An Open letter to the Institutional Reforms Committee

I don't know what pushes me to write this letter to the government. Perhaps I just wanted to contribute or at least voiced out some constructive changes to make my country Malaysia a better place to be.

Although I really dislike the hot weather, I really cannot live without the food here  (Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai, Rendang Ayam, BKT, Dim Sum, Banana Leaf Rice, Nasi Dagang....slurrps)

I dropped an email to IRC after listening to the radio broadcast this morning informing that we can email our suggestion to the committee. Although I know nothing about politics but I can tell every single thing that is affecting our daily life. So, here it goes, started with getting permission to rant politely.

" Dear Sirs,

First of all, I wish to extend my gratitude for giving us the opportunity to express our opinion on how we want Malaysia to be a better place for everyone.

I apologize for my informal writing and please forgive me if I do said/type something improper.

I am just a normal citizen who would really like share my opinion here openly like how a friend would do.

Education

1) It will be good to have one type of school for all Malaysian provided that there are other subjects for the kids to choose between Islamic Class, Mandarin Class or even Tamil Class. We need to grow as one also learn to respect the individual. I had grown up in Kebangsaan School. Now that I am working, I realized that there are ample of opportunity out there if only I have learnt another language other than English and Bahasa.

2) Moral shall be abolished from the subject list because this is just too ridiculous. How can we expect people to behave morally by just reading and memorizing the ways and strategy to answer a moral questions paper?

3) We should have a longer school hour. 5 hours is just too short for the intense syllabus. It’s always like touch and go in the classroom. Students who can afford will get to rely on tuition centre for deeper understanding of the subject. Does that mean only the rich can be smarter? Why do we have to pay for something that is half cooked (cost of operating a school) ? Why do we need to create untaxable income opportunity (for home tuition)?

I would like to suggest a longer one session school system so that the school is the only place we study and no necessity for extra expenses on tuition/etc.

Strategised the school hour to avoid working peak hour.

4) Abolishing the quota intake for local University. Intake by university shall based solely on performance. We do not need sub-standard professional nor do we want talents flying out from our country. Singapore is getting in all our talents that we failed to house. Some went there for the money (of course). Some are there because of free education based on eligibility. Some are out there  (New Zealand, Russia, UK, Australia) practicing as professional and settled down because their parent have the money to send them overseas for further studies. Some are out there sponsored by government but only some decided to come back to serve the country.

Let's deeply re-consider this 'criteria' that was set for independent. Is it really worth it? Is it benefitting our country as a whole? We need human talents to move forward faster as we are now more than 50 years back from developed country.

Transport

1) We should look into improving the route and quantity of railways. Railways are still mostly used by foreigners because Malaysian would still prefer to drive due to its convenience and also the inconvenience of public transport. If we can drive 30mins comfortably to reach a destination compared to 50mins in public transport (take bus to station – take a train – take a bus), we will still drive.

There is just too many cars on the road. The traffic is getting worst every single year. This is good in a sense that we have higher workforce in the country each year. There is no way to stop people from buying cars because we need transport to work. Imagine staying in Klang and working in KL. There is basically no other choice but to drive to work and enduring the traffic every single day.

Individual time and fuel is wasted in the traffic and when all this sum up and converted into monetary value, we could easily build 3 or 4 phases of railways.

2) Reducing the concessionaires. We should and could build our own highway. We have many reputable developers and contractors who could do it. Set out contract directly to the contractor and ensure there is no total-sub-letting to other contractors. Reduce the terms and conditions / preliminary cost in government contract eg. remove car allowance in the contract for officer.

Human Resources

Do we have too many government staffs? Shall we rely more on technology to reduce manpower? Shall we release more government staff to the workforce so that we can reduce the reliance to foreigners? We might have noticed that those who was once foreign labour had came up to be Employer themselves. Leading the teams of foreigner workers and putting local businesses to threat. They control the workforce, they control the pay, the control if they want to get the job done for you or otherwise.

We should give more working opportunity to the locals. Why country like Korea can have locals working as waiters and even cleaners but we can't? Is that because the pay is too low or the daily expenses is too high or the mentality is not there?

This is my speculation of what is going to happen if there is no foreign labour in our country. We will have less workforce in the market, employer would have to pay higher wages. If they can't sustain based on higher wages, they will have to invest in technology so that it reduces manpower. This may in a sense, improve work environment and increase the take-up rate of local?

Another perspective perhaps is the house helper. If there is no foreign maid/helper, those who need this services will have to look for locals who are willing to do it. Housewives who are now staying at home may come out to join the workforce for extra income. Lesser money flowing out of the country too.

Tourism

Now that we are well known in the world, we should really focus in our tourism. We have what it needs to excel in this perspective. Our Sabah islands and sea is the most beautiful in our region. Our Borneo forest is much richer. Our culture is so colourful and unbeatable. But yet, tourists are landing in our neighbor land. We just need a little but more positive publicity and we are all good (and perhaps dryer and cleaner toilet too). 

Well, that's basically my two cents. Thanks for spending time going through my opinion/suggestion.

Looking forward to a better Malaysia.

Best Regards."