Tag: Singapore

Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura Gunakan Teras 4M, Mantapkan Penggunaan Bahasa Melayu

Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura (MBMS) akan terus melanjutkan usaha untuk memantapkan lagi penggunaan Bahasa Melayu di negara ini melalui teras 4M – Memangkin, Menghubung, Memperkukuh dan Memperdalam.

Demikian ditekankan Pengerusi barunya, Profesor Madya Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim yang juga Setiausaha Parlimen Pendidikan merangkap Pembangunan Sosial dan Keluarga dalam sidang media MBMS, petang tadi (24 Feb).

Tahun ini, ketua-ketua baru juga dilantik bagi tiga jawatankuasa kecil MBMS.

Jumlah penyertaan dalam pelbagai kegiatan Bahasa Melayu saban tahun, semakin menggalakkan. Lanjutan daripada usaha-usaha sedia ada, MBMS mahu meluaskan lagi pendekatannya menerusi empat teras, iaitu:

EMPAT TERAS

1) ‘Memangkinkan’ kegiatan-kegiatan bahasa, sastera dan budaya dengan kerjasama badan-badan Melayu, agensi-agensi pemerintah, institusi dan individu

2) ‘Menghubungkan’ orang ramai dengan kegiatan Bahasa Melayu melalui pelbagai wadah termasuk media sosial

3) ‘Memperkukuh’ usaha untuk mengenal pasti aktivitis muda yang berpotensi menjadi pelapis bahasa, sastera dan budaya Melayu,

4) Menyediakan wadah untuk orang ramai ‘Memperdalam’ minat terhadap bahasa, sastera dan budaya Melayu.

Dr Faishal berkata: “Saya melihat MBMS sebagai penghubung di mana dengan adanya landasan ini, kita boleh menjadi penghubung untuk memberikan maklumat dari platform Facebook, Instagram dan lelaman MBMS.

“Kami juga akan meningkatkan tahap dan mengemaskini lelaman MBMS supaya ia mesra dengan pengguna telefon bimbit. Ini dijadualkan siap pada Julai tahun ini.”

JAWATANKUASA KECIL MBMS

Duta Bahasa 2010, Cik Rahayu Mahzam yang juga Anggota Parlimen GRC Jurong, adalah di kalangan tiga orang yang dilantik untuk menerajui tiga jawatankuasa kecil.

Cik Rahayu, Ketua Jawatankuasa Masyarakat dan Bulan Bahasa, berkata: “Kita gunakan Bulan Bahasa sebagai satu wahana untuk melibatkan segenap masyarakat pengguna Bahasa Melayu.

“Jadi, ini harus dipertingkatkan dalam konteks kehidupan masa kini kerana masyarakat sering berubah. Ada beberapa inovasi dan teknologi yang berubah. Ini bermakna mungkin kosa kata kita perlu berubah, perlu ditambah.”

GALAK KREATIVITI, PERKEMBANGAN BAHASA

Selain untuk menyuntik kesegaran kepada Bulan Bahasa tahun ini, tiga jawatankuasa kecil MBMS juga akan memberi tumpuan kepada penggalakkan kreativiti dan perkembangan bahasa, meningkatkan mutu program dan bersifat lebih inklusif agar keindahan bahasa dapat lebih dihargai.

Antara kegiatan baru yang akan dianjurkan termasuk Bengkel Kritikan Sastera dan Bengkel Rentas Media.

Dua lagi ketua jawatankuasa kecil ialah Profesor Madya Dr Hadijah Rahmat dan Pengetua Sekolah Menengah Balestier Hill, Encik Abdul Harris Sumardi.

Sesi taklimat Bulan Bahasa akan diadakan pada Jumaat ini.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

February 25, 2016
Singapore Should Not Fall Prey To Demands To Be ‘Liberal’

I write to express my concerns over the content and themes of Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour.

Although Madonna’s concert organiser has agreed to comply with the Media Development Authority’s (MDA) terms of licence to not offend any race or religion, it has maintained that “Madonna will have the final say in how the show turns out”.

Historically, Madonna has consistently abused her artistic licence to stir political and religious controversy abroad, invoking lawsuits, and police and government concerns.

Licensing such performers undermines the fundamental values upon which our nation is built, such as that of safeguarding racial and religious harmony, public decency and building strong families. This is harmful to our society.

The exploitation of religious symbols and themes in provocative ways, such as the use of an adulterated cross as a stage, is disrespectful and wounds religious feelings. It grieves a community that appreciates that social cohesion rests on religious harmony and mutual respect.

I am particularly concerned about our youth and the bad example this sets. In my capacity as a humanitarian doctor, author and active speaker on several youth platforms, I was honoured to receive the Young Outstanding Singaporean Award. Society has given much to me and I consider it my responsibility to give back by inspiring our youth to be socially and morally conscious future leaders. This is why I am raising this matter.

The MDA has a responsibility to protect the delicate balance of Singapore’s multireligious, multiracial society and uphold values of respect and harmony. I am grateful for the times the MDA has withstood the pressures of those preferring more liberal approaches to censorship, and urge it to keep faith with the public by discharging its role with due consideration to our local mores.

We should not fall prey to demands by a vocal sector to be “liberal” and “progressive”, as many of us consider public indecency and blasphemy to be regressive. Singapore has received global admiration for our ability to maintain a prudent equilibrium in preserving our multireligious, multiracial society.

I urge the authorities to act with principled resolution to uphold those values cherished by many Singaporeans, which have been so critical to our past, and will be key to our continued success. Let us not compromise these values for the sake of entertainment that seeks to provoke and divide, rather than to uplift and unite.

This opinion by Tam Wai Jia was published in Voices, Today, on 25 Feb 2016.

Source: www.todayonline.com

February 25, 2016
Wearwhite: We Support The Expression Of Concern By Roman Catholic Archbishop William Goh Over The Upcoming Concert By Madonna

All religions taught us to have a higher and deeper sense and taste of aesthetics and arts. To entertain with lust and immorality is easy, cheap & hollow.

Wearwhite supports the statement of archbishop William Goh.

Let us return to Fitrah.

***

Archbisop William Goh’s statement is available at https://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-archbishop-warns-flock-against-madonna-concert-063258861.html

Singapore’s Roman Catholic archbishop has expressed concern at an upcoming concert by pop diva Madonna in the city-state and warned his flock against supporting those who “denigrate and insult religions”.

Archbishop William Goh said in a statement posted on the diocese website on Saturday that he had met various government officials to express the church’s concerns about the February 28 concert, part of her global Rebel Heart Tour.

The concert, at the 55,000-seat National Stadium, will be Madonna’s first-ever in largely conservative Singapore.

She was barred from performing in Singapore in 1993 after police said her performances bordered on the obscene and were “objectionable to many on moral and religious grounds”.

Goh said that in a multi-ethnic society like Singapore “we cannot afford to be overly permissive in favour of artistic expression at the expense of respect for one’s religion”.

Authorities have assured the archbishop that restrictions have been placed to ensure that content deemed offensive to religious beliefs would not be allowed on stage, the church statement said.

The Media Development Authority has restricted the concert to those aged 18 and above because of sexual references.

Local media reports said Madonna would not be performing a controversial tour segment called Holy Water, which includes dancers dressed as scantily-clad nuns performing on cross-shaped stripper poles.

The church statement said many Roman Catholics have voiced outrage at Madonna’s “disrespectful use of Catholic and other Christian symbols” in her performances.

“There is no neutrality in faith; one is either for or against. Being present (at these events) in is itself a counter-witness,” the archbishop said.

He warned his flock against supporting “the ‘pseudo arts’ that promote sensuality, rebellion, disrespect, pornography (and) contamination of the mind of the young”.

Some Catholics said they supported the archbishop’s decision and would not attend the concert.

Student Kevin Koh, 24, said he would not go but would not pass judgement on fellow Catholics who attend.

“Singapore as a society has to start being open to these things because we can no longer live in our own shells,” he told AFP.

Some online comments were critical, with one commentator saying the faithful should be allowed to make their own decisions.

***

Source: Wearwhite

February 25, 2016
SDP: PAP Clearly Violating MOE Policy Of Maintaining Apolitical Schools

Singapore Democrats

In 2009, the Straits Times reported that Minister for Law K Shanmugam had warned his party members in an editorial in Petir, the PAP’s newsletter, that “younger voters can erode its dominant position should the party fail to convince them that Singapore…needs a strong leadership and a political system that allows for effective and speedy decisions to be made”.

Mr Shanmugam felt that for the PAP to prolong its power, it needed to “provide greater political education for Singaporeans, in particular, students”.

Another Straits Times report said that Mr Shanmugam proposed that schools teach “comparative political systems” but to do this in the context of “improving the Government’s effectiveness in reaching out to younger Singaporeans”.

This is why the SDP applied to the Ministry of Education (MOE) to allow us to conduct talks with students and to present another point of view. The MOE, however, says that “schools are neutral places for learning and not platforms for partisan politics”. The SDP documents here how biased and partisan history and social studies textbook are.

Educate students about politics, says Shanmugam
By Zakir Hussain
Straits Times
19 December 2009

For 50 years, the PAP has stayed in power because it has delivered progress to the people, its leaders often point out.

But Law Minister K. Shanmugam feels younger voters can erode its dominant position should the party fail to convince them that Singapore, more than most countries, needs a strong leadership and a political system that allows for effective and speedy decisions to be made.

He gave this warning to his party members in an editorial in the latest People’s Action Party bi-monthly magazine, Petir.

Mr Shanmugam appears to have his eye on the clock when he issued his word of caution, saying no political party had stayed in power continuously for more than 70 years.

The way for the PAP to outlive this record, he feels, is to provide greater political education for Singaporeans, in particular, students.

However, he said: ‘The education should not trumpet the virtues of any particular system.’

Instead, students should be taught, among other things, how political systems work in different cultures, the impact of geographical and social factors on societies and why city states rise and fall.

‘This will make people look carefully at the liberal democratic model and help them decide which aspects best suit Singapore,’ he said as he set out how the PAP can communicate better its message that Singapore needs good governance and that only the PAP can deliver it.

His concern comes at a time when a younger generation of better-educated voters feels the political process and system in a democratic state should be based on the Western model of liberal democracy.

Mr Shanmugam and government leaders reject the view, arguing that the best systems are those that fit the society they govern.

‘Not every aspect can be transplanted in toto across cultures, without regard to different economic, social and geostrategic situations,’ said the Law Minister.

It is a position he has argued vigorously in favour of in the past three months: first to a group of international lawyers meeting here in October, then the Harvard alumni in Singapore last week, and now, PAP members.

Mr Shanmugam, who is also Second Home Affairs Minister, said the PAP’s message had resonated with the older generation who experienced the turmoil of Singapore’s early years.

‘But the collective memory of this is not as strong among newer generations, whose viewpoints will increasingly influence the political process,’ he added.

Younger Singaporeans may therefore believe that the Western model of liberal democracy can be adopted without trade-offs, he said.

‘Singaporeans are entitled to decide whether they want the trade-offs.

‘And if the majority chooses slower development and a lower quality of life, and is willing to accept more tensions within our society in return for changes in the political system, then so be it,’ he said.

‘But that choice must be an informed one,’ he added.

Source: http://yoursdp.org

February 17, 2016
What PAP Really Wants Is Assimilation, Not Multicultaralism

The ban on hijab is part of the PAP’s attempt to remove Islamic identity among Malays in preference of a Chinese cultural hegemony.

The last few weeks, the Muslim community has once again, been treated poorly by the PAP Ministers.

K Shanmugam Sc] accused the community of being distant (even though the Malays are the most open and accommodating community in Singapura).

Then Masagos Zulkili justified the ban on hijab and likened the ban to the law against gay sex.

As stated in the other post, Assoc Prof Lily Zubaidah Rahim argued the hijab ban is due to a Secular Fundamentalist PAP government trying to control Islam.

But why does the PAP, a party that claims to promote multiracalism…

ban an Islamic obligation in the name of harmony?

The answer is that what the PAP want is not multiracialism but assimilation.

For a community to be assimilated into another, they need to change their values, behaviour, beliefs and anything that makes them different.

And become the same as the community they assimilate with.

Barr and Low observed:

“the Singapore systems of meritocracy and multiracialism are no longer concerned primarily with intercommunal tolerance…

but are aggressive programmes of assimilation of the racial minorities into a Chinese dominated society.”

“Chinese values—or at least the government’s narrow, sectarian version of Chinese values—were promoted to the whole population…”

“Where does that leave the minority races?… [To] prosper in this society, they need to internalise ‘Chinese virtues’ and become ‘like the Chinese’ in subtle but important ways.

In short, they are expected to submit to a form of partial or incomplete assimilation into a Chinese generated, Chinese-dominated society.”

The authors further argued that “the onus was thus placed on the Malay community to assimilate into the predominately Chinese Singapore, or risk continued marginalisation and discrimination.”

While LKY’s and the PAP’s desire to privilege their race is understandable even though it is racist…

Barr and Low assert that the Malay MP’s major function is to facilitate the Malay community’s assimilation into the Chinese community.

They noted “the overwhelming evidence is that the public leadership of the Malay community across the board are keen to help their constituency to assimilate, since this seems to be the path to prosperity and peaceful coexistence.

The PAP Malay MPs are obviously enthusiastic assimilationists, since this is a large measure of their raison d’etre…

Indeed, this need to assimilate into the rest of society in the public sphere is recognised by Syed Haroon Aljunied, Secretary-General of MUIS.

When asked if he thought ‘assimilation’ was necessary for the Malays to gain a higher representation in the civil service,

he replied ‘Yeah that’s right. Then they don’t see any difference.”

Reference:

Barr, M. D., & Low, J. (2005). Assimilation as multiracialism: The case of Singapore’s Malays. Asian Ethnicity, 6(3), 161-182.

Source: Almakhazin SG

February 16, 2016