11 March UPDATE:
Was e-mailed by ASTRO AWANI for a phone interview between 8-9pm tonight. Talk about instant fame!! My voice will be live on Cable TV!!
9 March 09 UPDATE:
Finally managed to update my gallery. *SIGH*

Went to play badminton today.  Felt tired, but upon switching on the TV, got glued to the news about the protest on the teaching of Science & Mathematics in English (PPSMI) in KL.

Honestly.  WTF??

My personal view would be this sentence “Are these guys un-educated, crazy and so damn desperate?“.

From that sentence, you know where I stand.  I’m all for PPSMI!!

Frankly, I don’t care about statistics.  Never cared about the money I’d get because I’m in the system.  I’m not enjoying any allowance for teaching in English anyway.  If they took away the allowance for the teacher’s, I’d not care.

WHY?

Because I see the benefit of PPSMI.

I remember how difficult it was for me to familiarize myself with Science & Maths terms in Uni. How I almost flunk every subject due to my inadequate knowledge of technical terms in English.  To say my English wasn’t good would be a lie, because I was ‘the master‘ in English when I was still a student.  Some teachers called me ‘the walking dictionary‘ at some point, but still… it never helped me ‘that much’ in Uni.  I still found it difficult.

Before I proceed, please note that I’m not bragging about myself here.  I’m just stating the facts.

Anyway, look at the root of PPSMI.  It was introduced to help and prepare students furthering their studies, and compete in this difficult yet challenging world.  It was NEVER meant to take over Bahasa Malaysia (BM).  NEVER!!

I mean, look at BM, you still need to have a credit to get your SPM certificate.  Flunct Science and Maths, and you will still get your cert.  So, which is more important?

Yah..yah.. some say teacher’s are going mad teaching under the PPSMI programme.  Where is your proof?  I’ve been teaching Science, Maths, Biology and Electrical Engineering for 4 years… I don’t seem insane.  No one has come up to me and called me ‘crazy‘, but I’d say that the paperwork in PPSMI is what drives me ‘crazy‘.  Yup, the paper work.  Not teaching in English.  Nonetheless, I admit, I have difficulty using Scientific terms, and I blame the system which emphasis so much on BM when I was a student.  Crappy system!

and.. please don’t talk about rural students being left behind.  PLEASE.  Because I was a rural student.  My school was in the middle of no-where.  I’m talking for these rural students.. CONTINUE PPSMI.

I have to admit, I look down on those whom are impatient over PPSMI.  I honestly think those whom are against PPSMI never felt the hardship of looking up English technical terms in THICK HEAVY DICTIONARIES in University.  How it felt to translate every single word at least 3 times to BM, and creating a new sentence, so that you could understand what a particular technical sentence means.  I also think they are narrow minded as they are too protective of something which is not even in danger.

It’s weird to see how many educators and educated parents whom are actually for PPSMI.  Are these people whom oppose PPSMI, un-educated?  Uhh.. can’t be.  I see some ‘great names‘ in the opposing team. Weird.

All this fuss over PPSMI is NONSENSE!  PURE NONSENSE!

I’ve got a few suggestions to solve this teething problem.  Here goes:

#1
Teach Science and Maths in English for those whom want it in English.  Those whom think otherwise, can go for BM/Chinese/Tamil lessons.  I would like to see how many student’s & parents opting for BM. Give student’s choice. Seriously.

Owh.. that’s my only suggestion… but yeah… In Malaysia, we complain so much.  So, I figure many will come out with so many crappy reason why it can’t be implemented.  Like cost too high.. not practical etc. etc.. Malaysia ma…

So, in Malaysia, we have to choose.  Science and Maths in English, OR Science and Maths in BM…

Nah.. Choose!!!

For me.. IF it’s the latter.. then might as well hope that BM becomes a universal language… coz it’s just a retarded solution.

Lastly, I’d like to say
I use BM for interaction as it is the Malaysian language and I am Malaysian, but I need to be competitive in this world, so I need to be fluent in English.

For those impatient people.. remember.. “Rome was not built in a day“.  Why should you dismiss the effectiveness of PPSMI after simply just a few years?