Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
- Two popular request ignored in the Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025
- Did These Women Sleep Around, Dr?
- Dear Archbishop Murphy Pakiam
- An open letter to Chow Kon Yeow – Alleged RM300,000 bribe for a top BN politician
- 10 Reasons Why You Should Bother To Protest
- Najib is the easier prey for Pakatan than Muhyiddin
- EXCLUSIVE: BMF to release explosive report on the Malaysian Taib family
- MIC is doomed to destruction
- Singapore’s success should be a wake up call to Malaysia
| Two popular request ignored in the Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025 Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:34 AM PDT Toh Boo Huat The just released Education Blueprint was touted to be very comprehensive as it took into account the views and desires of Malaysians who were given opportunities to provide input during dialogues held in major towns across the country. In my humble opinion, the blueprint ought to address the desire of many ordinary folks who would like their children to learn Science and Mathematics in its lingua franca i.e. English while fully supporting maintaining MBMMBI policy for those who want it. Interestingly, the rich who can afford to attend International schools and those Mara sponsored students are enjoying this privilege that is gradually being denied to those attending national schools. It is an accepted fact that the English language proficiency among our students and workforce is low. The government has rightly, in this blueprint, seeked to tackle this issue by improving the teaching methods, getting better qualified teachers and allocating more teaching hours to it. These is a good starting base to work from but let us be also frank and accept that learning any language in isolation is tough. Learning English will be very much easier and can be picked up faster when used frequently and applied appropriately. Realistically, studying both Science and Mathematics in English will provide our pupils, especially those from rural areas with a great platform to do so, much like a twin turbo-charger needed to help elevate our standard of English. I am also of the opinion that the plan to introduce English Literature is premature and contradict the reasons why PPSMI was left out. The authorities have constantly highlighted that some of our pupils struggled with PPSMI and that we do not have enough capable English teachers for PPSMI, what more English Literature which is a much more difficult subject by itself. In fact, days before the launch, the DPM said "We have done studies repeatedly and we have found that there is a lack of English teachers" and that "when students did not understand, the teachers reverted to using Bahasa Malaysia to teach the subjects". (NST 9-Sep-2012 - Improving quality in all areas of education) Walk before attempting to run. Our immediate and urgent target is students and a mass workforce with a higher proficiency in English, not flooding the country with Shakespeareans! We should only consider introducing English Literature in future when the standard of English amongst our pupils is elevated, thus reducing any likelihood of failing, leading to abandoning yet another overly ambitious policy. The other loud call was for a professional and highly experienced academician to be the Education Minister and this popular request received among the loudest applause during those dialogues. It is obvious that the rakyat do not want any more politicians in that post. Many (including our former DPM, Tun Musa Hitam) are alarmed and have enough of seeing our education standard deteriorate continuously over the years with no end in sight, not to mention numerous "politically inclined" policy decisions made. The people have spoken and the message was indeed conveyed up. An attendee of two Round Table discussions on education revealed in his blog that "there was an almost unanimous agreement that English should be made the medium of instruction for at least Mathematics and Science". How then and why were these two well-supported requests left out of the blueprint? Whoever made this decision to do so have betrayed the people! As parents and primary stakeholders, we demand that the final blueprint include these two issues to truly reflect and honor the desires of the people. | |||||||||||||
| Did These Women Sleep Around, Dr? Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:26 AM PDT
It is believed that the child was still alive when thrown but died due to injuries in the head due to the fall Presumably, their mothers cannot light a candle to our Malaysian women of virtue Ice Cream Seller Lets get straight to the point.
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| Posted: 18 Sep 2012 09:18 AM PDT
Your directive does not augur well for our catholic religion in this country, if I do go for the service and receive communion despite being forbidden to do so by you does that mean I have committed a mortal sin and can lose my soul? Because ultimately why I still remain a catholic is because I believe I can go to heaven if I die. Pakirisamy Your Grace,
Your Grace, if your faith is just faith it's a dead faith if your directives are purely to preserve the sanctity of the the Real presence in the Eucharist. I dont think I or anyone else would go to hell if he went for the christian service at Taman Melawati Stadium and received the communnion offered there. The FMM sisters had gone to great lengths to collect massive donations from the public, got govt grants, and built a catholic hospital for the poor and underpriviledged and called it the Assunta Catholic Hospital, (today the catholic has been removed). Even you and Peter Mooney had attended a fund raising dinner to raise funds for the hospital. Today, sad to say the hospital charges RM8,000+ for a simple appendix surgery, which you can get done in the govt hospital for less than RM450/- and the Jabatan Kebajikan pays for you if you can't afford to pay
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| An open letter to Chow Kon Yeow – Alleged RM300,000 bribe for a top BN politician Posted: 17 Sep 2012 03:58 PM PDT It would appear that neither the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Saad, nor the Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, is genuinely interested in getting down to the root of this scandal although it has been explicitly said to involve a top BN politician in the House. What had become of this case? Had there ever any investigation done by Dr. Koh Tsu Koon into the alleged bribe. Choo Sing Chye I am please to hear that the Penang Pakatan Rakyat state executive council had decided to set up a high powered executive committee to probe into the sale of some 4,000 acres of prime land made under the Barisan Nasional administration to be headed by you. This, I hope would provide an accurate account of what actually went on during the long BN's tenure of the Penang State Government. But anyway, I wondered if you would take a second look at one scandal happened 18 years ago. And without doubt, this scandal would have made good Hollywood script. During my work-visit to Penang in 1994 with the late P. Patto, to help out with the first Suara Tanjung 3 issue, I wrote the front page article, RM300,000 For Top BN Politician which was at that time the hottest corruption scandal in Penang.
RM300,000 for Top BN Politician DAP Assemblyman for Datuk Keramat, K. Balasundram, caused a stir in the recent Penang State Assembly meeting on 1st June 1994 when he touched on an alleged RM300.000 armed robbery carried out by an office-boy-cum-director of a company said to be owned by a former Penang tycoon, an undischarged bankrupt. This sum of money was meant as a pay-off for a top Barisan Nasional government politician in the Penang State Government.. Revealing further the mystery surrounding this armed robbery, Balasundram said that the robbery itself was only reported to the police six days later on 26th May. Apparently, the victim was prevented from making any police report on the robbery. At this point, the Speaker of the Penang State Assembly, Dato' Abdul Rahman Abbas, knowing what Balasundram was driving at, tried to prevent him from speaking further on the matter but, failed. Balasundram stubbornly stood his ground and revealed further that this incident was connected to an application for an excision of a 13.11 acres hill property to a non hill land so that it would be developed like any other land. (Note: Any land which is more than 250 feet above sea-level is considered as hill land and therefore comes under the purview of the Conservation Act.) In his speech, K. Balasundram demanded: "The Penang State Government must establish a committee of enquiry headed by former Supreme Court judges, like either Tan Sri Chang Min Tatt or Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdoolcader, to investigate into this case since it is said to involve a top politician in the government. This is to clear the good name of the government." Immediately after Balasundram had completed his speech on the above matter, the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Saad, who is also the Chairman of the State Land Committee, jumped to his feet, although Bala did not mention the name of the politician for whom the RM300,000 was meant for. Dr. Ibrahim declared in the House that the matter would be investigated thoroughly. And he even assured Balasundram that the State Government would allow him to sit in this enquiry committee if he so wished. The next day, 2nd June, the Opposition Leader, Lim Kit Siang, again raised this matter which was still surrounded in mystery. Kit Siang shocked the House when he revealed the name of the top BN government politician. Normally one would challenge Kit Siang to repeat the accusation outside the House but the Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, anticipating trouble for the Barisan Nasional government, quickly cut in to declare that the State Government will establish a one-man enquiry committee by him and that he would investigate the matter. And that if anyone was not satisfied with his investigation, then the matter could be brought up in the House. Kit Siang and Dr. Koh had a heated debate on this matter with Dr. Koh maintaining that he, and he alone, will investigate. Kit Siang insisted that it must be investigated by a Committee of House which should not be headed by him (Dr Koh) alone. Following this heated furore over the RM300,000 alleged pay-off, the DAP Assemblyman for Pengkalan Kota, Chow Kon Yeow, moved an amendment to the Motion of Thanks. The amendment was to include the setting up of an Enquiry Committee headed by the Speaker - Dato' Abdul Rahman Abbas, the Chief Minister - Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, Opposition Leader - Lim Kit Siang, State EXCO Member - Dr. Helmy and K. Balasundram with the powers to subpoena any person or body of persons, to investigate the RM300,000 pay-off scandal. However, this amendment was thrown out by the Speaker. It would appear that neither the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Saad, nor the Chief Minister, Dr. Koh Tsu Koon, is genuinely interested in getting down to the root of this scandal although it has been explicitly said to involve a top BN politician in the House. What had become of this case? Had there ever any investigation done by Dr. Koh Tsu Koon into the alleged bribe. Although this scandal is beyond the committee scope of investigation, I sincerely hope that you would take a second look at this alleged corruption as you can now access into the 1994 minutes or records of Dr. Koh Tsu Koon's lone investigation. | |||||||||||||
| 10 Reasons Why You Should Bother To Protest Posted: 17 Sep 2012 03:52 PM PDT
Perhaps there are many who feel the same way as my friend that protests are a waste of time and that it is too messy. To him and others like him, I'd want to ask, "What are you doing then?" Thomas Fann It was soon after the Bersih 3.0 protest on 28th April, 2012 that I chanced upon a posting on a social media network by someone I knew. Commenting on the huge protest and violence that followed, he said that it is not that he doesn't support the demands of the protesters but he doesn't believe protesting is the way to go as it doesn't solve anything. It is very likely that many a Malaysian echoes the same sentiments and asks the question – Why bother to protest? Can anything good come out of a protest? Some may even agree with the Prime Minister who said this is not our culture. I want to suggest ten reasons why we should bother to protest: Did you know that the supreme law of our land, the Federal Constitution in Article 10(1)(b), states that all citizens have the right to assemble peaceably and without arms (weapons)? Unfortunately, subsequent laws passed like the Police Act (Section 27) and its new incarnation, the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012, restricts that right. It can be argued that such restrictions are not in keeping with the intent and spirit of the Constitution which allows us to assemble peaceably. In such cases of inconsistency, we revert back to our supreme law, the Federal Constitution. As law-abiding citizens, our courage and confidence come from knowing this fact. We are still a democracy and every citizen has a right to express their views in a peaceful manner. As you glance through the news today, you'd find people from all over the world protesting on a variety of issues ranging from unemployment to the latest government austerity measures, to the way banks are run and to an offensive film. It is not just happening in so-called "less" democratic countries but more so in countries that cherish democracy. Democracy is not just about casting our votes at the ballot box. It is about us engaging the political process on an ongoing basis through dialogue with lawmakers and government servants, lobbying or petitioning for change in a certain policy, and even protests. Some issues need multi-pronged approach when the authorities are unresponsive. People need a space where they could express their unhappiness and it is imperative that they be given that space. Constant suppression of people's need to release pent-up frustrations could only lead to an explosion of anger as seen in the Arab Spring. Protests are healthy in the way they show up the feelings of the people and are symptoms of some under-pinning problems, not the problem itself. Using the analogy of our body, protests are like fever or cough. A good physician does not only alleviate the symptoms but also treat the root cause, be it a virus or bacteria that is causing the fever or cough. Good governance means allowing room for protests and paying attention to the root cause for it. Issues that affect communities are many and they are all important to those affected by them. Often times issues would not be made known to the rest of the country or the world without a protest. This would especially be true in a country where the press and media are not free. How else would we know about problems in our electoral roll and process, about Lynas, Bukit Koman and Pengerang, if not for the series of Bersih and Himpunan Hijau protests? How many more injustices and abuses have gone unnoticed because it was not highlighted by the press and no protest was organised? Protests draw our attention to issues that may or may not directly affect us but at least we know about them and can decide what to do about it. It would not be wrong to say that much of the course of world history is shaped by direct actions of the people. Rulers who failed to serve the interest of their subjects are ALWAYS removed, eventually. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." Protests led by Martin Luther King Jr, Mahatma Gandhi, anti-apartheid protests worldwide, democracy movements in South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Myanmar and Middle East have brought about seismic changes in their countries. On the local front, the Bersih protests has forced the EC to implement some changes like the use of indelible ink and promises of reforms to the other demands. While it is true that it still falls short of the true reforms we are asking for, it has forced the authority to consider the demands. If any of the demands are not fulfilled, they would have served to educate the voters of the problems and for Issues like injustices, freedom, corruption, abuses of power, crime, land grab and the environment affect all regardless of race and religion. As a participant in a number of protests over the past couple of years, I can tell you one of the most exhilarating experiences was the joy and privilege of marching side by side with Malaysians of all races, faith, age, and social backgrounds. It was a cleansing experience, being washed clean of years of state sponsored prejudices against our fellow citizens. When we protest against our shared common concerns, we realize that we share a common desire for a better future. Underneath all the things that make us different, we realize that we are just fellow humans. The role of the governing authority is to facilitate peaceful protests and to maintain law and order. What all of us, the protesters and the government, should want is a peaceful assembly. Only a very small minority would want a violent and chaotic assembly. If the stated intent and planning of the protest organiser is towards a peaceful assembly, there is no reason why the authority and the police cannot facilitate it. They just need to provide a public space large enough for the protesters, divert the traffic, deal reasonably with anyone who wants to break the peace, and allow the protest to proceed. We have to ask ourselves why they would want to hinder, politicize, demonize and outright attack innocent protesters unless they feel that their shortcomings are being exposed? For too long we have had a one-party political system, given that the opposition has always been weak until 2008. Now that we are moving towards a two-party system, we can take heart our democracy is maturing. Another key component of a matured democracy is the active involvement of the citizens. Some would call this the Third Force. It is needed to hold the politicians in check, to ensure that the promises made during elections are kept. The awakening that our country experienced in 2008 was the awakening of the Rakyat and it is here to stay. Don't let others struggle for us but stand in solidarity with those who share our belief and are overcoming their fears to make a stand for what is right. It is all too easy to click "Like" on Facebook or even to give money but at the end of the day it is about numbers. Authorities only take notice when there are big numbers of protesters. I joined in my first protest at Bersih 2.0 because I didn't want to let others do the fighting (struggle) for me. I want to be there for my own family and for my country. Rather than doing nothing and complaining about things, you are doing something when you protest with others who feel the same way as you do. Admittedly, protest is not the only way to go but sometimes it is the only option left when all other attempts are met with indifference or disdain. Perhaps there are many who feel the same way as my friend that protests are a waste of time and that it is too messy. To him and others like him, I'd want to ask, "What are you doing then?" Turning up at a protest is the least we can do. As a nation, we are going through the throes of growing pains and it does look messy – dirty politics, corruption, vote-buying, gangster tactics, hate speeches, expose of scandals after scandals and of course, mega protests. These are normal and will soon pass if we do not give up struggling for justice and for the preservation of our democracy. We can gain courage from countries like South Korea and Taiwan whose people have to struggle to set their country free from military juntas not too long ago. But once freedom was achieved and democracy established, their countries flourish and today are shining examples of prosperity and peace. Yes, it was messy during transition but it was well worth it. To the argument that it is not our culture, one only has to look at the history of our nation. UMNO who held mass protests against the Malayan Union and the road to independence was one of protest right up to 1957 and there has always been protests in the subsequent years. Perhaps there are few men who had to struggle with this matter of protestation in the modern context of a democratic society as much as Martin Luther King, Jr. He has this to say. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others." Protesting is not a matter of our culture or not. It is a human need to be heard and for our views to be respected. No more excuses, pack your salt and bottle of water, our voices must be heard. | |||||||||||||
| Najib is the easier prey for Pakatan than Muhyiddin Posted: 17 Sep 2012 03:48 PM PDT  Many in UMNO felt Najib had been giving in too much to public pressure, which they believed was due to Pakatan Rakyat's campaign. Muhyiddin's firmness in not negotiating and not being apologetic to BN leaders who questioned the Evidence Act's amendment boded well with such sentiments. Prime Minister Najib Razak's 1Malaysia seems to be contradictory to this plan of UMNO. He still puts hopes in regaining non-Malay support for BN. It is not difficult to understand why. He must do better than Abdullah Badawi's record in 2008 or else risk being booted out as UMNO president in the party election that was delayed to pave way for 13th GE. On the other hand, his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin's declaration of 'Malay First, Malaysian Second' and recent strong stand in support of Section 114A if the Evidence Act have won support of UMNO members. Many in UMNO felt Najib had been giving in too much to public pressure, which they believed was due to Pakatan Rakyat's campaign. Muhyiddin's firmness in not negotiating and not being apologetic to BN leaders who questioned the Evidence Act's amendment boded well with such sentiments. PR should take note of this and make sure Najib continues to lead UMNO into 13th GE. Together with his wife Rosmah Mansor, a Najib-led UMNO-BN will be much easier prey for PR and Anwar Ibrahim. The road to Putrajaya for Pakatan is certainly easier with Najib at the helm. However, while Muhyiddin can convince UMNO that he is the better leader, he may find it hard to find support from BN component parties. But since non-Malay votes are already considered a lost cause, UMNO may just consider going it alone with Muhyiddin to shore up Malay votes to 70 percent, something they cannot achieve with Najib's 1Malaysia. | |||||||||||||
| EXCLUSIVE: BMF to release explosive report on the Malaysian Taib family Posted: 17 Sep 2012 02:10 PM PDT
We would like to inform you that the Bruno Manser Fund is about to release an explosive report on the Malaysian Taib family, one of South East Asia's most notorious kleptocratic clans. The report entitled "The Taib Timber Mafia. Facts and Figures on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) from Sarawak, Malaysia" contains twenty portraits and details on the corrupt business connections of long-term Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud ("Taib"), and his closest family members and associates. Taib is the main culprit for the destructive logging of the rainforests of Sarawak, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. As an exclusive, the report will give estimates on the net worth of 20 Taib family members and associates and will systematically expose their business ties to the timber, plantation, construction and media sector in Malaysia and other countries such as Australia, Canada, the US, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The report follows up on our earlier research on the Taib family, published in December 2011 (see www.stop-timber-corruption.org/resources). On Wednesday, 19 September 2012, the report will be presented in Brussels to the EU Commission on the occasion of a visit of the Malaysian Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities, Bernard Dompok. The report will be released to the general public on Thursday, 20 September 2012, 3 p.m. GMT. Copies will be sent to all major international financial services providers as well as to cabinet ministers and government agencies from OECD and ASEAN countries. The Bruno Manser Fund calls on the international community to take decisive action against the Taibs, in particular to freeze their illicit assets and to prosecute them for corruption, money-laundering and related crimes. Interested journalists may obtain a copy of the embargoed report beforehand, by sending us an e-mail. Your BMF team
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| Posted: 16 Sep 2012 03:57 PM PDT
Thuraisingham Shan
If the current leaders who have not been elected to consolidate their positions, they should not be given the mandate to continue leading the Party. The Party leadership which took over the MIC from our former leader, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu, has to immediately call for elections to consolidate their elected representation for the Indian community. For a start, the MIC Acting President should outline a strategy for the community with his elevation to the Ministerial position to consolidate the well-being of the Indian community. It was months ago that he had been appointed, but is yet to have a proper blueprint for this downtrodden community. Salient guidelines drawn up by Private Sector Initiatives of the Indian ETP programme has been shot down by the leadership, with no rhyme or reason. The Prime Minister's initiative to set up a cooperative has been raided by the political leaders of MIC. It had been a tradition that each of our previous MIC leaders had initiated a cooperative of their own: albeit Tun Sambanthan initiated the National Land Finance Cooperative Society; Tan Sri Manickavasagam pioneered the setting up of Koperasi Nesa, and Datuk Seri Samy Vellu founded Koperasi Pekerjajaya. However, the current Acting President has taken refuge in the Prime Minister's initiated Koperasi, the so-called Koperasi Suria, which is functioning in contravention of the Cooperatives Act and its rules and regulations were also registered bypassing the salient requirements of the Act. The two MIC leaders should keep away from this Prime Minister initiated venture for the community. It is an irony that the Special Indian Task Force initiating a forum of "Energising the Indian Cooperatives" seems to be a mundane affair with no firm, positive, follow-up action. Much enthusiasm prevailed from the 300-odd representatives from the existing 72 Indian based cooperatives who were present at the forum. The MIC should react with much concern to the matters raised, where pertinent matters raised were to be acted upon, with a task force group to be set up for prompt follow-up action. Nonetheless, the forum can be equated to a "Verbal Diarrhoea" session, akin to "A tale told by an idiot is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". The italicised caption of this article speaks well of the leadership of the community. Various attempts to meet the leader had been thwarted with lame excuses and the finale was the rotten words of doom as per the caption. The Indian representation is doomed to anhilation, if drastic steps are not initiated immediately with a sense of urgency. The misfits and the leaders who were rejected by the electorate should best step out of the foray immediately. It is a fervent hope that the Prime Minister would help alleviate the predicament of the Indian community's dissatisfaction with concerted new ideas to garner the support of the Indian community for the coming GE13, where the role of the Indian community is crucial. Alternatively, the Prime Minister and PEMANDU should make public the Key Performance Index analysis of the Ministry for the Indian affairs. The public are not even aware of the structure of the Ministry and it specifications for the Indian community, rather than the words of misery captioned by the above so-called leaders.
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| Singapore’s success should be a wake up call to Malaysia Posted: 16 Sep 2012 03:52 PM PDT
Daniel John Jambun The latest report which says that Singapore is the wealthiest nation in the world by GDP per capita, beating out Norway, the U.S., Hong Kong and Switzerland, has further embarrassed our own country, Malaysia, which is Singapore's closest neighbour and economic rival. This report is especially painful for Malaysia because we know Singapore started off as an island of fishing villages with no natural resources. It survived and prospered as an entrepot (a trading post where merchandise can be imported and exported without paying import duties), and imported raw materials for its needs, industries and exported processed products to the world. It is still buying nearly everything from other countries, mainly Malaysia, including sand, water, oil, vegetable, fruits, to name just a few. As of 8 August 2010, Singapore is the fastest growing economy in the world, with a growth rate of 17.9% for the first half of 2010. Malaysia on the other hand is struggling to achieve the official target of 4% to 5% growth for this year. A Reuters quarterly poll in July estimated Malaysia's GDP growth this year at 4.2 per cent. On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal report is replete with superlatives about Singapore economic performance, among which are as follows: "Singapore's GDP per capita – at US$56,532 in 2010, measured by purchasing power parity – is the highest in the world, topping Norway (US$51, 226), the US (US$45, 511) and Hong Kong (US$45, 301). The report also predicts that Singapore will hold its place as the world's most affluent country in 2050…. Singapore will see a 67% increase in centimillionaires over the next four years – [centimillionaires are those] with over US$100 million in disposable wealth…. Singapore has the highest percentage of millionaire households in the world, a title the city-state has held on to for two years running…." Some of the factors contributing to Singapore's forecast performance are its 'human capital' – a skilled and educated labour force (which is likely to lead to better long-term prospects for a country's economic growth), the dynamic business environment (with legislation to match), openness to trade, capital mobility and foreign direct investment…. Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea are employing the same Singaporean strategies on Human Capital where the brightest and the brilliant are attracted from all over the world, universities rankings are among the top World 20. Surely something must be really right, as these countries do not have Natural Resources. In our beloved Malaysia, everything is the opposite, our government legalised 1.6 million foreign unskilled labourers who are non-taxpayer 'Bumiputras' consuming all the benefits funded by us taxpayers; our universities rankings have slid from the World Top 100 to unbelievably low levels so much that we have difficulty in competing internationally. Our brightest and brilliant are forced to mass migrate to Singapore, Taiwan and overseas. This is very ironic because we have immense natural resources which were extracted for half a century but our country seems to be always in debt and short of funds. The vast revenues obtained from tin, rubber, timber and petroleum had not done much to secure our economic standing. It is unbelievable that even Petronas, the supposedly superrich Malaysian corporation, is in danger of going bust. Surely something must be really wrong. A site, tranungkite.net writes that Petronas "has squandered its tremendous reserves for a number of projects it had no business to be involved in. It owns Putrajaya, the administrative capital that is a drain on the public purse. It owns Proton, the F-1 motor racing circuit in Sepang, and a slew of companies and products that is far removed from its main product: petroleum. The US$1 billion sponsorship costs for the F-1 championship in Sepang and the Sauber Petronas F-1 racing team appears to matter more than the future of its 70 IT specialists. It owns the Petronas twin towers, forced on it by the government so the Kuala Lumput City Centre (KLCC) would show the world how developed a country Malaysia is. Its considerable funds are used to cover government shortfalls and other financial needs. I suspect the Petronas management sees red ink dominating its balance sheets after its unrestrained financial profligacy." The latest glowing report on Singapore should serve as a warning May Day signal to Malaysia to revamp its system so that its public service is more transparent, honest, bribe-free, absolutely professional, and pro-growth in its approaches when dealing with investors and technocrats. In Singapore, the civil servants have very strict instructions to use all available government means to facilitate the license and permit applications by business people, and to assist them in all technical matters that arise. The civil servants are totally forbidden from accepting any gift of any kind, nor to accept dinner invitations from businessmen. Singapore has the high international reputation of being bribe-free and has a highly conducive business environment. On the contrary, bribes in the form of money and dinner invitation are expected by Malaysian civil servants, and there is a strong culture of 'undertable', and even 'over the table', dealings to lubricate business with the government. No wonder Sabah, with all its wealth of natural resources, had become Malaysia's poorest state. As if it is not enough that the state civil service is so corrupted, it also has to share its wealth with the BN-held states in the Peninsula.
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