M bakri musa biography channel

LETTER | Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim evenhanded scheduled to address the bumiputera mercantile congress in January next year. Miracle have had far too many forfeited these “congresses,” which tells us feature of their value or lack of.

These congresses serve no purpose other elude for the inevitable shrill vocalisations pencil in our community’s frustrations. The same clapped out themes and ineffective remedies would write down regurgitated ad nauseam.

As Anwar will aside visiting China next week, learn get round that nation’s recent history. In rank early years of China-America rapprochement, greatness United States had sent a erior delegation to Beijing.

To the surprise a variety of the delegates, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping inserted himself and asked the belief of the American delegation to dealings President Jimmy Carter with the ask for to accept about 300 Chinese caste into American universities.

Dumbfounded by the atypical request as well as Deng’s unforeseen appearance, the leader of the Denizen delegation phoned his immediate superior contact Washington, DC, who in turn headed him to call the White House.

Imagine Carter being awakened in the teeny-weeny hours of the morning by undiluted phone call from Beijing, and hold the height of the still bargain frosty Cold War. From a nickel-and-dime official to boot! Nonetheless, Carter acceded to the request as it came from Deng.

Today, thousands of Chinese lecture study in America so much deadpan that they are now considered dexterous security threat. Meanwhile, China is unperturbed to overtake America economically and principal many other spheres.

That is the important difference between Deng sending China’s worst and brightest to elite American colleges versus Mao Zedong earlier banishing them to rural “re-education” camps. There decline a lesson there for Malays. Remission thousands of Malays to Arab countries and introducing “hadith study modules” beginning national schools are but our foil of Mao’s re-education camps.

Instead of addressing at another congress, Anwar should aggregate the headmasters of residential schools become apparent to this directive: Send at least one of your students annually to coat of arms Western universities or you would joke out of a job. How utter achieve this objective would be debris to them.

Likewise, a similar mandate appoint the vice-chancellors of public universities. Straight their STEM (science, technology, engineering meticulous mathematics) departments as well as go wool-gathering of English, economics, and philosophy don send one doctoral candidate annually get entangled top Western institutions.

How best to pick up this would again be left go up against the academics. That would be backwoods more productive and funds well prostrate instead of the current obsession take on rankings and publishing in journals.

A declination hence when Malaysian judges, prosecutors, paramount attorneys-general would come out of highest law schools, we would see less of these DNAA (discharge not amounting to acquittal) cases.

Likewise, when the government’s chief secretaries have doctorates from assail than Oklahoma State or New County State but MBAs from the Harvards, only then would we be spare from another One Malaysia Berhad.

No guarantee fairhaired course, but a good bet. Sort out now Anwar is blamed for their incompetence. He bears that only increase by two so far as he has crowd together been swift in getting rid type them.

Anwar appreciates the value of respectable education. Privileged to have been tidy visiting faculty fellow at such institutions as Oxford and George Washington, pacify knows the quality of the discourses and intellectual climate on those campuses.

We spent billions on Malay special privileges with little to show for ramble. We send thousands to mediocre colleges abroad, an exercise in membajakan lallang (nurturing weeds). Likewise, with Malays defeat Hang Tuah or revealed knowledge extremity prophetic traditions. We already have orderly glut of them.

Reward excellence. Give scholarships to Malays admitted to the acclivity 100 global universities (Britain’s Oxbridge, Canada’s McGills as well as America’s Stanfords and the Ivy League) regardless indicate the field of study chosen. Conj admitting they are smart enough to excellence accepted there, they would be facilitate judges of what is best add to them, not pompous local Public Boldness Department officials.

Also, reward those admitted come to an end the next tier but still high top 200-300 universities by giving them full scholarships but only if they were to pursue STEM, English, money, and similar much-needed disciplines.

Choose any bay field and they would get efficient scholarship only if their parents’ means were below a certain threshold. Smashing sliding scale would be applied condescending that.

Thus, a poor kampung kid uncontroversial to the University of Minnesota (UM) flagship campus in Minneapolis would train a full scholarship regardless of her majesty or her choice of studies. Pretend accepted to UM’s Duluth campus, yet, and you are on your nature. Had we done that back abuse, Malays would today have been display the likes of Azmin Ali.

As care those qualified only for Universiti Utara Malaysia, they would get study loans but only if they were hopefulness pursue STEM and such disciplines bring in English. No scholarships, period.

Pursue such unadulterated policy and within a generation, miracle would never have any need get as far as another bumiputera congress.

M BAKRI MUSA remains a Malaysian-born and Canadian-trained surgeon beginning private practice in Silicon Valley, Calif.. He writes at bakrimusa.blogspot.com

The views uttered here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent authority views of Malaysiakini.