Learn to ‘sow to reap’

TRANSFORMATION is the catchword in schools nowadays. Every headmaster and principal seems to be enthusiastically talking about transformational change.

They aspire to see their schools attain better grades and higher rankings in public examinations, gain more medals and awards in sports and co-curricular activities, and own a well disciplined student populace.

All these are very well and good. The Education Ministry deserves commendations for having thus inspired the schools.

While the objectives for school improvement and advancement are noble, the same nevertheless cannot be said of the means and ways by which some school heads use to arrive at them.

To achieve higher and more, some heads think it right to just do more and more of what they have been doing all along.

So, to secure more and better grades, they direct more/extra holiday classes, more workbook exercises/homework, more trial exams/tests, more scores/exam analyses, more motivational seminars/workshops, and etc.

To gain more and greater sporting medals, awards and honours, they want to see more training/practice sessions, more trial runs, more friendly matches and more competitions.

To improve discipline, they want school rules and regulations more stringently followed and enforced. And, if the need arises, new rules and regulations are introduced and implemented. More teacher “power” is also deployed to catch and punish the culprits.

This “doing more of the same” approach seems to be the understanding of these heads and their application of transformational change. While their putting in more efforts does drive results upwards to a certain extent, their advocacy of the “doing more of the same” culture has certainly driven their charges up the wall.

Doing more of the same, even more efficiently, is merely managing a cause. Schools will go forth all right, but very much stereotypically. It is not transformed. It experiences no innovation, no creativity, no paradigm shift; it is, in fact, still in the same old band of performance.

To execute transformation, school heads must play the role of both manager and leader. It is not just about managing efficiently; it is more about leading effectively.

School heads must come out of their comfort zone of doing the same old and routine things right, even if it is with greater intensity and frequency.

They must begin to think of new, innovative and creative approaches to doing the right things. It’s then and only then that their schools will truly move forward, reach new heights and acquire a new, more enriching learning culture.

I have seen schools that had gone all-out to achieve better grades in exams using the “doing more of the same” approach, having their results moved up by a certain percentage point for a year or two, and then dropping again in the following year(s).

The results behaved like a yo-yo within a fixed range of percentages. These schools were not really out of the deep, so to say. The year’s results depend very much on the available crop, with the schools’ efforts making an insignificant difference.

Instead of just focusing on teaching students how to study to get better grades in exams, school heads should encourage their teachers to impart upon students the importance and the know-how of learning effectively and efficiently.

I always believe that when a child wants to learn, his/her grades will take care of themselves. Of course, it is more difficult to teach learning for the sake of acquiring knowledge than to teach studying for the sake of scoring in exams. Here indeed lies the essence and the challenges of transformational change.

There is much truth in the cultural proverb “Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character”.

School heads need to initiate activities that will facilitate sowing. It is wrong simply to prioritise and busy themselves with drafting and establishing new rules and regulations to restrict and constrict further, and to catch and punish undisciplined students.

A mind that is made to conform by “laws, rules and regulations” is not going to be transformed. “Sowing to reap” is a leader’s calling; the essence and challenge of transformational change.

Transformation is not about doing more of the same.

Some school heads need to reassess and reorganise their approach to transforming their schools lest their teachers be unjustly and overly burdened.

LIONG KAM CHONG, Seremban.

Malaysians, work hard to succeed !

Hard work, long hours and a focused approach ensure the country and rakyat succeed

I AM an amateur musician and I play the guitar and I sing. I like all types of music but one that tugs at my heartstrings is the blues.

We all know what the blues are: simple, direct, strongly expressive music with a steady beat and rhythm, leaving plenty of space for singing and solo instruments. Letting it all hang loose, so to speak.

But to me singing the blues means eventually rising above the blues, even if you have to pour out all your problems and wail for a while. That's what this column is about.

I am fortunate to be involved in and driving one of the most exciting projects around. What can be more meaningful than raising incomes and the quality of life for all Malaysians, irrespective of race, creed or religion?

But as hopeful as I am that we can do this, I am not so naive that I do not know that there are many problems and obstacles to overcome before this dream becomes reality.

So I will sing the transformation blues here: I will air the problems, the big ones, which face us in our programme to transform us into a high-income nation. And then we will say what we are doing to overcome them.

Idris: ‘I like all types of music but one that tugs at my heartstrings is the blues.’ 
 

A big part of this is putting right misinformation. We will need your help as Malaysians to understand what we are trying to do and to tell us what it is that we are not doing right and what we should be doing instead. The e-mail contact is in the logo above.

We promise to read every response and if appropriate respond to some here. We ask only three things: that you are fair, reasonable and realistic.

Concept of income

The first thing I would like to explain is the concept of income, which is key to the entire concept of transforming into a high-income country. At what level of income do we become developed and achieve high income? How do we do it? How do we measure this? And can we achieve it?

A lot has been said about how we measure income and the level of income in 2020, and how we have not taken the right things into account. It's been said that we have used the wrong measures. We have not.

Intentionally, we have used globally accepted definitions and methodologies, i.e. the World Bank approach and benchmarks. Without getting too technical, we used the current definition for high-income countries in nominal terms and then using projected inflation rates, derived what it would be in US dollars in 2020.

Hence, the figure of around US$15,000 per person was arrived at RM48,000 based on a projected exchange rate of RM3.20 to the US dollar. The current rate is close to RM3 which means that if this rate prevails, the target will be lower at RM45,000. In 2009, our income, using prevailing exchange rates, was US$6,700 per capita. Yes, we have a long way to go but we are well on the way.

From here, we project the population at 2020 and multiply that by the income per capita to obtain the total income of the nation in 2020, in nominal terms.

Working backwards, we then estimate the growth rate needed to get there, again in nominal terms.

Then we take out the projected inflation rate from this figure to arrive at the real rate of income increase that we need for the nation as a whole to achieve high-income status which is on average around 6% annually, assuming all other factors hold equal.

“Real” here means the income is adjusted for inflation and reflects the actual rise in income even after taking into account price increases. The real gross national income or GNI is just the real gross domestic product plus net income from abroad.

Our methods are rigorous and our results were reviewed in January 2012 by an international accounting firm and a globally renowned panel of experts.

The latter also shared outside-in feedback and global best practices. We have no interest in deceiving anybody on how we are performing.

That is how we set the target.

Getting there

The next thing is getting there. Basically, we identify all the major projects on hand and estimate their contribution to economic and, ultimately, income growth. We don't pretend that these are accurate but they are the best estimates we can get. No country in the world can accurately measure and predict with precision its economic growth.

These estimates are also targets. If we can meet them year-to-year, we are on our way. If we run short we have to do more, and if we are doing very well we can lift up our hands to the heavens and give our thanks to God. It's a moving, dynamic target and it changes all the time.

Yes, there are risks to the achievements we have set out for ourselves. What worthwhile endeavour comes without risks? The world economic growth can remain low for longer than expected. We are not completely insulated from the world. The private sector may not invest as much as it should.

But what we are doing at the Performance Management and Delivery Unit is to get the Government to facilitate all efforts to increase incomes, no matter by whom. And we will monitor to see if we are on track and recommend the appropriate changes to put us back on track, as and when necessary.

According to Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department: “At the end of last year, annual per capita income in Malaysia rose to more than RM29,000 (US$9,400).”

At current prices, this is 12% growth compared with RM26,174 (US$7,985) in 2010 and RM23,850 (US$6,677) in 2009. This is a big improvement compared with only RM1,070 (US$347) in 1970.

In April, the Government will release a full report on the performance of Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) in 2011.

Our income growth in the last two years shows that we can achieve the targets that we have set for Malaysia as a nation. If the projects under the ETP and others come through, we will do it.

We may also see others setting up their own projects to take advantage of opportunities, and that would definitely be a bonus.

This shows that we have made good progress as a country. Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, we are on our way to transforming Malaysia to become a high income economy. Hard work, long hours and a focused approach are being put into ensuring that Malaysia and Malaysians succeed locally and globally.
Any Malaysian can join us on this journey. Simply by working harder and smarter you can contribute to increasing your employer's revenues and growing yourself, hopefully.

That way, all of us Malaysians can move forward together to achieving our goal of becoming a higher income nation and creating a better life for all of us. That's what transformation is about.

Together, we can do it.

● Datuk Seri Idris Jala is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and CEO of Pemandu. Feedback and comments are most welcome. 

Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) seeking love from Penangites

Seeking love from Penangites 

One Man's Meat By PHILIP GOLINGAI

Malaysia’s ‘love party’ hopes Penangites will give it a chance and send at least three of its members to Parliament and the state assembly.

THE Thaksin Shinawatra of Batu Kawan hobbled from table to table at a school hall in Seberang Prai, Penang, shaking hands with dinner guests before reaching the VIP table.

The 50-year-old politician was on crutches. He had broken his right ankle at his home in Penang on New Year’s Day.

During the dinner, organised by the Benevolent House of Charity, volunteers sold Chinese newspapers to collect funds to build a Chinese school.

The total collected was RM1,950 and, true to his moniker, Huan Cheng Guan topped up the amount to RM5,000 by donating RM3,050. He also donated RM1,000 to Benevolent House of Charity.

Strong support: Huan, on crutches, being greeted by guests at the Benevolent House of Charity dinner at SJK (C) Keng Koon hall in Bukit Mertajam.

“The money comes from my personal savings. It is for a noble cause,” he said.

It was a typical Sunday night for the vice-president of Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM).

He had earlier spent 20 minutes at a Chinese wedding in Dewan SJK (C) Kampung Valdor, a few kilometres from SJK (C) Keng Koon where the charity dinner was held.

“As a politician, you need to go to the ground to meet the people. You need to have the personal touch,” he said.

Ninety minutes into the dinner, Huan left for nearby Restoran Long House to meet PCM members and supporters for a seafood dinner.

“This is not an election dinner. The election is still a long time away,” he told about two dozen guests, mostly Indians, seated at three tables.

While his guests waited for curry prawn and fried rice to be served, I interviewed Huan.

“Why are you called the Thaksin of Batu Kawan?” I asked. I was told he is as generous as the former Thai prime minister.

“Who said that? I’m not the Thaksin of Batu Kawan,” replied Huan, who describes himself as “blunt and rough”.

“Maybe I am called that because even though I am no longer their MP, I seldom reject associations and people seeking my help as long as they are for a good cause.

“Maybe it is because I am not stingy for if I have RM100, I don’t mind donating RM90 as I can’t take my money along with me when I die.”

Huan is the only recognisable face in the Penang-based party born on Aug 2, 2009.

“Many people know me as I’ve been an MP and a Gerakan vice-president,” said the politician who “sacked himself” from Gerakan in 2009 after it suspended him for three years for openly attacking the party and its leadership.

Huan was elected Batu Kawan MP in 2004. In 2008, he was dropped so that Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon could contest the constituency, only to lose.

Huan contested in the Bukit Tambun state seat (in the Batu Kawan parliamentary constituency) and lost.

The president of PCM is 41-year-old businessman Tang Weng Chew who, according to Huan, is very busy as he has business overseas. And the secretary-general is 35-year-old accountant Loo Kien Seang, who is equally busy.

“I asked Loo to contest (in the coming polls) but he said: ‘if you want me to contest, I will resign (from PCM)’,” he said.

PCM was formed as a third force to be an alternative to Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. Many naysayers predicted the party would not last more than one or two years.

“But we are still alive and kicking. We don’t have any internal problems. In our party, position is not important,” he said.

On allegations that his party was pro-Barisan, the vice-president said: “PCM has limited resources so we are focusing on Penang.”

In the coming polls, PCM will contest in two parliamentary and eight state seats in Penang.

“As a small party we have to be realistic and we target to win one parliament and two state seats,” said Huan, who is eyeing the Batu Kawan parliamentry seat and the Machang Bubok state seat.

He hopes Penangites will give PCM a chance to voice out their issues.

“Pakatan has too much power and when they have too much power, they become very arrogant,” he said.

The “love party” is expecting some love from Penangites.

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