A disgrace to Malaysian tertiary education

55 Responses to “A disgrace to Malaysian tertiary education”

• Renuka on August 30th, 2008 19:44 1

  I think commenting on a exam paper by just looking at a minute part of it is so more irrelevant. Am sure no one here has the idea of the full question set. Commenting on one’s qualification is merely pathetic when u do it without proper justification. Some just concluding bout Malaysia’s education system by looking at this picture. Oh my dear british & US educated ppl, please enlighten me. I dont see any relevance. I rather feel pitiful for those who forgotten that they learnt their ABC in malaysia. and going to overseas with either JPA or parents money to study in abroad and again coming back expecting Malaysia to get hired them for their so called UK cert. If u have 1st class hons of UK degree, then u may argue bout the standards. But if such, you wouldnt return home. That is a Malaysian’s attitude. And lastly, exams are set to test how AWARE and smart you are and not to show how smart the lecturer is. If the lecturer set higher level paper jus cos he has doctorate, am sure another blog on criticizing his sarcasm will b posted as well. A student who can able to take pics on her exam paper shows how “GOOD” are today’s students are. My humble 2cents..

• Adrian Hoe on August 30th, 2008 20:06 2

  The above comment was posted last week in the other article and I think it is most suitable to be here so I re-posted Renuka’s comment here.

  This is a typical example of how shallow the view points and thinking Malaysia college students are. A very superficial analysis of problems due to lacking critical thinking.

  Renuka, why do you waste your parent’s hard earned money getting a sub-standard local degree?

  Those who returned after their US or UK degree belong to incompetent group of people. Mostly enrolled in 3+1 program. Largely, these people find themselves unable to compete there so they return.

  In my earliest working experience, I met a claimed-to-be-US-trained-computer-science-Ph.D. colleague. She was teaching in one of the local college and she found teaching too stressful and she applied for the job as a programmer where I worked. I joined that company 2 months earlier than her so I should be her senior but instead she became my team leader due to her doctorate in computer science.

  Wow! Wasn’t it an honor to have a doctorate boss? That did not turn out that way. Her performance was really bad and often needed my colleagues and I to provide her some solution to solve even a very simple problem.

  She was told to develop a data browser for Clipper. That was before MS Windows and most of the applications we developed were text-based in DOS. (Do you know what is DOS and Clipper? Have you seen DOS before? I bet you don’t. Try Google them as you were taught by your lecturers.)

  She asked me to do it. I gladly accepted the assignment. She gave me two weeks but I completed it before the end of that day (later I learned from our boss’ secretary that she was given a month by our boss). After I showed it to my other colleagues, they celebrated and praised my work loudly. She could not take credit from my work and she was really upset about me.

  Feeling humiliated, she resigned after a month of working there. Later I found out she was studying on JPA scholarship and got a teaching job in a college immediately on her return.

  Believe me, there was nothing evil in my mind then because I was just stepping into society. We celebrated because my work had made programming easier for all of us then and the applications would look better and easier to use. We didn’t intend to humiliate her. Humiliation did not come across our mind.

• Ken on September 2nd, 2008 11:11 3

  In the above comments, there are some misconception about PhD holders, especially computer science PhD, getting a PhD (from the correct means) is not easy. And having a PhD doesn’t means that you are good in everything in your discipline, but it means that you are really a so-called expert in a niche area in your discipline (irregardless of other areas).

  For example, in the example above. We should judge the US comp sci PhD above by looking at the international referred journals he/she published, in his/her area of expertise. Not in terms of team leader or management or getting a dos program design right. It’s the manager fault to hire her as a team lead just based on PhD qualification, but this doesn’t nullify her PhD and we shouldn’t judge her PhD on able to write a dos program or not.

  We often have difficult question from our grandparents, since you are computer graduates, why can’t you fix a computer for me? Actually, they should look for a technician coz not all computer graduates are trained for computer fixing, although most of us know how to do that, not professionally though. If you have the same mindset that PhD holders should be good in everything, then you are thinking like my grandparents.

  oh, btw, I have a phd as well, from one of the reputable country u mentioned above, and have led team of international PhD holders and other graduates as well. PhD are good in certain area, do have its advantage in something (like analytical skills, etc). But in general management or whatever, it’s just not fair to compare; it should be just compare on an equal ground.

  And on the news above, who cares whether the university get the grammar koret or not? We can just run thru an office word to get all the grammar fixed. Hononary degree are usually awarded to an honour person, so we should check whether the receipient do have social standing or contributions to the society, and argue based on that, instead of pinpointing to the grammar. Oi yah, btw, it doesn’t mean that I am endorsing the quality of UTHOM. Just that it’s flaw to compare in such a way.

• RPK on September 2nd, 2008 11:31 4

  It is SO HARD to read. Too many grammatical errors. If I was an English teacher I would have given F (FAILURE) to that piece.

  Somebody should correct it and have a side by side comparison. To shame the writer and to teach others how it should have been done.

  This will show the readers of the Internet have better command of language instead of those working in Higher Education in Malaysia

  This only shows the level of our higher education. It looks like it was written by someone who has no idea how to write and use the correct English expression.

  I think a normal Form 1 kid in SG (being dual language – English and Mandarin) can do better than that.

• Hwee Cheng on September 2nd, 2008 12:13 5

  I’m a malaysian residing in Aust.My response is ..Good gracious!!!!!….how could such a horrendous piece of writing be published…where was the editor or proof reader??well,probably he or she maybe just as bad.

• Benson Tay on September 2nd, 2008 13:02 6

  Wah, you so terror one, ah? Your English so good meh? Don’t simply see people no up lah. Your father got money, can send you go overseas to study, but don’t be so LCLY lah. We poor people, got no money, some more cannot get scholarship, how to go overseas? Go Singapore also cannot. Can get to study here, lucky already. Some more you want to compare.

  People like you, they call ‘kacang lupa kulit’. Aiyah, so sorry, you educated in west. You can read Malay or not? It means, the bean forgot the skin lah. English say forgot the roots lah. Where you learn your English? Not Malaysia ah? Just because you study in west and can write and speak little bit like Mat Salleh (aiyoh, sorry again, this time it mean Kwailoh), you think we local graduate all useless one.

  US graduate also same lah. Last time I got two staff, both graduate from University of Oklahoma City. Engineer some more. Their English is so bad, I tell you, if you read, you sure laugh one. I think my English is bad one but their one is worse.

  When I ask them, they tell me their SPM English, they only get C4 and then some more, dare not take Cambridge O Level English paper. I said, no wonder lah so bad. I wonder how they can graduate from US university if their English is so bad one. Of course, I didn’t tell them that lah. Give them face mah, also I don’t want to make them angry, otherwise they wallop me, I die.

  So, what you get for English SPM? You got take Cambridge O Level English or not? I think if you got take this exam, sure score A1 one.

  I only get A1 in English SPM and A2 in Cambridge ‘O’ Level English. And I never study in Mat Salleh school before. So, ‘Phai Say’ lah….

• woody on September 2nd, 2008 13:17 7

  Adrian,

  Well written…

  I do believe in one conspiracy theory, the authority is out to “stupidize” the citizen (Sorry, I know there is not such word in dictionary). So that those in power (BN-aristocrats) can conveniently sent their own offspring out to overseas to be educated and come home to rule the “stupids”, as local universities are creating so much of them, enforcing feudalism by trying to sustain the master and slave equilibrium.

  If not, why all ministers had their families in overseas ?

  -woody

• Tetraigrat on September 2nd, 2008 13:32 8

  I am not surprised at all the see the level of English depicted in an official advertorial. The writer is obviously must be a Malay from the style of writing and is having gender differentiating problems too …. “.. is a third son of Duli…….” Is Raja Zarith male or female? I wish the socalled university would have had a competent person to re-read and make the necessary corrections. This is worse than a PMR level of English. How disgraceful of a university and even how disgraceful and shameful of NSTP to publish them.

• chong on September 2nd, 2008 13:32 9

  maybe it was written by the SPM level admin-clerk.

• Salak on September 2nd, 2008 14:27 10

  Whilst I agree this is outrageous there are better students who could write exemplary passages.

  But if this is outrageous, it potrays something even more pathetic — a sense of decency and the total lack of governance in any of the universities. That this abominable piece of work passed scrutiny speaks volumes of the abject decadence.

• c h ong on September 2nd, 2008 14:42 11

  I agree that University Tun Hussein Onn’s advertisement contains too many grammatical errors. Unfortunately the writer who commented on the bad grammar also made many grammar errors in his/her article. e.g.
  ‘has not even achieved in standards at all’,
  ‘there are also some short sighted students do not agree with that’

  There are other grammar errors but I shall let the writer go through his own article and discover the errors himself/herself.

  Perhaps the writer’s excuse is that he/she is an unfortunate product of out sub-standard tertiary education.

  c h ong

• Mangan on September 2nd, 2008 14:53 12

  Put the blame - entirely - on past and present Malaysia’s education system!

  I’m ashamed, as I’m one of those enrolled into the Malay medium, and not the English medium! If so, I would be one of those US graduates…

  Sigh!

• Local Uni Grad on September 2nd, 2008 15:09 13

  Reaction to advertorial : OMG…

  Reaction to comments : It doesn’t really matter where you go to school…if your core attitude is *hit, all the degrees in the world won’t mean a thing. Personally, I’ve met both local and overseas uni grads of all sorts…even some who graduated from UK unable to speak a single error-free English sentence. But what the heck..at least, they are giving it a try, right? And I’m getting really tired of people assuming I graduated from overseas just because I can speak and write virtually perfect English.

  So people, give it a rest…and look in the mirror. You want to fix this society…it begins with that man in the mirror.

• Babu on September 2nd, 2008 16:06 14

  Why is English used a yardstick for our education system? Even beggars in UK and US speaks better english than our lectures in Malaysia , but what does that prove?? English is a Language and just that. Some like to speak/ communicate in English and some dont. Some likes maths and some dont. Some likes chemistry and some dont. But that doesnt make anyone stupid. If you are a chinese and you cant speak Tamil you are not stupid. If you are a Telugu and you cant understand chinese you are not stupid. As Malaysian (if non malay are still regarded as Malaysian and not “pendatang) we all should feel embarresed if we dont/cant speak Bahasa MALAYSIA. We look up to this westerners and everything western until we forgot who we are. You go to US they will still look at you like a stray dog. Yet you guys look at them and every single thing about them with awe.

• Xey on September 2nd, 2008 16:10 15

  It’s one thing for university graduates or even post graduates to speak broken English as long as they are knowledgeable in their field of expertise since some are trained in Chinese/French/Japanese or whatever universities. It’s like a good maths teacher speaking broken English is acceptable but not an English teahcer.

  But it’s totally unacceptable for an institution of learning especially a university to blunder like the the above example. This is not just bad grammar here and there but everywhere!

  By the way, if you subscribe to Malaysiakini and you try to login when your subscription ran out, they will take you to a page to renew subscription that says something like this:

  “You are pleased to logout then relogin to Malaysiakini once your renewal had done.” !!!???

  Not sure if it’s still there, emailed them about it but no reply. This is an English online media!

• Xey on September 2nd, 2008 16:11 16

  It’s one thing for university graduates or even post graduates to speak broken English as long as they are knowledgeable in their field of expertise since some are trained in Chinese/French/Japanese or whatever universities. It’s like a good maths teacher speaking broken English is acceptable but not an English teacher.

  But it’s totally unacceptable for an institution of learning especially a university to blunder like the the above example. This is not just bad grammar here and there but everywhere!

  By the way, if you subscribe to Malaysiakini and you try to login when your subscription ran out, they will take you to a page to renew subscription that says something like this:

  “You are pleased to logout then relogin to Malaysiakini once your renewal had done.” !!!???

  Not sure if it’s still there, emailed them about it but no reply. This is an English online media!

• Yong Chee Keong on September 2nd, 2008 16:37 17

  My nephew was in Std Four when he brought home his schoowork. My sister looked through his work and noticed that the teacher had marked some of his answers incorrectly. My sister pointed it out to him. The Std Four boy showed it to the teacher but all the teacher said was: Your mother does not know English.
  As mistakes (or ignorance) of the teacher went on, my sister finally went to see the Guru Besar. But all he said was: We know it is happening but we do not know what to do.
  In other words, do not play around with these teachers who have good UMNO and Ministry of Education connection. Be careful. Otherwise you (the Guru Besar) will be transferred.

• meltingpot on September 2nd, 2008 16:50 18

  PHD means “permanent head damage!”

• redsnapper101 on September 2nd, 2008 17:36 19

  well, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve just witness a classic example of ‘malaysia boleh’ at its best.it is a foregone conclusion that the standard of english in malaysia, both written and oral, has gone to the dogs. no thank you to short-sighted politicians with long-sighted political agenda. needless to say our politicians still suffer myopia on the subject of english and how we now stach up against the rest of the english speaking world.

  our students used to top all the universities in uk. that was once upon a time. today, they are struggling to pass english as a subject, let alone enter university in uk.

  what a shame! what an embarrassment! what stupidity!

• Sukiyaki on September 2nd, 2008 17:49 20

  It is all commercialization. Local universities are all blood-suckers! It happened here in UPM as well. Professor Google is our ultimate professor.

  I really support and agree with “Kick his rosy ass”. We pay both arms and legs for a university degree and all they tell us to do Google?

  My family is not rich to send me overseas. And I am not so bright to get a US scholarship. What can I do? Does that mean I deserved such a shit education?

• Adrian Hoe on September 2nd, 2008 18:03 21

  Dear Sukiyaki,

  Please do not give up. Despise those who blamed their parents/family for not able to support financially to study abroad. Pity those who think they are not bright enough to study abroad.

  Getting straight As does not mean everything in tertiary education although it will be a measurement for academic achievement.

  Studying in university means a lot more than education itself.

  My partner has recently managed to secure a US scholarship for a young boy from private secondary in Klang. He is at the bottom of his class and his family has no financial resources to support his study abroad.

  But his sheer determination and unique potential have earned him a scholarship to a US university. He is so proud of his parents and never blamed his parents for not being able to provide financially. But his parents gives him a hell lot good of encouragement. I think his success is due to this.

  If you are determined to become a butterfly, so be it and work your way to become one and soar high. Stop blaming your parents and yourself. Improve your competitiveness all-round, not just academic. Remember, straight As doesn’t mean everything.

• jet on September 2nd, 2008 18:29 22

  to those who studies in overseas: don’t be such an arrogant prig criticising our local standards. if our local educated system is *hit, you are also part of the *hit before you leave to somewhere else. you just got lucky. instead of talking, why don’t you come back and change the status quo with your superior intelligence? don’t be a moral coward.

  and to those who study local uni: don’t be such a loser to complain about the lecturer. university does not carve your future but your attitude is what matters. if you consider yourself a tertiary educated person, start thinking critically and don’t just be an intellectual coward. mature people don’t complain of the situation, they work out the best of it.

• Wong Chee Kong on September 2nd, 2008 18:46 23

  Wow! The England is tewwible. Wat to do when we has such a education sistem under such leaders in the ministry. I remember one of my sons came back home years ago telling me that his maths teacher told him to refer to the kamus when my son asked him how about a math problem. Holy smoke… refer to kamus to solve a math question?!!

  Another incident was when a student constructed this England sentence: “Yesterday I saw a man pass away” when what he meant was he saw a man passed by.

  And there was this incident when I asked for some “pepper” after being served steak in a western restoran served by Malaysians (don’t want to mention the race). Guess what the waitress brought me? “Paper”!!

  Atrocious! Pathetic! Sad! Stupid! I run out of adjectives to describe the situation we’re in. By the way, what’s “adjectives”? Are we taught this word in our England lessons?

  At the rate we are deriorating… anything can be happen! It’s so dangerful to speak England like that. I just looking and looking and finding the cannot for the reasons how come our England has become so tewwible.

  Whew! Writing the last para is really an ordeal!!

• Budak Cina on September 2nd, 2008 18:50 24

  The root of the problem is, if you can’t write in fucking English, then don’t. Please don’t subject us to such misery of reading pathetic English.

• alamak on September 2nd, 2008 18:51 25

  Did Yang Amat Mulia read the advertorial or not? Why didnt Yang Amat Mulia complain before it was published. It appears to have been translated from another language without regard for English Grammar. At least this advertorial can be used for an English Lesson where students can be asked to pick mistakes, it will be a good excercise.

• Ricky Low on September 2nd, 2008 19:24 26

  Blame the country’s education system. Ty.

• msleepyhead on September 2nd, 2008 19:49 27

  methinks it’s kinda funny if you read it ala Borat.

  don’t lose sleep over it folks.

• azhar on September 3rd, 2008 0:49 28

  Your English is not that hot either! Did you get your tertiary education at one of our IPTAs?

• stcin on September 3rd, 2008 2:08 29

  RM4.99BILLIONS ( yes, it’s billions, no mistake)
  allocated for ‘maths/sains in inggeris’ !! till now RM10juta of teaching materials (pc,laptops,
  LCD projectors,printers & …..) terHILANG =lost,
  LOST,LOST,LOST …!!
  kerisbugger ! DAMN DAMN DAMN ! it’s our hardearned bloody $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ lah , NOT yours lah , give back our $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ !!@#$%^&

• stcin on September 3rd, 2008 2:25 30

  i got watch tv3 movie b4, the captain said, “FIRE
  = (shoot) ” & the malay subtitles = ” API !”

  conscience = konsains !
  ‘i put it to you’ = ‘ saya taruh sama lu’ !
  carbon dioxide = car-burn die-outside !
  shameful = kemaluan !
  opinion = pendapatan !

• oster on September 3rd, 2008 3:24 31

  While I agree on the lacklustre education system we have, I’d say your following points aren’t what we should be worried about:

  “Some students even revealed to me that some Ph.D. lecturers plagiarized lecture notes and assignments from foreign university’s websites”

  This is only wrong if the authors have not been notified. I’ve seen this done plenty of times in the UK, with original authors being told of their reproduction. Are your friends sure that it is a case of plagiarism?

  “Some of them even were told to Google for answer when they approached their Ph.D. lecturers for pointers”

  Again, have seen this happen plenty of times in the UK. In a way, it’s not bad, since giving the proper answer can be spoonfeeding, and student initiative is a very important skill, IMHO.

• abu dahir on September 3rd, 2008 6:12 32

  whoa…dangg…this is such a serious matter woi..!!
  a certificate made to glorify some person ended up as a garbage paper…is this the level of proficiency shown to us,Malaysian…by the UiTM graduates…?hurmm..or maybe it was written by some untalented clerk,neverthless..this is a friggin CERT mann…!!the authority should have gone through it(supposedly…

• abu dahir on September 3rd, 2008 6:13 33

  whoa…dangg…this is such a serious matter woi..!!
  a certificate made to glorify some person ended up as a garbage paper…is this the level of proficiency shown to us,Malaysian…by the UiTM graduates…?hurmm..or maybe it was written by some untalented clerk,nevertheless..this is a friggin CERT mann…!!the authority should have gone through it(supposedly…

• Local graduate on September 3rd, 2008 8:07 34

  This is a good reminder to all. However, we should not generalize that the quality of spoken and written English among local graduates are poor or below par. I have met Malaysians graduated from top-notch foreign universities who can’t even speak proper English (not to mention Bahasa Malaysia). They even tried very hard imitating foreign slang, which was kind of irritating. Well, in reality, English is just a medium of interaction and communication. A good command of English does not necessary translates into “standards” as there are a number of famous people and great scientists who do not speak that language. As for PhD holders, we must understand that getting a PhD does not mean that he/she will be well versed in all fields. The PhD area of study is usually very narrow but specialized. Importantly,most PhD holders will know how, when and where to get any info when required. Learning is usually a continuous process for them. My two cents worth.

• Siew C.H. on September 3rd, 2008 9:06 35

  It is a really interesting article (I mean the one published in NST. While I read the article, I got the feeling that I was reading a Primary 2 or 3 composition. Good one for a laugh!

• dragon on September 3rd, 2008 9:30 36

  Oster: In academic, if you refer someone’s work, you make a citation. If you use someone’s work, you make an acknowledgment. Assumed those lecturers have informed the original authors, they still need to acknowledge in their copies where the sources are. It is a courtesy to credit the original authors. If they don’t acknowledge the credits of original authors, they have no courtesy at all and are very rude. That’s plagiarism.

  Ken: Well, a PhD may not be good in all fields. That doesn’t suggest that they can only be good in publishing papers as they are trained to write papers. If you are talking about Computer Science PhD, the fundamental knowledge for a Computer Science graduate is programming and algorithm analysis and design. That was a damn simple programming Adrian was talking about and it should not be a problem at all to a PhD because it did not require a PhD to write such algorithm/program. She wasn’t hired to manage. She was hired to develop and to lead the development team. If she didn’t know how to develop, how could she lead? If a computer science PhD does not know how to fix a computer, it is indeed very doubtful of his/her PhD. Come on, it is computer scientist you are talking about. Are you a computer scientist who don’t know how to fix computers? I see that you don’t understand the whole picture, perhaps lack of critical reading? Yes?

  Oster again: Adrian did not say it was wrong or not appropriate at all to Google. But the teachers’ (including lecturers and professors) job is to teach and guide the students. “Kick his rosy ass” said they approached the lecturer (PhD) for pointers, not answers. Giving a pointer is not spoon feeding. Giving an answer is. Another case of lacking critical reading.

  Azhar: Well, Adrian has published a paper in an international conference. His English is at some standards. He is not a writer but I believe he has made every effort to reduce language errors. Writing a post is very different from writing a paper in Adrian’s context. To him, writing a blog is just like rambling, everything is straight from his heart. That’s a lot of difference between him writing a post and a university publishing an advertorial. Is your English any hotter?

  This is not a post about how good or how bad someone’s English is. It is about how critically bad your tertiary education system. Please understand the motive of the post before commenting.

  Some cases of pathetic commentators.

• Zhang Wei on September 3rd, 2008 10:37 37

  Adrian: I had difficulty accessing your blog last night. I guessed you must have a lot of hits on this hot topic.

  Ken:

  I have a master in Computer Science and specialized in distributed computing. I setup Beowulf clusters in my university (256 nodes) and my employer’s lab (1024 nodes). Recently I setup a tiny Beowulf in my home using 4 Mac Pro and an iMac, giving me a total computing power of 34 cpus. I upgraded the memory, hard disks in the Mac Pro and iMac myself without calling a computer technician.

  If you need to call a computer technician every time you need to fix your computer, how could you possibly do your PhD work?

  I know to fix computers down to circuit board level. I just think that being a specialist in computer science, you have to be well versed at the fundamental of computers. What use if you can write thesis or papers about complex computer technicals and can’t even fix a computer?

  I think you are a typical case of very dependent Malaysian Adrian was talking about.

• Adrian Hoe on September 3rd, 2008 10:55 38

  Why do universities need lecturers and professors to teach? Isn’t it better to tell the students to consult Professor Google?

  Why universities? Lets ask Google to setup a Google University with Professor Google.

• ayoyo on September 3rd, 2008 11:00 39

  u go 2 university 2 get a phd so big meh? Respect other people also lah. I think u don know 2 speak bahasa malaysia liao. My bahasa is gooder than u.

  u write not clear n u say what lack critical reeding so many things also u say. U look like banana can write chinese and LCLY.

• Adrian Hoe on September 3rd, 2008 11:22 40

  Inilah kali pertama saya menulis dalam bahasa sejak lebih 20 tahun lalu.

  Bak kata pepatah:

  Cacatnya nasihat ialah bila disampaikan secara terang-terangan.

  Kalau saya tulis secara terang-terangan, maka tidak guna otaknya pembaca-pembaca yang membaca karangan saya.

  Kesiannya negara kita terdapat orang-orang seperti kau yang tidak berotak. Sekurang-kurangnya tulislah dalam bahasa jika anda mengakui bahasa Malaysia anda lebih baik daripada saya! Jangan menjatuhkan air muka orang Malaysia lagi dengan bahasa Inggeris seperti itu.

  This is the first time in more than 20 years I write in Malaysia language. I am not a translator and I refuse to use a translator software so I try my best to translate the above for my international readers, here’s the translations:

  There is a saying:

  An advice will be handicapped if it is delivered clearly.

  (I hope the translation is correct.)

  If I write it clearly, then it does not provoke my readers’ thinking.

  Pity our country to have such brainless people. At least comment using Malaysia language if you claim your Malaysia language is better than mine. Please do not humiliate Malaysians further for such English.

• The Dawn on September 3rd, 2008 11:51 41

  The advertorial shows the dark side of our education system. All the years of neglect by the powers that be and their whim and fancy to change the system without proper and thorough consultations with experts in the educational fields has now yielded such results. Long ago our colonial masters set in place an education system based on theirs which was time tested for hundred of years and refine through passage of time. Our powers that be instead of refining and upgrading an education system that have been proven to be yielding excellent results however deemed it necessary to change the entire structure to suit its political goals rather than educational goals. Perhaps it may be not too late if drastic changes are made based on professional objectives and not otherwise and maybe and hopefully maybe we may see the light at the end of the tunnel growing brighter and brighter.

• The Dawn on September 3rd, 2008 12:29 42

  Dargon:

  I fully agree to the contents you have posted.

• Adrian Hoe on September 3rd, 2008 13:09 43

  Most comments here (and in Malaysia Today) are irony. Don’t you think so, Dawn?

  It is almost impossible to make drastic change. It has affected many generations. The best way is to let these old generations to fade away. But it is another gigantic impossible task. The vicious cycle has extended too deep in.

  I knew a girl who was studying at TARC after her form 6. She was having hard time following her course. She consulted me and showed me her notes. Goodness gracious. Do you know what I saw? Every page of her notes were full of her scribbles. There were English-Chinese translation of almost every single word. How could she possibly follow her course while she spent most of her time looking up the dictionary?

  Finally, she took my advice and quit studying at TARC. Do you know what was the next worst thing? She enrolled into teacher training college at her hometown. I guess she is already a teacher by now.

  A change of our education system means to take people like her out of the loop. Otherwise, the vicious cycle will continue endlessly.

  We cannot remedy 50 years of annihilation with 50 years of recovery. The system needs more than 50 years to recover.

• woody on September 3rd, 2008 22:23 44

  Hi Adrian,

  My suspicion is,

  I think he wrote a nice piece in Malay , than do google-translate (or babble-fish it)…

  that is the end result..

  
  -woody

• jukhoman on September 4th, 2008 2:14 45

  Wow, that certainly told me to work hard, work very, very hard, and literally work my a** off so that I can afford to send my children abroad for their education. No Malaysian-style education for my children now. NO WAY!

• Mondez on September 4th, 2008 10:02 46

  Woody.. totally agree with you… this piece of writing has definintely been computer/software translated. Unfortunately not proof-read..

• Adrian Hoe on September 4th, 2008 13:59 47

  This is “Google syndrome”, an Internet-dependent disease suffered by low-intelligence Homo sapiens abusing the Internet resources and thus decrease in brain activities causing “fat” brain.

• tengku lana on September 4th, 2008 14:23 48

  yeah i saw the corrected one. i was wondering what was wrong with the original one because i did not see it. after i saw it just now… i’m dumbfounded. how can a so-called university produce a write-up like that? even my standard 6 sister would know it was full with grammatical errors (though she might not know how to correct everything-lah). haish.

• What the Heck on September 5th, 2008 2:31 49

  Is this English for real ? Is everyone here commenting and arguing or expressing their thoughts in English ?

  Oh my god! It is not whether you have money to go overseas to study and it is certainly not if you are a first grader. It is simply whether you understand what is good and proper English !

  For 30 years, I buried my head in shame reading memos after memos from my boss. These memos, had Shakespeare read them, would send him rolling on the floor laughing. One soon get used to it as a norm for Malaysia.

  This is the result of the world best Malaysian System. This has been a nation of Monkeys see monkeys do. Ask no questions because there is no place for using your brains. Malaysians do everything, expecially going to work, by leaving their brains at home. Those who bring them to work have nothing but frustrations.

  Now, there is a sudden awakening. Friends, you will need another 2 generations- if you start seriously today - to set it all right again.

  It is just pathetic and well beyond my time.

• woody on September 5th, 2008 13:18 50

  actually the architect that championed the changes to school language medium is Mahathir..in 1974-75 to be precise , after he came to power as Education Minister.

  No wonder he still cannot retire and rest now, as more and more of his undoings is surfacing now and need to use blog to glorify his past.

  -woody

• Adrian Hoe on September 6th, 2008 11:20 51

  Hi woody,

  It is stupider to use translator such as Google or Babelfish to translate. The software was intended to help readers to quickly translate websites for reading.

  It is the “Google syndrome” I mentioned earlier.

• Adrian Hoe on September 7th, 2008 12:20 52

  Dragon and Zhang Wei:

  Sorry for replying so late.

  When a computer scientist says “Call the computer technician.”, that indicates ultimate pride being a PhD in Computer Science. Some people are too ego and think that it is embarrassing if they fail to fix the problems which do not require a PhD to do.

  These people conveniently “delegate” tasks to others who are “more” proper to handle the problems.

  I know a nuclear physicist who gets his hands dirty at all jobs in any experiments. I really respect him. And he is a true Malay and Muslim. Working with him was a wonderful experience and enjoyment.

• Pragmatic Revelations : Math and Science in English: A failure on September 7th, 2008 22:31 53

  [...] recent post about our tertiary education has revealed a serious flaw in our education as a whole. I read in awe [...]

• selva on September 8th, 2008 13:16 54

  ya,i also agree…sum of my lecturer cant even spell a word correctly…or even pronounsing…what we hear always was la,kita setakat sekolah pondok jeh…tak le pandai sangat bi… and i wonder how he manage to get a master degree from us…? we in uum suffering..

• John on October 9th, 2008 21:40 55

  Renuka,
  I did not have a tertiary education thanks to the NEP and all the affirmative action policies. But even as a form 5 graduate I feel embarassed to see the advertorial, what more it came from a university. If you still cannot see what we are getting at I am afraid the education that you have is wasted. It’s probable you never made it to tertiary or just a product of the NEP.

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