Thursday, May 14

Iban Student deprived of her rights

It is indeed a sad story of a student, Nadia Selimin, who scored 9As and a B in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) early this year, but denied entry to further her studies at Kolej Matrikulasi just because her mother is a Chinese. Her father is an Iban, Selimin Kring.

Sad, because there is such a thing as prejudice being practised in Malaysia, despite the fact that we are supposed to be in the 21st century and has been independent for 46 years in the federation of Malaysia.

Her plight was brought up YB Mong Dagang, State assemblyman for Bukit Begunan at the Dewan Undangan Negeri meeting.

In fact under PM Najib Razak’s “One Malaysia” concept such prejudice should no longer exist. But yet Nadia’s case is a tip of the iceberg. There are many more silent sufferers of this biased policy of the government.

Under the Sarawak Interpretation Ordinance, Nadia is a Dayak Iban and as such she should be entitled to any privileges as spelt out in Article 39 of the State Constitution or Article 153 of the Federal Constitution read together with Article 161A of the same Constitution.

We would have thought that the special position and privileges of the Natives are fully guaranteed under the Supreme Law of the country. But that is not so as the case of Nadia clearly shows.

What should we do to rectify this anomaly? Can suing the authority concerned of any help? Or bring her case to higher authorities? Or through our respective YBs?

At least in the case of Nadia I think we have to thank YB Mong for highlighting her plight. We need more YBs like him who are not ashamed to be called Dayaks to highlight Dayak problems. – The Broken Shield

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very good morning to all of you.
Well, this is the problem JE was trying to adressed, the vitimization of the iban at the expense of the very word DAYAK. We iban are catogerised as the DAYAK and as such the intake Quota for the DAYAK has been fully filled up by other DAYAKS. Whether there is any impropriety or not in the intake base on exam result, that we need to check out from the MInstry of Education itself.
This is what JE tries to tell us iban, but he is throwing stone with his hand behind his back, takut bah, sama la baka iban leaders ke bukai, takut tempayan pecah, takut pelir kena pichit. All he needs to do is to speak without fear and favour. Entulu, as a politician should let ordinary people knows what is in your mind.
Or let me enightened us all bit. WE iban have been sidelined with regard to engagement to govt service, be it federal or state, in the guised of the term DAYAKs. The iban is always the one who suffer with minimal intake. This also applies to others like promotions etc. What i suggest now is to pat the back of Joseph Entulu be a front fighter, not a shadow dancer.
Correct me if what iam saying here is not right.

Corryn said...

Whatever happen to the rest of the YB's? Busy doing house renovation? travelling makan angin?
I applaude YB Mong for his concern on the matter. Only certain YB can speak for the people but soon they will be silence or taken away the priviledge by the authority above if its too much..
The YBs and mentri keep on talking loud for anak2 bumiputera to achieve more as the government will support them bla bla bla...when the time comes, semua YBs hilang or make appoinment lah this lah..come next week lah..
With this attitude of certain YBs and menteris "i am the power" yet our ppl still their trust these moroon yb even though at their own expense.
And those kaya raya also entitle for scholarship!! Cant the goverment allocate this scholarship ONLY for the brainy student from the poor family. With the anak orang kaya the process is so quick but for the poor & needy, lengthy and too much of fuss!
It is frustrating that these poor but bright student being deprived from their education becoz of nonsense terms and conditions!Hey,,cina, iban, kayan, melayu or inter marriage, if they are bright students but poor, help them out!Why have to pick and choose! Is every chinese rich and prosper?Education system in our country sucks! from kindy to the higher level, utter nonsense, no wonder quantity over quality.And the reply on the matter from JPA or education dept usually "we will look into the matter" yeah right!

Apai Semalau said...

Yb. Mong doesn't deserve any more credit! Plain and simple. The fact is, the BN government created this monster of discrimination based on race. Mong is part and parcel of this machinery that puts this racist agenda into play. To be fair, I admire his guts in bringing this matter to the open.
Just a reminder, its an irony that discrimination has always been meted out to students whose father is chinese and mother dayak and nobody ever bring this up. Can they not be considered as natives too if they choose to be one? However, across the other side, in Malaya, if one parent is a malay, their child is considered as bumi/native! Double standards? Rightly so!
Only for Sabah, the state recognises that if a parent is a native their child is considered as native.
Hopefully all DUN members in both camps will follow up on this discriminating issue and bring it to close.

Anonymous said...

Any words from yg dikasihi sapit cm jabu?

Anonymous said...

One less vote for BN. That is for sure.

What the bloody hell are the YBs doing? Spending time with their mistresses. And not spending time to solve this discrimination issue.

Mandoh ak. Galau said...

That is one of the problems of inter-marriage. Like me, I am married to Jelembai, even though Fatimah, Lim Moi Moi and Christina Jacqeline are pretty.

Anonymous said...

I heard Jabu is now currently recuperating after a successful by-pass operation in Gleangles hospital, KL.

chapchai said...

Even if she were not a bumiputra she should have been given a scholarship based on her excellent results!!!

Cr.Lukau said...

Pray for YB Tan Sri Jabu for speedy recovery.He missed assembly sitting.

Garinang ak. Ngelantar said...

MY Dear friend Mandoh,

Quite lucky you had the right choice.If you married Fatimah your name would be changed to Mohd. Mahrof bin Abdullah, I guess. Not only that, you certainly have to go another circumcission..ha..ha.

I wish you and Jelembai a Happy Gawai Dayak.

Unknown said...

Those BN dayak YBs are AFTER your VOTE only for sure. All that he cares for is your vote.

Who are you to them anyway.

The dayak being deprived of their rights is not a new issue. Our dayak YBs are too chicken to speak on or raise any dayak issues.

Those qualified dayak students are being offered lesser courses in IPT. While the top cream courses are being offered to the one and only race.

Jabu, Masing, Mawan, Sallang, Entulu and many dayak YBS are just talking cock.

Anonymous said...

I am going to be the first and stick to the Issue here. First of all, according to Mong Dagang, a certain student was not awarded a place in a "Kolej Matrikulasi". 2ndly, We're told of this student's mixed origins, and we're asked to assume that this maybe why. I am afraid, this is just as confusing as the first statement made by the fist anonymous somewhere above.

In all fairness, this student only has O levels (SPM). To be awarded a place in University, I understand the minimum entry requirements is a High School Certificate, which in Malaysia, is the STPM. "Kolej Matrikulasi" I assume, offers courses of similar paths, but tend to just be "prep" courses. In any case, Matrikulasi does not issue certificates and is not a High School Certificate in itself. That was the case for a long time in Malaysia, until it was brought to level on par with the STPM. I suggest, if this young girl is interested in higher education, to finish her STPM, and then apply for places either at local Us here or those abroad. As for Scholarships, those are charities run either by avaricious multinationals keen on philantropy, or governments with benevolent policies. Finally, I believe this student has not exhausted her possibilities, so really, this is a non issue.

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATION to YB. MONG ANAK DAGANG - after So OOOoooo many...years .

Looklike he is just woke up from deep slumber-of-denial syndrome.... Is it not too late .. but better late than NEVER. EX-??Cr. Selimin Anak Kering is from Klauh KAKI POLITIK MONG ... ...

Why is YB Mong quiet when it come to NCR land issue when the matter is affecting hundered of Iban families in Bukit Begunan & Balai Ringgin compare to just one deserving UCHU - ANAK Iban-China ..

ChIban Bukit Begunan

Sol said...

Are you sure she got rejected because her mother is Chinese?

I've got a number of friends whose mothers are Chinese and they got accepted to Matrics. What about that?

Inasmuch as we are unsatisfied with our govt I do think we ought to not jump the gun too fast.

Regards
Fellow S'wakian

PBB supporter said...

we need to look at the rejection of the girl's application first before we make a conclusion on this unfortunate girl.
I dont think the rejection was due to the girl's mother is a chinese. It must be other reasons. The best academic results may not be a passport to get the PSD scholarship.
Mong should reveal the content of the letter.
I am an Iban married to a chinese, and I dont have any problem when my son applied for the PSD scholarship loan. It was accepted without any question posed.
Perhaps, I am lucky. Perhaps, others are not so lucky.
Whatever it is, we need to conduct a proper investigation into the rejection of the girl's application. And certainly, it has nothing to do with that quota for the Dayak as suggested by Anon (JE supporter). We can brush aside this illogical suggestion.

Anonymous said...

For the information of all readers, soon after the problem was ighlighted in the press, the girl was admitted to one of the colleges in kl. Both her parents are stil in kl now sorting thing out for the her.
we bark and bite. barking without bite will ends nothing. how to bark, just lessened the vote and the bn YBs and increase the pR YBs, that it.
anyway syabas Mong, good work.