Dr. Cheah’s Pages

Reflection

Reading the news leaves one baffled at the escalation in extremist views in Malaysia, emanating from both sides of the divide. After 53 years of independence, we have appeared to slide decades back. The current predicament is not totally unexpected if you look at it carefully.

From years of yet unending preferential treatment to the lack of patriotism, the recipe for discordance is brewing. The hijacking of the NEP for political and personal gains has left the scheme tainted. Sure some Malays got rich but quite the majority remain in poverty. Rather than analysing and accepting the flaws, top politicians utter the battle cry to defend the policy. Such self denial, unfortunately, will result in a continuing backward slide of our Malaysian economy.

On the flip side, many non-Malay citizens opt to leave the country in droves, justifying this move by giving the excuse of unequal treatment. The threshold for emigration is so low among this group that one has to question their patriotism. Leaving the country is easy but fighting for a better Malaysia is the harder part. One analogy is the United States. If the blacks were to leave the country and gave up on the American dream, there will not be a Black President today.

Therefore, for Malaysia to succeed, we need enough Malaysians to believe in the Malaysian dream. Why give so much press coverage to extremists like Perkasa or even Namewee?? As someone said on Malaysiakini, we need to learn to turn the other cheek. Some issues are just not worth dwelling on.

Happy Merdeka, Malaysia!!

Putrajaya International Convention Center : reflecting a greater ill

If Putrajaya is to become a well recognised city, then the PICC should remain as a convention center. Meeting places are extremely important as starting points of introducing visitors to the city.

Converting this venue to a Parliament House is unwise in the long run. Is the current Parliament building so unusable as to necessitate a prolonged debate on the issue?

In view of the dire economic situation, perhaps only the utmost urgent renovations should be allowed. The Federal Government’s current dilemma leaves the public with a bad taste in the mouth as this came shortly after the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department went to great lengths to convince Malaysians that subsidies have to removed to avoid bankrupcy in 9 years!

It is thus unfortunate that even the royals have no regard towards the welfare of the country. Cost overruns in the construction of the Agong’s palace comes at an untimely period. Apart from being a showcase, there is little function in a grandiose palace. Unfortunately our economic planners see it fit to build for our constitutional monarch, awarding the contract to well connected companies.

Cost overruns can occur anywhere but to have such frequent misjudgments which amount to double the original predictions, is unacceptable. Unfortunately, transparency in such issues is sorely lacking.

On top of that, the Government now tells its brightest students that they cannot get anymore financial assistance as funds are severely limited!

I have had enough of this nonsense. The current Federal Government appears jaded and confused. Their only preoccupation is ensuring that Anwar is convicted and removed from the political scene, hoping that he is the vital link to the stability of the opposition alliance.

As a fellow “shareholder” of this country, I say that it is indeed time to change the management team which is clearly no longer competent at managing the country!

World Cup : The mystique of North Korea

Looking at the qualifiers for the World Cup, I cannot help but notice North Korea among the soccer elite. For a country isolated by the international community, qualifying for the World Cup is a great achievement. With obviously no foreign help, they have competed with the best of Asia and qualified ahead of previously experienced teams like Saudi Arabia and Iran. Although most North Koreans may never get to see their team play, it speaks volumes for a nation bent on proving that it can survive despite political castration.

Malaysia, a country with a wealth of natural resource, has nothing much to show in their national football team. What happened since Malaysia defeated the United States 3 - 0 in the 1972 Olympics? We have since slid into football oblivion. With comfortable salaries from the local professional league, the desire to excel for the country no longer exists. The discipline needed to ensure international success is sorely absent.

In this respect, even North Korea surpasses us in talent, discipline and attitude. If it was not for a Stalinist regime in the way, things would have been far greater for a unified Korea. As for Malaysia, we are stuck in the doldrums, even losing to Vietnam.

Can we ever see Malaysia in the World Cup? Perhaps we need to emulate a thing or two from the North Koreans.

Plug the leak first

The government is going to great lengths of trying to convince Malaysians that subsidy cuts are essential to avoid escalating debts.

How about explaining measures taken by the Government in curbing unnecessary spending? If the Prime Minister can use taxpayers money as bait to fish voters, I fear that cutting subsidies will not be the answer to our debt woes.

There should be greater transparency in contract negotiations. Cronyism should also be condemned.

The recent auditor general’s report has also been poorly followed up. This report highlighted the gross mismanagement of funds. The Government paid RM 224 for a RM 32 screwdriver RM 1146 for a RM 160 pen, RM 5700 for a RM 50 car jack. This AG report goes on and on. Unfortunately all the shocking truths is blatantly ignored by this ruling Government and no one in the service has been brought to justice for this obvious form of corruption.

And now the Government has the audacity to ask Malaysians to pay more with the clear intention of helping the Government clear its debts!! I say it is time for a new fund manager before our country truly goes bankrupt in 2019!! The PM asked if we want to see the country bankrupt in 2019, my answer is OF COURSE NO! The best solution is not subsidy cuts but to remove a corrupt government. This should be a priority in order to save our country from suffering a similar fate as Greece.

Sick MPs

The number of elected representatives either to the Parliament or the State Assembly falling ill, is alarmingly high. Perhaps it is reflective of the general health of Malaysians. So why are so many elected representatives falling ill??

Health is important especially for aspiring leaders of our country. When your health fails, your duty to the electorate will suffer. In the last US presidential election, there was a grave concern when John McCain won the candidacy for President representing the Republicans. His campaign party had to go to great lengths to convince the American public that he is in tip top health. He was 72 years of age when he contested for the 2008 Presidential Election.

It is important for the future aspiring candidates to reveal their health status. Choosing the right candidates depends not only on their political ideologies but their abilities to perform under strenuous conditions for the next 4-5 years.

Failure to do so will only result in the electorate losing representation and the resulting waste of tax payers money organising by-elections.

Bangkok Massacre : where is ASEAN?

The current massacre in the streets of Bangkok is nothing short of atrocities. With heavily armed government troops laying siege to makeshift Red Shirt warriors, there is an urgent need to end the killings. The decision to shoot into the crowds may subdue the current batch of weary Red Shirt protesters but soon enough they will regroup in the future.

What is unsatisfactory is the fact that neighbouring countries, including Malaysia, is keeping mum. Surely such atrocities must be dealt with. Afterall, the current Thai government is not democratically elected and such high handed tactics must be condemned.

Unfortunately, Abhisit has found friends in high places of foreign governments. Such double standards with regards to democracy is typical. Sadly Malaysia is part of this conspiracy.

ASEAN ultimately serves little purpose when member nations have an understanding to look away despite major wrongdoings in these nations. Often times, the excuse of it being an internal affair is growing very stale.

More Thais, many who believe that democracy has not been upheld, will be killed. I tend to share their sentiments, when two democratically elected governments were ousted by the military.

Who can they turn to? Certainly ASEAN is hapless. If they cannot chastise Myanmar but in return, admit this military run nation to its fold, what else can we expect from ASEAN!

Perhaps it is time for China or Japan, as superpower nations in this region, to step forward with a proposal for a peace settlement. The time has come for them to resume this role.

Thomas Cup Blues

The manner in which Malaysia lost in their semifinal tie with China is embarrassing. We were outclassed in every department and made to look like novices in our very own backyard. There have been many post mortems from past Thomas Cups and there is a need for Malaysia to take a different approach.

Inviting and paying foreign coaches has certainly not paid off but instead left us stagnated as coaches came and went. From Morten Frost and Park Ju Bong and now Rexy, we have failed to regain the supremacy in badminton.

Once again, the depth in our badminton team is severely lacking. Wong Choon Hann and Hafiz Hashim has past their prime. It is time to move on and find new talents.

In this respect, we need to evaluate the sports programmes in our school curriculums. Encouraging active participation in sporting activities to promote sporting excellence is important to lay a good foundation of achieving success.

It will be another 2 years to the next Thomas Cup and there is little hope in us regaining the trophy for at least the next few editions of the tournament. We need to rebuild our badminton team.

Malaysia can achieve success again but there is much work in between.

Saifool Drama : An unlikely story

It feels like the entire country is being dragged into a foolish melodramatic court drama. If it was a movie, the scriptwriters would have been scoffed at. The foolishness in the answers during this cross examination only serves to undermine the intelligence of the courts and general public.

There is an abundance of circumstantial evidence to proof that this charge has been trumped up. The idiocy of his statements is just too much to bear. How can the judge still maintain his sanity listening to this university dropout?

If I were a judge of reasonable intellect, I would say “Do you actually expect me to listen to and believe all this crap?”.

Aminulrasyid case : My views

I find this case making a sickening turn with a police officer being charged for causing death by negligence. This move is likely to appease the general public whom mysteriously absolved Aminulrasyid or family of all blame.

Here are the facts of the case. He is an underaged male driving the car of his elder sister. He was speeding and perhaps recklessly in the process. He grazed a car leading to a pack of motorcyclists chasing him. During this episode, one motorcyclist fell after hitting the rear of the car. He was ordered to stop by a clearly marked police vehicle but refused to do so and in the process led police on a car chase for 6 km. Upon stopping he did not surrender but reversed his vehicle. Police then fired on the vehicle.

I would think the the police fired when they witnessed the recklessness of this driver perhaps putting other motorists in danger at the same time. He clearly defied police orders and was seen as running away from them. Retrospectively, one can argue that the police could have exercised more restraint. Having said that, if it were to involve an adult, this would have been an open shut case. Unfortunately, public sympathy, partly press driven, has resulted in an outcry of police brutality.

In this episode, I feel that the best justice will be for the police to be demoted to a lesser position or perhaps forced into retraining exercise as his intention was to protect the public from such drivers. What appals me is the fact that the family has shown no shame in the actions of their child. Defying the police sends only one signal, inviting a confrontation with armed men. Aminulrasyid was a minor but his family has to carry some blame as well.

I fear that a police officer has been made a scalp goat in order to appease the rising voice of dissent from the public crying for some blood.

Recognise talents first

As reported on Bernama and published in The Star,

Talent development programme in varsities

PASIR GUDANG: The Higher Education Ministry will be introducing talent development programmes in varsities to help undergraduates be more creative and innovative, said its minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said under the plan, the ministry would be roping in experts who would coach students in the aspects of creativity and innovation.

“Before, we invested in terms of manpower and machinery. Now we want to take it a step further and focus more on research and developement to contribute to Malaysia’s knowledge economy,” he said.

He told this to reporters after officiating a youth development programme in Masai here today which was organised by Persatuan Belia Mutiara Pasir Gudang and Pasir Gudang Umno Youth. - Bernama

It is amusing that MOHE is trying to create talent among its current batch of students. Again tonnes of money is spent on bringing in ”experts” to perform some miraculous transformation of our students.

My advice is simple. Recognise talents first. Base your student admissions on merit. When you accept quality students into your varsity, then there will be little need to get ”experts” to stimulate creativity and innovation.

Revamp the current education system which is extremely examination based, thus promoting rote learning. Reintroduce English as a medium of instruction, while maintaining emphasis on Bahasa Malaysia as a core subject.

There are no short cuts here. Certainly getting people to give a few talks or seminars just will not do the trick.