The topic about university excellence rises again as a response to the initiative of the government and the Ministry of Education in particular to propose the new higher education plan following the recent Malaysia Education Blueprint for School Level. In principle, the Malaysian Higher Education Plan aims at producing holistic and integrated learned values-driven talent…
Views concerning the position of Islamic law in the country raised recently by a group of Muslims attracted debate and discussion among many. It touches a few issues related to the administration of Islamic law and its position vis-à-vis the civil law and the constitution. Among the issues raised is nature of Islamic law. The…
Results of the recent Form Three Assessment, PT3 (Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga), were the first for students under the new Malaysian Educational Plan (PPPM) which was embarked since 2011 by the Government. The seemingly unremarkableresults have caused dissatisfaction among some parents especially when they are compared with that of the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) results of…
Among the slew of disturbing reports on the Islamic State (IS) of late, two mainly have caught public attention in the country recently. One is the case of local students being recruited for the militant group in the Middle East, now known for their atrocities against others and even fellow Muslims. Another is that of…
Among the contemporary topics which begin to gain much attention among scholars these days is the issue of extremism. This is reflected in a recent conference held on ‘Extremism among the Muslims in Contemporary Times: Dimensions and Manifestations,’ organised by the Centre for Advanced Studies on Islam, Science and Civilisation (CASIS), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).…
When human beings are endowed with reason by God, they are able to accomplish much more than other creations. Amongst them are being able to think not only creatively and critically, but also in retrospect of their past actions and advancing for the better to the extent of building or even rebuilding their civilisations. One…
The Deputy Prime Minister’s recent statement that the new School-Based Assessment (SBA) or PBS (Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah) is to be reviewed came as quite a surprise. The reason given is basically technical, namely the problem of system database application and server issues following complaints from teachers that the online system for them to key in…
As long and complex as human history is, an interesting aspect present is the dynamic relationship between religion and civilisation and how they impact each other. No doubt historically, both religion and civilisation have contributed to a great extent in enhancing human life. Islam, in particular, is an example of a religion that has played…
Among the aims of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 launched by the Deputy Prime Minister recently is to end the exam-oriented educational system that has taken place for so long in our country. The revised approach will focus more on the comprehensive assessment which will be based on the banding system ranging from band 1…
The spate of problems that have taken place worldwide of late are somewhat worrying. At the international level, political conflicts among nations, sectarian wars, uprisings against ruling governments make up daily news headlines. Although happenings within the country do not match international standards, talk of post-election issues is apparently still rife for many Malaysians. For…
