10 theSun | MONDAY DECEMBER 22 2008

news without borders

Guilds to meet over mother tongue for science and maths

DONG Zong president Dr Yap Sin
Tian said Dong Jiao Zong will hold
a meeting of Chinese guilds and
associations on Jan 10 to reiterate
their calls to the government
to revert to the mother tongue
in the teaching of Science and
Mathematics, the Chinese press
reported yesterday.
Yap said after a meeting
between Dong Jiao Zong and
Chinese groups in Kajang on
Saturday a committee tasked with
organising the coming meeting
will send out invitations to Chinese
groups throughout Malaysia.
About 300 representatives from
these groups are expected to attend
the meeting.
Asked if Dong Jiao Zong would
exchange ideas with culture and
education groups from the other
races, he said a consensus would
first be sought within the Chinese
community before they meet their
counterparts from the other races.
Jiao Zong (United Chinese
School Teachers Association)
president Ong Chiaw Chuan said
Dong Jiao Zong will reiterate
its “teach Science and Maths
in mother tongue” stand to the
government.
He said the seven-part
recommendation made at the
roundtable talks on English for
the teaching of Science and Maths
will be presented to the cabinet for
debate and a decision.
He felt it is pertinent that
Chinese groups meet to reiterate
their stand before the cabinet
accepts the recommendation.
“Representatives from political
parties, education and culture
groups from various races have
expressed their wishes for the
teaching of Science and Maths to
be conducted in the mother-tongue
language,” he said.
“The Jan 10 meeting will allow
Chinese groups to have a better
understanding of the roundtable
talks held so far, as well as to seek
a consensus on the topic.”
Asked if a memorandum on the
outcome of the coming meeting
will be presented to the education
minister, Ong said “we will decide
after the meeting”.

Chinese private
secondary schools full
CHINESE private
secondary schools have
seen a sharp rise in Press Digest
the number of students by Kong See Hoh
joining the 2009 academic newsdesk@thesundaily.com
session.
According to a report
in Nanyang Siang Pau on Saturday, these
Chinese schools, especially the bigger
ones in certain areas, remain full despite
increasing the number of classes in
anticipation of the greater demand.
The daily, which conducted a random
survey, said all the Chinese private
secondary schools it covered reported a
bigger intake for 2009.
Almost all those located in the northern
peninsula and the Klang Valley are full.
Chong Hwa Independent High School of
Kuala Lumpur, one of the oldest secondary
schools in Malaysia, has increase its junior
middle one classes to 18 for the coming year
but is still unable to meet the demand for
places.
The school, like many others in the Klang parents’ perception that some government
Valley, has to turn away many students.
It is learnt that many of those turned
away will go to government secondary
schools.
Dong Zong (United Chinese School
Committees Association) vice-president
Zhou Sou Han told the daily there is an
increase in enrollment
in all the Chinese
secondary schools but he
was unable to give the
percentage of increase.
He said many Chinese
secondary schools in the
Klang Valley are facing a shortage of places
and he is worried that students who are not
able to get into these schools will have to go
to government secondary schools.
Dong Zong secretary-general Kow
Ming Liang said although he did not have
the statistics, there was no doubt that the
number of new students had increased in
Chinese schools.
He said Chinese schools in Malacca have
exceeded their targets in recruiting students
whereas schools in Johor have to turn
away many because of the demand for their
limited places.
Asked for the reasons for the sharp
increase in Chinese private school intakes,
Kow said he believed it has a lot to with
secondary schools are slack in discipline.
Confucian Private High School principal
Goh Kean Seng said the school has tried its
best to accommodate requests for places
for the new session. He said the school
will have seven to eight junior middle one
classes when school reopens.

Freight forwarders told to end price war

JOHOR BARU: In the face of
the tough global economic
situation, a price war has
broken out among the 245
Johor Freight Forwarders As-
sociation (Joffa) members.
Joffa chairman Toon Teng
Fatt , who called on members
to stop the price war, said: “We
must stand united and face the
tough times ahead together.
There is no need to start slash-
ing prices because, in the end,
it will not benefit us.”
At the association’s 28th
anniversary dinner here on
Saturday night, Toon said
business has been affected by
about 40% “and if our mem-
bers try to outdo each other in
terms of freight charges, we
will suffer”.
“Some of us are barely able
to cover cost in the light of the
current global crisis. It’s simple.
People are not buying and,
therefore, manufacturers are
slowing down their production,
which means there is less to
transport now,” he said.
Toon also called on the
Royal Customs and Excise
Department to play its role
in helping the association to
overcome the challenges.
“They can help by expedit-
ing the inspection of goods
at their checkpoints because
by doing so, we can save on
overtime costs,” he said.
Johor customs director
Subre Ishak, who was present,
said he would look into the
matter. – Bernama

Cable fault disrupts Internet services

KUALA LUMPUR:
Telekom Malaysia
Berhad (TM) has reported
disruption in its Internet
services because of circuit
faults on the submarine
cable network linking
Malaysia and Europe.
It said the services would
be completely restored by
Dec 31.
TM said in a statement
customers using its Internet
services may experience
slow browsing while
accessing websites hosted in
Europe and that those using
other IP (Internet Protocol)
services such as Virtual
Private Network (VPN)
and other critical business
applications linked to
Europe may also experience
some service degradation.
It said the affected
cables, on the Southeast
Asia-Middle East-Western
Europe 4 (SMW4)
submarine network
between Palermo in
southern Italy and
Alexandria in northern
Egypt, were being repaired
and that some of the links
had been rerouted to ease
congestion.
During the restoration
process, traffic to northern
America may experience
minor degradation but
traffic to other countries is
unaffected, it said.
Customers may call TM
at 100 and select “Internet
Services” or e-mail TM at
help@tm.com.my regarding
Internet-related problems, it
said. – Bernama