THE DEMERIT SYSTEM & THE PARADOX OF TOWERING MALAYS

REVIEW MERIT SYSTEM

Possible review of merit system

The govt is ready to re-examine the meritocracy system for entry into public universities, where there are claims that it has resulted in a decline in Bumiputra students. Higher Education Minister Datuk Shafie Salleh said the ministry was ready to discuss the proposal by the UMNO Youth Education Bureau before putting it forward to the Cabinet, reported Kosmo (The Star, 24th May 2005).

This statement was in contrary over the minister's earlier statement made during the opening of Universiti Malaya’s International conference on Health Science (6th. May 2005), where Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh told the participants, which include foreigners, that the meritocracy policy for entry into Malaysian Public Universities will continue and should be given time to work.

This changed of stand was in response to the comments made by UMNO Deputy Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin who said that the UMNO Youth movement’s survey at various public universities showed a disturbing trend in the enrolment of Malays in critical faculties such as law and pharmacy (as reported on 7th May, 2005,in The Star).

In the statement, Khairy said: “I am not asking for the meritocracy system to be reviewed but remedial measures must be taken if Malay students form the minority group in critical faculties.” Khairy was responding to the statement made by Higher Education Minister Dr Shafie’s comment that the meritocracy policy would continue to be adopted.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The stand and statement made by Khairy, an Oxbridge graduate himself, (the Ivy league university in UK) who is a sample of a successful and intellectual Malay and who had self-made himself to what he is today (uhm added when he married the PM's daughter), and potentially someone who might be the not too distant future leader of the country, were absolutely perplexing and disturbing, particularly to the Malays and the non-Malays.

His statement can be construed to mean that the Malays are incapable to compete with the other races unless, they are parked into the universities without the need of merit and hardwork. It demean the ability of the Malays, that denotes incapability, lack of hardwork, and cannot compete with the rest of the world.

But this is not the truth. If the survey is honest and truthfull, it should include those Malays that were sent overseas via government scholarships and in particular, those from UMNO-rich plus those from MCAs & MICs' Ministers children (they too are considered UMNOputras). The statement by Khairy is absolutely misleading and reckless. The simple fact is that those capable Malays with good results were given scholarships to study overseas at Ivy league universities, such as Oxbridge, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc. Only those that do not score great results are left to be slotted in the local public universities. At such, the balance number of Malays left in local public universities may not be that many left while those from the other races had to compete amongst themselves to share the balance of the crumps left-over for them. They are considered the "not that fortunate" class of people as compared to many of those that were anointed with "King's scholarships", "UMNO-sponsored scholarship", and include those few who had "Rich-Papa-Mama" scholarships to study overseas.

At such, is Khairy trying to suggest that the crumps left-behind should further be shared with those that managed 4-Ds or 5-Es? Is Khairy suggesting that those others non-Malays who could not afford to pay their own way to private or foreign universities, but who had excellent results in their STPM, (but felt fortunate to have a place in local public universities) be eliminated and replaced by UMNOputras who have 4-Cs or 5-Ds in STPM?

A personal advice to Khairy: The non-Malays will not compete with his politically-motivated agenda, for places in local universities; those less fortunate had parents who, no matter how poor they are, will struggle and suffer to save some money so as to ensure that their socially-deprived childrens will have the necessary basic education, whether in local public U or local private U, and if it be possible, sending them to overseas U. But for that reason of deprivation resultant from UMNO-atrocities, you do not expect them to respect these unmeritocratic and unjust leaders.

It is sad to note that a talented young guy who had previously fought for justice and the interest of the society as a whole, but his crave for political power, he would forsake his idealistic philosophy in exchange for an executive position that are tainted with kleptorism and cronyism.

The Malaysian social fabric does show that All non-Malays paid tremendous respect to all the ordinary Malays, including the civil servants and the Kampung people; for these Malays are honest and hardworking people, and they have similar respects for all other races; and they, the ordinary Malays, believes in meritocracy and have proven it once too often to UMNO that they absolutely are. As an example, take a good look at the Kelantanese people - they are the best examples of the deprived sector; yet they have been successful due to hardwork and being frugal. Look at the cabinet and civil service and you can find many of them are successful Kelantanese and they are there by merits. Look also at Marina Mahathir who is the best example of a great and successful leader and social activist, who had never abuse her position as a daughter of a Prime Minister (in those years when her father was PM..). She had never sought political position for herself or her husband. Pak Lah and Endon should consider to emulate this "quality" of Mahathir and Siti Hasmah.

At the packed hall at the PWTC filled with UMNO grassroots leaders from the country, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Malays should stop wasting time and focus their efforts on building themselves into “Towering Malays” who are well-rounded people who have developed high intellect, high-value system, a successful career, a good economic standing and a well-respected culture and religion, so much so that they would be marvelled at by others. To do that, he said the Malays need to change their attitude to be more constructive, to use their time wisely so that they can better themselves and become more successful. “Don’t waste your time in excessive politicking to get up the political ladder of stardom, [son (-in-law)]… spent time to look for good ideas.”

Has the Prime Minister misdirected his statement to his son-in-law and his cronies on clutches, or he was intentional to tell him of such?

In Pak Lah's ideology and philosophy, “Only People of such high calibre, capability and talent will be an asset and contribute greatly to the race and nation."

"The Malay race [in UMNO, particularly, the leaders of UMNO] need to have such personalities who excel in everything they do and become a reference point,” Badawi said after meeting some 2,000 UMNO leaders at PWTC on 5th Feb 2005.

According to the well-respected Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, "UMNO members should not shout slogans about 'keturunan Melayu' without improving their attitude and competitiveness in all fields."

Najib said that Malays [in UMNO] would not survive in a rapidly globalising world if they failed to adapt to changes around them. “Improving the Malays attitude and competitiveness especially by mastering new technologies should be the new focus” Datuk Seri Najib urged all the UMNO members during his speech at the Kuala Krai UMNO Divisional meeting on 23rd May 2005.

“UMNO’s survival depends on its ability to serve the people,” says Datuk Seri Najib Razak. “We will only remain in power when the interests of the people are the basis of our struggle. There is a need to highlight more success stories of the Malays to inspire others to emulate. We should not dwell on tales of weaknesses and failures if we want to succeed,” Najib said.

In Najib's own word, “UMNO members should discard unethical attitudes such as spreading lies and slander to tarnish the image of others.”

I hope Khairy understand his own lies, which was probably fed unto him by his cronies and which caused him to lie sparingly.

Banyak Susah Loh!

I'm Back to my PC!

The last 26 days was a mad marathon. Wake up at 10am, get to group study class at 12noon, finish class at 10pm, get home, mandi, dinner, and back to book mugging till 6am; day-in, day-out for 22 days. Then come 24th May till 27th May - the day of reckoning - LLB EXAM DAYS!!!!

Finally, it's over... what a hack! Thank you God, I am still alive..................

It was strainous, torturous, and madness. Its not last minute studies, but, the desperate desire of achieving what I had set out to do ... in between, the inner-self shouted: "Give-up!" The thought of giving up rise each day as the stress is getting more and more unbearable. But I had to remember, I had three children and they will be looking at me and expecting and believing that I can make it. And my students and friends, they have so much confident on me ... and I just can't let them down; I hope I didn't.

Finally, the 4 tons of psychic stones were relieved from my brain ... the exam is over and what a relieve! I will need a few days to recuperate before I can get back to my normal self and start blogging and lecture again. So, to my students and my pals ... let me have a break ... and I will be back with you soon. Bye for the time being!!!!!

PARADOX OF SEPARATION OF POWERS

SEPARATION OF POWERS

Today, Court of Appeal judge Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman suggested that the Attorney-General recommend to the Government that the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 be amended. "We are prepared to stand by if the laws are amended," he said, noting that the dadah problem was the number one threat in the country.

The judge said the DDA was a man-made law and could be amended to keep up with the times.

"There is a brick wall against you and so break it," he said.

Abdul Kadir made this remark when deputy public prosecutor Anna Ng Fui Choo was submitting an appeal against a decision of a lower court to reduce a dadah trafficking charge to possession.

A Federal Court ruling in February that the prosecution had to prove positive and affirmative possession in order to invoke presumption of trafficking.

The prosecution of trafficking cases was thrown into doubt after a Federal Court, by a 5-1 majority, upheld the rule against double presumption.

In 1998, the court decided that if the prosecution could not prove with actual and affirmative evidence that an accused person was in possession of drugs, the prosecution could not invoke the presumption that the accused was a trafficker.

To do so, the court ruled, would be tantamount to double presumption.

This means that the court must first presume that the accused had possession of the drugs, and again presume he was a trafficker.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

Montesquieu propounded the theory of Separation of Power in his influential work called 'The Spirit of the Laws' in 1748. The theory contends that the three main powers of government, namely the legislative, the executive and the judicial, should be organically and functionally separated so as to avoid the risk of abuse of power.

The theory requires that no member of one organ of government should at the same time be a member of another organ, and that no one should exercise more than one of the three functions of government, namely: (a) Law-making (Parliament); (b) Policy-making and Administration; and (The Executives), and (c) Interpretation and Application of the law (The Judiciary).

John Locke (1690) observed that the three organs of government should not be allowed to ‘get into one hand’. This is because of the temptation to wield power for private advantage and the potential threat to individual liberties was such that the making and execution of law had to be allocated to separate branches of government.

In terms of modern constitution, adherence to the doctrine would require mechanisms to ensure that there were no overlaps in terms of members of one branch of the government performing the functions of another.

In De Smith's view, Separation of Power was not the main issue that led to abuses in governmental system, but whether there exist a system of checks and balances to avoid tyranny. It is to the judiciary that citizens will look for the protection from abuses of executive power.

The question arises here is: "Why is the judge making suggestions and propositions to the prosecution to amend the Act of Parliament just because the prosecution and the law enforcers are incompetent in gathering their evidence sufficient for the judiciary to convict those accused?" The Rule of Law in a democratic countries is that: "A person is not guilty until proven so." It is the duty of the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had committed the Actus Reus (crime act), and had the necessary Mens Rea (intention or recklessness) to a crime act. Failure of the prosecution to prove beyond reasonable doubt, the duty of the judiciary is to acquint the defendant and set him free in accordance with the law of natural justice.

Datuk Abdul Kadir Sulaiman suggested to the Attorney-General recommending that the Government amend the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 so that the judiciary "are prepared to stand by if the laws are amended," is indicative that the justice system is prepared to deviate from the Rule of Law governing judicial independence and which will be in direct conflict of the rule of natural justice.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail in response to the recommendation by the judge said that his Chamber are looking at making amendments to the Act after a comprehensive study had carried out.

"We don’t make piecemeal amendments. This is not a matter of just getting a conviction. We don’t want easy convictions. We want to get them in a very fair manner," Gani Patail said.

Clearly, it is fortunate that we had an Attorney-General that is intellectually competent and who abides by the rule of law. It is the duty of law makers to ensure that anyone accused of a crime under the law are given a fair hearing and that the law are made to protect and ensure a peaceful and harmonious society. Criminals must be brought to face the law and be punished, but they should be given a fair hearing and should only be convicted when there are sufficient proof of actus reus and mens rea.

It is therefore the duty of the Government to ensure that they have prosecutors and law enforcers who are truly competent to carry out their duties and not by changing and amending laws to fill the gap of incompetencies. The weaknesses of the system should be corrected and improved by providing proper education, training and skill enhancement.

DISCRIMINATION

DISCRIMINATION

All laws and regulations that are discriminatory to women must be reviewed or amended to reflect the country’s policy on gender equality, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

“We have recently amended our Constitution to ensure that there is no gender discrimination. We need to ensure that all our laws and regulations are also consistent with this."

“We have already informed all ministries to identify these laws and regulations that need to be reviewed,” he told a press conference after opening the Non-Aligned Movement Ministerial Meeting on the Advancement of Women at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here yesterday.

In his keynote address Abdullah told about 3,000 delegates and guests that he considered as one of Malaysia’s major achievements the recent inclusion of the principle of non-discrimination into the Federal Constitution.

But what about the laws of racial discrimination?

DIESEL PROBLEM - SYSTEMIC FAILURE

DIESEL - SYSTEM FAILURE

The entire system of diesel distribution and enforcement of laws had to be re-appraised, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal said today.

Shafie said: "It is the system that needs to be reviewed. We must look at all aspects, the shortcomings and so on. Punishment alone does not give us the assurance that we can put a stop to the smuggling of diesel.

"Look at the drug problem in the country. Despite the imposition of strict laws, there are still many people out there supplying drugs to others.

"It is the system that matters."

Datuk Shafie was responding to the suggestion by Datuk Radzi Sheikh Ahmad that the Internal Security Act be used against diesel smugglers.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Noh Omar said preventive detention laws could be used against two groups of people: those who were a threat to national security and those whose actions put the country’s economy at risk.

The ISA, Noh said, "can be used on anyone found to be a threat to the nation’s economy".

COMMENT:

It is unbecoming of our elected representatives and Ministers who when system malfunctions, are not able to resolve them and have no intellectual brainworks to define the right solution except to use draconian sword to kill flies.

Where there are some people who had harp on racial issues, religious issues and ethnic issues to further their political ambitions, which are likely to give rise to racial divide and disintegration of the social fabrics, and they come from UMNO, MCA, MIC, and UMNO controlled newspapers like UTUSAN MELAYU, BERITA HARIAN, the said Ministers said nothing about them, did nothing and allowed those racial slurs to be propagated freely. In fact, impliedly, they had sanction and affirm these propaganda. Their silence can and does amount to consent and affirmation.

If the Rule of Law is to have any meaning in a democratic society, it must mean that those who make the law, those executives that exercises the control, and those who had influence the decision makers within the political system, must abide and be subjected to the same law; there must be no room for an "Ends justifies the means" mentality

The decision to exercise the power must always be taken in accordance with the rules of NATURAL JUSTICE and with due respect for Equality and Fairness. Therefore, we should naturally expect that the ISA law which gives extraordinary power to the executives to detain any person without trial, should be clear in proportion, as the power currently vested on the executives can be exorbitant and abused.

Coming back to the diesel problem - Datuk Shafie is PERFECTLY RIGHT - "it is SYSTEM FAILURE. It is the system that needs to be reviewed. We must look at all aspects, the shortcomings and so on. Punishment alone does not give us the assurance that we can stop the smuggling of diesel."

As long as we do not refined and tuned, and maybe, revamp the system, the problem will continue to spread to a larger spectrum that become insidious and epidemic.

Throughout the decades, Malaysian Govt had not done much to refine the system, to evolve and progress in parallel to the massive changes of the national and global economic system. The system stagnated and hybernate while the global system and global economic system continues to move and evolve rapidly.

As a result, you can see why we had 80,000 unemployable graduates (maybe much more), subsidies, protected industries for fear of failures and competition (such as automobil, Banks, steel, cement, etc). Glaringly, we had not been able to compete with the global players and the only resort is to enforce barriers in order to keep the local manufacturers and bankers solvent and to retain ownership at the hands of local enterpreneurs.

But globalization is rapidly tearing down these barriers. Other countries are responding to the need for change and the need of competitive advantage. In fact, many countries, together their industrialist, are seeing far greater opportunities in the face of globalization and are tapping them to their advantage. But sadly, we are still hybernating and are blaming all others for our retard and handicap. We are telling the world that they should move slower than us, be more stupid than us, and should let us move ahead irrespective. They owe us a living, and they must play by our rules.

Unfortunately, they won't. Nobody will. We will be left behind... we will have to face the facts and if nothing is done radically, we will perish or be grouped with the 4th World Disasterous Economy. We won't have a choice ...either we move forward or stay behind and mourn.

But to move forward, we need visionary leaders. We must be prepared to innovate and take risks. We must be prepared to let go those clutches and start walking without subsidization. Can we???? Alas, our politcal system will not allow such to happen.

It is not that we don't have good leaders and Intellectuals. It is the lack of POLITICAL WILL POWER and the lack of COURAGE and WILLINGNESS to accept pain, to go through trials and tribulations, and to innovate freely, so as to move progressively forward. But moving forward also need a far more liberal mindset. Religion and racial issues may pose as a barrier to change and progress. It is not about giving up our belief or lower our moral. It is about accepting the co-existence of the juxtaposition of those elements and to distinguish those goods from the bads, the can[s] and cannot[s]. It is also about having a meritocratic and just system to tap talents and use them to facilitate and enhance the business and political systems, and processes of management. It include transforming the educational system which is the key production house of grooming and breeding future leaders.

Are we willing to move forward? Will be accept the pain? Will we learn fast enough?

Only God can help us! Amen! But God only will help those who are willing to help themselves.

INULMANIA STRICKENS THE MALAYSIAN FANS

Inulmania

Dangdut queen Inul Daratista thrilled the 5,000 odd Malaysian fans at Stadium Merdeka yesterday even though she did not perform her sensuous gerudi (sexy gyrating dancing style) and any of those hot stuff that had propelled her to fame.

Before the concert began, about 150 PAS Youth were seen distributing flyers in protest against the concert. According to this group's philosophy, those who attended the concert are engaging in hedonistic activities and a direct contradiction to the Islamic principles of Islam Hadhari.

Whatever it is, the two-hour concert was a success ... in commercial senses, and she had delivered her product/service that had satisfied her customers needs and expectations ... according to the quality management philosophy.

Malaysia has the World Record Number of Contractors

Record Numbers of Contractors

COMMENT: In a class by themselves
By Abdul Razak Ahmad, NST, 1st May 2005

Malaysia Boleh sekali lagi!!!!!

According to the Abdul Razak Ahmad, Malaysia has 42,313 registered contractors approximately, one contractor for every 614 persons (based on 26 million population).

This may be yet another world record and should be considered for the Guiness Book of Records.

So, this is yet another Malaysia Boleh-lah...

The only problem is: the Government recently announced a pump-priming of RM2.4 billion projects that will be up for offer, and if each one of this contractor is going to be given part of this cake, each contractor would be having a contract worth RM 56,720. But if the Class A contractors are going to take a major portion, then 35,000 Class F contractor will be jobless and waiting to be wind up.

There are approximately 35,253 Class F registered contractors. They are the smallest fry of the contractor’s world, dependent on government contracts that range from RM5,000 to RM100,000 project.

If we are to add the Class F Ali-Babas, China-Babas, Indian-Babas, Singh-Babas and Mat Salleh-Babas, probably we would have 70,000 Class-F contractors.

The Government, realising it has a problem on its hands, recently announced that it was freezing the issuance of new Class F licences but it is just too late.

The only solution is: follow Mahathir's system of economic expansion and create massive development projects and make more roads, bridges, schools, computer labs, airports, church, mosques, temples, toilets, cyberjaya 2 and 3, putrajaya 2 and 3, twin-tower and queen-tower, etc, etc.. and every contractor will have a job to survive.

If Pak Lah dare not do that, then maybe, Mahathir should come back to rule.

Chelsea are Champions

Chelsea are Champions

Chelsea is the new English Premier League Champion!

Chelsea ended 50 years of misery by winning the league title on Saturday with a 2-0 victory over Bolton. The result meant that Jose Mourinho's team has an unassailable 14-point lead at the top of the Premier League standings and has won the title with three games to spare.

After Saturday's 2-0 victory at Bolton clinched the league title, Abramovich applauded the players from the VIP box before joining in the celebrations in the locker-room. Mourinho verbally applauded Abramovich. "A great club owner has to be a noteworthy figure," the Chelsea manager said.

Cheers to all the 20 million Chelsea's fans!!!!!!!

The next one is the Champions Cup........soon