Indonesians better off than local Indians
by unknown
The Govt's announcement (26th February 2007) of its intention to build schools for 34,000 Indonesian children was applauded by the Indonesian Govt who called Malaysia its "very good friend". Not only do we provide jobs for MILLIONS of Indonesians, we will also provide quality education for free with better facilities than they enjoy back home in Indonesia.
To me, this is somewhat a surprise. The 9th Malaysia Plan provided no allocation for the building of any more vernacular Chinese and Tamil schools and when MCA youth officials questioned the absence of allocation, UMNO youth's Datuk Hashim Bin Suboh from Perlis (at the last UMNO Gen Assembly) asked Datuk Hishammudin what he was going to do next with the Keris now that he had unsheathed it, kissed it and waved it about. He was suggesting that the MCA's demands for the construction of Chinese schools be handled by more than just verbal debate.
Every single unspent Ringgit earned by the Indonesians are remitted back home whereas the wealth of Malaysia 's citizens are reinvested in the country. The Govt machinery runs on taxation income derived from its citizens but spent on the children of Indonesian immigrants who incidentally according to Police statistics account for 33% of all crime in the nation.
The real losers in this scenario are members of the Indian community. Particularly the uneducated who are deprived of the same level of educational opportunity as the children of Indonesian immigrants. And now with free and better education, we can expect even more Indonesians to come over to Malaysia as public education in Indonesia is not cheap. With the population of Indonesians already exceeding the number of Indians in the country, one wonders if there is a hidden agenda to dilute the population mix any further.
How many "Indonesian Malaysians" are currently enjoying Bumiputra benefits? How many of them are already enjoying Govt sponsorships and aid for various reasons? The answers are a well kept secret.
The MIC youth leaders were lamenting the fate of Indians in the country recently. Because of public prejudice against Indians, employers were reluctant to employ them. The police have a habit of indiscriminately arresting every Indian youth insight every time a crime occurs and keeping them in lock up for days. As a result, the youth are reluctant to return to work, unable to explain their absence. Those who do are pressured out of employment when the reason for their absence is revealed. The number of uninvestigated deaths of Indian youth in Police lock ups around the country is rising. And the MIC is looking more disempowered by the day.
The racial polarization caused by UMNO's superiority complex is creating a stronger spirit of protectionism among the Chinese which doesn't help the fate of Indians in Malaysia. Malaysia has forgotten the contribution of its Indian citizenry. Recently, the Selangor state Govt evicted 43 Indian families who had occupied a plot of Govt land in Kuala Selangor for over 80 years. Their appeal for a stay of the eviction order was denied by the Chief Minister of Selangor who incidentally is the son of
an Indonesian immigrant.
I write to appeal to you all to stop thinking of the Indian underclass as somebody else's problem. Indians are intelligent, hard working and loyal. But the level of frustration, lack of confidence and lack of entrepreneurship among them is the result of the selfishness of the Govt. With collective contribution of society, this can all change.
It must be noted the public universities in this country have always been subjected to the mercy of the executive and lately, their own burgeoning administration.
ReplyDeleteThere is a general distrust of academicians in this country by the powers-that-be, and they (the university lecturers) are cultivated to be opportune mouthpieces of the government rather than viewed as a nurturer of an increasingly knowledge-based global society.
Due to the dependency of these institutions of higher learning on the government (for both research and operation funding), academicians find themselves in a difficult spot when they try to offer their own critical views on national matters.
The current level of public discourse in this country still revolves around 'who' said what rather than 'what' was said. Therefore, academic titles come in handy for the persuasion and influencing the other members of the society.
There is a need to look deeper for the rot that's slowly exposing generations of bright young Malaysians to its decay.
Yes, we need a reform in our national education system, but we have to agree and commit to a starting point. There is simply too much political interference in our education and its devastating results are beginning to show. Whither go the autonomy, integrity and quality of our institutions of higher learning?
You cannot have public universities as degree mills and expect to excel. The cheapening of the local certification is a serious issue, and we must never whore our academicians to satisfy political brownie points.
Don't make national education policies by hamming together phrases but instead set time- measured outcomes and realistic goals.
I feel that the prime minister should take this opportunity to make a high-profile sacking of the higher education minister. He might not be guilty for the mess which he most probably inherited.
However, Pak Lah needs to make an example out of someone sometime. So, it might be a grand idea to slaughter a chicken to warn the monkey. A strong and decisive move by Pak Lah now would signal that he means business and is committed to education reform.
Malaysia seems to be going the opposite direction by getting rid of good talent and creating an environment which is not conducive to attracting top talent.
Perhaps an even bigger loss to the country and its public universities is not the talent that it is getting rid off or the foreign talent that it would not be able to recruit, but the fact that many Malaysians who are doing their PhDs abroad would be further dissuaded from coming back to teach and contribute to the Malaysian academia.
Many of these researchers would be 'lost' to Malaysia as the possibility of them returning to work back home is almost negligible especially after they have tasted the benefits of working at a leading university abroad - the salary, research resources, perks, good colleagues and not the least, the academic freedom.
Although outrage is the order of the day, we should not be surprised at all by this sorry state of affairs. What we are witnessing here is the underlying national policy of the Umno-led government. While the race factor seems to be picked up on the most, a deeper reason behind this is to remove any trace of intellectual ability and critical thinking from all national institutions.
And to our beloved prime minister who only recently spoke volumes on how important it is to lure back our foreign-based professionals, may you realise that the vast majority will now think twice before returning to apply their 'first-world' skills in an environment with a festering 'third-world' mentality.
As a budding academic myself, I will certainly not even consider applying my skills in Malaysia.
Malaysia Boleh? Indeed.
Perhaps this is part of a consistent and coherent strategy by the administrators to maintain an environment mired in mediocrity even as the rest of the world passes them by.
I called my newfound friend earlier who works in Singapore. Somehow, the conversation ended up on Malaysians holding top positions in Singapore.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have a good friend who is currently working with a top-notch investment company in Singapore. When my new friend found out, immediately said, "No wonder that Pak Lah person was mentioning about the brain drain in Malaysia!"
Well, I know a lot of doctors and scientists are working overseas. A number of my school alumni are actually working overseas and not in Malaysia. Some are doing well in Boston, London, to name a few. It is even funnier to hear stories of some of my school alumni to accidentally meet each other when they are overseas. Yes, my school is guilty for contributing to the brain drain……….
Closer to home, I wonder if Pak Lah knows about our own Malaysian companies that are also contributing to the brain drain. No name mentioned, but I know of one company, due to the change in business process has forced a number of the disgruntled staff to leave the company.
The worse thing, these staff left and joined the competitors that are not Malaysian owned. And even worse, some staff actually decided to leave Malaysia and work at greener pastures.
They could have stayed in Malaysia, but no company in Malaysia could afford to pay the expected salary due to the staff being former scholars and studied overseas during the economic crisis.
Sad really. Now wonder why Pak Lah has an uphill task.
By 2010, Singapore will be transformed into the first totally wireless and wired country in the world with the new ultra fast-speed 'National Broadband Network' reaching 90% of households there.
ReplyDeleteTo make it happen, the private sector has been invited to partner the government in this bold project.
Work at home. Make home nice, put in camera and etc. No need to travel. Won't bother the petrol price at all.
If it take 2010 for Singapore, how long it take for Malaysia? Dreaming!
Having said that, reason Singapore now pushing what they called Fiber To The Home (FTTH) as many country pushing, is because they never have to spend on - stuff like RM100 million for smart schools that is not so smart.
Only when a government is truly clean and committed, then such mega projects can be realised.
With Bolehland government 'third world mentality but almost first world facility', such project will always be a dream only. Multimedia Super Corridor is one good example.
Is very sad that Singapore don't have to declare a Multimedia Super Corridor, and yet they can convert the whole island such a super-duper.
Instead of Cyberjaya, why not we take Penang island to benchmark with Singapore island? An apple to apple; island to island comparison.
But as of today, the silicon rush era has over, Penang island is still backwards than it was in the 1960s. In those days, Penang was very very busy.
Was education center for overseas Chinese, was named the pearl of the orient, was tourists center among South East Asia. Is over the millennium now, the previous glamour has far gone to the drains, it yet struggle with its 1960s hardware and software.
Old traffic system, trishaws still available at harbour area, riding with congested and yet congesting slow moving Penang style of relax driving streets.
People who admire beautiful Penang as in it 1960s moved in from other towns, and rules Penang. And, the original Penang people have already moved out of Penang. What a migration! Yes, it does have Komtar, Penang Bridge, but in tourists eyes, that can't shine the faded pearl, not a place for enjoy and vacation.
Now, Penang is meeting its end of silicon rush era, what else can Penang to shines again besides struggling with old infrastructure! I think, Penang chief need to think seriously, with Pak Lah help, just like Mahathir helping Langkawi.
Penang should be able to shine again if it embrace truly this knowledge generation era and new digital superhighway broadband will provide Penang a better competitive edge, and be shinning again.
The truth is, Penang has been under developing for too long, it is time to evolve again.
This country is only good in using adjectives like 'Boleh' as Malaysia Boleh, 'Smart' as Smart schools and 'Super' as Multimedia Super Corridor, what else do they really know?
I give up!
If anybody who thinks that corruption and racial discrimination is not wrong then there will be nothing that is wrong.
ReplyDeleteThis is what actually happening in Umno. They love the two evils:
(i) corruption to enrich themselves (ii) racial discrimination to make them feel good and superior to other races (when they do not know that they still need to be spoon fed and the tongkat) and deceive the poor kampung folks that they are heroes to their race who keep on voting for them.
They are actually robbing the country by making everybody poorer, malays and other races alike. Petrol prices are raised with hundred and one excuse, and tolls are raised without any transparency, and everything has gone up making the poor becoming poorer.
I do not see anything that they can be proud of, and nothing superior about them. Even to rob, they are all given assistance and tongkat to do it by having two set of laws, one for them and one for the ordinary citizens.
The prime minister was quoted earlier to have said that the Barisan Nasional has fulfilled its election promises with the unveiling of the 9th Malaysia Plan. Here is a list comparing the BN 2004 Election Manifesto and what has transpired since then.
ReplyDeleteI urge the prime minister to re-read his own manifesto before making grandiose but fraudulent proclamations.
On corruption and abuse of power, the manifesto said:
· BN will continue the all-out campaign against corruption, without fear or favour.
The reality -
· "Umno does not intend to report the cases to the ACA. We have our own mechanism." - Radzi Ahmad, Umno secretary-general, on money politics in Umno.
On economy, the manifesto said:
· Your opinions and views continue to matter as Barisan Nasional endeavours to implement people centred policies.
The reality -
· "I hope the public will not question the money saved………." - Prime Minister Badawi, March 17, 2006, on the RM4.4 billion saved from fuel subsidies.
On education, the manifesto said:
· Barisan Nasional has worked hard to provide universal access to education. We will……….foster student interaction to enhance national unity.
The reality -
· "I will never allow non-bumis to enter UiTM. I will ensure that the percentage of malay students given places at public universities will always be higher than the percentage under the previous quota system." - then Higher Education Minister Dr Shafie, Umno General Assembly 2004.
On human rights and freedom, the manifesto said:
· Barisan Nasional safeguards the interests of all citizens. We listen to and act on the hopes and aspirations of all groups regardless of age, ethnic, gender, and religion.
The reality -
· "We will not think twice about using this law against anyone who incites - that is why we still need the Sedition Act and ISA (Internal Security Act)." - Nazri Aziz, March 20, 2006.
On parliament and democracy, the manifesto said:
· Barisan Nasional is strongly committed to parliamentary democracy, which gives each citizen a say in the administration of this nation.
The reality -
· "We used the whip (once) so they had to follow, now it is the same………." - Nazri Aziz, Dec 21, 2005, on the forcing of women BN senators to vote for the Islamic Family Law bill.
On religion and culture, the manifesto said:
· BN upholds the diversity of religious practice, language and culture.
The reality -
· "Members of uniformed services, including the police, must abide by the regulations on the wearing of their uniforms." - Badawi, March 27, 2006, on the compulsory wearing of the tudung by non-Muslim policewomen during official functions.
Congratulations to you who have found happiness in your adopted country. You have made the wise decision indeed to emigrate, and surely you and your family are enjoying every moment in of it in your newly adopted country.
ReplyDeleteYou are very right. There is a will, there is a way!
Time for a life is limited, and we just can't screw around. Instead of grousing around and doing nothing, you have taken positive steps to achieve what you want.
To emigrate or not is basically a personal choice. You decide your own destination. Best luck to you!
Before I decided to apply for emigration, I did have the same thinking like you. I was not rich with four kids, I am 100% Chinese educated. I did not give up, I collected a lot of information through Internet, and I talked to those pioneers who came back for vacation.
Finally, I applied for emigration and gone through an assessment plus an English test. I emigrated to Australia two years ago and settled down quite well.
There are many different categories for you to apply, it is not necessary you have to be rich. Do not simply give up. Do not blame on other people, or you are a real loser..........
In the animal kingdom, animals migrate for food and water. Similarly looking at the history, migration actually is a natural process in which mankind has continuously looked for greener pasture. Very few countries (maybe none) actually maintain pure single race especially at this age of modern transportation, and the world is getting very small.
I am sure you can't emigrate just by telling the Australian immigration that you like their country so much and you were treated badly by Malaysia, at least not legally.
Alas, not everyone is that lucky. Migrating to a first world country is not easy (why should it be?). Most importantly, you need to have money. I am sure most of you started off your journey away from home with a tertiary education at a university in your adopted country. How many people in Malaysia can afford to send their children to study overseas?
No doubt things are bad back home in Malaysia, especially those who are not born with the right skin color. Given the chance, I am sure all the unprivileged ones would like to move away forever and forget about the mess back home.
For those who have emigrated, farewell and goodbye. We do what we can and enjoy life in every moment we have.
Malaysia is the only country that telling the truth will cause civil disorder. Everything that is said is either:
ReplyDelete1. cannot be verified
2. half truth
3. lies
4. outdated
5. not allowed to be verified
6. not allowed to be legally bound
7. not allowed to be legally challenged
8. not legally binding
9. etc etc……….
I totally disagree - Dr Mahathir was definitely wrong about spending. Mahathir's government drastically overspent during his 22 years in power. Badawi is now struggling to solve the problems that Mahathir left behind. He will need another few years of cutting government spending, reducing the budget deficit and finally balancing the books.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he is doing enough and I doubt he will be able to restore the economy. He lacks the courage to confront all the vested interests.
Mahathir biggest mistake was to spend too much, and worse, to spend on the wrong things. Spending for the sake of spending is sheer wastage with little returns on investment. Examples are the Twin Towers, Proton, Perwaja, the F1 circuit, etc.
He should have spent on funding our rubber products industry, the oil palm products industry, the furniture industry, etc. Spend on things that increase our competitiveness and productivity in areas where we have a natural advantage. I hope Badawi does not repeat this mistake.
The person mentioned that we should be proud of the Twin Towers, signifying one of the achievements of the BN government.
Here, the Petronas Twin Towers was designed by a New York architectural firm, one of its towers was built by a Korean construction company, and the other tower simultaneously built by a Japanese construction company.
The landscape of the KLCC park was designed by a Brazil man. The elevators are supplied by an American company. Most of the workers are Indonesians and other foreigners. Now, what are we supposed to be proud of?
Is BN supporter saying that we should be proud of the BN government using Petronas money to build the towers? Isn't that sheer wastage, considering that today we are staring at rising oil prices and reduction of petrol subsidies? Is he still proud?
We must realise here the big picture that as a company, Petronas should maximise its returns on shareholders funds, unfettered with the social obligation of having to subsidise petrol users.
Petronas should be given a free hand to do their job, which is maximising return to shareholders, without any interference from the government or the prime minister. The profit it makes should be returned to all shareholders (all of us, Malaysians) in the form of dividends.
I have no beef if some or all of the dividends are given to the government on our behalf to spend on welfare, housing or cash subsidies (social welfare payments, income top-ups) for the poor, the pensioners, the low-income group and the disabled.
Most of us rightly grumble about the petrol price increase, but do we realise that our incomes could have been much higher and comparable with Singapore and other western countries if we didn't waste our precious resources on mega-projects to line the pocket of cronies?
The duty of the government and the civil servants is to serve the people and do what is in the best interest of its citizens.
Bravo to who rightly argued that petrol subsidy is classified as consumption and we should spend more money on education and health, which could be classified as investment in our future.
Use your brain to think why the non-malays want to emigrate?
ReplyDeleteI got a PR in Australia and Singapore, they even treat me better than my home country in Malaysia whereby all the illegal Muslim immigrants from Indonesia and Philippines obtained Mycard so easily, and become bumis directly especially in Sabah.
They are more than one million aliens with Mycard and bumis status.
Mahathir tirades against the present government and its leadership is to create a distraction from his many failed policies and the cronyism he practised. Malaysians should not be fooled, Mahathir worked well with his many crony friends. This is the name of the game.
ReplyDeleteWe should bring back the law that tried to introduce in parliament years ago, a law allowing for past leaders to be prosecuted for misdeeds they had perpetrated during their rule to amass tremendous wealth.
Top leaders in Japan and South Korea have been prosecuted and Indonesia Suharto is still not out of the woods yet.
So people, wake up. The current spat between Mahathir and Pak Lah is just a distraction. We must be vigilant in our efforts to prosecute those who have stolen from the masses.
Mahathir attacks are merely another way of asking what happened to all his cronies contracts. Pak Lah must stay strong and reveal every contract and payments in the past that have today bankrupted the country.
Or we can follow our Indonesian brothers and become one of the most corrupted countries in Asia.
Mahathir has had the key to this cave for 22 years and his band of thieves has been making a comfortable living off it. Now with the key in Pak Lah hand for three years, Mahathir band of thieves are really getting quite hungry again.
Pak Lah and his new and young band of rascals are now beginning to enjoy the bounty of Ali Baba's cave. Both Mahathir band and Pak Lah posse are dirty and we are now waiting to see how dirty and down they will get. Whoever wins, the country will be robbed blind.
This talk about fighting for country, race and religion are all bull. This fight is about money with a capital Mahathir. It is not about policy or how to help the malays. The race and religious issues are only tools these people use to keep them in power. There is only a sideshow to keep us blind.
Have we have forgotten about the billions that Mahathir cronies have siphoned from the Ali Baba cave. The whole Umno government system is about gaining the position to hold the key to Ali Baba cave. There are big caves and small caves.
Mahathir said that we are not good negotiators as the government always ends up with the short end of the stick. The truth is we are not bad negotiators but corrupted negotiators. Those in the position to make decisions are paid off so that we get bad terms.
The small caves are those in control of the city and town councils. It is so clear that this is a case of corruption. I guess we are so used to it that we have accepted as the norm.
What can we the ordinary people do? Use your vote wisely the next time around. Your vote counts, believe me.
I strongly feel that Mahathir is very upset about the construction of the crooked bridge to our country which Pak Lah and the other ministers had scrapped. If your government has decided that it is for the good of the people then let it be.
Why is Mahathir now saying that he will stop his tirade against the government if the project is restarted? I simply do not understand. Maybe the government should investigate if Mahathir is linked to the companies involved in the project.
Mahathir has to look at himself in the mirror before he says things about others. He too, has covered up many things during his days as prime minister. However, the government and even the people of Malaysia did not get to the bottom these incidents but chose to 'forgive and forget' instead.
I sincerely hope that Mahathir will seek his own path in retirement and leave the rest to his successor. It is already the 21st century and he has to understand that the people of Malaysia are not like the ones before.
They are more aware, have studied more and know what is fact and what is not. If the government of the day really can't carry out the duties they are entrusted to, the citizens will know how to get rid of them in the next election.
Me, as a Bumiputera here in Malaysia do noticed that the indonesian are better off than local indians. The problems is there lied on the form when they applying for ptptn loans and scholarships. I remember having 1 indonesian classmates that lied to the school administration in order to get SPBT ( Text Books Loan Scheme ). There was once those indon kantoi by my class teacher, she got a good scold about it. Shes a malay anyway. Well, i do thinks its totally unfair, and i believe most of bumiputera malays thinks it is unfair to give such loans to indonesian.
ReplyDeleteI rather wish my chinese friends to have it. In fact, the indonesian always potrayed themselves as something that is bigger and better than the malays and they always underestimate us. Its not like i dont like indonesian, but, i rather want my fellow malaysian to get the chance because they are malaysian and i want them to be proud of being one.
I definitely understand that our current government did a poor job on making sure of this country prosper all the time. Thats why the disappointment among the non-bumi's are overwhelmed. I do believed that the non-bumi's can cari makan without the help from the government. So, its all about our government performance. You dont get enough privilleges and of course all of you want better medical facilities, low cost of living, higher salaries or in short a much better life.
Eventhough i have a very little on confidence on Pak Lah, but i am sure that hes doing his best to rectified Dr M's mistakes.
I hope that the non-bumi's can wait a little longer for a new and much better generation of Malays. Many, if not most of the new generation of Malays are more open, and not as stupid as the earlier generation who are corrupted and can only come out with some crappy ideas such as making teh tarik in space or sponsoring some new stupid expedition to the north pole.
Well, here some of my humble ideas, to have a win-win situation in Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, all the subsidiaries for bumiputera and non-bumiputera, should be used to subsidies our petrol, foods and raw products, electricity, water, medical facilities ,and all other basic things in our life.
the cost of living will be much lower, people will have more money to spend, their lifes will be much better.
Those money will be used to buy other things that can improved their own life. I think all of already know this.
and for corruption, those money must be used to pay public servant, the more money they get, the lesser the risk on getting involved in corruption.
For education, just unite everything. Just, stop la all the SJKC , SJKT or bla bla. Lets just have Private school and public school. Let just have Sekolah Kebangsaan and in this school, teach those kids to be a gentlement.If you kaya skit, send your children to private school.
For further education
Create some schemes, like KWSP, make it compulsary to all walking-talking pieces of human being in Malaysia to invest in it.
then, there will be no more jealousy bla bla bla, not equal, bla bla bla.
So,amacam guys? what do you think???
Last but not least, sorry la if it looks stupid. huhuhu
One more thing, i dont think indian are racist by the way. Most of them are nice, i got this dermatologist who worked in General Hospital by the name of Suganthi. She is very nice. She treated me quite sometimes now. But, i do afraid with some who looks like gangster but when i started to talk to them... they are so nice to.
ReplyDeleteFYI : i stayed in Malay community. In my placed theres only 1 indian family and no chinese stayed at my taman. So, i dont really know how to mixed with other races. Anyway, im hoping this racial tension to go away. It made me feel bad and it seems like theres nothing much i can do about it.