Like bees drawn to nectar!

Jatt vs IELTS (Punjabi; 2018)
Director: Devi Dutt

It is a problem in most developing countries. The generation around the country's independence bent over backwards to provide for the family. They felt contented to be self-sufficient and to ensure their offspring were not deprived of the things they missed. With the advent of widespread dissemination of information and systemic glorification of modern living, the youngsters just turned out pompous and sluggards.

This is a universal problem experienced by societies in upcoming post-independent Asian nations. The younger generation cannot wait to buzz off from their birth country. They feel they can only find their true potential away from the toxic environments enveloping their nations. The West, it seems, gave them the validation and liberation they needed. 

Modern education provides equal opportunities for all. The end result of this is women performing way better in all academic indices. 

About twenty years ago, it seems the state of Punjab was the most prominent food supplier to the rest of the country. It also used to be the biggest revenue earner in terms of taxes. All over the years, its position has undergone a significant slide. Social problems have grown. Alcoholism and drug addiction amongst the young has skyrocketed. Punjab blames Pakistan for the maleficent dropping of dope over the border via air balloons and drones.

Komatagaru Maru

Reports of young Punjabis smuggled across the European borders are no secret. News of them being made to work in slave-like conditions in Italian vineyards and Portugal is nothing new. Canada has been a hotbed for Punjabi immigration since the late 1800s, amidst much hostility. Canadian hostile stance against Asian migration of the 20th century and The Komagata Maru incident in 1914 when Punjabis were refused disembarkation and were turned away still stays fresh in everyone's mind. 

These days, with the friendly attitude shown by Trudeau and his government, it seems that every Punjabi harbours a secret dream to be a Canadian citizen. For that, applicants need to score well on an English proficiency test named International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

This movie combines all of the above to depict the sad state of affairs in a light comedy. The main character, Jassi, is a wealthy farmer's 'good for nothing' son who spends all his time gallivanting here and there on his motorbike. He abhors the idea of continuing his father's occupation. Much to the chagrin of his father, Jaggi wants to complete his IELTS exams and migrate to Canada. The problem is that he is not the sharpest tool in the box. He learns of the idea of marrying a girl who had got a visa to Canada and joining her later with a spousal visa. The plan backfires when the wife remarries in Canada.

One would expect the film to end with the protagonist having a realisation to stay back in Punjab, develop some kind of patriotism and resolve to be a farmer. But, no. He still manages to go to Canada, albeit by other means! 

(P.S. On a side note, Trudeau's government tried to win the Punjabi hearts by apologising for the Komatgaru Maru debacle, having many Sikh ministers in key cabinet positions and expressing their undivided support in the recent farmers protest. Now the tables are turned around. Truck drivers, many of whom were of Punjabi descent, have started protesting against the country's Covid mandate and brought Ottawa to a standstill. Justin Trudeau, meanwhile, is said to have been taken away for protective custody!)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Affirmative action can't last forever!

Yennanga Sire Ungga Sattam (என்னங்க சார் உங்க சட்டம், Tamil; 2021)

Director: Prabhu Jeyaraman

Suppose the idea of affirmative action is to uplift a particular community group and give an equal fighting chance to the oppressed to get their place in the sun. In that case, it should only be handed to one generation. After being given the levy, their offspring should not be expecting the same. Everybody only gets one chance. They are expected to pull themselves up by their boot-straps with the chance given to them. That is it. Freebies are not infinite. 

This film is one of the many new genre movies which highlights the plight of fringe people. The filmmakers named this movie a duplex as the real story with message starts with the movie's second part. The first part is essentially a draggy commercial that does not contribute much to the rest of the story. In a complicated way, it boils down to two scenarios.

The first instance involves an interview for a government post. The viewers are shown how nepotism, recommendations and quota allocations predetermine which candidate would probably succeed in an interview. A person from the higher caste has to work doubly harder to qualify for the same job as one from the scheduled caste. Things are not so straightforward, however.  A person who fails may genuinely be unimpressive but would cry foul anyway. A person from the lower rung of society may have been unexposed and deprived of many things because of poverty. Sometimes, people of influence get it anyway.

If we were to blame religion for the evil effects of caste in society, we even see discrimination within the houses of worship. It is not the religion at fault per se, but rather the people who act as pillars of the faith, in their greed to hold the rein of temple management, come up with rules and regulations at their whims and fancies. When intelligent discussions do not solve the problems, they recoil into the wisdom of ancient text to assert their point. Even within the four walls of the House of God, there is blatant discrimination.

The end result of not giving the job to the best man around only results in brain drain. Unfortunately, solving this issue is not easy. At a time now when identity politics plays a vital role in how a country should be run, politicians will continue pandering to populist politics. Level headedness is a rare commodity in the 21st century.

P.S. Extrapolate the message behind this story to our own backyard. Affirmative action cannot go on forever. It would only result in lazy, entitled rent-seekers who cannot survive in the real world. One black swan event, and they would just fizzle out.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Another perspective of coming back home?

A recent interview that was caught on radio about a Kelantanese boy who studied in a Chinese type school, stayed above his father's mechanic shop studying all the way to Cambridge, becoming a renowned surgeon in the London only to discover that he was wasting his time in England sipping tea lazily on an autumn afternoon at the prime of his life. That prompted him to pack his bags and family back to the country where he remembered his childhood was. Maybe he thought that he was not getting any younger whilst his contemporary were minting money away in private practice in Malaysia and enjoying its perks. Pray listen and decide....
All the 21 years of training in the UK has surely improved his communication skills and he is not too economical with his words like most Asians are. And as you can see he wears many hats!

Why I work and stay overseas — A Bumi

Malaysian Insider

May 19, 2011

MAY 19 — I am a Malay working overseas. I find working in Malaysia unattractive due to the following reasons. I don’t want to belabour the points, so I list them down in point form:
Chinese chauvinism/racism
• Most private organisations including TMI are dominated by the Chinese and/or their political agenda.
• Chinese people have a tendency to assign negative stereotypes on other races (especially the Bumiputera races).
• They exhibit cliquish, insular, secretive and calculating behaviour.
• Chinese people favour fair-skinned people even though fair skin is disadvantageous in Malaysia’s sunny climate.
• They admire China’s achievements, despite China’s oppressive regime.
• Malaysian Chinese use the Chinese languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien etc.) to isolate their discussion from others while in their presence.
• The Chinese are not honest about failures of ethnic Chinese leaderships in Philippines and Thailand.
• Tokenism is rife in Chinese companies.
• Chinese will use changing criteria to judge people of other ethnicities; one day it is academic merit, another day it may be “character.”
• The Chinese favour their own kind over others, even when other kinds are of equal stature.
• Malays fear to voice out against Chinese for fear of repercussions especially with respect to their employment prospects in the private sector.
• The Chinese still hold strongly to their ethnic heritage.
• They diminish the achievement of other races, especially the Malays.
• Harp on Bumiputera affirmative action even though Chinese people still continue to succeed at all levels of Malaysian life (even government).
• Any Malay who has strong academic background is denounced as attaining it due to “Bumiputera privilege”, even though he graduated overseas with his own money.
• Use their overseas Chinese connection to gain unfair advantage, but pretend the advantage is minimal.
• The Chinese always make unfair comparisons of Malaysia with other non-Muslim, post-industrial countries.
• Chinese people don’t recognise the special position Islam has in Malaysia.
• Enjoy talking bad about Malaysia (even when working/living overseas) as if Malaysia is on the same level as Zimbabwe even though Malaysia is far from it.
• Highly critical of institutions that are Bumiputera-dominated (ie. government), but non-critical of institutions that are Chinese dominant (like gambling).
• Show no desire to partake in patriotic activities (e.g. serve in army), but cry foul when other people point out their lack of patriotism.
• Show lack of understanding about Islamic religion, but enjoy taking Quranic verses out of context to further their argument.
• If pushed to think “outside the box”, the Chinese would favour Western ideals above Islamic ideals.
• The Chinese show lack of respect toward Malay leaders, but accord unnecessary respect to their Chinese community leaders, even though they hold no significant position in government.
• Always speak about “brain drain” but still keep Malaysian passports.
• Willing to spread disingenuous claim that Bumis have already achieved economic parity with the Chinese.
• Use Indians who have achieved to further their claim that Indian community is ahead of the Malay community.
• Comments in support of Chinese chauvinistic agenda are allowed to be posted in TMI, while others are censored.
• I can go on and on with more example, but I grow tired and annoyed.
PAS religionism
• Holds only their interpretation of Islam to be the truth.
• Willing to associate themselves with and be used by non-Muslims while creating enmity toward other Muslims.
• Use religion as a political tool to win arguments and foment discord.
• Ritualistic mentality.
• Have a simplistic idea/concept of the world and its affairs.
Umno nationalism
• Partake in bully politics.
• Enjoy seeing minor issues such as sexual improprieties take over the national discourse.
• Willing to give in to fervent Malay nationalism.
• Must “ampu” within Umno hierarchical structure to get to higher positions.
• Anti-intellectualism.
• Unwillingness to adapt and change to satisfy changing political climate.
Indian shiftiness
• Willing to change their allegiance due to changing political tide.
• Belief that Indian subcontinent will help them, like mainland China helps Malaysian Chinese.
• Dishonest about their caste and other internal problems.
 Malaysian culture as a whole
• No proper understanding of logic and reason.
• Has not understood to segregate religious thinking from secular reasoning.
• Lost sensitivities towards other religions/races.
• Still admire Western culture, without studying their obvious weaknesses.
• Always sidetracked by minor issues rather than seeing bigger picture.
• Media not mature to show all sides of the story, media is all very partisan.
• Partisanship is being promoted at all levels from the family microcosm to the national level.
 * A Bumi who chooses not to provide his identity, and who has worked in a China-man company as a token executive.
* We asked readers who have migrated to tell us in their own words why they left. This is one of the stories.

Why I left Malaysia — ES

Malaysian Insider

May 18, 2011

MAY 18 — I’ve left Malaysia for about nine years now, and lived and worked in several countries such as Singapore, China and, now, Hong Kong.
The past and recent news reports on brain drain have pretty much summarised
the reasons for leaving Malaysia except they were not accepted by our leaders. I’ll just echo some of the findings by relating my personal experience.

Social injustice
Unable to get into local universities even with good academic results. Mine was a working-class family and my dad had to work extremely hard to save (barely) enough money to put me through a private college (whose quality could be questioned).
It was a twinning program with an American university. A large portion of our class (100 per cent non-Bumiputera) didn’t end up going to the America for their final year to “twin” with the university because of financial difficulties. Those who did, like me, mostly have remained overseas.

Low income
I did return to work in Kuala Lumpur briefly. My salary was so pathetic I was constantly worried about having to work for 10-15 years before my dad’s investment in my education could be recovered.

Lack of meritocracy
My first job was with a government-linked corporation. We were educated, but quite explicitly some management positions were only given to the Malays. On the other hand, and to be fair, many private companies selectively avoid hiring Malays because of a general perception that they are less competent compared to the other races. Neither the GLCs nor private firms were actively promoting or hiring the best without an implied policy based on skin colour.

Barriers to returning
Today, after over a decade of working, I’ve established my finances, and started up a family in Hong Kong. Returning to Malaysia is not impossible but many barriers lie ahead.
My wife is Korean. We have heard of horror stories about the difficulty of foreign spouses not being able to get permanent residence/citizenship in Malaysia despite years of residency.
Our son was born in Korea. When we approached the Malaysian consulate to register him, we were told we would have to wait up to a year to get a reply. A year to register a child with an uncertain outcome? Something is very wrong.
At the same time, a friend’s construction company doesn’t seem to have any problem getting his Indonesian workers ICs with speedy approvals.

Education
If it’s so difficult to register our son, will he be able to get into a local school? What about quality of education? If I have to take a pay-cut (easily 60 per cent) to return to the country, I’d need to be reassured that quality education can be obtained cheaply (or at 60 per cent discount too).
It’s not very encouraging to learn from the news and ranking of Malaysian public universities that have been on the decline year after year. Will I want to return to the country and repeat the same history my dad went through to put his son to college?

Lack of economic focus
Years ago, this was manufacturing. What about now? What has happened to MSC and the various corridors? What’s our niche? What sectors can overseas Malaysian go back to? Banking? Biotech? Agriculture? Oil and gas? All I hear thousands of miles away in the past few years is some sexual allegations about Anwar Ibrahim.

Lack of positive publicity and encouragement
Every time when we return to Malaysia for holidays or when we meet Malaysians outside of the country (getting very often these days), we are asked not to return by friends, relatives and strangers.
Some even asked us how to get out of the country! Imagine having your foreign spouse hearing all these negative comments about your own country... not to mention, it’s getting easier to meet your friends and relatives outside of the country than in Malaysia.

* We asked readers who have migrated to tell us in their own words why they left. This is one of the stories.
* ES reads The Malaysian Insider

Brain drain: Understanding the root causes

Aliran

 11 May 2011

Unless the government and the private sector tackle the real issues, the brain drain will continue to haunt Malaysia, says Ronald Benjamin.

The ongoing brain drain has become a topic of intense debate since a World Bank official said that Malaysia would have had five times foreign direct investment if not for its pro-bumi policy. This comes at a time where there are about a million skilled Malaysian workers overseas who have no intention of coming back to the country.

Perkasa has claimed that even the Malays are leaving Malaysia due to the discrimination in the private sector, but fell short of providing detailed arguments on what it means by private sector discrimination.

All these debates only deal with positions that interest a particular political position without any serious attempt to resolve the issues through objective criteria that require politicians to accept truths about the real situation. Politicians need to have the courage to take the nation along the right part – especially in creating an environment and cultural mindset for work excellence and in reducing the chronic brain drain.

Some of the problems include ethnic and neo-liberal policies that favour big business, a low-cost labour pool, a poor work culture among the Malaysian workforce, the mismatch of supply from the education institutions and the needs of the market, and the gulf in power relations between the management and employees in the private sector. These clearly show that development in Malaysia is basically physical and material at the expense of human development resulting in a brain drain from the country.

The first thing that the government should do if its honest in tackling the brain drain is to conduct a serious survey of local perceptions of discriminatory policies in the public and private sector. It is vital to conduct this survey to understand the realities on the ground. Complaints of discrimination often centre on the ethnic Chinese and Malays, while there is hardly any comment of how other ethnic groups such as the Indians, Kadazans, and Dayaks perceive their situation in the public and private sectors.

Second, it is vital for the government to take a closer look at our education system and its content, which seems geared towards theories while failing to create all-round individuals capable of progress through intangible skills such as drive, desire, diplomacy, playfulness, humour, awareness and insight..There are a co-curriculum activities in schools that help in these skills, but are the teachers qualified and do they take interest in reigniting and explaining learning experiences to students after these activities?

Understanding behaviour that creates success is vital, and teachers should be role models in facilitating such behaviour in schools. Are our current teachers in schools meeting these criteria? Is this not one of the of the underlying reasons for the brain drain taking place? Many Malaysian parents are concerned about the type of education their children are receiving in this country. There is a preoccupation with ethnicity and religious ideology over meritocracy and excellence.

There is also the unresolved mismatch between the skills required by the private sector and the type of vocational training given in training institutes. For example, during my interview sessions for recruitment among college students, I found that students have gone though robotics studies, but the majority of SMEs are still dependent on manually operated machines. How can skilled workers remain in the country when there is limited avenue to use their skills?

Third, from my experience in the manufacturing sector, I find that Malaysian workers lack the necessary culture of excellence to succeed. This is made difficult through a hierarchy-based management structure that is ‘top down’ with wide power differentials and where there are no common goals between management and employees. Such a management structure creates a win-lose situation made worse by the policy of employment of foreign workers that keeps wages low. Such power differentials in the private sector have prompted highly educated individuals who prefer a ‘flat’ organisation with greater empowerment to leave the country. They leave behind disgruntled low-wage workers who do not feel a sense of belonging to their organisation and whose only concern centres around wages.

Finally, it is vital to look at supply and demand and the resulting productivity of workers within ethnic groups in Malaysia that keeps wages low. We need to examine how the private sector employers evaluate their employees in terms of productivity and recruitment – and how ethnic perceptions come into play – and how these employees are paid accordingly. This is where the missing link is when academics and government officials discuss increasing productivity, without elaborating on the mindset of employers on how they pay their workers. The ethnic Chinese community are no takers of low salary, and this is proven when they make up the least numbers in low-end operations jobs. This is the context of how the brain drain takes place; low wages are linked to low productivity and it is also linked to employers’ perceptions of the work culture of the various ethnic groups.

Therefore it is vital to understand not only the macro aspect of the brain drain issue but also the micro aspect of it. Unless the government and the private sector tackles these issues honestly, the brain drain will continue to haunt Malaysia. The Talent Corp that is formed by the government will not succeed unless critical issues are expounded in detail. Solutions must be found that encourage a human development perspective instead of regressive ethnic sentiments that do not do the nation a service.

Ronald Benjamin is an Aliran member based in Ipoh.

Oh! When the brain goes down the drain!

Studying for a better future overseas?

So as usual, at this time of the year, the local newspapers will be plastered with news of how great the public examinations results were. They will give a breakdown of how the overall percentage of the result had improved. It is beginning to sound like a re-run of an old soap opera or broken gramophone record - just like me, too!
There would soon pictures of handicapped students passing with flying colours and children of hawkers and seamstresses obtaining good results.
A few days after that the announcement would be out on the closing date of applications for scholarship and entrance to universities. Like clock work, a few days after the results of acceptance of the above, flashed again on the newspapers, would be disgruntled parents who will be complaining about how his kids with such exemplary results failed to secure a place and how excellent his extra curricular results were. Then Michael Chong (the Public Complaints bureau of Malaysian Chinese Association) would appeared on the Star newspaper posing with the result slip, rejection letter, forlorn parents and kid. Then there would be knee jerk responses from ruling and opposition political leaders.
All these would die a natural death when Singapore offers them scholarships on a carrot attached to a long string. And this disgruntled students will leave their motherland, vowing never to return, eternally grateful to their 'Newfoundland'. Little will they realise that even if they wanted to, they would be tied down with a long pay-back clause that by the time the tenure expires, they would be too cushy there with probably too big an extra baggage to come back home to Malaysia (which disappointed them, anyway)!

Another one that flew from our nest!

Every now and then our local dailies will sing praises of world standard achievements of supposedly 'Malaysians' where the only Malaysian thing about them would be their or their parent(s) place of birth. Malaysia probably had nothing to do with their grooming or nurturing! Or there may be a remote thread of a connection to her mother who was married once to a Malaysian, like in the case of the out-of-closet Penny Wong, the first Asian Finance Minister of Australia. Then there is the story of Sufiah Yusof, the Oxford Maths child prodigy turned social escort (₤130 pounds/hour) whose mother was Malaysian.The latest to join this list of celebrities is the Ipoh-born Tan Zhang Shan.

From the era of his predecessors in the late 70s, Singapore has been engaging in a devious plan to woo bright Malaysian across the causeway by dangling carrots in the form of ASEAN scholarship and tertiary education scholarships. Many of my classmates in Penang Free School are and have been contributing to the economy and the first world status that their new found motherland which is currently enjoying.
 Tan's achievement is laudable but deep inside Malaysia as a country should feel ashamed that we have failed to identify and groom him to be the nation's priceless asset. But then I supposed Tan does not fall in the nation's master plan and agenda (whatever it is...).

Ipoh-born, Cambridge educated, Malaysia’s loss, Singapore’s gain

By Mariam Mokhtar

Tan Zhong Shan

He did his parents proud, his teachers are equally elated, his birthplace is euphoric to claim he is one
of them, and his country would have been ecstatic. His name is Tan Zhongshan and he was born in Ipoh. He chose to read law at university because he said, “Being in the legal line gives you a chance to make changes that have a far-reaching effect.”
In June, Tan received a first–class honours in Bachelor of Arts (Law) at Queen’s College, Cambridge, one of the world’s top most universities. Cambridge, England’s second oldest university, usually contends with Oxford for first place in the UK university league tables.
Tan excelled as the top student in his final-year law examinations, but he also won the “Slaughter and May” prize, awarded by the Law Faculty for the student with the best overall performance. In addition, he managed to bag the Norton Rose Prize for Commercial Law, the Clifford Chance Prize for European Union Law and the Herbert Smith Prize for Conflict of Laws. Tan distinguished himself and was a source of help to his fellow students, according to his tutor and the dean of Queen’s college, Dr. Martin Dixon. Dr. Dixon said, ““He is probably the best Malaysian student I have seen in the last 10 years. He is the most able, dedicated and one of the most likeable students I have taught in more than 20 years at Cambridge. He works really hard, has great insight and intuition. He is a problem-solver, listens well and learns.” However, the 23-year-old Tan shrugged off his accomplishments which he said was due to “consistent work and a detailed understanding of the subjects.” Tan, who plays classical guitar, was modest about his success, “It was a pleasant surprise as it is hard to predict the end results.”
Sadly, this brilliant, young Malaysian will not be working in Malaysia. Tan, who has been in Singapore since August, expects to complete his Bar examinations by the end of 2011 and said, “I will also join the Singapore Legal Service in January”. After completing his A-levels at the Temasek Junior College, the Singapore Ministry of Education awarded him an Asean scholarship. Tan will not be the first nor last Malaysian who we let slip through our fingers. It makes many ordinary Malaysians quietly fill with rage that the policies of our government reward the mediocre or the ‘can-do’ types and ignore the best and the brightest. When will this madness end?
Our judiciary was one of the best in the region, but today, it is not fit for purpose. Sadly, we have clowns and fools to dictate how our courts are run. The best comedy act was played out recently in the Teoh Beng Hock trial when Thai pathologist Pornthip Rojanasunand was cross-examined by presumably the best of the attorney general’s bunch of merry-men. If that is how Malaysian lawmakers prefer to project their image to the world, then they really need their heads examined. We are haemorrhaging our best talent to countries that receive them with open arms. Record numbers of Malaysians are leaving – doctors, surgeons, nurses, lawyers, accountants, lecturers, engineers, quantity surveyors. We are experiencing the biggest exodus in our 53-year history. It is estimated that there are over 1 million Malaysians living and working abroad, many of whom are highly qualified personnel.
If the government thinks that it is only the non-Malays who are leaving then they are wrong. If Malays
are also leaving in large numbers then it should be obvious (which it is presumably to the ordinary man in the street but not to our government) that preferential treatment for Malays is not a major pull nor conducive to the normal thinking person.
What other countries do is to offer Malaysians opportunities - something which is not available, to the
majority of Malaysians, of whichever racial origin. Our government fails to realise that people need to
feel appreciated and thrive in conditions which stimulate personal development. Government interference in the things that affect the personal lives of its citizens is what has kept many overseas Malaysians away. At the end of the day, most people value the things that have to do with their quality of life (not just for themselves but especially for their families), the laws, bureaucracy and tax.
Apart from having the best brains, those who left are probably the more assertive ones, the highly
ambitious people who would have made good mentors, able and strong leaders. Their absence from
our system only weakens us, as a nation. Will these people return if the ISA is around? No. These people would probably find living in Malaysia under such conditions, like treading on eggshells. How about corruption, nepotism, cronyism, lack of transparency, limited civil service and educational
opportunities, questionable performance-based promotion, lack of freedom of worship, expression
and speech, unfair preferential housing, fear for their personal safety and lack of open tenders for
government contracts?
These are some of the things that are due for immediate review, but only if Najib is serious about
reversing the brain-drain and only if he wants to improve Malaysia’s economy and reputation. At a time when the country needs to tighten its belt and take effective measures to build a quality nation based on its human capital, Najib seems to build pointless monuments in mega-projects. Why not channel the funds and invest in its best resource – its people? Malaysia is now paying the price for its crippling policies which our government feels unable,incapable or fearful of changing. Najib recently warned us about the dangers of not embracing change. He is right. And we are all for it.Forget about directing Talent Corporation to search for these ‘overseas’ Malaysians. If Najib refuses to make the all-important changes in the country, they will not be swayed. So when will he legislate for change?
And one last thing: We congratulate Ipoh-born Tan Zhongshan on his outstanding achievements and wish him a bright future.

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