TR EMERITUS

A day after apologizing publicly for giving the "wrong" impression that mother tongue weightage in the PSLE will be cut, Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen has written a letter to mother tongue language (MTL) teachers, "clarifying" the Ministry's plans for MTL in schools. Dr Ng wrote in the letter that a "shift" towards focusing on language proficiency is needed to enable more students from English-speaking homes to become proficient users of their MTL. He has also asked the MTL Committee led by the Director-General of Education, Ho Peng to set out a "road-map" for the next 10 to 15 years. Dr Ng did not elaborate on the details of his plan. For many years, a small group of English-educated Singaporeans have been calling for the weightage of MTL to be reduced as their children have difficulties scoring in the subject. On 21 April, Dr Ng dropped a bombshell by suggesting that MTL weightage could be reduced, sparking a massive outcry among Singaporeans with two Chinese teacher unions protesting against MOE's decision to do so. In a most stunning U-turn, Dr Ng backtracked yesterday and reassured Singaporeans that the MTL weightage will not be reduced. For some inexplicable reasons, the announcement was made by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Istana. The state media has been quick to limit the PR damage from the fallout by giving extensive publicity to Dr Ng's subsequent speeches to "rectify" the "honest mistake". With the next election around the corner, the embattled PAP cannot afford to peeve off more Singaporeans, especially the Chinese-educated HDB heartlanders who still form the majority of the population. A surgeon by training, it remains to be seen if Dr Ng will remain the Education Minister after the next election.   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us  Read More →

By Yoong Siew Wah Even Heaven looks kindly upon the opposition and paves the way for it to progress to its present pre-eminence and hopefully up to and including the general election. The ground is definitely favourable in favour of it and it has all the electoral support from the new media, especially the netizens who have continually called on voters, especially young voters, not to vote for PAP. Of course, any support from the government-controlled mainstream media is out of the question. In fact, it has all the characteristics of the victors in the Red Cliff battle in the Chinese historical saga, the Three Kingdom. On the eve of the battle, the fabulous prescient Military Adviser Zhu Ge Liang made his famous prediction: All things made ready but only lacks the East Wind (wan shi ju bei, zhi qian dong feng). As he patiently waited, the East Wind arrived and sent his armada into victory in Red Cliff. The Chinese history is quoted as an analogy to show that the opposition is having all things made ready but only lacks the East Wind in the form of unity to secure victory like the Red Cliff victors. The talk between Reform Party (RP) led by Mr. Kenneth Jeyaretnam and the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) led by Mr. Chiam See Tong to form an alliance to contest the general election started on a promising note. It had all the makings of a remarkable beginning of a significant process leading to the indispensible unity of the opposition in facing the PAP in the general election. The talk was going so well that it came as something of a shock to hear the news that the proposed RP-SDA alliance had come to grief over the SDA's declination of acceptance of the 11 conditions of the RP after having earlier agreed to them. Kenneth Jeyaretnam was right to feel mystified and SDA Chiam See Tong did not improve matters by remaining tight-lipped. Mr. Chiam See Tong seems to hold the key to this whole opposition unity conundrum. A veteran politician like him should have no illusion about the paramount need of opposition unity in securing victory over the PAP in the general election. This should transcend all personal or party interests in the overall interests of opposition unity. The RP-SDA alliance fiasco will be viewed with exultation by the PAP leaders as it would mean that without unity the opposition will be less of a threat to their dominiance in the general election notwithstanding any favourable ground condition and new media support to the opposition. Of course, if the opposition parties were to contest against one another in a single ward or GRC, this will virtually amount to a walk-over for the PAP. The general election is likely to be still some time away and the oppoosition, especially Mr. Chiam See Tong, should transcend their parochial interests to forge a solid unity and not let down their electoral supporters. If the opposition parties fritter away the present golden opportunity, they may not find a similar opportunity for a long time to come.   About the Author: Mr Yoong is the former director of Singapore’s Internal Security Department from 1971 – 1974. He blogs here   Other articles by Yoong Siew Wah: >> Is the opposition capable of epoch-making? >> The Somnolent DPM >>  Lim Swee Say: The Consummate Joker >> Is MM Lee adding value to Singapore?  Read More →

作者:冀居·谢 官话和外交辞令基本上是废话和谎言的混合体，当然不可啥都当真，更加经不起推敲。 当然官话也不是全无是处，它有些虚的作用，就是达到安抚人心的目的，然而马屁精喜欢称之为“强心剂”。 官话和外交辞令要说得令人感觉诚意，当然是言者要保持十分的清醒，不可以入戏太深，表演过了‘度’，则受众起了戒心，将会功亏一篑，说什么也没有用了。所以要讲官话，要谨记三戒： 不要把受众当白痴 不要把受众当白痴 不要把受众当白痴 【不要把受众当白痴之一】 芽龙士乃临时巴刹的毒罗惹摊主阿劳乌丁被国家环境局以三项传票提控他，重罚9000大元，并且在罪名成立之后还会跟着民事诉讼缠身，真的是周身蚁不得闲了。 可是只要你还有一丁点的记忆，怎么当时在主流媒体上不断出现临时巴刹那几支承受不了灰尘的轻的风扇和鼠辈在屋脊和垃圾堆横行的照片，怎动不了负责管理临时巴刹的那伙党内同志，照说也该为管理失当收传票嘛。 还有咱们的环境部长把武吉智马淹水叫做百年难遇的“奇哉怪事”，还有荷兰村的老鼠、乌节路的老鼠……他是专挑软柿子的吗？ 【不要把受众当白痴之二】 我之前不写只字评论约内斯库撞人就跑事件，是因为觉得正义很难得到伸张，这关系国际外交；新加坡放走约内斯库也是碍于国际外交，这追溯到一个国家主权和脸面的原则，不管犯下的罪行是如何地严重，该国是不可能让他们的大使在异地受审甚至下狱的。 可是在新媒体和小报的推波助澜下，不想办的案也办出来了，这还不打紧，咱们的外交部长突然发挥他的“浩练”本色，把许许多多原本属于外交辞令的范畴的话都当真，给了新加坡民众很多不实的希望，最后只有自己尴尬。 他首先说和约内斯库有私交，可以通过电邮请他回来讲清楚说明白，结果被约内斯库将了一军，说是新加坡政府要政治迫害他。 不日又在梵蒂冈巧遇罗马尼亚外交部长，那个外交部长对杨荣文打起官腔，“强调罗马尼亚当局对这起事件给予高度重视，并保证当局已展开全面的司法程序，以确保正义得以伸张。他也向杨荣文表示能理解新加坡人对这起事件所表现的不满情绪。”——结果杨荣文也拿着棒槌缝衣服。 新加坡验尸厅的审讯如过场跑龙套，因为在被告缺席又不抗辩的情况下，审出来不一定是真相。却拿着审讯结果闹到去国际刑警发什么红色通缉令，还争辩说派驻外地的大使也有私人时间，没有外交豁免权，结果怎样呢？糗了不是。 【不要把受众当白痴之三】 “华语酷姐”林少芬说李总理“从谏如流”，简直是用错成语。因为所谓“谏”是做错事人家批评进言，现在总理不认为做错事，只是“重申”立场不变，何来“从谏如流”呢？ 说起来这场记者会有点无厘头，教育部长黄永宏为“遣词用字”道歉，总理李显龙“重申”立场，于人“本来无一物，何处惹尘埃”的感觉。 现场有记者提问曰：政府应对这个事件跟以往似乎有些不一样。以前有任何的误解，政府马上就会作出书面澄清或是出面解释，这次事件发酵了一两周，政府才作出正式的回应，有什么特别的用意？ 总理（华语回应）：我们考虑到这个问题，也很早就察觉到“发酵作用”相当大，所以觉得需要出来做澄清。但这是一个很重大的课题，所以不能简单出来说我们不减轻母语比重就了结。我们必须把整个构想、整个问题以及我们的主要考虑都准备好，把整个事情的来龙去脉全盘列出，让大家了解。 其实总理说的都是虚的，即使是虚的，他也没一一做到。他这虚晃一招也不是真的为了华语华文，而是因这而引发的政治危机；人民与行动党之间的互信，因为母语的课题已经来到一个临界，如果不危机处理的话，可能会失去很多的选票。 访问黄永宏的早报记者陈能端，报道“教育部长认为有必要重新思考小六会考目前母语所占的比重是否合理”后，写了一篇文章《本地母语教育正在节节败退？》，自认 是个双语政策受惠者，拿出自己的教育履历一晒，的确挺吓人的：先是在莱佛士女中读英国文学，后来成为李慧玲的学妹，到英国伦敦经济学院读本科，又后来得到 美国哥伦比亚大学的录取，却最终决定到北大读硕士。教育部长黄永宏轻轻松松说是“遣词用字”的误听误解，那么是不是该轮到陈小姐尴尬？ 政府重申原则没变，黄永宏也确定政策没变，怎么别人会因“遣词用字”而旁生歧义呢，既然不在第一时间纠正，是不是应该在这个已经延后的记者会一次过讲明白呢？没有！ 总理带教育部长开记者会也显得突兀，既然总理从来没怀疑过教育部长，教育部长也没有觉得总理干预部内的事务，他们的一起出现是要告诉大家，都是媒体的错，双语政策的下的精英都会有听读的问题？那么他们怎么确保现场请来的那些记者，不会把他们的说明写成别样呢？ 来源：大马论坛  Read More →