What is BTN (Biro Tata Negara) Up to?

By: Ou Zong Min (translated name)
Kwong Wah Daily, November 13th 2015.

The Director of the National Civics Bureau or BTN Arif disclosed that the national patriotic index in 2015 is 4.19 points (The maximum score is 5 points). It was higher than 2014 which was 3.8. He opined that this figure indicated our youth had a high and lofty patriotic spirit. This valuation was based on the written questionnaire feedback from 10,000 participants of BTN. The participants had to answer 13 questions in the questionnaire and the findings were analysed.

Frankly speaking the 13 questions had nothing to do with patriotism for the country. For example we had answers like: – “I bought a national flag on National day” (It looks like a slogan at a sales promotion). “If all races live in a residential area, it will promote unity”. Some of the questions were related to the implementation of certain policy of the ruling party (strong political publicity). For example: – “1Malaysia concept can promote racial unity”, “1Malaysia concept leads the nation towards the direction of an advanced country in 2020”. Using such a questionnaire to evaluate the degree of patriotism in an individual was not professional.

There were many unprofessional incidents happening at the BTN which were revealed through the remarks made by the Director of BTN.

The Director of BTN voiced his own opinions that our nation should implement a mono educational system and he advised his son who was teaching English in a Chinese primary school “to be more patient as the government is doing reformation”. On the issue of “Pendatang”, he opined that the Chinese and the Indians were immigrants from China and India respectively and they should not deny the historical fact.

Arif was only a high government official. He had no obligation to talk about education and racial issues. His job was to carry out government policies and not discussing publicly about the policies. Besides that the multi-educational system was already incorporated in the National Educational Blueprint. His remarks were futile.

On the Issue of “Pendatang”, he intentionally left out the Malay race from Indonesia, Thailand and the Middle East countries migrating to Malaysia. It obviously showed his racist mindset and he had forgotten his identity as well as his position as a government servant who was forbidden to discuss such issues publicly.

With BTN having such a Director, the “deeds” of BTN could be expected easily.

Many years ago one Chinese school teacher who attended the BTN course launched a complaint against BTN through MCA. He pointed out that the BTN lecturers used to raise extremist racial remarks during their lectures. Issues were raised like the existence of Chinese school was only temporary and the government was going to implement a mono educational system. The MCA lawmakers did criticize BTN`s action but no follow up action was taken.

At present the government scholarship holders must attend the BTN course and the majority of the participants were overseas graduates. What type of patriotic training or mind indoctrination was done by BTN? Was it done objectively and above racial sentiments? Or was it some form of racial propaganda? Or a discussion on issues related to the so called “social contract”?

After listening to the remarks of the BTN Director, one can easily guess the objective of BTN courses.

The recent controversial remarks by the BTN Director had aroused criticism and it looked like he would ignore the protest of the politicians and the Chinese community. He was brave enough to raise such remarks without fear of jeopardizing his position in BTN.

The general public doesn`t know the functions of BTN but the government servants do. One should wonder why the BTN course has been controversial for a few decades yet it still remains unscratched.

Original Source:
干训局在干嘛 ?