TwoSen

I VISITED my Barber ‘Chico’ (who is around 34 years of age) for my monthly haircut at the Summit recently.

We started talking about the recent general election and since both of us are Perakians, we discussed on the appointment of the new Mentri Besar who happens to be a PAS assemblyman (Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin).

Being more elderly than Chico by two decades, I started by criticising the appointment. “How can we have an MB in Perak who belongs to PAS. It should never happen. I believe the Perakians would prefer at least a candidate from PKR than from PAS!”

Chico looked at me with a smile and said: “Liu, I think you are not reading it correctly. The Perakians voted for Opposition; for all Malaysians not because the candidate is Malay, Chinese or Indian.

“We talk about meritocracy and this is a clear example where the Chinese in Perak can accept a PAS Mentri Besar who is well-educated and able to manage the state affairs. The Sultan of Perak is fair in making the decision.”

I was left tongue-tied. He was right. Being of the older generation, I was slow to grasp that Malaysians are getting more intellectual and non-racial.

It was a simple lesson taught to me but I was also happy that there is chance that we can get rid of all the malaise relating to race issues and for once we can call ourselves true Malaysians.

K.W. LIU, Puchong.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

THE SPM results have just been released. Many students will be busy applying for various scholarships and loans to help finance them in their studies.

Here, I would like to voice my opinion on the criteria used for awarding scholarships. According to the Webster’s Dictionary, scholarship is defined as “the position of a student, who because of merit, needs, etcetra is granted money or other aid to pursue his studies. “

This means that if a student has worked hard and excelled in his studies, he deserves to be given a scholarship despite his financial background. This scholarship should be awarded to him as he has worked hard to earn it.

Thus, I feel that it is unfair to penalise a student and deprive him of a scholarship because he comes from a wealthy family.

If a student came from a poor background, he or she has to work extra hard to secure a scholarship as otherwise he can always apply for a loan.

A scholarship should be awarded according to the student’s own merit. It should have nothing to do with the parents’ income.

The fact that the student is making an application shows that he or she needs the money for further studies.

I have gone through a number of scholarship forms and am shocked at the particulars they want. For example, they want parents’ details, race, religion, etcetra. The income of family is considered as an important criteria and this carries a certain percentage of marks.

What has that got to do with awarding the scholarships? It should be based entirely on student’s own particulars, examination results, and the activities they have participated.

I hope the various bodies offering scholarships would reconsider the set of criteria and award scholarships based on merits.

P. SAROJINI, Port Dickson.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

I REFER to the report “Anti-hopping law proposed “ (Sunday Star, March 23).

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s plan to introduce a law banning party-hopping by elected representatives is an encouraging move.

Of late, there has been considerable interest on this issue of party-hopping of MPs and assemblymen. MPs and assemblymen crossing over to new parties, although unhealthy, is nothing new in Malaysian politics.

In Malaysia , MPs and state assemblymen are voted based mainly on the party to which they belong and less so on their individual qualities and merits.

Crossing over to another party after being elected as a representative is morally wrong. It amounts to cheating the voters.

It only goes to show a lack of integrity and credibility on the part of the defector. Even worse is the buying-over of defectors from other parties. Such money politics is an act of corruption that must be condemned.

It is timely to introduce a law to declare a seat vacant and call for fresh elections once its MP or state assemblyman crosses over to another political party.

MPs and state assemblymen are lawmakers who represent the people’s interests in the highest legislative body, Parliament.

Dr CHRIS ANTHONY,
Butterworth.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

WWF-MALAYSIA refers to the recent news “Hope Remains for Siberian Tigers” of the Siberian tiger cubs born in the Lost World of Tambun Sunway City.

The three new tiger cubs are the third generation born since they started breeding Siberian tigers in 2004. The birth of the cubs, according to the article, appears to bring hope for the conservation of Siberian tigers and they are being displayed to the public every day for half an hour for educational purposes.

The park is looking into rehabilitating the tigers once they have reached adulthood.

WWF-Malaysia supports educational and awareness-raising programmes using captive populations of endangered wildlife. These programmes, when designed properly, have far reaching impact on the public in understanding the ecology and plight of the endangered species.

However, breeding and rehabilitation of endangered species, especially of large carnivores such as the tiger, need to be based on organised and scientifically-controlled management.

Such conservation breeding should be part of a holistic species survival plan that includes in-situ research of the needs and feasibility of releasing the captive-born animals back into the wild.

While zoos and theme parks are a good avenue for conservation education, very few tigers are needed for this purpose. Tigers live 10 to 15 years in captivity, and for the display purposes only, it is not necessary to breed them year after year.

Specific awareness activities need to be developed as well to explain and educate the public on tiger conservation.

Educational signage, awareness-raising talks and support towards in-situ conservation in terms of research and funds are examples of activities that could be carried out by zoos and theme parks.

Although there are benefits to captive-breeding of tigers, such as having a gene pool for tigers, it does not contribute significantly to the conservation of tigers in the wild.

The possibility of releasing captive-bred tigers in the wild itself is small. These captive-born tigers will face great difficulties in surviving in the wild as they would have lost most of their instincts and hunting skills that need to be taught by their mother when they were cubs.

Finding a location to release these tigers would be another challenge as these areas must have adequate food resources and must offer very little opportunity for the tigers to come in contact with humans.

Furthermore, captive-bred tigers put back into the wild could be easily poached due to their lack of fear of humans.

In Malaysia, efforts to conserve wild tiger populations are still important. The National Tiger Action Plan, developed by the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat), provides a platform for streamlining tiger conservation efforts and knowledge within its five partners.

It outlines specific activities for the next eight years in saving wild tigers in Malaysia, and as such, does not include management issues relating to captive tigers.

With adequate protection of habitat and prey, coupled with enforcement of existing laws, there will be greater hope for the survival of Malaysia’s last 500 wild tigers.

Dr Dionysius S.K. Sharma,
Executive Director/CEO,
WWF-Malaysia .

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

I WAS shocked to find a red new water meter roughly connected to the pipes in front of my house next to my main gate when I got out of my house.

I was in the whole afternoon and other than a short cut-off of water supply, which puzzled me, nobody rang the bell to inform us what they intended to do.

What was most upsetting is the way Syabas contractors carried out the job.

Firstly, there was no prior notice. Secondly, my existing meter was changed only about two years ago and thirdly, the work done was so shoddy that it left an awful sight in front of our house. The meter was roughly joined to a long unsightly black PVC pipe.

Can Syabas explain why do they need to change the meter when it has just been changed recently? Even though it is a public utility company, we are the ones paying the bills.

What gives them the right to carrying such changes without informing us first and causing our well laid-out front area to look horrible?

DISGUSTED
Petaling Jaya.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

I REFER to “No doctors at emergency clinic” (The Star, March 17). On that particular day and time, the specialist and her team were on clinical rounds in the Red Zone (critical area), Yellow Zone (semi-critical area) and Observation Ward.

The patient was registered at 8.35am and put in the Green Zone.

At the same time, there was a serious case in the Red Zone at 8.30am, a victim of a traffic accident. He was in critical state, requiring extensive resuscitation and blood transfusion. In a situation like this, the doctor assigned to the Green Zone (non-critical area) would rush to the Red Zone to assist the team in resuscitating the critically ill patient.

The doctor resumed seeing patients at Green Zone at 9.45am. However, the patient had left the hospital at 9.30am.

It appears that our clerical staff had conveyed the wrong message to the complainant. She must have thought that the doctor was still on clinical rounds, which she referred to as clinical meeting.

On behalf of Sungai Buloh Hospital, I apologise for the miscommunication and the unpleasant experience of the patient.

Dr KHALID IBRAHIM,
Director,
Hospital Sungai Buloh.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

MALAYSIAN sportsmen and women should start to think seriously about the decline in their standards.

Except for squash queen Nicol David, performance of the others are either stagnant or have gone down the hill.

Badminton players such as Lee Chong Wei, Tan Boon Heong and Koo Kien Keat have no reasons to slack in their standard.

They have good coaches and have all the incentives and privileges handed over to them but they still could not sustain in the international field.

Of course, we don’t expect them to be champions all the time but it is disappointing when they lose to unknown players.

By any standard, these three players should be in the last eight of any tournament they take part in but what a shame when they lose to minnows and some in the first round.

I have no complaints about the veteran players like Wong Choon Hann and Roslin Hashim.

At least they are still trying to get a chance to play at the Olympics.

I urge Lee, Tan and Koo to learn a thing or two from Nicol on how to maintain their international rankings.

I believe it all boils down to discipline and attitude.

Nicol David is a real professional and was I glad when she said that she had about another 10 good years of squash in her.

She has been maintaining her ranking for some time and hopefully, she will keep on winning more honours to the country.

In all fairness, she might not be able to hang on to her world No 1 ranking forever but let’s all hope and pray that she will be able to create a record as the longest holder of No 1 ranking.

For all the sacrifices Nicol has given for her country, I sincerely hope the Government will reward her with a title.

She deserves it and Malaysians will be proud and appreciative if she is honoured by the Government.

JAYARAJ KGS
Sitiawan.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

I AM amazed and shocked at the letter by “Honestly Speaking” opposing the proposal by the new government of Kedah to ban gaming outlets in the state.

I can only conclude that “Honestly Speaking” is a staff or an agent for the gambling companies.

All religion forbids gambling. Gambling ruins families and causes social ills. Just ask the wives and children of gamblers.

“Honestly Speaking” seems to suggest that with gambling legalised, crime will decrease and legal gamblers will not go to loan sharks to finance their habit.

Gambling is an addiction. The only people who profit from gambling are the operators.

The best way to treat a gambling addict is to take away the source, which in this case is the gaming outlet. We should leave the job of tackling the illegal operators to the police.

TRUTHFULLY SPEAKING
Ipoh.

Source: The Star – March 25, 2008

SOME basic economics can help us cut through all the complicated explanations proffered by the financial experts about the reason for the financial woes of the United States and their impact on the rest of the world.

Firstly, the whole economy of the US is not in trouble; it is mainly confined to the building industry and those businesses dependent on a plentiful and cheap supply of consumer finance to keep them humming along. Profligate US money policy in terms of cheap credit and money expansion, combined with huge budget deficits, is the prime cause of this problem.

Secondly, costs and prices rise due to inflation — an increase in the money supply in excess of productivity increases in the economy — and the simple laws of supply and demand. A good example of the latter is China with its huge demand for raw materials which is forcing up the world prices of minerals and metals.

Prior to the 1930s, before the advent of Keynesian economics, recessions were cured by simply allowing market forces to prevail.

Monetary policy was tightened (usually the main cause of the bust in the first place) and businesses with bad investments were allowed to collapse and die, purging the system of the problem quickly.

This is why all pre-1930 recessions were over within a year or two.

With the advent of Keynes and his pump-priming solutions of injecting more money into the system, the 1930s depression lasted for 10 years, with the world economies only rescued by World War II.

The politicians in the US would do well to read some economic history and follow a pre-1930s course of recovery. It would be quick, though painful, and allow the rest of the world to get on with business.

IAN MACKECHNIE, Kuala Lumpur

Source: NST – March 25, 2008

ALL people have a right to education but in some countries, girls are deliberately being deprived of education. According to a Unesco report, 60 per cent of countries have not reached gender equality in basic education and 40 per cent of countries will not achieve gender parity at either primary or secondary level even in another 50 years.

Gender inequality does exist in some parts of the world because of government policies and some cultural inhibitions practised by some communities.

Malaysians are fortunate that equal opportunities are given to all — male and female — to secure the best education they wish to attain in life.

With education being liberalised, almost all males and females have the equal opportunity to acquire and excel in it. The education policy does not deter women from attending school or university.

We, therefore, see a gender balance at the primary and secondary levels in school. Almost equal numbers of boys and girls attend primary and secondary education.

Unfortunately, studies have shown that boys’ disaffection with school starts especially at the secondary level and this represents a serious matter of concern in our society.

Beyond secondary school, it is observed that only 35 per cent of them constitute our tertiary education sector, especially in the fields that require professional skills and academic excellence.

Nevertheless, significant gains in terms of gender balance can be seen in the technical and vocational education and training — in some cases the number of boys surpassing girls.

This observable fact has nothing to do with gender inequality. The imbalance is because a sizeable number of male students are distracted from education the moment they reach adolescence.

It is at this age that they begin to have a greater tendency to adopt wayward behaviour in life, become academically lackadaisical, and are more influenced by their unconstructive peers. This lack of enthusiasm, if not cogently dealt with early, would make them a liability to our society.

Parents and teachers could play an active role in instilling awareness and the discipline required of them to excel in studies right before these boys become adolescents.

With greater attentiveness on the importance of education instilled at the primary stage of their life, the gains would help retain them in their secondary and tertiary participation.

Education in this country is an inexpensive investment but with high returns. Thus, boys need to be enlightened that their personal and social benefits are vast when they are educated.

Their livelihoods can be improved with the extra means to have a hale and hearty family and help in boosting their health through better nourishment. When there is a quality life through education, their civic responsibility, too, can be higher.

Above and beyond being able to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes and values critical for negotiating their place in society strike a chord among boys in school that it is through education and training that they can become more empowered and self-assured in life.

When many males are uneducated and unemployed, we see more social problems that could affect the fabric of our harmonious society.

DR M.A. NAIR, Bandar Muadzam Shah

Source: NST – March 25, 2008