An Education System Worthy of Malaysia #12
Chapter 2: It’s More Than Just Education (Cont’d)
Education As A Political and Cultural Symbol
Education is a very powerful political and cultural symbol in Malaysia. This unfortunate association proves to be a major distraction. Major efforts are expended in the name of education not on improving it, rather on scoring political points and furthering the objectives of ambitious politicians.
The consequence of this mindset is that initiatives in education are first analyzed in terms of which race or community “won” and which one “lost.” The corollary to this destructive thinking is that what is good for one community must be at the expense of the other–a “zero-sum” mentality. Chinese parents consider teaching Malay to their children a sop to Malay nationalists rather than as an asset in of itself. Fortunately, this negative attitude is fast receding. Malays however, are still trapped by the bugaboo of colonialism. Many among the educated and enlightened, as exemplified by Nik Safiah Karim, consider learning English as glorifying the colonialists or worse, of wanting to be a Mat Salleh (Malay epithet for the English, an idiomatic equivalent of Uncle Tom). It never occurs to them that English fluency is a highly useful skill.
Because of this powerful political symbolism, Ministers of Education with rare exceptions have been politicians known best for their ability to “stand up” against non-Malays. Such leaders also have a singularly insular view of the world, in addition to their thin managerial and other talents. The degradation of Malaysian education can be blamed in large part to the appointments in the past of such mediocre personalities as Rahman Talib and Khir Johari as Ministers of Education.
Their more recent successors are not much better. The sinister aspect to this politicization at the highest level is that it filters down to poison the atmosphere at lower levels. When I was associated with UKM, I had a competent pathologist colleague. He was enthusiastic, hardworking, and very effective; definitely an asset to the university. Imagine my anger and surprise when he approached me one morning with the news that his contract might not be renewed. Only then did I know that he was not a Malaysian. I brought his plight to his departmental head. He assured me (and I believed him) that he was indeed trying very hard to reverse the decision. Unfortunately the hierarchy at UKM was particularly chauvinistic (still is). To them the presence of every foreigner on the faculty is a reflection of the inadequacy of native talent. In the end, the man’s contract was not renewed. I am sure that those in charge did not even consider the effect of their decision on the students and teaching program.
The challenge for Malaysia is how to de-politicize education. This does not mean that it should operate outside the political realities. Far from it! The successful minister must have the necessary political finesse to balance the conflicting demands of the various constituencies.
What he should not do is have his every decision governed by politics. Aware of the heavy political significance of the portfolio, many ministers have used it to further their personal political agenda. Politicians are inherently ambitious creatures; they cannot fail to note that all of the nation’s prime ministers (except of course the first) had been Ministers of Education. This emboldened those ministers coming later that they too were destined for higher calling.
Anwar Ibrahim, who held the portfolio in the 1980s, was the most obscene example of this crass ambition. His successor Najib Razak also exhibited this tendency, albeit more coyly. But their performance as Minister of Education was nothing but a running record of ineptitude.
The hubris of Anwar was his arrogant attempt to dictate how Malay should be spoken – his famous dictate on the artificial Bahasa Baku (original Malay), now thankfully ignored. Najib’s legacy was in permitting private colleges and universities. He was very good at it, approving in the space of couple of years hundreds of institutions! He must have had an inflated sense of his (and his subordinates’) ability to monitor them all. I have a more suspicious take (pardon the choice of word), for later in 1999 Najib was returned with the highest number of votes as one of UMNO‘s Vice-Presidents. He ran a very slick and, I might add, a well-financed campaign. The consequence of that flurry of approvals is that today’s headlines carry stories of colleges set up by fly-by-night operators and a medical school approved that did not even have a laboratory. Yet this character has the gumption of thinking that he is competent to be a future prime minister!
In a dramatic departure from tradition, in 1999 Prime Minister Mahathir for the first time appointed a non-politician as Minister of Education. Musa Mohamad was trained as a pharmacist, and was previously the vice-chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), remarkable for someone lacking a terminal qualification in his field and without an iota of scholarly contribution. No surprise then that as minister he has been fumbling from one crisis to another.
The most recent was over the teaching of science and mathematics in English. When the government first announced it, there was considerable opposition. The Chinese objected because their schools were already doing a good job, they saw no reason to change a working formula. Malays viewed such measures as further widening the gulf separating urban from rural (and thus Malay from non-Malay) schools.
Online polls conducted by the mainstream media and read mostly by urbanites overwhelmingly favored the proposal. But a similar survey done by Harakah, a publication of the opposition Islamic Party PAS, the results were the exact opposite. The mainstream media (owned by the ruling political party) carried little or no coverage of those opposing the scheme, thus giving readers the false impression that the initiative was universally welcomed.
Had the government concentrated on providing well-trained English teachers to rural schools, the measure would not have generated such hostile responses. Indeed had the government done that, rural (read: Malay) students would have high levels of English fluency and the problem would not have risen in the first place.
This close linking of politics and education means that the ministry’s basic mission of providing quality education often gets tangled with and distracted by extraneous considerations. In 2001, as part of the government’s economic recovery plan, over RM2 billion were allocated for the building of schools. But because of race politics, these contracts were given only to Bumiputras, thereby effectively ensuring that the costs would be jacked up because of the limited competition.
What the government should have done was to open the bids to all, including foreigners, and then accept the best price. In this way it would be spending the scarce resources prudently and would be able to stretch them even further, thus benefiting more students.
I estimate that such restrictive contracts boost the costs in excess of 25-50 percent. In one example, the government spent RM50 million to build a MARA residential school. I visited the site during its construction with a contractor friend who had done many similar projects.
We looked at the blue print, talked with the workers, and scouted around for the cost of the land. My contractor friend confidently said that he could have built the same for under RM30 million and still would have made a handsome profit. And by modifying the design to get rid of the extraneous and expensive arches and fancy roofs, he could have brought the price down to under RM25 million, about half price!
Had there been open bids, the government could have built two such schools for the price of one. With the current practice, the government may have helped its favorite Bumiputra contractors, with the second it would have helped thousands of young students.
In another instance, the ministry embarked on an equally expensive project of building computer labs at schools, a laudatory enterprise. Again the similar restrictions, and as a result less than 10 percent of the projects were completed on time. Appalling! The ministry was saddled with the twin problems of cost overruns and abandoned projects, all because of such favoritism and cronyism. Minister Musa made some seemingly brave statements about penalizing the errant contractors, but in the end nothing was done. The practice continues.
To be fair, such inefficiencies occur regularly in America. In California, every school must be designed from scratch. Obviously the architects’ lobby inserted that clause! And only unionized workers are to be employed, thus ensuring at least 30 percent hike in labor costs. There are also other rules purportedly for safety. Consequently public schools in California cost nearly twice that of private ones. It can be argued that California is rich and can afford such featherbedding practices. Not so Malaysia.
Another egregious example of prodigious waste was the sending of thousands of Bumiputra students abroad, mostly to mediocre institutions. The 1997 Asian economic crisis thankfully put an end to that profligate practice. While these precious funds were being wasted, local institutions struggled with meager resources. When I queried a senior official about this, his reply was as frank as it was frightening. By sending these students abroad and away from local public scrutiny, the government was hiding the fact it was spending billions on them. I would rather that the government been more prudent and sent only the best students and save the rest of the money to improve rural schools and local universities, thereby helping even more Bumiputras.
The quality of the students sent was such that when a team of officials from USM came to America to recruit potential lecturers among these students, almost all the applicants were rejected for the simple reason that few could communicate well in English. This raised the more fundamental question of why they were sent abroad in the first place.
When I encountered the first few students who had academic difficulties in the early 1980s, I blamed them for being lax and lazy. But when I later discovered that there were many more in the same sad shape, I knew then that it was not individual weaknesses, rather a system failure. I visited the centers that prepared these students and was appalled at both the lack of discipline and sense of purpose among the staff. No wonder few of the students were accepted to good colleges.
When I suggested that the selection be more rigorous, the officials replied that none would then qualify. They had such low expectations.
I heard every stereotype and caricature of the “lazy and dumb” Malays uttered by these officials who incidentally were also Malays. They further assured me that these students were the best they had. Note, the remarks were from the principals and senior administrators.
Lest I leave a negative impression, I will relate my experience with the teachers. First they apologized for their administrators’ dismissive treatment of me. Then they showed me the latest circular from the ministry asking them to further cut their syllabi. In physics they were to completely eliminate the whole section on optics. In chemistry, a number of experiments were now to be demonstrated only, not to be done by the students. When I queried why the ministry was doing this, they could not offer any explanation except to suggest that the ministry was pressuring the centers to pass as many candidates as possible, and to cut down costs.
I met with their biology teacher, and our conversation drifted towards teaching microscope, especially the ones with video and computer attachments so images could be stored on discs and projected onto the screen for the whole class to see. He said that he had been trying to acquire the equipment for the past three years but his request had been consistently deferred. My son’s school had just bought similar equipment. The cost? Less than 10 percent of what the Malaysian teachers were quoted! That reason? The school had to buy through the government-approved vendor and thus the consequent horrendous mark up.
Multiply such incidents and the aggregate wastage is truly staggering. Politics have corrupted the procurement process, driving up costs. The more sinister aspect to the intrusion of politics into education is that standards have gone by the wayside. Officials are impatient to get “good” results to prove a political point, thus they lower the standards.
Had they raised the standard, Malay students would have responded. There may be a year or two of bad results until the message gets through, but in the end they will respond.
Further, had such poor results persisted they would have elicited howling protests from the public and would have forced the ministry to rectify the inadequacies of the system. But by lowering the standards, more Malays appeared to be qualified and everyone was happy – until the day of reckoning.
Malaysian schools are also fast becoming the favorite hobbyhorse for ambitious politicians. In his zeal to prove his presumed piety and religiosity, Anwar Ibrahim instituted more teaching of Islamic Studies.
Later another politician, not to be outdone, pushed for teaching entrepreneurial studies, no doubt to boost his credentials among Malay business types. And a third was advocating his pet subject – tourism!
The latest is the Deputy Prime Minister pushing for IT. These politicians forget that there are only so many hours in the school day.
The current appalling standards of education at all levels are the consequence of having ignored the problems and letting them fester. A good start at reform would be to divorce as far as possible politics, especially the race and party variety, from education. Doing so would enable those involved in our schools and universities to focus on their basic mission of providing quality education to all.
March 30th, 2006 at 3:15 am
Haaa…..
“A good start at reform would be to divorce as far as possible politics, especially the race and party variety, from education….”
I have to agree with you on this one…..
But too bad…. the Malays go with Umno… and the non-Bumis can only complain and whinge fanatically in the internet (and even here in this blog….)
Now that’s a conondrum…..
But don’t worry… Malaysians will prosper despite all these….
Have faith my friends !!!
March 30th, 2006 at 6:07 am
One Malay professor of medicine visited my state to give a talk on management of hospital infection. He enquired about some of his former students. He had no qualms to tell me these students did not meet the standard of passing. His reason: if he failed them Malays would be discouraged to take up medicine.
March 30th, 2006 at 7:31 am
By the way I agree anyone being challenged to achieve will rise to the occasion.
March 30th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
The problem with Malaysia is, most people only know how to talk! They talk like they are the most capable and have all the solutions to all the problems in this world. But, it’s just a talk, a plain talk nothing but a talk.
March 30th, 2006 at 8:52 pm
You have a better idea Apektuadah? I see you love to read the “talks” here in this blog. What do you propose, tell us, we can learn from you.
March 31st, 2006 at 1:35 am
Action mau lah Mers! M.bakri, humanly etc should come back to Malayisia, face all the problems and challenges, be part of the system that formulates the education policy in the country and come out with a better ones. Dont blame the politicians when we are not prepared to do it ourselves. As said by humanly, they should have no problem to rise to the occasion when challenged.
Sorry, I was just passing thru’.. My proposition? You all should involve actively in Malaysian politic, aim for the education minister post (mind you there’s only one post so you’ll have to fight amongst you) and change the system.
March 31st, 2006 at 3:35 am
Apektuadah:
The culture of corruption is so deep-rooted that it has become very fashionable to wear that “badge” as a sign of power and status. It has been acknowledged that the disparity between the “haves” and have-nots” is the highest in Malaysia among the SEA countries. Like the blood vessels inhibiting our entire body, the higher your status, the more corrupt one becomes and it has inhibited the entire political community of the ruling front. Corruption is synonymus to power and as such there is no way someone with a sane mind would ever face head-on any of these donkeys.
Some years ago I would have assumed that it would be 8 or 9 out of 10 forming this corruption list (of those in power) but now I would not hesitate to belief that it would be a clear 10 out of 10. Where we are mentally challenged as to how to achieve racial tolerance and unity among the races, there seems to be a glowing racial unity among these corrupt goons.
What works to the advantage of these goons is the multi-racial composition of our society. They go on playing this race card, much to the stupid and ignorant society of ours who get worked-up at the slightest tinge of the race dose. Unlike in Korea, where such race issues cannot be an issue, matters have been handled more efectively. The big question will always be - how to get the races together to see that all of them are being short-changed and all of them have been affected, one way or the other.
Working through any political party would raise credibility questions as almost the wide spectrum of politicians and their parties are bedevilled by some “opposite” problems, be they real or apparent. Recently, a splinter group from the MIC formed another party. Who are these goons? Disgruntled fellows who did not get the positions they were eyeing for. What on earth can they do better than the present MIC? One has to look only at Pandithan’s IPF to see for the answer. After all these years, he has been riding on the sweat of the poor and ignorant of the party. Of course, he would say that he cannot do much because he had been deprived of a position in the govt. That would certainly be a bluff as white as chalk - why then he formed a party at all?
Let us hope for the “earthquake” to come sooner to shake up Malaysians from their sleep. This will be a bonus blessing to wake up for the future challenges. The global wave, perhaps, may be just the dose to wake up Malaysians. The financial crisis of 1997 brought down the repressive Indonesian regime. Do I sound critical? What more can one do? Just hope and hope?
March 31st, 2006 at 10:00 am
Yeah, hopes are all that we have. What else can we hold on to?
Will a Saviour appear to redeem our lost pride and lead us to glory? I don’t see any from the ruling coalition. They are all tainted for none is above board, be it the loftiest or the lowliest of party officials. We just can’t trust any of them.
So, rightly enough, as expounded by some, that someone would be somebody from outside Umno. Well, for all you know he could be from our ranks.
I await that moment with bated breath.
March 31st, 2006 at 7:19 pm
Guys, Jong and her friends,
Let us study the 9th Malaysia Plan(2006-2010). RM220 billion is a huge sum of money. The development of human capital (”pembangunan model insan”) is being given top priority under the Plan. This means heavy responsibility for Education Minister,Dato Hishamuddin Tun Hussein and Higher Education supremo, Dato Mustapha Mohammed aka Tok Pa.
4 universities (UM, UKM, UPM and USM) have been designated as research U’s. My alma mater, UM, will have a new VC. Reform of our school system is included with Mandarin and Tamil as language options in our schools. Wider use of English is encouraged. Will this end racial polarisation in keeping Islam Hadhari principles? How will the Ulamaks respond, given our emphasis on attracting foreign tourists? As usual, the devil will be in the details and in the execution of the Plan programmes.
I need to read the actual Plan before I can comment more. At least, after three years in office, our man Badawi has finally come up with a road map to Vision 2020 (15 years to go). How will he lead? How will the civil servants and the private sector respond to his leadership? That is a RM64 million question, given his “committee style” management and uncertainities in geo-politics and geo-economics.
Amit, I hope “Malaysians will prosper”, not just the UMNO and BN politicians and their kawan-kawan and proxies. Badawi needs help, but he must now start making critical decisions to jump start this moribund economy in the coming year (2007) and 2008. His political future is at stake.
Fair Malaysian, you must be excited now that our Indian brothers will be given some attention. They will have a 3% stake in the economy by 2020!! How will Samy Velu and his boys respond? Not the Maika way, I hope.
Jong, your good friend, Shahrizat, says that women must respond to the challenge of the 9th Malaysia Plan. Will Malaysian women answer her call?
Thanks.
March 31st, 2006 at 11:04 pm
While malaysians are all so excited over the rm220 bil 9mp, are they aware inflation is creeping in faster than we realise? Unless something is done otherwise our chief Economist will still look for someone to share 50-50 his tin of nescafe !
The 3% stake for the Indians by 2020, is it an April Fool’s joke or what?
April 1st, 2006 at 8:43 am
Bro Din:
Grand plans have come and gone. After all, we are at the gates of the 9MP. Befitting the era of the plans concerned, announcements of grandeur have been made but at the end of the day, the end-result would be worse than the previous ones. While the PM went to great length to declare to the nation the blue print of development, nothing concrete was mentioned about how the implementation and controls are to be instituted to ensure that the stated objectives are met. It appears that there was a deliberate attempt to “turn the other way” and corruption has become the order of the day. The grand clapping yesterday in the August house seem to reflect the many windfalls that have come their way as a gift for the loyal political patronage. The last two years of Pak Lah’s rule had somewhat answered pertinent questions as to his strength and character, notwithstanding a diminished will, to take the offensive against corruption despite the landslide mandate given to him, ostensibly on his ”decry” stand against corruption. What worried me was his answer in Parliament recently that he had upped the statistics on the eradication corruption list although, except for some “small fish”, the grand masters are still lurking around.
As usual the “thumbs-up” credit on the 9MP reflects the newsprint choice of printing what the leaders want to hear. I just cannot understand why this grandstand called MP (Malaysian Plans) has to be the way? My sincere wish would have been for Pak Lah to start immediately after he became the PM. The timeline in present day terms, particularly in an era of rapid technological advance, quite a substantial part of those plans will just remain as dreams, except that the full funds would have been expended and burnt. It baffles me to the core on how such a lackadaisical approach could have been employed. Years ago, the MSC was started with great pomp and pride but sadly it is still limping to the “finishing line”. When the cabinet reshuffle was announced recently, it was quite a disappointment with all those weathered-off faces and these are the same faces who have been entrusted with the implementation – not a good start isn’t it?
On the 3% share in the national pie for Indians seems rewarding but (yes the but) who will be the beneficiaries? Our history is littered with calculated “dice-throws”, which incidentally lands with the same numbers. There is no marks for guessing.
By the way, how come there is no mention what percentage are the Chinese supposed to get or retain? How come they were able to earn their share (by hook or crook) without even warranting a mention in the entire 9MP? Aren’t the Malays and Indians ought to be ashamed over the “handout” expectation? Perhaps, exploring the reasons attached to their success would provide meaningful lessons to wake up and do something worth. Cultural and religious inhibitions would feature very strongly towards this. Well, let me stand wrong now and, perhaps, corrected in time to come.
Jong: Maybe, it may well turn out to be an April Fool joke after all - I mean the 3% jelly for Indians.
April 1st, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Fair Malaysian,
If you have time, please read in today’s NST (April 2, 2006) Brenden Pereira’s interview with the 2nd Finance Minister (he is the de facto Finance Minister, given the PM’s aversion to economics and finance). The PM himself is going to be interviewed by RTM next week. Just watch his body language.
In the Pereira interview, Tan Sri Nor Mohamed left many issues unanswered. I am interested in the financial aspects of the 9th Malaysia Plan in terms of its effects on domestic interest rates (although the banking system is very liquid at the present time, it is not likely to persist during the Plan period), the Government’s fiscal position, and the balance of payments.
I also remain unconvinced that we can up our food production, if we depend on the plantation companies to invest in this sector. These companies are known to stick to rubber and oil palm, where the returns are still attractive. Furthermore, the rural farming community is affected by low productivity, uneconomic land holdings, marketing and distribution problems, and an aging population which is resistant to change and the application of new technologies. It is going to take time to develop a community of gentlemen farmers.
Let us not forget that land is a state matter. Finally, we cannot ignore the fact that agriculture in the developed countries (take France and Japan) is a heavily subsidised industry.
I question the wisdom of 90% self-sufficiency in rice production. Why not 100%? We should look at other opportunities. For example, we could invest in Cambodia which can produce rice organically, and export it back home. How about strategic alliances with the successful Thai companies and entrepreneurs for food production in Southern Thailand or work with our Indonesian brothers in Sumatra? The application of biotechnology and ICT requires a new generation of farmers. As such, its impact is not going to be felt in the short to medium term. Some outside the box thinking is required.
3% stake for the Indian community in the economy by 2020 is peanuts. We are not even told how this magic figure was determined. Why not 10%?Maybe, it is a just start. At least, the apologists would say that the Malaysian Government is now beginning to recognise the plight of our Indian brothers. In the end, I agree with you that our respective communities cannot expect continued Government handouts.
In the final analysis, I believe the quality of our political and administrative leadership, and the strength of our national character will be decisive in whether we can achieve our goal of a united, liberal, progressive and prosperous nation as envisaged in Badawi’s Islam Hadhari in 2020. A national mission is not sufficient.
As I said earlier, I need to read the 9th M-Plan document in its totality before I can make any meaningful comments. I am sure Dr. Bakri is doing the same thing. Maybe, Amit can enlighten us.
Thanks.
April 1st, 2006 at 11:02 pm
Has Amit gone AWOL? Where is our Anson Warrior? Now is the time our man from Telok Intan to resurface. Thanks.
April 1st, 2006 at 11:04 pm
Correction”Now is the time for our man from Telok Intan to resurface”. Tks.
April 2nd, 2006 at 7:45 pm
Dear all,
The challenge is not so much how to help the bumis acquire 30% of the economic pie. This is easy. The NEP has done this over the past 30 years with many more years to be plundered under the 9th Malaysia Plan. The problem is retention. If we add up the allocations to bumis over the past 30 years, I am sure it is more than 30% by now. The problem is most of the bumi allocations is sold quickly for immediate profits. Ironically, it is the chinese who re-acquired most of these allocations and continue this vicious cycle.
This will continue as long as the chinese are able to generate wealth. But I expect the wealth generation capabilities of the chinese to decline in the longer term. Increasingly, getting new business licenses is difficult for non-bumis and in some cases expansion of current business is curbed, especially if it is seen as competing with bumi business. In due time, the bumis will end up with more that 30% share-holding because of these abuses, but in a 3rd rate economy, when Malaysia competes for peanuts while others go after diamond and gold.
Wishful thinking? All indications show this will come to pass. I hope I am wrong for the sake of future generations.
April 2nd, 2006 at 8:03 pm
While many Malaysian Chineses became successful in business locally, many Malays try their very hard to find excuses for their not-that-successful by blamming other people, such as government, neighbours, competitors, etc. It’s merely excuses, excuses, and excuses. At the end, they still working “makan gaji” and satisfy with what they currently earn, with a thinking, “harta bukan boleh bawak ke mati”. And the best excuses I heard recently are … “if we have no tie with politicians, we are not going to be successful”, and “how can we be successful, when all politicians are corrupted”, etc… hahahha shame you Malays…
April 2nd, 2006 at 9:54 pm
AnakMalaysia,
“This will continue as long as the chinese are able to generate wealth. But I expect the wealth generation capabilities of the chinese to decline in the longer term.”
Right on. The third generation Chinese is already here.
MelayuBaru,
“While many Malaysian Chineses became successful in business locally, many Malays try their very hard to find excuses for their not-that-successful by blamming other people, such as government, neighbours, competitors, etc. It’s merely excuses, excuses, and excuses.”
Umnoputra goes from first generation direct to third generation while keeping the rural folks at the first generation phase such as to continue their third generation lifestyle (through a powerful political power base).
As long as the rural folks are satisfied with an occassional gilfts of goats and bufallos and the grandeur of their sons graduating with a mortar on their heads (nevermind the type of skill and the quality of it, as long as it is a degree, and mostly in arts. Notwithstanding their facing looming difficulties in employment, the government meaning UMNO would eventually come in again as their savior). How can you beat such symbiosis? We will never bake the cake as long as we continue to put in the wrong ingredients.
Saudara Din,
The grandest of all plans would come to no fruition when you do not have the base for implementation. The base for effective and efficient implementation. In the production line, they call it the bottlenecks. It is not difficult to spot these bottlenecks all round us. Often such bottlenecks are opportunities for lining the pockets of people in the right place at the right time.
AnakMalaysia pointed out very aptly. It is wealth creation capability!! When all our effort is focused on wealth distribution, the wealth creation engine remain spluttering.
regards.
April 2nd, 2006 at 10:15 pm
We are in our 49th year of independence, yet with NEP(37 yrs?), the malays are still struggling to achieve the official 30% equity? Isn’t that ironic when Japan after the atomic bomb managed to pick themselves and rebuild in under 30 years ?
Today Japan is a modern and one of the most successful developed nations in the world, an economic force to be reckoned with. Where are we today close to half a century? What pride are we talking about? All they know is to shout, “Malaysia Boleh” !!!
The 9mp - after all the right rhetorics by analysts, economists and politicians, it will be interesting to see how they intend to execute implementation.
April 2nd, 2006 at 10:23 pm
Sorry, correction:
para 1, line 4 - “…pick themselves up and rebuild in under 30 years?”
April 3rd, 2006 at 12:05 am
There has been report in the paper recently indicating that the income gap between the rich & poor Malay is the BIGGEST among the race s in M’sia. This trend is very worrying & I wonder whether the govt has really noticed it!
Forget about the income difference between the different races. Chinese & Indian M’sian cannot be the scapegoats anymore.
Throughout the history it’s always the living income gap of the have & have-nots within the same race that sparks the changes in the govt. & always this changes can be painful & traumatic to all sundries, irespective of races, religions.
M’sia has reach this critical point, & it seems to be a matter of time before things boil over. Poor Malay will fight for their share of wealth with the rich Malay. The other races are irrelevant in this struggle.
Yet the govt is seemed to be blind to this effect causes by her years of policies, favouring cronies & powerful unmoputra while keeping the poor Malay to be remained in ignorant. In the past the blanketing works. But now with the advance of Internat & rising aspectations of the poor Malay, the blanket is pierced with holes that getting bigger.
In the coming years, perhaps 5 down the road, we are going to see these ripples to be widden into waves. Yet the govt is still paying lip services in the 9MP.
Lusate ton naon tonton!
Is this govt really so blind that it’s willing to look for short term glories to bring destructions upon itself.
The time of change is really near.
April 3rd, 2006 at 3:11 am
It is all very well that Mr Bakri takes the effort to articulate his thoughts on education … but it will not be effective if it reaches only a small section of the Malaysian population.
How about making a translated version of your thoughts , in colourful Malay (Mr Hishamuddin Rais’ writing comes to my mind) available ? (if it is not already).
April 5th, 2006 at 4:11 am
Good analysis there ck! …. In as much as I don’t agree with M Bakri and other prophets of doom…. The increasing income gap within Malay society is worrisome….
Perhaps some one should think of a good and workable policy to build a resilient Malay petit bourgeoisie … rather than the promoting the already rich tycoons and towkays among the nouveaux riche Malays…
Or else…. An inter-class conflict within the Malay society will happen.
But if the govt still insists on the present trajectory of policy sets and development initiatives…. Then I think beefing up the FRU and buying more anti riot equipments may be the (2nd) best choice….
Malaysia can still develop and advance economically… but we may be more like South Africa or Brazil… where the rich live in gated communities or guarded bungalows and mansions… and the rest… the rest live quite miserably….
April 8th, 2006 at 6:05 am
Hey guys what’s with the latest five year Plan that is different from all the others? What’s in it for me?
Women lawyers are a discriminated lot. We have yet to see a female A.G., female LP - and the list goes on and on. Sure, we have a lame Minister named Sharizat who sold off our rights in pursuit of her self-interest, playing second fiddle to her abangs in UMNO.
I still have to supplement my income as a lawyer by taking the cat walk - occssionally. Yes, I have given up my life as GRO since MatMoto got into an accident - and since our government has gone more radical like banning “kissing and hugging”. Our sisters in the Middle East are free to kiss and hug - of course they dont do anything like “sucking faces” but a sniff here and there on the cheek and forehead will do just fine.
And why the double standard? Our former PM and our fat lady could hug and whisper sweet nothings into each other’s ears in public - and even kiss in less public places, could do so, why can’t ordinary Malaysians esp our non-Muslim sisters cannot have their moment - at displaying affection to their loved ones??
I urge our Minister Sharizat to call for “a one day without women” not amounting to anything like a strike but more of a show of appreciation to women who contribute in no small way towards the growth of the country’s economy under previous Plans.
April 18th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
Good root cause analysis to say how we got to the mess we are in.
But nothing will change because of the race card.
These third world politicians have learnt one thing well - don’t let the races get together, keep them polarized along the lines of race and religion … and at the slightest sign of a united outcry against any wrong doing, pit one against the other.
The forces these goons have unleashed over the last 30 years or so can only take us down. Worse is to come and it is just around the corner.
April 25th, 2006 at 1:17 pm
I tried to digest what are said here… but you guy’s are forgetting something… we are traced. The politician hold/owns the mainstream media, probably you are followed by ISA department official. Don’t ask me what will happen to you once you’re traced & found, even the most powerful people from the opposition corner got caught & came out coo-coo.
It’s not democratic here my friend’s….untill the ISA is abolished. Don’t aspect public to confront the government? During the sultan’s rule was even fair that’s why our Johor prosper in the first place…refer your history not in malaysian text but foreign, they say the truth. Personnaly I stopped buying malaysian newspapers some 15 years ago, the singaporean news agency tell more acurate stories compare to malaysian one (siding one part) it’s insulating to journalism.
I appreciate Mr. M.Bakri, for his contribution (lucky you’re in US) but sadly we have to wait for the abolishment of ISA, so that the mainstream media is under public control, than the we’ll have an proper malaysian government.
Don’t think other’s malaysian brother’s & sister’s are coward’s they’re just thinking wise. Probably this is why the country is losing businessman’s & professional’s (leaving/migrating abroad).
May 31st, 2006 at 1:28 am
I was trying to findout whether I could obtain TunDr.Mahathir’s email in order for me to write a letter to him concerning Proton car design. I am a Chinese Malaysian and honestly not too proud to claim to be a malaysian in the cyberworld probably because of our IP was banned before in the undernet.
I wanted to tell him, that the proton latest models are badly design because they dont gather consumers feedback. The mistaken on the gen2 is also apparent on the Savvy…
Anyway, I have started to wonder what would Malaysia become in the future. Most disturbing comments came from a friend whom has just migrated to Australia..He said Quote “had enough of wat msia can offer my family”. He is lucky to have mass a small fortune and a good education given to him by his parents…not so lucky for me.
Anyway, as I was searching for Dr.Mahathir’s email I came across a disturbing site as below.
http://www.malaysiasucks.com
The dominating race should start changing their ways. As I grew older, I find injustice in many areas of opportunities, such as special discounts on purchases of property only to “bumiputera”, inequality in education..etc
October 8th, 2006 at 10:15 am
indian prime minister
can you provide more info ?