SHAH ALAM: Tokoh pendidikan mendedahkan kualiti lebih 2,500 profesor di negara ini tidak mencapai standard diharapkan. Sehubungan itu, beliau mencadangkan jumlah tenaga profesional dikerah untuk mengajar secara sambilan di universiti-universiti tempatan supaya dapat menyumbang kepakaran dan pengalaman yang diperoleh daripada industri. Pengarah pertama Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM), Tun Dr. Arshad Ayub berkata, dengan kerjasama antara kumpulan profesional dan profesor, diharapkan ada lebih banyak artikel penyelidikan membabitkan idea di luar kotak dihasilkan seterusnya memberi sumbangan besar kepada masyarakat....

My comments :

Let me say straight away that Tun Arshad is just running away from the problem. More than 50 years ago Lee Kuan Yew said 'The Malays do not like to tackle difficult issues head on, they keep postponing them'.

Tun Arshad says 2,500 professors are sub-par. I suppose he is referring to mostly Malay professors at government universities (IPTA). So Vice Chancellor macam mana Tun?

To overcome their sub-par competence Tun Arshad suggests a 'di-luar kotak' (outside the box) solution ie to hire professionals to teach part time at universities.

Sorry lah but this is not an outside-the-box suggestion. Can you guarantee that the "professionals" are also not sub-par?

Like Lee Kuan Yew said this is just unwillingness to face the real problems. The real problem is how we ended up producing 2,500 incompetent professors in the first place? That is the real problem. Do not run away from this real problem.

Hiring industry professionals to teach part time at universities is just 'main tai chi' - meaning you are pushing the problem away from the 2,500 sub-par professors onto the shoulders of the 'part time' professionals you plan to hire.

The real problem is still not solved. Tackle the real problem at the core. How did we produce 2,500 incompetent professors in the first place? If 2,500 professors are sub-par it means the entire education system is also sub-par.

Not just the education system that produced those 2,500 sub-par professors (their tadika education, their primary school education, their secondary school education etc) but also their performance as professors in our government universities throughout all these DECADES !!

Dear Tun Arshad, kalau-lah 2,500 profesor "tiada kualiti" maksudnya anak-anak kita yang masuk IPTA pun jadi dunggu lah. Sebab profesor tidak ada kualiti.

This is just another disastrous failure of the NEP or New Economic Policy or the DEB (Dasar Ekonomi Baru). This is just another disastrous failure of the 'ikut acuan sendiri' bullshit.

Why do you have to keep coming up with these unworkable 'ikut acuan sendiri' non-solutions?

For over 40 years Dr Mahathir and the UMNO people at that time kept saying 'kita akan membangunkan negara kita ikut acuan kita sendiri'. Everything was 'ikut acuan sendiri'. Tapi acuan sendiri sudah bengkok. Camno?

I just Googled 'ikut acuan sendiri' and I found this :

Membangun dengan acuan sendiri

Undang-undang negara ikut acuan sendiri

Malaysia perangi dadah guna acuan sendiri

But all these 'ikut acuan sendiri' just do not work. Acuan semua sudah bengkok.

And now the latest acuan sendiri that does not work is Tun Arshad Ayub's proclamation that 2,500 university professors are sub-par (its another way of saying not competent).

Ini bukan saya cakap tau.

Jangan marah saya.

Ini Tun Arshad Ayub yang cakap.

Tun Arshad is not just any professor kangkung. Tun Arshad is the doyen, the tsar or the captain of Malay educators, having been the famous Director of the Institute Technology Mara over 50 years ago. So if he says 2,500 professors are not competent then he knows what he is saying.

And the biggest damage these 'acuan sendiri' do to the country is the huge amount of time that is wasted. If you ate something that does not agree with your stomach your stomach will tell you within minutes or hours that you have eaten something not good. You will either throw up or you will have to race to the can.

But when you screw up the education system it may take 50 years before Tun Arshad says that 2,500 professors are incompetent. By that time at least THREE generations of our people have also been trained by incompetent professors. The whole society will become incompetent. This is what has happened to our country now.

There is no need to 'ikut acuan sendiri' all the time especially bila tukang buat acuan tak faham apa benda itu acuan pun. Just do what other people have already done successfully. Just follow them. Everything will be alright.

Lebai yang tak cukup oksigen mengalir ke dalam otak dia kata tukar paip air di negeri dia akan mengambil masa lagi 40 tahun!! Inilah 'acuan' geng lebai.

Tak payah fikir panjang. Tuan-tuan do you know which country has among the lowest air paip bocor rates in the whole world? Yes in the whole world. The place is Pulau Pinang in Malaysia. The NRW (non revenue water) loss in Penang is about 20% or less. Still among the lowest in the whole world. Tak payah buat acuan sendiri atau pi buat lawatan sambil belajar ke Jepun atau Jerman. Just go to Penang and ask them, 'Apa macam bikin?"

For decades and decades Malaysia is still not self sufficient in rice production. Or food production. Now the figures are getting worse. Now Malaysia has to import more and more food (including horse meat, kangaroo meat and entah daging apa lagi.)

Tuan-tuan do you know which country in the world has the highest production of rice per acre ? Is it Japan? Is it China? Is it Vietnam? The answer is Sekinchan in Selangor. Rice farmers in Sekinchan can produce 11 tons of rice per acre (or more). World average is about 5 tons per acre.

Tak payah pergi ke Vietnam atau Thailand untuk belajar macam mana nak tambah rice output. Just go to Sekinchan in Selangor and ask them 'Apa macam bikin?'

Begitu juga bagi tadika, sekolah dan universiti dalam negara kita. There are 20 government universities and I think hundreds of other "IPTA" (colleges, institutes etc) all churning out graduates.

How many of the Vice Chancellors of these government universities are non-Malays? All the Vice Chancellors are Malays. Now Tun Arshad says that 2,500 professors are not competent. Although Tun Arshad did not say it he is referring to Malay professors. So Vice Chancellor macam mana Tun?

In Malaysia the Chinese and Indians have produced competent teachers, professors, researchers and scientists. So many Chinese and Indian professors have achieved tenure and recognition in universities overseas. What a waste of OUR manpower.

So how come there is not even one Chinese or Indian Vice Chancellor of a government university? Are you telling me that Chinese and Indian professors are less competent than Malay professors? Are you joking?

Instead you prefer to have 'profesor tiada kualiti' to teach your kids at the university? How stupid can you get?

The same goes for our primary schools and secondary schools (sekolah kebangsaan or government schools). I think more than 90% of our teachers are Malays. Very few Chinese and Indians. Even fewer Chinese and Indians are guru besar (head master) and pengetua sekolah (school principal).

How come? Are you saying that Chinese and Indians have suddenly become less competent than Malays to be teachers?

Are you saying that Chinese and Indian teachers have suddenly become less competent than Malays to be guru besar and pengetua sekolah?

Tuan-tuan when it comes to the doctor you need to treat your sickness and the teachers you need to teach your children you cannot look at the race of the doctor or the race of the teacher. You want the best doctor and the best teacher - regardless of race.

This is also the main problem in the country. Promoting Vice Chancellors by race instead of merit. Promoting guru besar and pengetua sekolah by race instead of by merit.

Then this is what will happen - after 50 years Tun Arshad Ayub says 2,500 professors are not competent. So Vice Chancellor macam mana Tun?

My suggestion is lets have a good mix of school teachers, professors and Vice Chancellors. Lets limit or cap Malay teachers, guru besar, pengetua, professors and Vice Chancellor to say 70%. Lets reserve 30% for non Malays. We need to mix things up more.

There are so many Chinese and Indian professors who are working overseas (Singapore, Australia, UK, US and elsewhere). Get them to come back and become professors and Vice Chancellors here at our government universities. They can help to boost up our local universities.

Or on the other hand dont do anything. Just leave things as they are. Boleh tidur di tepi jalan di Chow Kit.