Getting to the Parliament
The public car park is now re-opened after a few months of renovation.
Apart from driving on your own, there is a RapidKL shuttle bus (bus no. S100) service that commutes from KL Sentral to the Parliament at only RM1.00. As RapidKL buses these days use fully-mechanised ticketing system, it will thus be prudent to ensure you have RM1 note when taking the bus. Alternatively, you may use the Touch n Go card. From observation of a few times, there were very few passengers.
As someone who usually does not drive to KL city, more so after the sale of my first car (currently having an old one inherited as 'harta pusaka'), this RapidKL service was a saviour indeed. It was a 10 minutes ride.
The drop-off and pick-up point is around the vicinity of the police's guardhouse.
I notice a difference here though - if you were to drive on your own or being driven in a ministry/agency-owned car, you will be subject to a few questions on your purposse of going in, and will be required to obtain either a visitor's pass or a 'pas pegawai petugas'.
However, those coming via the shuttle bus are not subject to any questioning although the police will take a thorough look at all the passengers. So to be safe, visitors (with official reason) or officers on Parliamentary duty for the day should obtain their passes at the guardhouse first, in order to avoid the hassle of going in and then to walk all the way back to the guardhouse to get the relevant passes, bearing in mind the wide area and long walking distance from one spot to another which may turn out to be unpleasant if the weather is very hot.
Dewan Negara (the Senate) in session
The sitting time is officially from 10 am to 1pm, then 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm. However, in reality, the Dewan usually ends past 5.30 pm, which may extend until late evening or sometimes even at night. During the fasting month, it ends at around 6.30 pm.
The 2 Cafe
There main cafeteria located near the temporary block is closed throughout Ramadhan, while the canteen (that's what they call it) located next to the Dewan remains open. The canteen somewhat reminds me of a school canteen, being an open area without walls. The price of food there was reasonable, not expensive.
Oral Q&A and Debate
The morning session comprised mostly Q&A, while the late morning until evening sessions were solely debates on the 11th Malaysia Plan (RMK11).
Answers for the Q&A were prepared beforehand, so the ones who made the replies (Deputy Ministers) merely had to read it in Parliament. However, it does not end there because the replies made were subject to additional questions (soalan tambahan) from the Hon.Senators. There's where the task of 'petugas Parlimen' comes in - to take down the soalan tambahan and replies, if any, that are related to their respective ministries.
Among the areas brought up in yesterday's Q&A (this is not a complete list, as I was outside for a while) were:
- The move to allow UEC students to apply for public universities (reply: no, because at present, the UEC still does not fulfil the Malaysian requirement);
- Why has Malaysia become a destination for migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar;
- The recovery plan for MAS;
- Efforts to make Malaysia an education hub in the region;
- The dealing of issues on intellectual property, competition policy, trade and distribution at international level;
- Initiatives to monitor financial assistance to the target group (those who qualify to register with the Welfare Department) in order to ease the burden of those eligible for the assistance; and
- Issues and steps taken on red I/C holders (PR) with regard to enterring local public universities.
As for the RMK11 debates, one of the topics that had attracted my interest /likeness was when a YB Senator (a lady) highlighted the need of putting a greater focus on special education for children with special learning needs. Accordingly, in the Scandivanian countries for instance, their special education syllabus is tailored to suit the different needs of special children of various conditions. It was alleged that locally, many special needs pupils are made to spend most of their times drawing and colouring for the sake of keeping them in school.
I think it is good that the YB Sen. had brought up the suggestion to place more attention to special education in the effort to help and to maximise the potential of special learning needs children right from young, in order for more among them to grow up as independent as possible in adulthood. The move for a greater accessibility to special education nationwide will be much-welcomed... or else the cost of providing for a child with special needs will be very high and become a financial stress for parents who are not well-to-do.
My humble 2 cents...
From what I briefly know so far, our country currently has a system in place, called the 'Program Pendidikan Khas Integrasi' (PPKI) and 'Program Pendidikan Inklusif' (PPI). I shall try my best to make sure that what I have gathered so far is as accurate as possible, but in case if it isn't, please feel free to correct me.
When a child is identified as one requiring special needs (e.g. sight, hearing, physical, learning), he/she will first have to be referred to a Govt hospital for evaluation and medical report, followed by registration at the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat (JKM) in the district where the child lives, and then registration to study in a school with PPKI that suits the child.
PPKI classes are located within selected normal schools, with specially-trained teachers and facilities for special needs pupils, as well as trained personnels (teachers' assistants) to help in handling these pupils and classes.
Under the PPI, some special needs pupils may join other typical pupils for certain subjects, or may be included into the mainstream altogether, subject to being deemed fit to do so.
On the issue of special education system, I personally think that the issue is primarily in relation to access, while the issue of existence should be secondary. While more and more schools, albeit still not many, are beginning to open up PPKI classes, the issues now are:
1) How many people know how to get help for their special needs children?
2) Where to seek help?
3) For a child who finds it difficult to cope with learning in school, but otherwise appearing fine (no social or behavorial problem, can talk like any other children), are their parents/teachers aware that this child may have a learning problem that falls under the special needs category?
Do we take an extra look into the matter, or do we just dismiss it and simply call the innocent child "stubborn", "hopeless" and so on?
End of session
The Dewan Negara was adjourned at about 6.30 pm, which was considered early because the breaking of fast was to start at around 7.30 pm. If not, the Dewan would sometimes sit until night time.
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