I was going to write about this matter of allowing graduate teachers participate in politics. For those of you in the dark about this, the Chief Secretary had recently announced that from 1st August onwards, graduate education service officers (teachers) on grades DG41 to DG48 will be permitted to engage in politics. “The time has come for them to be active again in politics.” he said.

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/8gulu/Article/

The PM justified this move by saying, “I like intellectual values in the leadership at grassroots level as well as values which are not materialistic; because teachers are a respected lot. Such a leadership could contribute towards the creation of better political ethics,” he said. Thus this will help create a morally-sound political environment.

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=49971

So the solution to the fact that politicians are materialistic and morally unsound is not to weed them out and by example and discipline raise political leaders who really care for the welfare of the nation. It is to allow graduate teachers to participate in politics. In the wake of the brouhaha over the Penang SDO and the UMNO environment where he found the courage to lash out at the Penang Chief Minister, somehow I don’t think that raising the ethical bar in politics is at the heart of this move.

Thomas Lee Seng Hock points out that teachers shape young minds. “The classroom is a powerful venue for munipulating, conditioning, and indoctrinating young minds, and a charming charismatic articulate teacher can easily mould and shape the innocent children to follow his way.” Perhaps there is a more insiduous plan.

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/42533?tid=12

But today I read Tengku Razaleigh’s address to the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC). In his speech he highlighted the many ethical problems that Malaysian politics are mired in, resulting in a nation in decline. Instead of calling for teachers to become politicians he told the students in his audience how they should “chart the future of Malaysia.” and “grab the bull by the horns… and have a say in where we go as a society and as a nation” because “the present generation in power has let Malaysia down.” You might not be a member of the UKEC but if you are young and Malaysian I think it is worthwhile to read his speech. If you are much older and Malaysian, you will know what he is talking about.

http://themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/now-lets-have-a-discussion-tengku-razaleigh-hamzah

Let me share with you some of what he said that grabbed me, just in case you need a little more incentive beyond my recommendation.

• Politicians are not your parents. They are your servants. You don’t need a government slogan coined by a foreign PR agency to wrap your project in. You just go ahead and do it.
• Our achievements in achieving growth with equity were recognised around the world. Our peer group in economic development were South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, and we led the pack. I remember we used to send technical consultants to advise the South Koreans. By the lates nineties, however, we had fallen far behind this group and were competing with Thailand and Indonesia. Today, (we) are entering the peer group of Cambodia, Myanmar and the Philippines as an investment destination.
• You were born into a country of immense resources both natural and cultural and social. We have been wearing down this advantage with mismanagement and corruption. With lies, tall tales and theft. We have a political class unwilling or unable to address the central issue of the day because they have grown fat and comfortable with a system built on lies and theft.
• It’s not “uber-liberal” to ask for an end to having politics, economic policy, education policy and everything and the kitchen sink determined by race. It’s called growing up.
• The most precious thing you have been deprived of has been your history. Someone of my generation finds it hard to describe what must seem like a completely different country to you now. Malaysia was not born in strife but in unity. Our independence was achieved through a demonstration of unity by the people in supporting a multiracial government led by Tengku Abdul Rahman.

Now go and read his speech. And let me know your response.

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