Malaysia Money Makers

Selamat Hari Malaysia!

And though we in the Siber Party of Malaysia (M) issue this greeting with thoughts of furthering Malaysia's progress, other people just have ideas to make money at our collective expense.

First is the scheme called e-kesihatan, which both the medical authorities and those in the public transport sector have opposed with some pretty good reasons.

While all doctors are registered with the Malaysian Medical Council under the Ministry of Health, the Road Transport Department is also registering doctors for the scheme which has been privatised to Supremme Systems Sdn Bhd based in Petaling Jaya.

The e-kesihatan people promise a better method of medical checks which basically means a more comprehensive medical check up with the report being sent electronically to the road transport authorities.

This is to prevent cheating and collusion between those being checked and the medical personnel doing the checks. All fine, dandy and reasonable.

But why can't government hospitals do the checks?
Why do doctors need to register with the scheme? After all, all one needs is an internet connection to send the report.
Why does it need to be privatised?
And if so, how come the system was not put to public tender?

These are some of the questions we are asking. And we want the answers. Because land transport is a serious issue with the number of deaths and accidents on Malaysian roads.

After all, statistics show that an average of 17 people are killed on Malaysian roads daily.

So something has to be done. But not taking advantage of the situation for someone to make a bucketful of money out of it.

Second is the education loan scheme called the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) which disburses students loans through poor administration and not really getting back in repayments.

While the authorities sort that out - and that will take time, the altruistic idea of giving student loans has actually spurred the growth of private education in Malaysia and hence the need for a Ministry of Higher Education.

With some 515 private institutions of higher learning in 2006, which is actually down from 790 in 2001 mainly due to competition, our taxpayers' money is going to underwrite all these students who are unable to get places in public universities.

Well and good. The question is, do these institutions have qualified academic staff and facilities to educate the aspiring graduates in many fields specifically engineering, medicine, nursing and others.

Why? Because those who graduate will have to pay their loans but might not have the requisite qualifications that they signed up for due to shoddy education. And the only ones making money from this will be the private institutions.

The authorities need to check on these institutions and ensure they have good staff and facilities as we have no trust in having too many medical, engineering or nursing colleges. They might have the paper qualifications but the real world requires more than that.

After all, what kind of Malaysia do we want? A good one on paper or a great one in the real world?

Selamat Hari Malaysia! Rock on, Malaysia!