Monday, July 02, 2007

tentang pencerahan


Dua tiga minggu ini saya sering bergelut dan bergelumang. Bukan dengan siapa-siapa, tetapi dengan diri sendiri. Saya cuba mencari jawapan kepada segala macam persolan yang timbul dalam diri. Idea yang membuatkan saya kalut itu adalah ‘pencerahan’.

Sedikit latar berdasarkan pengalaman sendiri mengenai topik ini. Saya pernah dengar slogan pencerahan ini. Dan saya rasa, yang melalui acuan pendidikan di negara ini juga begitu. Di sekolah dulu – dalam subjek Sejarah yang kerap menjadi bosan. Namun, pengamatan saya tidak lahir waktu itu. Tidak ada persoalan yang bangkit untuk saya jawab – atau mencari jawapannya. Ketika itu, sama sajalah saya dengan kebanyakkan orang-orang lain, bebal dan sengal. (Walaupun ada yang cemerlang menghafal untuk subjek itu!)

Tapi, kebelakangan ini ‘hantu’ pencerahan ini datang lagi. Kali ini dia betul-betul menggoncang naluri. Seribu satu persoalan timbul entah dari mana. Semuanya setelah saya mula mengambil berat isi-isi yang terkandung dalam buku The Enlightenment hasil nukilan Dorinda Outram.

Ia tidaklah mencakupi semua aspek pencerahan secara detail, tetapi cukup untuk seseorang yang berusia pertengahan 20an untuk menjadikannya satu teks yang baik sebagai permulaan – kerana kegagalan sistem dan diri sendiri untuk sedar peri pentingnya perkembangan ini ketika di sekolah. Teks ini juga tidak akan diajar atau diberi penekanan di mana-mana institut pengajian tinggi dalam negara barangkali.

Kini, saya tidak lagi melihat bahan sejarah yang ada dalam buku The Enlightenment itu dari perspektif sejarah seperti mana yang pernah disogokkan dulu. Sejarah ini sejarah perubahan bangsa – dalam konteks ini bangsa Eropah – dan bukan lagi sejarah hafalan yang akan serta merta lenyap tanpa kesedaran daripadanya.

Kini saya menggeluti persoalan dalam diri yang memerlukan jawapan segera dan meredakan kecamuk berkenaan. Apa yang cerah? Atas keperluan apa pencerahan itu perlu diambil kisah? Apa siknifikan pencerahan itu – bermula untuk diri sendiri yang kemudiannya dipanjangkan kepada komuniti skala lebih luas dan seterusnya pembangunan masyarakat?

Dulu – mungkin – persoalan-persoalan ini tidak pernah muncul kerana saya tidak pernah kesah. Tidak pula mahu sedar diri. Tapi, setelah bergelumang dengan isi-isi buku tersebut, saya mula mencari relevansinya idea pencerahan ini.

Memang, ia berkembang pesat pada abad ke-18 dan seterusnya menjerumus kepada peralihan bangsa Eropah untuk melalui transformasi ke arah modenisme. Moden ini, jika boleh dimaksudkan dalam konteks pemahaman saya di sini, bukanlah sekadar kemajuan materialistik.

Pencerahan bertitik tolak daripada kesedaran Eropah untuk berubah. Asasnya pula adalah kemajuan akal manusia dari keadaan jumud yang jauh tersimpang dari sifat humanis yang sepatutnya ada pada insan. Ketika inilah Eropah mula mempersoalkan perkembangan bangsa mereka dan mula juga menilai diri. Dari segala ‘kesesatan’ ini, muncul fasa pencerahan.

Ketika ini juga, saya melihat pencerahan sebagai satu flatform menajamkan kemampuan intelektualisme Eropah. Lahir tokoh-tokoh besar zaman itu untuk mempersoalkan pelbagai aspek kehidupan mereka – dengan keupayaan akal dengan melalui proses-proses pertimbangan dan perbahasan. Jika berkesempatan, rujuk buku kecil ini – profesor berkenaan membuat ringkasan yang jelas tentang hal-hal ini pada setiap bab.

Jadi, satu daripada jawapan untuk seribu satu persoalan diri sendiri sudah saya temui. Walaupun formasinya belum cukup kuat, tapi ia sudah cukup untuk melegakan sedikit minda berselirat saya. Untuk masyarakat sosial di negara ini – yang tidak terbatas untuk mana-mana golongan pun – keupayaan intelektualisme inilah yang paling berguna untuk kita perhatikan dengan analisa. Penerahan membawa bangsa Eropah dari keadaan kebiusan dan kelesuan menggunakan akal kepada satu rentak evolusi pantas intelektual. Bertolak dari sinilah yang mendorong kepada pembentukan dan kemajuan Eropah moden.

Bagi konteks di Malaysia, semua kemunculan kemajuan materialistik sudah cukup membanggakan. Yang mengecewakan adalah budaya intelektual di kalangan semua lapisan warga.

Di Eropah dan Barat, sehingga hari ini pun budaya ini terus rancak. Cuma disebelah sini yang masih malap-malap dan masih belum mahu sedar. Tidak salah menceduk apa saja kebaikan dari Barat untuk kita adaptasikan secara berhemah. Juga, jika ingin berbicara berkenaan ‘modal insan’, jangan lupa untuk menilik peri pentingnya zaman pencerahan ini. Idea yang berkembang akan menyebabkan mereka yang ego dan malas terus bebal dan hanyut dalam utopia baru.

Saya mencatat ini bukan kerana cerdik, tetapi hanya berbekalkan sedikit sinar kesedaran itulah. Terserah untuk anda tafsirkan.

12.28pm
2 julai 2007
petaling jaya

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is either Badawi has given his blessings or he is such a lame-duck prime minister and Umno president that even Umno Youth don't care a damn about what he says.

The prime minister should resign and take full responsibility for the clowns in his circus.

To blame others and to cast aspersions on the achievements of non-malay entrepreneurs show a lack of responsibility.

Yes, Public Bank is doing well because it is managed professionally. Can the same be said of Bank Bumi or Bank Islam? Who is to blame for this? With all the help that the GLCs have secured, just ponder on what are the achievements of MAS, Telekom and Tenaga!

The government can keep on paying and supporting questionable ventures but without accountability and professionalism, greed is the factor that will undercut everything.

Let the people remember the very words uttered by these malay supremacists when the general elections come around. We all know that with the general elections, the rhetoric switches to one of a more conciliatory voice; i.e. BN component hand-in-hand serving the people, Malaysia unity, working together for a better tomorrow, etc, etc.

This is the voice of a double-headed animal. Unfortunately, this is what gives politics in Malaysia a bad name. Politics is not dirty. It is only when we have politicians who have no principles, no shame and devoid of any integrity in what they say that politics become dirty.

Anonymous said...

The problem in Malaysia is, we shouldn't have independence from British at very first place. How nice it will be if Queen appoints someone calibre person in Malaysia like Satyanand. God Bless Malaysia!

No need to look so far. Even our neighbour down south has an Indian for a deputy prime minister.

Man, don't forget the same southern neighbour is also having an Indian as president. Not for a single term. Now he is on his second term as president. This is called transparency!

The so-called unity in this country is very much superficial. There are only two reasons why it appears this way to the outsider.

1. Anyone that says anything about the Umno malay deems racial will be thrown to jail under ISA.

2. As general, people appreciate the harmony and peace in this country. Especially with all the terrorist attacks and wars all over the world.

As for a reason a true "Malaysian" race will not happen, there is only one. As long as the discrimination and separation of "bumis" and "non-bumis" exist. People will be automatically very conscious about their ethnic race.

The logic is simple, the more discrimination, the more conscious about their place in society and the more conscious about protecting the benefit of their ethnic race.

Once this "bumis" and "non-bumis" status is abolished and everyone is equal, citizens will automatically merged into one Malaysian race.

The cause is that Malaysia and Malaysians still prefer to have race-based political parties to rule this country.

Then, what you get are politicians who gain power using race-issues, and politician-wannabes like the upstart son-in-law playing dangerous claptrap racial politics to be in the limelight.

In a multiracial country like Malaysia, where Malaysians political maturity is just out of infancy, Malaysians become easy suckers and convenient victims of dangerous racial politics, including the manifestation of keris-wielding dramatics in public by minister come from these race-based political parties.

Initially three main component parties in BN were formed to show British that we, as the citizens of this land are unite and we want and can be independent.

After the 513 incident and the introduction of NEP, the focus of each party changes to protect benefit of the race that represent under the segregation "bumis" and "non-bumis" status.

To me, Pak Lah focus on wrong direction, he is more like a "ketua kampung" than a prime minister. Prime minister should focus on making the country strong and able to compete internationally, and let the real "ketua kampung" worry about asking people to be polite, etc.

Can anyone blame those dissolution people for not flying the flag on independence day? To me, there is really nothing to celebrate about. We seem to be worst off in terms of racial polarization with each passing year.

Anonymous said...

Lim Keng Yaik questioned why after 36 years, malay equity ownership was still 18.9%.

In 2004, Morgan Stanley issued a report that estimated there over 100 billion US dollars (360 billion ringgit) had been lost to malay patronage (NEP) in the 20 years preceding 2003 (1984 to 2003).

One economist estimates that in the 36 years of its existence, the NEP has been used to channel over one trillion ringgit to the malay community through ASB, ASN and all related government policies.

Since 1970, the government has used the NEP to covet education, employment and every other conceivable benefit to the malays. These measures have largely been successful with all the top posts in GLCs, government, public listed companies, universities and practically every single area that the government has any control over being reserved for one race

The chief setbacks of the abuses of NEP are ineffectual bureaucracy, perverted social values, rampant corruption and cronyism, retarded economic growth, thwarted economic competitiveness, unrelenting brain drain, warped educational system and worsening racial polarization. Such anachronistic and regressive policy has no place in the present globalize world, and for that matter, in any civilized society.

This greed is not going to end. We as a nation of loyal citizens have to put a dent into this rubbish for the sake of our children.

Anonymous said...

"Malaysians must now assess themselves by the international yardsticks."

I thought we did. We compared ourselves with the likes of Ghana and other third world countries and we came out tops. It made us feel good and strengthened our belief of Malaysia Boleh. Way to go Barisan Nasional.

Actually Najib was the one who compared Malaysia with Ghana as we were granted independence at about the same time. I guess he was trying to find something good to say about our country and he must be scraping the barrel trying to find one.

Don't be naive. This is our problem today. We use benchmarks that make us look better than we really are. We are losers in the end if we continue to delude ourselves. Let us compare ourselves to an undiscovered and barren land with nothing on it.

We would look even better. Why Ghana? Don't insult the Ghana, as they are smarter than we think. Maybe they are even less corrupt than us. At least, they do not pretend about it.

I wonder why the need to apportion blame on the British for all our woes be it with the system of government or the people running it? Can't we just acknowledge the fact that our society is simply too docile to even make an impression on the ruling elite?

The condescending attitude of those in power is not because of the British but purely self-made. It has come about because Umno has been in power far too long. We are to be blamed for the woes and not the British. The faster we rid ourselves of this delusion, the better it is for everyone.

I am grateful to the British for what we are today. Imagine what it would have been had we been colonised by the others?

Mistakes committed by the administration should not be apportioned to our colonial masters alone. Our woes are our own making. Why must repressive laws be instituted to curb civil liberties? Yes, ISA was the brainchild of the British but it was for a reason. Should the law be perpetuated?

I am just trying to say the obvious. Why must we blame the British for all our woes, after all we have been an independent nation for almost half a decade now.

We cannot go on blaming the past for our present. We have power over the present. What is past is gone and we cannot do much about it. Thus, look at the dinosaurs. The future belongs to those responsive and flexible to change.

Let us give the British a break. And through this talk and other medium of communications endeavour to change the mindset of Malaysians, especially the ruling elite. Our arguments therefore, should be relevant and not grossly off-tangent to create an impression that our mentality is still infantile.

The problem lies with a ruling party that wants to hang on to power for as long as it desires. It does not care whether it is done the right or wrong way. If something is not right blame it on the British. You have a convenient scapegoat. It is that simple.

The moment we stop passing the buck the better it is for all of us. I would rather take the bull by its horns than blame others for my lack of courage.

Anyway I strongly feel this country is being run by a bunch of incompetents, led by the most useless leader the country ever had.

What is really wrong with our country? We are being led by a "Mr Clean" who is himself be far from clean. Just look at what his son-in-law, his son, his sister-in-law and his brother are doing.

All he can say is that "I don't know". He is either stupid (obviously not, in fact, we are more stupid in the last election) or a hypocrite. Take your pick.

In Malaysia, we have very few critics, very few who would dare tell the emperor that he is wearing only a "sarong". Worse that sarong is slipping down fast, exposing his ass when he stoops down.

Even fewer still would dare suggest that the prime minister should substitute a pair of trousers with a belt, and suspender instead of merely refolding his sarong. Staying with the sarong, even he has folded it up again, would result in it slipping down again.

We must benchmark ourselves against established standards so that we do not mislead and lull ourselves into a state of complacency. We can always improve in whatever we do, that is what I mean by the word "progress". Nothing stays the same.

We have to be like the cougar, the fastest in its family, not political "fat cats" of course. We need to hone in our sense of survival and be constantly in a challenge-response mode.

We have to think outside the box, reconfigure, innovate, and be better than the competition in the region and around the globe. Success depends increasingly on speed, flexibility, agility and adaptability.

The emphasis in the plan in my humble opinion should be on intellectual capital formation. Education in science, mathematics and information technology is the foundation. Human capital is a pre-requisite for sustainable economic development.

Most of all, we need to believe in ourselves and that we can achieve our goals. "Malaysia Boleh" must not merely be a slogan, but should be embedded in our national and individual psyche.

Anonymous said...

Malaysia first astronaut will be chosen from a shortlist……….Malaysian astronaut will carry his nation's cuisine on the space……….

Isn't it cool? For a cool US$25 millions, we get to send one person to joyride with the Russians, dressed in batik and drink teh tarik in space!

What a wonderful way to spend your hard earned tax dollars. Bet Malaysia looks wonderful from the space but for the investment, what have we achieved?

Are we the first?
Did we build the spacecraft?
Did we contribute in any way to the space program except funding it?
Does Malaysia actually benefit from it?
Is there any thing we learnt that can be of use to you and me?

When the hardcore poor are surviving on snails and wild vegetation; the government is going to spend US$25 millions to send somebody to space to eat roti canai and drink teh tarik.

Is this a joke?

Another sheer waste of public fund! What is the aim? Use the money to train more doctors which is more sensible!

Just wonder that the resources and money would be better spent improving the quality of drinking, drainage system on par with the West.

Yes, this is a sheer waste of money. We have become crazy with this Malaysia Boleh slogan. There is nothing to crow about with the capability of climbing the highest mountain, swimming across the cannel, having the longest roti canai, etc.

Anonymous said...

Malaysia first astronaut will be chosen from a shortlist……….Malaysian astronaut will carry his nation's cuisine on the space……….

Isn't it cool? For a cool US$25 millions, we get to send one person to joyride with the Russians, dressed in batik and drink teh tarik in space!

What a wonderful way to spend your hard earned tax dollars. Bet Malaysia looks wonderful from the space but for the investment, what have we achieved?

Are we the first?
Did we build the spacecraft?
Did we contribute in any way to the space program except funding it?
Does Malaysia actually benefit from it?
Is there any thing we learnt that can be of use to you and me?

When the hardcore poor are surviving on snails and wild vegetation; the government is going to spend US$25 millions to send somebody to space to eat roti canai and drink teh tarik.

Is this a joke?

Another sheer waste of public fund! What is the aim? Use the money to train more doctors which is more sensible!

Just wonder that the resources and money would be better spent improving the quality of drinking, drainage system on par with the West.

Yes, this is a sheer waste of money. We have become crazy with this Malaysia Boleh slogan. There is nothing to crow about with the capability of climbing the highest mountain, swimming across the cannel, having the longest roti canai, etc.

Anonymous said...

Many many years ago, my brothers, cousins and friends, all top students applied to local university to be computer and electrical engineers. None of us got in.

We all went abroad, many of us made a killing but all of us had a good career and was in the centre of the IT revolution.

Recently some of us were approached to return to Malaysia but even at million ringgit salary, we unanimously said - No.

Cheated once, it is a pity, cheated twice is your fault.

"Only a quarter of Malaysians is Chinese while more than half of the population is malays. Yet Chinese control half of the economy while malays only about 20%."

Whether there is NEP or not, don't make much difference in the long run. When you walk with crutches for too long, you lose the ability to stand on your own legs.

Drug abuse, hate, incest, liberal extremism (culture of miniskirts and gay marriages), murder, parochialism, racism, rape, religious fanaticism, snatch theft, spoilt-bratty behavior, tribalism, wife abuse, child abuse, all that is associated with the malay race.

To them, malay is the biggest impediment towards building a truly Malaysian nation, and should be chucked into the dustbins of history.

Sad. Sad. Sad. The question asked by many of my fellow Chinese is this - Why can't you just tell the malay peoples to adopt Chinese culture which is superior?

History always repeats itself. And nature is cruel. Any race of lower intelligence gets wiped out eventually.

See what is happening to indigenous tribes and their lands, always taken over by smarter people from elsewhere. Look at Singapore, who owned it in the first place and who came and took it over?

America was taken by Europeans from the Red Indians. Even British convicts and unwanted lowlifes managed to grab Australia from the aborigines and reduced them to what they are today. They may become extinct one day.

However, Malaysians still have hope as they are learning fast. Just hope it is fast enough. Problem is that some of them are still crying for bumi policy as a crutch. The smarter ones know that it is just prolonging the agony. Anyway, the smarter ones actually are not from Malaysia originally.

You can only survive if you are able to stand on your own two legs. Shouting "Malaysia Boleh" is no use - if you can, you can.

Friend, you have a place there. Find your own niche in the food chain. (If you leave for greener pastures, you are repeating what your forefathers did when they left China and ended up in oversea.)

People with brains can overcome all sorts of man-made obstacles or unfairness. Those with brains but do not use them will cry for help.

You can decide which type you want to be.

Anonymous said...

For those who still quote Singapore malays are victim of Singapore should feel shame.

This is biggest joke, when Malaysia malays think that they are fighting the right for Singapore malays and use this as an excuse to fulfill their greediness. Yet Singapore malays look down at Malaysia malays. They are proud to be Singapore malays.

Hahaha. Yes, again biggest joke is, they control almost every resource in Malaysia, and practicing daytime robbed, yet someone still quote Malaysia malays can get what they want if other race agreed.

This is what we called, Dr Spin.

Don't you know Umno strategy? Keep the malays forever dependent on them so that they can stay in power. There are many capable malays but they are so used to crutches that their muscle are dystrophic. It is like the doctor (no pun intended) who prescribes his patient an addictive quick fix so that they will keep coming back to him/her.

The fact that Mahathir may be more "modern thinking" than other malays, many may not aware, could be due to his training in Singapore!

Malays from Singapore just far outclass the malays from Malaysia in terms of knowledge and capability. But we have this "katak bawah tempurung" who thinks "don't become like the malays in Singapore"!

Friend, you are just far from them! You are just losing out! The poor deputy minister can never be as good as the Singapore malays in this life! And he never thinks to be like the Singapore malays to excel from the competition! Need to say more?

I too was fortunate enough to have a father who was farsighted enough to send me off to Singapore to be educated, some 10 years ago. Just like him, I will also send my children to Singapore one day, as I believe that their education system is far more superior compared to Malaysia, and to prepare them to face the future challenges in this competitive world.

It is not the race factor that makes Singapore what it is today. It is the system. Singapore is very wise and very careful never to mix religion/race with politics. Anyone irrespective of the race gets severe punishment if involved in religious or racial slur.

Their work ethics and accountability of their leaderships/heads and every civil servant based on merit rather than skin is so glaringly obvious. In Malaysia we are exactly the opposite in almost any area one can think of.

I really doubt many Singapore malays would like to move to Malaysia which obviously the Malaysia government would be too happy to grab them. Yet this is never an issue. It is not happening. Why?

This same goes to the Singapore Chinese. The Chinese there are more advanced than the Chinese here in Malaysia.

As a Chinese, I have to admit it and I really hope Chinese in Malaysia to start opening their eyes and learn the lessons to be more outward looking, improve themselves like learning more English and not dream that the next decade is easy going or get frustrated by the NEP.

We should first start by inculcate into our children from now on these values. There will be difficult times ahead and unless Chinese they make themselves competitive now, Malaysian Chinese will fall behind and be history.

Just like the NEP cannot bring an entire community to overcome their economic weakness overnight, so is the Chinese need to forge ahead to remain competitive cannot be achieved overnight. Start the ball rolling now.

To this end, I ask all Chinese leaders to lead and there are opportunities beyond the shores of Malaysia. We have to help ourselves because no one will.

If you are to make too much money in Malaysia, how the heavens can the malays catch up and give up NEP when the percentage of their economic cake will remain the same or stagnant?

So the solution for Malaysia is to increase the malays national wealth and the non-malays to increase their wealth globally - and keep it there. Right? This is open for dispute.

It is cool, Singapore malays achieved such feat because of the system, but the system was helped tremendously by the fact that there is no race issue.

I have friends in Singapore who are malays and they never consider themselves as malays. They always call themselves Singaporeans, something a country like Malaysia will never be able to achieve with the malays having the ketuanan attitude.

If only we have more people like a farsighted malay, Malaysia would be as progressive as Singapore. In fact with all our natural resources, we could even be better than Singapore.

Our government is wasting money on subsidy to the malays when it should be teaching them to be independent. That is why today we see a lot of malay children too lazy to work and spend most of their time on drugs and become mat rempit.

Slowly the Indonesians are coming over to take all their jobs and eventually they will be beggars in their own country.

There is plenty that I do not agree with the Singaporeans, their "one party state" for example, and their serious curbs on freedom of speech. But there is also plenty that we can learn from the good points of other nations as well, may it be the US, UK, Australia, even China.

But the underlying issue here is that a system based on mutual respect, meritocracy and equality work. Singaporeans have reach great heights in the international scene despite being very limited land, natural resource poor and limited population.

Yet their formula is a good example of a system that works. Every person benefits if they are willing to work hard and aim high.

Or would you rather Malaysians stay ignorant. "See no evil, say no evil, and hear no evil." Think about it……….

Anonymous said...

Absolutely agree with you.

I feel so sad that our MCA and Gerakan; all blind - act like idiots, they even go to blame professional non-malays for leaving our country. Sad to say they just want to serve their own private interests. They are the worshippers, followers of the great greedy.

They shamelessly lie, mislead and deceive on all issues, we find the traces of work of these running dogs. They twisting the principle of social fairness, justice and equality, distorted facts, for just to win a bone throw by their master.

The people acted like beasts, had already traded their soul with the devil.

My daughter scored straight As in her STPM exam in 2003, but she was only offered a place to pursue an ordinary science course in University Malaya instead of her choice pharmacy course. Other students (malay pig) with 2B 2C result had the opportunities to enter pharmacy course.

Eventually, my daughter decided to apply Singapore University, she was not only accepted to study a course of her choice, but was also offered a scholarship. Where is the justice?

Now I am thinking to emigrate to Australia for good.

Like many others say: losers will stay, go out winner.

I sympathize with you on your some bad experiences in foreign countries. I can relate 10 similar bad experiences in Malaysia, and I can also relate 10 good experiences in foreign countries. So it is not the few bad experiences that should determine your and your offspring's future.

You feel comfortable in Malaysia because that is your comfort zone, so you prefer not to leave. In a foreign country you don't know their custom as well so you might have behaved inappropriately that caused some bad vibes. Understandable.

All the same, a frog in a well can only describe the world as big as a well. I am not saying you are a frog, just a Chinese saying.

From my overseas experience, I can say that Australia is very nice, very high class, very beautiful country! Indonesia otherwise is making troubles, terrorists, robbers, pirates, they are a "negative group inferior people".

Never go to this inferior country travel, your life will be safe, don't forget terrorist attack in Bali Island. Never employ this inferior people working in your house, they can murder your family and took away your money. Never employ this inferior people working in your factory, they can damage your machines.

I suggest we must employ Thailand, India, Vietnam labours. Thank for cooperate.

Anonymous said...

Despite the being off topic, it is all somehow connected with what Badawi is doing and Umno being the "Utter nonsense" party (not to mention its coalition parties as well), all their recent actions or rather inaction brings a lot of similar feelings to the fore.

It is interesting to see how far they are willing to test the patience of the people before allowing it closer to a civil war. Cheers.

The writer, thanks for fine effort to give the reader an insight on the "open secret". Discrimination is inevitable under the current ruling parties.

We just have to be extra conscious during the next election, if current prime minister is keeping an eye closed on these issues, we have to make sure both of our eyes are open wide when we cast our votes during next election.

Anonymous said...

I fully agree that the NEP, as it has been implemented over these years, is the root cause of the unfavourable economic and racial unhappiness that exists in the country today.

It was supposed to improve the economic status of the malays and thereby restructure society with every community benefiting.

But has this aim been achieved? Definitely not.

Instead, what we have achieved is a high rate of corruption, an inefficient and arrogant civil service, a failing education system plus racism and a feeling of despair among the minority communities. There is so much favouritism that those really deserving are not given their dues.

The NEP has also resulted in severe mistrust and jealousy among the races in the country. Unless the NEP is abolished and replaced with a policy of fairer distribution, this unfavourable climate will continue with the future looking bleak.

The NEP has to be done away with, especially so in an era of globalisation where all citizens regardless of race should be given an equal opportunity to allow them to give their best towards national development.

UM can become a top university once again as it was in the 60s and 70s. In addition to good facilities, this would require a dynamic and capable university administration, good faculty members and with English as a key medium of instruction.

USM also has an obsession with increasing its graduate student population. The trade-off has been the lowering of standards of admission. As a result, admissions of foreign students, especially ones with the means to pay, have gone up. Lecturers are given the impossible task of passing some of these students, who are not even qualified to do any graduate work in the first place.

The answer to the deterioration lies from within. Why be extravagant about hiring a foreign consultant? Isn't this itself telling of the lack of faith in the products of your own system? We do not have to wait for the annual THES ranking to know that our higher education system is long in need of a change.

We need courageous people to do this, not political party-hacks who masquerade as half-baked academics and shallow thinkers.

For all this to happen, the NEP would have to be sacrificed. Is the government prepared to do this? The recruitment of a significant number of capable non-malays as administrators, faculty members would be required.

There is abundant talent and capability in the Malaysian population which remains to be tapped in the interest of Malaysia public universities. It would be imprudent to ignore such a large pool of resources when one wants to achieve excellence.

Putting it another way, it is in the interest of the Malaysia public universities (and their large malay student population) to engage the non-malay talent and exploit their capabilities in all aspects and dimensions.

The non-malays would also benefit from such an exercise, but the far greater beneficiary would be the malay students and Malaysia as a whole. It is simple logic.

Anonymous said...

i came to this blogger site because had interest with the title but as long as i see it became somekind of talk shit polemic racist idealogy.

no one to blame because everyone being so arrogant about their self so it just lost time to explained more.

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Hello !.
might , probably very interested to know how one can collect a huge starting capital .
There is no initial capital needed You may start to get income with as small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.

AimTrust is what you haven`t ever dreamt of such a chance to become rich
AimTrust incorporates an offshore structure with advanced asset management technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.

It is based in Panama with offices everywhere: In USA, Canada, Cyprus.
Do you want to become an affluent person?
That`s your choice That`s what you wish in the long run!

I`m happy and lucky, I began to get income with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. If it gets down to select a proper companion utilizes your funds in a right way - that`s the AimTrust!.
I make 2G daily, and my first investment was 500 dollars only!
It`s easy to join , just click this link http://avezyjyxi.builtfree.org/dybonom.html
and lucky you`re! Let`s take this option together to get rid of nastiness of the life

Anonymous said...

Hello !.
might , probably curious to know how one can reach 2000 per day of income .
There is no need to invest much at first. You may begin earning with as small sum of money as 20-100 dollars.

AimTrust is what you thought of all the time
The firm represents an offshore structure with advanced asset management technologies in production and delivery of pipes for oil and gas.

Its head office is in Panama with offices everywhere: In USA, Canada, Cyprus.
Do you want to become really rich in short time?
That`s your chance That`s what you desire!

I feel good, I started to take up income with the help of this company,
and I invite you to do the same. If it gets down to choose a proper partner utilizes your savings in a right way - that`s AimTrust!.
I earn US$2,000 per day, and my first investment was 500 dollars only!
It`s easy to start , just click this link http://yjohosiduk.angelcities.com/katihi.html
and go! Let`s take our chance together to become rich

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