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Campus elections – Mustapha should announce “hands-off” policy and scrap secret mission of VCs/DVCs

On Monday, the Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapha Mohamed said each public university will decide on the suitable rules and requirements for the upcoming student elections.

He said: “We are open to ideas and suggestions but there are all kinds of proposals so the universities themselves should be the ones looking into them.”

I call on Mustapha to take the first bold step to give meaning and substance to the National Higher Education Action Plan 2007-2010 to start the long journey to make Malaysia a world leader in higher education by sending a clear message to all Vice Chancellors to hold free and fair campus elections in public universities and to respect and accept the election results.

Mustapha should publicly declare that as Higher Education Minister, he would not be partisan and would not take sides with any candidate or group of candidates contesting in the campus polls, and that he would fully accept the verdict of the campus elections regardless of who wins or loses, so long as the campus elections are held in a free and fair manner.

He should announce a “hands-off” policy to ensure a vibrant, critical and creative student campus and scrap the secret agenda of Vice Chancellors and deputies to ensure victory of the compliant “pro-establishment” student groups.

In this manner, university students would be given a good grounding and experience in the holding of an honest, free and fair elections and not be exposed instead in their first voting experience to all the shenanigans, manipulation and abuses of of rigged polls.

One important reason why Malaysian public universities had been on a downward plunge as centres of academic excellence is because it has been drummed into the Vice Chancellors and their deputies that it is more important for their career future that they deliver campus elections to pro-establishment student groups rather than ensuring that the universities achieve international recognition as world-class universities as receiving top rankings in world tables, such as the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University annual listing of top world universities.

This is why it is so shocking to read the statement by the Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) vice chancellor Nik Mustapha R. Abdullah justifying the Mat Rempit arrogance and highhandedness of the UPM campus security in seizing the laptop, mobile phone, MP3 player and 10 other items valued at RM6,000 from first-year UPM timber technology student Yee Yang Yang during a spot check of his hostel room on Friday night and questioning him about his involvement in student politics. Continue reading “Campus elections – Mustapha should announce “hands-off” policy and scrap secret mission of VCs/DVCs”

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UPM more famous as Mat Rempit University than Research University

It is an academic disgrace that Universiti Putra Malaysia is more famous as a Mat Rempit University than as a Research University, a status it was elevated only last month together with three other universities — Universiti Malaya, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Sains Malaysia.

Just like last year, UPM has brought national and international shame to Malaysia academia with the Mat Rempit-antics of the campus security, acting in utter disregard of the fundamental rights of students in arrogantly and high-handedly seizing the laptop, mobile phone, MP3 player and 10 other items valued at RM6,000 from first-year UPM timber technology student Yee Yang Yang during a spot check of his hostel room on Friday night and questioning him about his involvement in student politics.

In 48 hours, there have been over 14,000 viewings of the Malaysiakini videoclip of the standoff between UPM students and the UPM campus security. The video clip has also been uploaded on YouTube in more than half-a-dozen sites in the past one day, with over 3,000 hits.

The UPM students must be commended for courageously standing up for their fundamental human rights and refusing to cow to a Mat Rempit-style of bullying by the campus security.

This is the second year that a disgraceful UPM episode has gone up on YouTube, which attracted over 200,000 hits from multiple sites on the video clip last year of unruly conduct of UPM student council leaders, condoned by UPM security, against “anti-establishment” student activists.

The latest Mat Rempit antics of the UPM authorities raises very hard questions as to how academic and research excellence can flourish in UPM when such Mat Rempit culture in the university administration is allowed to run wild without check.

Even more important, it raises the more important question whether the “Strategic Plan for Higher Education: Laying the Foundation Beyond 2020” launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the end of last month to create world-class universities has any hope of success when mediocre minds appear to have an upper hand in running Malaysian universities.

I call on the Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamed to condemn in no uncertain terms such Mat Rempitism in UPM and contempt for student rights and to send a clear message to the UPM authorities that they are doing a great disservice to the nation in bringing ridicule and dishonour to the Malaysian higher education system, undermining the national objective to turn Malaysia into one of the world’s education hubs. Continue reading “UPM more famous as Mat Rempit University than Research University”

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Rubella outbreak in Klang Valley?

An email from CL that there is a rubella outbreak in the Klang Valley which has been blacked out so as not to spoil the Merdeka anniversary celebrations.

Can the authorities in particular the Health Minister and the University of Malaya Vice Chancellor respond?

CL’s email:

There is an outbreak of rubella in the Klang Valley and possibly nationwide as well. Apparently this had been going on for the past two months but the power-that-be has chose to keep the news blacked out because of the impending 50th anniversary Merdeka celebration. The outbreak also occurred in the UM campus and the recently concluded convocation was almost marred. News of the outbreak in the campus only came out lately, in fact only a few days back. It is not immediately known how many students had been infected to date. However, official news of the outbreak has caused anger and anxiety among the “warga kampus”. Continue reading “Rubella outbreak in Klang Valley?”

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Optimising Human Capital

The economic contribution from natural resources, especially in oil and gas is expected to decline over the next 20 years as our reserves runs dry. As revenue from oil and gas constitutes more than 40% of the overall Government budget, there is a serious challenge in sourcing alternative sources of revenue to sustain Government expenditure at current levels.

The direct source of replacement contribution towards greater economic productivity in the light of the above will be by substantially raising human capital. With the right quality of human capital, many countries around the world which are not as blessed with natural resources have recorded significant growth above and beyond what we have achieved.

In light of the above, the DAP proposes legislating that at least 50% of our windfall revenues from the oil and gas sector shall be allocated to building human capacity, particularly in Education and Training, above and beyond their normal allocation. This will ensure that our windfall revenues will be productively invested in our most important assets, in particular, the young Malaysians.

We will give every child access to a first-rate education. In every school, the focus will now be on quality. More teachers will be deployed to ensure that there will be more time to plan for quality and innovation in teaching. Our schools must encourage creation of new ideas and creative thinking via different types of classrooms, different styles and different methods, but all with a strong emphasis in quality. Continue reading “Optimising Human Capital”

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Critical Theory for our varsities

by Azly Rahman

The recent announcement by the Ministry of Higher Education to reconstruct the ideology and modus operandi of our public universities interest me. It seems to provide a good declaration for the nation to embark upon this long walk to academic freedom; for the removal of acts, administrators, apparatuses, and activities that are anathema to the meaning of a university.

The announcement seems to promise a better sense of leadership and scholarship as a response to criticisms on the waning and weakening of purpose of the Malaysian public university.

But how do we reconstruct the consciousness of our higher education institution, so that its body politics can create a holistic sense of beingness — a Ying Yang of intellectual longevity? How do we remove the structures that are caging the mind and soul of the university? What do we need to do to create this “apex” university in perhaps a hundred years to come?

“First things first,” as the Management “feel-good guru” Stephen Covey would say. “Think lateral,” as the global corporate marketer of thinking skills Edward deBono will advise. Continue reading “Critical Theory for our varsities”

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Higher Education Strategic Plan Beyond 2020 – what for if no “political will” for meritocracy and colour-blind policies

The bubble of the “Strategic Plan for Higher Education: Laying the Foundation Beyond 2020” launched by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday was punctured by the irresponsible denial syndrome of the Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad in Parliament the very same day.

Abdullah announced a three-prong strategy to turn Malaysia into a world education hub, viz:

  • Apex University: where only the best brains — academic staff and students — will be admitted;
  • Autonomy: public universities to be self-governing in funding and research & development;
  • Audit Panels: Standard of all universities to be assessed by independent committee comprising only experts.

The Malaysian Government has honed to a fine art the preparation of grandiloquent plans (which is why every Minister wants to have a Masterplan of his own rejecting that drawn up by his predecessor and which is what happened in the short history of the Higher Education Ministry) although there is no political will to implement them — best example being the National Integrity Plan which has seen the country plagued with more rampant and uncontrolled corruption since its launch by the Prime Minister three years ago. Continue reading “Higher Education Strategic Plan Beyond 2020 – what for if no “political will” for meritocracy and colour-blind policies”

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Scarf Issue in IIUM

An email from G on the perennial problem of dress code for non-Muslim graduates for the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) convocation:

With reference to the above subject matter, I would like to direct your attention to the following url:
http://www.iiu.edu.my/convo/dress30.php
*particularly on the “Notes”.

Ms Fong (Po Kuan) and DAP had fight fiercelessly for non-Muslim females’ rights in IIUM, which resulted to the change of dress code from compulsory wearing of tudung to optional (even though we still need to wear a small bandana). However, this changes does not seem to take effect on the dress code on non-muslim female during the Convocation, as pointed out bluntly in the abovementioned website.

I believe, convocation ceromony is one of the “proudest” moment for every parent. However, for a non-Muslim parent to witness this precious moment while their child is wearing a tudung with a string hint of alien religion, is upsetting and embarassing. So, should they absent from the ceromony as how the University suggest? Or, put down their pride to cheer for the child?

We were brought up in a belief that (at least I worship this), a must for convocation is the “Cap”. Perhaps for a Muslim, wearing a tudung with a funny looking band over it is proud. but for non-Muslim, the Cap is almost everything. To wear it when receiving the roll, throw it to the air after completion of convocation, take family photo wearing the Cap, hanging it in the living room..the Cap signifies a huge and respective
moment!

During our 49th Convocation, a top student refused to attend the convocation simply because she opposed strongly for the wearing of tudung. The consequences were for her to give up the some awards. This year, the student who is a named and expected Best Student Award recipient refused to attend the ceromony for the same reason. Continue reading “Scarf Issue in IIUM”

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The Medical Mafia and ‘University Myanmar Sabah’

by LKT

I refer to your letter “University Myanmar Sabah” where the author lists various problems with the administration, staffing and ultimately blames the Dean, albeit prematurely, for the shortcomings of this Medical Faculty.

As long as there is a need for doctors and a concomitant maintenance in the rise of standards or medical technology exists, the evolution or expansion of medical schools here in Malaysia must be encouraged contrary to the opinions of some of your readers that a number of of these facilities ought to be shut down.

Development of local-based medical universities is critical if we are going to keep costs down and maintain standards instead of sending our bright but financially underprivileged children to such institutions based in Indonesia and Russia which did not have the benefit of a British educational input which has helped this country on previous occasions to have word class standards in medical care.

In 1962, when Thumboo John Danaraj was appointed the Foundation Dean to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, he proposed that the Medical Faculty should have its own hospital.

Up to the 1950’s, the Faculty of Medicine, National University of Singapore, which was known previously as King Edward VII College of Medicine had been the only medical school in Malaya and Singapore. The output of doctors at that time was small: 60 per year forcing many Malaysians to go overseas to seek undergraduate medical education.

Construction of the faculty building began in July 1963 right through March 1967 when the first wards were opened culminating finally in the completion of the Paediatric, Maternity and Rehabilitation Units which became functional in March 1968.

On 5th August 1968, the University Hospital was officially opened by the Agong. University Malaya had a world class Faculty and Hospital. But what of the lecturers?

T.J. Danaraj had no qualms bringing in the best lecturers he could afford and most of these lecturers originated from the Indian subcontinent, some of whom are still with the University. The country had not enough doctors let alone lecturers and in the initial years the University Hospital had to depend on a large expatriate population to help establish this school.

Although the working capital for this Malaysian medical icon came from both the Ministry of Education and Health, trouble was already brewing at the Ministry of Health, known those days and even sometimes today as the “Medical Mafia” which wanted to have the final say in all things medical in this country. They refused initially to recognise housemanship at the UH as part of the 4-year compulsory service until there were widespread protests by UH doctors. Continue reading “The Medical Mafia and ‘University Myanmar Sabah’”

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University Myanmar Sabah

Parents of students in the University Malaya Sabah (UMS) Medical School have expressed grave concerns about the quality of lecturers and teaching being provided to the extent that UMS is being referred to as “University Myanmar Sabah” because of the large number of lecturers from Myanmar with questionable qualifications to fill up the acute shortage of lecturers for the Medical School.

This is one complaint that I have received:

Recently, there has been a series of news reports quoting both the Federal Health Minister Datuk Chua Soi Lek and the Director General Datuk Dr Ismail Merican, lamenting over the questionable quality of some of our doctors. (Sin Chew Daily 7.8 2007 p 5 and 10.8.2007)

This is the same concern that many parents of the UMS Medical School students and lecturers now have with the presence of a large number of Myanmar lecturers, whose qualifications are said to be rather questionable.

The following is a recent conversation with a concerned lecturer of the University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) Medical School who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Q: Currently, how many lecturers are there in the UMS Medical Faculty, and how many of them are foreigners?

A: There are around 41 lecturers and 2 medical officers. Out of 41 lecturers, there are 19 Burmeses, 4 Indian nationals, 1 Iraqi and 1 Indonesian Chinese. Two medical officers are also Burmeses.

Q: Is it true that some of the lecturers are not qualified or whose qualifications are doubtful and not recognized by the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC)? Continue reading “University Myanmar Sabah”

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Malaysia omitted fifth year in succession – Shanghai Jiao Tong U’s World Top 500 Universities Ranking 2007

Malaysia has been left out of the World’s Top 500 Universities ranking for the fifth year in succession in the “Academic Ranking of World Universities ARWU 2007” just released by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Singapore has two, Australia 17 and New Zealand five universities in the latest world university ranking, which is dominated by US universities with Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley and Cambridge occupying the top four places.

It would have been good news for Malaysia’s 50th Merdeka anniversary to demonstrate the success of the country’s universities to get out of the rut of mediocrity and return to the path of excellence and quality if Malaysia had managed to get listed among the World Top 500 Universities in the ARWU 2007 — but it is clear that all the talk of higher education reform has not borne fruit with the lack of political will to give top priority to meritocracy and academic excellence to scale the ranks of world-class universities.

The Higher Education Minister, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad should explain why no Malaysian university has been able to get ranked in the ARWU in the past five years and when he expects Malaysian universities to achieve such international recognition.

The statistics by country for the World Top 500 universities in the ARWU 2007 are: Continue reading “Malaysia omitted fifth year in succession – Shanghai Jiao Tong U’s World Top 500 Universities Ranking 2007”

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Our education system a big failure

by Richard Teo

Make no mistake. Contrary to what our DPM said in NST on 10th August, our country’s education is one big flop. Najib would be deluding Malaysians to say that the education system was a big success and attribute this success to his father.

Tun Razak, the father of Najib was the culprit responsible for the current malaise facing the present education system. As the Education Minister, he abolished the English medium of education and introduced the Bahasa Melayu medium. In one stupendous decision his action caused the loss of one generation of English-speaking students.

Prior to the abolishment of the English medium of education we were the envy of many countries in Asia. Foreign tourists who went to the most remotest part of our country were pleasantly surprised that practically everyone they met could converse in the
Queen’s language. That was in the early fifties.

Today, even top government civil servants and the judiciary can hardly string two words of English. Is this how we define success in our education system? If this is Najib’s definition of success then either he is blind to the pathetic state of the education system or he is totally oblivious to what is happening in the country. Continue reading “Our education system a big failure”

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The Private and Public Dimension of our Dismissal

Dr. Azly Rahman
Dr. Mutiara Mohamad

Since we highlighted our plight to the media we have stated that we were dismissed by Universiti Utara Malaysia on two counts; being denied a non-paid leave upon the completion of our studies and refusing to sign the Surat Akujanji. The application for a non-paid leave is a “private” matter explained clearly to the university and the Surat Akujanji issue is a “public” matter of interest. Let us make the two clearer so that the issue of “being ungrateful and not wanting to serve the country” will not arise.

We believe that the public is not interested in reading the following legitimate and personal reasons behind our requests for extensions for our study and then for a non-paid leave till September 2006 upon the completion of our studies. In no particular order of importance, among the reasons are:

– having to endure extreme financial, and economic hardship as a direct aftermath of the Asian Financial crisis of 1997 that happened at the beginning of our studies, in which we were suddenly living below the American poverty line with the loss of 75% of our finances and had to take up minimum-wage jobs while attending graduate school and supporting our family,

– having a loved one with a terminal illness that consequently resulted in death,

– Dr. Mutiara Mohamad experiencing years of debilitating medical condition in which it has recently culminated in a major surgery,

– undergoing numerous hospital and specialist’s visits when one of our children underwent the diagnosis of the causes of his unilateral loss of hearing,

– undergoing the long process of rigorous requirement of Columbia University doctoral candidacy (90 graduate credits and two comprehensive exams plus a dissertation),

– having to go through the long and arduous process of preparing a Columbia University dissertation report,

– needing several changes of dissertation advisors, and having to coordinate for the availability of the full dissertation committee for the final defense,

– experiencing the emotional trauma from the September 11, 2001 attacks on The Twin Towers which happened literally in our backyard,

– enduring the discontinuation of scholarship and all forms of financial aid from UUM towards the end of our studies, and a host of other hardships we finally overcame and persevered even when all means of economic resources have dried out.

In the course of pursuing studies such as a doctoral degree, one had to sometimes battle circumstances beyond one’s control. We are sure UUM have had the experience of dealing with its faculty members caught in similar circumstances. Only perseverance and strength of will will decide if one triumphs against all odds. We were dismissed for not reporting home when we needed extra time to resolve the economic repercussions due to some of the above issues.

Having reluctantly revealed the “private” reasons, we believe the public is more interested in understanding why we were dismissed for refusing to sign the Surat Akujanji and for asking the university what the last two clauses mean. We failed to get satisfactory answers on how our rights will still be protected by agreeing to sign the letter. We had refused to sign the pledge after being repeatedly asked to do so. Continue reading “The Private and Public Dimension of our Dismissal”

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UPU appeal result – another disappointment

Email from a candidate who failed in his UPU appeal for placement in one of the public universities. How would you advise our disappointed young Malaysian?

The UPU rayuan result were out and i was expecting some good news after the 1st application where i got rejected, i checked the result this afternoon and was again dissapointed to see “Dukacita dimaklumkan bahawa anda TIDAK BERJAYA dalam Permohonan Rayuan Kemasukan ke IPTA Sesi Akademik 2007/2008”, the same thing i got at 1st where the only different thing is the additional Rayuan word there.

I’m a STPM student with CGPA 2.4 and KK marks of 7/10 (since i don’t have an excellent result, i have already chosen non popular/critical courses and even selected Sabah uni in 3 of my 8 choices, 1st, 3rd and 5th respectively) Since there are some friends who got grades lower than me got their courses (some even get 2 Ds and managed to get an offer) at the 1st application, i thought there will be a chance or at least some for me.

Failing for the 2nd time made me think whether the selection was done at random or something else where lower grades individual get the same equal chances regardless of grades. The selection were based on a person’s luck or the management at the iptas just randomly select from a pool of applicants, after this incident i suppose either 1 or both were actually the reason why there are a batch of misfortunes like myself besides discrimination in the so called abolished quota system and etc. Continue reading “UPU appeal result – another disappointment”

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Apologies demanded – Noh Omar for gangsterish conduct and Hishammuddin for racist/baseless insinuation

DAP Members of Parliament will censure the Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar in Parliament unless he apologises to the Selangor DAP State Chairman Au Yong Han Wah for his loutish and gangsterish conduct at the Education Ministry in Putrajaya yesterday.

Au Yong had accompanied Lim Kim Chung and his wife from Pandamaran, Klang to submit a memorandum to the Education Minister over the punching of their Remove Class daughter, Lim Nien Nie, 13, by her teacher at the Sekolah Menengah Raja Lumu, Pandamaran on Monday.

Noh Omar had acted in a way totally unbefitting and unbecoming of a Deputy Education Minister when he lost control of himself and created a public scene by abusing Au Yong and crumbling and throwing away the memorandum, which had to be picked up by his officer.

I am shocked by Noh Omar’s public misconduct, as I had thought that he would have mended from his previous ways of acting and behaving like a gangster when he was Deputy Internal Security Minister, as he had been assigned to the task of maintaining school discipline.

How could Noh Omar wipe out the menace of school gangsterism when he continues to act and behave like a gangster, setting the worst possible example to students — totally without a proper sense of the public behaviour expected not only of a government officer, but an elected official? Continue reading “Apologies demanded – Noh Omar for gangsterish conduct and Hishammuddin for racist/baseless insinuation”

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PTPTN – incompetence compounded

OMJ has sent me a copy of letter he had written to PTPTN on the unreasonable interest demanded for the balance of loan, illustrating that the PTPTN is suffering from “incompetence compounded”.

This is OMJ’s letter to PTPTN:

Dear sir,

i am OMJ, (I/C given) a ptptn loan borrower. i previously got a loan from ptptn to further my studies and after i graduate i immediately sent an email to ptptn, asking your ministry to deduct my loan repayment from my salary, but there was no answer from your ministry until end of last year which said that you all will process my request but then i found out during the “no answer period”, i was being charged with interest which purely no fault of mine.

A few days ago i got another letter telling me that i still a balance of RM 355.90 unpaid. This is very unfair to me. I, an honest citizen, trying to repay my loan, but because due to your ministry’s ineffeciency, i have keep interest which i myself do not even know.

Is it how an honest person is being treated? And i have tried to check my balance on your website but i was always unable to load the page. SO i am kept in the dark of my balance while your ministry keep sending my letter, telling me of balances which i do not even know existed, to pay up.

This is very unfair to me. A letter was sent from your ministry to me asking me to send RM 1779.50 in 5th February 2007 and i have sent a check on 12th February 2007. So what is this RM 355.90. Why am i being bullied for being a good citizen? Continue reading “PTPTN – incompetence compounded”

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University student intake – season for frus and despair

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University intake for this year is out and its a season for frustration and despair at the injustices of the system.

I received the following sad letter from Clare:

I am writing to voice my dissatisfaction towards the Ministry of Higher Education who rejected my brother’s application into a local university.

When my brother told me that his application was “tidak berjaya”, I was very disappointed. Not that his result is bad, in fact, his result is very good compared to many other students (even better than mine). He got a CGPA of about 3.2 (I got 2.9 back then) and applied for ‘not-so-popular’ business-related courses and he was rejected.

I do not know what to tell my mum when she called to announce the result just now. My parents must be very disappointed, not with my brother, but with the higher education ministry. My brother has gone into exile because of that. I am not surprised if he has developed a mentality that the government is biased towards the handicapped (my brother is handicapped with cerebral palsy-as stated in one of the links in my post)

I do not know who else to turn to, Uncle Lim. Please advise.

Continue reading “University student intake – season for frus and despair”

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50th Merdeka – end annual “racial polarisation” caused by “fraudulent meritocracy” of varsity student intake

In a week or two, the new student intake for 2007/2008 into the public universities will be announced and Malaysia will again go through the agonizing annual racial polarization caused by the “fraudulent meritocracy” as a result of the use of two completely different examinations to decide on the higher educational future of our children — the STPM and matriculation.

I understand that 40,016 places in public universities will be offered for the new academic year, with racial breakdown of 24,957 or 62.36 per cent for bumiputeras, 12,616 or 31.53 per cent for Chinese and 2,443 or 6.11 per cent for Indians.

DAP MPs have repeatedly called in Parliament for the end of the “fraudulent meritocracy” in the use of two completely different examinations for university intake and it is a matter of grave regret that no Barisan Nasional MPs, particularly from MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP, PBS and other component parties in Sabah and Sarawak have dared to support such a call.

The use of two completely different examinations for university student intake – with the STPM universally recognized as very much more difficult and of higher standard than matriculation — has the most adverse long-term effects for Malaysia in at least four senses:

  • Setback for national unity and nation-building in plural Malaysia, as it provides an annual event causing racial polarization;
  • Undermines university quality and academic excellence which have seen Malaysian public universities plunging in international rankings for top world-class universities;
  • Grave impediment in the drive to enhance the nation’s international competitiveness to face the world challenges of globalization; and
  • Promotes public deceit and lack of integrity by perpetuating the fraud that there is no difference between STPM and matriculation.

Continue reading “50th Merdeka – end annual “racial polarisation” caused by “fraudulent meritocracy” of varsity student intake”

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New govt delivery system – make sure it is not “3rd-world Infrastructure, 4th-rate Mentality, 9th-rate Maintenance”

The new government delivery system the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is to unveil in ten days’ time must send out the blunt message that Malaysia under his watch will not degenerate from “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” to “Third-World Infrastructure, Fourth-rate Mentality, Ninth-class Maintenance”.

When Abdullah became Prime Minister on October 31, 2003, he promised Malaysians one fundamental change — to eradicate the “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” malaise and propel the country to “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” status.

After being Prime Minister for 47 months, there are not only no signs of any significant breakthrough for Malaysia make the transition from a “First-World Infrastructure, Third-World Mentality” malaise to a “First-World Infrastructure, First-World Mentality” status, there are more and more disturbing evidence of serious and rapid deterioration of the national condition towards a stage which is best described as “Third-World Infrastructure, Fourth-rate Mentality, Ninth-class Maintenance”!

Never before in the 50-year history of the nation has the public service been seen as more inept and incompetent — with the unending list of “crack-ups” of new government buildings and public construction projects, whether the brand-new administrative capital of Putrajaya, the RM270 million world’s second largest court complex in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur, the Parliament Building after RM100 million renovation and the latest, the safety of the 15-storey Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry in Precinct 4, Putrajaya. Continue reading “New govt delivery system – make sure it is not “3rd-world Infrastructure, 4th-rate Mentality, 9th-rate Maintenance””

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Qualifying exams for new docs

QUALIFYING EXAMS FOR NEW DOCS
by AZK

“You don’t have to blow out anybody else’s candles…
to make yours shine brighter…”

I read with interest the Health Minister’s proposal to have common qualifying examinations for all foreign-qualified doctors. The Health Minister appears to have discovered that all these frequent visits to assess and continually evaluate new medical schools are a costly affair.

In fact, in the age of the internet, it is nothing more then a scam by our free-loading MMC council members to claim allowances and fly business class to various, sometimes exotic destinations just to see if these schools produce bona-fide doctors, all courtesy of the tax-payer when much of the information can be gathered via the net.

More importantly though, now that Chua has proposed a qualifying examination in line possibly similar to Britain’s PLAB (Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board) or the USA’s USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) it boggles the mind if our lot of council members are really up to it in conducting examinations of this complexity.

Needless to say the current Unscheduled Universities Examination under Section 12(1) (aa), Medical Act 1971 is so hopelessly biased especially in the clinical sections, that, like the legal profession’s CLP where there is an incredibly high failure rate, it gives rise to suspicions that the examination is yet another tool to discriminate and meet political agendas to right racial imbalances in the profession.

More alarming is its selective application on foreign graduates but not on local graduates who today are mainly responsible for our notorious healthcare deliver systems.

Chua’s frustration could be real. The Malaysian Medical Council is a discredited body. Among others, it currently consists of a member who graduated after 40 years of age, another who is being sued [deleted], yet another who chairs meetings and doesn’t operate anymore [deleted].

Many are involved in businesses such as housing development, private medical schools, nursing schools, etc therefore bringing to the body a conflict of interest that will eventually skew any decision they try to make.

A significant number of these members are downright academically uninclined including deans with dubious qualifications. Continue reading “Qualifying exams for new docs”

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Hishammuddin – stop being “childish” and set an early date to meet up with Dong Jiao Zong

The tantrums of the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein in the past few days, accusing the Chinese educational bodies Dong Jiao Zong of being “not sincere” and declaring that “it’s not the end of the world” if he did not meet the Dong Jiao Zong leaders or that the government will not protect Chinese education have rightly been criticized by many as manifestation of his “arrogance of power”.

But these tantrums also show his “puerile” dimension. It is time Hishammuddin stop being “childish”, be conscious that he is charge of one of the most important ministries in government and begin to conduct himself as Education Minister for all Malaysians and all streams of education by setting an early date for a meeting with Dong Jiao Zong in keeping with the Prime Minister’s injunction to all Ministers to “hear the truth” from the people and all sectors of Malaysian society.

I still wonder why Hishammuddin “blew his top” on Tuesday, openly accusing Dong Jiao Zong of being “not sincere” for laying down conditions for a meeting with him, which has been proven to be untrue by Dong Jiao Zong.

Was Hishammuddin misled by Chinese newspaper reports that day on the ten resolutions of the Jiao Zong 2007 Annual General meeting calling, among other things, for:

  • Revision of the National Education Blueprint 2006-2010 to make it compatible with Malaysia’s multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-lingual characteristics;
  • Repeal of the “final objective” of the national education policy to have only one language as medium of instruction at all levels of the education system.
  • Review of the use of English to teach mathematics and science from Primary One;
  • Re-opening of Damansara Chinese Primary School; and
  • Adequate trained teachers and fair allocation of funding for Chinese primary schools.

As Hishammuddin does not read the Chinese newspapers, was the Education Minister who is also Umno Youth leader misled in “blowing his top” at Dong Jiao Zong on Tuesday. If so, who was responsible for misleading Hishammuddin? To the Malaysian public, if it is not Gerakan, then it must be MCA. Continue reading “Hishammuddin – stop being “childish” and set an early date to meet up with Dong Jiao Zong”