Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty. - Mark Twain

I agree with the Commander a seafaring warrior of yesteryear's, who are the tax payers, the majority being the very underprivileged. They are the ones who have been bearing the brunt of the free loaders lusts.Whilst their own children are systematically denied of higher education. Higher education has to be competitive, if not you will end up with "outstanding figures" like Hishamuddin, Najib Razak and so many other morons and robber barons from "You Must Not Object".  

COMMENT The PTPTN fiasco is exactly the kind of policy debate that needs to be had but so far both sides, Umno and Pakatan Rakyat (although this seems to be a purely PKR affair) have managed to reduce this complex issue into the usual toxic mix of race and religion baiting on Umno's side, with Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and an Umno-sanctioned ulama attempting to drag "Hindu cultural practices" and Islam into the mix (who can blame them when Pakatan or at least an ulama in a Pakatan-controlled state did the same (dragging the issue into the religious sphere) and populist grandstanding for the sake of political mileage on Pakatan's side, with Anwar Ibrahim's "a caring nation can never go bankrupt" if actually researched would no doubt prove the opposite.

 Those scrappy students attempting a prolonged camp out at Dataran Merdeka hoping to emulate some kind of 60s popular student protest or maybe even an American ‘Occupy' type howl of frustration should perhaps have timed their sense of outrage so it coincided with the upcoming Bersih rally, much like how Himpunan Hijau have decided to march in solidarity or should that be sit, with the Bersih crowd.

It was amusing to read that one of the rather prosaic chants reportedly heard at the rally was "Umno-BN capitalist suck" (I'll leave out the ‘Rosmah' opprobrium) which begs the question would PKR-Pakatan capitalist be more palatable to the students?

Never mind that it is ‘capitalist' (our money in the form of taxes) that have been subsidising these students or it will be ‘capitalist' (again our taxes and most probably the resources of the numerous GLCs) that would be bailing out these students in the event that Pakatan manages to provide ‘free education' (in the form of absolving repayment or abolishing the scheme) to these students or their future comrades.

Then we have Youth chief Ng Chong Soon of the Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Assembly Hall, comparing the PTPTN to loan sharking and that "Quality higher education has been misdirected to become a money-making institution" and "Higher education in this country should be free, through federal government funding (or) combined with fees that are reasonable and cheap, so that more youth from the poorer segments of society can obtain higher education."

So let me get this straight, Soon wants cheap or free higher education and it should be ‘quality higher education' right? And really Soon, higher education is a money-making institution or do you not want those thousand of foreign students coming each year to our shores looking for an education and contributing to our economy? And bear in mind that those students most often don't have the luxury of low-interest rate loans, coming from countries in dire financial straits or consider those students who do have the money coming from countries rich in natural resources but which only benefits a select few.

Tertiary education a privilege

Make no mistake, I believe the "poorer segments of society" should have access to higher education and state apparatus that makes this possible but I do not for one minute think that tertiary level education is a ‘right' nor do I think it should be free. Tertiary-level education is a privilege and like most privileges it should be obtained with some sacrifice. Absolving students from payment or abolishing the system merely reinforces the entitlement culture endemic in this country, which has been perpetuated by the Umno regime.

And let us not forget those who took the loan in good faith and repaid it, these people are examples of tenacity, sacrifice and hard work, values which seems to be slowly fading away as the Umno years go by and not something that a Pakatan government-in-waiting should be emulating. If ever Pakatan comes into power, they will need people who subscribe to such values to repair the decades long ‘cultural damage' wrought upon by Umno and an issue like this that plays well to certain segment of the voting public used to the handout culture should not be coddled into thinking that its business as usual when it comes to emotive issues such as these.

A constructive (in terms of nation building) Pakatan response should not be that the students or the system would be absolved (of repayment) or abolished respectively but rather the system in place would be scrutinised to ensure that it is free from those "issues" that seem to plague any Umno initiative mainly the "leakages" problem and incompetence. They should reiterate their zero tolerance for corruption and nepotism and their commitment to transparency when it comes to hot button issues such as education and healthcare. What they should not do is turn this into some sort "class warfare" struggle (not that I mind such a proposition) with promises of some sort of utopian solution which would further strain the resources of this country already abused by years of Umno corruption and wastage.

This is a great opportunity for Pakatan to spell out its education reform polices which hopefully would see an end to the divisive structures we have in place at the moment where national schools are a breeding grounds for racial disharmony and where Chinese and Tamil schools continue (even though across the racial line enrollment in the former is climbing) to reinforce communalist preoccupations. Forget about higher education for a moment (since it should be a privilege and for decades Malaysians parents without excess to the Umno regimes handout machines have struggled to see that their children receive a higher education if they made the grade) and concentrate on the failing primary and secondary school education system.

Or maybe concentrate on both. Cease creating substandard universities with sycophantic academics producing unemployable graduates. Encourage an academic environment free from the influence of the state and religion which would go a long way in mending race relations in this country, not to mention unshackle the creative impulses of young people so they can discover new ways to contribute to this country economically and even culturally.In other words, stop using universities as breeding grounds for drones who would blindly vote for the government of the day or graduates who can't contribute anything to society except wait for government institutions to employ them.

The entitlement culture

Of course, the cost of education has risen but what is troubling is that for a certain segment of the Malaysian public what has not risen together with this cost, is the determination to get that education with struggle and hard work. Like I said, it's part of the entitlement culture. And this being Malaysia, everything at the end of the day is tied to race or eventually race is injected into the equation. Understand now, that a free higher education debate is one worth having but it should not be tied to this existing PTPTN ‘problem'.

I am fully aware of the sinful waste of resources that occurred and continue during Umno's long watch in terms of corruption and nonsensical expenditures but I do believe that we need to understand that the basic issue when it comes to the PTPTN loans, is the sense of entitlement that will continue to flourish if people continue to believe that everything should be handed to them as a right instead of recognising that a quality higher level education is a privilege earned with hard work and commitment to pay back if you accept any government loans, recognising the reality that with this education opportunity, your prospects are increasing due to the hard tax-paying work of others.

In other words, PTPTN is an effective social programme for those seeking higher education with very little means to begin the long process. However, it should come with the explicit understanding that such loans (which at the end of the day is financed by the rakyat) should be repaid so that others in less fortunate circumstances have the same chances as those who took the loans before them.

Don't throw the baby out with the bath water, especially since in this context it has everything to do with the values a government would want to inculcate in the general public.