Membina jambatan kesepaduan pelbagai bangsa di Singapura dalam arus kebangkitan Negara Republik Rakyat China

Selepas Singapura dan Republik Rakyat China mengikat hubungan diplomatik pada tahun 1974, hubungan perdagangan dan kebudayaan antara kedua-dua negara telah meningkat dengan begitu pesat sekali. Fenomena dalam arus kebangkitan Negara China telah memberi kesan yang berlainan di antara dua buah kaum yang terbesar di Singapura iaitu orang Cina yang merupakan kaum majoriti terbesar dan orang Melayu, kaum minoritinya. Artikel ini menghuraikan tentang pelbagai institusi dan pelbagai dasar yang dilaksanakan oleh pemerintah Singapura sejurus setelah formalisasi hubungan diplomatik tersebut, yang boleh, sama ada meningkatkan hubungan atau sebaliknya menghalang. Persoalan asimilasi dan integrasi ataupun integrasi paksaan seperti yang disuarakan setengah-setengah kaum telah juga ditimbulkan. Ini disusuli oleh pemaparan satu kajian kualitatif yang bertujuan khusus menyelidiki sejauh mana kedua-dua kaum menghasratkan integrasi dan hidup dalam situasi yang harmoni. Kajian kualitatif ini menggunakan responden pelajar remaja dari kedua-dua kaum terbesar tersebut. Dapatan kajian memperlihatkan jaringan menarik antara sikap pragmatisme, kesetiaan terhadap bahasa dan budaya kaum-kaum terbesar di sini dalam membina jambatan menuju kepada masyarakat yang bersepadu dan harmonis. Sikap, kepercayaan dan pragmatisme responden dalam berinteraksi sangat berkait dengan persepsi mereka tentang identiti, kekeluargaan, kesetiaan terhadap kebudayaan dan agama mereka masing-masing. Dalam bahagian terakhir pula, beberapa saranan dan cadangan tentang cara-cara memupuk integrasi di kalangan komuniti yang berlainan itu telah dikongsikan

KUASA BAHASA DAN SASTERA MELAYU DALAM TATATINGKAT BAHASA-BAHASA DI DUNIA

Bahasa dan sastera merupakan unsur jati diri yang penting. Tamadun sesuatu bangsa dikenali melalui bahasa dan kesusasteraannya, yang mencerminkan sistem kehidupan masyarakatnya. Bidang sastera, yang menggunakan bahasa secara emotif lebih menyerlahkan sifat seni dan kreativiti dan keindahan. Sastera selalu berkembar dengan bahasa yang digunakan secara saintifik. Kedua-dua bahasa dan sastera, menyumbang nilai-nilai positif kepada kemanusiaan, namun dalam zaman ini bahasalah yang lebih dominan, digunakan dalam berbagai domain penggunaan secara komunikatif, saintifik dan fungsional. Bahasa mempunyai kuasa-kuasa untuk mempengaruhi orang ramai. Kuasa bahasa terletak pada penuturnya dan penggunaannya sama ada dalam kalangan “yang berkuasa” atau “yang dikuasai”. Kuasa bahasa begini dapat dilihat dalam lingkungan Perhimpunan BangsaBangsa Bersatu, kuasa pemerintah, kuasa undang-undang, lembaga adat, tradisi, pendidikan, perdagangan, teknologi, agama dan dalam berbagai bentuk kebudayaan. Bagaimana pula situasi bahasabahasa besar dalam persaingan kuasa ini? Bagaimana kedudukan bahasa Melayu dalam tatatingkat bahasa-bahasa yang berkuasa dalam zaman globalisasi ini? Bahasa yang berprestij dari negara-negara yang mempunyai kuasa yang besar secara politik, millitari dan ekonomi akan berhasil mempengaruhi arus perkembangan berbagai aspek.    Language and Literature are important identity markers of every nation, states and societies. In the past, great civilization was known through its language and literature which depict the life of its people throughout the ages. Literature, which uses language in the emotive expressive way often reflects the artistic, creativity and beauty of the language which in the normal contexts often centred on the ordinary or scientific uses. Both language and literature contributes positive values towards humanity and are studied along with each other, but in this global era, language which is used communicatively, scientifically or functional, is the more dominant. This paper traces the links between language, literature and its power to influence people especially the weaker members of the public. It also deals with aspects of development of major languages in the region in relation to their power to influence the future state of affairs. Factors other than linguistic and literature can advance, promote or displace a language. Prestigious languages in the world has the power because of the presence of several factors, such as political, economic, military, social, on their side.&nbsp

The critical reading and thinking abilities of Malay secondary school pupils in Singapore.

THE CRITICAL READING AND THINKING ABILITIES OF MALAY SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS IN SINGAPORE Research on the education of Malay pupils, a minority group in Singapore, is sparse and is normally centred on Malay underachievement in schools in comparison to other ethnic groups in Singapore. This study attempts to fill in the gap in research by studying one of the factors that might be related to the achievement of Malay pupils, that is, namely their critical reading and thinking abilities. While critical thinking and reading skills were identified as important skills to be acquired, these two areas were not given proper emphasis in the Malay language curriculum. Research in this area may contribute not only to a better understanding of the nature of critical reading and thinking, but also help to identify the pupils' strengths and weaknesses in the construct, information useful for curriculum development and improving their performance in schools. In investigating the critical reading and thinking abilities of Malay pupils, I have undertaken two lines of inquiry in this study. The first line of inquiry focussed on the development of two instruments the Malay Language Critical Reading Test (MLCRT), designed to assess the critical reading ability of the pupils, and The Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI) intended to measure the pupils' disposition to think critically. The second line of approach was directed towards developing a model of the relationship of the correlates of critical reading and thinking ability, and also their relationship with selected variables. Three versions of the test on critical reading, the Trial MLCRT and the Actual MLCRT and the Revised MLCRT were developed . The Trial-MLCRT, a 100-item test, was piloted on 353 pupils while the Actual MLCRT and Revised MLCRT were standardized on a sample of 1444 students from five grade levels in secondary schools. The test items were originally designed based on ten subskills, namely, to elicit the ability to evaluate deductive inferences, the ability to evaluate inductive inferences, the ability to evaluate the soundness of generalizations, the ability to recognize hidden assumptions, the ability to identify bias in statements, the ability to recognize author's motives, the ability to identify facts and opinions, the ability to identify sources, uses and relevancy of materials, the ability to recognize similarities and differences and the ability to evaluate the strength of arguments. In the revised MLCRT, henceforth refered to as RMLCRT only nine subskills comprising 65 items were retained. The results of the validity and reliability studies based on the RMLCRT show the instrument to be reliable and valid for pupils from the Normal or Express stream, and for all five grade levels. Factor analysis of the subskills of the RMLCRT indicates one main general factor, the core critical reading subskills, to be its underlying trait. However, the result of factor analysing the items failed to give a clear picture of the underlying construct. The second instrument, The Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CTDI), is a new instrument developed especially to measure pupils' critical thinking disposition. It was composed of 38 items which was shown to be internally consistent with the main scale. This instrument was standardized on 1024 pupils, in the same way as the RMLCRT. The reliability of the CTDI was found to be high and suitable for all five grade levels, for the Normal as well as for the Express stream pupils and for both genders. An exploratory factor analysis of the CTDI items revealed one main general factor as the underlying construct. The second part of the study which utilized a subsample of 580 pupils was mainly focussed on presenting a model of the correlates of critical reading ability among Malay pupils in Singapore. The result indicates general ability, Malay language competency, general reading comprehension ability, grade level, age and sex, socio-economic status and critical thinking disposition to have an effect on critical reading ability. General ability was revealed to have the largest effect, showing its importance in determining critical reading ability. Malay language and reading comprehension were shown to have quite large effects, attesting to the importance of the language and reading factor, even surpassing that of critical thinking disposition which has a small but significant effect on critical reading ability. Discussion of the findings, uses of the instruments, its implications for syllabus design and suggestions for further research in the area were also presented

Natural Resources Uses

Samunsam ids Sarawak's oldest Wildlife Sanctuary and one of several Important Birds Areas in the State. The site gazetted in 1979, and in line with state development plan, a number of areas near the Sanctuary have been identified as of economic importance. Therefore, the Samunsam area is likely to see significant impacts in the near future, derived from an isolated area to more accessible to human

Islamisation of engineering education – a case at IIUM

Seeking knowledge and continuing education are very important elements in Islam. All Muslims (both male and female) are required to make sincere efforts to acquire knowledge for the benefits of themself and the society; They believe that there is only one God (Allah) and He is the ultimate source of all knowledge. Although the education system has various branches, this paper is intended to present the common issues related to the Islamic values and practices in engineering education and the ways to instil ethics & spirituality into the technical education system. The step by step initiatives taken by the faculty of engineering at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is highlighted in this paper. In order to achieve the goals of Islamisation of engineering education at IIUM, the relevant Islamic elements are added into the curriculums, textbooks are written and learning outcomes are set (at IIUM) to assess the student’s ability in appreciating the link between the revealed and acquired knowledge. Generally, such initiatives are welcomed by the students, though it requires a substantial amount of continuous efforts from the academic staffs. It is realised that Islamisation of the engineering education and continuous reminder of spirituality in engineering practices are essential to reduce the corruption and unethical practices in the engineering profession, which is one of the major socio-economic problems in many countries, rich or poor, developed or developing. Steps taken in the engineering curriculum design is part of the faculty’s initiatives to achieve its vision, which is to be a world-class centre for engineering education and research with values and ethics. Information shared in this paper could be beneficial for both secular and non-secular education system

Mechanisms of the antihypertensive effects of Nigella sativa oil in L-NAME-induced hypertensive rats

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to determine whether the blood pressure-lowering effect of Nigella sativa might be mediated by its effects on nitric oxide, angiotensin-converting enzyme, heme oxygenase and oxidative stress markers. METHODS: Twenty-four adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided equally into 4 groups. One group served as the control (group 1), whereas the other three groups (groups 2-4) were administered L-NAME (25 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). Groups 3 and 4 were given oral nicardipine daily at a dose of 3 mg/kg and Nigella sativa oil at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg for 8 weeks, respectively, concomitantly with L-NAME administration. RESULTS: Nigella sativa oil prevented the increase in systolic blood pressure in the L-NAME-treated rats. The blood pressure reduction was associated with a reduction in cardiac lipid peroxidation product, NADPH oxidase, angiotensin-converting enzyme activity and plasma nitric oxide, as well as with an increase in heme oxygenase-1 activity in the heart. The effects of Nigella sativa on blood pressure, lipid peroxidation product, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase and angiotensin-converting enzyme were similar to those of nicardipine. In contrast, L-NAME had opposite effects on lipid peroxidation, angiotensin-converting enzyme and NO. CONCLUSION: The antihypertensive effect of Nigella sativa oil appears to be mediated by a reduction in cardiac oxidative stress and angiotensin-converting enzyme activity, an increase in cardiac heme oxygenase-1 activity and a prevention of plasma nitric oxide loss. Thus, Nigella sativa oil might be beneficial for controlling hypertension

Engineering conventional and engineering technology programs in Malaysian universities

One of the goals of the education system in Malaysia is to ensure the development of highly educated, highly skilled and strongly motivated human resources to fulfill the needs of the nation and the requirements of the industry as well as to support the country's aspiration to be an industrialized nation. Thus, several government-funded universities in Malaysia are required to offer engineering technology programs. These universities are known as Malaysian Technical Universities Network (MTUN), comprising Universiti Teknikal Melaka, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn and Universiti Malaysia Perlis with a mission to educate and train highly skilled manpower that can contribute to the world class industrial nation. The purpose of engineering technology programs is to complement existing engineering conventional programs. This study reports the differences between engineering conventional programs and engineering technology programs in terms of curriculum design and delivery and assessment of student learning. This knowledge is important as it will differentiate the job scope of the graduates from both programs. The data collection method in this study was qualitative method involving document analysis and focus group interviews. The documents analyzed were Malaysian Qualifications Agency Program Standards for Engineering and Engineering Technology and Malaysian Engineering Program Accreditation Manual. The teaching staffs from MTUN were interviewed for data triangulation. The results indicate that there exist differences in the curriculum design and delivery and assessment of student learning for both programs

Puisi Intan dalam pengajaran bahasa Melayu: satu kajian penerokaan

Puisi Intan ialah istilah yang penulis berikan kepada satu genre yang semakin popular di laman maya yang dikenali sebagai “diamante” atau “diamond poems.” Nama ‘intan’ ini diilhamkan daripada bentuk grafik puisi ini, yang menyerupai bentuk permata yang bergemerlapan itu. Penulisan Puisi Intan ini telah mula diperkenalkan oleh pengkaji ke dalam dunia pendidikan bahasa Melayu selama beberapa tahun kepada guru-guru pelatih program Diploma Pendidikan, Sarjana Muda Sastera dan kemudian kepada para peserta Program Sarjana Pendidikan (PDCM). Namun, ia belum diajar secara menyeluruh dalam kalangan pelajar sekolah. Oleh demikian, kajian ini dijalankan khusus untuk meneroka kewajaran dan kebolehlaksanaan mengajar jenis puisi ini kepada pelajar-pelajar bahasa Melayu. Dalam kajian eksploratori ini, responden yang terdiri daripada satu kohort guru-guru pelatih dan satu kohort guru berpengalaman yang telah diperkenalkan dan diajar jenis puisi ini telah memberi maklum balas berupa renungan sebagai data berbentuk kualitatif. Hasil analisis data menunjukkan bahawa Puisi Intan mempunyai potensi besar sebagai satu genre yang boleh diperkenalkan ke dalam kurikulum pengajaran bahasa dan juga sastera Melayu, sama ada di peringkat sekolah rendah mahupun sekolah menengah