I wasn't directly involved in this particular exchange, well, besides laughing out loud, but it occured when my colleague Manogaran who sits just behind me stood up to pose the question the poor quality of graduates from our local universities to the Minister of Higher Education who was holding the floor at that point in time. This is extracted from the Hansard on 9th July 2008.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Terima kasih Yang Berhormat Menteri dan Tuan Yang di-Pertua. Berbincang tentang pelantikan graduan-graduan ke institut pengajian tinggi ini, tadi Yang Berhormat Menteri katakan adalah amat competitive. Competitive ini kerana tidak cukup tempat atau universiti di negara kita atau sememangnya competitive. Oleh sebab saya tengok ramai graduan-graduan yang keluar dari universiti tempatan kita tidak ada standardlah, tidak ada daya saingan, we are not competitive compare...I know many of you have asked that I ignore the honourable member from Pasir Salak, whom I've blogged about quite a few times. I am and I will, but sometimes, the entertainment value is just too high! ;-)
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: Saya daripada universiti tempatan.
(I can't possibly tell you how this totally cracked up the opposition bench!)
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Patutlah macam ini, inilah contoh. [Ketawa]
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: What contoh?
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Yang Berhormat Telok Intan, tak
payah respons Yang Berhormat.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Don’t talk like that, biar saya habis.
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: Dia daripada universiti mana ni? Hebat sangat.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Kita cakap universiti tempatanlah. India is better-lah.
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Yang Berhormat Pasir Mas, duduklah.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Mungkin you pergi India lebih bagus.
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: Tamil Nadu!
Dato’ Ibrahim Ali [Pasir Mas]: Pasir Salak, bukan Pasir Mas.
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Yang Berhormat Pasir Salak,
minta maaf ya Yang Berhormat Pasir Mas.
Seorang Ahli: Ini universiti tempatan ni, contoh.
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: Fasal dia merendah-rendahkan universiti tempatan, you don’t, jangan duduk di Malaysia lah.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Apa pun berdebatlah di luar. How much do you know?
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Yang Berhormat Pasir Salak, sila duduk Yang Berhormat Pasir Salak. Yang Berhormat Telok Intan, teruskan.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Yang Berhormat Pasir Salak suka menyalak ni.
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Tak payah respons Yang Berhormat, teruskan.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Suka menyalak, itu yang problem. Yang Berhormat Menteri, jadi saya, I’m concern ...
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: Dia tidak layak untuk jadi rakyat Malaysia kalau duduk macam ni.
Timbalan Yang di-Pertua [Datuk Ronald Kiandee]: Yang Berhormat!
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: I’m concern ...
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: What concern? You are downgrade local university of this country.
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: Jadi apakah langkah-langkah yang akan diambil untuk...
Dato’ Haji Tajuddin Abdul Rahman [Pasir Salak]: [Bercakap tanpa pembesar suara]
Tuan M. Manogaran [Telok Intan]: ...untuk memastikan bahawa penuntut-penuntut kita yang keluar dari universiti tempatan ini boleh saing dengan penuntut dari universiti luar sebab employability mungkin, there is must be employable dengan izin. Itu soalan saya. Terima kasih.
I won't post the reply by the Minister, which was an issue to be blogged about in itself, here but I'll do so at my other blog on Education in Malaysia. Will post the link when it's umm..., written. ;-)
13 comments:
Ok, that really cracked me up XD
Malaysia doesn't need satire like Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, the Hansard is funny enough by itself!
dear Tony,
with no disrespect to any parties, why both BN and PR MPs often come down to name-calling, insults, and pure bantering words? where's the intelligent debate?
sad malaysian
There are school dropouts from LCE who are sitting in parliment today, than they so call register in some Dubious uni, get a degree, it has already been reported that some mp's have dubious have false degrees, but what do you expect from frauds. WONDER WHY NO ACTION HAS BEEN TAKEN AGAINST THEM.
Hi YB Pua,
Why do u keep on lauching personal attack against us (local graduates)...I myself oso a product of local Uni and i m currently working for a MNC company in Singapore..Could You stop critizing local grads for being stupid n useless...V can't afford to study in UK leh..We r unlucky cus not having a rich father like urs(sponsoring u at oxford university to read politics, economics, & philosophy)...U r our beloved YB...pls dun say sumtin that hurt the ppls who voted for u
Well, there is a serious issue. Sure Pasir Salak is just auto-reflex on his attacks BUT HE REALLY DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIS EDUCATION.
After all he lives in a bungalow in Damansara Utama and spend money like them so he think he is like the self-made people who lives there...
Even the gangster in Taiwan Parliament know they are different. Pasir Salak really do not know what is wrong.. Making it our problem!!!
Fan of Tony Pua,
I don't think the honorable YB intends in any way to discredit the local grads themselves. His intention is to highlight the deficiencies in the system itself which has led to the declining quality of our local grads, in general.
I'm glad that you managed to overcome the weaknesses in the system and have carved or are carving out a successful career for yourself. However, I must say that not every one who enters local unis has your commitment to self-improvement that has stood you in good stead.
Me, myself did a 3 + 0 degree in law from the Uni of London costing me only RM12k to the Uni and another 10k in tuition fees to a local private institution. Not everyone is as lucky to be accepted into local unis. My misfortune was accepting a scholarship by the Singapore Gov't which led me to do the 'O' Levels instead of the SPM. Acc. to the Admissions Dept of the Education Ministry, if tak ada SPM Bahasa Melayu, tak boleh masuk.
fan of tony pua:
you should notice the tone of the post was about unruly behaviour of MPs. don't think anyone would disagree with the standard of local university (& tertiary) education in general has been on a decline since 1970s.
"Why do u keep on lauching personal attack against us?"
This is a clear sign of misunderstanding, and is exactly the same thing that happened when Tony criticized the quality of the civil service overall.
No need to take it personally, the question is what can the institutions do to improve the quality of their workforce/graduates.
But maybe Tony should think about how to present things more carefully too, even though I'm sure every politician dreams of getting mentioned on the front cover of Utusan Malaysia ;)
I've personally known a lot of local graduates who are working at MNCs and don't seem to have a problem gaining employment not long after graduation.
So there is really not the education system. At the end of the day, it's still the initiative, attitude and personality on the individual's part.
This post if just for entertainment purposes I suppose.
Hello Tony,
I enjoy these type of posts where transcripts are used to show just how low the quality of our "ruling" MPs.
Perhaps we should have a "Best of" collection of Hansard gems.
Well done on your work, and keep it up!
Yoon Kit
Tony,
There has been hints of your negative perception towards local graduates in many of your previous blogs. I think you should adopt the perspective of identifying deficiencies of local universities as an institution rather than making general and mostly arguable statements/insinuation at the result of these institutions (local graduates). I believe that would be more productive and less offensive to local graduates. I do not disagree with the weak education system in Malaysia, but as long as a person is mainly an outcome of their formal education. As a local graduate, one can still overcome difficulties posed by the weakness of an education in local universities through other means. So to summarize, focus on the instituion, not the people in it.
Hi Anon above,
Sigh. This is not the first time that i've been accused of being anti-local graduates. Actually, I'd like to know which article I wrote which i did so.
Umm... I built my own firm and got it listed with a workforce of about 80 persons of whom nearly 90% are from local universities.
So, the proof is in the pudding.
You have also failed to mention the fact that I have probably written an equal number of articles criticising the standards of many foreign universities.
There are always going to be excellent students in either foreign or local universities. But in policy making it's important to look at the minimum and average quality being produced and evaluated how they can be improved.
Or we can continue blindly and say that our local universities are producing nearly all world class graduates.
Tony
Dear YB Pua
Thank you for your clarifications...I thought u look down at us cus v grad fr local uni..i hv misundertood u...sorry for the earlier outburst..hope u don't take it seriously......
Hope u can bcome our new Finance Minister when Pakatan Rakyat takes over the reign fr B-EN government on 16th Sept...
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