July 9, 2009 - Mourning The Future of Our Children...

No lah, the kids are not doing MJ's moonwalk, they're moving backwards....pathetic!

My gut-feel told me that the decision would be the reinstatement of Bahasa Malaysia (BM) as the language of instruction for Science and Maths. It was obviously a politically-loaded decision. Rural parents complained that their children do not have a good grasp of the English language and hence do not do well in these subjects - and that could translate into a lot of votes in an election...read: Manik Urai!

Then, there were also calls by Nationalists (Malays, Chinese and Indians alike) pressuring the Government to preserve their bahasa ibunda (mother tongue). Hence, the Government gave in to these pressures by announcing that these subjects will also be taught in vernacular languages starting in 2012 - in the interest of 1Malaysia!

Teachers are also a factor in the equation - their proficiency rate was dismal and as such, many continued to teach these subjects in BM as well. Well, if teachers are not properly trained, how can the students fare any better? Should they be penalised because the implementation is flawed?

What happened to the billions of Ringgit the Government had spent on computers, LCDs and teaching modules to equip them to teach these subjects in English? Are they just being used to surf the Net during break time at the expense of taxpayers?

The quality of teachers today, based on my experience in dealing with them when my son was in a government school, leaves much to be desired. You can detect the lack of passion and dedication; compared to teachers who taught me during the '60s. Children are not encouraged to ask questions because I suspect teachers do not know the answers...when curious minds are just dismissed, you can guess what the outcome would be...they lose interest, they stopped asking questions.

Another side to the argument for the switch is that if the Chinese, Russians, Japanese and Germans, for example, can be technologically superior even though they are taught in their mother tongue, why can't BM do the same for Malaysians?

Well, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that it is not only the medium of instruction that matters...the entire Malaysian education system needs to be revamped. We should not be too concerned with how many "As" our children score in the SPM examination....we should be more concerned with whether those "As" can translate into an individual that is competitive beyond secondary school level. The way I see it, our education system emphasises parroting facts rather than using your grey matter to think and analyse. As reported in the press, there is keen competition to see who can score the most "As" - never mind if the subject is Arabic instead of English!

The quality of teachers should also be improved. They should focus more on teaching with dedication instead of indulging in multi-level marketing, selling kain batek, or supporting political parties, etc. at the workplace.

In a corporate workplace, employees who do not have a good command of English will not be competitive and should we be surprised that our universities are churning out a high number of graduates who are not marketable in spite of their degrees! As an HR practitioner, I have come across many local graduates who cannot string a proper sentence in English. Read some of the Government web sites and you will find them peppered with grammatical errors.

I am all for preserving BM as the national language but let us not gamble with our children's future to achieve that objective. This is a global world folks...can you imagine our Malaysian professionals participating in global conventions in the future? They will probably be just observers sitting at the back of the room because they do not have the confidence to participate due to poor command of the English language?

Put politics aside. The most effective way to teach a language is to do so in the early formative years...English should be taught from Year 1 - like in the old days...and I am proud to say I am a product of that system!

On MM2H and Jean Todt

Jean Todt

Kudos to Gombak MP Azmin Ali for bringing up the alleged payment of RM593,400 for Ferrari’s ex-boss Jean Todt's expenses in his role as Malaysian Tourism ambassador in Parliament recently.

Apparently, during question time, Azmin mentioned a figure of RM1million, broken down as follows:

• RM593,400 fee to cover air tickets (RM360,000), accommodation (RM60,000), tips, laundry, faxes and telephone costs and other costs (RM90,000); and,


• RM388,000 holiday costs that went to international air tickets or two (RM240,000), domestic flights (RM16,000) and miscellaneous expenses RM60,000.

Todt would be required to attend a minimum of two major local events and two international missions to promote Malaysia and organise familiarisation tours and tap into his wide network of contacts to help promote Malaysia as a tourism destination.

Azmin’s question was directed to Deputy Tourism Minister, Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib who refused to respond deeming the question was “out of topic”. Instead, he requested that Azmin write officially to the government.

Tourism Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ng Yen Yen, immediately shot back, defending that his role as Malaysia's Tourism ambassador is voluntary and RM 1 million is for his expenses. She added that RM1 million in Europe "gets you nothing today." She also highlighted Todt’s value: greater visibility for Malaysia to attract high spending quality tourists, promote MM2H program, and help the Government make influential contacts in Paris, including a top film producer, magazine publisher and aides of French president Nicolas Sarkozy”.

Whilst I do not deny that Todt has the capability to attract high spending quality tourists, promote MM2H program and has influential contacts in Paris (although I don’t understand how having contact with aides of French President Nicolas Sarkozy would be beneficial to Malaysia, unless the Tourism Ministry is hoping to have French First Lady Carla Bruni record a “Malaysia - Truly Asia” song), I think the government has gotten its priorities all wrong.

Instead of spending RM 1 million for Todt’s expenses to promote Malaysia, the government should look into the crime situation in this country as it is driving at least one couple participating in MM2H to return to their home country. The lady in question had been a victim of snatch thieves twice in as many months and she has had enough. Imagine the bad publicity this one couple can generate when they return to their home country? I believe many Malaysians share the concern that the crime rate is on the rise in this country.

I have many golfer friends who are in Malaysia under the MM2H (Malaysia My Second Home) Program and they come from various countries such as USA, France, Holland, Korea and Japan. Other than the increasing crime rate, they are also concerned about the red tape they had to go through in, for example, buying a car.

An MM2H participant is eligible to purchase one car which is made or assembled in Malaysia tax-free (exempted from excise duty/sales tax). The approval process comes in two stages: Stage 1 where the make/model must be approved and Stage 2 where the chassis/engine number must be provided. The Treasury will then issue an approval letter for Customs clearance.

A friend, who is in the process of applying for the approval letter for customs clearance, was told that it takes 3 months for the Treasury Department to issue the approval letter after providing the chassis/engine numbers.

Three months to issue an approval letter? Come on guys, this is just not on! Now that our government departments have all gone “e-something-or-other”, shouldn’t this process be expedited? In private companies, any approval process that takes more than 5 work days must be justified to the customer, so if we are trying to promote MM2H, dear honourable Minister, let us look into these basic areas before we pay for Monsieur Todt’s expenses.

Azmin also alleged that Todt and his fiancé, Malaysian-born actress Michelle Yeoh, were given land in Pulau Besar in Terengganu as part of the deal. This was denied by the Tourism Minister but the Malaysian public is already weary of these kinds of denials for didn’t they say “where there is smoke, there is always fire”....go figure!

In researching the Internet for this posting, I came across the following report under “Dewan Despatches”:

by: Azmi Anshar

DEWAN RAKYAT, June 24, 2009
For someone of Todt’s stature to agree to a mere RM1 million fee is a steal for Tourism Malaysia, who in their bid to rise above the din of global competition, must shout loudly to attract the most attention and with that, sales that translate into revenue and profit. That they did with Todt. It’s an ingeniously simple plan that corresponds with the Malacca Government’s Datukship award to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan last year to boost the state’s image as an exceptional tourism attraction.

I wonder if there are statistics to show that the Datukship bestowed upon Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan did, indeed, translate into tourist $ for the state of Malacca?

Power is A Great Attraction...

I have a pal who thinks that US President Barack Obama is the "most gorgeous man" on the Planet since George Clooney and Bradd Pitt! To be honest, in my view, Obama is really a-pleasant-looking-average-Joe, if you don't know who he is. The reason she perceives him as gorgeous is because she is actually attracted to the power that he has - after all, doesn't he hold the most powerful job on earth? And he is endowed with a powerful brain and great oratory skills too!

In Jakarta, there is a magazine photographer, Ilham Anas, who bears a striking resemblance to Barack Obama (see pics above). Now, if Obama had not been President, would you actually notice Ilham walking down the street? Of course not! If not for Obama, Ilham would still be an unknown photographer - instead, today, he has earned a meal ticket for a lifetime - or, at least, for the next four years! Ilham now needs to hire a PR team to cash in on his new-found fame!