Opinion Piece another skill...

Malaysia, One School System with One Language.

            In teachers training, we were trained not to talk in any other language except English during the teaching and learning period. My first posting as a trained teacher was in a Tamil vernacular school, Sek. Keb. Tamil Desa Cempaka consists of pupils from the low cost housing are which was formerly known as Ladang Jindaram. Most their parents worked at the palm oil estate. This school did not have an English optioned teacher for (a teacher trained to teach English) at least 7 years. My first year there, I would call my father and cry to him over the phone to on what kind of failure I was at my job. It was that difficult to teach these children English with just one language.

Soon, I picked up their mother tongue and everything seems a little easier. Though some of you may see this as a defeat on my part, I asked myself would I rather have the student go home confused, uninterested, and given up or is it better to bend the rules and make sure the students gain some knowledge. The verdict favored on code switching. The way I controlled it is by not repeating the same translated words again the next day. The children were allowed to write down the translation in a small vocabulary book and refer to it when needed. It was time consuming but it paid off.

Today, I teach at a National school, Sek Keb. Puchong Perdana. This school is in an urban area and has been graded as town school. Then again, there is hardly a day I go about teaching without code switching. It is just easier faster and the students get it. I would not want to spend 10 minutes trying to explain one word. Having gone through these situations the phrase one language of education and communication is a nightmare. It is attainable if the children are trained to use one language since preschool and are educated in a boarding school, where there would be less if not no mother tongue influence at all.

Now let us look at the even bigger picture. Why do we educate our children? Why do we spend so much time and money on our language planning and policy? The answer is as simple as to ensure these children will grow up to contribute to the country’s development and well being by either serving or working in specific areas. If we were to choose only one language what will that language be? English? Bahasa Malaysia? Either way choosing just one language and suppressing our opportunity to seek global market seems a little preposterous. Scenario: being a multiracial the child who has an ability to speak at least two languages, will be able to bring in more benefits from other countries which speak any of those two languages in comparison to a child who speaks one language only. In other words, a child who speaks English, Malay and Chinese will be able to communicate with Indonesia, China and most western countries in depth rather than a child who speaks one language. In Malaysia most of us can speak at least two languages and most Chinese and Indians can speak three languages. Our language is our identities we are known as a multiracial country are we not? This is our advantage in the international zone, why suppress it and break our own legs. In addition to that point, do you remember the last time you filled in an employment form for a job interview. A famous question on these forms will be the language you can speak, read and write. No one can deny the ability to speak many languages serves as an advantage to the employee. Choosing to use only one language as the language of education and communication will encourage our children to shy away from stepping out in the world. Vice verse foreign countries may find it cumbersome to communicate with us too. To be truthful even the Japanese has picked up English to break its barrier and venture in to the global market. We need more than one language.

Although I am against one language of communication and education, I am all for one school system; the condition being, the school system should be able to cater all levels of student, student of various races, and benefit the development of our country in various fields. From what I have personally seen and am going through now. We are making a better system planning compared to few years back. This is the result of us learning from our mistakes but that should not be the reason to make more mistakes too. We should be able to predict and avoid making mistakes before the plan is implemented. Ensure the stability of the system before implementing and confusing everyone. Back in the 90’s we heard reports of children not being able to speak a full sentence in English during their job interviews. Today I am teaching in school and I can assure you if you follow the current KSSR system accurately minus the burdening paper work. The children can answer simple questions at the age of 8-9. Thus, we are getting better just ensure its stability before executing it.

            I doubt I can make myself any more convincing, one language of education and communication does more damage than titivate our nation on the other hand one solid school system can benefit us more than an unstable one.

Trying My Hand at Crime Feature

The Truth Behind DNA Technology and Crime.

            She screamed at the top of her lungs ‘no... no...’, tears rolled down her cheeks and she could not stand anymore. Her daughter held her and brought her out of the court with the helped of two of their relatives. Jenny Lim, 54, a single mother, went hysterical in court when the accused was set free due to lack of evidence.  Her elder daughter Christine 23, was kidnapped, raped and murdered three months back.

Christine Lim, was on her regular routine on March 10, 2014, she left the house for work around 6:45am and headed towards the bus stop which was 20 minutes away. She was alleged to have been kidnapped while she was walking to the bus stop and was brought to an abandon petrol station at the Nilai /KL highway, where she was brutally raped and killed.

Christine Lim was found with a broken neck, torn internal tissues and cracked skull, in her yellow bloodstained blouse. Her handbag and skirt were found a few meters away. Police commissioner, Tn. Haji Alias Jabir said the scene suggested the victim did try to run away but failed.

Lee Man Si, 38 year old local business man was rounded up together with a few other men and was brought in for questioning. He was released on April 1, three days later he left to Shanghai, China. Nevertheless, he was arrested upon returning to Malaysia on the 18^th of May 2014.

Ali Ammar Zamri the Judicial Commissioner stated Lee was let off the hook for several reasons. The major reason was that the DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) traces found on the victim and her blouse was not a complete match to the accused. Ali also added that the Satria GTi with tinted window which was seen leaving the scene was highly circumstantial as there is no prove Lee drove the car that day. Judge finally made his call to acquit Lee from all the charges.

A man walked free that day. DNA evidence can clearly change the fate of many. It can save an innocent and at the same time save a criminal too. DNA is said to be a sword with two edges, it needs to be handled carefully. DNA evidence can be easily tampered and disintegrated. Best of all, DNA profile can be a perfect match in cases of twins and bone marrow transplanted patients. Should something so fragile be the key to a person’s life and another’s justice? Furthermore, anyone who knows you can have accesses to your DNA. All they need is some of your hair with roots on it.

Years ago, Malaysian courts went through a complicated time trying to judge an accused as the major evidence was a partial finger print and some bloodstain. Saravana, 32 was finally found guilty to the murder of Sheela Ramu as the partial finger print was a match to the accused. In addition, eye witness claim of seeing a black Proton SAGA speeding way, backed up the case too. If there were DNA technologies back then, perhaps his fate would have been different or maybe not.

Nevertheless, the accuracy of the DNA can only be proven if it is collected, stored and processed according to specific procedures. Flaws can happen at any of these stages and cause the DNA evidence to be useless to the case. This technology would have been valuable in the 80’s and was extremely helpful in the 90’s but now in the 21^st century with the escalating crime rate and criminals are getting sneakier; DNA technology can be challenged. Television programs such as Crime Scene Investigation (CSI), Criminal Documentary, Happily Never After, Law and Order: SVU (Special Victims Unit) which are based on fictional cases and past criminal cases that has close basis to the real world crimes gives them an insight as these programs feature why the criminals are caught in relation to evidences. As a matter of fact, The Internet has various site on how DNA evidence are contaminated these information will help them avoid mistakes. In the 90’s an elite case produced DNA evidence as star evidence. The whole case took a detour when the defense team stated that the DNA was planted. Mazni Sahari was accused for the murder of her step father. Her lawyer Mr. Rave argued the hair was circumstantial evidence as it can be obtained by anyone, the trial which went on for 2 weeks before this issue was brought to light and the verdict was lack of substantial evidence. She is a free married woman today with three children of her own.

Looking back at a few cases, we can be thankful for the huge leap DNA technology has granted us in field crime investigation. It has help free many inmates and brought justice in many to many cases. Nonetheless, there seems to be a trend in our cases nowadays. We should be aware that cases should not be judge solely based on DNA evidence or influenced by it either. Malaysians have to realise that DNA evidence has two sides and we should be cautions and responsible over judgments we pass as the fate of a human is at stake here.

(862 words- Fully Fictional)

AN INDIRECT LESSON FROM MY LEADER

In the last 3 months we realized the fish from the Preschool fish pond in my school kept vanishing and the teachers kept replacing them. One evening they decided to replace and watch over the pond from a distance. Just as suspected, a few pupils were the cause of the vanishing fish. These pupils were caught and warned.

Two weeks later this incident happened again. This time around, these students were brought to face the headmistress.  This is where the indirect lesson begun, instead of scolding the pupils or punishing them she explained the importance of the fish made them the protector of the fish pond. Guess what it worked! The boys were excited and made sure the pond was beautiful at all times.

That day I realized, leaders do not rectify problems, they transform them into opportunity. Thanks for the lesson.

MS.D

(p.s : alterations  for literary purposes)