Where The Telescope Ends The Microscope Begins

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The headlines are only the headlines. If the recent school stabbing had taken place in a remote town, we would have passed it off with typical urban detachment as a “shocking crime” that happens only in ulu (remote) places among people lacking ambition and aspiration.
Had it occurred in a religious school, we would probably shrug our shoulders, saying it’s not surprising since they are closed shops anyway.
“In any case, why don’t these folk send their children to a secular school to learn about the real world instead of cocooning themselves in this way?”
Now we despair because Bandar Utama is too close for comfort, too near to the places we eat, shop and dream about the future for our children and their children. This is the Klang Valley.
But now there is also this fear that if it happens once, it will happen again, somehow, sometime. And again and again.
The education director-general said problems in our schools have been swept under the carpet for far too long.
Our education minister disagrees. He has since gone silent. I don’t trust the minister or her newly rushed plans. Another typical hodgepodge job just to appease our anger.
But how do we sweep things under the carpet in the heavily politicised Education Ministry? There are only two ways: a bureaucratic strategy of indifference, and then there are statistics.
The first relies on rigmarole and ridiculous rules, whilst the more insidious second relies on selectivity.
Selectivity? Deal only with numbers that paint a rosy picture and nothing significant will show up. Like how data on STEM participation has been manipulated by including those who study just one STEM subject.
Our schools need micro-managing and strong leadership, not more cover-ups. As Victor Hugo said: “Where the telescope ends, the microscope begins.” End the lebih kurang (more or less) and dig for details.
And we don’t need more standard operating procedures or the binary of do’s and don’ts. Life is more complex than that.
Gangsterism in school
Each school is different depending on the racial mix and the socio-economic environment. Then there are the rough neighbourhoods where teachers and parents are often intimidated by student gangsters and school toughs. Come to Pandamaran, or Old Klang Road, or Kuchai Lama.
A parent told me that some schools have both ketua murid (class monitor) and ketua geng (gang leader), each exercising their authority in parallel.
Are schools not a reflection of our larger, fractured society, our politics? Then there is also the kaki pow (extortionist), the chief enforcer, the school hitman, the collector. They won’t show up in our official statistics, entirely ignored so that everything looks cantik (pretty).
Fifteen years ago, a school in Rawang was gang-controlled for years without any action being taken to rein in their members or their activities until a 14-year-old schoolgirl claimed she was raped by classmates over three weeks.
The teachers and headmistress must have looked the other way. Who knows, the headmistress may even have been promoted subsequently.
I quote from an article titled, “Police team visits troubled school”, The Star dated May 26, 2010, on this matter: “We will liaise with the school to gather more information on the disciplinary problems, ranging from gangsterism and gang fights to molest,” said then Gombak district police chief Abdul Rahim Abdullah. The school is a mere 45km from Putrajaya.
He also said that some parents had claimed they had reported the school problems to the district Education Department, but no action was taken.
When contacted, the headmistress said she could not comment, adding: “Please refer to the district Education Department director.” Rigmarole by rote learning? How familiar, even after all these years!
For decades now, the lived experience of millions of Malaysians is vastly different from what the government says and claims, including official reports supported with syiok sendiri (self-absorbed) statistics, which everyone knows is suspect but cannot be proven otherwise.
To contest them is to be branded unpatriotic and cakap besar (boastful). Even seditious, per our rabidly racist politicians.
Our suspicions and disquiet about education are centred on quotas and allocation of university placements; grades and integrity of marking exam papers; the matriculation stream; quality of teaching, lecturing and counselling; promotion of teachers and how racism, bullying and gangsterism are actually dealt with by school heads and ministry officials.
See it for yourself
Any wonder a citizen recently dared our health minister and senior officials to set aside their VIP status and seek treatment in a government hospital? Turun padang! (Go to the ground) Turun hospital! (Go to the hospital)
Ditto our education minister. Turun sekolah! (Go to the school) Please send your child to a problem school. Not the worst one, but the best among the worst. Surely this fact is known to our officials in the Education Ministry.
Then she will find out that many more of our schools are dysfunctional, if not broken. Like our larger society.
My generation was influenced by the radio, music, movies, sports heroes and film stars. Today, it is online content, manga, anime, influencers and social media.
But whatever the influences, surely we must deal with them as our dedicated school heads and teachers of yesteryears did. It is they who made school our second home; it’s they who were our surrogate parents.
Extra-curricular activities helped form our character, and the school field and sports channelled our energy and hormones into fair competition and self-acceptance, helping us become that healthy mind in a healthy body. Not a troubled mind in a troubled soul in a troubled society.
We may never know what made the 14-year-old act so violently or why. But looking through the microscope will certainly help.
In all likelihood, it’s a complex mix of reasons and impulses - home, external influences, alienation, past traumas and even perhaps mental health issues that led to his fatal breakdown on a normal school day.
But I like to believe that we, as a society and a people, suffered a breakdown long before he did. - Mkini
MURALE PILLAI is a former GLC employee. He runs a logistics company.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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