STUPID WAY TO FIND THE SMARTEST PERSONS IN MALAYSIA. – PART II.

…WE ALREADY HAVE THE TALENTED AND THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED, BUT THEY ARE NEGLECTED AND IGNORED AND EVEN SABOTAGED.
By Mansor Puteh



THE SYSTEM DID NOT HAVE ANY PLACE FOR THE HIGHLY QUALIFIED IN MALAYSIA; THEY ONLY HAVE PLACES FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT WELL EDUCATED BUT WELL CONNECTED.

MALAYSIA IS NOT SHORT OF QUALIFIED PEOPLE; WE ARE ONLY SHORT OF QUALIFIED LEADERS IN A COUNTRY WHICH DOES NOT HAVE SYSTEMS THAT CAN ABSORB THEM INTO THE WORKFORCE.

THIS TALK ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT WANTING TO DISCOVER RARE TALENTS AND THE BEST QUALIFIED IS NOTHING BUT A LOAD OF RUBBISH.

So this explains the type of ugly and smelly noises they are making, while the smarter ones continue to wonder how poorly appreciated they are.

The system stinks to high heaven when it has created this lot of people who are mostly unimpressive and without real class who also cannot go on to do their own things and outside of the country.

This also explains why the Malaysian intelligentsia is not intelligent and the political leaders, substandard and think tankers, stink.

However, if there is ten-year-old boy who shows some talent in badminton, surely the badminton association of Malaysia (BAM) will take him into their fold and give him whatever he needs so he can excel in the sport, even though this may not be certain.

On the other hand, there are many Malaysians who possess qualification from the Ivy League and Oxbridge universities in America and England, yet, they are not admired or supported.

Yet, at the same time some oxymorons want everybody to think they are able to create a new group of students who can get admission into any of the ten universities in fifteen years from now when they have long retired.

Where are they looking at?

So I dare say, they have got their priorities wrong.

They found the group of young kids so they could be given all the encouragement and facilities so that they can excel in their studies; while Mahyuddin is happy to announce the list of top twenty secondary schools in Malaysia.

Of course it is always interesting and thrilling to be able to deal with young kids who look with awe on those who are holding some sort of official positions, so no wonder those adults find the adulation stimulating.

No wonder they do not want to deal with the adults who have excelled in their studies because their presence can be intimidating since they are not dealing with kids that they want to be sometimes.

But what happens if they go for some reason, since they are where they are courtesy of the voters in the country? Will their pet projects be taken over by their successors? I doubt it.

Worse, will the ‘Permata Pintar’ and ‘Permata Negara’ projects create many qualified Malaysians in the future who can be entrusted with difficult tasks to handle? My suspicion is that some of them will falter along the way and become quite useless with academic achievements which are not so interesting to talk about.

The end results that they want are to be able to get as many of the school children to gain admission into the Ivy League and Oxbridge Universities in America and England.

If this is the case then they need not worry since we are already capable of doing that. In fact, we are also capable of getting thousands of students to get a string of A-s for their examinations at all levels. Yet, many of them are not able to get scholarships and even places in public universities in the country to pursue their tertiary education.

It is therefore ironic that this can still happen despite the two projects being introduced. It looks as though the present education system is not capable of educating the students so much so that there are not many who succeed.

Just look at some of the passions that the late Endon Mahmud, wife of the earlier Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi used to have when she was ‘first lady’ of the country, and look at what has happened to them?

They were her personal hobbies and interests, which were not shared by many. She was able to get a lot of attention and support for whatever that she was doing, yet, when she died, they were left for someone else to take charge of for which they are not able to do as much as Endon could.

Will the same happen with the ‘Permata Pintar’ and ‘Permata Negara’ projects initiated by Rosmah and Sharifah Habsah? These are very expensive projects supported fully by the government. Were they brought up in parliament for approval before the government gives special allocations to them?

I doubt it.

We are indeed not short of talented kids. Most of them were able to develop their potentials on their own and they are mostly those who are in the rural areas whose parents who are in the low income bracket, with many working as food stall operators and farmers.

None of them had been known to have come from families who are considered to be well off and from amongst the royalty and members of the cabinet and of parliament.

So in the end these two projects will only shame them, since they have everything and can provide for the children’s education wherever they want to study at, in the international schools in the country or abroad, yet, they are still not able to excel in their studies to become experts.

Most of them will go into business, taking up strategic posts where they are not required to think hard since they have many experts to do that for them. None will go into academia, since the jobs they can find are not well-paying one.

But what they have neglected to do is to give due recognition to those students who have already excelled in their studies by obtaining a string of A-s for their SRP, SPM and STPM. Yet, there are some who have also gone abroad to study at the prestigious universities.

They do not seem to care who they are and what expertise they have acquired. They had done that quietly without getting any encouragement or assistance from any government leader or agency. And they are conveniently neglected.

Therefore, all Malaysians must take what the three of them are doing with a grain of salt; that it is nothing but a cheap publicity stunt.

Human capital is something Malaysia is not short of. It is how it is utilized in a system which is too patronizing, where the top leaders can decide who is important and who isn’t to the development of the country.

In most cases, the human capital is only good for the development of the personal careers and image of the top leaders.

So they like to mix around with young kids or schools but not with the experts who know a lot of things more than they do.

The problem with people who are in authority and the government and especially the economists is that they do not think it is much better to create or introduce new industries in the country so that talents can be developed and students can be educated to meet with the demands and requirements of these industries.

They spend too much time trying to get more students to excel in their education and end up with a long string of A-s, which often-times do not mean anything, since they were not trained to acquire anything specific that is tailor-made to meet with the demands of these industries.

The film industry is one. It has not been allowed to grow further. It has stunted and it is nothing but to produce around twenty feature films just to meet the demands of the local film audiences who are mostly the Melayu.

There is no real attempt to expand it further so that those who are active in it can find ways to grow as they continue to produce many films which can end up in cinemas in some foreign countries.

As it is, Melayu films are only good for the local cinemas and for the Melayu; they are not able to be shown in other countries, except for Singapura and Brunei. But not in Indonesia where the political leaders of Malaysia and Indonesia do not find it fascinating to exchange their films for the mutual benefit of the audiences in both countries.

This is just one example. But what about the other industries that we already have and those that we haven’t have?

Comments

Anonymous said…
mr.mansor...its not like the permata pintar programme is worse...but,it is for the choosen one...so,i think we should give the government another chances and then they can give prove to the citizens that the programme is "not how to find the smartest pupil in our country"...
Anonymous said…
yes,you are right....mr/miss anonymous