program usrah dan tamrin al-kader keseluruh pelusuk negeri. 

Kegiatan dakwah berjalan dengan baik ditengah-tengah masyarakat pada ketika itu. Antara sekretariat awal ABIM Selangor adalah di Jalan Genting Klang, Setapak Kuala Lumpur. Jihad dan dakwah mereka yang berjuang di dalam perjuangan wadah ABIM ini terus tidak dipedulikan apakah wujud halangan yang bakal di terima di masa hadapan namun mereka terus dengan semangat maka tertubuhnya ABIM diperingkat daerah-daerah yang bermula di Shah Alam, Tanjong Karang dan Sabak Bernam dan beberapa daerah lagi. 

Tamrin Al-Kader, jenama latihan yang menjadi satu program penting menjadi sumber membina kekuatan dikalangan ahli terus ditunggu-tunggu bagi menyemat semangat perjuangan mereka dengan lebih baik lagi. Kini para penggiat dakwah yang bersama dalam program-program ABIM telah berada dimerata-rata tempat sama ada dalam sektor kerajaan dan swasta dan ada sebahagiannya telah pun menjadi tokoh-tokoh terkenal peringkat negeri mahupun nasional. Yang menariknya ABIM Selangor di awal pergerakkannya cukup sinonim dengan aktiviti usrah di pejabat dan di kilang-kilang sehinggakan pernah tertubuh kumpulan usrah dikalangan pekerja kilang. Barangkali media dakwah yang sudah meluas seperti hari ini tidak wujud pada tempoh lalu memungkinkan masyarakat mencari sumber maklumat Islam yang jarang sekali dapat melalui media perdana seperti hari ini seperti rancangan kuliah di tv al-hijrah, tv 9 dan rancangan agama di ASTRO yang semakin meluas. Justeru tidak hairan usrah dikhabarkan dilakukan di kantin, di pejabat, di bawah pokok dan sebagainya. Disinilah menunjukkan masyarakat kehausan ilmu dan hikmah Islam yang dianuti dan ini menjadi tarikan usaha dakwah ABIM mendapat tempat dihati masyarakat.

Tahun 80 an telah bermula era negara kempen penerapan nilai-nilai Islam dalam sistem pentadbiran negara. Kepimpinan negara mula menyedari bahawa betapa pentingnya usaha-usaha yang dilaungkan ini menjadi kenyataan. Dasar Penerapan Nilai-nilai Islam telah mula menjadi topik perbincangan yang akhirnya menjadi satu dasar dan resolusi penting sejarah negara, dimana tertubuhnya Bank Islam, Universiti Islam yang merupakan manifestasi kehendak dari hati nurani umat yang diperjuangkan sejak awal tahun 70 an.

Gerakan ABIM di awal tahun tersebut semakin meluas yang mana para penggerak ABIM telah berada di dalam dan di luar pentadbiran kerajaan. Walaupun sedikit terjejas imej ABIM sebagai NGO Islam bila mana pemimpin utama iaitu Anwar Ibrahim terjun dalam politik bersama UMNO namun ABIM masih terus bergerak sebagai sebuah NGO Islam yang bermatlamat menggerakkan dakwah dalam umat.

Senario perkembangan ABIM peringkat negeri khususnya di Selangor menerima sedikit sebanyak pasang surut dalam perjuangannya, impak daripada senario politik tanahair terutama diperingkat negeri. Satu ketika ABIM begitu dominan dalam usaha-usaha belia bila mana usaha dan gerakan kita mendepani gagasan negeri. Namun kita tidak pernah gentar dalam menghadapi cabaran ini walau ditempuh badai dan duri dalam perjuangan.

ABIM akui melalui pendirian dan semangat atas prinsip non partisan kita, tidak mudah digugat oleh sesiapa walaupun terpaksa menyatakan kebenaran bukan berpaksi kepada pemerintah. Bagi ABIM yang penting kebenaran harus ditegak bukan siapa yang harus dimenangkan. Sebab itu perjuangan ABIM kadangkala dipandang serong oleh sebilangan masyarakat yang berkepentingan dalam menilai pendirian kita yang sedikit tidak memihak atas kepentingan masing-masing berbanding kepentingan umat keseluruhan dan memartabatkan matlamat dakwatul Islam. Dalam pelbagai pandangan yang diterima daripada pelbagai pihak, ABIM Selangor biasa dijemput bersama dalam mesyuarat-mesyuarat dakwah yang diterajui oleh Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor, Majlis Agama Islam Selangor dan jawatankuasa yang berbentuk Dakwah di negeri ini. Pandangan ABIM Selangor sentiasa ditunggu dan diterima dalam erti kata menyeimbangkan pandangan yang umum dalam masyarakat. Bagi ABIM, yang penting suara ABIM sentiasa dinanti walau kadangkala dicemburui dan diragui.

Bersambung...

Hayati Keunggulan Konsep Wassatiyyah

Kesederhanaan atau wasatiyyah adalah identiti agama Islam. Islam mengajar penganutnya agar mengamalkan segala suruhan dan menjauhi segala larangan tanpa sebarang tokok tambah yang menyusahkan. Dalam Islam sesuatu yang menyusahkan bukanlah sesuatu yang terbaik. Maka sebab itulah kita dianjurkan untuk segera berbuka puasa dan melewatkan pula sahurnya. Begitu juga dalam ibadah yang lain. Ini dapat kita perhatikan apabila teguran yang Nabi Muhammad s.a.w berikan kepada sekumpulan sahabat yang mahu mengekang nafsu dari berkahwin, tidak mahu berbuka apabila berpuasa dan mengharamkan diri dari memakan daging yang halal.

Baginda mengingatkan, kepada mereka, sedangkan Baginda sendiri seorang Nabi, Baginda berkahwin, berbuka apabila berpuasa dan memakan daging yang dihalalkan. Lantas Baginda memberikan penegasan bahawa sesiapa yang tidak menyukai sunnah Baginda dia bukanlah terdiri dari umat Nabi Muhammad. Wasatiyyah dalam Islam bukan terhenti sekadar pada ibadah semata-mata, tetapi juga dari sudut pemikiran, akidah dan akhlak. Kesederhanaan menjadikan Islam itu indah dan mampu menarik manusia untuk mendekatinya. Menakrifkan kesederhanaan atau wasatiyyah bukanlah mudah. Ini diakui sendiri oleh Ibnu Maskaweh yang menyatakan: “Sesungguhnya sukar menentukan pertengahan itu dan berpegang kepadanya setelah ,menetapkannya”

Wasatiyyah juga bukanlah bererti menghindari segala bentuk tindakan yang agresif. Baik bersifat persendirian mahupun berkumpulan. Peperangan bagi menuntut hak dan mengembalikan kebenaran ditempatnya adalah satu tindakan yang masih lagi dalam ruang lingkup wasatiyyah. Golongan yang tertindas apabila bangkit menentang kezaliman tidaklah dianggap sebagai golongan pelampau dalam Islam.

Menentang segala ketidakadilan dan penindasan adalah suatu tugas yang wajib dilaksanakan oleh setiap kaum muslimin. Malah membebaskan puak yang tertindas dan dizalimi amat dituntut oleh Islam. Wasatiyyah juga bukan bermaksud menerima kedua-dua pandangan yang berada pada dua hujung yang saling bertentangan. Menerima segala-galanya demi menjaga hati dan menjauhi kemarahan mana-mana pihak. 

Mencampur adukkan kebenaran dan kebatilan bukanlah ciri wasatiyyah Islam yang disarankan oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. Umat Islam perlu memelihara prinsip dengan tegas dan jangan sesekali membenarkan prinsip ajaran Islam diperkotak- katikkan dengan mudah. Inilah yang sering disalah tafsir oleh masyarakat Barat. Mereka mahukan konsep wasatiyyah selari dengan pandangan hidup yang moderat.

Mereka melabelkan sesiapa sahaja yang berpegang teguh dengan ajaran agama sebagai fundamentalis yang ekstrem. Pada mereka muslim yang moderat adalah muslim yang mengamalkan agama Islam seperti kacamata mereka terhadap agama Kristian. Kristian hanya pada nama, bukan amalan dan kepercayaan. Mereka dengan bangga menyatakan I’m a Christian, but I’m not going to the church every Sunday. Pada mereka cukuplah sekadar ada agama tapi untuk mengamalkannya jauh sekali.

Mereka dengan segera dan rakus melabelkan pejuang jihad sebagai ekstremis. Walau apa pun alasannya, jihad adalah satu keganasan. Mereka dengan penuh rasa benci menyatakan bahawa Islam adalah agama peperangan. Kalimah jihad mesti dihapuskan dari kamus ajaran Islam. Bagi mereka moderat adalah kelompok yang berfikiran terbuka dan menerima apa saja dari siapa sahaja tanpa kayu ukur kebenaran. 

Kebenaran bagi mereka bersifat relatif bukan sesuatu yang muktamad. Kebenaran diukur menerusi citarasa dan sokongan majoriti. Pada mereka pula segala pandangan yang bersumberkan kitab suci agama yang mengenepikan pilihan atau kecenderungan manusia adalah tidak moderat dan tertutup. Justeru apabila kita berbicara mengenai wasatiyyah ia adalah satu konsep yang jauh dengan terjemahan moderat dalam masyarakat barat.

Kita mesti berpegang dengan keutuhan konsep wasatiyyah yang dianjurkan oleh Islam. Konsep wasatiyyah adalah konsep yang murni bagi memelihara karamah insaniyah yang tinggi. Bagi memastikan konsep wasatiyyah ini dapat dipelihara dan diamalkan oleh masyarakat, maka satu agenda diperlukan bagi menghapuskan sebarang bentuk belenggu yang bercirikan pembodohan dan pembebalan. Ini kerana sifat bodoh dan bebal akan menjerumuskan kita ke lembah ketaksuban dan kehancuran. Ia mengingkari konsep wasatiyyah seperti yang dianjurkan oleh Islam.

Amidi Abd Manan
(Sumber: http://www.abim.org.my/component/content/article/6-laporan-aktiviti/342-pertahankan-keunggulan-konsep-wassatiyyah.html)

A mighty heart

A mighty heart

By Megha Pai

Friday, January 27, 2012

Sharjah resident Abdul Mannan Jamaluddin wasn’t exactly rolling in money when he started a free school in his hometown in Bangladesh but, as he says, when your heart is set on doing good, help is never far away. Student strength today: 200 and counting… It is perhaps much  easier to be giving and charitable when you have a cool six figure in your bank balance and your next seven generations are taken care of (unless, of course, you are the progeny of Ebenezer Scrooge). But starting a free school in your hometown when you are a security guard living on a Dh1, 200 per month salary, is something to marvel about. So when we heard the story of Abdul Mannan Jamaluddin, we knew we had to meet him and hear his story. Al Qasba is a well-to-do locality in the plush Buhaira Corniche in Sharjah. Not well-versed with the area and relying mainly on a somewhat malfunctioning GPS (at one point it instructed us to go off the road and drive into the water!), we decided to seek the help of a shopkeeper for directions to Bulbul Apartments, where Abdul is a security guard. “Oh! You want to meet Abdul!” came the reply. Surprised as we hadn’t mentioned his name, we asked him how he guessed. “He is a bit of a local hero,” the shopkeeper smiled. “After all, how many watchmen do you know who start a free school from their savings?” Good point. Following the much more reliable directions of the kindly shopkeeper — no need to jump into the Corniche, we were assured — we reached our destination, passing through the graffiti-riddled by-lanes. Abdul was standing at the gate, dressed in casuals, as it was his day off. He invited us to his office, which also serves as his living room and bedroom and offered us tea. A Bangla channel ran on mute on the television. On a shelf above his bed was a small stack of books in Bengali. After some casual banter and lovely chitchat and tea, we came down to discussing Abdul’s extraordinary feat. He tells wknd. the story — from being a high school dropout to starting a free school in his native village, Belchura, in Bangladesh, where he has educated 200 children in the last six years. As a child, I used to dream of becoming a lawyer but I wasn’t able              to continue my studies after the tenth grade as my father couldn’t afford it. After my father passed away, the burden of my entire family fell upon my shoulders. I came to the UAE in 1989 at the age of 26. The only job that I could find was as a watchman. Due to my lack of education, I was not able to move up in life. That’s when I decided that I didn’t want the same fate for my next generation. But there was no school in my village and the new highway that was supposed to connect our village to other places, separated us from the only nearby school. Here, in the UAE, parents drop and pick up kids or there are bus services to take the kids to and fro. But it is not so in my village. The parents have no time to keep a tab on the children. The fathers go to work in the fields every morning and the mothers are busy with the housework. So the children go to the school of their own accord — if at all. Despite making several requests to the government, no provisions were made to provide learning opportunities to the village kids. Every time I saw the excellent lives of the children here in Sharjah, I couldn’t help but wish that the children in my hometown could also have such opportunities. Education is the first step to development. So when I visited home in 2001, I decided to start a free school and I had a few months to do it in before returning to Sharjah. Initially, my wife didn’t approve of my initiative. I had my own three children to take care of. But I didn’t let that fact deter me from starting the school. I thought to myself, if every person thought only about oneself, there would be no goodness left in the world. Besides, I have very little expenses in Sharjah and I own a small garment business back home that takes care of my family’s needs. So I decided to put in all my savings and most of my salary into the project. Now all I needed was land. When you have set your mind on doing good, help is never too far away. One day, I happened to mention my intention to one of the village elders. He very generously offered to donate a piece of land that belonged to his family. Amazed at how easily the situation was resolved, I got cracking on building the school. With the help of the local labourers, I managed to put up a basic building in four months and with the aid of a teacher from the local mosque, I had the school up and running. Slowly but surely, children started coming in too. Soon there were several students in the first grade. I appointed a few more teachers and everything seemed great for a month. That’s when catastrophe hit. The elder who had donated the land hadn’t asked all the family members before making the decision. Out of spite, the family members demolished the school building and there was nothing that I could do.  I was back to square one. It was time for me to return to the UAE. But I hadn’t given up. I took it as God’s way of testing my determination. For the next four years, I continued to save. It was not a matter of salvaging my image. My cause was bigger than that. I couldn’t fail as the future of the children was at stake. After four years of saving and planning, when I went home in 2005, I wanted to include the entire village in the work as I knew I couldn’t do it without their help. But the moment I mentioned anything about the school, the people weren’t interested. So I had to come up with something more novel. I invited the entire village for a feast to announce a wedding. I knew they wouldn’t say no to free food. And they would be curious to know who is getting married as there isn’t anyone of marriageable age in my family. After the villagers had had tea and snacks, I told them that I had bought land where I intended to build the school and also told them that I didn’t expect them to contribute monetarily. However, I was surprised when a few of them offered whatever they could. Some gave money, while others gave sacks of cement, and some others simply put in hours of labour for the construction. Before it was time for me to return to the Gulf, the ground floor of the building was ready, and the first batch of 70 students attended class at the school, called Hazrat Abu Bakar Siddique ® Sunni Madrasa. The taste of sweet success at last was like nothing else. Those who had been sceptical and discouraging, including my wife, were now beginning to realise how good this was for the community. Since we started in 2005, we have been adding one grade to the school every year. The number of students has grown from 70 to 200. This year we begin Grade 7. My aim is to see that the school expands all the way to Grade 12. Also, I intend to buy a bus for the school so the children from the village and the surrounding villages can be fetched easily. The day we have 100 per cent literacy in my village, I will have achieved my purpose. For now, the fact that my kids and the rest of the children in the village will never have to live the kind of life that I had to live is reward enough for me. I intend to start a trust so that the progress is maintained even after I am gone

Integrasi dalam pengetahuan

Fikrah: 

Apakah yang dikatakan sebagai 'integrasi pengetahuan' (integration of knowledge)?

a) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah pada waktu persekolahan rasmi, kemudian belajar ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu petang?

b) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah dan ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu persekolahan rasmi?

c) belajar ilmu fardhu kifayah diserapkan ilmu fardhu ain pada waktu yang sama?

Dalam sistem pendidikan KBSM hari ini, pelajaran agama Islam disisipkan dalam satu mata pelajaran yang wajib diambil oleh semua murid beragama Islam iaitu subjek 'Pendidikan Agama Islam' (PI). Subjek ini diletak dalam linear yang sama dengan subjek lain, seperti Matematik, sains, Bahasa dan lain-lain. Ini termasuk masa pengajaran dan pembelajaran (P&P yang telah ditentukan dalam sistem, iaitu 5 waktu seminggu.

Sekiranya  P&P PI telah dijalankan di sekolah, maka apa perlunya lagi murid untuk hadir ke sekolah agama petang (KAFA) untuk mempelajari lagi tentang ilmu fardhu ain? Antara sebab yang sering diterima adalah masa pembelajaran di sekolah pagi (SK) tidak mencukupi bagi membina kualiti murid dalam pengisian rohani mereka. Tidak salah sepenuhnya. (Ada betulnya juga). Yang betulnya, masa diperuntukkan untuk fardhu ain seharusnya melebihi keseluruhan ilmu fardhu kifayah atau sekurang-kurangnya menyamai keseluruhan waktu p&p tersebut. Yang salahnya, pembelajaran sebegini tidak menepati konsep integrasi pengetahuan.

Pada hari ini, umat Islam terperangkap dalam sistem sekular, iaitu sistem yang memecah-mecahkan sistem pengetahuan dan pengamalan. Harus ditegaskan, semua Ilmu adalah dari Allah. Sama ada ilmu fardhu kifayah, mahupun ilmu fardhu ain. (Ilmu tadbir alam, dan ilmu tadbir insan) Dalam ilmu tadbir alam, perlu diserapkan aplikasi Islami untuk melihat dan mengenal Tuhan, dan begitu juga dalam ilmu tadbir insan, perlu diserapkan aplikasi Islami untuk melihat dan mentadbir alam. Perhubungan antara kedua-duanya perlu seiring dan tidak harus dipisah-pisahkan. Ini konsep sebenar pengintegrasian pengetahuan dalam kerangka Islamisasi pengetahuan (Islamization of knowledge) 

Seorang kanak-kanak perlu melalui alam kanak-kanak, dan kurikulum untuk mereka perlu memahami fitrah manusia (nature of human being). Ini adalah sangat penting dan perlu diperbetulkan. Model kurikulum sebegini perlu dibentuk. Sememangnya perlu digali diceruk mana kurikulum yang menepati ciri ini? 

model alternatif:

1) http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pondok_Modern_Darussalam_Gontor

2) http://www.iis.edu.my/secondary/

Leave teachers alone

Leave teachers alone!

Azly Rahman

‘Educate! … but first, we must educate the educators.’ - Frederich Nietsche

'Teach your children according to the (changing) times they live in.' - Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

My weekend was spent thinking about poverty and education, and the shape of Malaysian education to come, particularly as we await maybe yet another new educational blueprint to go public, preferably after the 13th general election, depending on who wins.

Will our children become great thinkers and good and tolerant Malaysians? Or will they become good labourers in the international labour system and continue to be more sophisticated racists?

This is how powerful education is as a contested terrain.

Having been an educator and a student of transcultural philosophies for almost two decades, I find the practice of educating constantly shifting whereas its core remains stable.

After teaching close to 50 courses (in the field of education, politics, civilisation, arts and humanities, philosophy, language, international relations, American history and cultural studies) and developing more than 20 graduate courses, I am still learning what Malaysia is trying to do with its  educational system.

Today, I have a perspective to share with its education minister and with the thousands of dedicated teachers. I am fortunate to have practised the gentle profession of teaching in two different worlds - Malaysia and the US.

My analysis of Malaysian education is that we seem to borrow too much without thinking, and like the late 1990s Smart Schools project, we seem to achieve many different types of successful failures in our educational reform effort.

Teachers, the labour force in the world of knowledge capitalism, become subdued, silent, and silenced followers of the whims and fancies of state mandates. We love hype more than substance. We love intoxicating ourselves with buzzwords. We bully our teachers into working hard and not allowing them time to grow and become ‘reflective teachers’.

What if we teach teachers to empower themselves by becoming good and creative curriculum designers? What if we give them a less teaching load, less students, less bureaucracy, less political preaching and less time to prepare for school visits by wakil rakyat and Yang Berhormat who may not have any sense of what the daily toil in a classroom is like?

What if we stop wasting their time on non-teaching matters and let them grow as teachers? When teachers are free from these mental imprisonments, they can then become liberators of our children's imagination.

What if we try all these? Miracles can happen in our classrooms, I believe.

Over the weekend, I picked up an important book on curriculum and education, Conelly and Clandin's ‘Teachers as Curriculum Planners’, a text for my reading at Columbia University back in my doctoral days. As I finished reading it, I asked this question: ‘When will our teachers become masters of their own destiny, helping children become makers of their own history?’

The book provides perspectives which are not entirely new to teachers involved especially in the ‘Whole Language’ approach to teaching. Tools such as journal writing, biography, picturing and document analysis are among those which have been in use in Language Arts in addition to a range of other tools in the domain of creative movement, reading, writing, media and speaking which are personalistic in nature.

The authors have essentially tried to contextualise the principles and strategies within the field of emerging curricular practice partially using the rhetoric of postmodernism. Refreshing, perhaps, is the authors' Gestalt and transcendental analytic approach to curriculum planning they call the ‘rediscovering of curricular meaning’, framed to include the learner, teacher, subject matter and the milieu.

The strength of the work lies in the comprehensive range of suggestions on how to create an inclusionary and meaningful approach to such a rediscovering which in turn would scaffold learners' construction of knowledge. It is thus constructivistic in approach permeating all levels - from administrators to learners.

I find the idea relevant to our realisation of the terms ‘situated cognition’ wherein teachers are also required to define their philosophy and exercise their reflective ability so that they and the learners are together subjectivity knowledge; echoing the Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran's idea that ‘... your children are not yours… they come out of you but not of you’ and ‘… children are like arrows of which you are the bow which launch them’ and in Socrates' idea of the innateness of knowledge in the human being.

Teachers as meaning-makers

Teachers, in this postmodernist context, are ones who live in a shared milieu but do not necessarily claim monopoly to knowledge, for in Arthur C Clarke's words, ‘the future is a different world … they do things differently’.

For learners, we are preparing them for a future which, in fact, is a present consisting of an archived past. Through apprenticeship and guided participation, learners appropriate knowledge, skill and understanding of ‘situations’ via scaffolds erected by teachers. Learning then becomes situated, dynamic and transformative.

Reading the underlying assumptions of Conelly and Clandin's work, I could sense a strong undercurrent of complexity and chaos theory, anti-foundationalism, subaltern narratives and reflexivity and futurism as strands. If I could envision the results of many decades of mass deployment of their strategies in all schools, something such as below would develop:

State-mandated curriculum would be transformed in character; from one of ‘rock logic’ to one of ‘water logic’ in nature in which fluidity in growth and shifting grounds in its parameters will be the feature.

Within the disciplines, knowledge will be organic, mutative, and morphic, much more than inter-disciplined. An analogy of this organic-mutative-morphic nature of knowledge construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction (the ‘Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu’ nature of things in Hindu philosophy) would be the three-dimensional pattern created out of Artificial Intelligence - generated patterns derived out of mathematical equations as in the Mandelbrott set manifested within the paradigm of Chaos and Complexity theories.

The water logic transformation as such can give birth to (Thomas) Kuhnian paradigm shifts, which would be characteristic of integrative, comprehensive and complex systems based upon the principles of ‘perpetual transitions’.

Scenarios of change

Since state-mandated curriculum legitimises the state and hegemonises over the minds of those being schooled (echoing the claims of Theodore Adorno and Antonio Gramsci), decades of ‘water logic’ transformation of bodies of knowledge (especially in the area of ‘soft ideological sciences’ such as social studies and history) can soften the state and pave the way for its dissolution, echoing Thomas Kuhn's idea that paradigms will shift when contradictions can no longer be contained. Just as capitalism within a particular nation can no longer carry its own weight and therefore had to transform into imperialism.

Such a dissolution of the postmodern state can then set the stage for peaceful revolutions which can give rise to the leadership of the techno-mystics as such dreamed of by Socrates and Plato who saw the beauty of the republic governed by philosopher-rulers.

Perhaps the nature of world politics will change if the most powerful nations on the face of our Spaceship Earth are governed by techno-mystics who will then spread the message of goodwill through the use of technology towards moral ends and through the sharing of creative products in altruistic ways.

Wouldn't there be beauty in looking at a perfect world, one that would be ruled by those who have understood the ancient Persian maxim, ‘I wept when I had no shoes until I saw a man with no feet’?

Managers of virtue (curriculum implementers, principals, teachers, curriculum committees) will become de-centered and ‘empowered by being dis-empowered’ by the postmodern possibility of personalistic interpretation of knowledge constructs while freedom will exist for the individual to make his and her history to demystify power and to deconstruct invented realities.

All these can help create a positive atomisation of society as a critical, creative, futuristic and life-long learning organic entity. Everyone can then find their own meaning for living and truth within themselves and achieve wisdom in their own lifetimes.

The ‘McDonaldnised’ idea of state-legitimated schooling for economic development and social advancement can be transformed into the notion of learning as living and living as learning with the ‘truth always out there, within and everywhere’.

Perhaps the notion of 'Trust no ideology’ (with the greatest apologies to the makers of ‘The X-Files’!) can be the dominant idea of the age. Such comments as above thus reflect the link between the ideas proposed in Conelley and Clandin's work and the possibilities which can emerge if we look at these from speculative philosophical and futuristic perspectives.

A teacher's vision

I have provided a scenario based upon the principles of futurism (trend analysis/scenario- building) from which ideas when extrapolated can perhaps predict changes.

Just as the postmodern perspective can provide us with tools to critically analyse modernity and modernism, Connelly's and Clandin's suggestions - which are postmodern in character - can provide educators with the means to build scenarios of living, learning and creating which must be made more and more humane.

The idea of growth, then, can be looked at not necessarily as one spiraling upwards and acquiring more and becoming material in the process but would mean to live, to simply live and to continually ask the ontological, epistemological and axiological questions of living. In short, to reflect upon Kung Fu Tze, for we may then continue to live with questions and to ask the ones which are simple.

For, echoing Socrates, aren't the simplest questions the most profound?

Teachers unite - you do not have anything to lose except your chains of boredom and dying creativity.

---

DR AZLY RAHMAN, who was born in Singapore and grew up in Johor Baru, holds a Columbia University (New York) doctorate in International Education Development and Master’s degrees in the fields of Education, International Affairs, Peace Studies and Communication. He has taught more than 40 courses in six different departments and has written more than 300 analyses on Malaysia. His teaching experience spans Malaysia and the United States, over a wide range of subjects from elementary to graduate education. He currently resides in the United States.

(Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/184481 )

Potensi yg tidur

1) potensi yang ada dalam diri perlu dikejutkan dengan berfikir secara tenang.
2) Pertama, perlu bangun dari lena!

Dosa yg lebih besar daripada berzina

Pada suatu senja yang lengang, terlihat seorang wanita berjalan terhuyung-hayung. Pakaianya yang serba hitam menandakan bahwa ia berada dalam dukacita yang mencengkam.

Kerudungnya menutup hampir seluruh wajahnya tanpa hias muka atau perhiasan menempel di tubuhnya. Kulit yang bersih, badan yang ramping dan roman mukanya yang ayu, tidak dapat menghapus kesan kepedihan yang telah meroyak hidupnya.

Ia melangkah terseret-seret mendekati kediaman Nabi Musa a.s. Diketuknya pintu perlahan-lahan sambil memberi salam.

Maka terdengarlah ucapan dari dalam,
“Silakan masuk”

Perempuan cantik itu lalu berjalan masuk sambil kepalanya terus merunduk. Air matanya
berderai tatkala ia berkata,
“Wahai Nabi Allah. Tolonglah saya. Doakan saya agar Tuhan berkenan mengampuni dosa keji saya.”

“Apakah dosamu wahai wanita ayu?” tanya Nabi Musa a.s. terkejut.

“Saya takut mengatakannya.”jawab wanita cantik..

“Katakanlah jangan ragu-ragu!” desak Nabi Musa.

Maka perempuan itupun terpatah bercerita, “Saya… telah berzina”.

Kepala Nabi Musa terangkat,hatinya tersentak.

Perempuan itu meneruskan,
“Dari perzinaan itu saya pun… hamil. Setelah anak itu lahir,langsung saya… cekik lehernya sampai… mati,” ucap wanita itu seraya menangis sejadi-jadinya.

Nabi Musa berapi-api matanya. Dengan muka berang ia mengherdik,
“Perempuan bejad, pergi kamu dari sini! Agar siksa Allah tidak jatuh ke dalam rumahku kerana perbuatanmu. Pergi!”…teriak Nabi Musa sambil memalingkan mata kerana jijik.

Perempuan berwajah ayu dengan hati bagaikan kaca membentur batu hancur luluh segera bangkit dan melangkah surut. Dia terantuk-antuk keluar dari dalam rumah Nabi Musa..

Ratap tangisnya amat memilukan. Ia tak tahu harus kemana lagi hendak mengadu.. Bahkan ia tak tahu mahu dibawa kemana lagi kaki-kakinya. Bila seorang Nabi saja sudah menolaknya, bagaimana pula manusia lain bakal menerimanya? Terbayang olehnya betapa besar dosanya, betapa jahat perbuatannya.

Ia tidak tahu bahwa sepeninggalnya, Malaikat Jibril turun mendatangi Nabi Musa as. Sang Ruhul Amin Jibril lalu bertanya, “Mengapa engkau menolak seorang wanita yang hendak bertaubat dari dosanya? Tidakkah engkau tahu dosa yang lebih besar daripadanya?”

Nabi Musa terperanjat.
“Dosa apakah yang lebih besar dari kekejian wanita pezina dan pembunuh itu?”
Maka Nabi Musa dengan penuh rasa ingin tahu bertanya kepada Jibril.
“Betulkah ada dosa yang lebih besar daripada perempuan yang nista itu?”

“Ada!” jawab Jibril dengan tegas.

“Dosa apakah itu?” tanya Nabi Musa.

“Orang yang meninggalkan solat dengan sengaja dan tanpa menyesal. Orang itu dosanya lebih besar dari pada seribu kali berzina”.

Mendengar penjelasan ini Nabi Musa kemudian memanggil wanita tadi untuk menghadap kembali kepadanya. Ia mengangkat tangan dengan khusuk untuk memohonkan ampunan kepada Allah untuk perempuan tersebut. 

Nabi Musa menyedari, orang yang meninggalkan sembahyang dengan sengaja dan tanpa penyesalan adalah sama saja seperti berpendapat bahwa sembahyang itu tidak wajib dan tidak perlu atas dirinya. Bererti ia seakan-akan menganggap remeh perintah Tuhan, bahkan seolah-olah menganggap Tuhan tidak punya hak untuk mengatur dan memerintah hamba-Nya.

Sedang orang yang bertaubat dan menyesali dosanya dengan sungguh-sungguh bererti masih mempunyai iman di dadanya dan yakin bahwa Allah itu ada, di jalan ketaatan kepada-Nya. Itulah sebabnya Tuhan pasti mahu menerima kedatangannya.

Demikianlah kisah Nabi Musa dan wanita pezina dan dua hadis Nabi, mudah-mudahan menjadi pelajaran bagi kita dan timbul niat untuk melaksanakan kewajiban solat dengan istiqomah.