The importance of being united

Why is unity important to us? What is the Meaning?

The Kembara Merdeka Jalur Gemilang convoy in Kuching

' I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.'

THERE is a well-known fable about a father who called his four sons together and gave each one a stick; he then asked them to break their sticks and, of course, all four easily broke their sticks. But when he asked them to break 100 sticks held together, they failed.

The moral of the story is that phrase you all must have heard of before: “United we stand, divided we fall”. People can easily break you, crush you and disregard you if you are alone, but when you stand together, nobody can touch you.

Last month saw the formal ascension to the throne of the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. The institution of the King is the embodiment of all Malaysians irrespective of gender, creed, colour, religious inclination and any other stripes we can think of. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong himself has also said that he wants to see a Malay-sia whose citizens are united and living in a peaceful, stable and harmonious country during his reign.

Such an aspiration can only come if we, as citizens, can think for ourselves and accept one another as Malaysians first. The operative word here is “accept”. For a long time we have been operating under the word “tolerate”. To tolerate is to allow something or someone that you dislike to exist without interference. Acceptance is embracing that something or someone as part of your world, as your brethren.

This is how we should build our society.

We should build a society where all Malaysians are seen as one. Where race or religion, culture or background, don’t determine positions and opportunities. Where we know that these are not what gives us special positions over others.

We should build a society that embraces this diversity because it is what makes us collectively great. A society in which we work with each other as equals towards the common goal of making a better nation where we all prosper and progress together.

Is that so difficult?

I think not if we are determined to see it through. I have come to the conclusion that if we aspire for a better Malaysia for our children and our children’s children, we, the citizens of this nation, need to do the work ourselves.

We cannot depend on politicians. Politicians cater to the lowest common denominator. They are about power first and they sacrifice ideals at the altar of power.

May 9, 2018, showed us the way. Though it may seem a long time and a thousand disappointments ago, our government was changed by the votes of moderate, liberal and progressive Malaysians of all races and religions, working in concert.

Yes. The moderates, liberals and progressives threw out a kleptocratic government that had been in power for 60 years. We did that.

This scared those looking out only for their own interests. They became loud. Politicians, being politicians, succumbed to the loudest voices, catering to those making the most noise. They practically forgot who voted them into power. Because politicians, true to their very nature, have no convictions except to power and to retaining that power.

I know whenever you see injustice, you feel like saying something but at the same time you feel afraid. Fear of reprisals, fear of upsetting people, fear of getting caught by wide-ranging laws – there are so many fears that you end up keeping quiet and hoping the injustice will just go away.

It won’t, it doesn’t. It will build momentum and, soon, it will become a permanent feature and by then, it is too late.

But what if you have support and back up from like-minded people? You become brave and stand tall against that injustice and face it. You have courage because you know there are people standing with you, supporting you against that injustice.

To deal with any injustice, we need to fight together, only then will we see the change we desire.

But how do we move forward from when we were united on May 9 to where we truly want to be? Relying on politicians to affect change is a mistake – events of the past year have shown us this.

The people need to be the ones to show the way. This, to me, is what Merdeka is about this year.

Moderates, liberals and progressives are the real movers of this nation. They are the ones powering the economy of Malaysia. They provide the intellect, the progressive capacity, and the hard work that has developed this country. They are the ones underwriting the subsidies that help build better lives. They are the ones who will continue to be that source of national wealth and health.

If you believe that you are moderate, liberal and progressive and proud of it, you cannot shy away from your responsibility to change this nation into a truly just, fair and equitable one.

I can no longer do it alone. This is, therefore, a call to action for all Malaysians to unite to make this a better country. To set the agenda to take this country higher. To be active with one voice and one body. We need to stand and be counted. We need to put our money where our mouths are. Let us organise and get active. We can make it happen.

A group of like-minded friends and I have put together a platform for this very purpose. We have incorporated the Malaysian Action For Just And Unity Foundation – in short, Maju.

The foundation came about from a realisation some of us had as long ago as a year before that momentous May 9: We realised that the voice of moderates, liberals and progressive Malaysians was weak and disorganised. It is a voice that is always trying to walk a soft path for fear of offending, and thus its message was being lost.

Subsequent to May 9, those thoughts became almost prophetic. We need such a foundation more than ever. We need a voice and a platform that will be a rallying point for progressive citizenry, that is consistent, loud and unwavering in its causes, expressed without fear or favour.

It took us a while but with our own initial funding and lots of hard work and perseverance, Maju was approved and incorporated in January this year.

A public launch is just around the corner, gift-wrapped for all Malaysians in this month of Merdeka.

We want you, the individual citizen, to be our supporters and funders: We will be funded with a minimum RM50-a- year-contribution from each person who registers as a supporter. We want to create a nationwide network and branches of supporters to carry out our agenda and activism.

We need your support to make a developed and progressive Malaysia a reality. Vision 2020 may not arrive next year but Maju intends to see that reality happen no matter how long it takes us.

We intend to achieve the goals that will make Malaysia great by:

> Promoting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

> Empowering civil liberties;
> Protecting marginalised communities;
> Ensuring progressive education.

The last point is vital. Through-out history, it is basic science literacy and its progress that has propelled technology.

Nations did not develop due to commerce first; instead it was the scientific discoveries that were the engines of technological progress, which in turn gave a nation’s commerce a distinct advantage that led to economic prosperity. We need to make a science-centric education system a reality.

We want Maju supporters who are science educators and academics to help us revamp the system to ensure our children’s education is substantively science-based from the primary level until students leave the secondary level.

We believe an emphasis on science will also have the by-product of producing students who are strong critical thinkers regardless of their final chosen vocations.

Join me. Let us Maju together and make a just, fair, equitable and progressive Malaysia a reality. As Mother Teresa once said, “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Sunday Star.

Siti lights Siti Kasim Source link 


Related posts

Let’s talk economy – the sequel of education

The pump-prime our financial situation, we need a massive investment to revamp and rebuild our education

 Let’s talk economy – the sequel of education

The pump-prime our financial situation, we need a massive investment to revamp and rebuild our education    https://youtu.be/FVnBpckzi..

Malaysian mediocre education system and quota: The Endgame

  IN my last article, I took us along memory lane through the 60s and 70s when our education was world class. As I said, we prepared our ...

The importance of being united

Why is unity important to us? What is the Meaning?

The Kembara Merdeka Jalur Gemilang convoy in Kuching

' I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.'

THERE is a well-known fable about a father who called his four sons together and gave each one a stick; he then asked them to break their sticks and, of course, all four easily broke their sticks. But when he asked them to break 100 sticks held together, they failed.

The moral of the story is that phrase you all must have heard of before: “United we stand, divided we fall”. People can easily break you, crush you and disregard you if you are alone, but when you stand together, nobody can touch you.

Last month saw the formal ascension to the throne of the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. The institution of the King is the embodiment of all Malaysians irrespective of gender, creed, colour, religious inclination and any other stripes we can think of. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong himself has also said that he wants to see a Malay-sia whose citizens are united and living in a peaceful, stable and harmonious country during his reign.

Such an aspiration can only come if we, as citizens, can think for ourselves and accept one another as Malaysians first. The operative word here is “accept”. For a long time we have been operating under the word “tolerate”. To tolerate is to allow something or someone that you dislike to exist without interference. Acceptance is embracing that something or someone as part of your world, as your brethren.

This is how we should build our society.

We should build a society where all Malaysians are seen as one. Where race or religion, culture or background, don’t determine positions and opportunities. Where we know that these are not what gives us special positions over others.

We should build a society that embraces this diversity because it is what makes us collectively great. A society in which we work with each other as equals towards the common goal of making a better nation where we all prosper and progress together.

Is that so difficult?

I think not if we are determined to see it through. I have come to the conclusion that if we aspire for a better Malaysia for our children and our children’s children, we, the citizens of this nation, need to do the work ourselves.

We cannot depend on politicians. Politicians cater to the lowest common denominator. They are about power first and they sacrifice ideals at the altar of power.

May 9, 2018, showed us the way. Though it may seem a long time and a thousand disappointments ago, our government was changed by the votes of moderate, liberal and progressive Malaysians of all races and religions, working in concert.

Yes. The moderates, liberals and progressives threw out a kleptocratic government that had been in power for 60 years. We did that.

This scared those looking out only for their own interests. They became loud. Politicians, being politicians, succumbed to the loudest voices, catering to those making the most noise. They practically forgot who voted them into power. Because politicians, true to their very nature, have no convictions except to power and to retaining that power.

I know whenever you see injustice, you feel like saying something but at the same time you feel afraid. Fear of reprisals, fear of upsetting people, fear of getting caught by wide-ranging laws – there are so many fears that you end up keeping quiet and hoping the injustice will just go away.

It won’t, it doesn’t. It will build momentum and, soon, it will become a permanent feature and by then, it is too late.

But what if you have support and back up from like-minded people? You become brave and stand tall against that injustice and face it. You have courage because you know there are people standing with you, supporting you against that injustice.

To deal with any injustice, we need to fight together, only then will we see the change we desire.

But how do we move forward from when we were united on May 9 to where we truly want to be? Relying on politicians to affect change is a mistake – events of the past year have shown us this.

The people need to be the ones to show the way. This, to me, is what Merdeka is about this year.

Moderates, liberals and progressives are the real movers of this nation. They are the ones powering the economy of Malaysia. They provide the intellect, the progressive capacity, and the hard work that has developed this country. They are the ones underwriting the subsidies that help build better lives. They are the ones who will continue to be that source of national wealth and health.

If you believe that you are moderate, liberal and progressive and proud of it, you cannot shy away from your responsibility to change this nation into a truly just, fair and equitable one.

I can no longer do it alone. This is, therefore, a call to action for all Malaysians to unite to make this a better country. To set the agenda to take this country higher. To be active with one voice and one body. We need to stand and be counted. We need to put our money where our mouths are. Let us organise and get active. We can make it happen.

A group of like-minded friends and I have put together a platform for this very purpose. We have incorporated the Malaysian Action For Just And Unity Foundation – in short, Maju.

The foundation came about from a realisation some of us had as long ago as a year before that momentous May 9: We realised that the voice of moderates, liberals and progressive Malaysians was weak and disorganised. It is a voice that is always trying to walk a soft path for fear of offending, and thus its message was being lost.

Subsequent to May 9, those thoughts became almost prophetic. We need such a foundation more than ever. We need a voice and a platform that will be a rallying point for progressive citizenry, that is consistent, loud and unwavering in its causes, expressed without fear or favour.

It took us a while but with our own initial funding and lots of hard work and perseverance, Maju was approved and incorporated in January this year.

A public launch is just around the corner, gift-wrapped for all Malaysians in this month of Merdeka.

We want you, the individual citizen, to be our supporters and funders: We will be funded with a minimum RM50-a- year-contribution from each person who registers as a supporter. We want to create a nationwide network and branches of supporters to carry out our agenda and activism.

We need your support to make a developed and progressive Malaysia a reality. Vision 2020 may not arrive next year but Maju intends to see that reality happen no matter how long it takes us.

We intend to achieve the goals that will make Malaysia great by:

> Promoting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

> Empowering civil liberties;
> Protecting marginalised communities;
> Ensuring progressive education.

The last point is vital. Through-out history, it is basic science literacy and its progress that has propelled technology.

Nations did not develop due to commerce first; instead it was the scientific discoveries that were the engines of technological progress, which in turn gave a nation’s commerce a distinct advantage that led to economic prosperity. We need to make a science-centric education system a reality.

We want Maju supporters who are science educators and academics to help us revamp the system to ensure our children’s education is substantively science-based from the primary level until students leave the secondary level.

We believe an emphasis on science will also have the by-product of producing students who are strong critical thinkers regardless of their final chosen vocations.

Join me. Let us Maju together and make a just, fair, equitable and progressive Malaysia a reality. As Mother Teresa once said, “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.”

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Sunday Star.

Siti lights Siti Kasim Source link 


Related posts

Let’s talk economy – the sequel of education

The pump-prime our financial situation, we need a massive investment to revamp and rebuild our education

 Let’s talk economy – the sequel of education

The pump-prime our financial situation, we need a massive investment to revamp and rebuild our education    https://youtu.be/FVnBpckzi..

Malaysian mediocre education system and quota: The Endgame

  IN my last article, I took us along memory lane through the 60s and 70s when our education was world class. As I said, we prepared our ...

Let’s talk economy – the sequel of education

The pump-prime our financial situation, we need a massive investment to revamp and rebuild our education 

  https://youtu.be/FVnBpckzi5U

Moving forward: We need a complete revamp of our school curriculum as well as new, well-designed and well-operated places for our children to learn in.

I WAS not done the last time, so let’s continue our talk about the economy.

In the last article, I wrote that we must spend our way out of the recession and we must act now. We have to spend it on the right things, for the right reasons, using the right people, at the right value.

In the ’80s, we spent on massive highway infrastructure and got ourselves out of the recession. As I said, today we need a different solution that will hit various sectors that will have an overall impact not just on themselves, but also our fundamental way of life.

Where then shall we stake our economic salvation to spark growth in our economy and blaze a path to recovery of the Malaysian nation as a progressive one that will pave our way to be developed?

I say we build on education. Fundamental education. We reform, revamp and rebuild our education infrastructure, systems, administration and human resources. To be specific, primary and secondary education.

Think about it – the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) is to be built at a cost of RM44bil. Imagine the number of people, companies and all and sundry subsectors that will benefit from a massive capital investment like this in education, not just in the short term but in the long term as well.

Today, Malaysia has in actual fact, a dilapidated, outdated and obsolete – primary and secondary – education infrastructure and system. Our administration and human resources are geared towards upholding this obsolete education model. We need a full revamp and rebuild.

Most public schools are in shambles – old and poorly constructed and poorly maintained buildings; run-down facilities with no air conditioning in this tropical climate. Basically, the hardware of our schools needs a total replacement.

We also need a full revamp of the teaching software – the administration and teaching human re­sour­­ces currently operating our education system. Over the last 30 years, our obsession with seemingly racist policies and religious fundamentalism has produced an ethnic and religious-centric education system, curriculum and teaching profession and administration that is not capable of producing a scientifically and technologically advanced and humanistic progressive majority.

Why else would we have people in government and authority making stupid pronouncements that liberalism and pluralism are dangers to our society?

If you don’t believe our education is so bad, I give you Exhibit No.1: a public university that proclaims so-called religious-based “scientific findings” such as that the various geological age of the Earth did not happen. And you know your education system is in trouble when your professors start theorising that dinosaurs were actually ‘djinns’.

We need a complete revamp of curriculum – what should be taught and not taught in our public schools and who are really qualified to be teachers and administrators for the education of our children. And we need new, well-designed and well-operated places for them to learn in.

For half of the ECRL budget, say RM20bil, we can start the investment and pump-prime the economy beyond our wildest dream. In addition, this spending will fundamentally change the majority of our society to one that is modern and progressive instead of the one we have today, backwards and inward-looking.

It would be something we could call The Great Malaysian Education Revamp Investment.

I would take this initiative away from the current Education Ministry. A ministry that has produced this failed education system cannot be entrusted to carry out a revamp of this nature. An academic, especially one who is steeped in an education based on religious beliefs, is not equipped to lead a major reformation and capital investment initiative. This is a major professional corporate-level investment initiative.

It has to be carried out by a select group of corporate and education professionals supported in the team by various governmental functions on-loan from ministries such as Works, Finance and Legal. This must be a one-stop centre special projects task force. This task force should be separated into

two segments, namely Education Reform and Infrastructure Rebuild.

It is really not that difficult to see what kind of schools we need, both in terms of infrastructure and curriculum. Go to the international schools in this country which cater primarily for children of first world countries – get their blueprint, work with them to understand why they do what they do and implement them.

Look at their infrastructure, see what they have as teachers, what and how they teach, their content and curriculum, and how they administer – and copy them.

If you want to become develop­ed, follow those who already are. Life is that simple.

To all you ethnocentric and na­­tiona­listic purveyors of such pride, I have this reminder. You do not go to Nasa and say, “Show me how to build the Saturn V rocket so I can get to the moon and then decide I need to modify its fuel mixture because I need the ingredients to reflect the national identity.”

That doesn’t work. You will be blown to pieces at the launchpad, which is exactly what happened to our education system the day we decided to do that. You want to reflect national identity? Don’t change the fuel. Paint the fuel tanks with our flags, that’s all.

I hope people get the hint.

Hence, this is what we should be investing in – a developed educational infrastructure, curriculum, teaching resources and a small but efficient administrative capability of international standards. Let’s spend tens of billions on it as capital investment. The rewards will be astronomical and will be far reaching all the way into generations.

It will fundamentally change our society. Imagine international schools for our public school system for primary and secondary education. Imagine the society that creates. Imagine, imagine!

So you may ask, what then should we do with our current infrastructure and resources? You do not move from your house in the ghetto to a spanking new bungalow in the suburbs and bring along your old furniture, do you? You transition only the ones that can fit into this new home and leave behind all the rest.

Sounds harsh? Of course it is. If something or someone is capable enough to be part of a developed infrastructure and resources, you test them and take it with you. If they don’t, you leave them behind. Eventually, close them down one by one until the entire ghetto is gone. Then you bulldoze all of them down.

Some will say that what I am saying is utopian, idealistic or not achievable. Here is my answer to that. Look around the world. Don’t look around underneath our tempurung. Changes are everywhere and they are coming fast. This is the 21st century. You either get on with it or you are going to be left behind. Industries are closing down and being replaced by those we never even imagined before. Never imagined.

Where are the telephone operators at the exchanges today? They don’t exist anymore. Anybody using landline phones in homes lately? Are we holding a telephone or a camera? Or is it a miniature laptop or a recorder or a photo album or ... oh well. I don’t know what it is anymore. Cry all you want, but the taxi industry is going to cease to exist. Satellite TV? Wait till 5G comes along.

Disruptions in industries are the norm. In the 21st century, it is moving at breakneck speed. Sometimes I wonder how long general medical practitioners or pharmacists, as we know them today, can survive, or even conveyancing legal practitioners.

Education is not a sacred cow, especially if we want our nation to survive. We either get on with the programme or we wait for our time to perish like that proverbial frog in the slow-boiling pot.

We must change or die. Going back to economics, we are actually living precariously on borrowed time on the credit of our oil money. The other parts of our economy chip in here and there, but it’s very much oil money today. We need to change that narrative now and produce citizens who can compete and create new economies for the 21st century.

We cannot have this education system that turns our people into sheep, rather than thought-provo­king industry creators and innovators. We need to stop this nonsense.

If we continue on this path, we will see the collapse of our civilisation. Sounds alarmist? No, I am being a realist. People complain that our university graduates are still earning starting salaries of those about 20 years ago. It’s true, but it’s not the employers’ fault. As Bill Clinton used to say, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The economy will pay what its cost structure can stand for it to be viable. You can fix a minimum wage but if it cannot sell because no one can afford to pay for it, it will close down. And then no one gets paid. There is a reason the Human Resources Minister suggested that we look at African labour.

This is because our other neighbours’ wages have risen to that of what we pay that they don’t have to come to work here anymore. This is because our economy has not grown with the growth of our population, that’s why.

The signs are all there to see, but we refuse to see it. The worse thing is, our civil service and government-­linked company sub-economies have artificially provided shelter and complacency among the majority population, fully financed by taxpayer debts and diminishing oil money. I guarantee you that the retorts to this article, as was to many of my articles, will come from such subsidised mindsets.

Today in Malaysia, mediocrity and unproductivity is rewarded. This cannot, and will not, last for long. We need to change our condition. That change must come with education. Since our economy needs vigorous pump-priming, we might as well go all in with massive investment in education. And in that, we need a true revamp and rebuild of our education.

Let’s just do it.

Siti Kasim is a proud liberal, a non-conformist and a believer in the inalienable rights of individuals to choose their own path as long as no harm is caused to others.

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Sunday Star

Source link 

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Learn more:

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https://youtu.be/FVnBpckzi5U

Let’s talk economy – the sequel of education

The pump-prime our financial situation, we need a massive investment to revamp and rebuild our education 

  https://youtu.be/FVnBpckzi5U

Moving forward: We need a complete revamp of our school curriculum as well as new, well-designed and well-operated places for our children to learn in.

I WAS not done the last time, so let’s continue our talk about the economy.

In the last article, I wrote that we must spend our way out of the recession and we must act now. We have to spend it on the right things, for the right reasons, using the right people, at the right value.

In the ’80s, we spent on massive highway infrastructure and got ourselves out of the recession. As I said, today we need a different solution that will hit various sectors that will have an overall impact not just on themselves, but also our fundamental way of life.

Where then shall we stake our economic salvation to spark growth in our economy and blaze a path to recovery of the Malaysian nation as a progressive one that will pave our way to be developed?

I say we build on education. Fundamental education. We reform, revamp and rebuild our education infrastructure, systems, administration and human resources. To be specific, primary and secondary education.

Think about it – the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) is to be built at a cost of RM44bil. Imagine the number of people, companies and all and sundry subsectors that will benefit from a massive capital investment like this in education, not just in the short term but in the long term as well.

Today, Malaysia has in actual fact, a dilapidated, outdated and obsolete – primary and secondary – education infrastructure and system. Our administration and human resources are geared towards upholding this obsolete education model. We need a full revamp and rebuild.

Most public schools are in shambles – old and poorly constructed and poorly maintained buildings; run-down facilities with no air conditioning in this tropical climate. Basically, the hardware of our schools needs a total replacement.

We also need a full revamp of the teaching software – the administration and teaching human re­sour­­ces currently operating our education system. Over the last 30 years, our obsession with seemingly racist policies and religious fundamentalism has produced an ethnic and religious-centric education system, curriculum and teaching profession and administration that is not capable of producing a scientifically and technologically advanced and humanistic progressive majority.

Why else would we have people in government and authority making stupid pronouncements that liberalism and pluralism are dangers to our society?

If you don’t believe our education is so bad, I give you Exhibit No.1: a public university that proclaims so-called religious-based “scientific findings” such as that the various geological age of the Earth did not happen. And you know your education system is in trouble when your professors start theorising that dinosaurs were actually ‘djinns’.

We need a complete revamp of curriculum – what should be taught and not taught in our public schools and who are really qualified to be teachers and administrators for the education of our children. And we need new, well-designed and well-operated places for them to learn in.

For half of the ECRL budget, say RM20bil, we can start the investment and pump-prime the economy beyond our wildest dream. In addition, this spending will fundamentally change the majority of our society to one that is modern and progressive instead of the one we have today, backwards and inward-looking.

It would be something we could call The Great Malaysian Education Revamp Investment.

I would take this initiative away from the current Education Ministry. A ministry that has produced this failed education system cannot be entrusted to carry out a revamp of this nature. An academic, especially one who is steeped in an education based on religious beliefs, is not equipped to lead a major reformation and capital investment initiative. This is a major professional corporate-level investment initiative.

It has to be carried out by a select group of corporate and education professionals supported in the team by various governmental functions on-loan from ministries such as Works, Finance and Legal. This must be a one-stop centre special projects task force. This task force should be separated into

two segments, namely Education Reform and Infrastructure Rebuild.

It is really not that difficult to see what kind of schools we need, both in terms of infrastructure and curriculum. Go to the international schools in this country which cater primarily for children of first world countries – get their blueprint, work with them to understand why they do what they do and implement them.

Look at their infrastructure, see what they have as teachers, what and how they teach, their content and curriculum, and how they administer – and copy them.

If you want to become develop­ed, follow those who already are. Life is that simple.

To all you ethnocentric and na­­tiona­listic purveyors of such pride, I have this reminder. You do not go to Nasa and say, “Show me how to build the Saturn V rocket so I can get to the moon and then decide I need to modify its fuel mixture because I need the ingredients to reflect the national identity.”

That doesn’t work. You will be blown to pieces at the launchpad, which is exactly what happened to our education system the day we decided to do that. You want to reflect national identity? Don’t change the fuel. Paint the fuel tanks with our flags, that’s all.

I hope people get the hint.

Hence, this is what we should be investing in – a developed educational infrastructure, curriculum, teaching resources and a small but efficient administrative capability of international standards. Let’s spend tens of billions on it as capital investment. The rewards will be astronomical and will be far reaching all the way into generations.

It will fundamentally change our society. Imagine international schools for our public school system for primary and secondary education. Imagine the society that creates. Imagine, imagine!

So you may ask, what then should we do with our current infrastructure and resources? You do not move from your house in the ghetto to a spanking new bungalow in the suburbs and bring along your old furniture, do you? You transition only the ones that can fit into this new home and leave behind all the rest.

Sounds harsh? Of course it is. If something or someone is capable enough to be part of a developed infrastructure and resources, you test them and take it with you. If they don’t, you leave them behind. Eventually, close them down one by one until the entire ghetto is gone. Then you bulldoze all of them down.

Some will say that what I am saying is utopian, idealistic or not achievable. Here is my answer to that. Look around the world. Don’t look around underneath our tempurung. Changes are everywhere and they are coming fast. This is the 21st century. You either get on with it or you are going to be left behind. Industries are closing down and being replaced by those we never even imagined before. Never imagined.

Where are the telephone operators at the exchanges today? They don’t exist anymore. Anybody using landline phones in homes lately? Are we holding a telephone or a camera? Or is it a miniature laptop or a recorder or a photo album or ... oh well. I don’t know what it is anymore. Cry all you want, but the taxi industry is going to cease to exist. Satellite TV? Wait till 5G comes along.

Disruptions in industries are the norm. In the 21st century, it is moving at breakneck speed. Sometimes I wonder how long general medical practitioners or pharmacists, as we know them today, can survive, or even conveyancing legal practitioners.

Education is not a sacred cow, especially if we want our nation to survive. We either get on with the programme or we wait for our time to perish like that proverbial frog in the slow-boiling pot.

We must change or die. Going back to economics, we are actually living precariously on borrowed time on the credit of our oil money. The other parts of our economy chip in here and there, but it’s very much oil money today. We need to change that narrative now and produce citizens who can compete and create new economies for the 21st century.

We cannot have this education system that turns our people into sheep, rather than thought-provo­king industry creators and innovators. We need to stop this nonsense.

If we continue on this path, we will see the collapse of our civilisation. Sounds alarmist? No, I am being a realist. People complain that our university graduates are still earning starting salaries of those about 20 years ago. It’s true, but it’s not the employers’ fault. As Bill Clinton used to say, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The economy will pay what its cost structure can stand for it to be viable. You can fix a minimum wage but if it cannot sell because no one can afford to pay for it, it will close down. And then no one gets paid. There is a reason the Human Resources Minister suggested that we look at African labour.

This is because our other neighbours’ wages have risen to that of what we pay that they don’t have to come to work here anymore. This is because our economy has not grown with the growth of our population, that’s why.

The signs are all there to see, but we refuse to see it. The worse thing is, our civil service and government-­linked company sub-economies have artificially provided shelter and complacency among the majority population, fully financed by taxpayer debts and diminishing oil money. I guarantee you that the retorts to this article, as was to many of my articles, will come from such subsidised mindsets.

Today in Malaysia, mediocrity and unproductivity is rewarded. This cannot, and will not, last for long. We need to change our condition. That change must come with education. Since our economy needs vigorous pump-priming, we might as well go all in with massive investment in education. And in that, we need a true revamp and rebuild of our education.

Let’s just do it.

Siti Kasim is a proud liberal, a non-conformist and a believer in the inalienable rights of individuals to choose their own path as long as no harm is caused to others.

The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Sunday Star

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Malaysian mediocre education system and quota: The Endgame

 

IN my last article, I took us along memory lane through the 60s and 70s when our education was world class. As I said, we prepared our bumiputra students at foundational levels in secondary residential and semi-residential schools to be able to competently compete on merit with others, at primarily international universities overseas.

After the social engineering of the New Economic Policy (NEP) quotas of the late 80s, our education system today is wrought by an overabundance of religious indoctrination, overtly in the curriculum and covertly in our public schools’ teaching environment. This was accompanied by the forcing of unqualified bumiputra students into local public universities that had to be graduated into the workforce in spite of them being mostly non performing. Gradings and exams had to bent to ensure large drop out numbers do not inundate the population. Instead, we flood the workforce with mediocre graduates who today fill the ranks of the civil service and government-link-entities top to bottom.

These graduates, in fact, today also fill up the whole levels of our education administration, teaching workforce and universities. Not all, but to most of them out there – you know who you are. Case in point are all the so-called bumi-based NGOs heads, university administrators including vice-chancellors who are somehow twisting their arguments into pretzels to defend the hapless Education Minister who just put his black shoes into his mouth with respect to the issue of a 90% quota for bumis in matriculation.

By now, everyone and their grandmother have seen the video-clip of our supposedly esteemed minister justifying the existence of matriculation quota in favour of bumis because the non-bumis are rich. To add insult to the wounds, he proudly claimed that private universities are mostly filled with non-bumis because non-bumis are better off than the Malays.

Let me today reiterate that this assumption can no longer be left unchallenged. It is patently untrue that all or even the majority of non-bumis are rich and are therefore of no need of government assistance. That the Malays are indeed so poor, that they are the only ones who are overwhelmingly in need of help.

This is a slap on the face of poor non-Malays and an insult to the many hard-working Malay parents who do not rely on government handouts and in general compete on their own merit.

Let us look at the reality, shall we?

Figures provided by Parliament in 2015, showed that bumiputra households make up the majority of the country’s top 20% income earners (T20), but the community also sees the widest intra-group income disparity. According to data from a parliamentary written reply, the bumiputra make up 53.81% of the T20 category, followed by Chinese at 37.05%, Indians at 8.80% and others at 0.34%.

So which groups overall are the top 20% income earners in the country? Answer: bumiputras by a whopping 16.76% to the next group, the Chinese!

However, when the comparison is made within the bumiputra group itself, T20 earners only comprise 16.34%. The remaining comprises the middle 40% income earners (M40) at 38.96% and the bottom 40% income earners (B40) making up the majority at 44.7%.

This means that in spite of almost 40 years of affirmative action, handouts, subsidies and quotas, bumis as a group has a large disparity between its haves and the havenots. That raises the question if it means practically none of the government assistance has in fact gone to help the bumis that truly needed help but has gone to further enrich those who are already having it all!

To the Malays, I say, “You should look into this disparity instead of pointing fingers to other Malaysians who work hard to uplift themselves without any help from their own government”.

Maybe because of your adulation of your Bossku, feudal fealty or religious chieftains that they are the ones that are taking up what is essentially yours to uplift your own lives?

After all the YAPEIM (Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam), yes, another institution in Malaysia using religion to sucker people, the Director himself takes home RM400,000.00 in bonus and his senior executive draws another RM250,000.00 all by themselves. Must be one hell of a “pembangunan ekonomi Islam”.

The problem is not between the Malays and the other races. The problem is clearly within the Malay community itself. The help is not reaching the supposed target group. Why? So do not punish others with quotas that penalise the excellence of others for your own dysfunctions.

Now, contrast with the Chinese and Indian communities, where the M40 group makes up the majority.

Within the Chinese community, the T20 group makes up 29.66%, followed by the M40 group at 42.32% and B40 at 28.02%. As for the Indian community, the T20 group stands at 19.98%, followed by the M40 income earners at 41.31% and the B40 at 38.71%.

It is so clearly not true that all non-bumis are rich and therefore the quotas must remain to enable the bumis to compete on an equal footing. The quotas are no longer justifiable if it was ever justifiable in the first place. It is very clear from these data that equal opportunity to university places must be provided irrespective of race purely on merit. The help on the other hand must be in the form of scholarships or loans to those deserving based on the financial capability of each successful university entrant, as simple as that.

If a candidate does not qualify, he or she does not, race be damned. That person must then take a different route – vocational or skilledbased profession or any other road to success. There is nothing wrong with not being a university graduate if one is not qualified. Find your vocation and passion in a field that you will excel in.

The Government has no business populating a university and later the workplace with a single race based on the criteria of fulfilling quota. It makes no sense and it is the root of ensuring the downfall of both the administrative branch of government or even the overall machinery of the nation’s economy.

Maszlee claims that foreign university branches in Malaysia are filled up by non-bumis, therefore Malays need more places in public universities via matriculation. As such the Government instituted matriculation in 1999. He cited Monash and Nottingham as examples. Unfortunately, Monash was opened in KL in 1998 and Nottingham in 2000. That lie blew up in his face pretty fast, didn’t it?

But really why would private universities be filled up with mostly non-bumis? Can’t Maszlee see that if the local public universities are providing only 10% quota to non-bumis to enter via matriculation, an even tougher entry through STPM and none via UEC, that middle and low income non-bumis will have no other choice but to opt for the less expensive private local and branch universities to sending their children for overseas education?

They even can’t gain entry to public universities due to the quotas despite having better results than Bumis. Where do you expect them to go then Maszlee? I know of many non-bumis who are scraping their barrels to ensure they send their kids to further their studies either local or overseas. Many of them have fewer children because they know they will have to pay for their kid’s education in the future. With most if not all of the scholarships given to bumis do they have another cheaper option?

How much more heartless is your assessment of our fellow non-bumis’ predicaments can you get, my dear Maszlee?

I think Maszlee need to learn facts and have some critical thinking before opening his mouth. Being the education minister is not like teaching religion, where people are not going to fact-check you because they think you are a gift from God. An education minister with such thinking cannot be allowed to stay in that position much longer. It is untenable.

Interestingly of late, a number of those from the Malay academia have come to the defense of the hapless minister defending matriculation quota because of workplace imbalance in the private sector. I have to ask is this proof that our universities are headed by Malays who have no business graduating and being employed and now heading such academic institutions and organisations? Do they even realize the tenuous relations between entry quota into learning institutions vs recruitment variables?

We truly need to clean up the education ministry from top to bottom including at our public universities. Too many people with no brains sucking up to powers that be and playing the race and religion card. It’s enough to make you weep.

Back to our conundrum that is the Malaysian education, what then is our endgame?

1. Stop quota - period. Any type of quota. It does not work and it will destroy the capability of our public and private sector to excel. Merit must reign.

2. Go back to basics. Primary and secondary education are the foundation that will allow any persons of any race to compete on equal footing in order to enter vocational institutions, colleges, and universities. The rest will take care of itself upon them graduating and joining the workforce. Trust in our youth. The bumis are not incapable of excelling given the right foundation.

3. Bring back a Science, Mathematics and English-heavy curriculum for primary and secondary years. Go back to basics. These are foundation years. Do not worry about having the latest technology. Children will absorb that in their own time. Tertiary education is where skill-based knowledge is acquired. Foundational knowledge and critical thinking is honed before you leave high school.

4. Please leave religion at home. Teach it if you want but do it outside of normal school hours. Let our children be among their peers as human beings without any differentiation of beliefs and faiths. Let them celebrate their differences without adults telling them who is better than others. Show them all the beauty they possess without judgment.

5. We are all Malaysians. We all bleed the same blood and we all weep the same tears when we are capable but are unable to fulfill our potential because we do not have the financial means to achieve those goals. Help us irrespective of race. All of us contribute to our taxes. No one group should benefit more than the other because they are of a different ethnicity.

We will see that Malaysia will prosper with each race helping each other as Malaysians once and for all.

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Siti Kasim

 

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