IN my last article, I took us along memory lane through the 60s and 70s
when our education was world class. As I said, we prepared our bumiputra
students at foundational levels in secondary residential and
semi-residential schools to be able to competently compete on merit with
others, at primarily international universities overseas.
After the social engineering of the New Economic Policy (NEP) quotas of
the late 80s, our education system today is wrought by an overabundance
of religious indoctrination, overtly in the curriculum and covertly in
our public schools’ teaching environment. This was accompanied by the
forcing of unqualified bumiputra students into local public universities
that had to be graduated into the workforce in spite of them being
mostly non performing. Gradings and exams had to bent to ensure large
drop out numbers do not inundate the population.
Instead, we flood
the workforce with mediocre graduates who today fill the ranks of the
civil service and government-link-entities top to bottom.
These graduates, in fact, today also fill up the whole levels of our
education administration, teaching workforce and universities. Not all,
but to most of them out there – you know who you are. Case in point are
all the so-called bumi-based NGOs heads, university administrators
including vice-chancellors who are somehow twisting their arguments into
pretzels
to defend the hapless Education Minister who just put his black shoes
into his mouth with respect to the issue of a 90% quota for bumis in
matriculation.
By now, everyone and their grandmother have seen the video-clip of our
supposedly esteemed minister justifying the existence of matriculation
quota in favour of bumis because the non-bumis are rich. To add insult
to the wounds, he proudly claimed that private universities are mostly
filled with non-bumis because non-bumis are better off than the Malays.
Let me today reiterate that this assumption can no longer be left
unchallenged. It is patently untrue that all or even the majority of
non-bumis are rich and are therefore of no need of government
assistance. That the Malays are indeed so poor, that they are the only
ones who are overwhelmingly in need of help.
This is a slap on the face of poor non-Malays and an insult to the many
hard-working Malay parents who do not rely on government handouts and in
general compete on their own merit.
Let us look at the reality, shall we?
Figures provided by Parliament in 2015, showed that bumiputra households
make up the majority of the country’s top 20% income earners (T20), but
the community also sees the widest intra-group income disparity.
According to data from a parliamentary written reply, the bumiputra make
up 53.81% of the T20 category, followed by Chinese at 37.05%, Indians
at 8.80% and others at 0.34%.
So which groups overall are the top 20% income earners in the country?
Answer: bumiputras by a whopping 16.76% to the next group, the Chinese!
However, when the comparison is made within the bumiputra group itself,
T20 earners only comprise 16.34%. The remaining comprises the middle 40%
income earners (M40) at 38.96% and the bottom 40% income earners (B40)
making up the majority at 44.7%.
This means that in spite of almost 40 years of affirmative action,
handouts, subsidies and quotas, bumis as a group has a large disparity
between its haves and the havenots. That raises the question if it means
practically none of the government assistance has in fact gone to help
the bumis that truly needed help but has gone to further enrich those
who are already having it all!
To the Malays, I say, “You should look into this disparity instead of
pointing fingers to other Malaysians who work hard to uplift themselves
without any help from their own government”.
Maybe because of your adulation of your Bossku, feudal fealty or
religious chieftains that they are the ones that are taking up what is
essentially yours to uplift your own lives?
After all the YAPEIM (Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam), yes, another
institution in Malaysia using religion to sucker people, the Director
himself takes home RM400,000.00 in bonus and his senior executive draws
another RM250,000.00 all by themselves. Must be one hell of a
“pembangunan ekonomi Islam”.
The problem is not between the Malays and the other races. The problem
is clearly within the Malay community itself. The help is not reaching
the supposed target group. Why? So do not punish others with quotas that
penalise the excellence of others for your own dysfunctions.
Now, contrast with the Chinese and Indian communities, where the M40 group makes up the majority.
Within the Chinese community, the T20 group makes up 29.66%, followed by
the M40 group at 42.32% and B40 at 28.02%. As for the Indian community,
the T20 group stands at 19.98%, followed by the M40 income earners at
41.31% and the B40 at 38.71%.
It is so clearly not true that all non-bumis are rich and therefore the
quotas must remain to enable the bumis to compete on an equal footing.
The quotas are no longer justifiable if it was ever justifiable in the
first place. It is very clear from these data that equal opportunity to
university places must be provided irrespective of race purely on merit.
The help on the other hand must be in the form of scholarships or loans
to those deserving based on the financial capability of each successful
university entrant, as simple as that.
If a candidate does not qualify, he or she does not, race be damned.
That person must then take a different route – vocational or
skilledbased profession or any other road to success. There is nothing
wrong with not being a university graduate if one is not qualified. Find
your vocation and passion in a field that you will excel in.
The Government has no business populating a university and later the
workplace with a single race based on the criteria of fulfilling quota.
It makes no sense and it is the root of ensuring the downfall of both
the administrative branch of government or even the overall machinery of
the nation’s economy.
Maszlee claims that foreign university branches in Malaysia are filled
up by non-bumis, therefore Malays need more places in public
universities via matriculation. As such the Government instituted
matriculation in 1999. He cited Monash and Nottingham as examples.
Unfortunately, Monash was opened in KL in 1998 and Nottingham in 2000.
That lie blew up in his face pretty fast, didn’t it?
But really why would private universities be filled up with mostly
non-bumis? Can’t Maszlee see that if the local public universities are
providing only 10% quota to non-bumis to enter via matriculation, an
even tougher entry through STPM and none via UEC, that middle and low
income non-bumis will have no other choice but to opt for the less
expensive private local and branch universities to sending their
children for overseas education?
They even can’t gain entry to public universities due to the quotas
despite having better results than Bumis. Where do you expect them to go
then Maszlee? I know of many non-bumis who are scraping their barrels
to ensure they send their kids to further their studies either local or
overseas. Many of them have fewer children because they know they will
have to pay for their kid’s education in the future. With most if not
all of the scholarships given to bumis do they have another cheaper
option?
How much more heartless is your assessment of our fellow non-bumis’ predicaments can you get, my dear Maszlee?
I think Maszlee need to learn facts and have some critical thinking
before opening his mouth. Being the education minister is not like
teaching religion, where people are not going to fact-check you because
they think you are a gift from God. An education minister with such
thinking cannot be allowed to stay in that position much longer. It is
untenable.
Interestingly of late, a number of those from the Malay academia have
come to the defense of the hapless minister defending matriculation
quota because of workplace imbalance in the private sector. I have to
ask is this proof that our universities are headed by Malays who have no
business graduating and being employed and now heading such academic
institutions and organisations? Do they even realize the tenuous
relations between entry quota into learning institutions vs recruitment
variables?
We truly need to clean up the education ministry from top to bottom
including at our public universities. Too many people with no brains
sucking up to powers that be and playing the race and religion card.
It’s enough to make you weep.
Back to our conundrum that is the Malaysian education, what then is our endgame?
1. Stop quota - period. Any type of quota. It does not work and it will
destroy the capability of our public and private sector to excel. Merit
must reign.
2. Go back to basics. Primary and secondary education are the foundation
that will allow any persons of any race to compete on equal footing in
order to enter vocational institutions, colleges, and universities. The
rest will take care of itself upon them graduating and joining the
workforce. Trust in our youth. The bumis are not incapable of excelling
given the right foundation.
3. Bring back a Science, Mathematics and English-heavy curriculum for
primary and secondary years. Go back to basics. These are foundation
years. Do not worry about having the latest technology. Children will
absorb that in their own time. Tertiary education is where skill-based
knowledge is acquired. Foundational knowledge and critical thinking is
honed before you leave high school.
4. Please leave religion at home. Teach it if you want but do it outside
of normal school hours. Let our children be among their peers as human
beings without any differentiation of beliefs and faiths. Let them
celebrate their differences without adults telling them who is better
than others. Show them all the beauty they possess without judgment.
5. We are all Malaysians. We all bleed the same blood and we all weep
the same tears when we are capable but are unable to fulfill our
potential because we do not have the financial means to achieve those
goals. Help us irrespective of race. All of us contribute to our taxes.
No one group should benefit more than the other because they are of a
different ethnicity.
We will see that Malaysia will prosper with each race helping each other as Malaysians once and for all.
Can you spare a minute to look at this?
http://chng.it/bbZwKBNg 1⃣ 网民重启老马当教长运动 2⃣支持者秒速联署反映惊人 3⃣这匹马不行就换另一匹马 4⃣你签署了吗?
The Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) president will replace
outgoing Mayor Datuk Patahiyah Ismail whose contract ends on June 30
th...
