The One & Only Problem In Malaysia
Folks, who are we trying to fool? Ourselves? What for? Dan yang ramai sekali terlibat kesan negative “markah rendah” ini penuntut Melayu. Why? Because they are the majority lah. 65% – 70% of our population is Malay. In some Government schools, 98% – 100% of students are Malay. These are demographic realities. You cannot run away from facts.
By Syed Akbar Ali
Here is another story. A friend who comments often on this Blog, went to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to register a new persatuan. They asked him to fill all the forms, chop & sign everything, attach photocopies of IC, etc. Then he was told to drop off the application into a hole set up at the counter at the ROS. There was no “acknowledged received” etc. When he asked for an acknowledgement, the ‘don’t disturb me’ guy working at the counter said, “this is the new system, no need for acknowledgement, we will send you a letter. You can go now”.
So he went back and waited, for two months. Nothing happened. So he went back and asked them what happened. The same ‘don’t disturb me’ guy said they had no record of receiving any such application. So my friend flew into a tantrum and started yelling. So they said, ‘please fill up another set of borang, do the photocopies again and give it to us and we promise to get it done in two weeks. My friend yelled again, ‘you mean you must first lose my application, I must wait two months, then I come and beg and now you will process my application in two weeks?’
So this is what is happening over the counter at our Government departments. How do you fix this? Why not just follow how they do this in Finland, Iceland, North Korea, Singapore or maybe even in Ali Rustam’s Melaka? Apa susah sangat? If lets say in Melaka or Singapore they can get this done in 48 hours, why not we just follow them? Apa susah sangat?
Or maybe someone can tell the wife of the Prime Minister? So that she may tell her husband. I heard that is a quicker method of getting things done nowadays.
We will become worse than Zimbabwe in double quick time if we do not speed up the Government delivery system. And where is Pemandu & Pemudah? (do you realize that pemandu & pemudah rhymes with hisap candu & hisap dadah?)
Here is another story. My son and his college friends went to Pulau Ketam to take pictures and make some sketches of the place. They took the last commuter train back from the Klang Commuter station. It was the last train but the ticket counter was closed. So everyone (about 30 people) lined up at the ticket vending machine, which accepts coins. So everyone began running around looking for coins. Then they found out the machine was rosak – it would spit out all the coins. There were two uniformed KTM guys lepak-ing at the turnstiles. So naturally everyone went to the two guys and asked for help. The guys just said, ‘kena beratur, cuba mesin sekali lagi’. This went on for sometime (the train had not arrived either). Finally the boys called up another friend who picked them up by car. The fate of the remaining 30 passengers is not known. How did they get home that night. Did they just board the train without tickets? What system is this? Where are Pemandu and Pemudah? (it still rhymes with hisap candu & hisap dadah)
These things happen in our country everyday. I can safely say that this is the general state of the type of counter service at Government departments in our country. The exception being the Passport counter at the Immigration Department and some Government hospitals which provide excellent service. Biar saya ucapkan tahniah dan ribuan terima kasih. But minus these exceptions, overall it is not good. What are we doing to improve this situation? Shall we hire more “con”-sultans? Pemandu, Pemudah?
The same thing happens in the private sector. My other son and his friends went for lunch at a steak restaurant in Kuantan. They asked for ‘black pepper’. The girl looked puzzled, smiled and disappeared. After a while she came back with a newspaper. She thought they wanted the ‘paper’. So they explained again ‘saya nak lada hitam’. Again she disappeared for some time. A while later she came back with a small bowl of cut ‘cili padi in black kicap’.
The boys then started using hand gestures to explain the salt and pepper shaker. Finally the girl understood and reached behind a counter and got the pepper shaker. I have been to that same restaurant and the Bangla boys who also work there are exactly on the dot when taking orders and when you ask them for anything.
Here is another example. I once walked into a hardware shop to buy some ‘kayu panjang’ to string up some plants in our garden. I picked up about half a dozen pieces of the kayu which was quite long and would not fit into my Ford 4WD. So I asked them to cut the ‘kayu panjang’. There was a young boy there (possibly an SPM holder) and I told him ‘adik tolong potong bagi dua, sama panjang’. He had a Black & Decker power saw, a measuring tape, pencil, ruler everything (it was a hardware shop lah). I left him to cut the wood into two pieces and went to get nails etc. When I came back about ten minutes later he had cut the wood pieces into two, but all of unequal lengths. No two pieces were of the same length, some were as much as six inches off. When I asked him, he said he did cut the wood ‘sama panjang’ !
Folks here is another example. I go for walks sometimes at the Lake Gardens. Since I don’t wear a watch, often I ask someone for the time. I have noticed that when I ask the time from people who are wearing watches with hands (non digital) they often have problem telling the time quickly. Too many times I have heard them say ‘jam saya rosak’. They just cant tell the time fast enough. They cannot do the multiplication fast enough to say it is 6:35pm or 6:47pm. Only those wearing digital watches tell the time quickly. If you don’t believe me, try this experiment yourself. I am not kidding.
Here is another example. The air conditioning guys came to fix an air conditioner. They had to fix an exit pipe for the water to drip. They fixed the exit pipe sloping upward (instead of downward). Of course water cannot run uphill. My wife spotted the mistake and had to tell them to reposition the exit pipe so that the water could drain off. This took extra time and work (and money). You can lose your business if you make mistakes like that. But the boss is my friend so I keep going back to them, against my wife’s advice.
Once we renovated the bathroom. The contractor I called took about two months to complete the job. The kitchen area near the bathroom was a mess for two months. My wife was at her wits end. The guy I hired kept disappearing to his kampong. Although I paid him cash advances he did not pay his workers and he also did not buy the materials from the hardware shop (cement, bricks etc). I ended up supplying lunch for the workers so that at least they could work.
When we want to make renovations in our shop, I call my Chinese contractor. He charges top dollar but the work gets done and it is good. And he works overnite (until 4 am in the morning) because we have to open the shop for business by 10 am.
An elderly friend sent his old car to the workshop for some repair. The car did not come back for three months. The mechanic had to balik kampong, jatuh sakit, cuti and all kinds of excuses. If you take the car to the Chinaman mechanic, he will tell you almost exactly what time he will get it done, then he will call you and say ‘Boss, kereta sudah siap. Saya tutup pukul tujuh malam. Tolong mari ambil kereta’.
Both are equally competent in their technical skills. What makes the difference? The difference is in the the attitude. Why is the attitude so different? Is it because of the culture? Is it because of the religion? Has anyone done an objective study? We really have to think this through carefully. Because herein lies the real problem and hence the real solution for this country.
This is the general level of competence of our people everywhere. But please be aware, not all kids are like this. Budak Cina berumur 18 tahun pun berbeza sekali. Jadi apa bezanya? Ataupun kenapa depa beza sangat? Why don’t we really seriously study and make comparisons and make a real attempt at finding out what produces these “racial stereotypes”? Anyone who says there is no such thing as “racial stereotyping” is a dunggu. If you think otherwise don’t bother sending your comments here. Buang masa saja.
Most of the people I am talking about above here are school leavers, meaning SPM holders. But among them there are also STPM and Diploma holders. And also increasingly degree holders. And lets be frank, these are mostly Malay kids ok. Budak-budak kita. Please don’t take these examples lightly. What I am describing here are actually “poverty manufacturing issues”. This is how poverty is manufactured. This is how we become poor. When the general level of competence of our population at large is just so incompetent, we become poor. And we remain poor.
The vast majority of our future generation are SPM holders. Many are also PMR holders. But let us not get too excited with our SPM holders ok. One man who has been marking the SPM exam papers says that the passing marks for SPM Matematik can be as low as 15 marks !!!! This is really shocking. 15 markah saja boleh lulus Matematik SPM !
Can our YBs raise this matter when the Parliament Session starts in October. Ask the Minister of Education to give exact details about the minimum passing marks for all SPM subjects. Also ask what are the minimum marks for our SPM students to get an A? Lets be transparent. No hiding information. I think the situation is very, very bad. How else do you think the kids can score 17As, 15As or 12As? When I did the MCE (Malaysian Certificate of Education) in 1977, we were told that an A1 was 90 marks and above. A2 was 80 to 90 marks. Out of eight subjects I got 5As in Physics, Mathematics, two English subjects and Geography. Although I have not studied Geography any further until today I can recall what I learnt in Form 5 Geography. But nowadays the kids can get 17As in a jiffy because they only need 15 marks to pass Mathematics.
Folks, who are we trying to fool? Ourselves? What for? Dan yang ramai sekali terlibat kesan negative “markah rendah” ini penuntut Melayu. Why? Because they are the majority lah. 65% – 70% of our population is Malay. In some Government schools, 98% – 100% of students are Malay. These are demographic realities. You cannot run away from facts.
I don’t think I am too far off if I say that this is the general level of competence of our people. This is 2010. 50 years ago, there may not have been steak joints or DIY hardware shops in the country. But the world is just so super duper changing all the time. If we cannot keep up, we will become poor. I have blogged about Universal Studios in Singapore. They employ so few people for such a large outfit. Most of the kids there are school leavers too – ‘O’ Level holders from Singapore or SPM holders from Johore. Yet they run the place, they can answer almost any question pertaining to their job and more. In Korea, the young people manning their shops, hotels, counters etc are not only well informed but they jump out to serve you. That is why their country is getting wealthier and wealthier.
And talking about our university graduates, only about 2% – 4% of our population is educated above high school (degree and diploma holders). This includes all races. Kalau tolak non Malays, Melayu degree holders lagi sikit. This ‘drop in the ocean’ is the average for most countries, including the US.
In Sweden (not only one of the highest per capita income countries in the world but also a country where crime is low, corruption is less, where neighbours are decent and people are more human) they have achieved 30% of population with tertiary education. We must aspire for the same too. But it must be a quality university education.
Our university graduates often cannot even write a sentence properly – in any language. And please forget about their English skills. If the Government and the GLCs don’t hire them, many bumiputra graduates will not have a job at all. They are “unemployable”. The same is not true of our non bumiputra graduates. Non bumiputras graduating from UKM or UM can straight away get jobs even overseas in Hong Kong, Australia, UK, New Zealand, Singapore and elsewhere. They read the same text books, are taught by the same lecturers and even eat the same campus food. What makes the difference?
Yesterday I heard something else. The IT department of one GLC does not hire bumiputra graduates for some IT jobs. The graduates think they are too clever and they refuse to read or be trained for new skills like learning Java. So the GLC hires bumiputra SPM leavers who are more willing to be trained on Java. And they serve the GLC sufficiently well for its Java language programming purposes.
To digress, it makes no difference whether it is UMNO, PAS, BN or Pakatan that rules the nation. That is oversimplifying the matter. Do you think that if PAS becomes the Government tomorrow, my air cond guy will stop making mistakes in fixing the drip pipe? Or the Malay renovation contractor will work until 5 am to finish my shop renovation? Or that the young kid in that hardware shop will do a better job of ‘potong bagi dua, sama panjang’? That is not going to happen anytime soon folks. Please wake up. Please grow up too. The problems are a bit more deep rooted than that. All the problems that we are facing can be summarized into just a few words : the Malays must compete. Meaning the Malays cannot yet compete in sufficient quantity.
Then someone should make a survey of the number of Malay versus non Malay university graduates who ‘berhenti kerja’ from their first job. I knew too many friends who would quit their jobs at the drop of a hat. I recall one bank pleading with its new bumiputra recruits, ‘please work for us for at least five years, and get your feet really wet before you want to move on to another job’. The five graduates in that group all left within just one year.
Even Dr Mahathir complained that he spent tons of money to train a Malay bakery chef to run his bread business (The Loaf). The guy quit too. This is an attitude problem. This problem has to be solved. It does not require a billion Ringgit of modal, crony contracts, monopoly projects, APs or monopoly licenses. Its just an attitude problem.
