Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 13. 12th June 1975
letters
letters
Letters can be handed in at the letterbox just inside the Salient office or handed in to the editor personally. However if you wish to pay 4c postage then send your letters to P O Box 1347, Wellington. Letters should be double spaced and on one side of the paper only. We'll print just about anything you send in except we can't print libellous material.
PPTA Did Not Negotiate
Sir,
I note that in your editorial of May 29 you state that 'NZEI and PPTA, the teachers' bodies, have represented student teachers in the past on the question of wages and conditions. With the introduction of the S.T.B. they have the dubious pleasure of having negotiated a $10,000,000 wage cut for student teachers.'
The statement is incorrect. NZEI and PPTA were given no opportunity to negotiate any aspect of the S.T.B. scheme, whether, applying to Teachers College students or otherwise. Nobody outside the Department of Education knew what was coming up until it was announced by the Minister of Finance.
A simple check with the Department of Education will confirm that at no time was the S.T.B. a negotiable matter. I wish it had been.
Yours sincerely,
NZPPTA.John Fletcher, President
(You say that 'Nobody outside the Department of Education knew what was coming up' as regards the STB. Yet my understanding is that the PPTA and a lot of other people were aware that the government was going to increase tertiary bursaries at the expense of allowances for teachers college students. While it was true-that the government would not entertain negotiations on the STB scheme (preferring to call them consultations) there is no doubt in my mind that PPTA and NZEI could have been far more active in championing the cause of teacher trainees than they were. The lack of meaningful representation of teacher trainees by the PPTA and the NZEI has meant that the government has been able to successfully ignore the demands of student teachers on wages and conditions. The large and well staffed PPTA has done far less for student teachers than the small and poorly staffed STANZ. It is time that STANZ was recognised as the sole representative of teachers in training. Only when this is the case will teachers in training start getting a decent deal from their representatives. — ed.)
The 4 Great Dishonesties
Dear Sir,
XYZ noted that the Malaysian Government has a tendency to blame the Chinese as a whole for the problems of the poor Malays.
Racism is always a handy tool for any ruler who wants to divert the attention of the people, from the root causes of their problems and at the same time to unite those of the same race against the imaginary enemy. Hitler used this with horrifying results. Can this happen in Malaysia?
a. | It diverts the people from asking themselves who are the true exploiters, to one of racial hatred. |
b. | It is an obvious lie when the blame for the problems of the poor is put on the Chinese without explaining the half truth that only the rich Chinese deserve this blame, and that these parasites also exploit poor Chinese. |
c. | It is dishonest to ignore the fact that about 60% to 70% of our country's wealth is in the hands of foreign exploiters and they are to be blamed most of all. |
d. | It is dishonest of the rulers not to blame themselves for resorting to lies to protect their privileged positions and to stay in power at the expense and sufferings of the poor. Why can't they be honest and get down to solving these problems instead of complicating them with so much dishonesty? |
It is also time for all privileged Chinese and Malay students to be honest with themselves about the realities facing all of us; that our country is experiencing a social upheaval which needs a lot of honest thinking. Do we join the progressive movement of the under privileged that is gathering momentum or are we to stand in its way by opposing it actively and also through our disinterest? Hishamuddin Rias, one of our genuine leaders put it this way: if we choose the later course 'you will be swept away'. Only the dishonest person will be frightened by this development as are the people in power, the people who support them and unfortunately many students who want a wellpaid job when they go home. The way is plain.
Red Malay
Henderson Again
Dear Sir,
' And let me tell you Masturbation is Perfectly Normal and Healthy, So There...'
Superb.
One can only credit this rare wit to one John Henderson (there's your name in print again son), since this individual generally seems to write these notes, his name appears three times in the article, and since it fits comfortably into his successful vendetta against intelligent journalism.
Where are you, Roger Steele, now that we need you?
Yours,
J.T. Minge
[The staff notes are the province of the staff, not the editor. I know-w-w nothing! — Ed.]
[As in Watergate. — Typesetter]
The Dope On The Bursary
Sir,
Like the correspondent 'A Concerned, Student', I was also shocked by the letter of 'A Housewife' which clained that Bursary money was spent on buying dope. I should point out to this grossly misinformed woman that the present bursary does not even meet living costs, and the new tertiary bursary will probably only just cover rent, food, bus-fares and other necessary personal expenditure. I also agree with the writer that the smoking of good green is a noble activity to persue, for like fart-lighting, bum-picking, bowel-motions and bicycle-seat sniffing, it is indeed a truely deviant and pleasurable past-time.
Another Concerned Student
Double room vacant at Vic House Phone: 553357
Expert typist available to do term papers, theses, dissertations. Quick and reasonable. Call Carmen Jones-Clad 757-047 day. 46-252 evening.