I refer to M Bakri Musa's Old versus New (Promised) Malaysia.

Bakri Musa has not done enough homework and the premise of this most recent article is, as they say, fundamentally flawed. The facts are these. The KYUEM (private pre-university Kolej Yayasan UEM) of 2007 is merely doing what the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK) did about two decades ago, or rather was allowed to do then.

At the behest of Abdul Rahman Arshad, the Education Ministry's director-general at that time (and incidentally, a former teacher of MCKK), MCKK and a few other select government residential schools started conducting A-level courses for entry to British universities and Australian matriculation courses for entry to the universities of that country.

Whilst students selected to the British Top Uiversities (BTU) programme were sent to Britain to do the full two years of A-levels there, the ones at MCKK were to do only the final year of A-levels in Britain. The ultimate aim was eventually to have even the BTU programme conducted fully locally so that schools such as MCKK would in effect be conduits for students to enter the top universities in Britain. British teachers and textbooks were brought in as these were obviously vital elements in preparing students for their A-levels.

The programme from its very inception was a success in terms of:

the number of students gaining entry to quality British universities

the students' confident command of English through interaction with their British teachers

the students' easy adaptability to life in Britain because they were so prepared by their British teachers

the tremendous savings in taxpayers' funds through having the first year of A-levels done locally

But, alas, MCKK was not allowed to achieve the programme's ultimate aim of being the feeder school for Oxbridge and other renown UK universities. The programme, after only two or three intakes of students, was cancelled by a cabinet decision, no less. The reason given was that having government national schools conducting courses wholly in English was contrary to the National Education Policy. An example par excellence of dedicated and enlightened civil servants (in the education sector) being thwarted by the misplaced nationalism of their political masters.

When one is made aware of the above facts, one begins to appreciate the monumental challenges facing MCKK as it tries to maintain quality, keep ahead of the field and continue producing quality citizens that the nation needs. For anyone to do a song and dance about how KYUEM is 'new values and progressive' and MCKK is 'old values and too traditional' because the former prepares its students for A-levels but the latter does not, is being totally clueless of events and developments past and which institution did what first.

Bakri also made some very odd and ridiculous assertions about MCKK.

First, the College motto. He made the bald assertion that "few would know what the College motto means". As an old boy of MCKK myself, I can most assuredly say that all of us know what the motto stands for and what it means as it was drilled into us from the very first day we stepped foot in the College.

As for his aversion to Latin mottos, I wish him the very best in his anti-Latin motto crusade and look forward to reading his letters to the US government, the US Marine Corps and Harvard University berating them for maintaining such backward mottos on their official crests.

Second, Bakri alleges that the old boys harass the College headmaster. As someone who had observed the MCKK old boys association in action for great number of years, I would categorically say such an allegation is singularly untrue. But it's pointless to belabour this point as in the end it is all in the eye of the beholder. Were the old boys to get down on their knees, beg and grovel in their dealings with the headmaster, in Bakri's jaundiced eye, it would still be construed as harassment.

The facts I conveyed about MCKK in the mid-80s conducting A-level courses were related to me by a retired Education Ministry official who was heavily involved in its implementation. I do not resort to untruths, misrepresentations, sneers and insults to make my point. Only the facts. That's what wisdom is all about. And that's something I owe to the teachers, seniors and peers I had when I was at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar.

And, oh, something else that I learned when I was there: always do your homework before you write something that the whole world will read.

Fiat Sapientia Virtus