==> Pls visit new site at http://malaysia-today.net/ <==

Yesterday I had a good conversation with one of my friends. He’s given me another perspective on why Malaysia isn’t moving, and his answer is we’re not moving just because we’re not moving.

By Lance Wong

Like many other guys would do, we went to ‘yamcha’ (have tea) and chat from the earth to the sky. Then of course, we talked about Malaysia’s development and started comparing ourselves with South Korea and Taiwan, the countries with the same development potential in the 90s.

I said, we can’t compare ourselves with those countries because Taiwan and S.Korea don’t have issues like racial problems, unfair treatment, favoritism policies and so on. Though I’ve given numerous reasons why Malaysia is lacking behind, my friend said: “Yes, these are existing problems that we should look into and put an end to it if possible; but these are not the excuses why Malaysia is lacking behind.”

1. Taiwan had/has the same corruption problems as in Malaysia. Research indicated that the use of ‘black gold’ (money politics) was very serious and it directly calls the nation for a change in government. That’s when Mr Chen Shui-Pien (of opposition) took over the government and put an end to the Kuo Min Tang (KMT) tenure over the years. However, Mr Chen was involved in corruption after all (prior to this, are we sure DSAI is not the second Mr Chen?), but still their country runs progressively and built brands like Acer, Asus which influence the global IT market. So, corruption is not necessarily the main factor to pull a country like Malaysia down.
2. Unfair treatment. Let’s just focus on one; education. It appears that Malaysia favors a particular race for overseas education scholarships, and this is truly happening. Then what? Are other races denied from pursuing tertiary education? No, we all have the opportunities to go for "almost the same level of education" as compared to those who have the opportunities to study abroad. Nowadays, most of the people who received JPA scholarships aren’t enrolled into some top class universities like Harvard or MIT but ‘second tier’ universities which may match the ‘level’ of Universiti Malaya. Is it that useless to obtain a local degree after all? Don’t feel resentment because of this issue but focus on what you can contribute with your local university degree. (This is rather a subjective opinion, no offence to those who pursue a foreign degree).
   

As you can see, some races have been resenting all the time that they have not been given equal opportunities in this and that. The point is, I can see that those who have ‘average’ qualities tend to focus on resentment rather than improvement. But those who are really ‘capable’ tend to serve other countries rather than in Malaysia because they feel ‘more appreciated’. Please stop sighing and use your talents to contribute to our dear Malaysia.

Apart from the brain drain I mentioned, the main issue is Malaysians have lost the focus of what is important - changing ourselves. And we have a bunch of ‘holier than thou’ bloggers and commentators who know nothing except how to bash the government without seeing themselves as the ones who bribe cops and resent unproductively or just not give constructive suggestions. I’m not trying to show that I’m better than the rest of you but trying to bring a message that we all can learn together, so that we can do something good for the country. Remember, we’re not moving just because we’re not moving … including me.

Finally, I’d like to end this with a story (unknown source):

      “First, I wanted to change the world;
      But when I found I couldn’t, I tried to change my country;
      I still failed, so I tried to change my community;
      But it didn’t work, so I tried to change my family;
      And I ended up changing nothing.”
      “After that I realized I should change myself first;
      Then my change impacts my family to change;
      Afterwards the community’s changed after seeing my family’s change;
      The community has made the country change;
      Finally, what the country does change the world.” 

Change start from ourselves, including me.

Comments (23)

...
written by JohnQ, June 23, 2009 10:05:48

BCOS so called leaders dit not SERVERD wholeheartedly but ranksacked swiftly and handsomely !

United We serve
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog...veKickOff/

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 19

...
written by MalaysianIAm, June 23, 2009 10:09:03

UM is equivalent to second tier universities like U of Manchester, Liverpool, Michigan, and UCLA?

Are you kidding me? You should really have said UM 'may' match the levels of your so called second tier foreign universities.

I'm not against local grads. It's really the Malaysian professors who will be beaten hands down by the academic authorities in those 'second tier' universities. I bet UM (politics aside) will be glad to open their doors to ANY of the second tier educators. Try getting your UM professors a job in U of Wisconsin Madison. 10% success rate maybe?

And I'm not even discussing facilities and student leadership opportunities yet.
But you get my point.

report abuse

disagree 1

agree 28

...
written by ssathia, June 23, 2009 10:16:43

Malaysia, like other countries in the world, is moving forward and backward, and is also sitting pretty depends on what aspect one is looking at. However the main grouse is that vital resources are squandered at an alarming rate for self-enrichment of the few instead of the collective well being of the nation, setting the country for failure which will, as sure as the sun rises in the east, happen eventually. In this process, a lot of ridiculous compromises are made, for example in the judiciary and parliament, and compromise is not a good word here. This country is fortunate in many respects, but it seems to be that we are not very good at taking advantage of the good fortunes. Like the proverbial ant and grasshopper story, we are merrymaking as the grasshopper instead of building up for future sustenance. Oh yes,we all know about the mirage called Vision 2020 don't we? Current policies and actions are not really helpful in this case. The root cause of all of these issues is the myopic race and religion based politics resulting in poor leadership of the nation. That will remain in the foreseeable future, which means there is not much of good news. This game will have to be played out till something drastic and fundamental takes place in the thinking and actions of the people. It is not a question of whether it will happen, only when. The foggy and foolish leadership we have had since independence has been busy shooting itself in the foot. Nevertheless, there is hope. For the first time, every race is talking to each other, at least on the Net. That is a very good start.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 18

...
written by Arubin, June 23, 2009 10:20:36

There's no denying that corruption exists in Taiwan, South Korea, and even Japan. The major difference is that the government officials there are savvy enough to understand that there is no money to be made unless there is progress in the country. The philosophy is that if they can generate a lot of wealth, they can also skim a little off without anyone noticing.

Contrast that to Malaysia where they are just hungrily pocketing money without producing anything worthwhile and you can easily see why we're lagging behind in economic development. The PKFZ is a prime example of this kind of nonsense.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 33

...
written by mick_err_stan, June 23, 2009 10:27:12

What do you expect when the leaders who lead the nation do not have the wisdom or foresight. A simple decision on whether maths and Science should be taught in English is still pending.....How to move forward ??????????

report abuse

disagree 1

agree 20

...
written by dkkl, June 23, 2009 10:31:18

actually, malaysia is not moving forward at all in the thinking but moving backwards.... that's the reason ketuanan melayu come into the picture.

report abuse

disagree 1

agree 21

...
written by Jan, June 23, 2009 10:49:28

I don't feel Malaysia is moving forward at all. It's dominant race is becoming less competitive holding back the progress of other races. When you question them they become angry and tell you not to question their rights no matter how rational your arguments can be. If you persist you too have rights they threaten you with 513 and tells you in the face you are nothing but a blary pendatang. Under the circumstance I can't be very optimistic about the country's future.

report abuse

disagree 2

agree 28

...
written by Jan, June 23, 2009 10:59:24

I knew Malaysia was a lost cause when even non malays like Chew M F threatens 513 if you don't vote her party. She and her party wants the country to be continuosly run by a govt dominated by UMNO.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 17

...
written by Ranulaw, June 23, 2009 15:21:38

"An army can only move as fast as the slowest soldier"...Sun Tzu

The author talks about Malaysia's progress like Malaysia an individual. The fact is Malaysia is plural. One man or even one race cannot in anyway effect change. The best lecturer cannot result in good quality graduates if the dean keeps passing students with failing grades. To have progress, the structure must promote progress.

Individually we can change but the author again fails to see why ppl should change. To change we must first set a goal or objective. This is where individual changes become very hard in M'sia. The majority gets no help from the govt & therefore learns to survive on it's own. The goal to survive requires a lot of thrift & competitiveness. To help the nation progress, the author submits one to being selfless but this is in direct contrast to ones own survival goals.
An example is in bribing traffic cops. If one doesn't bribe for nation's progress, then one must pay $300 fine whereas one can "survive" better by only paying $50 "fine" without receipt. Personally I do not condone such acts but I do understand the reason people do it.

report abuse

disagree 1

agree 8

...
written by Fairminded, June 23, 2009 15:42:41

I beg to differ from the author of this article. Yes, Taiwan was corrupted, so was HongKong etc but they did put an effort to clean up the act - Chen Shui Beng and his family is now under trial for corruption. Even a former President can be tried for corruption. So is HongKong. There is and will always be corruption in any country but the difference is in Malaysia they are not persecuted. So that is the difference. These corrupted politicians and police just keep goin on leading to inefficiencies and loss of revenue.

Secondly, the non Malays are not complaining about nothing. If you work your ass off and find that an incompetent lazy Malay is promoted above you mainly because of race you just walk off. Likewise if you look at the universities in Malaysia. All the lecturers are employed because they are Malays. So is all the key positions or even all positions in the civil service. I rarely see any races represented in the immigration chick points unlike in Singapore, even though Chinese is the majority race you can see that their immigration check points are manned by all races. So why not the resentment? I dont see how one can change the society by just changing oneself. Initially idealism but after a while it is knocking you head against the wall. Just try to take the bus from OUG to work and you will see how a cronie run business is like. Well, to change myself? Buy a car and ignore this and hope that my change will change the public transport? Geez, please come down to earth my friend.

report abuse

disagree 1

agree 25

...
written by Fairminded, June 23, 2009 15:50:40

Dear Lance Wong, another point I missed out is the focus on education - overseas. Man, we cannot afford to go overseas and so we tried the local universities. We cannot even get in not to mention stop complaining about the standard. If one were to apply for Medical school and no sir, 100% is reserved for Bumis. One get 9 As and wanted to study engineering - no sir, they give you a place in basket weaving because all the engieering places is for bumis. And you say that we should change ourselves, do not show resentment because our universities are the same as second tier foreign unversities? Man, I repeat, most students cannot afford to go overseas. They are not resenting that local universities are not as good as foreign universities, they are resenting the fact that they cannot get into the local universities because of the NEP that gives places and even passed out those unqualified students. I think the author got everything mixed up.

report abuse

disagree 1

agree 29

...
written by AsamLaksa, June 23, 2009 17:55:55

Fairminded, you do not need a degree to be successful. You can get tertiary education any time you want. There are local private colleges and distance learning programmes. There only a few degrees from specific universities that easily open doors but in majority of students, the qualification is only the starting point of where they want to go from there. People are successful regardless of qualifications.

Countries that develop quickly have one thing in common, the people do not lose sight of the goal. Corruption exists everywhere. My question on Malaysia is whether the public and the government has lost sight of the goal?

report abuse

disagree 3

agree 4

...
written by antares, June 23, 2009 19:14:10

Have a nice day ... after aren't we all living in this is BeNd TIMF Boleh Land! put it simply, it is all up to us and future generations to decide. Wake up to move froward, keep up the nodding, sucks your thumb.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 2

...
written by lamepug, June 23, 2009 19:29:42

true, true~

we have bunch of past stance people whereby you can see them everyday talking about good ol'days, these why malaysia couldn't move forward...

it ain't easy to find a supportive friends these days...most all talks more then action~

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 1

...
written by lynn, June 23, 2009 19:45:35

"""........but these are not the excuses why Malaysia is lacking behind.”........

I dunno how this coffeeshop sidewalk author gets to publish his lame piece here but Bodohland is laggard due to a very varied host of reasons. Not just corruption & educational issues. The main reasons are blatant, government-led discrimination against other races which led to racial anger - which led to divided races, which enabled the bn govt to continue with its corruption and plundering of the nation's wealth. The govt had never intended to practise meritocracy; if it did, it cannot practise years of corruption, cronyism, nepotism, which are all classified under "Abuses of Power", which are ALL criminal offences, which are ALL never to see justice, which you will all accept including lance wong because there is not a damn thing you can do abt it.

lance wong, go and read some good lucid pieces by Tunku Aziz, Zaid Ibrahim or even Lim Kit Siang. your writing is twisting, turning, confusing, slanted, horizontal. A sheer waste of time to read.

report abuse

disagree 2

agree 12

...
written by renoir, June 23, 2009 23:03:12

Assamlaksa wrote:
> you do not need a degree to be successful]]

But it does help in opening doors and there're other intangibles such as public status and self-esteem. No one would question the existence of self-made men, including those who rose from the trenches to the top of their profession, but such people are few, often have a much harder time, and all things equal probably less likely than those with degrees. UMNOites might be stupid, but they aren't that stupid - they know the importance of that piece of paper. The problem is the overkill in awarding degrees to nearly any bumi enrolled in local universities, to the extent that few people associate local degrees with scholarship anymore.

>You can get tertiary education any time you want]]

Many of my former students could not come up with the college expenses any time they want for their kids. It's not as simple as we sometimes think.

MalaysiaIam wrote:
> You should really have said UM 'may' match the levels of your so called second tier foreign universities.]]

Yeah, most of the time not even third or fourth-tier foreign universities, no matter what some ranking organizations might say. Conversations with profs from univs and colleges in the States and local institutions have convinced me that the gap is probably unbridgeable.

LChuah

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 5

...
written by zhugeliang, June 23, 2009 23:16:52

No need to crack your head to ask Why? Ask Lee Kuan Yew la. He did something to S'pore that in just 20 years, over took Malaysia. He did something to make S'pore progress faster. At the same time Malaysia is being moved backward systematically with the pretence of moving forward (by building tall skyscrapers, etc) thanks to our BN govt and Mahatir. Malaysia is like a box of chocolate, looks good outside, full of nuts inside.

Education in Malaysia is a TOTAL failure and that's why. BN govt wants to have stupid people so that BN can control them (but not so much now). We have wrong people in the govt. The smart is not selected but kicked out and they go overseas to help other countries. What is left is not so smart people trying to act smart and do smart things.

It is time for Pakatan Rakyat to take over running Malaysia.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 9

...
written by mykantree, June 24, 2009 01:11:00

"So, corruption is not necessarily the main factor to pull a country like Malaysia down."

I think Lance missed a very significant point here when he attempted to justify that corruption in Malaysia does not significantly contribute to the slower pace of development in Malaysia vis a vis Taiwan.What Lance missed is that corruption in Malaysia is institionalised whereas in Taiwan, especially in the last 2 to 3 decades, the situation is otherwise.Is Lance aware that even their ex-president has been actively persecuted for corruption.Ditto for South Korea.And in Malaysia?

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 5

...
written by MalaysianFirst, June 24, 2009 03:57:43

Your rationalization to "change ourselves first" really makes me puke. What you're saying is, "Change our angry thoughts to peaceful thinking and accept the situation, no matter how bad it is, or will be". This is nonsense.

Lance Wong, you're obviously mixing with the wrong company. Go somewhere else for your "yamcha".

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 3

...
written by nocrid, June 24, 2009 05:07:24

We are not moving because most of us move away.

Some because they suck up to the loan given to them based on their race while others because prefer to contribute to the place where they are appreciated and treated with respect.

We move but ya...in a different direction.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 2

...
written by Running Sardines, June 24, 2009 09:18:39

By Lance Wong

Change start from ourselves, including me.

Yeah, I heard this phrase many thousand times but if the change is from bad to worse as in Malaysian politics, we just might forget it !!! The biggest joke is that we have incompetent people in forming the Government policies/decisions, such as the flip flop for English in Maths and Science, going for space ride while Singapore got their own A380, inequality in business opportunity (ada kenal YB tak ?), the failure of race integration, inter religion matters etc.

Call it resentment or what ever but as we all know, if we are struggling to make a decent living, how not to blame the Government ? After all, we are paying our taxes and we sure expect the money to be used in a prudent way that benefits the rakyat and not just a group of people.

So, to have Malaysia moving forward, we need the people in the Government to lead the way especially in making the right policies/decisions. That is why I hope Pakatan Rakyat Government can show to BN that it can be done.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 1

...
written by MalaysianIAm, June 24, 2009 09:34:13

LChuah,

Agree with you, but not just to respond in kind. Something to add to your point.

Degrees ARE important. An engineer can be a businessman but a businessman cannot necessarily be an engineer if he doesn't have the degree. YOU NEED the degree to get your license.

Doctors, accountants, lawyers, actuarists. You think anyone can be a professional without a degree?

Sure. The successful businessman started from a lowly kuli. They show that a lot in dramas. But we're not from the 50's.

1% of entrepeneurs make it to the top all by themselves. Others are either MBA holders who also have law degrees or engineering licenses. And you tell me degrees aren't important.

The only time in the future we can be sure that degrees aren't important is when you offer bionic downloading of 4 years worth of education and the paper qualification to people FOR FREE and they still say I POLITELY DECLINE because it's not important.

Lance is obviously not thinking straight.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 0

...
written by mick_err_stan, June 24, 2009 09:36:40

NEP is the reason why Malaysia is not moving forward. Instead of qualification as the yard stick to promote a student, NEP is based on race...it's not what you know but who you are and who you know.

The are many post in the government held by people who do not know what they are doing. If you ask our education minister what is his goal his answer would most likely be to ensure that quota is kept for the Malays to Universities regardless of qualification. So how to progress ????????

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 3