WHAT!!! NOT THE CREAM OF THE CROP?

2nd. June 2004, NSTP

DEAR MINISTER, PLEASE FIND BETTER EXCUSE FOR YOUR SYSTEM FAILURE.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Shafie Salleh said unsuccessful students were not offered places to study medicine in public universities may not have been the cream of the crop. They may have achieve A- in subjects such as Physic, Chemistry & Biology. He said the Ministry was practising meritocracy and took into consideration racial unity when placing students of various races in public university. He remind Malaysians that the tuiton fees at private medical institution as $256,772 and public university is only $9,800 only.

What a load of shit from a Minister who had been an academician himself.

Do you mean getting A- is not good enough to pursue medicine? The criteria set by the Ministry was 4.0 CGPA. Please ask the many doctors in practice whether they have a 4.0 CGPA and A- for all the science subjects.

Where and when did the Government and the Ministry of Education prequalified that the aspiring students must score A+ & with CGPA of 4.0, in order to be admitted to public medical college/university?

How is it that many existing specialist and doctors who did not have the said criteria before, are now qualified doctor and specialist, and many of them are widely recognized & reknown for their skills and competencies?

Is there no other excuses for the cause of the failure of the system that had failed to generate and develop the necessary national human capital; that of providing sufficient doctors and other specialist as required for the hospitals?

I wonder if Datuk Shafie would let us know how his children have fared in their SPM and STPM, and where are they being educated - Is it overseas and at Ivy League Universities and who pays for it?

What is the purpose of the Higher Education Minister in highlighting the tuition fees differentials between public and private universities? Is he trying to say that he is doing a favor for Malaysians; those who cannot afford the fees for private medical colleges?

Instead of finding solutions to the problems and seeking a strategic long-term and medium-term plan to ensure that the health Ministry are provided with the crops of doctors, specialists, nurses, etc, and to ensure that we have the required medical specialist and doctors to manned the hospitals in the years to come, here we have a Minister who is more concern to find an excuse for his failure and the system mulfunctions.

What type of Ministers do we have and why has Pak-Lah chosen a stupid and banal person to be the Minister of Higher Education?