It's election fever in Singapoe and the other day, I was in the MRT standing next to 2 (presumably) Singaporeans, amongst other people of course. But the conversation of these two caught my attention.
1 guy flipped the newspaper he was holding and said… “See… this is very healthy, opposition is actually getting very good media coverage”. Well, I have no idea who is opposition and who is collation candidate here but it’s definitely encouraging to see mainstream media giving good coverage to opposition, unlike “you know where”.
The sentiments here in Singapore are pretty much the same with Malaysia – that election should happen some time this year. Naturally, the mainstream media here is also playing its part in doing coverage of potential candidates, etc.
What transpired thereafter was quite an eye-opener…
The same guy continued to flip his newspaper and reached this page where he said to his friend…
“Eh… this candidate… I know her. She is in the same faculty as me. We used to be in NUS together. And I know she is also etc, etc, etc…”
The conversation went on for a while between them till the other guy asked…
“So are you going to vote for her since you know her so well?”
The reply given was…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
“No lah… she is only from NUS, we need people from Cambridge or Harvard…”
Such is the benchmark…
Do you know what qualification (if any), our MPs / Malaysian leaders have?1 year ago... The price that really kills
2 years ago... A first language dilemma
4 years ago… Sign of times
16 comments:
Malaysian politicians (of all races, malays, chinese, indians, ibans, orang ulus, kadazans, bidayuhs, bajaus) are an uneducated lot, most of them.
My Spore friends are saying they the locals encourage young Opposition MPs-wannabes and treat them like rock stars if they speak well . .
Rgds,
Ox
seriously? then malaysia's politicians are nowhere close.
wahaha... did our PMs even graduated secondary school?? =p
Not sure, if I agree with you. Singapore is not a democracy, these elections are a joke. I know Singaporeans who are so sick of PAP and their smear campaigns. They control everything, opposition never stands a chance. I always felt freer in Malaysia. But maybe I'm just a foreigner and have no idea what I'm talking about. All I want is for people to be free and able to elect their own representatives.
Btw: Guess which leader has the biggest salary in the world? Hint: It's not Obama or Hu Jin Dao, it's... http://youtu.be/alhVElkHyus
no offense to Cambridge or Harvard but I think NUS graduates doesn't equal to lower quality grads.
Personally, I think it depends on the individual themselves.
However, back to your question... we have a Deputy Speaker of State Assembly who can't even string a sentence in grammatically correct Bahasa Malaysia (errr... or Melayu)- I doubt she's fluent in English neither - what can we expect from our MPs?
cheers
What qualification? In bolehland it's kulitfication.
the monkey is from harvard rite?
correct correct correct
Zewt, I'm going to share this story. Good one, humbling, but nevertheless put us in a different perspective.
Ours are from University Malaya, University Putra Malaysia, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Institute Technologi Mara...
What do you think? :P
That's because our MPs cannot even afford to go Singapore for education.
The ones above the political food-chain might have a little bit of UK/US education and when they return to the country, boleh cakap ulang-alik from English to Malay language, itu macam. The ones slightly below the food-chain, boleh juga cakap ulang-alik with a little bit of "slang" tapi entah graduate dari mana.
The comment suggests that your education system isn't considered good enough to produce local politicians. It also seems that the guy was undermining his own educational qualifications; did he realise this, I wonder?
It is interesting when media give space to other political stances, apart from those of ruling or mainstream parties. However, you have to analyse how the media project the information and why it might be done the way it is.
From what I know, the PM with the highest qualification of education is Tunku Abdul Rahman - he's a Cambridge graduate.
Hey Zewt,
LOL, with Singaporean standards. Man, these people do not understand the word "mediocrity". I recently had to witness our Malaysian love of mediocrity first hand and it left me sick to my stomach.
Here's a totally unrelated question: Are you still going to Australia? Or are you planning to stay on in Singapore?
Darth Trust - haha... can't disagree much to that.
Anon aka Ox - it's good progress...
Tempus - absolutely.
goingkookie - oh... that one he did la.
MKL - well, i can't comment on that since i am a visitor here. but i can say malaysia is not fully democracy.
CK - i agree with you. it's all a matter of perception.
Ping - hehe...
anon @ 5/5 11.01am - which one?
Hilman Nordin - share away mate...
Yvonne Foong - we will be happy if they have it.
j_yenn - haha... graduate mana still ok... but what if not even a graduate?
ZACL - well, though the media here may not be as free as the west, i think there has been good progress.
kyh - i dont doubt the pm, but what about the rest?
Susan Wanderlust - i must say that is a dilemma.
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