Earlier today our Deputy Finance Minister admitted that despite the increase in the number of registered contractors, their works were still found to be not satisfactory.
Yet, just a couple of days ago, our PAC concluded that it found only 'bad management' and not embezzlement/misappropriation per se (read abuse of power and authority) in the hitherto long delayed Rawang-Ipoh double tracking rail project.
Also, not too long ago our Auditor-General's reports unmasked the prevalence of relative incompetences compounded by sheer indifferences in many government ministries and departments. And, haiyoo..., I am reminded too of a recently-resigned top civil servant who has no qualms about insisting that a life recently lost was but a "small issue".
It is dismaying and equally shocking to say the least: Why our bad managers (may be 'baddy'-managers really?) have been so ubiquitous in the civil service, quasi-government organizations and even the GLC's and public companies for years now!
The darndest thing was (and it looks like it is continuing to be so, is...) that they all got away with impunity upon retirements, transfers and resignations - never mind the billions of ringgit of
taxpayers' money lost or, painfully, guaranteed to be incurred sooner rather than later!
Laughable too was and still is that some of these 'baddy' managers subsequently re-emerged to occupy even higher and strategically more critical positions in the managerial hierarchies in our many you-know-what entities/corporations.
Sad, so very very sad!
It is now so obviously - if not definitively - a deeply-entrenched Malaysian characteristic to have limitless tolerance for utter management nim-com-pooks and perpetually keeping up-high misguidedly-chosen leaders (of non-publicized or, if you prefer, officially "covered up" ill-reputes).
Maybe, and I hope it is not wishful thinking on my part, that we all must now for once persist in a stance that is so very un-Malaysian towards all potential future 'bad managers'.
What gives?
Journalists and reporters of both mainstream and digital media must henceforth dig out and up and then ensure all pertinent background information concerning academic and professional qualifications as well as the latest social standings of newly appointed and elected leaders and managers be published and given the widest possible circulation in civil society when they (the leaders and managers) assume their new postings or positions.
If these are followed up diligently and made to rule as an integral part of editorial policies, then I am sure a lot of these appointee-leaders/managers will shy away from being 'bad managers' lest they be ostracized by their old classmates or stigmatized by their collegues or even shunned by their relatives - or even suffer all of the foregoings!
A man does not live by himself, you know! Peer- and social-groups' pressures can
be very formidable and, yes, inexpensive leh to and for us the peeved taxpayers!
May be and only may be we will then have fewer bad (if not 'baddy'-) managers in
the future!
I am keeping my fingers crossed. Will you too?
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Copycats from Chinese Schools? Umm...You Decide!
For many years now, I have admired Prof Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim's depth of knowledge about world history in general and Malayan's in particular.
His recent contention about Chinese schools producing copycats was not entirely incorrect. His was however made off-the-mark when he failed to take into contextual account that these copycats when later exposed to non-Malaysian-centric post secondary education and training became creative if not brilliant professionals and scholars. (The Singapore government can testify to this. No and unbelieveable? Think again!)
I know of a guy who sent his two children to Chinese schools starting in the mid-1980's
in spite of the displeasures of and reprimands from his (the guy's) parents. Almost 25 years later both the children became pretty successful professionals in their own rights. One is now a lawyer- turned-banker earning an annual 6-figures salary and the other a medical professional expected to nett an equivalent annual earnings running very close to 7-figures!
Tell me, Professor, if copycats can command these levels of earnings in their early-30's, then I shall definitely champion the calls to all Malaysian parents to have their offsprings turned into
Chinese schools-made copycats! No, I mean it! It will be worth their whiles, you bet!
On the other hand and in all fairness to the Professor's, I must admit that when I was moonlighting as a local college lecturer leading a group of 3+0 final year final semester 'BBA Honours' students in the late-90's/early-2000's, most of my students from the Chinese schools stream were true to form passive-learners and copycats. They yearned to have me produced notes for them each session.
No, I refused to and I was quite steadfast in this stance.
Instead, I got them to form study groups and produce their collective notes and reports for class presentations. At first, I found a lot of 'cut-and-paste' efforts. When I dished out very low-grades, they subsequently became quite original in their completed assignments and term papers submitted - all just within half a semester's time!
They were very adaptive if not resilient. Oh yeah, creativity was very evident
too.
Going to Chinese vernacular schools may not be too bad an idea - provided you know how to guide your children eventually in and towards the "home runs"!
His recent contention about Chinese schools producing copycats was not entirely incorrect. His was however made off-the-mark when he failed to take into contextual account that these copycats when later exposed to non-Malaysian-centric post secondary education and training became creative if not brilliant professionals and scholars. (The Singapore government can testify to this. No and unbelieveable? Think again!)
I know of a guy who sent his two children to Chinese schools starting in the mid-1980's
in spite of the displeasures of and reprimands from his (the guy's) parents. Almost 25 years later both the children became pretty successful professionals in their own rights. One is now a lawyer- turned-banker earning an annual 6-figures salary and the other a medical professional expected to nett an equivalent annual earnings running very close to 7-figures!
Tell me, Professor, if copycats can command these levels of earnings in their early-30's, then I shall definitely champion the calls to all Malaysian parents to have their offsprings turned into
Chinese schools-made copycats! No, I mean it! It will be worth their whiles, you bet!
On the other hand and in all fairness to the Professor's, I must admit that when I was moonlighting as a local college lecturer leading a group of 3+0 final year final semester 'BBA Honours' students in the late-90's/early-2000's, most of my students from the Chinese schools stream were true to form passive-learners and copycats. They yearned to have me produced notes for them each session.
No, I refused to and I was quite steadfast in this stance.
Instead, I got them to form study groups and produce their collective notes and reports for class presentations. At first, I found a lot of 'cut-and-paste' efforts. When I dished out very low-grades, they subsequently became quite original in their completed assignments and term papers submitted - all just within half a semester's time!
They were very adaptive if not resilient. Oh yeah, creativity was very evident
too.
Going to Chinese vernacular schools may not be too bad an idea - provided you know how to guide your children eventually in and towards the "home runs"!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Vernacular Language Education : A Twist of Good Fortune?
The impending 10-subjects cap for SPM-ers portends an opportune time for both the Chinese and Tamil schools' proponents and supporters to top-out their 'fights' after all these years!
Why would I say that?
Oh well, freedom to determine and set 'realistic and meritrocratic standards' that reflect prevailing and future professional, vocational and cultural needs, thats why!
We have been too aware of the quality of our graduates for years now. Their inherent capabilities were not and ought not beckon suspect. Rather it was the 'quality of the milling' that the majority was subjected to and underwent for a good 13 to 16 years in our formal education system that was a priori the blame. No?
Instead of crying and shouting about loss of recognition and whats-not, entities like Dong Zong, NUTP and MIC should immediately seek out their respective sectors' well-wishing participants' and stakeholders' collective consensus on what should constitute acceptable standard(s) governing their vernacular languages and their pertinent pedagogies.
Once resolved they should immediately source for if not set about nurturing 'capable teachers and trainers'. A word of caution here though: Good language teachers and trainers are rare human capital nowadays in the country. Go forth and seek out the best but first get the required 'ground work' done. This is where your community's elected reps must be made to yield - to your terms and conditions lah!
For once, stake your own communities' cultural heritage on your own doing and, darn it, not to rely upon the government's hitherto limited and, of course, selective largesse.
On this issue and for once, I am agreeable with the government's education policy.
Why would I say that?
Oh well, freedom to determine and set 'realistic and meritrocratic standards' that reflect prevailing and future professional, vocational and cultural needs, thats why!
We have been too aware of the quality of our graduates for years now. Their inherent capabilities were not and ought not beckon suspect. Rather it was the 'quality of the milling' that the majority was subjected to and underwent for a good 13 to 16 years in our formal education system that was a priori the blame. No?
Instead of crying and shouting about loss of recognition and whats-not, entities like Dong Zong, NUTP and MIC should immediately seek out their respective sectors' well-wishing participants' and stakeholders' collective consensus on what should constitute acceptable standard(s) governing their vernacular languages and their pertinent pedagogies.
Once resolved they should immediately source for if not set about nurturing 'capable teachers and trainers'. A word of caution here though: Good language teachers and trainers are rare human capital nowadays in the country. Go forth and seek out the best but first get the required 'ground work' done. This is where your community's elected reps must be made to yield - to your terms and conditions lah!
For once, stake your own communities' cultural heritage on your own doing and, darn it, not to rely upon the government's hitherto limited and, of course, selective largesse.
On this issue and for once, I am agreeable with the government's education policy.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
I Sure Hope Our Think-Tank Will Be Right!
MIER just now said that our national economy will perform better this fiscal with a negative-growth of between three and two percents by end of this month!
Aiyah, how can 'negative' thinggies be good lah? (Psst... the ghosts of Adam Smith and Lord Keynes must be turning over and cursing in their respective graves oohh...). Oops, MIER is being oxymoronic, no?
Our think tank further foresees a growth of 3.7% in 2010 and another +5% a year later! Very good indeed. Plausible contention, eh?
Alas, let us be realistic: My wife's monthly shopping budgets over the last umpteen months have been buying lesser and lesser necessities. Our monthly transportation expenditures have spiked. What little FD's we managed to and did maintained are earning less after each successive maturity-dates. Our standard of living has deteriorated but the costs have not! We are retired and dependent upon our savings.
With scant if not virtually no news about new big-time manufacturing entrants, technologies breakthroughs, nor boasts of inreased FDI's and hastened local capital accumulation, our expected growths in the ensueing two years will likely be anchored by, yes, increased public expenditure (read increased national debt) and global demand-pull for oil and gas exports. Are these tactically controllable or politically sustainable ah? Moot leh!
Oh, by the way, MIER, both the Indian's and Chinese's laudable performances are results of purposeful, deliberate yet sensible and proactive management of their critical economic variables and not because of ..."the regional trend(s)...".
If regional trends, how come we could not hitch a piggyback ride?
Still, I want to support the foresights of MIER's - regardless of future outcomes! (It feels good in an era of bleakness.)
Aiyah, how can 'negative' thinggies be good lah? (Psst... the ghosts of Adam Smith and Lord Keynes must be turning over and cursing in their respective graves oohh...). Oops, MIER is being oxymoronic, no?
Our think tank further foresees a growth of 3.7% in 2010 and another +5% a year later! Very good indeed. Plausible contention, eh?
Alas, let us be realistic: My wife's monthly shopping budgets over the last umpteen months have been buying lesser and lesser necessities. Our monthly transportation expenditures have spiked. What little FD's we managed to and did maintained are earning less after each successive maturity-dates. Our standard of living has deteriorated but the costs have not! We are retired and dependent upon our savings.
With scant if not virtually no news about new big-time manufacturing entrants, technologies breakthroughs, nor boasts of inreased FDI's and hastened local capital accumulation, our expected growths in the ensueing two years will likely be anchored by, yes, increased public expenditure (read increased national debt) and global demand-pull for oil and gas exports. Are these tactically controllable or politically sustainable ah? Moot leh!
Oh, by the way, MIER, both the Indian's and Chinese's laudable performances are results of purposeful, deliberate yet sensible and proactive management of their critical economic variables and not because of ..."the regional trend(s)...".
If regional trends, how come we could not hitch a piggyback ride?
Still, I want to support the foresights of MIER's - regardless of future outcomes! (It feels good in an era of bleakness.)
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