Today I went to IMU despite my holiday because Tun Dr. Mahathir is coming for a visit in IMU! And he's giving a talk and there will be a "Dialogue with Students" session.
And i wont want to miss the chance to listen to his speech.
He talked abt lot of inspiring issues, mainly regarding nation building.
He looked strong and young, and friendly, like a sporting grandfather.
Hahaha.. He came with is wife.
One of his complaints were intelectuals from Malaysia being "absorbed" from Malaysia to work in other countries.
He gave an analogy of a pharmaceutical company. The company spent a lot of money experimenting on thousands of drugs and chemicals and then, they found one that work.
With that one drug, they're going to make a lot of money to cover for the expenses experimenting on the other thousands unsuccesful experiments. And the same goes for a country.
Government spent a lot to educate millions of children. And from these millions of children, 10-20 were geniuses. So government spend more money to train these geniuses.
And then come another country, take them away for a "rather small" salary.
So he thought of charging these countries who took Malaysian intelectuals away.
Speaking abt working in other countries, the nearest being Singapore, he said Malaysians be it Malay, Chinese, Indians etc do enjoy good time in Malaysia.
We live here, studied here, and we should feel loyal to it.
In a way, he's trying to advise us to not leave the country even if the other country offered more money.
He also mentioned that working for job satisfaction is better than working for money. One of the big shot in IMU was his surgeons and he said,
"Dr IMU (i forgot which doctor, pardon me) had opened my chest 2 or 3 times. And he fiddled with my heart, and i dont like people fiddling with my hear. But here i am, standing and talking. So this must be a satisfaction for Dr IMU.
(and everyone claps)
(and everyone claps)
During the dialogue session, a lot of brilliant questions were asked.
I written down some of it:- (The answers are my my own sentence, but the content is still there)
Q: Tun Dr M, u have been active in politics since u were a medical student. What is ur opinion on medical students now, or any university student being active in politics?
A: I have beein actibe in politics even earlier. I was active during my school years in fact. But at that time, the situation was different. We were colonised by a lot of foreign countries. I lived under the reign of the British, the Japanese and also the Siamese (he's from Kedah). So it was a struggle to liberate our nation. If students now want to be active in politics, they should not do it at the expense of their study.
Q: How does medical training help you in your political career?
A: A medical doctor approaches problem in a very methodological way. Medical system have developed methods to tackle problems. You asked for the medical history of the patient, diagnose them, get their symptoms and treat them. In politics and in daily lives, we will always face problem. If you read Sherlock Holmes, written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who was a doctor, u'll realise that the way Sherlock Holmes tackles problems is the same as a doctor approaching a problem. So i'd say that you will be a good politician. But i'm not advising all of you to become politicians.
Q: How do u envision the future of the medical students in Malaysia?
A: I'd say it's bright. The lifespan of Malaysians is lengthening. It is 70 now, and i am already 84. I passed the level and it is going to increase. During my 22 years of administration, the population doubled. So i guess in 22 years time, the population will again double. From 27mil to 54mil. And that's a lot. We will need more doctors especially when we have a lot of elderly. So, ur future is SECURE.
Q: How do u think medical students or doctors can contribute to the society?
A: By getting involved in other organisations. Be active in enforcing community development etc.
Q: U mentioned "level of satisfaction" before this. May i know what's the level of satisfaction in YOUR work?
A: Hahaha.. I'm nvr satisfied. I had always want things to be done be quickly and smoothly. We got one of the things done, many more things not done. And i'm sorry that we just dont have enough time to do all of it.
Few of his sentences that i can quote are:
"If he is as good as you are, he will be the PM"
"In my political career, i have been working with a lot of nasty people"
"We need to accept that other people behaves differently from us"
All in all, i love the talk."In my political career, i have been working with a lot of nasty people"
"We need to accept that other people behaves differently from us"
I gained a lot from his insight, inspired by it too.
Hope i wont forget this because "to forget" is within my capabilities.
-AkMaR-
htp:/akmarr90.blogspot.com
wah,bestnye dpt jumpe dr.M....jelous sgt2...aku teringin nk jumpe or atleast dgr talk die..hu2..tp xper,bce blog ko pun aku dpt rase inspired...hihihi
ReplyDelete"he thought of charging these countries who took Malaysian intelectuals away." Interesting Idea, and I understand the frustration, but a nation does not own people, surely the people own the nation? And I can't see how his plan could work. Instead, I think if they are AWOL or refuse to respond to calls to return they should have their passports cancelled. So they can never come back again. The problem of corruption in passport issuing embassies/depts. overseas would have to be addressed however. "Under the counter" transactions are known.
ReplyDeleteIt is completely unfair and utterly selfish for these run-away-brains to jump ship after having soooo much government money spent on them (when some Kampung could do with the money much more). These people inevitably cause their fellow countrymen and future schoolchildren to suffer, because of their greed. They often try and disguise their motive (greed) citing the most stupid reasons like the political situation or whatever.
A few years ago I read one such article on petalingstreet blog. I pointed out the errors and inconsistencies on some rambling (probably fictitious {and therefore a lie}) article on this very point. They deleted my comment, so I resent it but they didn't allow my comments to show. I think they even blocked me from commenting eventually (I think).
And there runaways are very hypocritical citing Malaysia has problems when they themselves are ADDING to the problems by not being here to try and help things out be it from a lack of skilled medical doctors, engineers, architects, Academics/philosophers, scientists, teachers, social workers and so forth.
Sorry to say but they are hypocrites. No point is not saying what is the truth here!
Malaysia has problems sure, but relative to other countries Malaysia has a lot of good points too. The peace here is astounding given the massive differences between culture religion and race. It really is extraordinary. I feel most people understand that we are here to live together and what better way that in a reasonably tolerant fashion.
But the political side of things DOES need improving. ISA I feel has been terribly abused, but there are other problems like financial corruption. I've seen it. I know, and I'm sure it happens on a massive scale. It is unfair that the problem side of things is not addressed and the state must rely on most peoples conscience to work in a structure that itself isn't improving.
I strongly admire most things DrM has said, but he should have addressed the problems when he was PM, and he was PM for like.... ages!
I see no reason why one can't study and be political. It not an either/or thing, and as it happens, many students do study and ARE political at the same time without any problem.
"Q: How do u think medical students or doctors can contribute to the society?
A: By getting involved in other organisations. Be active in enforcing community development etc."
Here Dr M shows one can engage in medicine AND have an 'alternative life' so why not be a medical student AND be active in politics? If Dr M lived under colonisation and was a medical student, no doubt his political activities would have required MORE effort than today’s political activities so he's proof it can be done.
The Bumi-only policy was done badly. Those non-bumi’s who did well enough should not have faced problems with Uni places. ALL qualified graduates should have been able to get places, but more spaces should have been made for bumi’s to get them up to that standard! I feel in places the bumi-1st policy caused new and significant other problems,
WOw, anonymous is so annoyed by the Bumi-only policy, to say it was done badly. Who has done badly? The policy-makers or the enforcers?
ReplyDeletePlease care to read further why NEP and other 'Bumi-only policies' were enforced in his books or speeches.
And why should 'Leadership in Medicine' discuss 'the problems when he was PM'. The topic today was not 'Let's criticize Mahathir, because he's so bias to the Bumi and not care about the others'
By the way,
about other countries stealing our intelectuals, he actually said, "You know i wanted to charge all these countries which take our 'brains' away"
Well he should if he could. He was just being cynical by the way, in case you didn't know Tun enough to realize that.
He actually elaborated further stating that this country spent a lot of money identifying the 'chosen ones' only to lose them later as other countries offer them 'better pay'. It was only a kind of regret, not to say that he didn't allow (or would forcely prevent) anyone from leaving and serve other countries.
He said, these intelectuals must be 'thankful to our nation' that they would not leave the country and instead enjoy the ups and downs of our beloved country as we were the ones who grew in it, developed it and later solve any problems that we face in our country.
MALAYSIA BOLEH!
Wow..
ReplyDeleteI'm receiving quite a lot of feedbacks within the first 2 hours of the post.
To anon:
I'm taken aback by ur amazement in the peace we're having in this country given the fact that our cultural and religious differences are massive. It made me regret that i didnt actually realised and appreciated that fact.
And regarding his advise on medic stdnts shd not be so active in politics, i think he's really juz playing safe. A student, who's interested with politics wont stop being interested in it just because he said stdnts shd not be active in it. He couldnt encourage stdnts to be active in politics too, cos it is against the general rule of politics in malaysia. Stdnts are expected to be neutral.
IMO, he's playing safe by adding the word "not at the expense of ur study".
To Hakim
Seems that u're really an anti-Dr M ppl. are you?
Well, i'm not so well versed in the bumis and non bumis policy so i cant talk much abt it. but at some point, i do think that being a MALAYsia, the bumis shd be given priorities, or we will extinct and being oppressed like the Red Indians in America.
But at some point, i pity those non-bumis who did not get enough opportunity simply for the fact that they werent born a bumi, which is really, not even their choice.
I guess the bumi and non bumi policy will work better if there's no corruption problem going on. Most of the government officers are bumi, and transactionS-under-the-table do happen.
haha hey i was only being cynical, if you read my comment carefully, you'd realize i was more of pro-Dr M. But that said, i don't think he's all perfect, but he's one hell of a great leader!
ReplyDelete