Where Are Our Priorities?

Malaysia has as of late been suffering from an ignorance of its priorities. Left and right, people are hounding politicians on the wrong issues, and politicians are kicking up fusses about the wrong issues, and the media ends up reporting them all.

Let me sum up. I am a frustrated, stressed student about to sit for his A-Levels, and all I hear about are idiots talking about PPSMI with no idea what it's supposed to do, morons who can't realise the real problem isn't which language but how good it is, religious crazies who would rather devote their time to crushing homosexuality rather than corruption and over-aged Mat Rempits who seem like they're having mid-life crises, and have taken to demanding a freakin' race track when the economy is doing badly and people need public money spent on something else.

Come on, people.

PPSMI

(To read what I mean and want to say, but better phrased, go read this article)
http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/guest-columnists/44764-ppsmi-malaysia-in-the-lost-world

What a stupid issue. What a moronic, utter waste of my time. As I sat here earlier today trying to study for my A-Levels (i.e. trying to do something intellectual) it hurt me, it almost literally hurt to read about idiots talking about PPSMI and Standards of English and preserving the Sanctity of Malay when in actual fact *none* of these things are even related!

Let's get things straight. If our objective in introducing PPSMI is to raise the standards of English = bad idea.

If our intention in implementing PPSMI is to teach our students crucial subjects of global importance in the lingua franca of the world = good idea.

If you think learning Science and Maths in English will erode the importance of Malay/make people less patriotic = you sir need an education.

Honestly. Don't even bother dredging up arguments like 'We don't need Science/Maths in English to excel in these areas globally!' or 'But why the hurry to learn English, everyone wants to learn Mandarin!'. For goodness' sake just shut up and think for a moment.

Sure, the Japanese do their science schtick without relying on English. So just because they do it, we should stick to teaching it in Malay? Hell no! The Japanese, unlike Malaysians, have strong local universities that allow them to study competently in their own language. What do we have? UM? The in-and-out-of-the-top-200 UM? If we are to send students outside to study, like JPA is doing now, how the hell can we send them to the UK or Russia or Australia or New Zealand and have them say karbon dioksida instead of carbon dioxide?

Everyone wants to learn Mandarin, yes. But if you're implying Mandarin is therefore more important, why are you not suggesting we teach Science/Maths in Chinese? Once again, these stupid arguments arise because people don't know Jack Crap about priorities.

Let Me Tell You What Our Priorities Are

1. Good standards of English. Not by the PPSMI programme, but by teaching English at a higher level, with better teachers, with longer hours, and with more importance. If I could come from an English-speaking family and learn very competent Malay, there's no reason for you to insult rural/kampung folks by saying they'll not keep up with English.

Adding on, the PPSMI is supposedly being abolished because we lack teachers capable of teaching in English. What, did it take Bodoh Nasional 10 years to realise our teachers couldn't speak English? These are the same people who rushed into implementing PPSMI without securing the infrastructure first. And now that the infrastructure has been built somewhat, instead of improving if further they insist on scrapping it. It's a misalignment of priorities. It was never English vs. Malay, it was always about Good English vs. Bad English.

2. Good standards of education. Let's not even talk about being able to maintain our cultural integrity when the price of that is being incompetent. If you want kids to learn Science and Maths in Malay, fine - give these kids good schools to study at, good universities to study at. If they still have to go overseas to get that Medicine degree, then you sure as hell better let them learn in English. Until then, the *real* problem is that our standards of education don't measure up.

PPSMI won't mean anything to the kids unlucky enough to be going to a dead-end school where no single teacher wants to teach (or can teach) and where leaky roofs are common. They are stuck in a rut either way. Before we can consider preparing these kids for the big wide world, we have to make sure they can survive in their own country first.

But that's not all we're confused about...

Homophobia

Now this is another issue people are making way too much fuss about. And this goes the same for the Opposition as well as the Government. Here we are, facing a possible double-dip recession with economies in Europe collapsing, and corruption still rotting away our system, and all people give a shit about are homosexuals! Talk about priorities!

While PAS was busy hammering away at Elton John's concert and doing their bit to drive away legitimate opportunities for our entertainment and tourism industry, cronies in UMNO were still getting contracts and siphoning money off the rakyat. While the police were busy banning Seksualiti Merdeka, Shahrizat and her inept children were doing a bad job producing cattle.

Are you kidding me, people? When you want to go after the sinners, go after the big sinners. Honestly, I do not have a problem with homosexuals. I know that many people do, and I can see why even if I don't agree. But you'd have to be pretty stupid to prioritise demonising gays and spreading homophobia when there are bigger fish to catch.

This is just like our Islamic authorities who would spend a lot of time catching beer-drinkers while the corrupt and the liars go free. Last time I checked with a Muslim friend, corruption outranked alcohol consumption big time when it came to sins.

And last time I checked, corrupt politicians were hurting our country with their culture of cronyism way more than homosexuals are thought to endanger our integrity and 'Easternness'. Let's get it right people. You want to say that gays hurt society. Well, adulterers hurt more people than gays. Motorists hurt more people than gays. Politicians hurt a lot more people than gays. Heck, ultraconservative religious types hurt more people than gays (case in point, Pastor Terry Jones - the idiot who wanted to burn Qurans. Or Westboro Baptist Church, the morons who picket the funerals of gay soldiers).

Let Me Tell You What Our Priorities Are

1. Stamping out corruption. It is ridiculous to be so concerned about homosexuals when there are 'bigger sinners' to catch according to peoples' books. My whole life growing up, I was never threatened by gays or lesbians or transgenders. But I was threatened by the system of corruption, of entitlement, as was everyone. Shouldn't that take priority over fighting over sexuality?

There, just that one priority. There are others but this problem is so big I believe it supersedes almost anything else. Corruption. Ineptitude. Inefficiency. Why should the fisherman on the West Coast give a damn about Elton John and his ways when his own government is plundering his country and taking as much money as it can?