Learn to ‘sow to reap’

TRANSFORMATION is the catchword in schools nowadays. Every headmaster and principal seems to be enthusiastically talking about transformational change.

They aspire to see their schools attain better grades and higher rankings in public examinations, gain more medals and awards in sports and co-curricular activities, and own a well disciplined student populace.

All these are very well and good. The Education Ministry deserves commendations for having thus inspired the schools.

While the objectives for school improvement and advancement are noble, the same nevertheless cannot be said of the means and ways by which some school heads use to arrive at them.

To achieve higher and more, some heads think it right to just do more and more of what they have been doing all along.

So, to secure more and better grades, they direct more/extra holiday classes, more workbook exercises/homework, more trial exams/tests, more scores/exam analyses, more motivational seminars/workshops, and etc.

To gain more and greater sporting medals, awards and honours, they want to see more training/practice sessions, more trial runs, more friendly matches and more competitions.

To improve discipline, they want school rules and regulations more stringently followed and enforced. And, if the need arises, new rules and regulations are introduced and implemented. More teacher “power” is also deployed to catch and punish the culprits.

This “doing more of the same” approach seems to be the understanding of these heads and their application of transformational change. While their putting in more efforts does drive results upwards to a certain extent, their advocacy of the “doing more of the same” culture has certainly driven their charges up the wall.

Doing more of the same, even more efficiently, is merely managing a cause. Schools will go forth all right, but very much stereotypically. It is not transformed. It experiences no innovation, no creativity, no paradigm shift; it is, in fact, still in the same old band of performance.

To execute transformation, school heads must play the role of both manager and leader. It is not just about managing efficiently; it is more about leading effectively.

School heads must come out of their comfort zone of doing the same old and routine things right, even if it is with greater intensity and frequency.

They must begin to think of new, innovative and creative approaches to doing the right things. It’s then and only then that their schools will truly move forward, reach new heights and acquire a new, more enriching learning culture.

I have seen schools that had gone all-out to achieve better grades in exams using the “doing more of the same” approach, having their results moved up by a certain percentage point for a year or two, and then dropping again in the following year(s).

The results behaved like a yo-yo within a fixed range of percentages. These schools were not really out of the deep, so to say. The year’s results depend very much on the available crop, with the schools’ efforts making an insignificant difference.

Instead of just focusing on teaching students how to study to get better grades in exams, school heads should encourage their teachers to impart upon students the importance and the know-how of learning effectively and efficiently.

I always believe that when a child wants to learn, his/her grades will take care of themselves. Of course, it is more difficult to teach learning for the sake of acquiring knowledge than to teach studying for the sake of scoring in exams. Here indeed lies the essence and the challenges of transformational change.

There is much truth in the cultural proverb “Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character”.

School heads need to initiate activities that will facilitate sowing. It is wrong simply to prioritise and busy themselves with drafting and establishing new rules and regulations to restrict and constrict further, and to catch and punish undisciplined students.

A mind that is made to conform by “laws, rules and regulations” is not going to be transformed. “Sowing to reap” is a leader’s calling; the essence and challenge of transformational change.

Transformation is not about doing more of the same.

Some school heads need to reassess and reorganise their approach to transforming their schools lest their teachers be unjustly and overly burdened.

LIONG KAM CHONG, Seremban.

Malaysians, work hard to succeed !

Hard work, long hours and a focused approach ensure the country and rakyat succeed

I AM an amateur musician and I play the guitar and I sing. I like all types of music but one that tugs at my heartstrings is the blues.

We all know what the blues are: simple, direct, strongly expressive music with a steady beat and rhythm, leaving plenty of space for singing and solo instruments. Letting it all hang loose, so to speak.

But to me singing the blues means eventually rising above the blues, even if you have to pour out all your problems and wail for a while. That's what this column is about.

I am fortunate to be involved in and driving one of the most exciting projects around. What can be more meaningful than raising incomes and the quality of life for all Malaysians, irrespective of race, creed or religion?

But as hopeful as I am that we can do this, I am not so naive that I do not know that there are many problems and obstacles to overcome before this dream becomes reality.

So I will sing the transformation blues here: I will air the problems, the big ones, which face us in our programme to transform us into a high-income nation. And then we will say what we are doing to overcome them.

Idris: ‘I like all types of music but one that tugs at my heartstrings is the blues.’ 
 

A big part of this is putting right misinformation. We will need your help as Malaysians to understand what we are trying to do and to tell us what it is that we are not doing right and what we should be doing instead. The e-mail contact is in the logo above.

We promise to read every response and if appropriate respond to some here. We ask only three things: that you are fair, reasonable and realistic.

Concept of income

The first thing I would like to explain is the concept of income, which is key to the entire concept of transforming into a high-income country. At what level of income do we become developed and achieve high income? How do we do it? How do we measure this? And can we achieve it?

A lot has been said about how we measure income and the level of income in 2020, and how we have not taken the right things into account. It's been said that we have used the wrong measures. We have not.

Intentionally, we have used globally accepted definitions and methodologies, i.e. the World Bank approach and benchmarks. Without getting too technical, we used the current definition for high-income countries in nominal terms and then using projected inflation rates, derived what it would be in US dollars in 2020.

Hence, the figure of around US$15,000 per person was arrived at RM48,000 based on a projected exchange rate of RM3.20 to the US dollar. The current rate is close to RM3 which means that if this rate prevails, the target will be lower at RM45,000. In 2009, our income, using prevailing exchange rates, was US$6,700 per capita. Yes, we have a long way to go but we are well on the way.

From here, we project the population at 2020 and multiply that by the income per capita to obtain the total income of the nation in 2020, in nominal terms.

Working backwards, we then estimate the growth rate needed to get there, again in nominal terms.

Then we take out the projected inflation rate from this figure to arrive at the real rate of income increase that we need for the nation as a whole to achieve high-income status which is on average around 6% annually, assuming all other factors hold equal.

“Real” here means the income is adjusted for inflation and reflects the actual rise in income even after taking into account price increases. The real gross national income or GNI is just the real gross domestic product plus net income from abroad.

Our methods are rigorous and our results were reviewed in January 2012 by an international accounting firm and a globally renowned panel of experts.

The latter also shared outside-in feedback and global best practices. We have no interest in deceiving anybody on how we are performing.

That is how we set the target.

Getting there

The next thing is getting there. Basically, we identify all the major projects on hand and estimate their contribution to economic and, ultimately, income growth. We don't pretend that these are accurate but they are the best estimates we can get. No country in the world can accurately measure and predict with precision its economic growth.

These estimates are also targets. If we can meet them year-to-year, we are on our way. If we run short we have to do more, and if we are doing very well we can lift up our hands to the heavens and give our thanks to God. It's a moving, dynamic target and it changes all the time.

Yes, there are risks to the achievements we have set out for ourselves. What worthwhile endeavour comes without risks? The world economic growth can remain low for longer than expected. We are not completely insulated from the world. The private sector may not invest as much as it should.

But what we are doing at the Performance Management and Delivery Unit is to get the Government to facilitate all efforts to increase incomes, no matter by whom. And we will monitor to see if we are on track and recommend the appropriate changes to put us back on track, as and when necessary.

According to Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department: “At the end of last year, annual per capita income in Malaysia rose to more than RM29,000 (US$9,400).”

At current prices, this is 12% growth compared with RM26,174 (US$7,985) in 2010 and RM23,850 (US$6,677) in 2009. This is a big improvement compared with only RM1,070 (US$347) in 1970.

In April, the Government will release a full report on the performance of Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) in 2011.

Our income growth in the last two years shows that we can achieve the targets that we have set for Malaysia as a nation. If the projects under the ETP and others come through, we will do it.

We may also see others setting up their own projects to take advantage of opportunities, and that would definitely be a bonus.

This shows that we have made good progress as a country. Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, we are on our way to transforming Malaysia to become a high income economy. Hard work, long hours and a focused approach are being put into ensuring that Malaysia and Malaysians succeed locally and globally.
Any Malaysian can join us on this journey. Simply by working harder and smarter you can contribute to increasing your employer's revenues and growing yourself, hopefully.

That way, all of us Malaysians can move forward together to achieving our goal of becoming a higher income nation and creating a better life for all of us. That's what transformation is about.

Together, we can do it.

● Datuk Seri Idris Jala is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and CEO of Pemandu. Feedback and comments are most welcome. 

Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) seeking love from Penangites

Seeking love from Penangites 

One Man's Meat By PHILIP GOLINGAI

Malaysia’s ‘love party’ hopes Penangites will give it a chance and send at least three of its members to Parliament and the state assembly.

THE Thaksin Shinawatra of Batu Kawan hobbled from table to table at a school hall in Seberang Prai, Penang, shaking hands with dinner guests before reaching the VIP table.

The 50-year-old politician was on crutches. He had broken his right ankle at his home in Penang on New Year’s Day.

During the dinner, organised by the Benevolent House of Charity, volunteers sold Chinese newspapers to collect funds to build a Chinese school.

The total collected was RM1,950 and, true to his moniker, Huan Cheng Guan topped up the amount to RM5,000 by donating RM3,050. He also donated RM1,000 to Benevolent House of Charity.

Strong support: Huan, on crutches, being greeted by guests at the Benevolent House of Charity dinner at SJK (C) Keng Koon hall in Bukit Mertajam.

“The money comes from my personal savings. It is for a noble cause,” he said.

It was a typical Sunday night for the vice-president of Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM).

He had earlier spent 20 minutes at a Chinese wedding in Dewan SJK (C) Kampung Valdor, a few kilometres from SJK (C) Keng Koon where the charity dinner was held.

“As a politician, you need to go to the ground to meet the people. You need to have the personal touch,” he said.

Ninety minutes into the dinner, Huan left for nearby Restoran Long House to meet PCM members and supporters for a seafood dinner.

“This is not an election dinner. The election is still a long time away,” he told about two dozen guests, mostly Indians, seated at three tables.

While his guests waited for curry prawn and fried rice to be served, I interviewed Huan.

“Why are you called the Thaksin of Batu Kawan?” I asked. I was told he is as generous as the former Thai prime minister.

“Who said that? I’m not the Thaksin of Batu Kawan,” replied Huan, who describes himself as “blunt and rough”.

“Maybe I am called that because even though I am no longer their MP, I seldom reject associations and people seeking my help as long as they are for a good cause.

“Maybe it is because I am not stingy for if I have RM100, I don’t mind donating RM90 as I can’t take my money along with me when I die.”

Huan is the only recognisable face in the Penang-based party born on Aug 2, 2009.

“Many people know me as I’ve been an MP and a Gerakan vice-president,” said the politician who “sacked himself” from Gerakan in 2009 after it suspended him for three years for openly attacking the party and its leadership.

Huan was elected Batu Kawan MP in 2004. In 2008, he was dropped so that Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon could contest the constituency, only to lose.

Huan contested in the Bukit Tambun state seat (in the Batu Kawan parliamentary constituency) and lost.

The president of PCM is 41-year-old businessman Tang Weng Chew who, according to Huan, is very busy as he has business overseas. And the secretary-general is 35-year-old accountant Loo Kien Seang, who is equally busy.

“I asked Loo to contest (in the coming polls) but he said: ‘if you want me to contest, I will resign (from PCM)’,” he said.

PCM was formed as a third force to be an alternative to Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat. Many naysayers predicted the party would not last more than one or two years.

“But we are still alive and kicking. We don’t have any internal problems. In our party, position is not important,” he said.

On allegations that his party was pro-Barisan, the vice-president said: “PCM has limited resources so we are focusing on Penang.”

In the coming polls, PCM will contest in two parliamentary and eight state seats in Penang.

“As a small party we have to be realistic and we target to win one parliament and two state seats,” said Huan, who is eyeing the Batu Kawan parliamentry seat and the Machang Bubok state seat.

He hopes Penangites will give PCM a chance to voice out their issues.

“Pakatan has too much power and when they have too much power, they become very arrogant,” he said.

The “love party” is expecting some love from Penangites.

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Malaysia's 13th General Election Tell-tale signs, by June or next year?

Malaysia's 13th General Election Tell-tale signs, by June or next year?

Tell-tale signs that polls are getting close

Sunday Star, PETALING JAYA: So when will the next general election be held?

Very soon, judging by developments in the last few days.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the halving of toll between Kajang and Kuala Lumpur effective yesterday, just months after the Prime Minister abolished it altogether for the Cheras-Petaling Jaya expressway.

On Tuesday, amid news of growth, it was disclosed that investors have pledged RM9bil in projects in the first two months of the year in the ECER the East Coast Economic Region comprising Johor, Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan.

Now, the Government is coming to the rescue of commuters in Kelantan with an injection of RM16.1mil to keep bus services in the PAS-controlled state afloat.

This comes on top of ongoing aid programmes, including giving RM500 to families earning less than RM3,000 and RM100 to schoolchildren all of which seems to indicate that the polls could be just around the corner.

A June window period
ON THE BEAT By WONG CHUN WAI

June has suddenly become the favourite month in the guessing game of when the next general election would be called.

There are two key issues that need to be resolved before the elections can be called. They include the Public Service New Remuneration Scheme (SBPA) involving 1.4 million government servants, who form the basis of the government votes.

Last week, Tan Sri Muyhiddin Yassin said the scheme issue was expected to be resolved by next month, adding that considerable progress had been made so far by the special committee to review the scheme.

“We should wait for the right moment (for it to be announced),” he said after a special meeting with personnel from the public service at Stadium Negara.

The Prime Minister had ordered a review of the scheme after criticism from government servants that it was lopsided and only benefited top civil servants.

There had been reports that under the proposed SBPA, certain categories of senior officers would enjoy a salary increase of at least 50%, which worked out to an average of RM5,000 per month.

The top government officers in the premier grades would get their salaries adjusted by between RM30,000 and RM60,000 a month, which understandably caused much unhappiness among the rank and file.

The quick intervention of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to put the scheme on hold has been well received by the civil service with the sentiment that he had put a stop to what many felt was grave injustice. Much progress has since been made to end this impasse.

Muhyiddin’s announcement is pertinent as it gave an indication of how the issue has been resolved.

Another key issue is the proposed listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings (FGVH), which Felda group chairman Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad said had received the support of its 112,000-odd settlers.

Last week, he gave an assurance that the settlers would retain full ownership of their land and benefit directly from any potential revenue realised from the listing exercise. He also said the settlers’ holdings in Koperasi Permodalan Felda (KPF) would be untouched.

The Felda settlers’ interest would be directly protected by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and any potential proceeds resulting from the proposed listing would not be channelled through KPF, but through the SPV, he added.

KPF has about 220,000 members, 112,635 of them settlers. The rest are Felda employees and the children of settlers.

There has been talk that FGVH’s market capitalisation could reach as high as RM21bil upon listing, with many of the Felda settlers looking forward to the plans which had received huge coverage in the Bahasa Malaysia dailies.

The civil service and the Felda settlers in the rural constituencies have long been a backbone of the ruling Barisan Nasional and these two concerns obviously needed to be addressed before any elections can be called.

There is another issue that needs closure – the National Feedlot Corporation controversy, which has dogged the headlines. Investigations are being carried out by the police and the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission.

If elections are not called by June, then it is unlikely to take place until next year. Fasting starts at the end of July, with Hari Raya falling in the third week of August while the Haj season begins in September and ends in November.

The Dewan Rakyat is set to begin its 20-day meeting from March 12. This will be followed by a second meeting from June 11 to June 28 (12 days). The final meeting of 34 days, which includes presentation of the Budget, will be from Sept 24 to Nov 27.

The Budget, once tabled, would be debated on until next year when the Dewan Negara meets, before it is officially approved.

In short, June will be Najib’s last window period whether to call for polls. It also coincides with the school holidays, which start on May 26 and end on June 10. If nothing happens, then it is almost a foregone conclusion that it will take place next year.

Preparations for the elections appear to have gone high gear now with Najib making popular announcements almost every few days.

It is understood that the Barisan Nasional chairman has also started to meet individual heads of the various component parties.

The polls seem to be getting nearer for sure. As Najib continues his nationwide whirlwind visits, the urgency and the momentum are picking up.

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Are Malaysia a target for regime change?

COMMENT By CHANDRA MUZAFFAR

The forces that shape Washington’s attitude towards Malaysian politics and political leaders may have a hidden agenda.

IN his widely read blog (Feb 13, 2012), the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, criticises the politics of regime change pursued by the United States of America.



He is concerned that Malaysia may also be a target for regime change. And the US candidate to head the new regime which will be in full, complete support of US policies, he says, is none other than the Leader of the Opposition, (Datuk Seri) Anwar Ibrahim.

Why should the US government seek regime change in Malaysia when the present Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, has sought to further strengthen ties with Washington?

He has even employed a Washington-based public relations firm, Apco, to boost Malaysia’s image in the US. Najib’s personal relations with US President Barack Obama are supposed to be “excellent”.

And yet it is quite conceivable that the forces that shape Washington’s attitude towards Malaysian politics and political leaders may prefer Anwar to Najib for a number of reasons.

One, while Najib may have some rapport with formal leaders and the formal state, it is Anwar who has intimate links with the “deep state” in the US system.

It is the deep state represented by powerful interests such as the Zionist lobbies, the Christian Right, the bigwigs on Wall Street, the oil barons, the arms merchants and the media Moghuls which is in effective control.

To appreciate the distinction between the two, one has to reflect on Obama’s Cairo speech on June 4, 2009, which stated explicitly that “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements” but in reality the formal leader has had to yield to the Zionists and the Christian Right who are enthusiastic promoters of Zionist expansion at the expense of the Palestinians.

Anwar’s entry into the deep state was through his close friendship with Paul Wolfowitz, the former US Deputy Secretary of Defence and one of the staunchest champions of Zionist power.

It was mainly because of Wolfowitz that Anwar became the first chairman of the Foundation for the Future in 2005, an organisation established ostensibly to promote democracy in West Asia and North Africa (WANA), but whose real purpose is to perpetuate US-Israeli hegemony over the region.

Even before this, in 1998, in the midst of the Asian financial crisis, Anwar was espousing an IMF-type solution to the nation’s economic woes, thus revealing his political orientation.

This is why during his first two trials for abuse of power and sodomy between 1998 and 2004 and during his recent trial for sodomy, the mainstream Western media went out of its way to demand that the Malaysian authorities acquit Anwar.

Wolfowitz and former US Vice-President, Al Gore even penned a joint opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Aug 4, 2010, urging the US government to persuade the Malaysian Government to “ act with wisdom” in Anwar’s trial.

A day before he was acquitted, on Jan 8, 2012, The Washington Post in an editorial warned that “If the verdict fails that test (Malaysia’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law), there should be consequences for Mr Najib’s relations with Washington.”

This was an undisguised, unabashed attempt by one of the media pillars of the deep state to pressurise a sovereign nation to submit to its will.

Two, if Anwar is the darling of the deep state in the US, it is partly because of his stand on Israel. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Jan 26, 2012, he reiterated his support for “all efforts to protect the security of the state of Israel”.

It should be emphasised here that support for Israeli security – contrary to what he is saying now – was not contingent on “Israel respecting the aspirations of the Palestinians”.

In the interview, Israel’s security stands by itself. It is diplomatic recognition of Israel that Anwar links to Palestinian aspirations.

Placing Israel’s security on a pedestal is the sort of gesture that the deep state and Zionists the world over laud, especially if the advocate is a Muslim leader. For Israel’s security has become the justification for all its policies of occupation, annexation and aggression in the last 63 years.

Israel’s security is the albatross around the neck of the dispossessed Palestinians and other Arabs who have lost their land and dignity to the occupying power.

It is obvious that by acknowledging the primacy of Israeli security, Anwar was sending a clear message to the deep state and to Tel Aviv and Washington – that he is someone that they could trust.
In contrast, the Najib government, in spite of its attempts to get closer to Washington, remains critical of Israeli aggression and intransigence.

Najib has described the Israeli government as a “serial killer” and a “gangster”. This has incensed the deep state.

Anwar, on the other hand, told Zionist friends in Washington two years ago that he regretted using terms such as “Zionist aggression” (Jackson Diehl “Flirting with zealotry in Malaysia” The Washington Post, June 28, 2010).

Three, Anwar is the choice of the deep state for another reason which in its own reckoning is becoming almost as important as Israel. This is the rise of China and what it means for US global hegemony.

Elements within the deep state appear to have convinced Obama that China is a threat to its neighbours and to the US’s dominant role in the Asia-Pacific.

Establishing a military base in Darwin, resurrecting the US’ military alliance with the Philippines, coaxing Japan to play a more overt military role in the region, instigating Vietnam to confront China over the Spratly islands, and encouraging India to counterbalance Chinese power, are all part and parcel of the larger US agenda of encircling and containing China.

In pursuing this agenda, the US wants reliable allies – not just friends – in Asia.

In this regard, Malaysia is important because of its position as a littoral state with sovereign rights over the Straits of Malacca, which is one of China’s most critical supply routes that transports much of the oil and other materials vital for its economic development.

Will the containment of China lead to a situation where the hegemon determined to perpetuate its dominant power seek to exercise control over the Straits in order to curb China’s ascendancy?

Would a trusted ally in Kuala Lumpur facilitate such control?

The current Malaysian leadership does not fit the bill. It has sustained and deepened the bond of friendship between Malaysia and China through increased bilateral trade and investments.

China is Malaysia’s biggest trading partner globally and Malaysia is China’s biggest trading partner within Asean.

China is most appreciative of the fact that Malaysia under the late Tun Razak was the first non-communist country in South-East Asia to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1974.

When his son Najib became Prime Minister in April 2009, China was the first country outside Asean that he visited.

In a number of regional and international forums, Malaysia has maintained that China is not a threat to its neighbours and does not seek global dominance.

These are views that do not accord with the deep state’s bellicose stance towards China. It explains why the deep state may be inclined towards regime change in Kuala Lumpur.

> Dr Chandra Muzaffar is president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) and Professor of Global Studies, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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