There are a lot of things happening in Malaysia of which I am proud. The swelling protests against the Internal Security Act (ISA) for one. And the local sympathy regarding the BOC (British Overseas Citizens) for another. The Star puts it thus:
[Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuz Anifah Aman] adds that renouncing their Malaysian citizenship did not mean they [the BOCs] were “less patriotic” — as they could have been trying to find better jobs and better living condition[s] for themselves and their children.
Suitably compassionate and enlightening, although, you may well point out that sympathy is one thing, but actually doing something about it is another. You’re right, of course. Time will tell.
And there’s the fact that Malaysian engineers will now have their qualifications recognised in more countries, including the USA and Great Britain. Congratulations to all who succeeded in this long process. Having been part of several accreditation initiatives, I know it to be a non-trivial task.
But, just to be sure you can’t get too proud, there’s the flip side. Like the woman who’s about to be caned for drinking a beer in Penang. Never mind that the Qur’an doesn’t specify any punishment for alcohol consumption, and that there isn’t a consensus on imbibing. (A Muslim, for example, can take medicine that contains alcohol without any retribution from the Divine.) Of course, the victimisation of women throughout Muslim countries is well documented (as is the case in Christian and Buddhist countries as well, so don’t think I’m letting anyone else off the hook here), but I’d really like to direct you to Zainah Anwar’s column, entitled “Brothers, be just to your sisters” for a much better discussion on the issue than I could hope to achieve. Still, Malaysia is the first to actually go right ahead and flog a female for drinking a beer. Brilliant.
And then there’s this heartbreaking letter from a mother, whose daughter was amongst the top scorers in the country’s STPM (a pre-University exam). The mother continues:
She also had an excellent co-curriculum record. She was a prefect, president of the Science and Maths society in her school, secretary of the basketball club, a black belt exponent in taekwando, winner of several state and national quizzes and competitions and a MENSA Society member.
Unfortunately, she was also unsuccessful in getting a scholarship to study overseas.
I won’t hit the topic of scholarships in Malaysia today. The topic is immense and heated and I haven’t read up on it enough. But I did want to call out something that came near the end of the letter. Namely, that for one class of scholarship (the JPA scholarships), money is only allocated if the student studies at an institute on the “prestigious university list”, based on university rankings. And not just any university rankings:
We explained that the London School of Economics (LSE) is renowned for Actuarial Science and is among the top three universities in Social Sciences, ahead of University of Oxford, Cambridge and Melbourne.
The officer informed [us] that the JPA criteria was based on overall university rankings and not based on specific courses.
Now, isn’t that the most inane thing you’ve heard of? I can understand that a scholarship body wants to maintain a particular standard, but reducing an entire university (literally hundreds of courses across a multitude of topics) to one number? This has the ultimate effect of pitting, say, a university with a hard-hitting Medical faculty up against a university that excels in Mathematics? How does that make sense? And who loses out as a result? I hate university rankings. To me, a lot of it is also tied up with the “halo effect” of certain institutions and the fact that rankings are only valid for that one point in time, if at all. Lecturers retire, die or move on. Focus changes. Funding dries up. J also points out that the smaller, “unranked” universities can actually be a better bet for a more solid education because they work a lot harder in offering incentives to attract eligible students. Using Poland as an example, there are universities in Wroclaw, for example, that are truly state-of-the-art and incredibly innovative, compared to their more “highly ranked” brethern in Krakow. I’m sure, if you look around, you’d find similar examples where you are.
None of this, however, helps the letter writer or her daughter. I can say that the scholarship body should be less lazy when assessing universities to put on its list, and think of the needs of the Malaysian student, rather than trusting blindly in one number. (Plus, there’s the question of how the rankings are calculated. There’s always bias, it’s just a matter of finding out where it is.) Unfortunately, even if the rules are somehow overhauled, that would still be too late for the young lady mentioned above. I don’t know who she is, or where she lives, but I sincerely wish her and her family all the best for her future.
