VOXPOP 'Borders' steadfast and unwavering action in supporting Nik Raina and providing legal assistance deserves a pat on the back.'

Charge against Borders' store manager 'to be withdrawn'

FellowMalaysian: The case should come to a closure sooner. Borders bookstore manager Nik Raina Nik Aziz has suffered in anguish for far too long over a charge that she is innocent.

Besides the withdrawal of the charge, an apology from the Attorney-General's Chambers to Nik Raina and her family is only appropriate as the wrongful indictment must have caused untold mental suffering.

Borders' steadfast and unwavering action in supporting Nik Raina and providing legal assistance deserves a pat on the back.

Not Confused: I think everyone in Malaysia knows that this action against the innocent bookstore manager was mala fide (in bad faith) and clearly wrong in both spirit and law.

It is disgraceful that a government that claims to be caring of the rakyat should allow such proceedings to even begin at all.

The whole farce has been a gigantic waste of public funds and has brought unnecessary stress and strain on Nik Raina and her family.

Watchtower: Justice and common sense prevail in the month of Ramadan. I wonder what the purpose of the whole exercise was?

Vijay47: Since ‘attack!' is a strategy that Umno has been employing all this while, I think Nik Raina and Borders should now take out a civil suit against Jawi, the government and especially that good-for-nothing attorney-general.

It is more than about time that high-handedness by religious bodies is brought to an end. For too long, the attitude has been "If done in the name of Islam, no one should protest".

Once the government loses a few civil suits, bodies like Jawi may not be so cavalier about charging everyone. Yes, I know, my argument does not seem to work where Utusan Malaysia is concerned.

Brahman: Nik Raina should be fairly compensated for all the agony, stress and bad publicity she had to put up with.

The charge and the prolonged suffering was caused by Jawi refusing to admit they had made a mistake. This is where Jawi abused its powers through their arrogance and caused unnecessary suffering.

For that, the victim must be compensated and Jawi, including those in charge, must be made accountable.

What4: It is plain common sense that you cannot charge any person before the ban of the book (‘Allah, Liberty and Love' by Irshad Manji). The mentality and quality of some government officials are so worrying; it is not good for the country.

Truly Malaysian: So many criminals roaming our streets and we are wasting time prosecuting this case. We seem to be running this country not on logic but on shallow emotion.

MP criticises Mahathir's U-turn on teaching of English

Anonymous #07903560: English is global language. One is at a disadvantage when one's command of English is poor. If you look at the whole scenario seriously, you will find the ethnic group with the poorest command of English is the Malays. And I really feel sorry for them.

I remembered conducting an interview (in a bumiputera company) and this particular position requires someone with a reasonable command of English. All the candidates were Malay university graduates and we were not able to find one that can speak a full sentence in English.

Some even requested to conduct the interview in Malay. I really feel for these poor young job seekers. But who is to blame?

Please wake up my fellow Malay brothers and sisters. Don't let your children suffer the same fate as you. In today's cyber age, English is THE language.

Anak Kedah: Education since the days of Dr Mahathir Mohamad as PM has been politicised. Education should be left in the hands of academics and not these politicians - the majority of whom are not academically inclined.

How many of our parliamentarians can claim to have good academic credentials? It has been alleged that some of them even have dubious degrees.

Enough is enough. Please keep our politicians away from our education. They have done enough damage already. Let the academics do their job.

Stewart Chan: How on earth do our so-called doctors from our local universities understand modern medicine when they do not have comprehensive command of English, a language which medical books/journals are written in?

I personally have "seen" doctors in government hospitals who could not speak proper English.

Anonymous #69337042: The ex-PM was not wise when he completely destroyed the English medium schools. He should be blamed for the low English proficiency among school leavers and university graduates.

If he had been a true leader of this nation of diverse cultures, races, religions and languages, he should have exploited the diversity to turn this country into one that can match the often cited slogan of 'Truly Asia'.

Besides English, Chinese has been accepted a key language due to the emergence of China as an economic superpower. Malaysia is really foolish to have neglected these two languages.

Swipenter: I hope that Mahathir lives long enough to see how his many policies and his conniving ways destroy our country and its great potential. Already signs are everywhere that our country is losing our once advantageous position and potential.

Our neighbours have surpassed or are going to overtake us in commerce, education, human resource development and political maturity.

Japan has its own "lost generation", we too have our own "lost generation" through playing racial politics and cultivating a culture tolerant of corruption and mediocrity.

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