In Parliament: Is there a directive to the media give pro govt reports?

I asked this question to raise the need to review the Printing Press Act which requires the mainstream printed press to apply for a licence and renew it annually. This is unfair because online news portals are not subjected to the same controls. The mainstream Press should enjoy the same privileges  as the online news portals are gaining popularity and influence a growing number of voters especially in urban areas.

The public has the perception that the mainstream press is being controlled by the government because the newspapers are unwilling to be critical of the government. This may due to the fact that the editors are more careful with what they write fearing their licence might be revoked. Therefore removal of the licence requirement may allow the editors to use their better judgement and dispel the perception that the newspapers are being controlled.

Datuk Nur Jazlan Bin Mohamed [Pulai] minta MENTERI DALAM NEGERI menyatakan sama ada Kerajaan mengamalkan tindakan mengarahkan media massa negara ini untuk membuat laporan yang memihak kepada Kerajaan. Read more

Caught between a rock and a hard place

This article first appeared in the Malaysian Insider

It is final. We have lost Pulau Batu Putih.

But I foresee the reaction to the decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will continue because many Johoreans will see this as losing to Singapore. Johoreans will never accept losing to the little red dot which was actually a piece of big rock when we gave it away in 1965.

Just as Indonesia which had refused to accept losing Sipadan and Ligitan to little brother Malaysia at the ICJ, political arguments overcome the facts of the two cases which were decided in the international court of law. Read more

All things Umno!

This article first appeared in the Malaysian Insider.

Holy Spirit! First, I have to thank the New Straits Times for highlighting my absence from the hastily-arranged last-minute lunch meeting with Prime Minister and Umno president Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Parliament last Tuesday.

I was greatly honoured to be one of the three backbenchers namely Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz and Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir who were singled out because we have asked Pak Lah to step down recently.

Maybe the highlight is a precursor to a witch hunt in party. I don’t know. Read more

Father & Son Combo Week

Check out my article entitled “All things UMNO” in the Malaysian Insider.

In line with the father son political combination of Dr M and Mukhriz, I have included an article written by Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat. Read more

In Parliament: Curtailing exports to secure country’s food supply

The main emphasis of a sustainable and secure staple food supply is for us to produce enough without relying on imports. The PM has made agriculture a main thrust of his economic policy. Therefore we should not just produce enough for our domestic consumption but increase output for export. The 90% decline is rice exports is proof that we are not committed to agriculture production as how we should be.

Datuk Nur Jazlan Bin Mohamed [Pulai] minta MENTERI PERTANIAN DAN INDUSTRI ASAS TANI menyatakan adakah Kerajaan bercadang untuk mengenakan sekatan kepada eksport makanan keperluan asas seperti minyak masak atau beras untuk menjamin keselamatan bekalan makanan asas tersebut. Read more

A little empathy can go a long way

Update: I have put up a video by the Malaysian Artistes for Unity in the “Featured Videos” Section. I believe the music video speaks for itself…

The News Straits Times 15 May: MAKE no mistake, this has been a bad few weeks for our beloved Malaysia. Instead of speaking about unity, some of us have been making allegations of ethnic cleansing.

Instead of celebrating the 50th year of independence with a flourish and reflection, we have had to contend with a clutch of street protests and political posturing.

Instead of respecting the sanctity of laws, some of us have taken to challenging any rule or regulation which does not fit snugly with our agenda. Read more

In Parliament: Are Malay graduates marketable?

The common complaint amongst many Non Malay employers is that many Malay graduates are unemployable by them because they lack the skills that are needed by the private sector and vice versa the Malay graduates claim racial discrimination by the Non Malay employers rejecting them. I suspect the problem is multi faceted in nature.

For example the government says it has done a lot of programs to help the graduates find work. But if the majority of the output from local public universities are social science graduates (44%) , they STILL will not be able to find good jobs despite government assistance post graduation , unless maybe they decide to go into politics which is another uncertain career!

So maybe the government needs to refine the input of students into the education system to make sure that they will eventually be employable. The government should restructure universities to cater for quality students and not just for the purpose of increasing the number of students in universities; who will eventually forced to opt for courses being offered by the university instead of the university providing the courses that the students should be going for.

The students must also be taught to value education as an investment for the future and should actually prepare themselves for their future careers. They must be taught to value the opportunity that they have been given to go to university because the cost of education is high and they are lucky to have it subsidized by the government.

Datuk Nur Jazlan Bin Mohamed [Pulai] minta MENTERI PENGAJIAN TINGGI menyatakan berapakah jumlah graduan Melayu yang dihasilkan di IPTA bagi tahun 2000 hingga 2007. Nyatakan bidang jurusan mereka dan apakah langkah Kerajaan untuk membantu mereka untuk mendapatkan kerja di sektor swasta.

JAWAPAN

Tuan Yang Di Pertua,

Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat, jumlah graduan Melayu yang dihasilkan oleh IPTA bagi tahun 2000 hingga 2007 adalah seramai 339,872 orang.

Pada tahun 2007, seramai 63,417 orang graduan Melayu dihasilkan oleh IPTA. Daripada jumlah tersebut, peratusan mengikut bidang pengajian adalah:
I. Sastera dan Sains Sosial : 44.2%
ii. Sains : 15.5%
iii. Teknikal : 21.9%
iv. Teknologi Maklumat dan Telekomunikasi : 6.5%
v. Pendidikan : 11.9%

Kementerian sentiasa berusaha untuk menyediakan peluang pengajian tinggi kepada semua tanpa mengira kaum, gender dan kedudukan. Bagi memastikan graduan yang dihasilkan berkualiti dan berdaya saing, pelbagai langkah telah diambil oleh Kementerian di antaranya:

I. Menyemak dan mengemaskini kurikulum pengajian IPTA dan semasa ke semasa supaya ia relevan dan dapat memenuhi kehendak pasaran. Selain itu, setiap kursus baru yang hendak diperkenalkan juga perlu mendapat input dan pada industri serta menjalankan kajian pasaran sebelum diluluskan;
ii. Melaksanakan program internship yang mana pelajar akan menjalani latihan praktikal selama enam bulan bulan dengan pihak industri bagi memberikan lebih pengalaman dan meningkatkan kemahiran;
iii. Sentiasa berinteraksi dengan pihak swasta (Persatuan Majikan.Persatuan Pekilang-pekilang Malaysia, SMIDEC, GLC’s, Persatuan Perniagaan) untuk mengumpul maklumat-maklumat berkaitan status terkini ‘supply and demand’ dalam pelbagai industri; dan
iv. Mengadakan pelbagai aktiviti seperti bengkel/ceramah/simposium kerjaya, job fair, walk-in interview dan menghebahkan peluang-peluang pekerjaan seperti melalui Bursa Buruh Elektronik atau Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX).

Kementerian akan terus berusaha bagi memastikan graduan yang dihasilkan mampu berdikari dan berkeyakinan tinggi.

Immediate reaction to Tun Mahathir’s resignation from UMNO

From the Malaysian Insider:

Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed, Pulai MP and former exco member of Umno Youth, laughed and said, “I’m not surprised. It’s like a curse. Almost all the Umno presidents eventually leave the party because they disagree with their successor, from Datuk Onn (Jaafar) to Mahathir. Tun Razak was spared because he died early.”

However, he was unable to explain his lack of surprise, hypothesising that it could be due to Umno’s “institutionalised” structure. “Maybe certain decisions made during their tenure come back to haunt them. I’m talking about Mahathir,” he mused. Read more

The UMNO curse strikes, AGAIN

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad quit UMNO today.

Surprise, surprise. Then again historically, it is not a surprise for surviving Umno Presidents to leave the party because of conflict with their successors. The party carries a curse with it where every president since Dato Onn Jaafar has quit the party later.

Only Tun Razak was spared the curse because he died in office. Read more

Updates for 15th May 2008

It sure has been a busy week for the MPs.

On the 13th of May and 14th of May, the sessions ended at 11.49pm and 9.04pm respectively.

Fortunately for me I managed squeeze in my speech on the debate of the King’s speech in 8 minutes on the night of the 13th May around 9.36pm. Read more

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