Malaysia: Education Investment - Good. Human Rights In Education System - Zilch.

Malaysia ranks among the top nations in education investment but a lot still need to be done in the aspects of human rights in the country's education system, said the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Vernor Villalobos.

In his official visit to Malaysia, Villalobos said he found that the economic development which Malaysia had embarked was not hand in hand with a corresponding legal and institutional development of human rights.

"The budget allocated for education was no comparison to other countries, exceptional in nature with a lot of resources. I would like to share this information with other countries," he said in a press conference, here Tuesday.

Nevertheless he said it was striking to note the lack of human rights perspective that would permit the building of a citizenship model committed to the understanding and realization of the human rights in this country.

He said the government's aim to achieve a "world class" education would not be satisfied unless there was a strengthening of the educational institutions that permitted the mainstreaming of human rights.

Therefore, he recommended the government to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Villalobos was surprised to learn that Articles 15 and 16 of the University and University Colleges Act 1971 curtailed the right to freedom of association and expression as well as other civil and political rights of university students.

He said he understood the rationale and history behind the acts but it needed to be repealed as the provision of such law were contrary to human rights.

There should also be an implementation of policies geared to generate equal opportunities across the board for the different communities that made up the population -- Bumiputeras, Chinese and Indians, he said.

He said the indigenous people in Malaysia encountered difficulties in realizing its right to education, like the Iban community who suffered from extremely high dropout rates.

Therefore, he said the ministry of education needed to establish a body to cater for the educational needs of this indigenous people who were unable to compete successfully for access to higher education and the education centre provided for them were inadequate in terms of number and quality.

The ministry or any competent authorities also needed to assess the implementation of teaching Mathematics and Science in English in order to take adequate action to support such teaching methodology, said Villalobos.

Though considered a positive move, he said students and teachers alike especially from the rural areas were struggling because their mastery in the language was insufficient besides such methodology jeopardizing the cognitive development of the children.

Villalobos who is Costa Rican was appointed as the Rapporteur in July 2004 replacing Croatian Keterian Tomasevski. (Bernama)

***** What is Senor Villalobos trying to do? Get himself declared persona non grata? Of course what he says is the absolute truth which everyone in Malaysia, along with most of the world already knows. But that's the way things operate here and there is nothing the UN or anyone else can do about it. The impasse in FTA talks between us and the United States over Malaysian insistence on perpetuating the entire Never Ending Policy (NEP) till kingdom come is a case in point. "I'd rather be a beggar than give up my man-made hak bradder," is probably the logic behind the stalemate. That logic won't change unless there is a shift in the mindset of our leadership or a change in the leadership itself. (What a delightful prospect!)

In the meanwhile before the Special Branch escorts Senor Villalobos to KLIA and puts him on a one-way economy class flight back home, someone should explain to him the reality of the Malaysian situation and teach him to pronounce accurately that now famous refrain, "Malaysia Boleh! Semuanya OK!"
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