Category: Idiot Overlords

3R Service

I found this article extremely sad that, there are so many people who are unable to even master the basics of 3R – Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic – at the end of high school. It is a sad state of affairs when our high school leavers are not even able to do the basics needed in everyday life.

Who do we blame for such a state of affairs?

Teachers
More specifically, the quality of teachers in our schools today. While the teaching profession used to be a seriously respected and sought after profession, such is not the situation today. From what I have heard, many of our teachers today enter teaching because they were not able to secure better options.

Something needs to be done about the scenario where people apply to teacher training if they are unable to secure a place in a public university. Teaching should be a first port of call for those with a passion to teach, and not the last chance at earning a decent living for the desperate.

Of course, this is a generalisation, but a surprisingly realistic generalisation.

While remuneration is often cited as the main issue, it isn’t. Money is important but teachers today are not that badly paid anymore. The situation has improved a lot in recent years. Except in KL city, teachers are actually earning a decent amount and can survive fairly well.

Syllabus
From my many years of teaching experience, I have come to realise one thing about the syllabus – it is not important. The reason is because the syllabus merely tells you what topics need to be taught but not how. In my opinion, the how is far more important than the what because it is the how that will inspire.

That is why we need good teachers – it’s the how that is important, not what.

System
The grind kills more than anything else. I would say that this is the most important aspect and determines whether a teacher stays a motivated teacher or becomes a tired old crone. The issue at hand is whether or not the current system supports good teachers and motivates them to grow into great ones.

If our students are unable to even master the 3R, I feel that this is the main problem. If the system is flawed, even the greatest teachers would not survive it. Therefore, I think that it is the system that needs the most fixing. The process of fixing it would include ways to encourage our best to teach.

Would I teach?

I am already doing so, at various levels. I would encourage others to do so too. Volunteer to work with kids if you want to. There are so many out there that need some good adult supervision and guidance.

Do not give up on our kids as they are our future.

Bosses under #CPB2011

As it stands at the moment, there is no requirement for the bosses of IT companies to be registered computing professionals (RCP) themselves. This is contrary to the requirement for other professionals such as engineers and lawyers, who must be registered themselves. According to the IEM president:

He also claimed engineering decisions could be compromised if the business owner had undue influence in what engineers should or should not do.

There is some truth in this. If the boss of the company is a non-RCP, he does not shoulder the same duty of care and responsibility as his RCP employees. The boss could exercise his influence over his employee to get his RCP guys to do something unprofessional such as compromised solutions.

If caught, the RCP can have his registration revoked, his license to practice taken away, fined and even jailed. The RCP then pays the ultimate price and can no longer practice. Heck, the boss even has valid reasons to fire the RCP as he has lost his license.

According to the CPB2011 S.15(4), the registered computing service providers (RCSP) are dependent on:

(4) A Registered Computing Services Provider may only provide Computing Services in the disciplines or specialisations of Computing where the personnel is/are Registered Computing Professionals is shown in the Register under subsection 12(2).

The license of the RCSP are tied to having the qualified RCP employees. The boss of the company gets off scot free and is able to hire another new RCP to replace the old RCP that is no longer qualified to practice. They can even continue to provide unprofessional services.

Even if the company is black-listed, all the boss needs to do is to shut it down and open up a new entity as the quality of the business service is not tied to him at all. All he needs to do is to hire new RCP who are clean and clear by the board.

However, if the CPB2011 requires that all IT companies be owned by RCPs themselves, this can be closely regulated. If unprofessional acts happen, the staff and boss can be stripped of their RCP licenses and the boss can no longer work in the IT industry, much less own an IT company.

How’s that for consideration?

If we’re going to require RCPs for CNII, let’s make it a requirement that the bosses of RCSP must be RCP themselves. Otherwise, bad things can happen and the poor RCP employee will get screwed over thoroughly.

Over-reaction to CPB2011

Personally, I think that there has been an over-reaction to the proposed Computer Professionals Bill. Most IT guys tend to think that this spells doom and it’s the end of their livelihoods as they know it. I don’t think so because of Section 2 of the bill, which limits the bill.

IT guys can still offer their services and just need to get registered as a Computer Professional if they wish to provide IT services to certain critical national infrastructure. I don’t see why this is a problem as this is a similar requirement for most other professions.

As someone in the IT industry myself, I’ve also often fallen into this trap rather quickly. However, as a law student, I have learned a little about how to read the law and I think that the fear is misplaced. The bill reads like a carbon-copy of statutes regulating other professions.

For engineers, we’re also regulated by statute and any engineer who wants to submit documents for regulatory approval needs to be a Registered Professional Engineer (PE). This doesn’t stop other engineers from making a nice living off providing engineering services that do not require regulatory approval, particularly in the electronics engineering field, which is one of our country’s largest exports.

Similarly, the CPB2011 will unlikely mean the end of the world for IT professionals. It just means that there is now another bar to cross before one can provide IT services to the government.

Like I mentioned in a G+ discussion, the devil’s in the details. This Act can either stifle the growth of the IT industry or promote it into a front-line profession and separate the wheat from the chaff. This is highly dependent on how one gets to register as a computer professional.

This is where I think that there is room for contention. If the bill requires a person to have a Computer Science (CS) degree as a basic requirement, the bill is flawed. There are literally thousands of engineers working in the IT field – largely electronics engineers (EE). It is quite common to group EE and CS together in a single faculty.

Also, there are lots of IT people who have risen through experiential work and not necessarily academic qualifications. These people should also have the room to register as a professional and not be side-lined just because they lack a CS degree. There needs to be room for these people to prove their competence maybe through other recognised certifications such as CISSP, CCNA, etc.

Personally, I’m for the registration in principle but the devil’s in the details.

It needs to be done properly.

I’ll be writing a bit more on this – and an analysis – on my law blog soon. Here it is.

PS: I hope that this doesn’t mean that I’d need to be registered with two boards, maintain two sets of CPDs and pay two separate Corporate Membership fees?

PPS: Does this mean that this bill would eliminate the random third-party contractors installing communications equipment for TM in our homes? If it does, I would consider it a win as I would not have had to deal with the kind of idiot that came to install Unifi at my office, which broke after 2 hours.

Kedai Rosak 1 Malaysia

How can they be let off scot free?I had just read an article in TheSun while having breakfast this morning on how the companies involved in the Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia (KR1M) scandal are getting off scot free. I almost spit out my Milo panas kurang manis as I was reading the article.

As quoted by the article,

…the decision not to charge KR1M has riled the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca), whose president Datuk Marimuthu Nadason berated the ministry for its lack of action. “Shame on the Health Ministry for not taking firm action. The law is the law. There can be no double-standards (in this matter). Our food regulations are some of the best in Asia but if they look good only on paper, without implementation, you might as well disregard them,” he said.

The issue is not just that of a simple mislabelling – at the very least it is a gross misrepresentation and possibly even bordering on fraud with very real consequences.

How about the E-coli? I don’t see how the Ministry of Health can sit quiet on this matter. It’s the lives of our children that are in danger.

…the Health Ministry ordered 13 KR1M branded products – fresh milk, sweetened condensed creamer, condensed milk, oyster-flavoured sauce, fruit jam, canned chicken curry, mango cordial, ghee compounds, peanuts, peanut butter and sardines – removed from the shelves for relabelling. It also confirmed that the KR1M fresh milk tested positive for E. coli bacteria contamination, a strain of bacteria which cause food poisoning.

WTF?!

My biggest bug with this issue is that the 1Malaysia brand is being brought to disrepute by dishonest businessmen. Things are made worse by the fact that these stores are subsidised by the tax-payer. I would have thought that the government would have found someone more ethical and responsible to run their flagship stores.

Chronicles of Macam Mana 2.5

Thank you, PSC!I groaned as I woke up this morning as I have had little sleep for the whole week. However, I told myself that it was my duty to go attend the public hearing of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms again, today. Took a quick shower, got into my yellow t-shirt, and drove off.

So, I arrived at the parliament office and met up with some familiar faces. On my way there, I had been contemplating on whether or not to speak and to tell my story. I made up my mind to speak, on the spot, after a friend of mine mentioned that, “while they may make a mockery of the whole thing, we must not make a mockery of the process.”

While I agreed that we should all do our part, I had to also bear in mind certain realities in this country. However, I just decided to let the cards fall where they may and this was the opportunity that I have been waiting for, all these years.

Luckily, I had brought my laptop with me. So, I began drafting my statement, in Malay, and gathered the necessary evidence to support my case. I ended up submitting my statement with 10-pages of email attachments to back up my story.

I have to thank my friend for lending me her broadband so that I could print out the emails. I have to also thank the Parliament secretariat for lending me their printer to print out my submission.

I spent the whole day sitting and listening to the various parties. Today was better than yesterday as they had provided a video broadcast of the proceedings in the next room. Therefore, all the people interested to listen, including journalists, were sitting in the room.

The most interesting and sparkly presentation was of course, by the Bersih representatives. We wasted precious minutes debating whether or not the “Bersih” submissions should be allowed, and whether or not the representatives could speak as individuals or as an unregistered organisation.

The audience in the listening room kept laughing at the antics of the PSC to stall and divert. However, the speakers generally kept their cool. As expected, it took a long time and by the time the committee broke for lunch, it was past 1.45pm.

I was scheduled to speak after lunch but due to some unexpected issues, I ended up being rescheduled to the back, which was fine by me. As long as I could say my piece, I would be the happiest man on earth, today.

Just before 5pm, I got my chance to speak. I read out my prepared statement, with some minor embellishments, and let it rip. Let’s just say that there were some small fireworks immediately after I spoke. The PSC demanded a formal response from the Elections Commission on the issues that I had raised.

Anyway, I have to say that I now rest my case on this issue. I have kept the evidence for so many years, just on the off-chance that I would be able to give it to someone who could do something with it. Today, I was presented the chance to do just that.

Carpe Diem.

I would not have been at peace with myself if I did not take the opportunity given to speak and highlight to the Elections Commission the glaring disconnect between what they say and what actually happens on the ground. It would also have been a waste of my email storage all these years.

Finally, I would also like to thank the PSC for giving me the opportunity to get the story out. It has been burning inside for a long time. I will continue working hard to ensure that no other Malaysian would be disenfranchised of their right to vote – within Malaysia and without.

Thank you, PSC.

PS: Looks like it’s been picked up by the press – TheStar, MalaysiaKini English, Malay, Chinese.

Sensitive Domains

Interesting. I just received an email from our local domain registry, which is in charge of tracking all internet domain names ending with the “.my” suffix. The part that interested me was this part:

The Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration (“KLRCA”) has been appointed to administer complaints that may be lodged against you by any party that claims that a domain name contain word or words in English, Malay and Romanized Chinese (including dialects) and Indian dialects which are, amongst others, sensitive to the Malaysian public or are obscene, scandalous, offensive or contrary to Malaysian public norms or policy.

Wow!

I randomly tried a few ‘juicy’ domain names and got an interesting response:

Domain Name penis.my does not
follow the Rules Of Choices of Domain Name

I think that we Malaysians are an extremely ‘sensitive’ lot seeing that our government has to always protect us against all sorts of issues, the latest being domains with sensitive names that may not be suitable for public consumption.

I wonder who keeps the gazetted list of ‘sensitive’ words in Malaysia. I think that it is necessary for someone to do this. Trademarks are gazetted and can be easily proven in court. Otherwise, things would become far too arbitrary.

We’re slowly progressing towards 1984. Newspeak!

Save the Muslim Aqidah

Man, reading this article by AP Ridhuan Tee makes me want to laugh. To be honest, I actually found it mildly amusing that this person can spout such idiocy with such conviction and eloquence.

It’s such a funny read that I don’t even want to bother to quote and rebut. Just go read it for yourself!

Honestly, this is the reason why I like to laugh at AP Ridhuan Tee. I do not pretend to know everything but seriously, this is exactly the kind of response that I would expect from people with small minds and balls who constantly feel like they’re under threat.

Can I say – get a life!

If you really want people to respect Islam and its followers, you need to start doing right things with it. The trouble with Islam in Malaysia is that it has been polluted by politics. As a result, it is seen with less respect. Separate the role of religion and the state.

Then, start doing more charity and make sure that the Zakat contributions actually end up where they are supposed to – in the hands of the poor and needy instead of some state coffer. Also, help everyone – not just your fellow Muslims as it will just be good PR.

There is no need to have this mass rally sh*t. It just doesn’t make any sense to do so as it doesn’t help paint the right picture about Islam as a universal and harmonious religion.

On another note, I’d really be interested to see how many ummah they can muster. Considering that there are only about 16 million Muslims in Malaysia, trying to muster a million is like dragging out every able bodied man, woman and child onto the streets.

Personally, I’d really like to see them succeed in doing that as it would show that Malaysians are at least serious about something and not just an apathetic bunch of idiots.

PS: And it’s “save” not “safe”.