a Social Innovations Institute dialogue series

Time: 11.30am – 1.00pm
Date: Thursday 7th October 2010
Venue: Wawasan Open University, Menara PGRM, Cheras, KL.
Admission: Complementary

August 23, 2010

AUG 23 — My late parents were both teachers. My father was the headmaster of a school in Perak for 26 years.

My mum and family moved to Penang when I was five years old and she taught in a Penang school until her retirement. My dad continued to head the school in Perak and he had an Austin car he drove back home every weekend to be with us.

We moved to Penang mainly because my parents thought the children — there were three of us , I am the youngest — would get a better education and hence better job prospects later on.

I can still remember in the 60s, when I was in a primary school, there would be a few students of my mother’s – supposedly the weaker ones who could not understand her lessons well – coming to our house in the afternoon and my mother would give them extra lessons to make sure they understood what she had taught in school, free of charge.

PETALING JAYA: Unity is like glass - once shattered, it is hard to piece back together. And one of the elements that disrupts unity is sensitive debate on race and racism. The people who have the responsibility to uphold unity in Malaysia are those elected by the people, and theSun's columnist K.K. Tan had proposed that a public declaration against racial chauvinism be signed to discourage politicians from playing the race card. He said racism, in its original meaning, does not exist in Malaysia as it is defined by systems where one ethnic group is suppresed by the other. Gerakan think tank SEDAR executive director of Khaw Veon Szu supports Tan's proposal.

"It is time to hold our politicians accountable for their words and deeds that are fanning destructive racism."

"A public declaration against racial chauvinism could be one of the methods to hold our politicians of all stripes accountable," Khaw told theSun.

"By signing and making public his or her commitment to an anti-racialist position, if one breaks the pledge, after getting elected, the act of breaching the antiracialist pledge would constitute sufficient grounds (for voters) to reject him or her in the next election," he said.

He said having discussions or forum alone on racial discord is not enough.

"The society must provide 'carrots' to reward politicians who are committed to fighting racial chauvinism and 'sticks' to penalise those who are only good at talking, or worse, instigating racial chauvinism."

 "As long as there is a market for racial chauvinism, our politicians will play the race card for cheap, instant political mileage," said Khaw. 

by Dr. Hsu Dar Ren

August 10, 2010

AUG 10 — MCA President Chua Soi Lek has suddenly found himself the target of vicious attacks. The attacks from the opposition were expected since Malaysian politics is very much based on partisan lines, but ironically some of the most vicious attacks were from his own partner-in-arms, The Big Brother.

I am not going to go into whether what he said has belittled a certain religion or whether what he said has any merits. But whether what Chua has said was a form  of posturing to gain the non-Malay votes or from his heart, I thought  in the context of freedom of speech, he should be allowed to voice his opinion, as the head of a component party in BN.

A politician  from the Big Brother, an ex-MB,  told The Malaysian Insider that Dr Chua’s remarks could cause unrest within the country and disturb the “harmonic balance” created by the ruling BN government. “We do not want to start blaming each other, pointing fingers… this leads to religious arguments. This is dangerous,” he said.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's image and personal appeal has grown over the last one year and the opinion is that he is taking the country in the right direction but his own party and the ruling coalition are still catching up with his pace.

DATUK Seri Najib Tun Razak must have lost count of the birthday cakes he has cut this month.

The Prime Minister turned 57 on July 23, and has been presented with one pulut kuning concoction after another over the last week.

But the big one was the tahlil gathering in Putrajaya residence which saw a huge gathering of family, friends and political colleagues, some of whom came from as far as Perlis and Sabah.

It seems to get bigger each year, and it was just as well that Najib and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor have finally moved into Seri Perdana where the grounds are more spacious.

This year, there was a huge pulut kuning creation that was more green than yellow. It has the design of a golf course complete with a figurine of a golfer teering off towards a flag with the initials DSN - Datuk Seri Najib.

Najib, surrounded by his mother, wife and their children, playfully picked up the yellow coloured golf ball and held it up.

The Prime Minister, as some have pointed out, has had to juggle a lot of balls in his first year as Prime Minister. The most powerful job in the country has also been quite formidable.

"The PM spent most of last year fixing the economy and government. His hiccup so far has been the political part. But he's now turning his attention to politics, the party and Barisan Nasional," said former Terengganu Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh.

The 10th Malaysia Plan has been passed by the Dewan Rakyat. This is his baby and it will be the Government's blueprint for the next five years. Prior to that, he had unveiled the New Economic Model and his 1Malaysia concept, basically vision maps for how he would like to bring this country forward.

The plans to move ahead have been laid out, the challenge now is to get it off the ground.

"He understands the challenges Malaysia faces today," said Khaw Veon Szu, executive director of the Gerakan think-tank Sedar.

by Khaw Veon Szu and Lindsey Allwright

AUG 4 — Newspapers have recently published reports that the government may raise the retirement age next year to 60, with the Prime Minister expected to make an announcement in September (source: The Star). Cuepacs has previously pushed for an increase to 60 since 1998 and MTUC have recently repeated a call for a mandatory retirement age of 60 to be set in the private sector, to ensure a standard retirement age for all (source: Malaysian Mirror).

Currently at 58, Malaysia has one of the lowest retirement ages in the world; much lower than neighbouring countries (Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea all have a retirement age of 60 (source: The Star)), and far behind some of the developed country retirement ages which are at least 65.

Of course, developed countries have rapidly ageing populations, a problem Malaysia is not yet affected by, but with improving health, increasing life expectancy and declining fertility, it is a problem which could become considerably more significant for Malaysia in the not too distant future. This means the government has to start preparing for such a scenario now before it is too late.

Why Malaysia Must Increase the Retirement Age