2023: A year that ran fast………I was puzzled myself on how fast this year just passed by. My last entry was in August 2022 when I wrote about my journey back to Malaysia after almost 2 years +. Since then a lot of changes has happened to the world, myself and Malaysia. Just before the year ends, I thought of […]
I was puzzled myself on how fast this year just passed by. My last entry was in August 2022 when I wrote about my journey back to Malaysia after almost 2 years +. Since then a lot of changes has happened to the world, myself and Malaysia. Just before the year ends, I thought of writing another piece.
The year started with a new government in Malaysia. After the election in November 2022, where i voted as a postal voter, sent by runners from Perth, Malaysia once again went into political instability. Even before the election, almost everyone knew that no single party will win the election and it would definitely be a coalition government. But the type of coalition government that came from the 15th GE was rather unique with UMNO/BN and DAP joining hands. The arch enemies have to sleep together to form the new government. Well, i feel it is better than the other bloc which consist of nationalist and fundamentalist. But, having Anwar as the PM, something that he has been fighting for since 1998 and being imprisoned twice sounded like a fairy tale come true. While he is definitely a better option, I don’t trust him 100%. He is, after all , a fundamentalist himself. Who can forget the major changes in education system (KBSR/KBSM which resulted in the current mess), bahasa baku etc when he was the education minister in 1980s.
Well, it has been a year since he became our PM. I have not seen him tabling any reforms in the Parliament as what PH has been promising over the past few elections. Not a single concrete reform has been tabled in Parliament. All talk with no actions. Yes, the economy needs a lot of work to be done but trust of the people is also important. If you do not even do your own promised reforms that you have been screaming and shouting about since 1999, you have just lost all the trust that people have put on you. A politician will never change his colours. Rhetorics are easy to scream about but real action is what matters. He once spoke about merit but now says that quotas are still important. Was there any reforms to address poor non-Bumi students not being given public university places? Any policies put in place other than asking people to appeal? The latest data shows that only 18% of students in public universities are non-bumis, a shocking figure that explains a lot. Furthermore, just look at the top courses being offered for these students ( I can assure you it is not pilihan!):
It is a well known fact that majority of students who do STPM(science) are non-bumis as it is the only way for them to enter the public universities. The rest who can afford or made to afford, will go to private universities via their own pre university courses. So, you can clearly see the huge difference between STPM and Matriculation in the type of courses they are entering into. For those who are still not aware, only certain universities provide 10% of places to non-Bumis for matriculatiom. Not all matriculation programs are open to non-Bumis, albeit only 10%. The moral of the story is, even if you want a slightest chance of entering into a science field in public universities, it is better to fight for the 10% quota in certain Matriculation. If you ask me, looking at all the discussions on social media etc, I have no hope that any concrete merit based policy will ever come about in Malaysia. You tak suka, you boleh keluar.
While I was slowly winding down my interest in Malaysian politics, a sad news appeared in May 2023. My dad aged 82, who was once an active politician in Negeri Sembilan MIC (Vice President) before resigning in 1990s passed away peacefully on 5th of May 2023. He was the only member of my family who I always talked about Malaysian politics. A teacher who was involved as a part time politicians during the era of Tun Sambanthan and Dato Samy Vellu. Till the day he died, he was still active in NS pensioners society and was still serving all pensioners irrespective of race or religion. A wonderful and hard working man who never rested. He has helped countless number of people over the years. I still remember those days when he use to come back from his school at 2.30pm and immediately after lunch, goes to settle other people’s problem in government departments. Most of those he helps are poor Indians who are not very good in Malay or English but need something to be done in government departments. My dad is fluent in Malay, English and Tamil. He use to translate NS MIC Chairman’s speech from Tamil/English to Malay! I had to cancel my conference trip to Tasmania to fly down urgently to Seremban to attend his funeral and do my final rights for him. Appa, may you rest in peace!
Well, life has to move on. While I know my dad’s health has been declining over the past 2 years, I just hoped he could have waited to see my kids during my already planned family trip to Malaysia in June 2023. He had not seen them since January 2020. Unfortunately, he could not wait!
The doctors situation in Malaysia also looks like it has not changed much. While new permanent positions were created, as I had always said, the numbers will never be enough to absorb everyone. Furthermore, you need to go where the post is. If you reject , no further appeal is entertained. This once again has opened up the flood gates. I received so many emails and questions in this blog asking about migration. The good news is, post Covid, many countries are facing shortage of doctors. This is due to resignation and also some countries have tighten their registration rules. For example, it seems that UK GMC has now said that they will remove from registration anyone who does not work in UK for more than 2 years. This has prevented many doctors from UK coming to Australia. It also resulted many already in Australia, going back to UK as they have no intention to migrate permanently to Australia. I was told that previously whatever training they had in Australia will be recognised but this is not the case anymore which is another reason why many left back to UK. The phenomenon has created a vacuum in many major hospitals but in turn opened up opportunities for doctors from Malaysia etc to apply. The Australian government has also improved their visa application process and the time taken to receive one is way faster, less than 6 weeks compared to minimum 3 months before. However, all AHPRA rules for registration still applies. If you are coming under standard pathway with just AMC Part 1, please make sure you are prepared for Part 2. The waiting period for WBA is getting very long, sometimes up to 2 years.
The brain drain from Malaysia is getting worst, from what I can see. How will the country survive with best brains leaving the country, economy in shambles, declining ringgit, racial and religious politics on the rise and general population suffering in silence. The entire system need restructuring but how do you do it while still maintaining special rights for certain groups? You need a strong and capable leader to do this, who is willing to bite the bullet. Unfortunately, I don’t think Anwar is the person. Political ambition is likely the priority, unless he does it after consolidating his power. Time will tell.
Finally, i just came back from my family holiday. The last overseas family holidays I had was in 2016 and again in 2017 when we came to Perth for a holiday, just before migrating officially. Covid pandemic has taken almost 4 years of our family fun. While we did travel locally within Australia, nothing excites us more than travelling overseas together. Thus, we travelled to Dubai for almost 12 days, something we had to cancel in 2020. My eldest just graduated as an Electrical engineer and would be starting his first job next month! As everyone knows, once your child starts to work, they start their own life!
Well, it has been 6 years since my family moved to Australia. No regrets and never been happier while being sad watching Malaysia from far away. May 2024 be a better year!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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2023: A year that ran fast………
