Rosmah and the Ring of Fire

Women who have a penchant for jewelry would probably envy the gargantuan diamond ring linked to Malaysian First Lady Rosmah Mansor, which has ironically turned into a ring of fire for her, with angry citizens condemning such alleged extravagance while they struggled with their daily lives living in a country of escalating costs and diminishing welfare subsidies.

60-year Rosmah cuts a controversial figure as far as the people are concerned. Most Malaysians have the impression that she wants to outshine her husband and tries to have the country ruled her way.

People who earned less than RM2,000 a month, who include clerks, hairdressers, waitresses and the blue-collar workers, cannot comprehend why a woman would need such a heavy 'stone' to decorate her finger.

“Is it heavy?” Salina, a waitress from Seratok, Sarawak, wondered aloud as she looks in awe at a picture of the ring that has appeared in numerous scandal sheets across the nation.

But whatever its weight, valued at RM24.4million, the diamond could certainly feed several dozen longhouses for a year at least.

Simple in her tastes, Salina could not understand why a woman would need to buy such an expensive item when she could buy a whole lot of gold jewelry with that amount of money. For the Sarawakian lass, coming to the city to work and sending RM300 a month back to her ageing parents is already a big deal, so it is tough for her to imagine how much RM24.4 million actually means.

The more she explains, the murkier it gets

Jessie Lim, a supplier, felt that Rosmah should not have to deny or try to explain about the ring's existence anymore. “It’s like the Chinese saying, the more you explain, the murkier it becomes."

To Jessie, Prime Minister Najib Razak's wife is becoming more and more like Imelda Marcos, Grace Mugabe, Laila Trabelsi and the notorious Queen of France, Marie Antoinette who once asked her subjects to eat cake when there was already no more bread left in the country.

“It’s like living in a fantasy world and keeping up with the Joneses,” ventured Jessie.

She opined that women of leisure tended not to have a clear understanding of what life is all about and many of the world's greatest female megalomaniacs had actually come from humble backgrounds.

“The first thing she should do is to let herself age gracefully, let the wrinkles come out naturally and be glad of them. We are all going down that road of old age. She musn't fear that or try and rely on jewellery to disguise that she too is human."

Sensitive

Sarawak state assemblywoman Violet Yong said even if she strikes jackpot, she would not get a ring like that. “What’s so beautiful about a stone? To me, it is a waste when the people are so poor and in need of infrastructure, more hospitals, schools, roads,” said the workaholic Violet.

It must be pointed out that Rosmah has dismissed allegations the ring was hers and warned that such talk was slander. Violet too slammed the hoopla that has accompanied the tale of the ring purportedly bought from New York socialite jeweller Jacob & Co in April this year.

“After three weeks of silence, she finally denies and talks about wanting to give education to the children. Rosmah should come to Sarawak, to the rural areas and see the kids of the interior who do not even get to go to school and are always hungry for food," said Violet.

"Bread and butter issues are more important to these rural folk than even sending their children to school, so why not walk the talk. Explanations will not help them, only equitable and consistent policies can.”

Indeed, whether the ring is really hers or not, Rosmah could be more sensitive to everyday Malaysians.

The fact is despite Malaysia's relative prosperity, there is still hard core poverty. People living even in urban towns face flash floods, shortage of medical care, congested hospital and the like. The amount of money the ring purportedly costs can obviously be used to do much good.

Pushy and the Meek

A retired government servant who studied psychology in her early days said whenever the PM and his wife were attending public functions together, it was easy even for a layman to read that she was bossy and her husband was the meek one.

“She has a strong character and the PM must be a nice man to allow her to have her ways, almost in everything. Even when he claimed that he has to cut short their recent holidays, he had to thank her publicly for doing so. But why should he? The country is not run by her,” said the retiree.

Jimmy, who runs a small bakery with his wife, said when customers came into his shop and talked about Rosmah’s ring it reminded him of a Johnny Cash song, “Ring of fire”.

According to him, it goes like this,

"Love is a burning thing. And it makes a fiery ring. Bound by wild desire. I fell into a ring of fire. I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down and the flames went higher. And it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire. The ring of fire I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down. And the flames went up higher. And it burns, burns, burns. The ring of fire, the ring of fire.”

Yet, having nothing against Rosmah, Jimmy said he felt only sympathy for her.

“It is a lesson to be learned that when you are the wife of a PM, you should know your place and know how your people are suffering. You know why? Because as the PM's wife, you are automatically in the Ring of Fire."

Maybe, Jimmy is right and Rosmah can glean some wisdom from the lyrics of the Johnny Cash song after all.

- Malaysia Chronicle

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Malaysia’s population at 28.3 million

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's population stood at 28.3 million at the end of 2010 compared with 23.3 million in 2000, according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census final report.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said an average annual population growth rate of 2.0% was registered between the two censuses.

A census is conducted every 10 years.

“The rate was lower compared with that of 2.6% registered during 1991 to 2000,” he told reporters at a press conference here yesterday.

Nor Mohamed said the country's fertility rate dropped to 2.3% compared with 3% in 2000.

He said 67.3% of the total population were between 15 and 64 while 27.6% were between birth and 14.

Those aged 65 and above make up 5.1% of the population.

“The country's population is not an ageing society, even by 2015.

“Definition of ageing is when those aged 65 and above make up 10% of the population,” he added.

Nor Mohamed said the mean age at first marriage for males was 28 while it was 25 for females.

The nationwide census conduc-ted by the Statistics Department between July 6 and Aug 22 last year recorded 14,562,638 males and 13,771,497 females.

He said 91.8% of the population were Malaysian citizens. Bumiputras comprise 67.4%, Chinese 24.6%, Indians 7.3% and others 0.7%.

Nor Mohamed said Selangor continued to be the most populated state, with 5.4 million or 19.3% of the country's population, followed by Johor with 3.3 million and Sabah at 3.2 million.

Putrajaya had the highest population growth during the 2000 to 2010 period, with 17.8%.

He said males dominated in all states except in Putrajaya and Perlis.

“In tandem with the country's rapid development, the proportion of urban population increased to 71% in 2010 compared to 62% in 2000.

“Apart from Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Selangor and Penang had high levels of urbanisation,” he added.

The census report is available on the Statistics Department's website and the hard copy can be purchased at RM25.

Taken from The Star

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Deadline for biometric registration extended

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has extended indefinitely the deadline for the biometric registration of legal foreign workers following calls from employers and trade associations to look into their plight.

In announcing the extension, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein called on employers not to delay registering their legal workers and said the registration exercise would now run simultaneously with that of illegal workers scheduled to start on Monday.

In other developments:

> The Malaysian Employers Federation and Master Builders Association welcome the extension and hope that the registration process will be further improved;

> MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, who also welcomed the decision, wants the ministry to limit the deadline extension to only two weeks; and

> Ministry deputy secretary-general (Immigration and National Registration Policy) Datuk Alwi Ibrahim urges employers to ignore offers from anyone claiming that they can secure them places under the ministry's amnesty programme for a fee.

Taken from The Star

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A hung Parliament: Can it happen in M'sia and what will it be like

In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party (or bloc of allied parties) has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament.

This was exactly the case in Australia in 2010 where there are 150 members in the House of Representatives, so to have an outright majority one of the parties needs to hold 76 seats. Neither Labor nor the Coalition reached that point. Instead, they'll had to negotiate with the three sitting independents who have been re-elected - Tony Windsor, Bob Katter and Rob Oakeshott - as well as the Greens' Adam Bandt, who won the seat of Melbourne.

Eventually the Labor party lead by Julia Gillard won over the independents to form a minority government.

BN at its height controlled 92% of Parliament

In looking at the political landscape of Malaysia, it can be divided into two - Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat.

Barisan Nasional is made up of 13 major component parties whilst Pakatan Rakyat has 3 and there are probably 5 major parties that do not affiliate themselves to either BN or Pakatan and a host of other non-significant parties that are not represented in parliament.

To date, both BN and Pakatan have contested in every parliament seat in Malaysia, in a bid to win a clear majority rule in parliament.

In the March 2004 general election, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi led Barisan Nasional to a landslide victory, in which Barisan Nasional recaptured the state of Terengganu. The coalition controlled 92% of the seats in Parliament.

It is indeed ironic that in 2005, Mahathir stated that "I believe that the country should have a strong government but not too strong. A two-thirds majority like I enjoyed when I was prime minister is sufficient but a 90% majority is too strong. We need an opposition to remind us if we are making mistakes. When you are not opposed you think everything you do is right."

The Malaysian public took Mahathir’s up to his word and gave the opposition huge gains in the 2008 general elections by granting them 5 states and denying BN a two-thirds majority rule.

Taib's 14 seats

A hung parliament almost was the case in Perak after the General Elections of 2008, when several Pakatan elected MPs chose to turn-coat and pronounce themselves Independent. But it quickly became a minority rule when the Independent MPs then pledged support to Barisan Nasional. This gave BN rule over Perak.

Malaysian voters can send the majority vote either way. Yet, it is still plausible on a micro-level that a tussle for individual states may cause a hung parliament or minority rule.

In the plausible case of a hung parliament, who then would determine the winners? There are two scenarios that can come about in the advent of a hung parliament. Firstly, if Sarawak decides to turn-coat and secondly if UMNO MPs revolt.

If 2008 and the recent Sarawak elections are taken into account, a hung parliament will be decided by the Malay vote. And most likely the 14 seats held by Taib Mahmud’s PBB party in Sarawak will be king-maker.

If Taib's 14 seats decide to turn-coat and declare themselves Independent, then we will have a hung parliament. Both BN or Pakatan will be unable to form a majority rule government. Instead, they will be forced to negotiate with the Independents. And this would be an interesting situation because it means that the fate of the government will be dependent on who can come up with the best deal for Taib Mahmud.

UMNO MPs

The second scenario takes into account the dissatisfaction within the UMNO ranks towards Najib’s administration.

In all likely-hood, if a number of UMNO MPs turn-coat and declare themselves as Independents and let both BN and Pakatan vie for their attention, then Malaysia will have a hung parliament.

It is into this situation that Ku Li’s latest startup, Amanah, may play a significant role.

Ku Li is best identified as the man who in 1987 challenged former Mahathir Mohamad for the leadership of UMNO and lost by a very small margin. Out of pique, he quit UMNO and founded the splinter party Semangat 46 before returning to the UMNO fold a decade later. But he was never able to act as much more than a figure on the fringes till now. In the light of an embattled Najib, Ku Li has come forward presenting an alternative cause to that of the BN and Pakatan.

Already, Amanah is generating a buzz among fence-sitters who have lost faith in BN, yet are wary of Pakatan. Will Amanah be a strong enough influence to create a third political force? This is something that only time can prove.

The 2008 General Election has proven that BN’s strangle-hold on the two-thirds majority can be broken. And that may well have been the first step to a change in government. The case for a hung parliament in Malaysia is slim, yet it is something that is very plausible owing to the fluid and morphing nature of Malaysian politics. But it needs an ideal setting where we have fair and free election practices.

So until Malaysia sees free and fair elections, it will really be BN who would fight tooth and nail with all their resources and tools to never allow a hung parliament in Malaysia. Just in case even money won't be able to buy over the Independents!

- Malaysia Chronicle

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M'sia among 10 countries facing the biggest brain drain

Brain drain, also known as human capital flight, is a serious issue in many parts of the world, as skilled professionals seek out work abroad rather than returning to work in their home country. Many are driven away by high unemployment, but issues like political oppression, lack of religious freedom and simply not being able to earn a big enough paycheck also play a significant role in exacerbating brain drain. The phenomenon is not only a serious economic issue (both in that the country loses workers and the money it put into training them in college), but one that often puts the health and safety of the nation’s citizens at risk, creating long-term and potentially disastrous results for countries with high brain drain rates spanning several decades.

Here we’ve compiled a list of some of the nations that have been hardest hit by brain drain in that past few years. While some are making progress in reversing the process, others are seeing numbers rise and citizens migrating in larger numbers every year. These nations, often those in the developing world, must make major economic and social changes if they hope to retain their best and most skilled workers over the long term.

1. Ethiopia: Ethiopia produces a large number of qualified professionals, especially in the medical field, but is experiencing one of the worst brain drains of any country in the world. Attracted by better prospects overseas and in other African nations and pushed out by political persecution, Ethiopia’s best and brightest haven’t been sticking around after graduation. A recent study presented at the National Symposium on Ethiopian Diasporas revealed some shocking numbers, with the country losing about 75% of its skilled professionals over the past ten years. This exodus of highly qualified professionals has had a huge impact on the country, leaving it with too few physicians, engineers and scientists to fill positions the country desperately needs to thrive economically.
2. Nigeria: Nigeria is another African nation that has suffered due to a massive brain drain. With much of Nigeria still essentially a developing nation with unreliable power and few resources, higher level science, engineering and medical professionals often find little to motivate them into staying, especially with job offers from the U.S. and European nations exerting a powerful pull. Since Nigeria’s brutal civil war in late 60s, the country has bounced between military governments and dictatorships, pushing out between 11 and 17 million people. Today, over 2 million Nigerians live in the U.S. alone, and of these about 20,000 are doctors and over 10,000 are academics. That’s a heavy loss for a nation that so desperately needs qualified professionals to rebuild and improve its own resources.
3. Kenya: High unemployment rates, lack of resources and other factors have made Kenya one of the top brain drain countries in Africa. With fewer than 30% of Kenyans who study overseas returning to work in Kenya, the nation is feeling the hurt of losing so many skilled professionals. The Kenyan Medical Association has warned that emigration of medical professionals may make it impossible to provide health care to the country’s residents – and the situation is already pretty dire. As of 2002, the public sector medical field had only 600 doctors and 70 dentists available to treat over 28 million citizens. With somewhere between 500,000 and 1.8 million Kenyans working and living overseas, the country is trying desperately to find a way to lure some of these citizens back home where their skills are much needed.
4. South Africa: Years of unrest, high crime rates, AIDS and lack of jobs have combined to make South Africa’s brain drain a serious problem. Over the past three years, the country has lost over 100,000 workers, with an additional 70% of skilled South Africans saying they are considering leaving the nation. Losing so many skilled workers has a ripple effect, with the loss of each skilled professional costing about 10 unskilled jobs. Currently, the country is working to not only keep residents from leaving once they’ve completed their training, but to also attract professionals from other nations to South African businesses. Though there is still a long way to go to make this a reality.
5. Iran: In 2006, the IMF ranked Iran the highest in brain drain among 90 countries (both developed and less developed), with over 180,000 people leaving each year due to a poor job market and oppressive social conditions. In fact, it is estimated that over 25% of Iranians with post-secondary degrees live and work abroad, adding up to a total of 4 million Iranians living overseas. While the outflux of Iranians was scoffed at in the early 80′s by government officials, today Iran is doing more to keep their skilled professionals at home, creating several national foundations aimed at improving the conditions for students in the sciences and increasing the number of graduate programs. Why pay attention now? Iran’s brain drain is estimated to cost the country over $50 billion each year in economic losses.
6. China: China has become a major player in global economics, but despite a rapidly growing job force, it is having trouble hanging on to qualified professionals. Many believe the reason lies in censorship and lack of freedoms (including the one child policy), but whatever the true cause, 70% of Chinese students who study overseas never return to their homeland. Since 1978, over 1 million Chinese students have headed to universities located abroad to get their degrees, yet fewer than 275,000 have returned. In fact, many foreign schools actually work to attract Chinese students, only exacerbating the problem for a nation in need of top scientists and researchers. The Chinese government has worked hard to reverse the trend, providing top-tier students in science and engineering with a large number of incentives, yet the numbers are only growing larger. By the end of this year, the nation could see well over 200,000 students leaving.
7. Mexico: Mexican immigration is a big issue in the U.S., with tens of thousands of illegal immigrants crossing U.S. borders each year. Yet a large portion of Mexican immigrants don’t fit this stereotype and are wealthy, well-educated and enter the country quite legally. Mexico is seeing a huge brain drain as more middle- and upper-class citizens move abroad, many who hold higher degrees and work in professional fields like medicine and law. The biggest cause for this is unemployment, with hundreds of thousands of skilled workers unable to find work, though security issues also play a big role. The higher the level of education, the less likely workers are to stay in Mexico, with about 70% of Mexicans with a PhD coming to work in America. The brain drain is worst in the sciences, where 79% of students who come to study in America never return home.
8. Jamaica: In a trend common for Caribbean nations, Jamaica faces one of the biggest brain drains in the region. Over 80% of Jamaica’s citizens who’ve obtained higher education live abroad. Most of this migration is due to lack of jobs, as there simply aren’t enough to go around for young graduates from university programs. What makes this loss so striking isn’t just the high percentage, but that Jamaican citizens who choose to work abroad must pay a remittance to the Jamaican government. Even with these additional fees, students aren’t enticed into staying to work in Jamaica. While much attention has been paid to the issue in recent years, little has changed and Jamaica. Along with Haiti, Suriname, Guyana and Grenada are losing between 70-90% of their college-educated force each year.
9. Malaysia: The brain drain in Malaysia has been steadily worsening, with the World Bank projecting it to intensify over the next few years. Currently, two out of every ten Malaysians with higher education seeks employment elsewhere, accounting for about 305,000 immigrants in 2009. There are a number of factors that contribute to this mass emigration, including job opportunities, political corruption and lack of religious freedom. Malaysia made big economic strides in the 90s, but growth has been halved in the past decade, slowing from 7.2% to just 4.6%. Experts believe this is largely due to brain drain, and caution that the nation could see serious economic issues if it doesn’t do something more to encourage professionals to work in their home country.
10. England: While it isn’t seeing staggering losses like many countries on this list, it is valuable to see how brain drain is a problem even in developed and relatively wealthy nations like Britain. Over the past few years, England has seen a large number of its skilled professionals leaving for work abroad, with over 1.1 million university graduates living and working outside of the country. This accounts for almost 1 in 10 skilled citizens choosing to emigrate. This mass emigration of skilled professionals may have serious ramifications for the British economy, as professionals add to the workforce of nations like Australia, Canada, America, France and Spain rather than at home. When compared to other developed nations, these numbers are especially high, with only Germany coming close in terms of losses (with 860,000 workers lost), making it clear that even top nations with good schools, public health and lots of resources can be subject to brain drain.

Taken from Malaysian Chronicle

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