Boo-hoo-hoo: ‘Cry Baby’ Ka Siong's pre-GE wayang kulit

NOTICE how the pre-general election wayang kulit is being played out by MCA’s deputy education minister Wee ‘Cry Baby’ Ka Siong?

The shortage of Chinese school teachers is a issue at least four decades (40 years) old. Why is the MCA Youth chief suddenly trying to champion the issue and in a haste to prepare a memorandum on the issue for the federal government?

Yes. Wee is aware the 13th General Election is around the corner and thinks he is smart to use the 40-year-old issue to win Chinese votes. What a pea brain moron.

It only shows Wee doesn’t have the intelligence and brains to be innovative and come up with something fresh to win the hearts and minds of the Chinese.

Mere misunderstanding or feigned ignorance

The equally moronic racist “I am Malay First, Malaysian Second” deputy prime minister cum education minister Muhyiddin Yassin is also of the same mould as Wee.

When asked on the posting of non-Mandarin-trained teachers to Chinese schools (SJKCs), his reply was: “It’s mere misunderstanding.”

For 40 years the MCA and Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government did nothing to check the rot. It was also MCA that betrayed the Chinese by supporting the amendments to the Education Act, giving the power to the education ministry and minister to convert vernacular schools to national-type schools.

Before I proceed further on this piece, and you start questioning my competence on Chinese education issues, my wife opted for early retirement in 2010 as a SJKC teacher.

Can MCA and Wee be so ignorant about the issue and why it is a protracted problem that will not be resolved with a thousand memorandums?

Ketuanan agenda making life a misery

It is not that the shortage is difficult to overcome. It is the racist Umno-led BN government’s Ketuanan agenda that is making life miserable for all Malaysians.

Just go to all the teacher training colleges in Malaysia and check the yearly intake for SJKC trainee teachers and you will find the answer. It is as simple as that, MCA and Wee!

Just admit it. MCA, Wee and all its past leaders are just Umno’s puppets. To put it crudely, they are Umno’s eunuchs out for the crumbs.

And, the other equally important education issue is the fast deteriorating quality of education.

Why did my wife opt for early retirement?

Everyone knows the standard of national-type schools. As a Penangite, I will just use one classic example – Penang Free School (PFS).

It used to be a premier school churning out bright A-performing students. Now?

How do you expect standards and performance to be maintained or upheld when Lower Six pupils can be left without a Mathematics teacher for a year! Don’t just take my word, go check the school staff record. This feedback is from a former PFS student whose father pulled him out of the school and spent a fortune on a private institution of higher learning.

My wife quit because it is too tedious and stressful to be a seriously responsible teacher these days.

Student indiscipline

One of the major factors governing quality education is student discipline.

I remember the days when I was in La Salle Primary and Lower Secondary School (Penang). The headmaster, Brother John, would walk into every class to check report cards.

He will use his polished and shiny four-foot-long cane to whip our arse once for every red mark on the report card. That was how strict discipline was.

Today, even scolding a student will get a teacher into trouble. Either the parent will file a legal suit against the teacher or the ministry’s disciplinary action awaits the teacher.

Scolding or punishing a student for refusing or failing to do his/her homework shows the care and concern of a teacher. He or she is a responsible teacher.

Instead, the education ministry does not condone or protect such responsible teachers.

So, who wants to be a responsible teacher and risk his/her job and pension?

So, what naturally happens is that the majority of teachers avoid disciplining their students, taking the couldn’t-care-or-less attitude. Student performance dips on the back of growing indiscipline.

Can you blame teachers for their attitude? Blame politicians like Wee, who continue to take the community for a ride, and the racist BN government.

Only politicians and parties with the political will to change for the better can save our children’s education and future. Not Wee and his wayang kulit memorandum.

Jackson Ng is a Retired Journalist