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Showing posts from January, 2017

Why are We Still 'Malay, Chinese, Indian & Others' instead of 'Malaysian'?

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To start, let me say that this will be a long read as I'll go through an interesting journey of politics in Malaysia from the past until the present, and hence, my short introduction:  This is why we are still so racially divided till today.  The introduction of the concept of 1 Malaysia in 16 th  of September 2010 seven years ago marked an important moment in Malaysia, as it aims to build on the concept of inclusiveness which reinforce the national identity through various policies and measurements of all Malaysians regardless of race and ethnicity.  We cannot discuss this issue in concrete without the brief introduction of a few theories: Systems Theory is an important concept in this discussion, whereby it applies the Easton’s Key Concept to describe how a policy is made, and how the outcome of the particular policy can impact the policy-maker. It started off by an input of demand from the community, which in turn supporting the politicians that are able to fulfill their

Of All, Why the Compromises on Our Education?

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The impact of budget cut on public universities is real. Great and inspiring lecturers are not having their contracts renewed, retired lecturers are not replaced and inadequate learning facilities, just to name a few. As a whole in Malaysia’s Budget 2017, Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) faced a 29% allocation cut compared to 2016 from RM13.38 billion to RM9.5 billion. This is also a continuation from the cut from RM15.78 billion in 2015. Of all, UM and UiTM got a 42% cut of RM268 million and 36.16% cut of RM946 million respectively since 2015. Stepping into my final year of study in UM, I recall having our class delayed in the middle of the lecture because of the projector that was not working properly, WiFi speed that would simply slow you down rather than help in increasing your efficiency, no manpower to replace leaving lecturer for a particular subject and most significantly, faculties being asked to generate their own income to sustain themselves. The outcome? A