WHAT was first thought of as a concerted effort by rightists to drag Indian school pupils into the illegal temple polemic by belittling the achievement of four pupils at the recent Bangkok Innovation Awards has in fact cast doubt on the background and nature of the award itself.
Further check into allegation of “academic exploitation disguised as innovation award” by real estate agent Zam Sani in a Facebook post has led to a serial exposure beginning January by digital creator Nedumaran Elangovan who claimed that “100% of gold medals in international science fairs won by Tamil schools are scams from pay-to-win organisers”.
This was when the self-proclaimed strategic and results-driven business leader (as per his LinkedIn) went on to reveal the modus operandi of what he described as “a Tamil school science fair syndicate”.
More than it meets the eyes
Apparently, the syndicate is headed by a Malaysian man “who used to work in a government agency but now has his own persatuan (association)”.
“The persatuan members are mostly ‘STEM Education Centre’ guys who have made connections with Tamil school PIBGs on a personal basis,” revealed Nedumaran in Part 2 of his FB revelation.
They’ll approach these schools and gaslight them saying KPM (Education Ministry) has ignored them, nobody wants to see them grow, (the) system is rigged, nambe pullingow nambethan pakkenum (literally, “we’ve to look after our own boys’” story.
The syndicate works with similar ‘persatuan’ mainly in Indonesia, Taiwan, India and Vietnam to organise these science fairs which are basically private event in the host countries.
You are talking about a hall in a restaurant with a banquet table and a few chairs. Judges will be their friends and contacts. The more you pay, the more medals you win.
Editor’s Note: Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R. Ramanan has recently expressed pride over the achievement of four Malaysian pupils who excelled at the Bangkok Innovation Awards by bagging two gold medals and a second place in the Engineering category for primary schools.
“This achievement is not only something to be proud of but also proves that our young generation possesses creative and high-impact ideas that are capable of being recognised at the international level,” penned the PKR vice-president on his Facebook page.
The four pupils are Y. Ilaneyan and M. Theerchanna from SJKT K.O. Sarangapany (in Lunas, Kedah) as well as Y. Ilanarun and M. Elamaaran from SMK Sultan Badlishah (in Kulim Kedah).
In his subsequent FB posts, Nedumaran who claimed to have two decades of experience in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field further red-flagged participation cost (which could be in excess of RM40,000 for five pupils) to how the office of an “International Science Organisation” can be located in a residential housing estate.
In a Jan 29 FB post, the business consultant further revealed “participation packages” for the recent Bangkok Innovation Awards which he snubbed as “the organiser is from Malaysia but holds a private event in Bangkok”.
They range from RM2,200 for a “Full Package” to a “Free & Easy” RM750 package which the organiser had conditioned as “individual, not by team” and excluding airfares.
“Everyone has a medal. The conditions are: Make (your own) poster. Record a video. The organiser’ will provide all the topics and ideas. The kids just follow,” he jibed but lamented:
“I’ve tried my best (to alert) the SJKTs not to put their efforts in the wrong places yet narrative of the Tamil community advocates is that I’m pulling the community down.”
Fast forward to the recent ‘victory announcement’ by minister Ramanan, the disillusioned investigative netizen has the following to sum up:
Another day another ‘syok sendiri’ (self-gratifying) Tamil school. I’ve already said so the other day. Today they made it into the newspaper alongside a minister who doesn’t have a SO (special officer) to make verification.
- focus malaysia
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