YOURSAY | Take politics out of our schools

 

YOURSAY | ‘No politicians should be allowed to speak in schools.’

Najib to Pua: Come after me, leave Foon Yew school alone

Foon Yew school board teaching children it's okay to steal – Pua

The Wakandan: Damansara MP Tony Pua said the board of governors of Foon Yew High School in Johor Bahru should be sacked because they are telling the children it is okay to steal, cheat and lie.

It surely has a political undertone to win some brownie points during this Johor state election because obviously they (school's board of governors) seem to be MCA supporters.

However, I would not take this approach. If they were MCA supporters, they would not vote for you anyway.

Students should be exposed to the real world. Do you think that by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak speaking to them, they are taught that stealing is okay?

In the course of one’s learning life, there is much to learn - the good and the bad. Children, given the freedom of learning knowledge are much more intelligent than you think they are.

Conversely, without knowing the bad, how do they know what it is?

Coward: For once, Najib is just a sideshow when he was mentioned in Pua's outburst.

Pua's main issue is not about Najib going there, but that the school had allowed a convicted felon to address the school, and he is not talking about being repentant for his crime.

This call into question the wisdom of the school management for allowing this. Under normal circumstances, we will expect a review of the decision from the school's board of governors, if they haven't approved it in advance.

It will be to the same call if a petty criminal were there because he once did something good for the school. Just like we are not saying that the petty criminal should not address the school, it’s just we must weigh the pros and cons before making the decision.

Right now, I am concurring with Pua that Najib’s visit should not have taken place as I believe the message received by the pupils are not the correct one and his conviction outweighed the good that he did for the school.

BobbyO: Schools should be left out of the national political agenda. The students are there to prepare a future for themselves. Teachers, who are considered mentors, should realise that they should set a good example for the future generation.

As far as political leaders who have helped in some way in the betterment of the school facilities, they should realise that it is their duty to do so. Secondly, all the help came from the taxes of ordinary people and not from any personal funds.

The school heads should make sure that the leaders or educationists that they invite to speak or give any form of advice should be people with a clean reputation and impeccable character.

In this way, we can be assured that we are preparing a new generation that will lead this nation in the right direction.

OCT: The Education Ministry has made it clear that no politicians are allowed to speak in schools. This is a clear violation of the ministry’s standard operating procedure. When the opposition wanted to enter a school, they were rejected.

The next question is, will the ministry take action against Najib, who gave a speech at that school?

The board of governors is also at fault for inviting a politician to the school without seeking prior approval from the Education Ministry. If there is no punishment, then it is a clear case of double standards which has become very common nowadays.

The school’s board has no common sense and integrity by inviting Najib as he is a convicted felon. His past considerations should not come into play once he is convicted.

Torchlight: A person in power once used that power to do me a big favour. Later he used the same power to commit a huge crime against the nation, a crime for which he was convicted by the court of the nation, and the nation is still reeling from the aftermath of this crime.

Should I, because of personal gratitude, publicly glorify him, and so influence others, especially in this time of an election?

Should I not consider what would happen to the nation if this person again came to power? Or am I just thinking of what other benefits will I get if this man again came to power? Where is my priority? Have I no shame?

BusinessFirst: I think that it cannot be denied that Najib did do more for Chinese and international schools than other PMs.

But that said, his "contributions" are small compared to the damage he has done to the nation including Chinese education. Think of the billions and what it could do if correctly and honestly spent on education.

Honestly, it is like being grateful to the man who burn down your house because he gave you a nasi lemak dinner.

The only reason why some part of the Chinese community is so grateful to Najib is simply because of the policies of the government he leads that has made life of these and other schools difficult.

So, he is seen as less bad than the rest. Are we to be grateful to the one who steals RM1,000 from us compared to the one who steals RM2,000?

Vijay47: This must be the first time in recorded history that a criminal took pride in the fact his was “only” charged under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Prevention Act where others have been charged with even worse crimes.

Worse? Perhaps, Najib, in your busy campaign and golf schedule you forget that were it not for the court’s generosity towards you pending the outcome of your appeals, you would have been cooped in a cell where the river flows amidst the drooping bamboo.

While on the topic of your legal skirmishes, let me remind you that you were found guilty of seven charges and the verdicts reaffirmed in the Court of Appeal. Not only that, but you were also described as a “national embarrassment”.

A total of 14 times; and you still take pride in it? The only way your record can be beaten is if a colleague of yours is similarly found guilty of the charges he is facing - 47 charges. But who is counting?

Had you restricted your sashaying into Umno, MIC, and MCA events, nobody would have batted an eyelid, after all, birds of a feather and all that. But you intruded into a school, that is what Pua is protesting.

Your presence illuminated the message to the students that it was acceptable to be a criminal and a national embarrassment. For its part, the school board in inviting and welcoming you with pomp and ceremony could be viewed as an accessory after the fact.

But I love the far, far better part where you said “Leave the school board alone. Take me.” Wow! Sydney Carton (the central character in Charles Dickens' 1859 novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’) could not have said it better.

Or was that ‘Gunga Din’ (an 1890 poem by Rudyard Kipling)? - Mkini