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Foreign varsities swoop amid Malaysia’s brain drain

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 07, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 — Malaysia will face another brain-drain threat when some of the world’s best-ranked universities descend here this Wednesday to lure more local talent abroad, London-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) cautioned today.

The data-gathering firm predicted Malaysian students “will be taking the opportunity to study abroad” during the QS World University Tour, which will see universities offer them attractive education packages aimed at addressing their financial concerns.

“With approximately 80,000 Malaysian students studying overseas, the country may be seeing signs of brain drain as an increasing number of students are looking overseas to pursue their higher education in Germany, France, the UK and other EU countries,” QS public relations head Simona Bizzozero said in a media release today.

The release noted that the universities recognise the students’ financial concerns in receiving overseas education and are ready to offer them scholarships and practical advice on how to apply for different aid schemes.

“Parents and students will also have the chance to have in-depth conversations with the various schools,” QS said. Continue reading “Foreign varsities swoop amid Malaysia’s brain drain”

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Malaysians caught in a cultural gridlock

Terence Netto
Malaysiakini
Nov 6, 2011

COMMENT

At least, we have the MRT, the biggest infrastructure project in Malaysian history, on the cards to ease the traffic jams that have been building up on our roads, particularly in the Klang Valley, over the past three decades.

But what solvents are there for the cultural stalemates we increasingly encounter these days, those that threaten to render public discourse in the country an exercise in which the argumentative appear to be talking to the deaf.

Strident Muslim groups, aided and abetted by a ham-fisted police force, frowned on an annual rite of commiseration for gays, lesbians, transgender and transvestites because, they asserted, it would promote an alternative lifestyle considered repugnant in some religious traditions.

People of unconventional sexuality are outraged and their sympathisers appalled because the police have moved in to stop Seksualiti Merdeka’s annual workshop on the grounds that the project is a threat to national amity.

The ban supposedly placates Muslim sensitivities, thought to have been rendered taut by the suspicion that proponents of unconventional sexuality are pushing to have their orientation given public respect.

Muslim sensitivities are Muslim sensitivities, but in a plural society they are not the only sensitivities extant. Continue reading “Malaysians caught in a cultural gridlock”

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Pengalaman graduan tempatan di negara asing

— Wong Tan Kim
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 07, 2011

7 NOV — Sedang saya duduk berehat di sebuah hotel di kota Shenzhen, China teringin saya untuk menulis untuk bacaan The Malaysian Insider akan kehidupan seorang graduan tempatan di negara asing.

Saya dihantar oleh majikan saya di Malaysia untuk bertugas di kota Shenzhen. Setelah beberapa tahun berulang-alik di antara Malaysia (Johor Baru), Singapura, Hong Kong, Shenzhen dan Guangdong, saya dapati ada sesuatu yang tidak betul dengan sistem pelajaran di negara kita.

Saya seorang graduan lepasan UKM dalam tahun 80an. Saya mengikuti sepenuhnya dunia pendidikan saya di dalam Bahasa Malaysia. Saya mengikuti kuliah yang dikendalikan oleh profesor seperti Dr Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, Dr Sanusi Osman, Allahyarham Rustam Sani, Dr Noraini Othman, Dr Ting Chew Peh dan ramai lagi pensyarah yang saya sudah lupa namanya.

Saya seorang bangsa Cina yang tidak boleh membaca tulisan Cina dan menulis tulisan Cina. Saya hanya boleh bertutur Bahasa Mandarin yang ringkas. Dengan latarbelakang yang sedemikian, boleh bayangkan cabaran saya di negara China. Saya melihat saya sebagai seorang rakyat Malaysia dan bukan warga China walaupun nenek-moyang saya berasal dari China. Continue reading “Pengalaman graduan tempatan di negara asing”

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Muhyiddin is “flip flop Minister who denies that he flip-flops” on PPSMI

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s denial that he had been inconsistent on the government policy on the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI) has only made him a “flip-flop Minister who denies that he flip-flops” on PPSMI.

That Muhyiddin had “flip-flopped”, there is no need to go further than to quote the chairman of Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim who told the Malaysian Insider that she was “pleasantly surprised” by Muhyiddin’s announcement on PPSMI last Friday, “pointing out that until Thursday, Muhyiddin had appeared bent on pressing on with the government’s original decision to scrap PPSMI completely next year”. (The Malaysian Insider). Continue reading “Muhyiddin is “flip flop Minister who denies that he flip-flops” on PPSMI”

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Malaysians Abroad Should Not Vote

by M. Bakri Musa

Malaysians abroad are misguided and plain wrong in agitating for exercising their right to vote in Malaysian elections.

I can the see the validity for students, diplomats and others on temporary assignment abroad demanding such rights, but then they already have them. For others, especially those who have acquired permanent resident status elsewhere, their clamor for retaining their right to vote in Malaysian elections is misplaced for at least three major reasons.

The first and most important is that since they do not live in Malaysia, they would not have to bear the burden of the consequences of their voting decision. Second, those Malaysians are essentially seeking representation without taxation; that is presumptuous. Third, since they had sought permanent residency status abroad, their focus should now be to prove to their new host country that they are deserving of such a status. Meaning, they should focus their attention, indeed loyalty, to their new adopted land. Continue reading “Malaysians Abroad Should Not Vote”