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These essays document the continued decline of Malaysian education at all levels. This has been going on for decades. This collection updates the author's earlier book, An Education System Worthy Of Malaysia (2003). Despite successive Administrations professing to transform the system, the rot continues. The challenges today are as monumental as they are obvious. The remedies offered by the Government are nothing but repeated assurances and earnest statements, coupled with endless expensive Blueprints and White Papers. The greatest indictment of the system is that Malays are abandoning the national stream. The rich opt for international schools; the poor, Chinese schools, much to the embarrassment of Malay nationalists. The former, which offers other than the Malaysian curriculum and pedagogy, are mushrooming. Malaysian high school students perform poorly in comparative international assessments like TIMMS and PISA. No surprise that Malaysians are now a rare species on elite campuses. Employers shun local graduates, and the teaching profession no longer attracts the best. The Ministry of Education, the largest in terms of budget and personnel, is blighted by inept management and bloated bureaucracy intent on pursuing narrow nationalistic and Islamist agendas. Each successive Minister is consumed with exploiting the prestige of the office to further his political agenda. Even when the rare, enlightened policies were instituted, as with opening up higher education to the private sector in the mid 1990s by then Education Minister Najib Razak, the process was exploited to become lucrative conduits for corruption. Najib granted nearly 600 permits in a space of about two years! More than half of those new institutions went out of business within a few years, stranding their students and crushing their dreams, quite apart from literally robbing them and their parents. The 2018 elections saw a new government with a Minster of Education who for the first time was not from the dominant United Malay National Organization (UMNO) party. An Islamic Studies graduate, his first order of business was to change the color of school children's shoes from white to black! The only saving grace was that he was canned just over a year later. In January 2020, the Ministry was back under Prime Minister Mahathir. By February 2020, his government too was out, and with that, the Ministry was split into two, one for K-11 and another for Higher Education. As an unnecessary reminder, it was Mahathir, as Minister of Education back in the 1970s, who started the decline. Today Malaysian education has been taken over by the language nationalists and jihadist Islamists with their sole agenda of making not only education but the whole of Malaysia "Malay" and "Islamic." The nationalists add their chauvinistic and very "un-Islamic" Ketuanan Melayu (Malay hegemony) aspirations to the mix. As a result, the school curriculum is heavy on ritualistic religion and strident nationalism, with indoctrination masquerading as education. This glaring disconnect between the Ministry's agenda and reality is obvious to all but those bureaucrats and policymakers. While Malaysia is in desperate need of teachers of English, not one of her public universities have a Department of English. Meanwhile four core subjects of Malay, English, science, and mathematics are neglected. Recognizing the establishment's inertia as well as incompetence, the writer advocates liberalizing the system at all levels by opening it up to the private sector via the voucher system a la Chile, and encouraging charter schools as per America. Provide parents and students with choice, and reward those schools that succeed in preparing their students for the modern interconnected world, as well as being the pivotal instrument for integrating young Malaysians.
This book examines Malaysia’s educational landscape, providing a contemporary study of key themes that have emerged in this multicultural, multi-ethnic society, as it attempts to shift from a middle-income to a high-income nation. Combining contributions by scholars from various fields—such as economics, history, sociology, political science and, of course, education—the book provides richer insights into Malaysia. Offering a unique resource, it will be of particular interest to educators, researchers, students, policymakers and members of the public who want to be updated on the latest trends and challenges in Malaysian education.
Since independence in 1957, Malaysia has become a globally-recognised industrial trading partner. With a 60% Muslim population, it also enjoys the reputation of being a moderate and peaceful nation. However, with just a short time left to realising its Vision 2020 of developed nationhood, the pathway of nation building still seems ambiguous. There is a brewing tension in its race and ethnic relations which has permeated the various fronts, namely politics, society, economics and education. This book analyses the education policies that have been formulated and implemented in Malaysia since independence. It demonstrates how these policy enactments have influenced the nation’s growth and transformation, and the challenges faced in creating a model of equity and multicultural co-existence among its racially and ethnically diversified people. Shedding light on these issues, it points towards the major mending that is needed for Malaysia to become a truly developed nation. Chapters include: Education of ethnic minorities in Malaysia: Contesting issues in a multiethnic society Access and equity issues in Malaysian higher education Graduate employability in government discourse: A critical perspective This comprehensive book is a case study on Malaysia that will supplement researchers and advance students in their understanding of a multi-racial society’s perspective and attitude towards education.
This book draws on elements of critical social theory, research on globalization, neo liberalism and education, and Malaysian Studies to understand the interplay of globalization, nationalism, cultural politics and ethnicized neoliberalism in shaping the educational reforms in Malaysia. Using the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (MEB) as a case study, a catalyst and a context, this collection critically explores some of the complex historical and contemporary push-pull politics and factors shaping Malaysia’s education system, its reform and the experience of Malaysians – and others – within it. The authors in this volume focus on the interplay of neoliberalism, nationalism, ethnic and cultural politics in shaping the educational reforms in Malaysia. Their work captures and seeks to understand the enduring, though changing, hierarchy of access and differentiated rights to educational, social and economic resources and opportunities experienced by different individuals and collectives, including those involved in the neoliberal enterprise of international education. It looks at how inequities have been re-configured in different educational spaces in Malaysia, and at how these inequities have been addressed through reform policies and practices. The book will be a shaper and critical contributor to the assessment of the Malaysian Education Blueprint and related policies. It will also have wider relevance globally as a critical approach to policy discussion.
"This book is a collection of papers that provide an overview of the historical development of education in Malaysia during the last half century."--Book jacket.
Rethinking Malaysia collects together the writings of Tajuddin Rasdi in a period of political change and turmoil in the aftermath Malaysia’s 14th General Election. A time of hope and renewal, as well as of increasing conservatism and extremism, Rethinking Malaysia features Tajuddin Rasdi’s personal and honest musings about issues of religion, politics and education in relation to Malaysia’s ongoing project of nation-building. Reacting to events such as the anti-ICERD rally, the Zakir Naik controversy, the education reforms of the Pakatan Harapan government, and the worsening of relations between East and West Malaysia, Rethinking Malaysia is Tajuddin Rasdi’s call for a process of nation-building which is inclusive of all races, religions and regions and which produces a meaningful Malaysian identity, as well as a call for all religions to work together to produce a more prosperous, just and inclusive nation for future generations.
A new edition of Moving Forward, which was first published a decade ago, in which Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had presented a discourse on Malays in Malaysia and argued that the Malays had to move forward to survive and succeed in facing the new challenges of the 21st century. At the time, Nik Nazmi was (and still is) pushing for a more progressive paradigm where Malaysians are at ease with its diversity. The message of Moving Forward, then and now, remains: the Malays need to embrace democracy, progressive politics and diversity. This is the right thing to do as well as the only way to ensure the survival of the race, religion and country. In light of the recent political developments in Malaysia, Moving Forward is just as relevant today as it was in 2009. The text is largely the same as it was when first published. This new edition includes a new Introduction and a new Postscript to reflect on the book in light of the progress that Malaysians have achieved and the new challenges that they face today.
Malaysian-born M. Bakri Musa, a California surgeon, writes frequently on issues affecting his native land. His credits, apart from scientific articles in professional journals, have appeared in Far Eastern Economic Review, International Herald Tribune, Education Quarterly, and New Straits Times. His commentary has also aired on National Public Radio's Marketplace. He is the author of The Malay Dilemma Revisited: Race Dynamics in Modern Malaysia, Malaysia in the Era of Globalization, and An Education System Worthy of Malaysia. Safely beyond the reach of Malaysia's censorship laws, he writes freely and without restraint, save for common courtesy and good taste. He spares no individual or institution, easily skewering the sacred cows. He aims his dart at the most hyper-inflated targets, easily and effectively puncturing them to reveal their hollowness. These range from the obscenely ostentatious Malaysian weddings to special privileges, and from Prime Minister Mahathir to youths who do Malaysia proud.