what teachers make

> WHAT
> TEACHERS MAKE
>
> The dinner guests were sitting around the
> table discussing life.
>
> One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with
> education. He argued, 'What's a kid going to learn
> from someone who decided his best option in life was to
> become a teacher?'
>
> He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about
> teachers: 'Those who can, do. Those who can't,
> teach.'
>
> To stress his point he said to another guest;
> 'You're a teacher, Bonnie. Be honest. What do you
> make?'
>
>
> Bonnie, who had a reputation for honesty
> and frankness replied, 'You want to know what I make?
> (She paused for a second, then began...)
>
> 'Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought
> they could.
>
> I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.
>
> I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their
> parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game
> Cube or movie rental.
>
> You want to know what I make?' (She paused again and
> looked at each and every person at the table.)
>
> ''I make kids wonder.
>
> I make them question.
>
> I make them apologize and mean it.
>
> I make them have respect and take responsibility for their
> actions.
>
> I teach them to write and then I make them write.
> Keyboarding isn't everything.
>
> I make them read, read, read.
>
> I make them show all their work in math. They use
> their God given brain, not the man-made calculator.
>
> I make my
> students from other countries learn everything they need
> to know in English while preserving their unique cultural
> identity.
>
> I make my classroom a place where all my students feel
> safe.
>
> I make my students stand, placing their hand over their
> heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One
> Nation Under God, because we live in the United States of
> America.
>
> Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts
> they were given, work hard, and follow their hearts, they
> can succeed in life.'
>
> (Bonnie paused one last time and then continued.)
>
> 'Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with
> me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up
> high and pay no attention because they are ignorant...
> You want to know what I make?
>
> I MAKE A
> DIFFERENCE. What do you make Mr.
> CEO?'
>
> His jaw dropped,
> he went silent.
>
>
> THIS IS WORTH SENDING TO EVERY TEACHER YOU KNOW.
>
> Even all your personal teachers like mothers, fathers,
> brothers, sisters,
> grandparents,
> your spiritual teachers
> --------
>
> HAPPY
> TEACHER'S DAY

Orang Penanti tidak sabar menanti

Untuk mencari seorang pengganti

Adun dia letak jawatan bukan mati

Nak mengaji lagi walaupun ada 2 Degree

Baru nak masuk bab Timbalan Ketua Menteri

Tiba-tiba tok guru meninggal dunia mati

Semoga menjadi iktibar dan pengajaran
Jangan cuma tengok tahap pelajaran
Jangan terpesona dengan petah percakapan
Lenggok macam gaya ustaz lepasan Jordan
Janggut sejemput macam pejuang ikhwan
Kita sudah terus beri thiqah kepercayaan
Oleh itu kepercayaan menjadi pengkhianatan
Marilah kita sama-sama memohon keampunan

Kita bersedia berjuang walaupun kepenatan

Tup tup tup Najib kata tak jadi di Pekan

BN berkata ini semua taktik lawan

Dan berkata ini semua adalah pembaziran

Dulu kata kalau tak bagus lebih baik letak jawatan

Tiba-tiba BN sudah ubah pendirian

 

Kalau takut janganlah bagi alasan

Tiba-tiba bercakap mengenai pembaziran

Rasuah dan komisen itu bukan pembaziran

Bayar komisen 500 juta itu penjimatan

Melancung ke Disneyland itu keperluan

Peeerrah sejak bila dia nak sep duit kerajaan

Bini siapa kalau berjalan beli barang bertan-tan

Tak caya kau orang tanya MAS punya kakitangan

Habis diborong nya LV dan Gucci punya beg tangan

Mat Salleh kat London pun geleng kepala kehairanan

Eloklah jangan bertanding di Penanti

Nanti bila kalah jadi 5-1 malu nanti

Walaupun referi dan linesman boleh dibeli

Tapi rakyat Penanti bijak mengundi

Bawalah Imam Besar untuk mengelabui

Tapi Imam tu sepak tong tunjuk emosi

Orang hilang hormat walaupun pandai mengaji

Mungkin Tun M jadi calun BN untuk Penanti.

Martin Jalleh tries to capture the initial events leading to Umno’s power grabbing, pariah politics and Pyrrhic victory in Perak

Umno uses the royalty as pawns in their dirty political game. It is all about political expediency and nothing about being pro-royal. Najib makes use of the palace to push and protect his agenda and vested interests. The people are his least concern.

Martin Jalleh

The rakyat of Perak are robbed in broad daylight of their political right to determine the State Government they want. Their will is ridden roughshod over by a few renegades and running dogs ready to reap their reward. A day of reckoning will come.

A fraudulent state government rules Perak. It is a farcical government of a fallacious “majority”. The people are frustrated and furious. They believe that a fake legislature forced upon them will eventually face its fatal consequences.

C4 and 4Cs

The Election Commission (EC) plays politics and panders to the political (pay)master. It even portrays itself as a court of law and makes a palpably wrong decision that prevents the people from being the paramount arbitrator to overcome Perak’s political deadlock.

The new EC chairman refuses to recognise the Perak Speaker’s request to call for two by-elections after two assemblymen “prostituted” themselves. It is a duty which he is constitutionally bound to do so – a fact promptly and plainly confirmed by his predecessor.

The EC chairman sets a precedent that will perpetuate party hopping and paves the way for Umno’s power grabbing, pariah politics and Pyrrhic victory. He reinforces growing public suspicion that the EC is hand-in-glove with the powers-that-be.

The mandate given to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) by the majority of Perakians is made a mockery of by the minority UMNO State Government. Umno survives on manipulative manoeuvrings, mysterious disappearances and money-politics led by Machiavellian characters like Najib Tun Razak, who will soon assume the mantle of PM.

Soon after Umno’s defeat in the Kuala Terengganu by-election in January, its elites called for a “revamp”, a “reinstating of the ‘wow’ factor” and “radical reforms”.  As proof of its unwavering resolve – it receives without any reservation two former PKR assemblymen who have been charged for corruption!

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad slams the Umno leadership for 'stooping low' in courting the two crossovers. He should know its implications. He had left behind a Cabinet of soiled reputations and an Umno full of spent characters and self-seeking sycophants. Pak Lah’s new MACC, a supposedly “serious” effort to stem out corruption, turns out to be a silly joke.

The country catches a glimpse of Najib’s “culture of change”. More powerful than C4, he will charge this country up when he wears the crown, with 4Cs – Corruption, Coercion, Crossovers and Coups. Such is his commitment to compromise our democracy – whatever the cost.

Dr Mahathir, who preferred Najib over Pak Lah as PM, very correctly captured in his Blog (when he predicted that those using bribery will win in the Umno elections in March) the coming catastrophe in this country: “We will get an Umno government that is corrupt and without morals.”

The backroom politics of Umno and its backdoor takeover of the Perak State Government forms the perfect background for Najib to lead Bolehland into a political backwater. Many believe that the bedlam created by Umno in Perak will surely bring about a backlash expressed in the ballot box of the next General Elections.

Silver State’s Shaky Stability

Confronted by Umno’s hypocrisy, hopping highhandedness, hideous characters and hoax majority, the Menteri Besar (MB) of Perak and many Perakians turn to and place their hopes high on His Royal Highness (HRH) Sultan Azlan Shah – whom they hold in high regard.

Surely on His Silver Jubilee as Sultan of the Silver State, the exemplary sovereign who was a former Lord President will shine like a silver lining in the sordid state of affairs. Indeed, he will safeguard the sentiments of his subjects expressed in the last General Elections.

Sadly, the Sultan’s solution makes very little sense to his subjects. HRH seems swayed by Umno’s political subterfuge and scheming. He summons the MB who sought the dissolution of the State Assembly. There will be no snap elections. The MB is told to step down, and to do so swiftly. The saddle belongs to Umno.  

The popular MB of positive policies proves he is no pushover. All he wants is that the democratic procedures and process be followed properly. The Sultan’s personal discretion and his straying beyond his parameters of power are met with public disbelief and disappointment. Public perception over his impartiality plummets.

Respected retired judge N H Chan suggests that HRH has “sidestepped” provisions of the Perak constitution and made a “fatal error”. Tengku Razaleigh strongly implies that the removal of the MB by HRH was done “without regard for the rule of law”. And as Zaid Ibrahim sees it, “political questions should be resolved in the legislature and not behind closed doors in a palace”.

The Sultan returns Perak to its original stalemate. Nothing changes. Only the roles are reversed. The same razor thin majority remains. The initial political uncertainty is reinforced. Politicking in Perak – to remain in power or retain control – rages on, with each side trying to lure defectors.

The Sultan wants a “stable” State Government. Umno assures HRH that it has the majority due to the solid backing of three defecting “friendly independents” made up of two former PKR assemblymen charged for corruption – and a former DAP assemblywoman who reduces the price of democracy to cash and Camry!

In other words, the “stability” of the Silver State rests solely on three shady characters interviewed by the Sultan and whose status are now even more uncertain since the PR has filed a suit to declare their seats vacant.  

Alas, the future of the people of Perak is determined by three “independents” (who acted independently of the people’s wishes) and an “unstable” Umno Assemblyman  (who says that his hop from Umno to PKR and back to Umno ten days later was for the sake of political stability)!

The Sultan hands to the people of Perak a “unity government” which has a dubious majority, achieved by the most divisive means! On top of that, it is overwhelmingly dominated by 27 Umno seats. There is only one MCA seat and three independent defectors’ seats. How’s that for a unique representation of multi racial unity?

Pawning the Palace

The nascent PR State Government is numbed momentarily by Najib’s nefarious tricks. It eventually bounces back with MB Nizar leading it with nerves of steel. Najib is naive to think that Nizar would wilt in the battle of wills. The MB (who is from PAS) will fight him all the way to the moon and back!

Nizar refuses to resign as MB. He believes he is lawfully the MB until he resigns of his own accord, or is removed by a vote of no confidence in a formal sitting of the State Assembly. For Nizar and his Exco it is business as usual.

Naiib has made Nizar famous. The DAP backs him fully. The Bar Council praises him for the “many significant steps forward”. The people of all races have faith in him. He may be without an official office, car and house, but Nizar can find a place in the hearts of many Perakians!

Umno goes berserk over Nizar’s boldness. Next to buying over defections, Umno is an expert in diversions and distortion of the truth. Behold, the Umno boys are unleashed; protests are held (without police permits); police reports are lodged; and their press is ready and raring to spin.

At their hysterical best, Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein hits out at the opposition for “betraying the Rulers”, and his deputy Khairy Jamaluddin hollers for Nizar’s banishment. Surely such histrionics will be duly rewarded at the coming Umno elections.

Umno uses the royalty as pawns in their dirty political game. It is all about political expediency and nothing about being pro-royal. Najib makes use of the palace to push and protect his agenda and vested interests. The people are his least concern.

History reveals that Umno shows deference to the royalty only if it serves its political advantage. As a royal peer and Umno leader, Tengku Razaleigh sees through the hypocrisy of the Umno elite. He hammers them by implicitly suggesting that it is Umno who has harmed the Malay rulers more than anyone else! He recalls the constitutional crisis of 1993.

He describes it as “an ugly confrontation between Umno and the Rulers” during which the Umno-dominated government campaigned to remove the immunity of the rulers. He leaves a haunting question for Umno: “Was greater harm done to the sovereignty of the Rulers in 1993 through Parliament or a week ago on the streets of Perak?”
 
He strips bare Umno’s attempt to camouflage public opprobrium over its undemocratic takeover of the state government: “Today’s crisis in Perak is about the legitimacy of the process by which a new state government has been formed in Perak. It’s not about the status of the Rulers.”

In March last year, in a clash between Umno and the Sultan of Terengganu (who is also the Agong) over the appointment of the State’s MB, hostile Umno members hurled insults at the royalty and even hoisted banners headlined ”Animal King”.  

All of the 22 BN assemblymen protested against the appointment and later boycotted the swearing-in ceremony of the new MB. Umno Terengganu even stripped the new MB of his (Umno) membership after he defied the party leadership and accepted the Sultan’s appointment!

Surely this was not treason. Umno protestors were not traitors. Neither were they tainting the name of the Sultan. They can’t be “rude”. They were just being Umno – “with its inconsistent adherence to the rule of law (and) its inconstant respect for the key institutions of our country” (Tengku Razaleigh).

“It is time for Umno-BN to stop using the Palace. It must now learn how to survive on its own as required by both the constitution and democracy,” is the wise advice that law professor Abdul Aziz Bari has to offer to Umno.

Meanwhile Nazir files a suit to declare illegal the government of the new MB. The Perak State Legislative Assembly Speaker suspends the newly appointed MB and his six Exco members.

Pak Lah tells the new MB to ignore the suspension and to lodge a police report against the Speaker. Dr Mahathir mocks at the ignorance of the PM. The country heaves a sigh of relief that he would be retiring soon

As for Anwar Ibrahim and the PR, they have a lot of soul-searching to do. A democracy dependent on defections is a very defective process waiting to disintegrate. Crossover is not the answer for a nation at a crossroads. What has happened in Perak is a classic case in point.

Hopping does not bring hope. With money politics so rife, there is no guarantee that the hopper may not one day hop back into his/her original “hole”. The Umno assemblyman who double hopped in a space of 10 days is a perfect example.

The PR is a “people’s party”. The people’s wants, wishes and will must come first. The “tsunami” of March 2008 was a “people’s victory”. The very essence and reason for PR’s existence is – the people.

The only way for Perak to move forward is to go back to the people!

(The above article was written for the latest issue of Aliran Monthly. Subsequent to the above were significant events such as the raw courage of the MB, Speaker and PR Aduns holding the Perak State Assembly under a Raintree, and scandalous events such as the jaundiced judgments of a junior judge (judicial commissioner) which made the judiciary the butt of everyone’s jokes.)