Are All Malaysian PhD Holders Really Worth Their Degrees?

I was reading this article on CPI about the response by Dr. Ranjit Singh Malhi about Non-Malays not understanding Malaysian history and I am not surprised that he was defending his action against a so-called scholar (read the article to know who the scholar is).

This reminds me of a story my brother told me when he was doing his Masters in Engineering in a Malaysian local university. In one of the courses, two students presented a working software (only 2 out of the 18 students in class came up with a software, most of the other students found it too difficult to do so) related to their course topic. However, when grilled by the two lecturers on the contents of the software, they couldn't answer a single question. It was later discovered that they had paid another student close to RM500 for the software. And there were so stupid as to not even understand how the software worked.

And do you know the irony of the whole story? The irony was that these two students took an additional 3 years to complete the course when everyone else finished theirs in 2 years, my brother included. But the biggest joke of the whole thing is that these 2 jokers are now pursuing their PhD in England under a Malaysian government scholarship. And they will return home to Malaysia one day and tutor students in the local Malaysia universities.

And that is how Malaysia is going down the drain.

You cant make lazy people smart. Only hard work gets you to the top. But Malaysia believes in buying its way to the top. It's a country that is building on thin glass. Only time will tell when the thin glass will shatter and the whole country will be engulfed in a civil war.

Mark my words.

Another Typical Malaysian Scam!

This is yeat another scam in blood sucking Malaysia. When will the Malaysian police do something about this and stop wasting time pursuing sex actors?


Dear all,

I cannot stop myself from sharing this with all of you.

Its all started when I received a call from someone claiming that he was from Maxis and he asked me to shutdown my phone for 2 hours for 3g update to take place. As I was rushing for a meeting, I did not question and shutdown my cell phone.

After 45 minutes I felt very suspicious since the caller did not even introduce his name. I quickly turned on my cell phone and I received several calls from my family members and the others were from the number that had called me earlier - 3954380.

I called my parents and I was shocked that they sounded very worried asking me whether I am safe. My parents told me that they had received a call from someone claiming that they had me with them and asking for money to let me free. The call was so real and my parents even heard 'my voice' crying out loud asking for help. My parent was at the bank waiting for next call to proceed for money transfer. I told my parents that I am safe and asked them to lodge a police report.

Right after that I received another call from the guy asking me to shutdown my cell phone for another 1 hour which I refused to do and hung up. They keep calling my cell phone until the battery had run down. I myself lodged a police report and I was informed by the officer that there were many such scams reported. MOST of the cases reported that the victim had already transferred the money! And it is impossible to get back the money.

Be careful as this kind of scam might happened to any of us!!! Those guys are so professional and very convincing during calls. If you are asked to shut down your cell phone for updates by the service provider, ASK AROUND! Your family or friends might receive the same call.

Be Safe and Stay Alert!

Please pass around to your family and friends!

Will You Go Back Home to Malaysia?

The Malaysian Prime Minister recently revealed his plan to lure back Malaysians working overseas.

The main carrot dangled in front of returning Malaysian was a 15% income tax for the first 5 years.

But is this enough?

Doesn't the Prime Minister know that nearly all the Malaysians who left, didn't leave solely for money, but left because of the state their beloved country has become. I can speak for my wife who is a Malaysian when I say that she left he country because she wanted a better quality of life. A life where she is respected for being a citizen and not looked down upon as a second class person in her own country. She doesn't want to be marginalised anymore. My wife who is now with me in Australia earns more respect here, since we're Permanent Residents of Australia, than she did back home.

So, with all these major issues still going on in Malaysia, how on earth does the Malaysian Prime Minister ever think Malaysians will come back home?

Survey showed that majority of the Malaysians who left were Chinese and Indians. These were people who were fed up with how the ruling government has treated them over all the years. My wife is a Christian and an Indian but the local Indian part, MIC doesn't consider he an Indian since she's a Catholic and not a Hindu. With such blatant discrimination among people of the same race, how on earth will Malaysia ever develop?

While I applaud the Prime Minister for doing his best, sometimes I think he cant do much. 15% cap on income tax is a joke. No sane Malaysian would ever go back home just for a 15% cap on income. The Prime Minister has to know that most returning Malaysians will take a heavy pay cut just to come back home. They should be rewarded in other ways, like giving them prominent government jobs without the stupid red-tape, so that they can contribute to the well being of the country.

What About Us Malaysians?

Malaysians working back home voiced their displeasure at the Prime Minister ideas to lure back Malaysians who have left with the sharp question, "What are you going to do Mr. Prime Minister to prevent us from leaving?"

Brilliant question.

The Malaysian Prime Minister should focus on stopping the brain drain from within instead of trying to lure those who have left. Those whoe have left will never come back. So if the Prime Minister is smart, he will focus on preventing the smart ones at home from leaving for greener pastures.

Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United States have benefit from the migration of many experienced and smart Malaysians. These countries provide perks to Malaysians in the hope of luring them there permanently. ALl at Malaysia's expense. What a waste of talent.

So Mr. Malaysian Prime Minister, you should focus on retaining your local Malaysian talent and treating them with the respect they receive rather than losing them and then trying to get them back. Once their gone, most of them are gone for good.

Corruption

I have never experienced such high levels of bribery as I've been experiencing in Lagos, Nigeria. And that's even when I'm black. The fair skinned people get singled out even more easily.

Corruption is so rampant among everyone with power here that its no wonder this country is called a 3rd World country, and I expect it to be for the next half a century.

Two weeks ago when I was coming out of country, at the airport where the officer checks the passports of passengers going into the departure hall, I was asked for a donation. I would have given the donation if he had asked nicely. But he was very arrogant in his manner of speaking that I refused to give a single cent.

I admit that I do make more money than most of them. And I do give a lot, compared to all of my colleagues who despise them, despite coming to Nigeria and making tons of money at Nigerians' expense. But I have a different outlook to life. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have and I try to give atleast 20% back to the people around me.

But like any other human, I would like to be treated with respect. I don't like to be shouted at. So I felt angry when this young man, who's job was to just ensure that I had a passport to enter into the immigration section, was suddenly asking me for money just to get in. If he asked politely, he would have gotten some but since he didn't now courtesy, he ended up with nothing.



Nigeria, in my limited opinion, will never come out of the vicious cycle of war and poverty until the oil giants operating in the Niger Delta start giving back some money to the people living in that area. At the moment, all money goes to the utterly corrupted federal government. It is yet to see if President Goodluck is different from all the past, corrupted presidents. Goodluck seems to be something fresh that the people of Nigeria needs.

For those who are not familiar with what's happening in Nigeria, the oil companies rake maximum profit from the Delta region down south, close to Port Hartcourt but the people living there don't even have the basic amenities, like water supply or electricity or clean sanitation. The Nigerian Federal Government gets all the tax money and fills the purses of all the fat cats while the people remain poor. I hope President Goodluck can change this vicious cycle that's killing his country.

But corruption is everywhere.

I spent close to 10 years working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While there is no corruption on the street level, unlike Nigeria, corruption is rampant among government officials. The fat cats pad their pockets with money from everything. In Malaysia, getting a government contract is like winning the lottery. Stories are abound of such rampant misuse of public funds. You could sell an RM10 meal to Malaysian Airlines for RM50 and no one will balk. Isn't that free money or what?

And I've heard of corruption in Australia too. Australia is a developed nation. But yet! I think the most recent case was that of Indian Nationals bribing officials to pass their English test!

I think it is unfair that others can get something they want unfairly just because they have money.

Who? Me?

Born in Barbados, married to a Malaysian, living in Australia, working in Nigeria.

How's that for a global traveller?

While the world is getting smaller, its also getting more divided. People are not as friendly as how they used to be. Everyone is living solely for themselves.

There is no good Samaritans anymore in this world, is there?

These are my stories of what I see happening around me.