the no. one malaysia problem

8/8/2019 The No. One Malaysia Problem

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www. nutgraph.com

The One & Only Problem In MalaysiaBy Syed Akbar Ali

(an email forwarded to me by a friend, too precious not to share and so accurate, I want to cry

in shame!)

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 dont 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 dont 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 Rustams 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?)


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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 theticket 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

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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 dont wear awatch, 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 dont 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 wifes 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 dont we really seriously study and make comparisons and make a real


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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 dont 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. Andlets be frank, these are mostly Malay kids ok. Budak-budak kita. Please dont 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 dont 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

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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 abovehigh 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 dont 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.

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


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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 fiveyears, 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.

the no. one malaysia problem

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