I was really laughing my head off after reading this article in today’s Star. Coming from our Deputy Prime Minister makes me wonder the type of politicians that are running this country. I am sure many knows the answer to that?
Firstly, this is a publicity stunt my the medical college mentioned. Secondly, all speech by politicians are written by the inviting body. Basically it means that the speech was written by the college mentioned and then sent to the respective VIP’s political secretary for vetting purposes. I myself have written a speech for the Minister of Health who suppose to come to officiate a SCHOMOS gathering way back in 2006. That’s how our politicians work. I was made to understand that only Dr Maharthir writes his own speech when he was the PM!
Obviously, our DPM do not know what he was talking about during the launch of the so-called “medical education fund”. WE have almost 34 medical schools with some producing 2 batches of graduates ( 1 local and 1 twinning). The said college is one of the college which has 2 parallel programmes running , 1 twinning with Indonesia and another giving UKM degree.
Just look at the number of medical schools below:
1) University Malaya (UM)
2) UNiversiti Kebangsaa n Malaysia (UKM)
3) Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
4) Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
5) UiTM
6) University Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM)
7) Universiti Darul Iman
8) UNiversiti Sarawak Malaysia (UNIMAS)
9) Universiti Sabah
10) Universiti Malaysia Kelantan
11) Melaka-Manipal Medical College: 2 programmes
12) Monash University Malaysia
13) International Medical University (IMU)
14) SEGI University College
15) Allianze College of Medical Sciences (ACMS): 2 programmes
16) Penang Medical College (PMC)
17) Mahsa University College
18) Masterskills University College of Health Sciences
19) Royal College of Medicine Perak (UNIKL) : 2 programmes
20) Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA)
21) Newcastle University Malaysia
22) Perdana University : Graduate Medical School
23) Perdana University : RCSI
24) Inssaniah University College
25) Quest International University Perak ( starting soon)
26) RCSI Trengganu ( starting soon)
27) KPJ University College (starting soon)
28) Cyberjaya School of Medical Sciences
29) AIMST
30) Taylor’s University College
31) Management and Science University (MSU)
32) University Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)
33) University College Sedaya International (UCSI)
34) Lincoln University College( started 2011)
35) University Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia ( started 2009)
I was informed that the number of new housemen this year is reaching almost 4000. That is when half of the medical schools above are yet to produce their graduates. The report in Star today confirms one thing: the ratio is already 1: 900 ( 2011). So, how long do you think it will take for us to achieve 1: 600? I presume before 2015, much faster than 2020 that was predicted before.
After that you will be privileged to get a job . You will be told to shut your mouth and take a pay cut. I just saw some poor souls who have been recruited by a new medical school. Surprisingly, some of them are from our neighbouring country who was told that their degree will be recognised by their home country since the university is a branch campus offering the same degree! They were also told that their degree is recognised by GMC. Unfortunately, I have to break the bad news to them. Up to today, Singapore Medical Council is yet to recognise Monash University Malaysia, so what makes them to believe that they will recognise this university? These students also thought that Malaysia will offer them housemanship, it seems they were told by the university?
I really pity these students who will be caught in a limbo in 5 years time.
Med students need sponsors
KUALA LUMPUR: There are not enough public scholarships and education loans to sponsor Malaysian students who qualify to do medical degrees, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.
Apart from limited places in universities, Muhyiddin said many students were unable to pursue their dreams in the field due to the high cost of medical education.
“Public scholarships and education loans provided by the Government through the Public Service Department, National Higher Education Fund Corporation and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara), are not enough to meet the high demand,” Muhyiddin said in his speech at the launch of the Allianze University College of Medical Sciences (AUCMS) medical education fund yesterday.
All smiles: Muhyiddin chatting with some of the medical students of AUCMS at the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, urged more private institutions of higher learning to join the Government in its effort to produce more medical graduates in the country.
The event held at the Academy of Medicine of Malaysia here was witnessed by AUCMS president Datuk Dr Zainuddin Md Wazir and vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohammad Abd Razak.
Muhyiddin said the doctor to patient ratio of one to 900 in Malaysia had yet to reach the World Health Organisation standard of one to 600.
At an earlier function, he advised civil servants to have a sense of urgency in understanding the needs of the people and executing them fast.
“The rakyat is monitoring and evaluating our efforts. Any negligence by us will result in the public service being evaluated negatively and considered irrelevant to the country’s development,” he said.
Pagalavan's Avatar 
Based on the scheduled universities listed in the MMC website,only 17 universities in this country are recognised.How about the rest?
At the moment the rest ARE NOT recognised!
How come other than that 17 medical schools are allowed for establishment without recognition by MMC first ?
IN BOLEHLAND, everything is possible. Only in Malaysia, you only need permission from Ministry of Higher Education to start a medical school. You don’t need MMC recognition untill your 1st batch is in 4th year! What can MMC do ? nothing! they just have to accreditate them. If not all parents will come after them.
Specifically,is there anything that MMC or Ministry of Health could do to control the number of medical schools + number of student intake + number of medical graduates in this country?People with authorities need to do something about this..isnt it?
Sadly, in bolehland where every single issue in this country is politicized, nothing will change. I’m sure the mmc and moh are not stupid enough to understand the current dreadful situation.
The only way is to generate more public awareness regarding the medical education in our country, to clear any misconceptions of the public about career in medicine, (like what dr paga is doing here). A wake up call is needed!
Every private medical schools are here to make money on the society’s ignorance, period! Every medical schools have big shots involved in it. Pls check the board of directors in all these medical schools and you will know what I meant
(My apologies for crossposting this comment. But it’s more relevant in this thread).
I wish it truly was a case of clowns. Ignorance and gross stupidity is at least an easier pill to swallow.
The alternative is more likely true. Political pandering to the public perception in order to gain/retain votes so that the oligarchs and their cronies can continue to rape our nation for the enrichment of a select few. The house is burning, but do they care? No, the looting will continue until the roof comes down.
The ills of the medical system in our homeland is but a microcosm of the greater sickness affecting our nation at large. Political fingers in every pie, supposedly for the sake of quality assurance; but really to facilitate selfish motives. How to fix the system when there is no regulation with full independance, transparency and accountability? There is no cure in sight of this affliction.
The medical education cash cow has been milked nearly dry. They’re now proceeding to bleed it to death.
MALAYSIA BOLEH!!!
Best Film Producer : MOH & MMC (joint award)
Best Actor Award : Medical Schools
Best Actress Award : Ministry of Higher Education
Clown of the Year : Deputy PM
The Audience : The Rakyat
Hi! Dr Pagal. If I were the Prime Minister now, I would choose you as a senator holding the MOH ministerial and Yamin Wong as senator holding Transportation/ Trade and Industry (vehicles) ministerial. I have been following you and Yamin Wong and the rest of the columnists in various field since more than 10 years ago. They, ministers, ask us to read a lot, but they themselves and “their advisers”, don’t read or don’t want to read or do reading but ” BUAT-BUAT DONO “
We need people who can make hard and unpopular decisions. CSL seem very reasonable when he was out of Govt after the sex scandal, but look at MCA and him now.
We need people who can make hard and unpopular decisions.
I think we need to qualify this a little further. Our politicians have no problem making hard and unpopular decisions. They make them all the time. The idea of transparent, accountable administration in Bolehland is totally laughable.
What they can’t do is to make the hard decisions which may impact negatively on the financial or privileged position of the oligarchs and their cronies. Their decisions are not about right or wrong. There are only those on the inside or outside. And only so many places at the table. Hence, even those who start off their political careers with the right intentions eventually end up surrendering to this conflict or being sidelined.
The problems in the medical system are simply a manifestation of a greater sickness (mostly bottomless greed) affecting the national administration at all levels. Even if one had the potential and ideas to improve matters, if your voice does not serve the will of the political masters, then you will soon find yourself out of a job. Look what happened to our previous DG (who despite his controversies was largely a good man for the job).
What is more worrying is that the sickness is so deeply ingrained that even a major change in GE13 may not be enough to right the path within a decade. The numbers we are talking about (7,000-10,000 medical grads a year) are so enormous that it will take years to smooth out this massive bulge.
In Bolehland, when things start to go wrong, the default outcome is a government bailout. So I guess most of these colleges just shrug their shoulders and say, “Ah well, they’re not our problem once they graduate. (We’ve made our money, ha ha!) The government service will just have to absorb them.”
Our country already has the highest number of civil servants per capita in the world. And by quite a margin. Civil service employment is funded out of direct taxation. but it is not a bottomless pit. Where are all these young doctors going to get jobs? Who is going to train them?
The alternative is likely to happen. Cull the herd (ie: “sorry la, no job for you. Find something else to do”). When the time comes, the MoH will do just this if required. This will be a hard and unpopular decision to make, but make it they will.
After all, what do they care if it doesn’t impact directly on them?
I have a habit at looking at available university jobs in Malaysia, since I intend on (eventually) coming home.
MMMC ad: http://teachingandjobs.com/job/6413/assistant-professor-in-maleka-manipal-medical-college-malaysia-at-maleka-manipal-medical-college/
RCMP ad: http://jobs.bdjobs.com/JobDetails.asp?ID=420129
First thing to note, is that these jobs are being advertised in India and Bangladesh respectively. This would be happening for 2 reasons:
1. Lack of qualified Malaysians suitable for the post (for the money offered)
2. It is cheaper to hire from these countries
The other thing to note is the number of vacancies each medical school currently has. How are they still functioning currently? Why hasn’t the medical council taken note of the lack of faculty?
Lastly, I leave you with this article from NST:
http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Medicalcoursefreeze/Mobile/article_html
Read closely. It says that “Up to Feb 28, the ministry had approved the registration of 25 universities, 22 university colleges and five branch campuses of foreign universities.” THIS IS ALL FOR MEDICINE. Here I am getting worked up about 34 medical schools … these jokers have already approved 50!
And in case anyone was thinking that the number quoted was for all universities, wikipedia lists us as already having 40 universities (half public, half private – exclused branch campuses of foreign universities). So he must be talking about medical schools.
I really like:
Desired Candidate Profile
Good communication skill.
High prefeciency in english.
I guess clinical competency and a strong CV is not on the agenda.
what i observe in MMMC is (my opinion),malaysian gov forcing them to increase student number, the recent batch has 203 students, out of it around 30 is private, which means around 170 is gov sponsored. many of them rejected by Aus and Uk so got kicked into india and indonesia =.=
in addition every year constant number of private student is taken but gov sponsored keep on increasing~
mr pagalavan, first time commenting here..mmmc only offer one program as the full india course is abolished..government didn’t approve the 5 year program..
cc, the 203 student is actually combination of both the twinning and full time india program..according to the management, only the affected 3 batches will be that high number..
according to management, the max number of student for each batch is only 150..thank you..
What happened to the students who have already applied for the full time Manipal programme?
they are the one that was absorbed into the twinning course..that’s the reason certain batches have almost 200 students
Actually the intakes allowed/batch for private institutions is only 120.
So, 150?
Between, do not believe in everything the management tells you…
MMMC has 2 intakes peryear right? one in Jan and another in JUly. So, if each is 150, combined should be 300?
Dr Paga, MMMC has march batch and sept, recent batch has 200 students, in one classroom. those management people is bullshitting and im one of the victims=.= there’re no full-time course, they are planning to have but not approved yet.
are u telling here u put mmmc two program due to its two intakes??then how come dr paga can miss out IMU??IMU also have two intakes with two programs, one fully local and another twinning..mybe u did mistakes while putting two program besides the colleges but from hx of ur comment, u seems to look low at mmmc..fyi, starting from da just graduated batch, the standard have improved as the majority of the students are JPA student who really did worked hard..i’m sure previously mmmc grades were quite bad due to majority privately funded student..i hope people can stop talking bad about mmmc grads just because the old students..
NOPE, the standards of graduates from MMMC were much better before when there were only 3 private medical schools in the country. slowly it started to detriorate. At that time, you can only enter medical school after STPM, A levels or Matriculation. Now, you have all the dubious foundation studies which is NOT standardised. Thus, having JPA scholarship just tells me that you have good SPM results which does not mean good entry qualification to medical school. IN fact SPM standards are also deteriorating. you have 1000 students scoring 8As in one state! 15 -20 years ago, there were only less than 10 8As in one state! Even then many of these 8As students will only manage to get 2As in STPM. What I am trying to say is that what matters is the entry qualifications and the interest in doing medicine.
IMU do have twinning programme but they do preclinical studies here and then apply to go totheir twinning universities which is NOT guaranteed. It is up to the respective university to decide whether to accept the students based on their performance. In MMMC, you do preclinical in India and then guaranteed a place to come back to Malaysia to do your clinical postings. MMMC is still not recognised in India itself!
The ‘old’ students that you claimed to be bad, actually undergone 1 year of internship in moh hospitals and they are better in terms of adjusting themselves with the system.
What do you mean by improved?
Scoring higher grades in exam is totally different from performance as a HO.
The most accurate way to judge whether the graduates are competent or not is through the feedbacks from the hospitals regarding mmmc’s HOs.
So far, the quality is going down.
One of the consultants in muar also commented that we are only good in theory, but clinical skills? Questionable.
Not to mention those with attitude problems.
1 year of internship before working as HO.
Mmmc should bring back this system.
I think the difference is that IMU’s twinning batch finish their clinical years Australia,UK,US,NZ, and most will stay back to work in overseas.
I guess with the worsening of the glut now, almost all of them will stay back overseas.
ss, about your comment “the standard have improved as the majority of the students are JPA student who really did worked hard..i’m sure previously mmmc grades were quite bad due to majority privately funded student”
this is so narrowed minded, Are u sure all JPA sponsored are good? what jpa’s selection based on? SPM result, which means nothing. many of them failed as well in uni, and for the private students, they are just not lucky enough to get the scholarship as we didnt get A for subjects like moral study or others. Why 4As in STPM cant even get scholarship? do u think they are not as good as SPM 10As?
The standards at MMMC (i.e. the medical school itself) may have been better when there were only 3 private medical schools, but I can tell you for a fact that the entry requirements were pretty slack. Minimum DDE for A-levels / STPM to get into MMMC in the late 90’s, though I know a few people with EEE who pulled strings and ‘donated’ some money to get in.
Then what will happen to the 3 batches?
1 batch = 200 students
1 year = 400 students
3 batches = 1200 students
1200 students have to deal with poor student : lecture ratio!
Again is a case where private institutions trying to generate more income, ignoring the current HO glut.
3 batches mean 600..how could suddenly 1200..u said u were former mmmc student..dont u understand what one batch mean???
we are not educating dedicated doctors; instead we are manufacturing rubbish …
dejected citizen
0
Based on the NST article,only 17 medical schools are recognised..this number is enough actually plus with medical graduates from outside..no need to add more medical schools..Is it possible for MMC not to give any new accreditation to other medical schools to control medical graduates production?Its time already to empower MMC..come on MMC,do something….anyone who knows people in MMC..tell them to do something..come on,use the power.There must be something significant that could be done other than complaining about these matters..actions are needed
Recognition,
MMC is helpless.
In bolehland, everything is abt having cables and connection.
Do you notice that despite d HO glut, we rarely get to read it in d papers?
News are being filtered by those ‘above’ since it’ll affect their business.
Just wanted to tell u tat here, it’s not possible 4 a young padawan to go against the siddth lord.
As many have already mentioned, the only way is public awareness.
Typo…sith
MMC is powerless, period! licensing for medical schools are done by Ministry of Higher Education. Only in Malaysia , you don’t need medical council’s approval to open a medical school.There is nothing MMC can do when the college already start recruiting students even before MMC gives it’s approval. Good example: Perdana University: JPA sponsoring 30 students even before MMC give it’s accreditation!! what a joke
Greetings, Dr.Pagalavan,
The said university where the speech was given is AUCMS. Correction : It has not 2 parallel programmes BUT 4 in total. MD-UKM, MD-USU (indonesia), a co-op MD degree with an Ireland Uni, and it’s own local programme, the so called MD-AUCMS. I have attended an interview with this University College whose Prof rubbished my STPM and went on to claim that his Foundation studies is recognized Universally. Emphasize, “Universal”.
Neeless to say, it’s Dean is the buddy of Ex-PM Pak Lah which also explains it’s location, Kepala Batas. And the Dean also gave the impression that only “great” students could get into it’s MD-UKM programme. As it is such a small world, I got to know a student of this degree who obtained a Band 3 for MUET but still could get in.
It’s easier to start a med school in Malaysia rather than entering one. Hope you have any ‘cable’ to set up a med school 🙂
Soon it will be easier to enter medical school than to get a job as a doctor in Malaysia. At the rate we are producing doctors,in 5 years time, we will start seeing doctors trying to sell things on the streets to make ends meet. It wont be fun having the coveted Dr title but no or little income for the effort put in. The title will then become a source of shame and not pride.
Ancora Imparo: I have attended an interview with this University College whose Prof rubbished my STPM and went on to claim that his Foundation studies is recognized Universally. Emphasize, “Universal”.
Pity the poor guy. After all, he is suffering from the ‘tongkat malady’. (ie: inability to compete globally on equal footing leading to delusions that the world/universe ends at the borders of Bolehland).
What a fool.
Incidentally, did you ask him what he scored for his STPM (seeing as he rubbished it)?
I don’t think he has ever taken stpm.
Just to clarify.
Do you mean it is as easy to start a med school in Malaysia compare to entering one?
I have yet to hear any people who are unable to enter med school lol.
We all know any jobs can be over saturated with man power, 10-20 years ago everyone said IT/technology/computing has good potential and in few years time we ended up having these overwhelming amount of fresh grad running around jobless or as salesman. Engineering and accounting has had similar problems too. Now we are seeing exactly the same situation with medicine.
Imagine if we convert half of those money wasted to produce low-quality med grad (that will run around trying to find a job, or selling some vitamin products in near future) to breed cattle or farming we would get so much more out from it. I have yet to year any over saturation of food product even if we convert them 1:1.
Our foundation studies are NOT recognised anywhere else unlike STPM. Every dean of every private medical college in Malaysia says the same thing about their medical school. Many parents who are not from medical background will believe what these guys are saying and blindly enroll their children. Some even use the WHO listing as so called “international recognition” which is total bullshit.
i personally belive dat d quality of Houseofficers are going down the drain. Its becoming an obligation for dem to work rather den a privilage to serve. Both local (private and govmerment) and foregin grads and much lacking. The main story in the sun today is about th cabinet’s decision to reject the proposal to abolish the list of recognize unis. i personally feel, dat all medical grads no matter where u r from must b required to sit a common exit exam dat is held independently, where by there will no prejudice or bias. perhaps something like the USMLE perhaps we could call it MMLE. hopefully this may help return the standard of healthcare.
“no prejudice or bias” in Malaysia?hm…
LilG: i personally feel, dat all medical grads no matter where u r from must b required to sit a common exit exam dat is held independently, where by there will no prejudice or bias. perhaps something like the USMLE perhaps we could call it MMLE.
No competent doctor would have any issue with this, even if it becomes an added inconvenience. I have rarely found good doctors who cannot pass any exam.
But the idea of a legislative exam without selective bias will never happen in Bolehland as it would be against the best spirit of the ‘tongkat’ that is a constitutional birthright and entitlement. Any proposal or idea, no matter how good is automatically sent to the trash bin if it might jeopardise the boomi agenda.
i think exam WILL NOT be the solution to improve standards as long as GOVERNMENT AND POLITICIANS are the main culprit that manages healthcare regulations. They still can mess up the standard of the exam just like pmr spm and stpm.
besides that, we also need more spelling classes so that ppl like “lilG” don’t conveniently convert that to ‘dat’, which sounds highly comical in my humble opinion.
Perhaps I’m showing my age when I agree with Chillax on this, and I am not 40 yet!
The tendency to use text speak in realms outwith text messaging is a Gen-Y affliction. And given that Gen-Y is more a smartphone generation (larger touchtype keys, predictive text, self learning dictionaries, free text messaging), I fail to see the attraction that some people have to such usage. But again, I guess I am showing my age.
I do not pronounce ‘this’ as ‘dis’, ‘that’ as ‘dat’ or ‘the’ as ‘d’. After all, I am not a Brooklyn native. I suspect neither is LilG.
At any rate, how can a professional expect to be treated seriously and seen as a mature individual when indulging in such affectations in their postings? Do not think that image and appearance counts for nothing.
When you go to a 5* hotel, eat in a fine dining establishment, buy an Audi or BMW, you would expect the staff to be dressed appropriately (ie: smartly). There is nothing more valuable than health. So if you wish to discourse on medical related matters, it might be a good idea to post in a manner which fits your professional standing.
Some updates here:
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/28/nation/9788982&sec=nation#13197733533051&if_height=379
This will take too long – they should just go thru the list and cull the medical schools that are obviously subpar and have accreditation visits only for those that they’re not sure about. If they try and visit every medical school, they’ll just be wasting taxpayers money on free trips abroad (which is the Malaysian way of course).
They should just easily follow the list of medical qualifications recognized by Singapore Medical Council if they really care about the quality of medical graduates and safety of patients.
Actually, Malaysia has enough capable individuals to decide which universities should be recognised, No need to blindly follow Singapore (which has its own agenda). The problem is that our capable individuals are not in a position to make any meaningful decisions.
Singapore only recognised about 20 medical schools in the whole world up to 2003, when they realised that their attempt at controlling numbers and social engineering had backfired (you would think they would’ve learnt from their one-child policy in the 1980’s, which also backfired).
MMC should give blanket recognition to medical schools from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore because their governing bodies have ensured a high standard and the medium of instruction is English. I’d probably include the Republic of Ireland as well, despite their reputation for being a doctor factory with lower entry requirements for foreigners (foreign students from Ireland who wanted to work in the UK had to sit PLAB for this reason, even before the whole UK-EU thing).
Premier institutions from Western Europe and Asia should be given recognition as well – medical academics know which universities these are.
Then there are a whole heap from Eastern Europe and other Asian countries that could be knocked off. Everything in between can be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Is KPJ International University College being recognised by MMC?
Nope
It probably will be recognised in the future, once the first intake is near graduation, though no guarantee.
Seriously, as a house officer myself, I do agree that the quality of house officers are on the down side. It would be presumed generally, not just in our very own country, as you would have heard from other developed nations as well. It would take more initiative, attitude and zest to improve oneself during the housemanship training. I’ve seen performing grads from those universities perceived to be of poorer performance, and I’ve seen worse grads from local grads too. It all comes down to the individual itself, whether if they seek to improve themself and to learn.
However, at the same time, I’ve also seen these batches of house officers graduating and becoming medical officers. The “house officers” phenomenon has now gone and include the medical officers. We are having medical officers who are merely “senior house officers”, sometimes with no prior experience in clinical decision as well. The anticipated large boom of medical officers in the future would perhaps, make life hard for the specialists to oversee all of them, and what’s worse, would be if the government desperately producing specialists the same manner these medical schools are producing medical graduates.
Yes, eventually it will become a blind leading a blind.
The MMC has become a rubber stamp body, as far as the new Med Schools are concerned. They have no say, and just presented with the proposal to recognise new Med Schools and told to approve.
I foresee the new proposal to review the 300+ foreign schools to meet also with considerable resistance from the government.
The cabinet has rejected a proposed amendment to the Medical Act 1971 to make it compulsory for foreign medical graduates to sit for the Medical Qualifying Exam (MQE) before being allowed to practise in Malaysia
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/189420
Yup, only in Malaysia, politicians decides on everything!! That’s why we are going down the drain.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/young-disillusioned-malaysian-zain-abdullah/
Another reason why we are going down the drain is because of idiots like Zain Abdullah.
I wonder who’s paying his university fees…
Why is Zain Abdullah an idiot? Do explain. Is it ok for a non-Malay to migrate overseas but not ok for a Malay to feel the same way?
If he was sponsored to go overseas (stereotyping, but I’m sure people are thinking it), he does not need to go back unless his contract makes him.
I know a JPA scholar who voluntarily decided to pay back their loan to JPA in installments rather than go back and practice medicine in Malaysia in the current environment – and I absolutely salute that person. I would do the same thing, looking at the current HO environment.
On the other hand, I know many Malaysians who have taken the higher education fund loan, migrated overseas and have no intention of paying back that loan. But that’s apparently “ok” – because they’re not Malay and the Malays have been discriminating against them their whole life. What utter rubbish.
This question is really alot more complex then it seems at the surface.
I have seen both sides of the story.
It boils down to what people feel comfortable with, their ego, and their cultural upbringing – the subtle things not related to material things. Every culture is unique in the sense that people raised in it have inherent mental processes linked to feelings of joy and social acceptance.
Zain is only in his third year, he has not really experienced everything yet. How well he will fit in to the local culture is not yet determined. I’ve had the privilege of living amongst an international cohort of students and I do notice some things that go beyond race.
People like to hang out with other people like them; from the same socio/cultural upbringing. The caucasian Americans hang out with themselves… while the caucasian Aussies will generally hang out with themselves – especially those from rural areas. It’s irrespective of race – the chinese, indian and african americans will hang out with the caucasian americans… and the same could be said for the australian born and raised chinese – they dont mix with the malaysian born chinese… who tend to stick to themselves.
Note this is not discrimination, everyone is very nice to each other and conform to well established social norms such as greeting and acknowledging each other in a cordial setting.
But it is not the same as “clicking”.
Zain Abdullah probably wouldnt click that well with the locals, who chill out in the pub after hours. Sure they are friendly and whatnot, but will he click and fit in? I will bet my bottom dollar no.
The above is the reason why people who have a choice ultimately choose to return. Money really isnt everything. And if you think that you earn alot overseas, well the thing is, property prices are insane too… so you dont really earn much compared to other people, even as a doctor. The inability to click with the locals (read: relative social isolation), along with the simple fact that your title (Dr) confers little if any status are strong reasons to return to malaysia.
Starting out in a foreign country, you are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. No maid. No status. No ability to click with the locals. The people who go to first world countries to do med are generally from the upper middle class who are COMFORTABLE in Malaysia… In the first world countries, their status in Malaysia means nothing and they have to start from scratch…and even then they may never “fit in” with the locals.
Its about opportunity Nav. He was given an opportunity by our so called ‘corrupt and incapable’ government. Talk about biting the hand that feeds.
If Zain Abdullah is not a sell-out to Malaysia, then who is? BN Umnoputras?
Fine. I guess its perfectly justified to study in a foreign country which is obviously superior to ours, using funds collected from Malaysian tax-payers (I agree this is an assumption on my part that he is a gov sponsored student), to go over to the UK, to be exposed to so called developed-country lifestyle, and to DISS the country and people that provided you with the platform to first intellectually grow your persona and thoughts.
Go overseas. Fine. Settle down. Great. Constructively criticize the nations development while being overseas contributing to their already developed GDP. STILL OK.
But write a long ass article about Malaysia and those who decide to stay back and contribute to our economy, and those who were never given the same golden opportunity Zain Abdullah got at the expense of dying children in the rural pockets of Malaysia? Absolute shame.
I salute those who decide to return, take a pay cut, and make changes to the system. Public or private service, doesn’t matter. But if you were sponsored by Msian taxpayers, pay up before selling out on your brothers and sisters. Bah humbug!
The truth is sponsored students returning to serve our government/country is an exception rather than the norms especially JPA students in Oz and UK From my experience when i graduated from med school in Oz, less than 10% of all the JPA sponsored students returned to Malaysia after graduation from a total of about 30 students. (it did not occured only at my uni but also at other unis) I know some of the students chose to pay back and informed JPA before their graduation to break bond and compensate but it sounds that the government is a very generous banker, they only have to pay for their total cost interest free and by installments-one of my them happily told me the installments go for >50 years. Worse still some of them did not even pay a cent and waiting for the JPA to track them down (God knows when from our very ‘efficient’ government). One of the worse remarks i heard from a JPA sponsored student when asked regarding reasons not to inform JPA about breaking bond when she had already got a job in Oz (intern positions in Australia is offered in July/Aug and graduation is in Dec) was that she would want to get the sponsored air ticket home to Malaysia after graduation. Shouldn’t the goverment looked into ways to get back such money rather than saying subsidies hurt our yearly budgets/ not enough funding for healthcare etc etc.
Oh wait, i think most of these sponsored students are somewhat related to those who hold the power in our government. Little wonder why no actions were taken.
I was told recently that since last year, all JPA sponsored students who do not come home will have to pay the entire scholarship back ! That’s the reason, many got no choice but to come home now. ONly MARA sponsored students got no bond!
word on the grapevine is that the situation for mara students is about to change as well 😉
“most of these sponsored students are somewhat related to those who hold the power in our government. Little wonder why no actions were taken.”
No, they are not. If you have friends who are govt scholars, ask them yourself if you dont believe me.
You cannot fake an A level, SAM, or IB result. And med-schools are pretty damn picky about who gets in, at least in UK/US/OZ/NZ.
I guess that comes from your personal experience. I know at least few Dato’s offsprings that have gotten JPA.
As far as result of A level, SAM or IB – yes it cannot be how about STPM. On addition to that I know med school from these countries that take and educate students from Malaysia and fail them after 1-2 years when they cant come.
Again that all depends on personal experience.
For reasons of confidentiality, I will refrain from posting their names here. But rest assured that in my UK medical school, one of my classmates was the daughter of a high ranking military officer. One year my junior, 1 daughter of a Tan Sri, 1 daughter of a Dato’. One year my senior, son of another Tan Sri. (There are more examples if I was to widen the years ahead and behind me. But that is not neccessary)
All from upper middle class families. All on full government scholarships. All bumi’s (did you expect otherwise?). Did I get along with them? Yes, and very well too! Did I resent them (especially since I was a parent sponsored non-bumi)? No. But I did often wonder if someone else from a less privileged background should have been given the sponsorship rather than them. *shrugs*
To their credit, none of them ever behaved like spoiled rich kids. They were academically dedicated as well. With the exception of one, the three others returned to Malaysia to serve out their bond shortly after graduation.
We always read news that the government would chase after scholars who default on their bond but do we really have the facts to back that up, JPA/the government never really showed an exact figure on numbers of scholars who break their bonds and defaulted or the numbers who actually paid back. Does anyone know whether we have freedom of information act in Malaysia which we can use to find out? Even if they pay back the full cost, the government should claim the cost in a lump sum or at least charge interest equivalent to the bank’s rate rather than giving long term interest free installments. I think even with interest but without strict actions such as do not give certificate of good conducts for overseas PR or citizenship application until repayment, I doubt most will pay the full sum, look at PTPTN loans and the amount owed to date, most PTPTN defaulters pay a few installments when they received warnings, then stop paying and wait for further warnings a few years later and the cycle continues on until they retire and cant afford to pay anymore.
About half of my scholar friends have parents who are head of some government departments or has politically influential relatives. Only a few are from rural town and lower income family.
As for results, I did not say they were inferior, they did score well in their SPM and preuniversity exam and most of them worked hard in their study in university as well and no one said that they dont deserve their sholarships. In a meritocracy system intellect and ability is all that matters but it is unethical to con the government and taxpayers money for your own benefit. I agree most of them are actually great friends to have but i just cant stand the few who tried to find ways to pilfer as much as they can from Malaysian taxpayers funds and then turn a deaf ear to calls to serve the people or repay what they owed.
As for selection for university, there was an article in one of Oz paper that i read a few years back claiming that some universities prefer government-sponsored students (did not state which country) rather than self-sponsored international students of equal calibre due to the financial backing. Not sure how true was that but economically sounds logical.
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