The Avoidable Tragedy

How do you feel when your brother or sister died at such a young age? How do you feel when their death occurred due to others negligence?

The tragedy at Sekolah Kebangsaan Kuala Dipang, Kampar was a tragic accident. The primary students attended a 1 Malaysia camping organized by the Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Kinta Selatan. A wonderful and motivational event turned into a chaos. At 10.40pm on the 26th October 2009, 22 students fell when a bridge collapsed. The young students were between life and death and they had to hold to the bridge cable for their survival. A brave guards and a teacher saved the 19 of the students. Unfortunately, 3 of them could not be saved.

An angry parents blame the teachers for lack of supervision. And the teachers defend themselves by pointing the finger to the contractor who build the bridge. After initial investigation the police found that the bridge was not built according to it's specification.

Who should bear the responsibility? The Education Department, the teachers or the contractor?
No matter who responsible for it, few life were taken and if there was a high standard of supervision including an inspection of the newly built bridge, this tragedy will never be on the news headlines.

SMIOB wish condolences to the family of N. Dina Dewe Nathan 11, Diryasree Vasudevan 12 and Davadharshini Maheswaran 11.

Obituary-Jagendran A/L Ratnam{25th Nov 1987-25th Oct 2009}

Jagendran second from left(in white dress)

Mr. Jagendran A/L Ratnam, an old boy from the batch of 2004 passed away on last Sunday, 25th October 2009.

He was a student from 5V1 class and a former Librarian.

SMIOB wish our condolences to the family of the deceased. May his soul rest in peace.

Happy Diwali

SMIOB would like to wish Happy Diwali to all our Hindu friends, teachers and students of SMI. May this year's Diwali brings prosperous and happiness.

1-Toilet Policy???

The issues here:

1. Can "the oneness" be achieved in the smelly and filthy toilet?

2. Are the students and teachers always in the toilet at the same time and same place?

3. How long teachers and students will be in the toilet to achieve this oneness policy?

4. Are there any places apart from the toilet that this policy can be implemented?

5.Will there be a situation where the students can hear the their teachers flush their toilet?

6. Will the students believe that they are on par with academicians when sharing toilet with their teachers?

So guys....do you think this ONE TOILET policy suits with SMI?

(The Star) - The state government will introduce a “1Toilet” policy in a move to liberalise education, where teachers – and even principals – will soon have to share toilets with their students.

State Education, Higher Learning, Human Resource, Science and Technology Committee chairman Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman said the policy was mooted in line with the 1Malaysia concept, and teachers and students could have a feeling of “oneness”.

“We want students to have a sense of belonging that we believe would inspire them to excel further in their education.

“When students share the toilets with the teacher, they (students) will believe that they are on par with academicians and this automatically invokes a sense of being important to an organisation, which, in this case, is the school,” he said here yesterday.

“We are not compelling the school authorities to apply the policy. It is their prerogative,” said Ahmad Razif.

“So far, we have one school in Hulu Terengganu that has implemented the policy a few days ago. It has received positive feedback from the school management although it is still premature for us to evaluate its efficiency,” he said.

Ahmad Razif said that under the policy, teachers and students would also be encouraged to sit within a common space at school canteens during recess.

“This means that teachers and students will mingle freely during recess,” he said.

Ahmad Razif said the policy had initially been proposed by Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said earlier this year but that it took some time for it to be properly drafted.

On another matter, Ahmad Razif said the state government would continue to send students to pursue medicine and dentistry in recognised universities in Indonesia.

“We are looking into the option of sending our students to universities in areas classified as non-earthquake prone areas in Indonesia,” he said.

Ahmad Razif said the state government was also in the midst of discussions with officials from University Padjadjaran of Bandung on the possibility of sending Terengganu students for medical courses there.

He said other countries that the state government was planning to send their medical undergraduates next year were Poland and Russia.

One Michaelian 1 Malaysia

These are Michaelians [ Batch 1996 ] faces during Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2009 Open House. From left to right:-

Yip Kok Weng, Rubendhran, Hew Kar Seong, Chee Kam Tong and his soul mate, Yusmi, Azrul, Shaun Pereira, Mohan Albert, Mohd Dzran, Fazli, Zulhairi, Mior.

Not in the picture but attended the gathering: Hafizulfika, Syawari, Zaimee and an old girl, Suki Cheah.

Being a Michaelian, we respect each other regardless of your race, creed and religion. Since our primary school we had studied together in one class room, sharing the same toilet and under the same roof. School is the proper forum or platform to promote this multiracial values. And St. Michael's has done a good job in keeping this tradition. When people are talking about GAGASAN 1 MALAYSIA, Michaelians had practiced this gagasan long time ago since our school days. It is not uncommon to us. We used to it and there is no need for others or the main stream media to remind us. We had been thought all this while.

Can we say or make a conclusion that SMI is the icon of ONE MALAYSIA school?

We will post other pictures from other batches during Aidilfitri 2009 celebration

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri Dari SMIOB

Ramadan berlalu pergi. Syawal menjelma lagi.

SMIOB mengucapkan Selamat Hari Aidilfitri kepada MICHAELIANS( boys & girls; old boys & old girls), guru-guru, bekas guru serta warga kerja pentadbiran SMI yang beragama ISLAM. Moga Syawal kali ini Syawal yang penuh bermakna bagi kita semua.

Di kesempatan ini juga SMIOB memohon ampun dan seribu kemaafan sekiranya terdapat salah dan silap dalam tutur kata dan tulisan yang mengguris hati.

Sempena hari yang mulia ini juga marilah kita sebagai warga Michaelians saling bermaaf-maafan dan ziarah menziarahi sesama kita. Kita eratkan kembali silatulrahim sesama kita yang mungkin sudah terputus sejak sekian lama. Sesungguhnya kita adalah serupa dan sama, kita pernah bersama di bawah satu bumbung dan berkongsi suka dan duka bersama. Kita kembali bersatu di atas nama sekolah.

Kepada warga MICHAELIANS yang bukan beragama ISLAM, SMIOB juga mengucapkan selamat bercuti dan ambillah kesempatan bercuti dengan mengunjungi rakan-rakan MICHAELIANS yang beragama ISLAM di mana kunjungan anda dapat mengeratkan hubungan persahabatan, setiakawan dan persaudaraan sesama kita.

SELAMAT HARI RAYA MAAF ZAHIR DAN BATIN

Michaelian Lawyers

SMI has produced some young lawyers in Malaysia. The picture above is a picture of two young lawyers from SMI. On the left is Mr. Mohd Dzran from the batch of 1996 and with him is Mr. Wong Kah Woh (batch 1997), who is also an ADUN for Canning Garden Ipoh.

This picture was taken when both of them had a court trial in Kuala Lumpur Court where Mr. Mohd Dzran is acting for the Plaintiff while Mr. Wong for the Defendant. Both of them graduated with LLB.(Hons) from International Islamic University Malaysia(IIUM).

Meanwhile, apart from both of them, there are few young lawyers from SMI. They are Dato Amarjit Singh Gill who is currently practicing in Ipoh. Mr. Amarjit is a degree holder from Monash University, Australia. He and Mohd Dzran were classmate. Both of them were in 5VT1.

Our junior from the batch of 2001, Mr. Faridzul Azlan from 5VT1(2001) class is a graduate from International Islamic University Malaysia. His area of practicing is in Ipoh.

Mr. Azhar Jalaludin from the batch 1997(5VT2) who is also a practitioner obtained his LLB.(Hons) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He is currently working in KL.
Another lawyer from SMI are Mr. Mior Nor Haidir (batch 1996 and from 5sc1 class), is a UiTM grad and working with a prominent legal firm in KL.

These lawyers are SMI's proud and they serve the community for fairness and uphold the law and justice for all.

Dato Amarjit Singh Gill

Faridzul Azlan

Mior Nor Haidir (on right, white shirt)
Mr. Azhar Jalaludin (seated 2nd from left) during his days at UKM