Good and successful English learner: one crucial attribute

I REFER to the reports “Poor English stops medical grads” (The Star, Nov 9) and “Our English needs life support” (The Star, Nov 11, click here:Malaysian English needs life support: Poor English among doctors, stops medical grads).

In the second report, Prof Datuk Dr Raymond Azman Ali, chairman of the medical deans council of public universities, was quoted as saying, “How do you expect them (medical undergraduates) to comprehend medical theses and help patients if they cannot understand them in the first place?”

Let’s face it. Malaysia’s English is in a state of decay. Something urgent must be done to address the sharp fall in the standard of English. But we have been clamouring for something to be done for the umpteenth time.

The Government has implemented a bewildering array of initiatives to rectify our English problems but all to no avail.

What’s wrong with the teaching of English?

So far, what has been reported by the news media about the initiatives to improve English among Malaysian students have mainly focused on teachers, teaching methods, and the learning environment (to a certain degree). But they have missed out one crucial attribute: the good English learner! In her seminal paper “What the Good Language Learner Can Teach Us”, published in March 1975, Joan Rubin stressed the importance of drawing from the success of accomplished language learners.

She said, “I would like to suggest that if we knew more about what the ‘successful learners’ did, we might be able to teach these strategies to poorer learners to enhance their success record.”

The paper stated that those weaker students might become aware that stronger students always have the right answer but the weaker students always fail to discover why, always fail to discover what little “tricks” stronger students have employed to find the right answer.

The little “tricks” distilled from the research on “Good Language Learner” are:

1) The good language learner is a willing and accurate guesser. He is able to infer the meaning of a text or a speech based on its context (for example, the topic, setting, or attitudes of a speaker or a writer).

2) The good language learner has a strong motivation to communicate, or to learn from a communication, no matter where he is. He is determined to do anything to make himself understood.

For example, he might use body gestures to communicate if he couldn’t pronounce a word properly. He might also deploy a circumlocution, the practice of using more words to express something, by asking, “What is the object you use to click an icon on the screen of a computer?” when he is groping for the word “mouse”.

3) The good language learner is not afraid of making mistakes when learning, writing, or speaking a second language.

4) The good language learner constantly finds patterns in the language. For example, a good English learner is aware of the various tenses appearing in a text or a speech. He understands whether a sentence signifies the past, the present, or the future.

5) The good language learner seeks every opportunity available to practise the language. For instance, a good English learner might mingle with English native speakers, travel to English-speaking countries, listen to English news, watch English movies, and speak English as much as possible everywhere.

6) The good language learner always benchmarks himself against the best or native speakers. He never ceases improving and always learns from his own mistakes.

7) The good language learner always pays attention to meaning. He pays attention to the context of the speech, the interrelationship of the participants, the rules of speaking, and the mood of the speech. He constantly finds ways to make the things he wants to remember more meaningful.

If we want to arrest the decline in English among our learners in Malaysia, it is absolutely essential that our poor English learners learn from the little “tricks” of the good language learners espoused by Rubin.

Mastering English is inevitable. As Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said recently, “Like it or not, English is a prerequisite in today’s world, and without English, Malaysians can only be ‘jaguh kampung’ and lack the ability to penetrate the international market/>.”

MR LIM Alor Setar The Star

Focus on the English learners instead of teachers

In October, there was a survey by Pemandu (Performance Management and Delivery Unit)on ‘the importance of increasing English proficiency’. And 90 percent of the 190,000 respondents of this survey say that students in Malaysia should be given a choice to take more subjects in English.

“Malaysia has lost its competitiveness due to our standards in English going down,” AirAsia founder Tony Fernandez lamented on Twitter in the month of October.

On Nov 2, 2015, the words of Nor Azian Abd Manan, the principal of SK Bukit Beruntung: “When we think about our country, the future of our country, the future of our students... I feel very sad to see that many of our students, when they have finished school, they can’t even speak in English” were splashed on the headline of a major English daily across Malaysia.

A few days ago, Edmund Lee reported that there were glaring grammatical errors and poor sentence structures in the essays of the winners in an English essay writing competition organised by a Kuching group recently.

Lately, it was reported that 1000 medical graduates have failed in their endeavors to become doctors due to their poor grasp on English. And on Nov 11, 2015, five shocking big words, ‘Our English needs life support’ were splashed on the headline of a major English daily.

Professor Dr Raymond Azman Ali, the chairperson of medical deans council of public universities, was quoted further in the report as saying, “How do you expect them(medical undergraduates) to comprehend medical theses and help patients if they cannot understand them in the first place?”

The news are chilling!

All these happenings have converged to conclude that Malaysia’s English is in a state of decay. Something urgent must be done to address the decline of the standard of English in the country.

But, we have been clamouring to arrest the deterioration of English in the country for many years.
The Malaysian government has implemented a bewildering array of initiatives to rectify our English problems, but all to no avail.

Every day, we keep hearing from one shocking news to another about the sorry state of our English.

What’s wrong with the teaching of English?

During the budget 2016 speech , our Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said, “Given the importance of the English language to face current global competition, another two initiatives, namely the Dual Language Programme and Highly Immersive Programme will be implemented as an option at a cost RM38.5 million. In this respect, 300 schools have been identified as a pilot project.”

Could the above plans really solve the problems? I doubt it.

From Oct 19 to 21, there was an English teaching event, the International Conference on English Language teaching (ICELt) 2015, which was organised by the Faculty of Educational Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara).

The chief aim of the conference was on English language teaching, its theme - ‘Creative Teachers, Efficient Learners’.

During the conference, the text of Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s speech, was read out by the ministry’s deputy secretary-general Rahim Abu Bakar. The minister said in his speech, “It’s not just about getting teachers to be more proficient in the language. It is about being better and being creative teachers.”
It’s a laudable objective.

In the Malaysia Education Blueprint, there is also an initiative to make SPM English a must-pass subject, although its implementation has been delayed by the ministry recently, citing inadequate teaching resources and undesirable English standard among students as main concerns.

One crucial attribute

So far, what have been reported by the news media about the initiatives to improve English among Malaysian students have focused on teachers, teaching methods, and learning environment(to a certain degree). However, they have missed about one crucial attribute: the successful English learner!

In her seminal paper, ‘What the ‘Good Language Learner’ Can Teach Us’, published in March 1975, Joan Rubin stressed the importance of drawing from the success of accomplished language learners, “ We all know of students who learn a second language in spite of the teacher, the textbook, or the classroom situation. How do these individuals achieve their success?

She stressed in the paper, “I would like to suggest that if we knew more about what the ‘successful learners’ did, we might be able to teach these strategies to poorer learners to enhance their success record.”

The paper stated that those weaker students might become aware that stronger students always have the right answer but the weaker students always fail to discover why, always fail to discover what little “tricks” stronger students have employed to find the right answer.

The little ‘tricks’ distilled from research on ‘Good Language Learner’ are:

1. The good language learner is a willing and accurate guesser. He is able to infer the meaning of a text or a speech based on its context ( For example, the topic, setting, or attitudes of a speaker or a writer).

2. The good language learner has a strong motivation to communicate, or to learn from a communication, no matter where he is. He is determined to do anything to make himself understood.

For example, he might use body gestures to communicate if he couldn’t pronounce a word properly. He might also deploy a circumlocution, the practice of using more words to express something, by asking, “What is the object you use to click an icon on the screen of a computer?” when he is groping for the word, “mouse”.

To promote the use of English among Malaysian students, language researcher Robert L Cooper has this to say, “If we want to enable the student to use English, then we must put him in situations which demand the use of English.”

3. The good language learner is not afraid of making mistakes when learning, writing, or speaking a second language.

4. The good language learner constantly finds patterns in the language. He constantly analyzes, categorises, and synthesises the myriad forms of sentences in the language.

For example, a good English learner is aware of the various tenses appearing in a text or a speech. He understands whether a sentence signifies the past, the present, or the future. He knows how to use the correct order of adjectives in a sentence: “a big red bus” instead of “a red big bus”; “a good boy” instead of “a boy good”.

5. The good language learner seeks every opportunity available to practice the language. For instance, a good English learner might mingle with English native speakers, travel to English speaking countries, listen to English news, watch English movies, and speak English as much as possible everywhere.

Joan Rubin further summed this up in the paper that the good language learner takes and creates opportunities to practice what he has learned while the poorer learner passively does what is assigned him.

6. The good language learner always benchmarks himself against the best or native speakers. He never ceases improving and always learns from his own mistakes.

7. The good language learner always pays attention to meaning. He pays attention to the context of the speech, the interrelationship of the participants, the rules of speaking, and the mood of the speech. The good language learner constantly finds ways to make the things he wants to remember more meaningful. As the famed language researcher John B Carroll says, “The more meaningful the material to be learned, the greater the facility in learning and retention.”

If we want to arrest the decline of English among our learners in Malaysia, it is absolutely essential that our poor English learners could learn from the little ‘tricks’ of the good language learners as espoused by Joan Rubin in the paper.

So, where to begin? I strongly believe that motivation is the crux of the matter.

To this, I would like to quote Gabi Schmiegel, a native German speaker, “I went into my first language class and made a promise to myself that I would speak this language without an accent. I went on to become not only fluent in English, but also Latin, French, and have just passed intermediate Arabic. My fluency and ease with English enabled me to study abroad”.

Mastering English is inevitable. As our Prime Minister Najib said recently, “Like it or not, English is a prerequisite in today’s world, and without English, Malaysians can only be ‘jaguh kampung’ and lack the ability to penetrate the international market.”

By Chong Beng Lim Malaysiakini

Related posts:

Malaysian English needs life support: Poor English among doctors, stops medical grads

The Star says: Young doctors in the country are struggling with their poor command of English. They face problems communicating with patie..

Assalamualaikum: Islamisation of Malaysia

Malaysian English needs life support: Poor English among doctors, stops medical grads

 The Star says: Young doctors in the country are struggling with their poor command of English. They face problems communicating with patients and their peers. Even so called top students who make it to medical schools are falling short in their language skills. They news comes after The Star reported on Monday that weak English was the main reason some 1,000 medical graduates had ended their ambition to become doctors.

Poor English proficiency has also affected young doctors, reports The Star. – Wiki Commons pic, November 11, 2015.

Poor English proficiency has not only affected medical graduates, but undergraduates and new doctors as well, reports The Star.

Quoting the medical deans council of public universities chairman Prof Datuk Dr Raymond Azman Ali, the English daily reported that this would affect the quality of service of doctors since they have to communicate with both patients and their peers as well.

“It is not just a problem among medical undergraduates. We can detect similar problems with young doctors.

“With all due respect, it is apparent in hospitals when they do their presentations and converse with their peers and seniors. “English is a common language for medicine. Most of the time, we have to publish journals and present in English. It would be bad for us if we cannot communicate our work properly,” Dr Raymond said.

He said more than 90% of journals were published in English, and citing his own experiences when he was studying medicine in Australia's Monash University, where all cases were presented in English.

“How do you expect them to comprehend medical theses and help patients if they cannot understand them in the first place?” he was quoted as saying.

The Star said Dr Raymond pointed out many medical students have excellent results on paper, but have problems expressing their views during interviews.

“When we conduct our interviews in public universities, most of their results look good on paper. But if we ask them to explain something, they will ask us whether they can answer in Malay. When we ask again in English, they will get stuck,” he said.

The Star reported on Monday that some 1,000 medical graduates have stopped becoming doctors, with their poor command of English being a main factor.

Other factors include lack of interest in basic medical training, poor communication skills with patients and frustration over working conditions.

The English daily also quoted National Heart Institute (IJN) consultant cardiologist Dr Shaiful Azmi Yahya as expressing concern over the high drop out rate due to lack of English proficiency, noting that doctors needed good command of the language to further excel in their work.

However, he conceded that poor English skills were not confined to Malaysia, saying that other non-English speaking nationalities also face the same problem.

“There are many doctors who have ideas they want to share with the audience but when they present, their English is so bad that the audience cannot understand them.

“I went to a conference and there were Koreans and Japanese doctors who took part. When we tried to respond to their presentations, they could not understand what we had asked,” he was quoted as saying.

Dr Saiful graduated from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1994, and said medicine was taught in English.

“Most of our lecturers then were Malaysians, although we did have the exception of one Myanmar and one English professor.

“We used international textbooks and journals. We did have some translated books and I remember a physiology book that was in Malay.

“During study group sessions, we used Malay and English but during examinations, we would still have to answer in English,” he told The Star.

Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan said ongoing efforts were being taken to further improve the usage of the English language.

“I will be organising a dialogue with all stakeholders, non-governmental organisations and relevant organisations such as the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) who have been working closely with us,” he had said.

The Malaysian Insider had reported in June last year that employers were becoming increasingly dismayed by Malaysia's "generation Y" job seekers, due to their poor command of the English language and communication skills.

A survey by the Malaysian Employers Federation a few years ago found that 60% of them identified low English proficiency as the main problem with young recruits.

A similar survey conducted in September 2013 by online recruitment agency JobStreet.com found that 55% of participating senior managers and companies said poor command of the English language was the main reason for unemployment among undergraduates.

School leavers might have SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) English grades of A and B, but could not even hold a conversation in English, MEF executive director Datuk Shamsudin Bardan told The Malaysian Insider. – November 10, 2015.

Sources: The Malaysian Insiders

Poor English among doctors - Experts: Medical graduates can’t work well without good grasp of language

PETALING JAYA: The declining state of English proficiency is rearing its head in the medical fraternity.

Medical deans council of public universities chairman Prof Datuk Dr Raymond Azman Ali expressed concern over the poor command of the language among medical undergraduates and new doctors.

“It is not just a problem among medical undergraduates. We can detect similar problems with young doctors.

“With all due respect, it is apparent in hospitals when they do their presentations and converse with their peers and seniors,” he said.

He said this would affect their services since doctors had to communicate with patients and their counterparts efficiently.

“English is a common language for medicine. Most of the time, we have to publish journals and present in English. It would be bad for us if we cannot communicate our work properly,” he added.

Dr Raymond said over 90% of the journals were published in English.

“How do you expect them to comprehend medical theses and help patients if they cannot understand them in the first place?” he asked.

Sharing his own experience when he studied medicine in Monash University, Australia, he said all his cases were presented in English.

“This definitely helped me to understand complex theories and present my papers in my final year.”

Dr Raymond said many medical students showed excellent credentials on paper but when interviewed, they had trouble expressing themselves.

“When we conduct our interviews in public universities, most of their results look good on paper. But if we ask them to explain something, they will ask us whether they can answer in Malay. When we ask again in English, they will get stuck,” he said.

On Monday, The Star reported that weak English was the main reason some 1,000 medical graduates had failed to become full-fledged doctors despite having completed a two-year housemanship in public hospitals.

National Heart Institute (IJN) consultant cardiologist Dr Shaiful Azmi Yahya expressed alarm over the high number who dropped out due to poor English.

He said medical doctors needed a good command of the language to excel in their field and it was not merely to understand medical references and textbooks.

“Doctors do travel and attend conferences in the course of their work,” he said. However, he noted that language problems were not exclusive to Malaysians as other non-English, native-speaking nationalities also faced the same hurdle.

“There are many doctors who have ideas they want to share with the audience but when they present, their English is so bad that the audience cannot understand them.

“I went to a conference and there were Koreans and Japanese doctors who took part. When we tried to respond to their presentations, they could not understand what we had asked,” he said.

The Daily Mail in Britain highlighted the case of Italian doctor Dr Alessandro Teppa, 45, who was banned from practising in Britain due to his bad English.

The report said that despite working as a urologist in Britain since 2012, Dr Teppa’s command of English was so poor that he posed “significant risks to patients”.

Dr Shaiful, who graduated from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1994, said he benefited from the system in UKM, where medicine was taught in English.

“Most of our lecturers then were Malaysians, although we did have the exception of one Myanmar and one English professor.

“We used international textbooks and journals. We did have some translated books and I remember a physiology book that was in Malay.

“During study group sessions, we used both Malay and English but during examinations, we would still have to answer in English,” he said.

Deputy Education Minister P. Kama­lanathan said ongoing efforts were being taken to further improve the English language.

“I will be organising a dialogue with all stakeholders, non-governmental organisations and relevant organisations such as the Perfor­mance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) who have been working closely with us,” he told reporters.

BY RAHIMY RAHIM, NURBAITI HAMDAN, JOASH EE DE SILVA, andVINCENT LIAN The Star

Poor English stops medical grads - 1,000 students drop out due to poor command of the language

Medical graduates finding it hard to cope in their professional field and their inability to communicate in English is one of the reasons. - posed by models

MALACCA: Poor command of English has put paid to the ambition for some 1,000 medical graduates to become doctors despite having completed a two-year housemanship in public hospitals.

Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Malacca chapter president Prof Dr M. Nachiappan said these trainee doctors could not cope with the pressure of continuing to be a full-fledged doctor.

“Despite having completed their housemanship last year, they are no longer keen to be doctors.

“The main reason was poor grasp of English. This is not good for the medical fraternity and does not augur well for the nation if stakeholders do not execute some plans to improve the standard of English,” he said.

Dr Nachiappan said other contributing factors were lack of interest in basic medical training, poor relationship skills with patients and frustration due to working condition. He said without proficiency in English, medical students would find it difficult to keep pace with their peers from other nations.

“There must be an urgency to improve the grasp of the language at the primary level. Otherwise, the quality of doctors will go downhill,” he said.

“There must be an urgency to improve the grasp of the language at the primary level. Otherwise, the quality of doctors will go downhill,” he said.

Dr Nachiappan, who is also the deputy dean of Melaka Manipal Medical College, said medical schools were also facing difficulties in churning quality medical graduates due to lack of exposure in English.

He said this was evident with the poor results obtained by medical students when pursuing their stu­dies in universities and medical colleges.

“The quality of our students are compromised due to their inabilities to communicate in English,” he said, adding that most reference books on medicine and lectures were delivered in English.

Earlier, he met a group of 11 Parents-Teachers Association chairmen who were unhappy that the Education Ministry had omitted their schools from the privilege of implementing the dual language programme (DLP).

They have been lobbying for teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) policy since 2009.

The group’s spokesman Mak Chee Kin said they had been fighting hard to be part of the DLP for six years.

“It is unfair to us as some secondary schools which have objected to PPSMI are included.

“We hope our plight will be considered by the ministry. As parents, we felt English is crucial for the future of our children,” he said, adding that all three criteria – adequate English teachers, sufficient resources and consent from parents – were met.

The schools were SM St Francis, SM St David, SM Catholic, SM Notterdam, SM Yok Bin, SM Gajah Berang, Chinese High School, SM Pulau Sebang, SM Infant Jesus Convent, SM Canossa Convent and Methodist Girl School.

BY R.S.N. MURALI The Star

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‘Students aren’t keen on learning’

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Give serious thought to working hours of housemen

Quality first, not quantity

Malaysian property market is still 'sparkling'

Away from the city: Developers are now turning to more affordable areas outside the Klang Valley like Negri Sembilan.

Continuing an examination of the property sector post Budget 2016, Sunday Star discovers that, despite high prices, investors remain upbeat because demand for property continues to outstrip supply many times over.

INVESTOR Ahyat Ishak says for the rakyat, property prices are “beyond annoying”.

They see all these new properties springing up – but, he points out, these are not “rumah mampu milik” (affordable houses) and are only “rumah mampu tengok” (houses you can look at but not own) for most of us because of the high prices.

“Property has become something of a bad taste in the mouth and people have become negative. And the market feels negative even though property prices continue to rise,” he says.

Although there is this “huge disconnect” between what’s being built and what people can buy, many developers continue to “defy gravity”.

“They do business as usual and offer properties beyond afforda­bility,” says Ahyat, who runs workshops for potential property investors and is the author of the 2013 bestseller, The Strategic Property Investor. Dr Daniele Gambero, a marketing and strategic consultant for developers, says over the past few years developers have been over-delivering high-end, high-cost properties.

Towards the end of last year, however, they started developing more affordable areas further out from Kuala Lumpur, such as south, east and west of the city within the Klang Valley, as well as in places like Semenyih near Selangor’s border with Negri Sembilan and Nilai, Negri Sembilan.

Gambero says most of the big property developers in the country have had launches in these areas, quoting as an example, Malaysian Vision Valley, a 108,000ha development extending from Nilai to Port Dickson in Negri Sembilan.

He notes that developers have been buying up land in these areas at affordable prices like RM15 to RM25 per square foot compared with several hundred, or even several thousand, ringgit they would have to pay for land in the Klang Valley or KL.

At such prices, he points out, developers can actually build affordable houses of say 1,600sq ft to 1,800sq ft, which are reasonable sizes for families, and which are in such high demand.

“But instead of doing that, one of the things I find a bit funny is that developers have been building huge homes of 2,500sq ft to 3,000sq ft.”

Doing the math, Gambero points out that a 1,600sq ft house selling at RM300 per square foot would come up to RM480,000, but a 3,000sq ft house at RM300 per square foot would cost a whopping RM900,000.

“So unfortunately, developers have again brought the end house price to an unaffordable level!” says Gambero who is the CEO of the REI group of companies and who is an Italian expatriate who has been in Malaysia for almost two decades.

He has been doing extensive research on per capita income, household income, and the value of affordable homes in both Selangor and KL, which represents one-third of the country’s population and says that, “If you get it right here, then you can replicate it in other areas”.

He breaks the figures down into categories.

There is this ‘huge disconnect’ between what’s being built and what people can buy, yet developers ‘defy gravity’. - Ahyat Ishak

For Selangor, he estimates the need for low-cost houses is relatively low as only 8.2% households need houses that costs RM120,000 and below, while the figure in KL is 6.2 %.

The majority of households (63.6% in Selangor and 61.6% in KL) can afford houses priced between RM260,000 and RM600,000 (see chart for break down).

Gambero notes that only 15.4% in Selangor and 16.3% in KL can afford houses above RM500,000 up to a maximum of RM700,00.

“But if you look at what the big property guys are offering, most of the houses are above RM600,000. It doesn’t make sense,” says Gambero.

And, he points out, banks are no longer providing 90% financing for these huge houses because of overpricing.

“Banks are not stupid. They have been doing their homework and they have been coming up with the same conclusion that I have been coming up with, which is that there is going to be an oversupply of big homes and you (developers) are not going to clear your stock.”

Gambero points out that in the last three to four years, more than 60% to 65% of the supply of houses that developers built have been directed toward the top 20% of Malaysians who hold 40% of the country’s wealth.

“These are the people who can afford to buy whatever the market is throwing at them.”

But what about the rest?

You don’t hear of prices dropping. Because demand is 10 to 20 times higher than the supply of homes. - Dr Daniele Gambero

Prices won’t drop

Adrian Un has been involved in a number of property launches.

And he says that it is not true the property sector has been lacklustre.

One has to just look at all the pictures on Facebook and other social media sites to see that there are still a lot of people queuing up to buy properties.

“These are actually people queuing up to buy. I have seen huge numbers placing their cheques to buy. Whether they are first time buyers or not, we don’t know. But the situation is not as bad as being portrayed in the media or as claimed by the developers.

“The buying sentiment for units costing from RM300,000 to RM800,000 is still pretty much positive,” says Un who is the CEO and cofounder of Skybridge International, a property education and investment company.

But with everyone saying property prices are now sky-high, are there still properties out there going for RM300,000 or RM400,000?

Un says developers have been building small shoebox units of about 450sq ft to 600sq ft to entice Gen Y people to enter into the property market. These are priced between RM300,000 and RM500,000 and are often near the LRT and other amenities.

“So even if it is RM700 per square foot, a young graduate earning RM3,000 calculates it based on his affordability to pay the instalment. So he sees it as being quite affordable because the absolute entry level is RM400,000.

“A lot of the Gen Y have been on a learning curve on how to be a millionaire.

The Gen Y see owning a property as an investment. It also gives them bragging rights. - Adrian Un

“They are starting off early to be financially free and see owning a property as an investment. It also gives them bragging rights,” he says.

So these small units are still very much in demand and selling, he says, even though the rental might not be enough to cover the loan instalment.

“It’s already happening now. Demand for these units (to rent) is not big in numbers. Buyers would have to lower their expectation on the rent. So over the next one or two years, it is going to be a renters’ market. And it still boils down to location – if you are within 12km to 15km of the city, and there is a good infrastructure hub with the LRT and amenities like a shopping mall and hospital nearby, I don’t think it will be that bad,” he says.

It is the higher end properties priced at RM1mil and above which are struggling, says Un.

He says sales for these have been slow because many investors have already chalked up a lot of loans over the last four to five years for properties, so it is not as easy to secure more financing to buy another.

For Un, it is the secondary market that is going to struggle next year.

This is because there is a mismatch of perception between owner and buyer: the owner is positive the price of his house, even though it might be old, has climbed substantially but the buyer will not be willing to pay that price because he has an alternative to go to, which is the primary market to buy a new house.

Un agrees that banks are very careful when giving out loans these days. Instead of one valuation quote for the property, he says, most banks now demand for quotes from two valuers. “Valuers are very cautious. They are professionals, so I don’t think they are willing to give the offered price for a new housing area that has just been completed.

“Once a house is completed and the seller asks for a sky high price, the valuers will not justify his asking price.”

But says Un, even with the mismatch, the price of landed semi-detached properties and bungalows will not drop.

He reckons to have bought a house priced at more than RM1mil, the buyer would need an income of at least RM15,000 a month to qualify for the loan, and logically the buyer would have to be at least 28 years old to earn that kind of money. So at that age, he says, the buyer would probably have understood how borrowing costs work before making the purchase and would have the holding power.

“He will hold it until the market recovers,” he says.

Optimistic about the economy

Two weeks ago, Budget 2016 was tabled in Parliament.

With regards to housing, there was no change in the measures already in place to curb property speculation, such as real property gains tax (RPGT) rates and prohi­biting developers from offering the Developers Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS).

For Un, there was not a single exciting thing for the housing industry in the budget. But this is not unexpected, he says, because the industry was not anticipating any freebies or goodies anyway.

He says the measures implemented over the last two years have “somewhat worked” to cool down property prices “a bit”.

“For the government to do away with the RPGT or actually come back to DIBS now will create some kind of uproar among the public.

“I don’t think they want to be in the bad books of the public,” he says.

So naturally, he says, “affordable housing” was the main property sector element in the budget, devised to please the people.

Ahyat, however, has a more upbeat take on Budget 2016 for the housing sector.

He says while there was nothing big for the housing sector itself, there are huge plans for development and infrastructure.

He loves that RM5bil has been allocated to develop Malaysian Vision Valley and that RM7bil has been earmarked for developing a KL International Airport “Aeropolis”.

He feels “vindicated” that RM11bil is being pumped into Cybercity Centre in Cyberjaya because, while other investors shy away from Cyberjaya, he is one of the few who see potential there.

For him, the MRT II Sungai Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya line coming up, which will be completed in 2022; the LRT 3 line from Bandar Utama to Johan Setia, Klang, which will be ready in 2020; and the KL-Klang Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) are exciting. There are also plans to build new hospitals and upgrade airports, he points out.

He says these are clever ways to spur growth, although it does not solve the massive problem of spiralling house prices and income levels that do not rise as fast to keep up.

“The budget is not a magic tool to fix problems. It is the Government’s forecasted expenditure,” he says.

Ahyat says he likes to “sniff” at the direction of development.

“I follow the infrastructure and investment. The moment they talk about billions in development, I stop, take a look and follow the money (to invest).”

Gambero’s first impression when reading Budget 2016 was that it was like an “economic crisis budget” where “you keep low, try to find shelter, stay put and wait for the next year to pass”.

But after reading through it for the third time, he finds it a “pretty decent” populist budget.

It is good, he says, that Sabah and Sarawak are getting funds to complete their long-awaited Pan Borneo highway, and that there are incentives, subsidies, and tax exemptions in the budget that will put more money in the pockets of the people.

“Increasing the welfare of the bottom 60% of the rakyat will definitely spur, in the medium term, the housing market. They might find enough money to buy a long-awaited home.”

Gambero sees the Malaysian Vision Valley development as “just the opening chapter of a totally new history of infrastructure for the southern corridor” and he loves the BRT because, unlike trains, buses are flexible and can go anywhere.

For him, Malaysia’s economic fundamentals are in the right place.

He says the GDP is quite steady although this has decreased a bit, the unemployment rate is still very much under control, foreign reserves are still very high, the economy is still developing, and the current account balance is still positive even though crude oil prices have dropped.

He says most international agencies have given Malaysia a positive outlook even though Malaysians themselves like to “cry and look down on the country”.

“The worst thing right now is the political instability. That is not a small joke.

“We have this political uncertainty about the future. A lot of laymen are asking ‘what if’ and ‘what comes next’ and saying that ‘if the Opposition takes over, the country will be a mess’, and ‘if Umno keeps ruling the country there is a big question mark about the future’, and ‘who is going to rule Umno? Do you choose someone based on loyalty or capability?

Despite all this uncertainty, Gambero remains optimistic about the economy.

“We have to take shelter for the next three to six months, but some shy signs of recovery are already visible.

“It will be more visible after Chinese New Year. The general feeling is that after the Chinese New Year, consumer confidence will begin rising and the housing sector will start moving ahead again.”

He says Malaysia’s under-supply of houses is still high compared with general demand.

He points out that even though developers have been experien­cing negative sales in the last few months and that there are a number of uncompleted sales with buyers pulling out because of uncertainty and perception, developers are still not dropping prices.

“There has been a big fall in the number of transactions in property this year but prices are still stable. You don’t hear of prices dropping. Because demand is 10 to 20 times higher than the supply of homes.”

He reckons Malaysia has at least another seven to eight years of a “sparkling” property market.

By Shahanaaz Habid, The Star/|Asia News Network