TR EMERITUS

By Lee Wei Lian from The Malaysian Insider The number of Malaysians who surrendered their citizenship has almost doubled in this year, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Senator A. Kohilan Pillay, who revealed today that about 3,800 Malaysians have given up their citizenships to date compared to 2,000 last year. This figure, however, is much smaller than the 304,358 Malaysians who were reported to have migrated from March 2008 to August 2009. Kohilan clarified that the number of “Malaysians who migrated” consists of those who are working abroad and registered with the respective Malaysian embassies. There was nevertheless a sharp rise in the number of Malaysians who registered themselves as having moved abroad with 210,000 of them doing so from January to August this year compared with 94,000 from March to December 2008. He also said that between 45 to 55 per cent, or roughly half, of the Malaysians working abroad are professionals. The volume of Malaysian talent moving abroad is a potentially damaging brain drain and a matter of concern as the country is attempting to remake itself into a developed high-income nation. The most common reasons given for migration were better education, brighter career or business prospects and marriage. Kohilan also pointed out that the government is taking some steps to attract talent to the country, including making it easier for foreigners with desired expertise to obtain permanent residence. Kohilan, who is from Gerakan, also criticised the Penang state government currently under Pakatan Rakyat, saying that they should stop using the shortage of engineers an excuse for the recent loss of an RM10 billion electronic factory investment and should instead find ways to overcome it. “Penang should not blame others if there is no investment,” Kohilan told The Malaysian Insider. “What professionals would want to stay there if there is only push factors? There must also be pull factors. They must think wisely and make sure the state also has pull factors.” Kohilan said that there was no breakdown by race for Malaysians who have moved abroad but some migration agents have noticed a rise in applications from Malays to migrate over the past few years. Robert Chelliah, who runs a migration consultancy in Petaling Jaya says that he has seen a noticeable increase in interest among Malays to move to Australia. “These are educated Malays and they feel frustrated with the system of governance and they have a global frame of reference to make comparisons,” he said. “Generally, the push factor from Malaysia has been on the rise ... people feel pushed away from the country. They feel alienated and they feel that their prospects are limited by factors that they have no control over,” he added. According to Kohilan, Australia had the most number of Malaysians registered with the Malaysian embassy with 274,000 and the US second with 31,000 and Taiwan third with 14,000. He added that there were about 50,000 Malaysian students now studying abroad. - The Malaysian Insider Republished from The Malaysian Insider on 1 December 2009  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Home Affairs Minister Mr Wong Kan Seng praised Home Team officers for ensuring that the recently concluded APEC meetings in Singapore were "remembered for the real achievements made and not for the public protests, violent demonstrations or unpopular security measures that some past APEC meetings were remembered for." Speaking to 500 Home Team officers during an APEC appreciation lunch yesterday, Mr Wong said the officers had executed plans robustly, even as security arrangements were kept flexible. Singapore introduced a Public Order Act (POA) recently just in time for the APEC Summit held in November this year which makes even a solo protest illegal. Under the Act, the police are given wide-ranging powers including the power to remove the protesters forcefully by asking them to "move on". The law has come under intense criticisms for curtailing the civil liberties of Singapore citizens who can now only protest at Hong Lim Park. The government is adamant that the new law is necessary to maintain public order and to prevent "violent" demonstrations which had blighted previous APEC meetings. Law Minister Shanmugan told an audience of American lawyers recently that "harsh" laws are necessary to ensure the continued economic growth and prosperity of Singapore. The official justification or excuse for these repressive measures is wearing thin in the face of a wave of democratization which have swept across Asia and toppled totalitarian regimes and dominant political parties. Public assemblies and protests are a common occurrence in the other three Asian Tigers - South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan and yet their economies are still going strong. With no effective opposition in parliament to check on the ruling party, people power remains the only means by which Singaporeans can exert political pressure directly on the government. The ruling party is well aware of the threat posed to its hegemony by civil activism and has been introducing legislation to keep public dissent out of sight. The police installed CCTVs at the premises of Hong Lim Park lately to discourage Singaporeans for participating in rallies held there which had seen a drastic drop in the turnout. Though the Singapore Constitution guarantees the basic right of assembly to its citizens, it is almost never practiced in real life. Application to the police for permits to hold public gatherings of a political nature is always rejected with no explanation given. Despite the repressiveness of the Singapore political system, most Singaporeans appear to be contented with the status quo. A recent survey conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) revealed that over 90 per cent of Singaporeans have confidence in public institutions and the integrity of their leaders.  Read More →

作者:冀居·谢 读李玮玲的文章说明两个事实： 【壹】 见过李玮玲本人的都说她“神神化化”，文章简直文如其人。近年来她以回忆的方式写文章，仿佛是从追述过往里面找乐趣，至于文章要跟读者交流些什么并不重要。文章的题目不知是不是她自己拟的，什么 《道德品行与民心士气》，文内有提及吗？ 她说：“我学习到为人要正直有如君子──有文化修养，行为方正的人。在念书的时候，所有科目中，我下最大苦功的是华文，但值得。”难道英校就培养不出“有文化修养，行为方正的人”吗？至于值不值得，那是她家的事；因为他们三兄妹为了父亲的政治事业做出牺牲，最后父亲还是给予最大的补偿，以他们的三人的事业成就，古代的“一门三进士”都未免太低估了。真的那么猛，龙生龙、凤生凤？ 李光耀当年为了收买人心，不惜学刘备甩儿子，把三个孩子都统统送入华校，这好比战国时候君王结盟，说的好听是易子而教，说的不好听就是互为人质，以免生变。但 是这三人和一般华人不一样，他们也没吃上什么华校生的亏，因为他们的母语本来就是英语，这在那个时候，如果不是绝无仅有，恐怕也只占百分之零点零几吧？ 【贰】 语言是后天的东西，放久了不用，或者不积极地用，是会荒废、生锈的。如李玮玲自己说的“ 这些年来，我的中文已经荒废了，只是有时候和病人交谈时用到华语，书写的能力已大不如前，加上华文从繁体字改为现在的简体字也让我觉得困难。我十几岁时的 华文作文水准，我知道现在写不出了。父母亲把我送进华校，一直到中四，我从不觉得有遗憾，也不认为花那么多时间背记经典文章或诗词是白费功夫。”——就好比这样的一篇文章，我看她连给华文报写篇东西的念头都不曾有，还得早报的二丑们从英文报如拾荒那样捡回来。 她说“加上华文从繁体字改为现在的简体字也让我觉得困难。”按照现在年轻人的说法，这叫做lame excuse；华文从繁体改简体，至少是三十年前的事，也就是说李玮玲不鸟华文已经二三十年了！？如此龙胎凤种花二三十年还无法转码，智力会不会有问题？ 而语文的学习决定于群体的环境，要是出生在一个没有人类语言的环境，你学狼嚎也一样能够生存下去。然而，大环境所制造的现实是否就是合理的呢？——“凡存在必合理”，这样的探讨已经上升到哲学的层次。 而李玮玲要传达的，正是“凡存在必合理”，过去她学华文就像学钢琴、学芭蕾那样下过一番苦工，今天虽然不玩了，也还是感激父母给她交的学费，让她曾经拥有。我想不懂得遗憾、不懂得旁观别人的痛苦，一副既得利益者的嘴脸，是她最大的问题。 双语教育的愿景就好比迪拜的奢华建筑群，谁都没有那么大的本钱来堆叠梦幻，只好到处去借，心想等建好了，全世界的富翁都搬来这里住，成为寰球名牌，到时钱淹脚目，还害怕没钱还吗？问题是梦破并不需要一个过程，一身冷汗，坐起来就醒了。 洋人有句套话，叫做“I didn't promise you a rose garden．”生怕把话说满了，没有转圜的余地，迪拜不只是送座玫瑰园还要把伊甸园搬到人间。而这里偏偏有人认为自己是全知全能（omniscience）的，只要他说要有光，于是就有了光…… 来源：大马论坛  Read More →