Guaranteeing Equal Access to Educational
Opportunities (Flashback 5 – Final)
By Chua Jui Meng
This
is critical to bring about the removal of racial barriers between the races
experienced amongst the youth of this nation.
An
adherence to the Federal Constitution is VITAL to achieve a BANGSA MALAYSIA in
2020.
Therefore,
MCA will ask that the Government ENSURES THE EQUAL ALLOCATION OF FUNDS,
ESPECIALLY DEVELOPMENT FUNDS TO MALAY, CHINESE, INDIAN AND MISSIONARY SCHOOLS.
The
students are Malaysians equal before the law, follow the national curriculum,
are administered and taught by staff and teachers sent by the Ministry of
Education and covered under the Education Act.
The
equality provisions must apply to these schools.
MCA
must also ASK FOR THE REMOVAL OF THE DIVISION BETWEEN BANTUAN PENUH AND BANTUAN
MODAL SCHOOLS.
Bringing
Safety and Security to All Malaysians
With
a strong, transparent and accountable government in place, we need to start addressing
the issues that affect the daily lives of all Malaysians.
As
such, I support the effort to INCREASE THE MANPOWER AND LEGAL/EVIDENCE TRAINING
OF POLICE OFFICERS to help fight the growing menace of crime.
A
strong, professional, non-corrupt and rakyat-friendly
police force is the cornerstone of any effort to combat crime and securing the
nation so that every Malaysian can feel safe on the roads, in their workplaces
and schools, and most importantly in their homes.
Fighting Corruption through Transparency
As
with my vision to have a transparent and honest leadership within the Party, if
elected president, I will actively seek to extend this transparency to the
government and all its institutions and bodies.
Open
Tender System
To
that effect, I intend to ask the Government to LEGISLATE A TRANSPARENT OPEN
TENDER SYSTEM for all government departments and their dependent bodies,
extending this system to all government-linked companies (GLCs).
Parliament to oversee GLCs
Taking
it a step further, I will also ask the government to PLACE ALL GLCs AND
INSTITUTIONS WITHIN THE PURVIEW OF PARLIAMENT. For the sake of effectiveness,
the ministries will continue to have oversight but we must allow Parliament to
form Parliamentary Committees that have the authority to view accounts of these
GLCs and institutions, and the right to call in the managements of these
organisations for questioning and briefings.
Anti-Corruption
Agency (ACA) Must Be Independent
Amongst
the most important institution that needs to be under the purview of Parliament
is the ACA.
The
MCA must support the stand of Transparency International Malaysia that the ACA
should be an INDEPENDENT body.
Enhancing the Education System for the
Knowledge Economy
With
Malaysia continually integrating with the rest of the world economy, we must
recognise the challenges that our children will face in the future.
They
will be competing with people from other countries for employment and business
opportunities.
MCA
must fight for enhancements to our education system so that our children can
adapt to the global knowledge economy.
Critical Thought
We
must PROMOTE CRITICAL THOUGHT in our classrooms, and challenge our students to
think outside the confines of our traditional and cultural boxes.
They
must be trained to explore, to adapt and be creative, as well as to continually
learn and grow in a dynamic global environment of continuous and rapid change.
Right
to Mother Tongue Education
MCA
must continue fighting to SAFEGUARD MOTHER TONGUE EDUCATION, not just as a
matter for cultural heritage but as an asset for our children as both China and
India emerge as the world’s new economic giants.
We
should promote linguistic studies for all Malaysians so that our businesses can
play a more influential role in the globalised world.
We
must strengthen the teaching of English.
Arrest
the Failure and Drop-out Rate
We
must ARREST THE FAILURE AND DROP-OUT RATE of our students. In particular the
increasing number of students who move from the vernacular primary schools into
the national secondary schools.
MCA
must fight for programmes to help these students to overcome the linguistic
barriers at both the primary school and secondary school levels.
Promote Post-Graduate Studies
To
foster a continuous learning environment, MCA must press the government to
PROMOTE POST-GRADUATE STUDIES via tax incentives and loans to our rakyat already in the workforce so that they
have every opportunity to upgrade their skills and knowledge.
MCA
must ensure that more resources and investments are poured into our children’s
education so that Malaysia will never be left behind in the global economy.
Strengthening Our Economy through
Leadership and Diplomacy
A
major force that will shape our nation in the future is globalisation and the
emergence of regional economies like China and India that will challenge our
traditional manufacturing base.
An
abundance of cheap labour coupled with large domestic markets and population
will render our manufacturers uncompetitive.
To
prosper, we need to develop our human capital.
Moving
up the Economic Value Chain
As
leader, I will petition the government to provide support to our manufacturing
base to RE-SKILL OUR WORKERS AND RETOOL OUR FACTORIES to move to more high-tech
manufacturing.
The
development of a highly skilled productive workforce will allow us to secure
our competitive edge by moving up the economic value chain and give us the
ability to explore new markets and innovate to serve new opportunities and niches.
Promote Trade
In
addition, I will PROMOTE BILATERAL TRADE WITH INDIA, CHINA and ASEAN.
Malaysia
is blessed to be both historically and geographically the crossroad of this
region.
By
cultivating these ancient ties, we will be able to open up all these markets to
our goods and services as well as become a destination for their investment
dollars.
MCA
leaders and I will personally lead delegations of our businessmen to these
countries.
MCA
will do well to remember that most of the people in our community are involved
in the SMI/SME sector. It is imperative for the wellbeing of our country that
this sector be integrated into the global economy.
Supporting
Small Businesses in Capitalising on Global Opportunities
MCA
must therefore play an effective role in INCREASING SMI/SME PARTICIPATION IN
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.
With
the above activities and through human resource training programmes and
government sponsored international trade offices, I believe that the Malaysia
SMI/SMEs will be well positioned to compete effectively in the world economy.
MCA
will work with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry to CREATE A
REGIONAL INFORMATION DATABASE that will help our private sector obtain market
data and economic intelligence and help them network with the private sectors
of these countries.
