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wetbenang
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Tuesday, November 07, 2006
CREDIT, DISCREDIT ...
A lot of things have happened in the past few weeks. A four-eye meeting took place, a helicopter crashed, a mansion mentioned, an editor copied, a body blown to bits. All fodder for mamak stall and boardroom conversations for weeks on end, I suppose, until something else comes along.
Me, I took particular interest in three other recent topics, which I think were relatively more obscure but needed to be put in perspective.
One. The swiftness of some newspapers in giving credit to the police over what they (the newspapers) thought was the success of the most recent Ops Sikap. Remember the police reduced the speed limit on federal roads to 80 km/h from the usual 90 km/h during the past Deepavali/Hari Raya festive season?
According to some newspapers, the move was proven to be successful as the rate of road deaths went down by, get this, entirely five people compared to the previous year's campaign. During the 2005 Ops Sikap, there were a total of 233 road deaths, compared to 228 in 2006. Wow. But, get this also. The total number of road accidents increased by more than 2,000. If during the 2005 Ops Sikap there were 13,659 accidents, the number for 2006 was 15,716. So what success crap were these newspapers talking about?
Two. A certain former/sacked Deputy Prime Minister who is now advisor to a certain political party issued a Press Statement questioning the wisdom of a "half billion-ringgit contribution" to Cambridge University. The statement was issued through the party's information bureau.
According to him, the Malaysian government had agreed to allocate more than RM500 million to the said university, with Petronas and Khazanah Nasional each agreeing to cough up RM190 million. The rest would be obtained from foreign banks based in Malaysia.
Excerpts of his Press Statement:
"The amount of more than RM500 million is too excessive to be donated to any foreign university or institution for education or research.
Do the government leaders have no confidence in the capability of our universities, specialists or research centres to increase the quality of their research and performance?
And is the proposal intended to satisfy the extravagant desires of any personalities to be associated with prestigious foreign universities?
It is regretted that the government are not at all sensitive to the problems of the country and lack the ability to deal with education and research issues of the country. Furthermore, what is more worrying is that this irresponsible decision is made at a time when our economy is sluggish."
Needless to say, the statement was picked up by a couple of Opposition publications, which, like the issuer, had not bothered to verify the accuracy of its contents.
A simple check/internet surf with would have informed him and his party's so-called information bureau the following:
- there was a proposal by the government to set up a Malaysian branch of Cambridge University, mooted some time last year by a certain minister who was then a Special Envoy of Education.
- the proposal was in line with the government's aspiration towards making the country a centre for educational excellence (whatever that is).
- the money was supposed to have meant to cover the cost of setting up the branch university.
- the proposal is still at a proposal stage, and no money has been "contributed".
But I suppose the search would have been too much work and would not have served his agenda. This I find "worrying" and "irresponsible".
Three. Then there is this Cabinet Minister who called on the rakyat to congratulate the current administration, particularly his boss, for successfully concluding two deals in China recently. Which almost made me puke. Good thing I was still fasting.
Just because his boss was there to "witness" a signing ceremony does not mean that credit should go to him. In clinching deals, particularly in countries like China, negotiations would have to start a few months, if not years, beforehand, and not during a one- or two-day official visit.
Which makes me wonder -- why the desperate (and lowly) need to credit his boss for everything in the first place?
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Wetbenang
I believe the answer for the third one.. "why the desperate (and lowly) need to credit his boss for everything in the first place?".. that's part of "bodek" culture widely practice here in Malaysia. You can't take all the credit to yourself. You gotta make sure your boss deserves some of it.. That way, your boss will always appreciate you and think that you're a good subordinate.. Hmm.. make sense?
Xis said...
10:41 PM
Erm -- it's more than bodek here. Support is waning, I suppose, so must try to prop in any way they can...Malaysia Boleh!
wetbenang said...
3:26 PM