MCA must face the inconvenient truth (Pt 2)
Foong Wai FongPublished: Apr 14, 2008 4:02 AM | Updated: Apr 14, 2008 8:02 AM
analysis MCA seems to give the impression that it has its priorities backwards and that it is avoiding its main and real job of governing, especially with allegations that its elected representatives are involved in ‘side jobs’.
analysis MCA seems to give the impression that it has its priorities backwards and that it is avoiding its main and real job of governing, especially with allegations that its elected representatives are involved in ‘side jobs’.
The Chinese community expects MCA to be a member of an effective government - to formulate policies and implement these effectively, speedily and efficiently.
The government’s role is to serve the people and to do all it can to help the people, and not to compete with them.
Let’s examine the most contentious areas.
1. Education
MCA is in the government. So even if there are bottlenecks in implementing policies, it must work to smoothen things out and ensure that programmes are executed properly. Issues relating to Chinese primary schools, temporary teachers, places in state universities for outstanding students are all covered under the development plans. So why should MCA go back and forth to petition or beg Umno for concessions?
If MCA’s job is to advance the Chinese interest, it should be assertive and see to it that the government implements these programmes. When MCA ministers complain about how difficult it is to push things forward in government, the Chinese community is really puzzled because MCA is part of the government!
Kolej Tuanku Abdul Rahman (KTAR) has been an important contribution of MCA early leadership to the Chinese community and to the country. Given the circumstances and the historical backdrop then, they did the right thing by getting the government to support, dollar for dollar, the creation of KTAR. When there were fewer institutions of higher learning and Malaysia needed much professional expertise to grow its economy, KTAR did a marvelous job, winning respect from industry and the community.
However, after two decades of evolution, the Malaysian private education system has become quite developed in providing the basic disciplines needed. It has done a fairly efficient job; producing talent in many cases that are better than public universities, while finding a sustainable growth path.
The launch of Universiti Tuanku Abdul Rahman (Utar), operating in the same spectrum and offering similar courses only serves to create more competition on the supply side. The companies that provide private education are public listed, subscribed to by Malaysians who partake in the fruits of this efficiency. As such, there is no reason why MCA should create competition and disrupt the market. Moreover, Utar only received a one-time funding grant from the government and has had to rely on donations from the Chinese community.
Over the last 25 years, the quality of Malaysian education has declined alarmingly, as the system has been out of sync with industrial and corporate needs. The quality of the graduates frustrates the business community - for example, one lawyer wound up practice because the firm faced a risk of being sued for negligence, due to the poor command of English among new employees.
Today, anyone with a SPM certificate can work towards a degree, as paper qualifications are churned out. The expansion of university intake has resulted in lower quality graduates; in addition to that there is huge imbalance in the various courses offered.
If MCA insists in participating in knowledge generation, perhaps Utar should be made a research-intensive university. It could help Malaysia and Chinese Malaysians to think out a long-term development strategy vis-à-vis its competitiveness and skills training for needs in a new economy.
A MCA minister once lamented the decline in competitiveness among Chinese Malaysians, sounding as if he thought this is somebody else’s business. If the Chinese have lagged behind, one explanation is that the human resource ministry has not done its job - and the minister happens to be a key leader of the MCA.
2. Services
MCA takes much pride in its extensive network of service centres and how promptly its members respond to emergencies and crises on the ground. In particular, complaints bureau head Michael Chong has achieved ‘superman’ status for helping to solve problems.
The Chinese community, however, feels that this is not the MCA’s intended role - the party is supposed to eradicate problems, not solve these after they arise. Why are there so many problems if the government has been doing its work? Rather than being considered ‘Superman’, MCA appears to be a ‘Super Icon for incompetence’!
This mocks its position as the leading political party representing Chinese interests. A political party’s priority is to devote its energy and talent to participate in government; to make right policies, execute them and to ensure an efficient governing machinery.
3. Security
Safety and security are now top issues in our communities. While there are plenty of slogans and talk, there is no political will to get to the root of the problem. Programmes such as Rakan Cop are mere window-dressing at best, for they don’t solve problems.
Why is the crime rate so high? Who is committing crimes? What expertise do we need to get to the root causes? We know that there are over 250,000 drug addicts and hundreds of thousands of unemployed people; and policies and control of immigrant workers are sloppy.
Are these contributing factors? Even MCA ministers’ families have not been spared such threats, but there is still no concrete plan of action. Why?
Part One
Tomorrow: Media monopoly
FOONG WAI FONG is an anak Malaysia based in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, founding director of Megatrends Asia, and author of four best selling books, ‘Megatrends Asia’ (with John Naistbitt), ‘The New Asian Way’ (Chinese and English), ‘Mr Prime Minister, We Have to Talk’ (in Chinese) and ‘Culture is Good Business’ (in Chinese and voted Top 10 Best books by Commonwealth Magazine of Taiwan).
The Chinese community expects MCA to be a member of an effective government - to formulate policies and implement these effectively, speedily and efficiently.
The government’s role is to serve the people and to do all it can to help the people, and not to compete with them.
Let’s examine the most contentious areas.
1. Education
MCA is in the government. So even if there are bottlenecks in implementing policies, it must work to smoothen things out and ensure that programmes are executed properly. Issues relating to Chinese primary schools, temporary teachers, places in state universities for outstanding students are all covered under the development plans. So why should MCA go back and forth to petition or beg Umno for concessions?
If MCA’s job is to advance the Chinese interest, it should be assertive and see to it that the government implements these programmes. When MCA ministers complain about how difficult it is to push things forward in government, the Chinese community is really puzzled because MCA is part of the government!
Kolej Tuanku Abdul Rahman (KTAR) has been an important contribution of MCA early leadership to the Chinese community and to the country. Given the circumstances and the historical backdrop then, they did the right thing by getting the government to support, dollar for dollar, the creation of KTAR. When there were fewer institutions of higher learning and Malaysia needed much professional expertise to grow its economy, KTAR did a marvelous job, winning respect from industry and the community.
However, after two decades of evolution, the Malaysian private education system has become quite developed in providing the basic disciplines needed. It has done a fairly efficient job; producing talent in many cases that are better than public universities, while finding a sustainable growth path. The launch of Universiti Tuanku Abdul Rahman (Utar), operating in the same spectrum and offering similar courses only serves to create more competition on the supply side. The companies that provide private education are public listed, subscribed to by Malaysians who partake in the fruits of this efficiency. As such, there is no reason why MCA should create competition and disrupt the market. Moreover, Utar only received a one-time funding grant from the government and has had to rely on donations from the Chinese community.
Over the last 25 years, the quality of Malaysian education has declined alarmingly, as the system has been out of sync with industrial and corporate needs. The quality of the graduates frustrates the business community - for example, one lawyer wound up practice because the firm faced a risk of being sued for negligence, due to the poor command of English among new employees.
Today, anyone with a SPM certificate can work towards a degree, as paper qualifications are churned out. The expansion of university intake has resulted in lower quality graduates; in addition to that there is huge imbalance in the various courses offered.
If MCA insists in participating in knowledge generation, perhaps Utar should be made a research-intensive university. It could help Malaysia and Chinese Malaysians to think out a long-term development strategy vis-à-vis its competitiveness and skills training for needs in a new economy.
A MCA minister once lamented the decline in competitiveness among Chinese Malaysians, sounding as if he thought this is somebody else’s business. If the Chinese have lagged behind, one explanation is that the human resource ministry has not done its job - and the minister happens to be a key leader of the MCA.
2. Services
MCA takes much pride in its extensive network of service centres and how promptly its members respond to emergencies and crises on the ground. In particular, complaints bureau head Michael Chong has achieved ‘superman’ status for helping to solve problems.The Chinese community, however, feels that this is not the MCA’s intended role - the party is supposed to eradicate problems, not solve these after they arise. Why are there so many problems if the government has been doing its work? Rather than being considered ‘Superman’, MCA appears to be a ‘Super Icon for incompetence’!
This mocks its position as the leading political party representing Chinese interests. A political party’s priority is to devote its energy and talent to participate in government; to make right policies, execute them and to ensure an efficient governing machinery.
3. Security
Safety and security are now top issues in our communities. While there are plenty of slogans and talk, there is no political will to get to the root of the problem. Programmes such as Rakan Cop are mere window-dressing at best, for they don’t solve problems.
Why is the crime rate so high? Who is committing crimes? What expertise do we need to get to the root causes? We know that there are over 250,000 drug addicts and hundreds of thousands of unemployed people; and policies and control of immigrant workers are sloppy. Are these contributing factors? Even MCA ministers’ families have not been spared such threats, but there is still no concrete plan of action. Why?
Part One
Tomorrow: Media monopoly
FOONG WAI FONG is an anak Malaysia based in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, founding director of Megatrends Asia, and author of four best selling books, ‘Megatrends Asia’ (with John Naistbitt), ‘The New Asian Way’ (Chinese and English), ‘Mr Prime Minister, We Have to Talk’ (in Chinese) and ‘Culture is Good Business’ (in Chinese and voted Top 10 Best books by Commonwealth Magazine of Taiwan).
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