THE insanity in both instances is utterly uncanny — one, football betting and match-fixing has penetrated even the under-16 age-group. Two, scoundrels now go to the extent of leaking question papers of exams sat by 12-year-olds.
The world is sick.
In both instances, the incredulity and feeling of geram or extreme anger over such paedophilic tendencies has grabbed us like never before after reading about the football fiasco reported in an international match in Hong Kong, about the same time when the exam leak scandal broke out in the UPSR (Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah) exam last week. The young are not spared anymore from the evils of a corrupt world. Values are rotting.
If money and greed was behind that football flap, I do not see any other reason for the Science and English papers to be leaked in the UPSR even if some quarters ridiculously threw in conspiracy theory as an excuse.
Such leaks have come once too many times in the country’s examination process so much so that it has now cast a big net of betrayal over the entire system. If it could occur in Standard Six exams, what makes you think that the papers of all the other exams, past or future — in PMR, SPM and STPM — are clean? And that some of those who passed had actually done so by default?
Who were the culprits and what were they thinking? First they have now caused a great deal of stress and inconvenience to the 473,000-over pupils and their parents. They have also caused enormous hardship to the people who now have to prepare a new set of exam papers and go through the logistical hassles all over again for the resit on Sept 30. But more than anything else they have definitely placed the integrity of the whole examination process conducted by the Education Ministry under suspicion. It could lead to a loss of confidence in the entire public school examination system and that would be a real blow.
Several people have been hauled up for questioning. And the suspension of Examinations Syndicate chief Dr Na’imah Ishak and deputy Dr Wan Ilias Wan Salleh is the right thing do do. Somebody has to be held accountable. Even if it means the biggest man. Somebody must pay for this sort of blunder as Datuk Azhar Abdul Hamid had honourably shown by resigning as the big boss of MRT Corp after a fatal worksite accident. But as I said in this column a fortnight ago, this culture is still alien to Malaysia and since Azhar’s resignation has now been put on hold by the company’s board, it could also be likely that the UPSR exam leak snafu could end up the same shameless way. That all will soon be forgotten.
We dread the day when we will never be able to accept the value of a public school examination at whatever level — just as in football after what match-fixers have done.
“We will never be able to watch a football match the same way again,” a convicted match-fixer had the cheek to say this in his book. And we will never be able to understand how the felon, after what he had done, is now leading a glamorous life as a celebrity after tell-all episodes in exclusive television interviews and confession stories in an autobiography.
I almost choked when I came across a blurb by CNN recently about the story they were going to air on a rascal named Wilson Perumal Raj. A Singaporean.
The brief said: “He rose from humble beginnings, worked his way through the local leagues before graduating to become a major player on the international stage, netting him millions of dollars along the way.
“But this isn’t a tale about a footballing hero. This is a story about one of modern sport’s greatest villains — the man dubbed the most notorious match-fixer in the world.
“You may not be familiar with the name Wilson Raj Perumal but given how prolific he was, you might have watched one of the games he’s fixed. ‘I never really counted, but I think it should be between 80 and 100 football matches’,” Perumal told CNN.
I watched that interview and the way that guy went through the session, he didn’t seem to have any remorse. He has gone to jail in Finland and all, but he had that swagger about him as he spoke freely regarding all levels of international matches that he had fixed including World Cup fixtures. It is understood that between 60 and 80 countries have reported allegations of match-fixing for each of the last three years.
Thinking how this scourge has now infiltrated every layer of the competitive game, I just felt like throwing the teh tarik glass I had in hand towards the TV screen.
Perumal belongs to the lowest ebb of criminals on the planet and we should never treat him like a celebrity. And, like him, those responsible for leaking the exam papers should be thrown in the same cauldron.