Committee on Strengthening the National Language.

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Article's URL: http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=13194
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Aid for schools damaged by flood
By: Husna Yusop (Thu, 02 Mar 2006)


PUTRAJAYA: The government has agreed to allocate RM750,000 to repair two
schools, SMK TTDI and SK TTDI, which were affected by the flood in Shah
Alam on Feb 26, 2006. Of this amount, RM96,000 will be used to replace the
damaged textbooks of 1,363 students of the schools, Education Minister
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said. "Hopefully, the financial aid will
help reduce the burden of their family members, who have suffered from all
kinds of losses from the incident," he told reporters at the ministry on
March 2, 2006.

Earlier, Hishammuddin and Cultural, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri
Rais Yatim co-chaired a meeting of the Committee on Strengthening the
National Language. At the meeting, the committee has agreed to do what is
necessary to revive Utusan Melayu, the country's only newspaper in Jawi
script, which has stopped publication since January this year. The
newspaper was first published on a daily basis on May 29, 1939, before it
was replaced in January 2003 with a weekly publication called Utusan
Melayu Mingguan. However, this was also stopped on Jan 29 this year as it
was incurring losses.

The committee will also review all related laws and policies such as the
National Language Act, National Language Policy, National Book Policy and
National Culture Policy to gauge their effectiveness and suggest the
necessary amendments. On whether the government's policy to have the
teaching and learning of science and maths in English contradicted the
National Language Act, Hishammuddin said it will be looked into.
"Sometimes, it is just a matter of perception. Still, we will discuss it
and make sure the matter which has become a policy now will not go to the
extent of jeopardising the national language," he added.

In another development, Hishammudin who is also Umno Youth chief said the
movement supported the government's bold but unpopular move to increase
fuel prices for the benefit of future generations.

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