THE STAR Saturday March 11, 2006
An open letter to Mustapa
Dear Sir,
Firstly, allow me to congratulate you on your new posting. It must be said though that you are not to be envied, for you are now faced with a Herculean task.
But, where are my manners? You have no idea who I am. I could be a complete nutcase.
Well, I’m an academic in a Malaysian public university. Which some people might consider a nutcase, anyway. But I’m very proud to be an academic.
It’s a noble profession, and it matters not that my students earn more than me within a few years of graduating and that little children run screaming from my hideously outdated clothes. It’s a calling to be an academic, and I care passionately about it.
That is why I’m writing to you. You see, there is much that is wrong with our universities and much that can be done by the Ministry to put things right.
You may not believe that my one purpose in writing to you is the improvement of our institutions, but let me assure you, we true academics (as opposed to wannabe politicians in lecturers’ clothes) don’t have hidden agendas.
Over the past few years, there has been this mantra chanted by the Government and university leaders: “We want our universities to be world-class universities.” Unfortunately, this mantra does not have any explanatory notes, so we don’t really know what “world-class” means. However, let us assume that a world-class university has the following:
- Graduates who are employable, not only here but also abroad;
- Academic staff who are respected worldwide;
- Research and publications that are recognised by reputable international journals/publishers;
- An academic programme that is recognised worldwide;
- An academic atmosphere that can attract quality national and foreign students and staff.
If we accept these criteria as valid, what then can be done to achieve it?
Universities are not hampers
Universities are not rewards to be handed out. It has happened in Terengganu and the same has been promised to Kelantan. “Vote for us and we will give you a university.”
This may make political sense, but it does not make any academic sense. A lot of planning is needed to ensure that the resources are sufficient to create a university of quality.
Malaysia is not a very rich country – we can’t afford petrol subsidies, for goodness’ sake – and we definitely can’t afford to stretch our limited economic and intellectual resources to build universities in such a blasé manner.
Universities are not fast-food joints
They should instead be high-class restaurants. Universities have to be elitist in order to produce quality research and graduates.
An elitist university means that only the best candidates are taken in as students and only the best staff are hired. Classes and exams can then be pitched at a higher standard.
Furthermore, the resulting smaller student numbers mean seminars and tutorials can be truly conducive to discussions, and lecturers will have less of a teaching burden in order to concentrate on research.
This is not to say that higher education as a whole must be elitist. There are other forms of higher education institutions that can cater to school leavers who don’t make the cut, such as polytechnics and community colleges.
If you love your universities, you must set them free
Academics and students must be free to think and to express themselves.
Yes, I understand that this is Malaysia and freedom is seen as a dirty word by some, but without it, there is little hope of achieving “world-class” universities.
Intellectualism cannot grow in a repressive atmosphere.
We all know that in this country, there are many laws that restrict our freedom to express ourselves, but the irony is that for lecturers and students there are additional laws levelled at them.
You must be aware of the University and University Colleges Act – that wonderful piece of legislation designed to ensure that university students are little more than secondary school pupils.
You may not be aware, however, of the Statutory Bodies Discipline and Surcharge Act which affects academics who are the employees of statutory bodies.
According to this law, we can’t say anything for or against government policy without getting ministerial permission first.
Now, this may be all right for a mathematician quietly thinking up new formulae with which to calculate the possibility of Malaysia ever qualifying for the World Cup.
But for social scientists, it is akin to having the Malaysian football team play football without using their feet (which is perhaps something that they do anyway, looking at previous results).
The simple fact of the matter is that universities should first and foremost be the birthplace of ideas and original thought, discussion and debate, and this can’t be achieved with such laws hung around our necks.
And in case you’re worried that greater freedom will make our campuses hotbeds of radicalism, please let me put your fears to rest.
The number of students in this day and age who really care about matters beyond Akademi Fantasia is very small indeed.
Most students just want to graduate and as quickly as possible get into debt to pay for their three-bedroom flat and Proton Waja.
Universities need Mandelas
If there is one thing that Malaysian universities need, it is good leadership. And by a good leader, I mean a Vice-Chancellor who has the qualities of an outstanding intellectual, manager and diplomat, who can ensure that academic principles are paramount, not political expediency.
That promotions are given based on merit, not patronage. That students are treated like adults, not children. And finally, that the university is run on the highest ideals of civilisation and intellectualism, not self-aggrandisement and base toadying.
An outstanding academic leader, someone who can efficiently organise the place, represent the institution with dignity and command the respect of those working under him, or her, is a rare creature indeed.
To seek out such a person, may I suggest that the search committee your predecessor was talking about be made a reality.
This search committee, however, must be independent and transparent. It must not be hiHndered by any political agenda and must instead pick the candidates based on ability – and ability alone. Factors such as race, creed, gender and nationality should not be a consideration.
Perhaps we’d like to take lessons from elsewhere. Oh, before you think I’m suggesting a “study trip” abroad (with the usual sightseeing and cultural diversions), let me make it clear that I think the taxpayers’ money need not be wasted in such a fashion. After all, writing an e-mail is probably all you need to do to get the necessary information.
You may wish to start with New Zealand universities. I say New Zealand because the VC of Auckland University was recently poached by Oxford to be its Vice-Chancellor. The first non-English VC of Oxford since, well, since forever.
Now, that’s world-class, don’t you think? And from a country much smaller than us where the sheep outnumber the humans. Amazing.Well then, Sir, I think I’d best sign off now. You must have loads to do. Oh, before I forget, if you want to lighten the workload of your officers, may I make a last suggestion?
Why don’t you just leave the day-to-day running of the universities in the hands of the universities? I bet the Ministry has enough on its plate without having to decide about trivial things like professorial promotions and the approving of leave for academics to go to conferences and holidays overseas.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read my letter. Good luck with your endeavours. Until next time, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
AZMI SHAROM
Dr Azmi Sharom is an associate professor of the Law Faculty of Universiti Malaya
12 comments:
On our Malaysia education system, it is in fact a very worrying situation. Few of my friends who managed to find a foreign partner or fellow Malaysian with foreign PR status, all have decided not to send their children into our local schools. All of them are not happy with the education system.
I must admit that if I have the option, I would not send my children into our local schools. Our system over emphasizes "spoon feeding" method. Our system mainly teaches the children to be submissive. Our system does not encourage a child thinking process.
Also, I was told by someone that the current school syllabus contains many Islamic elements than those in the 70s and 80s. If this is true, this is a very worrying factor to the non-Muslim community in this country.
Then, there is the problem of deteriorating quality standard of national schools, and over workload for children attending Chinese schools.
Sometimes children have more pressure than us, being an adult. They loss their childhood wonder years. We can go for a holiday when we get burnt out. But children have to bring along their homework, if they are going for year-end holiday.
The current system of education in Malaysia and the attendant political interference is like a time bomb. Our ministry of education is paralysed to effect any positive and meaningful changes to rectify the sorry state it is in.
Who will suffer ultimately but a whole new generation of young Malaysians who are like the proverbial sacrificial lambs on the altar of political expediency?
Already we are seeing the present generation of "unemployable" graduates emerging from our universities, all a result of the nationalistic syllabus.
If we carry on like this for another 10/20 years, can you imagine the sort of people running our country in the future? If our present crops of ministers are an embarrassment to our country, dare we imagine what the future situation will be like?
It is time for those malay politicians to wake up to the reality that our education system has failed to produce the right employable graduates for our job market. Too much emphasis on race factors has turned our education system into another malay affirmative apparatus at the expense of quality education to produce the needed human resources for our country
We are human and we have a higher level of intelligence than many others. If you cannot get employment, then change to something else. Be flexible and treat everything as knowledge. Is that so difficult?
By the way, jobs are a plenty and people are just being choosy. The young generation nowadays is just way too pampered! Wake up and see the world!
Malaysia after five decades, is still in the midst and throes of nation building - and we do not have a clear view of what that nation is going to look like.
Although I am a Malay Muslim, the so-called malay mentality some time puzzled me. How can you claim to be Muslim and pray five times a day, then collect bribes or give bribes? Or take things from the office or factory for your personal use? Your religion teaches you that these are all wrong. The person giving the bribe is to blame as much as the person receiving the bribe.
All religions teach that collecting brides is not only wrong but is one of the biggest sins. Nowadays there are so many so-called believers of God (whether they called themselves Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and etc).
These people keep doing all these wrongdoings for their earthly material gains and expect to get forgiveness through their prayers. They are even thinking that they will go to heaven when they die because they keep praying.
Personally, I am such a straight person, don't even know how to bargain, let alone give bribe to anybody. Don't you feel afraid that the police officer might say that he/she will not accept bribe and then fine you more for offering the bribe? I would.
Fighting corruptions must start from within you. Things must have gotten bad.
Having said all that, in my opinion, the ordinary malays are a very simple people - a people to which change cannot come too easily, easily led, easily satisfied and respectful of their own tradition.
It is not a coincidence that many of the malay leaders in the immediate pre and post independent years come from somewhere else, and were of mixed parentage - Bugis, Thai, Turkish, Pakistani, etc. I say this, not out of disrespect for the malays (for I am a malay of mixed parentage), but the government of the day has an important role to play.
Pak Lah, when he goes will leave his own legacy - and history will be the judge of that. In my opinion, for what it is worth, Pak Lah may have been a good bureaucrat in the past but he certainly does not appear to have the kind of leadership qualities that this country needs to lead it out of the dilemma it finds itself in the post Mahathir years - Malaysia is at a crossroads.
We need a strong leader to lead the way. He is not providing that leadership the country and its people needs.
I have never studied Mandarin! Honestly speaking, I regret no knowing how to read or write Mandarin (except perhaps my own name!) and this is definitely one of the biggest regret of my life.
I send my children to Chinese primary schools and mind you, I feel they are much more disciplined, their thinking much more wider in perspective. In short, it is a very wise choice!
All the public universities in the country are in a terrible state of affairs. The low academic quality leading to a worsening crisis is a result of a variety of factors.
So how can one expect our public universities to attain academic and professional standards when there is such a blatant discrimination?
How can a country that labels itself an aspiring democracy condone, and justify such a nefarious practice of excluding a segment of its population, from participating effectively in public universities?
It is such a shame.
Millions of taxpayers money is spent on building universities and paying lecturers. The money comes from all, but the beneficiaries belong to one particular ethnic group.
Unless and until the racial apartheid is dismantled in the Malaysian education system in general, and in public universities in particular, it makes no sense to talk of the quality of the public universities.
Alas, what we have in Malaysia is political interference in the education system. Unless we remove this interference, no improvement is likely to happen. Government should only provide the legal framework and the means for educationists/professionals to plan and implement the system.
The aim of the first phase of the NEP is to fill up all such positions with malays who are inept, ill qualified or under qualified to handle the responsibilities that come with their positions, and so that people like you will be so frustrated and pissed that they would bundle up and get the hell out!
I think the 'reformers' should be reformed before we could think about reforming the system. They all should be sent to re-education camps for an indefinite period until they are reformed.
They must be made to understand the importance of nation building in the world - nation building through education. It is time to re-examine the national curriculum and see how it meets today's requirement.
Education is not something new that much have not be known. To have a quality educational institution, we must allow the educationist/professionals to plan and implement the system. Allow some healthy competition and the system would maintain its standard.
The private education system would serve as a model if the government is really honest with itself that there is no political agenda for being so closely involved in educational issues as it at present.
We do not need a crystal ball to see that. Have we forgotten the strength and spirit with which we won our independence - the Malaysian way, with all the races standing united and showing the colonialists that we were a force to be reckoned!
Perhaps, not only Singapore but other countries too will be envious of our position. Otherwise, you will end up as cannon fodder.
Of course, I am as angry as you are and as hurt as you are. For me to call this country as home but being treated like a degraded human being where opportunities are accorded and denied along racial lines can never be of comfort to us.
It is as degrading and demeaning but that is an issue we have to struggle or even fight for. And I have to admit that the ruling elite has become very greedy and selfish. When I mean the ruling elite, it includes Chinese and Indians too unless you are going to deny that Chinese and Indian ruling elite cannot be placed in the same category as their malay counterparts. The only difference is in the numbers.
I have many friends - Chinese, Indians and Malays who struggle to make ends meet. There is no need to rub salt into their wounds.
I think better change ourselves first……….too much to hope for the institutions and society to change……….and even if institutions and society do change……….the change may not be to our liking.
God gives each man and woman the will and power to change themselves for the better.
Of certain, if you can create a critical mass beyond a certain threshold……….then you can change institutions society and society and the country.
Do I see a better Malaysia in the future? No, I am not sure. May be we can be rhetoric about it, but as long we as a nation, go on squabbling along racial and religious lines, we are doomed.
I left the country when I felt that there was no future for me and my family, and now I no longer felt oppressed or deprived of my rights. The world is a wide-open space. Go where you are appreciated. Why keep poisoning yourself drinking from the poisoned well?
I know of others who have made it on their own. Half of my classmates made similar decisions and after almost 30 years, we still keep in touch through phones and emails. Often times we fondly remember the good times we had as a group and nobody gives a hoot about our different races. How times have changed.
The MCA isn't there to protect the Chinese. It is there to protect Chinese businesses and interest - in short: Chinese money.
MCA is powerless……….They just speak when Umno allows them to do so. I have to say MCA is not Chinese hero at all.
Look at the MCA people. Most of them are rich businessmen hoping to get in the government good books so that their businesses will prosper. Are they in it for the people? Do they even care about making a change?
Some maybe yes but the majority is a sad no. The main rule I found out about the MCA is - if you have money, you can go to the top. I've seen many MCA branch leaders with no credentials, just money. How the heck they got to become ministers and branch leaders beat me.
Bottom line: MCA = materialistic Umno ass kissers. Plain and simple.
My father always tells me - In oversea the government is fair to everyone but the people are not nice (racism). In Malaysia the people are nice but the government is not fair.
We Chinese are angry, disappointed, disillusioned with racist policies and we have a right to be.
The question with the NEP is how to empower malays without disempowerment the Indians and Chinese. For many years, the NEP has been executed in an extremist fashion. Just give and give and give to the malays, take away and take away and take away from the Indians and Chinese.
Isn't equality the aim of NEP in the first place - to bring malays to equal the other races? How come it has become a tool of extreme discrimination and inequality?
You ask how can you have both? Simple - give equal rights to everyone but some benefits to malays that will help them advance in life. The trick is not to deprive the Chinese and Indians and overfeed the malays.
When one is hungry, one spirit dies and he/she becomes bitter and hateful. When a child is spoilt, the child becomes lazy, mediocre and stubborn.
You want the malays to catch up? Give them extra lessons and academic help. Create special programs for malays who are lagging behind so when admission into universities time comes, they will be on more equal playing field with the other races.
Instead of lowering admission requirements, the government should concentrate on how to make malays more competitive.
If the government believes that the Chinese and Indian are better off, then there shouldn't be as many poor people, right? If so, what is the problem with creating programs to help these people too? After all, it never hurts to improve our people and I think we have enough resources for human development regardless of race.
As for the Chinese, we don't want the bright and talented to be lured away by Singapore because they did not get places or scholarships in Malaysia universities. To allow this to happen is plain stupidity.
To prevent this, I say create more opportunities and more spots for the Chinese and Indians in Malaysia. Build more universities so more students can be admitted. From my experience, you can be just as smart as regardless of your race, which is why I think affirmative action should make the malays more competitive and not less so.
Of course, as with every group, there is a scale of people who are very intelligent and those who are less. Even the term intelligence is contentious.
If we want to achieve Vision 2020, we need all the professionals we can get, and not just some professionals but ones who are competitive on a global scale. So, if we allow the best students we have to cross over to another country, we are only helping the other country to prosper into a developed country while we lag behind by 30 years.
I think the government desperately needs to rethink its policies before it is too late.
Malays are a race of people who still live under a coconut shell. To us, the world is as big as the shell we live in. We are fortunate because we are princes of the land, our land is fertile, anything can grow on it.
When we want to cook curry, coconuts are there. If we want chicken meat, all the kampung chicken run wild. If we want to eat fish, we can easily catch one or two from the rivers or padi field. What more, we produce petroleum too, the only thing is we have not learned how to extract petrol and diesel from it.
"Malaysia is very advanced, self-sufficient and most knowledge in the world come from Malaysia so all the information that we need are in Bahasa Melayu. The world better learn Bahasa Melayu in order to access all these wonderful knowledge that we have in Malaysia. Because we are world's biggest economy, other countries who want to trade with us better learn Bahasa Melayu."
We also have a lot of "former world No. 1" exporters - tin, rubber, palm oil, air conditioner, etc. How nice to relive the nostalgic yesteryears every now and then……….
We may never be big again. Never mind. "Malaysia Boleh!" We Malaysia Boleh compare with the Japan, German, America, anybody, just name them!
Funny, isn't it? The country will be 50 years after independence, the government still provide us with tongkat. We love you Malaysia!
This is a laughing stock article.
Think of improving the country from bribe, economic and equal right among races so that the Malaysia real meaning Boleh.
In my view, no matter what is said now and in the future, and whether English does get re-instated to its former position of importance or not, whether our present batch of politicos and up-coming will or will not make the changes to elevate English, this blasted fact will remain - Malaysia has let innumerable opportunities for super-development pass in the last two decades.
The other fact is that these opportunities will never come our way again.
Let those who feel study English is not important continue to study Bahasa Melayu and those who want to continue to study English continue to study English. That way in time to come we can see which group progresses faster and more employable.
There is no need to deprive any group from studying what they want to study. We lost a generation of English speaking citizens through the short sightedness of our leaders.
All these talk are pride and again a result of entitlement mentality. Not having faced real world competition, a disconnect exist between their ideas and knowledge with the real world. All the talk are theoretical and imaginary, not implant-able solutions and results. Coupled with false pride, the result is just that - false.
Because of this shortsighted policy, thousands of graduates are unemployable. We have only to blame our leaders for this state of affairs and is a sad reflection of our leaders capability. Time and history have proven that our leaders lack vision and foresight.
The sad part is that the leaders of this country did not have the vision to place a higher importance to this aspect which had been one of Malaysia's competitive advantage. So we are now lagging behind.
Bolehland is lost! Too many mistakes are made at the great expense of ordinary people and the country - socially, politically and economically.
At the end of Mahathir his tenure, said the only thing I give him credit for, no one is going to wait for the malay race to catch up, the rest of us will move on and the harder it gets the harder we push.
It is very sad to see a promising country in this difficult situation! Those responsible for this terrible mess should come forward and apologise to the ordinary people with concrete plans and solutions to resolve the many critical issues confronting the country - immediate, long and short term plans and solutions.
Yes, I agree. Who else could hear owes of our kids better than parents but in the development of a child, the school alias the education system plays an important role.
There can be only two inferences from the discussion - either our leaders, particularly the ministers in charge of education are plain dumb and do not have the intellectual capacity to develop the nation's most important asset, or they do realise the importance and have the know-how but plainly chose to ignore it because of political considerations.
I do not know whether there will be a dawn of time for whatever you have so passionately put in write but pardon if I am a pessimist, we have lived through the changing times to know all too well that nothing seems to be in the horizon.
An education system that produces people who learn by rote, incapable of independent thinking and in a language not understood anywhere else has to examine itself.
It does not take a person with a PhD to tell you that something is wrong!
Almost fifty years after receiving independence, we Malaysia as a nation, ought to have matured into a cohesive force. Instead we have become so regressive. We have started another cycle of the NEP. This is not the first, second or even the third but would be the 9th one.
That the malays are lagging behind in the economic sector (if it is indeed true), what happened to all the "brains" who developed the policies to achieve them within the stipulated time?
My question is, with so much planning and billions of dollars pumped under the disguise of implementing the NEP policies, why are we still on the drawing board to determine how effectively we can help the malays? Consecutive government has bulldozed with a single unison of thought to hammer home the point of the mantra of 30% for the malays.
Each time, under the guise of a new-coined term the agenda was pushed forthright. From university education to business opportunities, they were given unfettered access which, if only a quarter of it had been given to the non-malays, would have far reaching consequences.
So, what is actually wrong? Are the malays incapable and only a few scattered spots are able to spring-up to claim as being the able ones? Having spent the better part of my life believing that race has nothing to do with the abilities of a person, and rightly so, then it still begs the question what is wrong?
The former prime minister, Mahathir in his "The Malay Dilemma" argued very vigorously the underpinnings of the malays as a race almost incapable of warding-off the Chinese without state assistance. After 22 years at the helm and having experimented almost every conceivable way to uplift the malays, his parting words were that he had failed to change the mindset of the malays.
In essence, what divide the malays and the non-malays is the different mindsets of each race - not the economics nor the politics of it. Time and again the malays were subtly reminded by their leaders that the time for depending on the "crutches" should be done away with, otherwise they will end up in wheelchairs, as Badawi pointed.
What would it take the malays to wake up from their slumber to realise that others need not have to take away their rights.
Look at the Chinese. Standing on their own feet, by crook or hook, they make things happen in the economic world. I did not say this, the former prime minister did when he said that you take away the Chinese from the towns, then there is no economic activity, or something to that effect.
One of the reasons why the NEP not able to achieve the many intended targets was the way the policies were envisaged. It was never used as a learning platform but as a get-rich quick sort of schemes without wanting to get involved in learning the ropes. Then it was creating successful malay entrepreneurs.
When I was working in a government agency, during meetings, stacks and stacks of reports were tabled but most of the time nothing would come out. Perhaps all those (from the top to the bottom) who were involved in the planning were off-track from the beginning.
The resultant turmoil is understandable but isn't it about time that they should not aim at 30% or even 60%? Why can't it be not reflective of the percentage? Why the encumbrance for any race to impose a limitation?
In short, they have failed. During the 1997 economic crisis, almost all top malay businesses had to be bailed out by the government.
A nation cannot settle down where there are inequalities among the races but when such inequalities are self-induced, then something is terribly wrong.
Education has been politicised especially in the 1970s when the medium of instruction was changed from English to malay. Politicians have tinkered with our Malaysian education system for decades now, and not having any confidence in their own work, they send their off-springs overseas for their education - leaving the ordinary Malaysians without the means to do so, to suffer.
Talk to a recent graduate from any of its local universities. You will find him or her unable to express himself or herself in English, immature and unable to think independently or even rational in his thought processes. He/she shows although an ability to memorize work manuals but is unable to understand beyond that.
Freedom from common examinations?
Freedom from learning to pass examinations?
Freedom to add, deduct and improve different subjects?
Freedom to cater for practical local needs?
Freedom to cater for student needs?
Freedom to have the time to teach beyond syllabus?
Freedom to hire lecturers, teachers and professors?
Freedom to offer courses or subjects of value?
Freedom to teach as allowed in your school?
Freedom to vary the periods and times of classes?
You got to be kidding.
As far as Malaysia is concern, we are not yet liberated or allowed to do our best according to what each teacher or school thinks.
In my opinion, all our education ministers and successive government tried to politicise education instead of liberating it.
Our independence as far as education is concerned - is a joke. They were a bunch of socialist inclined control freaks inclined to producing a bunch of 'Malaysian Little Red Book' waving citizens rather than civilised, confident, humane and productive people.
Progressively, instead of education of the students, we have indoctrination instead. Do you honestly believe there was even a single honest educationist instead of a politician there?
Of course, I admit readily that I may be wrong, but please correct and convince me?
The simplistic Malaysian rat race obsession with schooling for paper results instead of early human development is one of the outstanding weaknesses in the Malaysian education system. Naturally, this does not help to produce confident, creative, independent, outspoken, rational individuals needed for a competitive world.
The Malaysian education system is like an orchestra with a few instruments. It does not quite produce the music desired or a variety of music even though the conductors get huge budgets. Most of the time, band music and no solos.
The mentality is like decreeing that Malaysians should only play badminton and football, and other games are not welcomed.
It would be a great help if creativity and diversity were encouraged from kindergarten onwards, instead of being strangled by rote learning and learning to view things as sets of answers in conformity. Students should be encouraged and rewarded by giving more varied answers to develop their ability to view things more broadly and deeply.
Talking about the international competitiveness, in the first place we can't even compete to have our own talents back. It is now an impossible dream to try to get back that international competitiveness unless there is a miracle.
Human resources, the most important and invaluable asset a country would like to have, and yet our government does not seem to give a damn because of the racial prejudice and narrow mindedness.
Each year millions of ringgit are spent by private overseas students who are deprived of opportunities in their own land and upon graduation the host countries could just easily absorb them and forever we are the losers, and our government is impotent to do anything about it. Even the government scholarship holders in terms of many hundreds also refuse to come back.
Today, we can't afford to hire back our good people, instead they are happily employed by our competitors, the host countries and they give their best years to whoever could afford to employ them.
You do not have the good people; as a result, you don't have the top grade of management system, top grade of quality, top grade of R&D and the top grade of products. Certainly you lose out in the global competitiveness in all fields. The 60 thousands unemployable graduates are of the inferior quality otherwise, they could have crossed the blue ocean to seek greener pastures.
This is a vicious cycle, we can't attract good people to our side in the first place because our salary scheme is no longer attractive and our ringgit is weak. And our good people because of attractive pay outside tend to go over the other side.
The top grade people go out and the second grade people stay behind. In the long run, we are getting weaker and weaker, and our competitors are getting better and better. You pay what you get as the saying goes, "If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys."
Without good qualified people, how are you going to compete? What we could attract now are only those low-grade Indonesian labours.
It looks like we are following the footsteps of Indonesia and getting closer as years go by, after all one said: "Since we come from the same race and the same blood flows in our veins, it is imperative for us to find common ground to resolve all our differences."
Look at Indonesia's policy for the 1960s against its own ethnic Chinese populace. Typically abang-adik with Indonesia, Malaysia already has a model to follow.
It is time we separate administration and politics. The mentality, that we fought and won elections, so we must enjoy the spoils, must go.
I read with great disbelief and sadness with regards to the reduction in petroleum subsidies in Malaysia. Luckily for me I am watching this from afar as I left Malaysia about a month ago for the Middle East to further my career. Unfortunately my family will be the ones who will be suffering in silence, yet again.
I do applaud the government for making such a bold move with an (honest) aim to reduce the amount spent on subsidising fuel yearly. And no, we do not expect handouts from the government at all. And the government has pledged that the RM4 billion saved would be put to good use by improving our public transport system.
Now, this has got me fuming. Why? That is because normal peoplelike us will never in our lives see an improved public transportation system in Malaysia. With the amount of corruption that is going on within all ranks of the government, this will never happen.
I do wish and hope that Pak Lah will prove me wrong but I've been living in Malaysia for 27 years of my life and all that I get is a big disappointment. The only consolation was the fuel subsidy which is not much if you consider a normal working class person's salary and the amount of money he/she spends a month for petrol.
Contrary to popular believe, the cost of living in Malaysia is not low. In fact, it is one of the highest in the world due to our low spending power and low income topped with high prices for essentials.
Normal Malaysians who want to purchase an average vehicle (a RM60k Proton Waja) needs to pay for it with at least two years of their full salary. In other countries such as Australia, Dubai, United Kingdom and even Singapore, you pay with less than six months of your full salary. I am talking about an average educated person with three years work experience.
And to add salt to the wound, mind you, these countries have the best public transportation systems in the world. Now what does that tell you? To make it worse, we pay toll for every highway that we use (minus the Federal Highway of course, but it's more like a main road or sometimes a huge parking lot).
Unless you are a corrupt government official (especially those who stay on way past their expiration) or a good or shrewd businessman or a snatch thief, we the people will suffer. I can tell you now that the RM4 billion will be wasted and laundered into the hands of corrupt government officials and their relatives with shell companies bidding for the contracts - just like the rest of our public projects.
We the people don't need stupid beautification projects like the ones carried out by a lot of the local councils that costs millions of ringgit nor do we need an electronic board telling us which road is experiencing a high volume of traffic when we are already stuck in a jam. Nor do we need huge iconic mega-infrastructures to show to the world that we are of 'world-class standard' when the people suffer in silence.
Please don't get me wrong. I love my family and friends as well as the vast amount of variety of food and other great facilities in Malaysia. The islands and nature are just wonderful. But unless our government improves from within, we as a country will destroy ourselves, sooner or later.
And what happens to us, the people? We suffer in silence.
A successful education system can be defined as one where its people are taught to behave in a civilised and humane manner.
Where economic and business sense is instilled. Where emphasis on the practical aspects of thinking and, reviewing human relationships and interactions are learnt. Where learning to apply knowledge to help in industrial, farming, and basic financial skills are compulsory. Where respect and practice of hard work is formed.
The government education system can be rated as a failure as it is not remotely anything like defined above, because it is mainly more like a system for producing a minor elite group for white-collar jobs.
Is the actual objective of the government education system to produce grads bureaucrats to staff the civil service and GLCs, with the dropouts for army, factories and police? Does it make any sense to emphasize a white-collar job kind of education system? Does anybody do any real work there?
This is not economically viable in any country. It does not produce good citizens nor does it address the practical educational needs of the majority of the people for living and working.
The Malaysia college may had been downgraded, but it should not had been replaced with others all over the place. What we need are people educated to apply learning to be great modern civilised and safe drivers, entrepreneurs, farmers, fishermen, pilots, sailors, skilled craftsmen and technicians.
We need to produce honest workers capable of proudly producing quality food, products and services efficiently, not produce so-called educated parasites, financial oppressors and tricksters, paper shufflers who take advantage of their power over others.
The Malaysian education system does not address the manpower needs of the country. It is impractical and badly planned, and the greatest waster of money. It practices a highly inefficient method of producing white-collar needs and professionals.
Worse still it gives an impression of failure to those who would do better in other fields - although these maybe far more lucrative. There appears to be a great lack of thinking or lack of common sense in education direction, planning and thinking.
The various prime ministers had failed miserably in selecting poor and non-qualified education ministers. They had social engineering political agendas and did not come out with practical and cost effective solutions. They had no clue as to education as human development nor did they seem to consult other ministries or had any foresight as to addressing manpower or social problems.
The products of the so-called education system (or should it be no system) did not come out respecting work, did not understand each other, had almost no relevant skills and were not equipped to handle life. They were not trained to fish, did not appreciate fishing, and many may look down on an honest day work.
Over pessimistic or understatement of the situation? I wish I am wrong.
Just like the so-called moral police, we have a lot of such emotionally inadequate, intellectually insecure and socially disabled people in positions of leadership in Malaysia schools and universities.
Poor university lead by 'poor and fourth class mentality' administration leading to poor state and poor ranking among the universities in the world.
We have university chiefs who treat our tertiary students like kindergarten kids, telling them what hairstyle is appropriate, what hairstyle is not appropriate, what music to listen to, what music not allowed to listen to, what time to sleep, what time to get up, what to wear, what not to wear, who to mix with, who not to mix with, (whether there is lecture to attend or not) etc.
The real cause is that many of these people, particularly those running tertiary institutions, are not where they are because of their expertise or performance in education, but because of political connections.
Many of them cannot even write a proper sentence, let alone intellectual articles in academic journals. Almost none has written any definitive books which can be used as textbooks. Yet they are made head of universities.
No wonder we have thousands of graduates who are not academically and intellectually fit, and hence unable to find jobs. Most can only obtain higher degrees from third-rate universities, and return to be made higher positions. Some of their so-called PhDs are below even an honours degree standard in the established universities.
This is a result of 'coconut shell' mentality shown by Malaysia university leadership. They should promote more free flow sharing of experience with top universities in the world to keep up with the pace of globalisation. There is no shame in 'borrowing' ideas of others to strength ourselves. Use resources wisely.
Leave the disciplinary problems to the schools, to the ministry of education. Isn't it too late to tackle this problem in the varsities? Still treat undergrads as kids? This reflects so lowly of the leadership - as if they are paid highly to do trivial things like this.
In business, there are the industrial standards as benchmarks. In academia, I do not know if there is any standard to measure what is decent and what is not. We wear sandals, shorts, and T-shirts at home. It has never occurred to me that this would have other implications.
Rather, the greatest threat to the survival of Malaysia university is that of incompetent office-bearers who seemingly have their priorities misplaced, and are instead more committed to stifle the freedom of thought and expression, and to subjugate students of different ethnicities and religion to the practices of a single dominant religion.
Our ideology seems more important that the qualities we carry. Our 'religious' conformation seems more important that the actual religious teachings. We are policed instead of the policy being re-examined. Where is our country going?
It is time that Malaysia universities woke up and revamp their moral policing policy. We need a major change. What attire we wear seems more important that whether we smoke cannabis or not.
Malaysia university leadership, please be focused. There is too much to catch up. Universities play an extremely vital role in nation building. Stop raping the system and 'murder' the excellent students in their noble quest for knowledge and personal advancement.
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