what you pay is what you get

The current hot topic lately is regarding the pay hike of the Selangor state government’s representatives. From conventional media to online forums, many people from all walks of life including political leaders have been giving their two cents on this issue. Most of the comments are the pay hike is too steep and comes at a bad time whereby the country is facing financial constraints.

No doubt at a glance, the pay hike of reaching more than double for some is indeed excessive. However, let’s dissect further and imagine the state government is actually a multinational corporation. For a multinational corporation, hiring the best people for the job is crucial. This is to ensure the operation of the corporation runs smoothly and efficiently and at the same time generate good revenue and profits. These personnel are being paid based on market value and sometimes even higher based on their competencies. Look at huge corporations like Apple, Microsoft and most of the international banks. Their executives are paid handsomely. These corporations are generating good profits even with the pay package they are dishing out for their personnel. Why is this so? Just a simple check with the Human Resource executives will paint a clearer picture. In order to find the right people for the job and also talented ones, the pay package is the main tool to attract them. They are being paid for their worth and the benefit they bring to the corporation. The pay factor also increases morale and spur the personnel to work harder besides being useful in retaining talent. The shareholders would not have any problem with this either.

Let’s come back to the Selangor state government representatives. For the almost five years in control of the state government, Selangor now has a surplus of funds exceeding the previous state government immensely. If in a corporation point of view this is similar to having generated a huge profit. So is it wrong to reward the “personnel” with higher pay based on their competency? By increasing their pay, they are entrusted with the responsibility to work harder to generate more income for the state and to serve the people better. Is not this a good thing? If they fail, we can always revert to the corporation way of demoting them or even “firing” them during the next General Election by us rakyat as the “shareholders”.

Let’s us now apply this concept to the Barisan Nasional representatives and their allies which are the loudest voice of criticism. They are right to certain extent when they say that if the similar pay hike is implemented in a BN-controlled state all hell will break loose. Why is this so? Let’s move back to the corporation point of view. Since BN is in control for decades of the federal government, the country’s debts have being rising rapidly, costs of living is increasing, public security level is decreasing, misuse of public funds is horrifying and many more. A corporation that is losing money, losing reputation and embezzlement, of course all hell will break loose from the “shareholders” if the “personnel” are given higher pay.

We should look into the bigger picture rather than restricting our view within a box. The current Selangor Menteri Besar is a corporate-trained person. Thus we should respect his executive decision so long everything remains well in the state of Selangor. As the common saying goes, what you pay is what you get. If you pay peanuts you will only get a monkey. God bless Selangor.   

 

blind loyalty

Loyalty is a virtue. Most of us, as global citizens are taught to be loyal to king and country when we were young. Any acts of betrayal towards king and country will be condemned and frown upon by generations to come. However, to what extent is this loyalty applied to? Must we stand firm and be loyal no matter what?

Governments and monarchs around the world today often preach to their people that they should be loyal and to obey them. Any criticizing and mocking of these leaders are construed as disloyal and the perpetrators are dealt with as enemy of the state. Is this right? Across the centuries we have seen monarchs being overthrown, government leaders being brought down from power. Are all these actions construed as being disloyal? To answer the question we need to understand further the reasons behind these actions. Most of these actions stemmed from the people being prosecuted by the government unfairly e.g. apartheid in South Africa. If going by the rules of the government leaders and monarchs, should a citizen remain loyal even though he is mistreated and his welfares are not taken care of? Should he just suck it in for the sake of being loyal?

What we are taught is to be loyal to king and country. What we didn’t realize is king and country are institutions. These institutions are only represented by the leaders appointed. Being loyal to king and country does not mean we must be loyal to the leaders appointed to hold those positions. If the leaders are not capable and corrupt, we as the people can always criticize them. This will not render the people as being disloyal. If we are forced to be loyal, then it is only blind loyalty.

God bless Malaysia.

the end of MCA

MCA, the once mighty party that represents Malaysian Chinese is facing its demise soon. Ong Tee Keat, an influential and well-liked by the grassroots politician is not selected as a candidate by the current scandal-tainted president, Chua Soi Lek; for the sake of holding on to the party leadership structure with no regards to the overall party's interest. The phrase of winning the battle but losing the war clearly applies here.

 

God bless MCA.

new generation voters

In a democracy, voting is a common keyword. This is whereby politicians are voted into office by the general population to become leaders of the country. This process has not changed since the beginning. However, the voters are evolving in terms of perception and mindset as the decades and centuries begin to pile in. There have been many definition of a generation ranging from X to Y. As a result of this, the landscape of a democracy has changed radically.

During the early times, the general population is basically more respectful to their leaders to the point of worshipping them as divine beings without any questions asked. The leaders are generally able to control the masses by enforcing laws and regulations whereby will be followed by the people without many questions asked. Leaders are in a better position in terms of subjugation to a certain extent by controlling the information available to the public and limiting knowledge transfer.

In the new century, this is not applicable anymore. Information is being shared via information corridors with exceptional speed and the barrier for freedom of knowledge has crumbled dramatically. Suddenly the comfort level of the old-school leaders vanishes in the blink of an eye. From used to be worshipped to being berated and ridiculed in public certainly takes a toll on those leaders. Leaders are castigating the younger generation of being immature and lacking common decency and respect to the elders. What truly happens here? Has the younger generation turn into hooligans?

Let’s do a simple analysis on the difference between the voters today compared to yesteryears. The new generation of voters today have unlimited information on the happenings surrounding them. A politician with some wrongdoings exposed is immediately made known to them via the online media. Whereas during the olden days, this information would not have travelled that fast and might even be filtered by the ruling government to protect the politician. If you know that this particular person have been stealing from you, will you still embrace him with open arms and kisses? Generally speaking, no matter from what generation you’re from, you will definitely whack the person sky high. This is common human behavior. Therefore, if a person or a leader commits any wrongdoings, he should reflect on himself rather than castigating the people for berating him.

A group of new generation voters has emerged and the leaders should just accept the inevitable and make the best of it. One should understand that respect is given and never taken. God bless our country.

greatness of a nation

A nation’s greatness is measured by the intellect-level of its people. How true is this statement one may ask? One of the greatest countries of this century in terms of economic and technological prowess would have to be the United States of America. To reach this pinnacle, much of the effort is attributed to its leaders and the people. How did it all begin?

America gained its independence from the British Empire in the year 1776. At that point of time, peace is not readily available within the country. Sporadic battles between the colonial army and the British army rages on. After achieving total independence from the British Empire, the civil war between the north and south came about. With all these obstacles, it still managed to crawl out from the depths of uncertainties and become the sole superpower of the world as seen today.

Is America so much different compared to our beloved country Malaysia? For one, both countries declared independence from the British Empire. After independence, Malaysia did encounter upheavals within the country as well, from the communist insurgencies to racial riots. Both countries are made up of immigrants and natives. So why does Malaysia seem to be moving backwards year after year in terms of competitiveness in the global market?

The major headache has to be our education system. In a survey done recently, our younger generation does not have what it takes to compete intellectually with the outside world. Knowledge is not only power in the current era, but also a necessity for survival. Only with knowledge and the proper skillsets, nation building can progress substantially. Only with knowledge and proper skillsets, the world will recognize Malaysians as an intellectual workforce to be reckon with and sort after. And only with knowledge and proper skillsets, the quality of life of an average Malaysian can improve substantially.

People may argue that knowledge and proper skillsets can be bought in the form of immigrants, as can be seen practiced by our southern neighbour. But as our neighbour is bringing in skilled immigrants, including Malaysians mind you, our country is attracting the opposites. Not to belittle the contributions of the immigrants, but for a country to achieve a higher growth per capita, the population should be moving towards an industrialized-type skillsets.

It is therefore imperative that education and immigration policies should not be wielded as a political tool for the benefit of the nation. Unless there is a sinister agenda whereby the standard of education is purposely lowered to subjugate the population by the western-educated ruling class, the government of the day should ensure all Malaysians are provided with the necessary knowledge and proper skillsets to compete in the global market. God bless our great nation.