Italy's brain drain

It may be of interest to some to know that Italy has been experiencing a brain drain and, struggles to lure them back...

The Economist piece can be found here.

Why Italian graduates cannot wait to emigrate

ALESSANDRO WANDAEL is a photographer. His is a profession in which success should depend on talent alone. But not so in his native Italy. The photo credits in magazines show that photographers who have family or other close ties to editors are working regularly, he says. “Those who don't, aren't.” The 37-year-old Mr Wandael, a former architect, has lived abroad ever since graduating: first in Berlin; now in New York. Figures in this field are often outdated and vague. 

But Mr Wandael is far from alone. According to 2005 statistics published by the OECD, he is among some 300,000 highly educated Italians who have opted to leave a country that has become rich without dismantling a social framework in which access to jobs depends on family ties, political affiliations and raccomandazioni (string-pulling recommendations). 

Last month saw unexpectedly violent student protests in a number of cities against proposed reforms to the university system. Some commentators detected in this a symptom of the frustration the Italian way of doing things generates among the educated young. 

How serious is the problem? It “does not exist”, said a junior minister in 2002, claiming that only 150-300 graduates a year left the country for good. A minister in the current government privately acknowledges the phenomenon, but says that the only real cause for concern is the departure of scientific researchers. But neither of these contentions stands up. 

A 2004 study found that, of all Italian emigrants, the share of those with degrees quadrupled between 1990 and 1998. In 1999, according to a separate study, 4,000 graduates cancelled their Italian residency. And just 17% of Italian graduates in the United States, the most popular destination, are involved in research and development, according to the (American) National Science Foundation. The biggest chunk work as managers. 

Yet what distinguishes Italy from its peers is not the absolute number of its exiled graduates (in 2005 more left Britain, France and Germany than Italy), but that it has a net “brain drain” (see chart), something more typical of a developing economy. In other words, the number of educated Italians leaving the country exceeds the number of educated foreigners entering it. 

By contrast, many of Italy's developed-world counterparts are involved in “brain exchanges”: as British computer scientists disappear to Silicon Valley, Spanish medical researchers find work in Britain, for example. 

 Last year Silvio Berlusconi's government made the second attempt in nine years to lure back exiled academics, this time with tax breaks. But this misses the point, according to Sonia Morano-Foadi, a law lecturer at Oxford Brookes University who interviewed more than 50 émigré Italian scientists in 2006. Her subjects identified two main reasons for their decision to quit the homeland. One was Italy's scant investment in R&D (the lowest of the European Union's 15 pre-2004 members). The other, “the most important and difficult problem of academia in Italy”, was its “non-transparent recruitment system”. 

Boycotting nonsense

The new Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs has made a major misstep when he merely said that the federal government did not approve of the boycott of Chinese goods and services but proceeded to defend the right to boycott.

Sometimes you can be legally correct but wrong on the economics.

Usually it is not a big deal because everyone knows that political motivations are usually irrational exuberance.

But...when you are a Minister responsible for an economic portfolio as important as Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs you have to be a big picture person. 

You are running the entire Malaysian economy.

You cannot be pandering to petty politicking even if it is just a fortnight since your party won by a whisker. 

You have to check that tribal, petty, parochialism.

You are the Minister in the Malaysian Cabinet with a portfolio to manage Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

Malaysia holds itself out as an open economy. Malaysia measures itself by trade competitiveness. Malaysia aspires to obtain foreign direct investments.

For instance, how would the Minister reconcile his defence of racial boycotting to investors and businesses from mainland China or Taiwan? 

Would he say via an interpreter, "Sorry, this boycott of Chinese goods and services apply only to Malaysian citizens of Chinese ethnicity and descent. It definitely does not apply to you people because you are from mainland China/Taiwan".

How lame is that?

Do I need to remind everyone that Cabinet Ministers hold a federal portfolio? 

Do I also need to remind everyone that people cannot be fooled all the time?

You cannot have the Prime Minister himself, Husni, Mustapha, Idris Jala and Wahid running around telling all and sundry that the Economic Transformation Plan is still on foot when your fella in charge of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs cannot send the correct signals out as a Federal Minister and, he is still labouring under the misapprehension that the stupid General Elections is still on.

As I said before, GET TO WORK!

PPSMI is alive and reviving

Now that the dust is settling on GE13 it is good to see the green shoots of the movement to revive PPSMI. Wong Chun Wai of The Star is refloating the idea again and, a most welcome reinitiation it is. I hope that Datin Azimah and PAGE will resume their important task.

Read here.

Well done, Donald Lim!

Donald Lim is thinking along the correct direction for the future of the MCA...

The MCA may have to open its party membership to other races after its worst result in history in Election 2013 as it cannot just bank on the Chinese vote, says the party’s Selangor chief Datuk Donald Lim.

He said the Chinese component party under the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government should look at the bigger picture and take into account the reality of the urban-rural divide, rather than a racial one, as reflected by the election results.

Read the rest here.

Time for GST

With the distraction of electioneering over, it is time for the federal government to look into implementing the GST.

A consumption tax is somewhat overdue.

There will be a reduction in corporate and personal income tax. The extent of the reduction is not known as yet. A reduction to a top rate of 18% will be welcomed by everyone.

Idris Jala has floated the view that a 7% GST rate, consistent with the rate in Singapore, will raise a projected RM27 billion in revenues.

Can Malaysia afford to defer GST any longer?

I think not.

It is time for the federal government to exercise its political will.

Emasculation: BN as a coalition brand

To me, blogging has always been about putting wayward and happenstance thoughts out into the open.

If I have more serious thoughts, I would reduce them into academic papers and have them published as I have in certain academic and professional journals.

This entry is about wayward and happenstance thoughts.

The formation of the Alliance Party comprising UMNO, MCA and MIC was an astute strategy to address a fragmented market of voters in the 1950s and 1960s.

Equally so, the formation of the even larger Barisan Nasional coalition was, in many ways, a response to the needs and demands of an even more fragmented market of voters in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

The new millennium was dramatic for the BN largely due to the formal retirement of Dr M. 

Dr M was the embodiment of and, may well be the last of the paternalistic political leaders Malaysia will ever see. In the immediate euphoria of the post-Mahathir era, BN's successor leadership reaped the benefits and outpouring of goodwill towards the BN brand. BN's landslide win in 2004 was comprehensive and cut across every conceivable section of the Malaysian electorate.

If ever there was an example of a collective high, 2004 was it for Malaysian politics. The stuffy air in an enclosed room was replaced by the fresh air of greater political freedom.

What happened then? 

There is enough good political analyses already published that accurately document and contain sound inferences about why that groundswell of goodwill toward BN in 2004 was lost in 2008. 

This entry is about GE 2013 from the narrow perspective of BN as a political brand and, more to the point, why only the main sub-brand of UMNO attracted its traditional loyal following while the other component sub-brands suffered badly.

Why did the voters not embrace the BN brand when presented with non-UMNO sub-brands?

There are many factors, of course. There is the factor of the urban voters. There is the issue of racial groupings. Perhaps, we can add the possibility of personality, religion, campaign messages and strategy and many other factors. This is fertile ground for much socio-politica analysis.

I choose to look at only one possible factor. Emasculation.

Yes. You got it right. Emasculation.

The loss of power and, for want of a better word, masculinity.

Castration. Cutting off the cojones. Weakening. Deprivation of vigour.

These words describe the non-UMNO components of the BN.

This, to my mind, was a major factor that explains why non-UMNO BN components fared badly.

In the mid-1990s, I was, like the rest of the world, enthralled by Tiger Woods and his amazing skills and his will to win. He wore the Nike brand.

Everyone wanted to be like Tiger. Hell, I wanted to be like Tiger. How do I get to feel like I can be like Tiger? 

I bought the brands that Tiger wore. I bought Nike.

And, what, you may ask, has this Tiger-fixation episode got to do with the failure of the non-UMNO BN components?

Those of us who are either of a certain vintage or, who are conscientious armchair students of Malaysian history, may recall the deep personal bonds of friendship between the leaders of UMNO, MCA and MIC in the 1950s and 1960s. They would hang out, spin yarns, gulp down brandy and enjoy jocular banter. It was a true fraternity of the political elite.

Voters felt that if there was any issue that needed to be resolved these leaders would do so in a congenial setting and discuss matters with civility.

There was still evidence of this in the 1970s.

It disappeared in the 1980s.

BN went from a partnership of friends and transformed into a large corporation of strangers.

There is a light theory that it didn't help matters that Dr M never played golf. So, one could never catch up with him for casual chit chats with him in various states of undress in the dressing room. He was only accessible in controlled settings. That may be just golfers' bias. But, then again...

Anyway, the point that I am hazarding is that the electorate is neither blind nor deaf nor dumb. 

It can see the glaring contrast between the power and the glory that UMNO's leaders embody and the emasculated parochialism, insularity and pettiness that successive non-UMNO BN leaders has embodied.

Juxtapose that with the constant joint appearances of the Pakatan Rakyat leaders from PKR, PAS and DAP and their distinctive combined party logos in the shirts worn by the Pakatan Rakyat leaders and  the flags flown.

The contrast in imagery was that leaders from the non-UMNO BN components needed to "make an appointment" to have access to power, while Pakatan Rakyat leaders could just look each other up without any formal arrangements.

This is what I mean about the emasculation chanelled by non-UMNO BN components.

The marketing message of Pakatan Rakyat was, even for neutrals, sublime, exciting and seductive.

Who doesn't want a multiracial leadership and national unity? Who doesn't want leaders with power or, at least, real access to power?

Who doesn't respond to positive vibes that channels Martin Luther King Jr's "I have a dream" oratory?

In contrast, voters were entreated with non-UMNO BN components like the MCA leaders pleading with the electorate not to give them "an egg" (meaning "zero"). Worse still, voters were abused with  self-indulgent and poor karaoke singing and forced to take home DVDs of candidates singing.

All of us want leaders who can hold themselves as a prism through which we can identify the best things that we wish for ourselves, our children and our community. We want leaders who can mirror our desires and aspirations.

The UMNO-BN leaders were obviously able to channel all that.

The non-UMNO BN leaders were not able to. Instead, they channeled a sense of emasculation and self-indulgence. This is not something the electorate want to see or feel when it examines the slate of political candidates.

This, to my mind, is the challenge for BN as a coalition brand. I admit that it is a simplistic entry; superficial even. That is why it is only a blog post and, not an academic paper.

The challenge is at many, many levels. Each BN component needs an internal overhaul. 

Someone made an observation to me recently, that the MCA's party constitution is so skewed to favour the incumbents that there is almost no way for any maverick to move the delegates to challenge the incumbents. So, it becomes a cesspool where elite factions fight each other without allowing young leaders to enter.

In fairness, the same accusation can be hurled at the Pakatan Rakyat components.

So, the difference may be in the area of the attitude of the leaders. 

For some reason, the Pakatan Rakyat is able to attract bright and young political talent and fast-track them into the electoral fray.

In contrast, BN components appear to be hierarchical, bureaucratic, staid, slow, ponderous, troglodytic and unimaginative.

Is this just a perception? 

Judging from the harsh feedback from the electorate in GE13, BN components have got a lot of soul-searching and structural reconstruction to embark on.

Leaders like Saifuddin Abdullah may well have hit the nail on the head in renewing the call for direct memberships into BN.

Voters need to feel like they are voting for candidates who have real power.

BN leaders may say, what is the point of voting for Pakatan Rakyat candidates who are not in government? Where got power, like that?

But, they would be wrong.

A good wakil rakyat will get the job done or, be seen to try to get the job done. That, to the voter, may be good enough...for now; someone to lend an ear; someone to lend a shoulder to lean on; someone to cry out about your plight; someone to represent your frustration; someone who can stand up for you.

So, please get to work!

Are Malaysians disunited?

If you believe the politicians on either the side of the divide, especially on the BN-UMNO side, Malaysians are completely disunited. The Malays are divided, the bloody Chinese have all (90%) decided to huddle together in a Fu Manchu Oriental plot mode and the Indians have gone into disarray...and so on.

It's absolutely bollocks.

The truth of the matter is that it is the politicians who have always stirred this pot of shit.

Malaysians just want to live a happy and reasonably carefree life in a community that is crime-free, corruption-free and with manageable costs of living.

This requires a system that has Good Governance.

All the bullshit about unity or disunity or Malay unity or Chinese unity is all crap.

There is no problem with Malaysian unity.

Ironically, the talk of unity is feeding the sense of divisiveness. I suppose that is what certain parties want. It masks deeper issues within the political parties that did not do well in the elections.

I say to those who are going to the new Parliamentary session after GE13 that you better damn well give the rakyat Good Governance and allow us to live a happy and reasonably carefree life in a community that is crime-free, corruption-free and with manageable costs of living.

If not we're giving you the boot and the sack the next time around.

Just shut up on the psywar already and tell us what are the bloody promises that you're going to keep and pray like hell that we don't remember the other bullshit promises you made.

Sakmongkol AK47

First of all, I wish to offer my congratulations to my friend and brother blogger Sakmongkol AK47 aka Dato' Mohd.Ariff Sabri bin Hj. Abdul Aziz for winning the Parliamentary seat of Raub. As you may know, Dato' Sak stood as a DAP candidate.

Anyone who knows Dato' Sak or, who has read his body of writings will know that Dato' Sak will not be a token Malay in the DAP. He will roar as a true Malaysian! Of that, I have no doubt.

The blogging community has sent yet another fraternal brother to the Malaysian Parliament.

Second, I understand that access to Dato' Sak's popular blog has been thwarted by unsavoury and cowardly third parties. You may wish to access his blog at http://sakmongkol.blogspot.ru/

You can also access Dato' Sak's blog by using .jp or .kr or any country domain listed in the world.

How to Listen When Someone Is Venting

I found this piece here so apposite to the political situation that Malaysia is in. The only thing is that the author, Mark Goulston did not end with the obvious advice on what next to do after dealing with the venting. Here's an extract-

As I have written before, when people are upset, it matters less what you tell them than what you enable them to tell you. After they get their feelings off their chest, that's when they can then have a constructive conversation with you. And not before.

I reproduce the piece in full below for your edification-

I still remember how it felt when, as a medical student, I drained my first abscess in a patient. We called the procedure "I & D" which stands for "Incision and Drainage" (I told you not to read this just before you eat).

When you do an I & D, you locate what is the most protruding and bulging part of the abscess, wipe it off with alcohol, than pierce it with a scalpel. At that point the pus comes out first, followed by any blood. After this procedure, you may put the person on an antibiotic. Over time, the wound heals from the inside out. If you don't drain the abscess first, and just start with the antibiotics, the undrained pus may prevent the wound from healing.

Saifuddin Abdullah

UMNO-BN is lucky to have a man like Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah in their ranks. Personally, I would vote for him any time. 

Saifuddin is the type of political leader who is completely in tune with the times. 

And, what are the times?

In these times political leaders have to engage the electorate. Meet their sentiments and their need to vent head on. Deal with their feelings honestly. Tell them how you feel also. Prove to them that you are bringing up the hard issues with your party's leadership. 

Show them what you have written to your party leadership to convey what your constituents feel.

And, if what you have done is still not enough to convince the electorate, persist.

People acknowledge and admire and respond to human valour and spirit.

One must not only be magnanimous in victory. Saifuddin has admirably demonstrated that one can be equally magnanimous in defeat. What a guy!

I am convinced that, at the rate he is responding to adversity, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah will be victorious in the 14th General Elections.

As for the likes of Teh Kim Poo (see earlier posts below), the less of his ilk in the MCA and Gerakan the better off BN will be.

That said, I find that many of the post-GE13 pronouncements by the MIC has been very admirable...except for that Saravanan fella who may get his comeuppance in due course at the rate he is going.

Why Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim should remain as Mentri Besar Selangor

Klang MCA Closes Service Centre, Disappointed With Chinese Voter Support

You see? What did I say about Teh Kim Poo as an example of the wrongheadedness of MCA's current crop of leaders?

The Klang MCA division Tuesday announced the closure of its people's service centre in Kampung Baru Pandamaran here, with immediate effect.

This follows its disappointment with the Chinese voters who did not support the party, especially in the Klang parliamentary constituency.

Division chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo said the decision to close the centre, which had been operating for the past five years, was also due to financial reason as the party could no longer afford to bear its management cost.

He said this was because the cost of managing the service centre - set up to assist the people in the district - was funded by the division's own resources.

"We (Klang MCA division) saw the 13th General Election (GE13) results, especially in the Klang parliamentary seat and the four state seats in the constituency, as reflecting the voters non-acceptance of our service and hence, did not choose us in the election.

"Apart from that, we deeply regret the results as the DAP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidates contesting in the Klang area, came to the area for just two weeks and won," he said in a media conference here today.

What else to say except to suggest that MCA's leaders try to get some staying power by reflecting on Tennyson's Ulysses (previous blog post) ....

A dedication

I seem drawn, for some inexplicable reason to Tennyson's verses from his work Ulysses. This, I dedicate to everyone who worked tirelessly for their respective teams recently. I especially dedicate this to the people of MCA, Gerakan and MIC in the hope that they may persist in their endeavour; embittered and bloodied but, unbowed.

They need to reset their compass and begin anew. Cast off the old baggage and trappings. Bring in new heroes. The old soldiers must now accept that their time is over. Step aside to let the new heroes come into the fray.

Come, my friends, 
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. 
Push off, and sitting well in order smite 
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds 
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths 
Of all the western stars, until I die. 
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down; 
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, 
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. 
Though much is taken, much abides; and though 
We are not now that strength which in old days 
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are, 
One equal temper of heroic hearts, 
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will 
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. 

Selangor's Mentri Besar

It's a no-brainer that Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim should resume his position as the Mentri Besar of Selangor. He has managed the state with good conscience, industry and vision. His 5-year track record is clear for anyone to see.

But, politics has no brains.

I dare say that Selangor voters voted for Pakatan Rakyat candidates in large part because of the integrity and undisputed capabilities of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

To, replace this man with any other person would be an action without brains.

Federal Cabinet: The best and the brightest

I had to borrow the title of David Halberstam's seminal book (1972) on the Vietnam War for this post. While Halberstam's title was intended to contrast negatively the excellent academic and corporate credentials of the U.S. Cabinet members who somehow lost their objectivity and led the U.S. in the miasma and morass of the Vietnam War, this post hopes to address a reverse scenario in the context of the new Federal Cabinet that BN will be forming.

Whether or, not, the MCA maintains its stand to reject Cabinet positions under the new Najib Administration, I hope that Najib will look beyond the BN component party leaders to form the new Cabinet. 

I hope Najib will use all resources available to him to seek and, persuade, capable people to assume Cabinet positions.

People like Koh Tsu Koon and Rais Yatim were ineffective in the previous Cabinet as were a few others.

Whatever brickbats that may have been thrown at him, the elevation of Idris Jala to a Cabinet position was quite an inspired decision. For better or, for worse, Idris Jala put in the type of effort that many Cabinet members didn't.

So, Najib should look beyond the pale of the BN component parties in an effort to seek out capable Malaysians to serve the country and narrow the rural-urban divide that seems to have formed as shown in the 2013 General Elections.

I say, make full use of the Senatorships, to get in the talent.

Don't just look at the paltry offerings in the larder.

The task at hand, if anything, is to continue to focus on the Economic Transformation Programme.

The capital market has responded positively to the certainty that a continued BN Administration offers. This is a very good re-start.

The concern remains about the debt levels of the Malaysian government. The fiscal deficit has to be pared down. This is a must.

The handouts must be reduced. There must be a better managed needs-based welfare programme that alleviates poverty and social challenges at a more target-specific level. No more carpet-bombing of money handouts, please.

While Malaysia's social safety nets are already quite good, it can be better.

MCA's proposal to reject all government posts

The MCA appears to have taken the position that its members who have government-appointed positions should resign in the wake of the 2013 General Election debacle.

With the greatest of respect, such a stand is childish and silly.

I am reminded of what Teh Kim Poo did after the 2008 General Election when he lost his State Assembly seat in Pandamaran, Selangor. He decided to "punish" in the manner described below-

MCA Klang division chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poo says he will write to the federal government to cancel grants totalling RM7.05 million for three new village projects in Pandamaran, in the Klang district, Selangor.

According to reports in the Chinese press today, he said he is doing this because he is fed up with the constant attacks from the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government and incessant criticisms and complaints directed at him by villagers whom he said are "ungrateful" for his help and service.

The vocal former Pandamaran assemblyman said if the residents remain unappreciative of his service, he would consider closing his service centre and quit politics.

Notwithstanding such an action, the man was back in 2013 as the BN Parliamentary candidate for Klang! 

Not wanting MCA representatives in the Federal Cabinet, State Excos and government-appointed positions is a silly position to take. 

Much as I wanted to resist it, I couldn't help but be reminded about this story in connection with likely intent of the MCA's current posture-

When the body was first made, all the parts wanted to be the boss.

The brain said, "since I control everything and do all the thinking, I should be the boss."

The feet said, "since I carry man where he wants to go and get him in position todo what the brain wants, then I should be the boss."

The hands said, "since I must do all the work and earn all the money to keep the rest of you going, I should be the boss."

And so it went with the eyes, the heart, the lungs, and all the other parts of 

the body, each giving the reason why they should be the boss.

Finally, the asshole spoke up and said it was going to be the boss.

All the other parts laughed and laughed at the idea of the asshole being the boss. The asshole got so angry that he blocked himself off and refused to function.

Soon the brain was feverish and could barely think, the feet felt like lead 

weights and was almost too weak to drag the body anywhere, the eyes grew bleary, and the hands hung useless at the sides. All pleaded with the brain to let the asshole be declared the boss. 

And so it happened; all the other parts did all the work and the asshole just 

bossed and passed out a lot of shit.

I implore the MCA not to go ahead with the plan to reject any offers of Federal Cabinet, State Excos and government-appointed positions.

It sends the wrong message to the community and, as I have said of Teh Kim Poo's action in the wake of 2008; such actions have a terrible habit of coming back to haunt you later on.

Whatever said and done, Malaysian voters did vote for your candidates. And, you may be in a sulky mood. But, your service and involvement is still needed.

So, if you'll pardon my French, don't act like an asshole.

MCA Redux: Malaysian Communities Association

At its present trajectory, it is a given that the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) will disappear into the footnotes of Malaysian history. In its current guise, the MCA is out of step with the evolution of Malaysia's democracy and politics.

In the wake of the 2008 General Elections, where the MCA had a dismal showing, we heard the MCA leaders eschew the opportunity to embrace and reach out to a wider Malaysian community. Instead, the MCA leaders said, the MCA cannot become a multi-racial party unless UMNO becomes multi-racial. If you care to do a check-back on my earlier blog posts under the label "MCA" (circa. 2008) you will find that I had urged the MCA to embrace the strong message from the electorate that it needed to reach out to the wider Malaysian polity beyond Chinese clan associations and chambers of commerce. This they did not do. The implications, as we have seen in the 2013 General Elections, is laid bare.

Chua Soi Lek's recent pronouncement in the aftermath of the 2013 General Elections, that Malaysia will see a two-race political system were the Malays are in government and the Chinese in opposition, would be hilarious if not for the danger such a myopic and superficial inference creates. Based on that statement alone, Chua Soi Lek should immediately resign as MCA President instead of "not seeking re-election".

If MCA members genuinely share Chua's views, then, the MCA is surely doomed.

Firstly, such a view reveals that there is zero analytical skills in the MCA. This probably explains why the MCA did not take heed of the message sent by the electorate in 2008.

Secondly, such a view shows that the MCA leadership is trapped within UMNO's race-based narrative scripted single-handedly by Dr Mahathir. It is a trap of MCA's own choosing, by the way. So, don't blame UMNO. UMNO merely led the MCA horse to the trough. It did not force the MCA horse to drink from the racialist pool of putrid water. 

There are two possible broad interpretations of the 2008 and 2013 General Election results for the MCA. They may not be mutually exclusive.

One, the Chinese Malaysians, together with most urban Malaysian voters, want to be represented by the best and brightest Malaysian politicians regardless of their race. Nurul Izzah, Rafizi Ramli, Khairy Jamaludin and Tony Pua are  some  high-profile examples. Saifudin Abdullah should be on this list too.

Two, Chinese Malaysians want to be represented by humble, modest and conscientious MCA leaders who dare to take on the difficult issues that are of major concern to urban voters. These are issues such as good governance, open tenders of government projects, crime-fighting, corruption, the environment, quality of  and access to education and fair play. They do not ever want to be embarrassed by VCDs and DVDs of MCA leaders in compromising positions or, singing karaoke songs.

On both scores, the MCA has failed. 

The slate of candidates offered by the MCA in 2013 were not properly promoted. They were ill-prepared to face the demanding electorate. Worse of all, they had no answers to the hard questions that the electorate was asking. Instead, the electorate was subjected to fear-mongering about the hudud or, bombarded with karaoke DVDs.

The MCA were not just bland, they appeared to be completely out of step with the electorate. That, surely, must be the greatest reason to indict the current MCA leadership. How could the MCA have no political strategy beyond the hudud?

There were so many oversized pink elephants in every room and tent and, dare I say, in every mammoth dinner hosted by MCA that the electorate was bewildered by MCA's sheer indolence and insularity. The colloquial Malaysian expression is, probably, syiok sendiri.

But, all is not lost. 

The MCA still has some life in it and some pretty damn good advantages.

First, it has lost and lots of money.

Second, it has lots and lots of party branches.

Third, it has lots and lots of members.

Fourth, it has lots of history and, therefore, pedigree.

Now, it just has to parlay those strengths with a change in content.

The starting point has to be some serious soul-searching on the matter of changing the "Chinese" in its "C" to "Communities". With this, will come the requisite repositioning its political strategy. 

The next step is to do some mental surgery to re-attach the cojones that it has put in deep freeze because its leaders over the past several decades has chosen patronage politics that involves getting projects for themselves and cronies.

This is the time for re-invention.

Some may say that, if you were to look at the history of the MCA, this party was always elitist and self-serving. It had its roots in Kuomintang sympathies and looked with concern to the issues and challenges that wracked post-imperial China. It, then, morphed into a political body that engaged Malayan concerns about citizenship for the Chinese community and the needs of the Chinese business community.

It may be said also that the needs of the Chinese community at the time were dealt with by clan associations and dialect associations working in a loose collaboration with the MCA. Tun Tan Cheng Lock was famously criticised for being illiterate in the Mandarin.

But, why should history shackle the MCA of the present? Just as modern corporations can transform from a small start in one industry into a corporate giant in another, so, too, can the MCA make that quantum leap from being Chinese-based to becoming Communities-based.

And, I'll let the MCA in one one secret.

You don't need UMNO's permission to do this.

Reconciliation

I like what Najib has stated in the BN Press Conference following SPR's announcement that BN had crossed the 112 seat majority barrier to be eligible to form the next Federal Government. He said that BN will look into a form of "national reconciliation".

To my mind, taken in proper context, "national reconciliation" should not be about bringing disparate ethnic groups together so much as BN addressing the issues that concern URBAN VOTERS. It just so happens that most urban voters are of Chinese ethnicity.

Framing "national reconciliation" efforts in the context of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, etc may end up as an exercise in treating a misdiagnosed symptom.

The Malay voters in Pasir Mas and Shah Alam has shown that Perkasa and its views and positions has no place in Malaysian politics. This is something all Malaysians must sit up and take notice of. Let me repeat. Malay voters have rejected Ibrahim Ali and Zulkifli Nordin. This shows that moderate, sensitive and pragmatic politics and political leaders are encouraged in Malaysia by ALL Malaysian voters. 

This is also a message to political parties like the DAP whose followers can be very rude and insensitive that political issues must be better articulated.

The elephants in the room for URBAN VOTERS are issues such as corruption, cronyism, good governance, fair play and rising costs of living.

Phantom voters in EC rolls

I have never really thought very deeply about the allegations about phantom voters in Malaysia's electoral rolls. But, as it turns out, I have recently been informed by good friends who have lived overseas for quite some time due to career and work commitments (so this is first-hand) that their names have mysteriously been shown as having been registered in the Election Commission's electoral rolls.

Quite naturally, I was sceptical and I asked the one who has recently returned to Malaysia, a Malaysian of Indian descent, to give me his identity card number. I typed in the number at SPR's website.

Lo! And, behold! My friend's name popped up as a registered voter in Subang Jaya. What gives, EC?!!!

The other two, Malaysians with Chinese and Kayan genes, are registered as voters somewhere in Kuching, Sarawak and, they told me that, for all it's worth, they have lodged complaints to the Election Commission. 

I say, "for all it's worth" because Judge Vernon Ong has just thrown out Charles Santiago's complaint.

This is a serious concern.

I have not participated in any of the Bersih rallies... but, I am forced to acknowledge that Ambiga and the Bersih people weren't crying wolf. 

The electoral rolls need to be seriously reviewed and cleaned up. 

The shitty part is that I'm a voter in Charles Santiago's constituency in Klang. This means that if I vote for him, my vote would be negated by the phantoms that he has alleged, exists in the Klang voter rolls. 

If I vote against him phantoms would not negate my vote.

Hmmmm...... decisions, decisions.......

This and that

It's been a very bad week for people who had prepared for the end of the world. They have to pick up where they left off. And, they need to now clear all the canned food and preserved food from their pantry.

That aside, I mourn the passing of Lim Keng Yaik. Malaysia has lost another good man. He will be missed.

Which leaves me to raise this feeling in the pit of my considerable stomach about the state of our fluency in the English language and, worse, the quality of thought processes.

I have just skimmed through a piece written by an academic at one of our local universities who wrote ponderously (or so, she must have thought) on Montesquieu and the doctrine of the separation of powers. 

Her grammar and syntax kept falling apart. I find that to be quite forgivable and tolerable because I, too, have learnt to lower my expectations as my work life progresses. In such situations, I merely speed up my skim-reading, you know, like a hydofoil increasing its velocity in choppy waters so as to raise the hull further from the surface water...oh, I'm sure you get it.

What I found difficult to pardon is that the piece, being a written contribution to an august journal of professional practitioners and peers, did not stray very far from its encyclopaedic roots. There was, after nearly 10 pages of excursus into the wherewithal of Montesquieu's thesis and its influence on politico-legal thought on it, nothing that the piece had to offer by way of pushing the envelope of the proposition further or offering a comparison between the adoption of the doctrine in various constitutional jurisdictions.

As William Shakespeare (Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141)) wrote, "The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves..."

I really shouldn't have even tried to read that piece.

B Ark candidates: Maths and Science in Malaysia

The Trends in Maths and Science Study 2011 (TIMSS 2011) has revealed that Malaysia's appalling academic showing in the field of Maths and Science is trending in the wrong direction.

This reminded me of a possible fate of Malaysians and the possible types of skill sets that Malaysians may end up being good at given this trend as indicated by the TIMSS 2011 survey.

The scenario may be played out as such-

“I mean, I couldn’t help noticing,” said Ford, also taking a sip, “the bodies. In the hold.”

“Bodies?” said the Captain in surprise.

Ford paused and thought to himself. Never take anything for granted, he thought. Could it be that the Captain doesn’t know he’s got fifteen million dead bodies on his ship?

The Captain was nodding cheerfully at him. He also appeared to be playing with a rubber duck.

Ford looked around. Number Two was staring at him in the mirror, but only for an instant: his eyes were constantly on the move. The first officer was just standing there holding the drinks tray and smiling benignly.

“Bodies?” said the Captain again.

Ford licked his lips.

“Yes,” he said, “All those dead telephone sanitizers and account executives, you know, down in the hold.”

The Captain stared at him. Suddenly he threw back his head and laughed.

“Oh they’re not dead,” he said, “Good Lord no, no they’re frozen. They’re going to be revived.”

Ford did something he very rarely did. He blinked.

Arthur seemed to come out of a trance.

“You mean you’ve got a hold full of frozen hairdressers?” he said.

“Oh yes,” said the Captain, “Millions of them. Hairdressers, tired TV producers, insurance salesmen, personnel officers, security guards, public relations executives, management consultants, you name them. We’re going to colonize another planet.”

Local Councils and Resource Allocation

One of my favourite past times is to makan angin by taking drives to the fringes of the urban centres. To me, this is where the real Malaysians live. It is where the real Malaysia exists.

The obvious thing that one notices when driving away from the city centres or town centres is that the roads and road shoulders get progressively ramshackle and unkempt.

Rubbish is strewn and heaped in untidy piles. Undergrowth is rampant and way too wild. Stray dogs forage openly.

It is not a pretty sight.

But, this is where many, many Malaysians live; in the fringes of urban centres.

Why aren't Local Councils allocating more resources to maintain these fringe areas?

It is obvious that fringe areas are less densely populated. It is clear that this is where the working class Malaysians live. It is noticeable that these are localities where automotive chop shops, recycling yards, light industrial activities have found their place.

In short, these fringe areas do not contribute as much assessment as the buildings and structures in the urban centres.

That said, Local Councils cannot discriminate against fringe areas. This is irresponsible.

I am quite convinced that if Local Councils allocate more resources to maintain street lighting, collect rubbish more frequently, clean up the illegal rubbish heaps, cut the undergrowth and used mechanised sweepers to sweep away debris and loose gravel from road shoulders, residents in these fringe areas will see that being civic-minded is beneficial. 

This will create a virtuous cycle.

Local Councils must stop the discrimination of fringe areas in favour of urban centres.

Legacy

I read with great interest the latest blog post by etheorist here. The blogger wrote about the fixation many of us have with the accumulation of wealth and went on, wistfully, to reflect on the implications of this wealth-fixation of ours. The blogger raised much food for thought (if we have time for that).

I also read, with sadness, the Obituary of Datuk Khoo Eng Choo. Datuk Khoo was the leader of PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the 1990s together with YM Raja Arshad.

I didn't know Datuk Khoo personally nor have I ever worked with him.

The anecdotal information that I have suggests that Datuk Khoo and his team built the old PWC from the foundation and legacy left by the late Jaafar Hussein who had moved on to helm the Malayan Banking group and, later, became the Bank Negara Governor.

Datuk Khoo and Raja Arshad and the team they had built PWC's reputation and sealed its dominance of the accounting profession in Malaysia. 

To acquire market leadership in any field, in any market jurisdiction, requires great skill, care, industry and foresight. By all accounts Datuk Khoo had these qualities in abundance.

As any great leader will attest, the path to success is littered with injured egos and perceived unfair treatment by team members who were found wanting. I am certain that Datuk Khoo who is said to have possessed Napoleonesque qualities has his fair share of detractors.

This should not cloud his legacy and the achievements of the team that he led at PWC in the 1990s.

I hope that those who worked beside him will not consign him and his work to ignominy. 

Where etheorist's blog post and the matter of Datuk Khoo's legacy merges in my mind is the issue of what types of goals and values that we should have and what we want our offspring and successors to embrace.

I wish to hazard a proposition that perhaps a life well lived should, ideally, leave a zero sum legacy where people will say that in our lifetime we did not leave the world worse off that when we first arrived.

I would hazard a corollary proposition that if we were to be excessively exuberant during our lifetime, that excessive exuberance led to an improvement to the world that we lived in.

For, if we left the world a worse off place than it was when we first arrived, we would have committed a crime, or, as the people of faith calls it, a sin.

So, picking up on etheorist's thread, our industriousness in wealth accumulation should lead us to acquire and enjoy a comfortable and reasonable luxurious life of happiness and when the time comes for us to depart, we should only leave behind enough for our children to receive a decent education and an adequate stipend for them to get started on their life's journey.

Anything exceeding that should be bequeathed for the betterment of the community.

Those, I believe, are reasonable goals and values for each of us. 

Tweet nonsense

To my great horror it appears that my twitter account has been hijacked. As such, I have decided to delete the twitter display in this blog.

It is a wake up call to realize just how vulnerable we can be in cyberspace.

There is hardly any difference between a cyber hijacking of a twitter account or any email account and being a victim of crime in the real world. The violation of the private space is equally outrageous and unacceptable.

Revert

I have been rather conscious about the usage and abusage of the word "revert" in the many emails and correspondence that I receive.

Someone pointed me to a very interesting piece on this very matter of the usage and abusage of the word "revert" in the New York Times written by Ben Zimmer. You can access the piece here.

I am profiting from Mr Zimmer's industry in ferreting out the background, context and usage of the word.

It appears that the word "revert" is understood in the English-speaking world to mean "to go back" or "to return to the former condition"...except in South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia.

In South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia, the word "revert" is taken to mean, "to reply". 

As with all things English, I prefer to rely on the Oxford Dictionary which defines the word "revert" to mean "return to (a previous state, practice, topic, etc.)" which is not quite the same as "to reply" izzit?

Getting the right people

Yesterday, I was part of a meeting to pitch an investment to one of Malaysia's large public institutional funds. The top honcho for the fund is a consummate professional, which explains why the fund has widely and consistently regarded as one of Malaysia's finest examples of a well-managed fund. 

The subject matter was a mere drop in the ocean in the context of the total fund size that this institutional fund had in its portfolio. Yet, the man was familiar with the features of the proposal. The dimension of his office was breathtakingly modest. The decor was equally modest and slightly more worn than I had imagined it would be. 

Yet,this man headed a humongous fund. This is what trust or "amanah" means. 

Malaysia is lucky to have men like him. I wish there were more men like him. 

If men like him had been put in charge of government-funded projects and many GLCs, there will be hardly any ripple of disquiet or discontent from any quarter in Malaysia. 

In fact, the publicly-listed companies within this fund's stable has been widely regarded as "blue chip" in the investment community - steady price and good earnings year-on-year. 

Malaysia needs more good men like him. Malaysia needs less sycophantic executive-types whose eye is NEVER on the project paper assumptions but ALWAYS on the facial expression of the political patron. 

My basic point is this - there are many, many good and capable people who are highly qualified, who possess the correct skill sets for the various challenging tasks facing Malaysian statutory bodies and GLCs. 

The reason for many good men and women being overlooked or bypassed is that they are too busy worrying about getting the projects, the assumptions, the numbers, the team and the coordination done right that they do not put enough time into "sucking up" or "ampu". 

The political patrons often read the wrong signals. The good executives are overlooked because their brows are furrowed, they are less charming, slow to say the platitudes, they drum their fingers and fidget too much (because they want to get away from the small talk and get back to their desk to meet critical deadlines). These are not the attributes that appeal to the political patron. 

What the political patron gets suckered into is the absolute 24/7 availability of the poseur who looks every inch like the Wall Street or City of London go-getter. It's a facade that the political patron cannot see past. 

The poseur wins the day almost every time because he or she invests so much time with "office politics" and spends hardly any time poring over reports and dealing with project issues. Political patrons are high maintenance. 

This is the conundrum that we face in Malaysia. It probably happens elsewhere too. 

But, I don't care about elsewhere. I care about Malaysia. 

That is why I am happy to have met with one of the best chief executives of a Malaysian public institutional fund yesterday. Malaysia needs more men like him.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

To everyone celebrating the Chinese Lunar Dragon Year, I wish you Gong Xi Fa Cai.

To everyone else, I wish you Happy Holiday.

Those of you who are driving long distance, please take care to get rested from time to time.

Malaysia: Headlines for the wrong reasons

Much as I hate to say it, Bloomberg columnist, William Pesek has made a pertinent point in his latest piece on Malaysia.

Malaysia has been hitting the international headlines for the wrong reasons for some time now.

This grates on me like an itch that is buried in the subcutaneous layer. It's bad and self-wounding.

Where good ideas come from

I'd like to think that my mind has sufficient complex creativity with sparks flying in the way that Steven Johnson's YouTube displays below. But, in mock humility, I should say that I'm not so sure my mind is this good.

What about your mind?

Happy 2012

Happy 2012 to everyone.

I know the Mayan calendar suggests that this may well be the last solar cycle for us.

That said, I suspect that in spite of such a profound prospect most of us will still soldier on to do the things that we need to do instead of just staring at the sky or watch endless repeats of the DVD of John Cusack racing toward an ark in the Himalayan range.

Happy 2012!

What is the Chinese language?

First of all, I wish everyone celebrating, a very Merry Christmas. And, to everyone else, Happy Holidays.

Being an illiterate, albeit an earnest inquirer, I found this piece in the Economist to be highly informative and interesting. In particular, the robust comments for the piece are very instructive.

I HAVE exercised Chinese commenters with a few posts that were seen as either simplistic or biased. So let me offer two competing visions of Chinese that help explain what the two sides disagree on. These are archetypes which few partisans may agree with every word of.  But they are the basic poles of thinking about Chinese, I think. I submit them for the good of commenters, who should debate them to shreds.

In brief, Chinese traditionalists believe-

1) Chinese is one language with dialects.

2) Chinese is best written in the character-based on the Hanzi system.

3) All Chinese read and share the same writing system, despite speaking in different ways.

Western linguists tend to respond-

1) Chinese is not a language but a family; the "dialects" are not dialects but languages.

2) Hanzi-based writing is unnecessarily difficult; the characters do not represent "ideas" but "morphemes" (small and combinable units of meaning, like the morphemes of any language). Pinyin(the standard Roman system) could just as easily be used for Chinese. Puns, wordplay and etymology might be sacrificed, but ease of use would be enhanced.

3) Modern Hanzi writing is basically Mandarin with the old characters in a form modified by the People's Republic. Everyone else (Cantonese speakers, say) must either write Mandarin or significantly alter the system to write their own "Chinese".

There are so many arguments packed into these two ideas that it's hard to start, much less finish, in a blog post.

PPSMI: Best PMR results in last four years

Now that we've got further proof here:

Best PMR results in last four years

WHAT WAS THE REASON GIVEN FOR REVERSING PPSMI?

WHAT?

The sensation of being naked in public

I am quite certain that every Malaysian who owns an email address and a mobile phone has been receiving politics-laced messages from both sides of the political divide. 

Some messages are well-articulated. Others are emotive. Some are sensible. Others, outrageous. Many are well-meaning. Equally many are downright abusive and libelous.

I'm not sure how other Malaysians react to these messages. I usually glance at them before deleting or, just delete them with nary a further thought.

The point of this post is directed at the remarks I receive from ex-Malaysians who have uprooted themselves to live elsewhere.

These ex-Malaysians invariably have a haughty tone that exhibit 2 characteristics. First, thank the stars I am no longer living in Malaysia. The situation is chaotic. Second, what's wrong with YOU people in Malaysia and all your politicking and race-laced views.

I find these types of remarks tiresome, boring and annoying.

We, who live in Malaysia, are enjoying greater democratic space. We are having some fun.

The best metaphors for what Malaysians are experiencing are-

• Standing naked outside your house in broad daylight.

• Bungee jumping for the first time.

It's the democratic equivalent of a dopamine rush.

Some of us hits a downer faster than others. We slow down. Others appear to be on permanent speed.

The point is that this is OUR game to play; for Malaysians who choose to live in Malaysia.

I love Malaysia. I love Malaysian democracy.

I am amused by Ibrahim Ali and Wee Ka Siong. They add colour and texture to the Malaysian political batik fabric. I may not believe what they say, and I really don't. But, I enjoy their utterances. Sometimes I mock exasperation and indignation. But, at heart, they provide a perverse form of enjoyment and distraction.

If people don't understand the cacophony of Malaysian politics (which is at freshman level), then how could they appreciate the higher level banality offered by Aussie politicians (for example) arguing emotionally about carbon tax and the finer points of the Kyoto Protocol?

I'd much rather that people who are residing permanently or, worse, who have become citizens, in another country engage the issues in that land and, if they so desire, quietly read about the colours of political Malaysia and, refrain from making haughty and condescending remarks to Malaysians who choose to live and contribute to Malaysia.

Lest I be misunderstood, none of the above applies to Malaysians studying or working abroad who will be returning in future. 

A smile from the Heavens

Someone emailed this among other photos to me. It's such a great shot that I simply had to post it. I'm not sure whose copyright it is. But, when I find out, I'll be sure to attribute it. It really is a great "one-in-a-million" shot that every photographer must dream of.

Update: Thanks to flyer168 for referencing the URL where the photo originated from here.

PPSMI and the Malaysian education malaise

One of the part that worries me about the PPSMI saga is the claim by the Minister of Education that the matter of reversing the PPSMI policy has been given deep thought by all and sundry in the Cabinet.

What worries me is that the Malaysian education system is too fragmented to the point that it now mirrors Astro programming.

And, what do I mean by that?

It is disturbing to see that Malaysian children are being shafted into different directions in the name of seeking quality education, culture and/or just plain, affordability.

Parents who perceive that the quality of education in national schools (sekolah kebangsaan) have deteriorated precipitously have been sending their children to national-type Chinese schools or international schools.

Other parents who doubt the quality of national schools have been sending their children to private schools using the national syllabus.

Parents who believe that their children need to maintain their perceived "cultural identity" have been sending their children to Mandarin-medium or Tamil-medium schools. Let's not forget that there was also a time when Malay parents would send their children to Malay-medium schools with the same intent.

Parents who believe that their children should be at the apex of society with a fighting chance of being entrenched as the elite of Malaysian society and/or be competitive at a global level, have been sending their children to international schools based in Malaysia!!!!

That's what I mean by the Astro-programming parallel.

And, I believe this to be the major issue.

This is the pink elephant in the room that the Minister of Education and the Cabinet has chosen to ignore.

Granted that this issue is a delicate and complex one, someone still has to address the issue.

Or, maybe this is the precise point.

It is NOT a political issue because no one, on either side of the Parliamentary divide, be they Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, have bothered to deal with the matter.

Yet, everyone who has school-going children and anyone who has undergone any of the education routes I have outlined above should know or recall, the educational anomaly that exists in Malaysia.

Who amongst the political leaders of contemporary Malaysia has the courage to raise this issue? Who dares to bell this cat?

No one.

All we have are parochial and chauvinistic gallery-pandering politicians and educationists who champion their own little causes.

Will no one stand for the Malaysian nation?

Yes. Lest we forget, we are a nation. We live under the same sky. We drink the same water. We eat almost similar food. And, our urinary and fecal matter have been flowing into the same streams and rivers for over a century. 

And, here we are.

Why do many of us argue in favour of preserving PPSMI?

Well, it isn't because we believe that our national school's quality has improved. It hasn't. And, yes, the quality of education needs serious improvement.

But, we don't believe that having Maths and Science being taught in Bahasa Malaysia will improve the quality of education.

We don't believe it simply because language is NOT the issue in the matter of quality of education.

We merely believe that having our children being taught the technical subjects of Maths and Science in the English language will make it easier for our children to tap into the great reservoir of knowledge that currently exists in the known Universe which is very, very substantially written in the English language.

Our children, who have been taught since 2003 under the PPSMI are articulate and conversant in BOTH Bahasa Malaysia and English. Their teachers can vouch for this.

And, no, Mr Education Minister, we parents are NOT satisfied that our current school-going children will remain with PPSMI until the end of their school life.

We want PPSMI to be maintained for the future cohorts of students.

And, we want you, your Cabinet colleagues and the entire Ministry of Education to focus on improving the quality of teachers. 

Stop tampering with language and syllabus.

Just focus on improving the quality of education.

Is this clear enough? (Sorry, just quoting Mr Essau, my Form One teacher who carried a big rotan in his day).

PAGE: Malays lose most from scrapping of PPSMI

Sourced from here-

PETALING JAYA: Rural students are the biggest losers from the government’s decision to stop the teaching of science and mathematics in English, according to the Parents Action Group for Education (PAGE).

PAGE chairperson Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said rural students, especially Malays, would end up speaking only Malay because they would have no context in which to apply English.

She questioned the wisdom of the decision, saying Malaysia was going against the tide when “countries all over the world are pushing for English”. She said she was now convinced that Barisan Nasional was not the right party to govern the nation.

She was commenting on Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s latest statement on the scrapping of PPSMI (the Malay abbreviation for the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English). Muhyiddin, who is the Education Education, said today that the decision was final.

“Through PPSMI, the kids would have had an opportunity to practice the language,” Noor Azimah said.

Muhyiddin said the government would go ahead next year with its MBMMBI (Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the English Language) policy, which would cover a “soft landing” programme for students currently studying science and mathematics in English.

He derided PAGE and other supporters of PPSMI for “being out of touch”, saying the decision to abolish the programme had been made in 2009.

Noor Azimah retorted that PAGE had been fighting to keep PPSMI in the system for “the last three years”.

“I think he is out of touch,” she said.

She also said, without elaborating, that PAGE would “support” students hit by the policy change, especially those currently in Primary 3 and Secondary 3.

“They have the right to finish science and mathematics in English under the soft landing.”

Test scores

Noor Azimah claimed that next year’s MBMMBI syllabus was not new, but a direct translation of the current PPSMI texts.

In an earlier statement, PAGE said national test scores improved following the introduction of the PPSMI in 2003.

Citing the Millenium Development Goals 2010 report, it said both rural and urban students had benefited from PPSMI.

“They (rural students) all showed improvements in English, no reduction in Bahasa Malaysia, and improvements in Science and Mathematics in the last few years,” it said.

Through an online petition initiated by PAGE, more than 100,000 parents have protested against the scrapping of PPSMI.