English regarded as Bahasa Kafir

English, to some is "bahasa kafir", the language used by infidels.  For some, they believe that there is not need to learn English, after all, people in Japan and Korea prosper without the need to master English.

Unfortunately, in the office of a public listed company where I work in Kuala Terengganu, I can identify only five people with university education who can string a sentence in English correctly.  How do people pass their university education, but are unable to speak and write English?

This year, 2016, Terengganu is having a tough time with English based on 2016 UPSR results.  The state's students scored below average. There are 20,341 pupils from Terengganu who took UPSR this year. Only 271 scored straight As, which is about 1.3% only.

As for English, according to state education director Shafruddin Ali Hussin, the lack of mastery of the language in the newly introduced format, particularly in the oral and written English exam, contributed to poor performance. Only 2,189 (nearly 11%) pupils scored an A in English oral exam out of 19,938 candidates who had taken the exam. However, only 1,195 (nearly 6%) pupils obtained A in the written exam, based on NST’s reporting.

On the other hand, 68% obtained the minimum requirement to pass the subject (D), and nearly 11% fell below qualification requirement.

Interestingly, English proficiency in Malaysia has seen a significant drop according to Education First (EF.com). Although this year’s rank is 12, which is higher than last year’s 14, the overall trend isn’t what Malaysia desires.

Emotional Connection

It would not be Mother's Day without P&G making you shed tears. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B51Bs4u10ZA.

In the domain of marketing and branding, there's a concept called "emotional connection". Recall Petronas' videos released during Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali.

Sometimes brands can help people feel certain emotions, emotions that may even be only tangentially related to the products themselves. Brands can create tremendous appeal by linking to or promising desired emotions.

For instance, people long for freedom. Brands that offer people freedom tend to be in demand. Harley Davidson promises freedom of the road along with the comradeship of kindred spirits. The Marlboro Man was created to be a symbol of independence. In part, it was designed to make post-adolescent youth declare their independence from their parents (http://www.brandingstrategyinsider.com/)

The emotion that a brand evokes in someone — or more importantly, in a specific group of people — has a big impact on a company’s success or failure. Emotions play a huge role in how consumers act and react. Emotions drive decisions, prompt actions, and change mind-sets, leading to strong loyalty and a deep personal connection with a given brand that can extend beyond its rational attributes.

These emotional connections are more psychological than logical, and are usually subconscious feelings. Brands that develop distinct personas in people’s minds project an image that people want to buy into. Someone may buy a product because it makes them feel smart, affluent, or sophisticated (e.g., “I’m really stylish and have good taste because I wear these shoes.“) Generally, people buy products that are consistent with their positive, or aspirational, image of themselves.

One of the best-known books about the importance of emotional connections between consumers and brands is Lovemarks - The Future Beyond Brands. Written in 2004 by Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, the book tells the evolutionary story of how products, trademarks, and brands become “Lovemarks.” In this groundbreaking book, Roberts said that by building respect and inspiring love, businesses can move the world. When brands — and branded content, by extension — make strong emotional connections with consumers, the feeling goes beyond brand loyalty and leaves an indelible mark that cannot be replaced.

Behavioral psychologists have long argued that only 30% of human decisions and behaviors are actually driven by rational considerations. This means that more than 70% of consumer loyalty and spending decisions are based on emotional factors.

Marketers that look beyond the transaction to focus on the softer side of the business relationship - the emotional connection between the brand and the customer - will gain a distinct competitive advantage.

Despite many marketers' belief that a brand's emotional benefits are important to consumers, nearly two-thirds of brand messages focus on the brand's rational/functional element.  (source:http://www.ana.net/content/show/id/579 )

Fifty percent of every buying decision is driven by emotion. Which, for anyone responsible for bringing a product to market, makes a Forrester Research survey a concern. It reported that 89% of the respondents felt no personal connection to the brands they buy. Some product specialist have identified eight forces that have a profound and lasting impact on a product’s relationship with its audience http://bit.ly/8Keys

What emotional connection can healthcare brands develop?

Cleavage goes to battle

Source:  Turkish TV presenter fired over low-cut dress after criticism

How do you know whether a regime that frees women to wear Islamic headscarves at work is liberal and furthering democracy, or Islamist and restricting it?

The question concerns Turkey's government, which in the space of a few days has ended a headscarf ban for civil servants (except in the judiciary and security services), but also caused a female TV music-show presenter to be fired for showing too much cleavage.

The headscarf ban was a piece of unabashed social engineering introduced in the 1920s to make Turkey, the rump of the former Ottoman Empire and Islamic Caliphate, secular. If you are liberal and not Islamophobic, ending the ban is a good thing: Women should not be excluded from the workplace just because they are devout and believe this requires covering their hair, period.

But what if the change -- which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan introduced as part of a broad "democratization" package -- is part of a wider plan of social re-engineering, this time designed to impinge on the liberties of non-religious conservatives? If so, the numerous cases in which women were discriminated against, fired or passed over for promotion for wearing a headscarf even outside of work would now be repeated in reverse: Women who don't wear headscarves to work, and men whose wives don't cover their hair, will be discriminated against, fired and passed over for promotion.

Turkey's secularists say this is already happening to men whose wives show their locks. That's hard to prove, but the real issue is trust -- secularists believe the worst of Erdogan's intentions. Are they right?

The firing of a TV presenter, Gozde Kansu, this week is indicative. Huseyin Celik, spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party attacked Kansu (without actually naming her) for wearing a dress with a plunging neckline while on the air. A few days later, she was fired. There are a few points to make.

First, Celik should watch more Italian TV -- he would then understand that Kansu is a model of shy decorum. Second, Celik's words were as follows: “We don’t intervene against anyone, but this is too much. It is unacceptable,” according to Hurriyet Daily News. He later complained that it wasn't his fault that she was fired, and he had a right to express his opinions.

None of this is credible. Celik knows what "unacceptable" means; he knew that Kansu was on ATV television, which belongs to a company called Calik Holding; and he knew that Calik's chief executive officer is Erdogan's son-in-law, Berat Albayrak. There is no coincidence or unintended consequence here. Celik wants to re-engineer Turkish TV. 

All points to imminent death of mainstream media

(Marketingmagazine.com.my) – The story that The Star had pissed off its readers with its anti-opposition bashing advertising campaign during the last general election for MCA is overrated or underrated depends who you talk to. But based on results, it is arguably the most unsuccessful advertising campaign in the history of the Malaysian media industry.

So no matter how you interpret the latest Nielsen's 2Q-2013 Consumer & Media View Report on dropping readership, the writing is now on the wall.

Total readership for 15 news dailies fell by 7% according to various sources, compared to the same period last year.

Nanyang hit a low of -42%, Kosmo -37% and The Star down almost 20% for second quarter 2013. The only English daily that upped its readership is the New Straits Times at 4%.
An unscientific source, my newspaper delivery boy, told me The Star's take-up dropped 30%. But what does he know? The Nielsen Report does however say that the Sunday Star has dropped over 30% in readership.

Let's not get too carried away with the numbers even though that's all media planners would probably look at. And since I've not had the chance to bump into my good friend Richard Hall of Nielsen Malaysia, we can make a few assumptions for advertisers and marketers to ponder about.

Readers who are angry will not return, the DNA of a daily reader goes against this happening. And angry readers do more harm, as they talk bad about the paper they left. So where have these missing readers gone? We read the news every hour and not just every morning as we continue to adapt to multi-screen behaviour every day. Does this mean the readers have gone forever to online sources? We know RM600 million a year of Classified adex has gone to online portals.

While newspaper readership dropped, I would not rush to assume that Online replaced newspapers even though news websites raked an increase of 20% from March to May this year, it is all relative. A home will always have a daily newspaper in it.

This brings me to the English newspapers that are not included in the Nielsen Report: the Sun and the Malay Mail. They merit thought. Without sounding too simplistic, if The Star's readership is 1.7 million per day* (based on 300,000 copies) that means a 20% drop would translate into a loss of 340,000 readers. Now who would't want to court these 340,000 habitual newspaper readers? I know advertisers are gung ho about reaching them.

Which probably explains the recent flurry of news titles, revamp exercises and marketing innovations by competitors who are moving at the speed of light as this opportunity may never come again. The Edge's fz.com is also said to be readying a print version...

Don't forget theSun already runs 300,000 copies a day (some pundits say this has reached saturation point for a free paper). But advertisers love it for its crisp handy content and you couldn't possibly pack a whack to hurt someone on the road or home.

However the Malay Mail circulates at 100,000 a day and its recently launch Weekly Runner at 200,000 copies, seems to be on the cusp of a surge. Their content can endear to the disappointed 340,000 and if the Malay Mail increases its readership by even 200,000, that's a huge deal for advertisers.


Maybe then, some of the 350,000 millionaires who make up The Star's readers may also cross over!

Journey To Magnificence

Why must I visit Marina Bay Sands again? Well, who wouldn’t visit one of the world’s most majestic and magnificent pieces of architecture again and again?

Three hourglass-shape towers curving upward, each 57 stories tall, connected at the top by an ocean liner looking structure that is host to a lush park 57 stories into the sky. High above the city, the 3,900-person capacity Sands SkyPark has restaurants, lounges, overlook posts, and an infinity swimming pool whose water meets the Singapore sky. It is there for one’s pleasure, surprise and delight.

Consider the Petronas Twin Towers. Think about the Roman Coliseum, the London’s Shard, the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House or even Johor’s Legoland. All of these structures were built to serve a purpose. And, when they were finished, they became global icons.

Now consider the global icons of service. How were they built? What purpose did building a service culture serve? And at what point does an iconic service culture take a life of its own?

What does it take to build an icon? How do you create a miracle out of cement, glass, and steel? These questions run through my mind each time I pass by the building sites of our new hospital facilities. The answers that come to me are positive visions of these facilities being enduring icons of uplifting service culture, while being an architecture showpiece in the community.

My first experience at the Marina Bay Sands was attending the JCI Practicum held at its massive multilevel Convention Centre which has as its foundation, an enormous shopping mall lined with 300 designer stores, more than 60 F&B outlets, a casino, an ice-skating rink, a world-class museum and two spectacular theatres.

I had to visit Marina Bay Sands again – on my wedding anniversary. I wanted my wife to be in awe. The unique architecture can impress just about anyone.

So my wife and I made the journey from KLIA to Changi Ariport. The experience at Changi Airport was amazing. Along the way to Marina Bay Sands, I wondered what would happen if we don’t receive magnificent service at one of the most magnificent resorts in the world. Imagine how quickly the romance of the trip could be squashed if the check-in line took too long? Or, if the bellman wasn’t friendly when delivering our bags? Or, if upon entering our room, we didn’t find it impeccable, with every amenity in place?

On the day of our arrival, we had dinner at one of the many fine restaurants at Marina Bay Sands. The food was awesome! The view of the Esplanade was spectacular! The waiter went out of his way to make recommendations for cocktails to pair with our dinner selections. All perfect, right?

I asked the waiter a few questions: What time does the museum open in the morning? And can you tell us how to get tickets for The Lion King theatre show? What if the waiter had replied, “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about those things. I only work here in the restaurant.”?

Magnificent service? Well, it’s not horrible for the waiter at a restaurant not to know the operating hours of the museum or the ticketing details for a famous show.

But that waiter made our evening even more delightful. He responded with a smile, “The museum is fabulous. And there is an amazing Salvador Dali exhibit on display there right now. It opens at 10.00am till 10.00pm every night, even on holidays. And the tickets for the Lion King? I saw it myself. It’s great!. The show starts at 8.00 every night, except Mondays and on weekends there’s a matinee at 2.00pm. I can contact the concierge if you would like tickets.”

I could imagine what is required to have such waiters: a common service vision that spans the property, the wide range of product knowledge a waiter must master, and the active cooperation of people and systems across so many departments.

I wondered if the CEO of Marina Bay Sands simply sent out a memo that said, “TREAT THE CUSTOMER WELL.” How does the organization build an iconic service culture when new staff members join the company in hordes every day?

Winning service cultures that we hear about could have been formed by the organization’s struggle to compete, or to solve persistent problem. Some could have been motivated by ambitious goals to achieve, mergers to complete or new markets to penetrate and conquer.

And some could have been simply inspired by people who saw the world through a wider lens – who believed in creating the greatest service culture as a purpose greater than themselves.

Salutogenic Wonderland

I am one of many people who have loved ones and close friends suffering from preventable chronic lifestyle diseases. Treating chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) ( obesity, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, stroke and pulmonary conditions ) costs billions of ringgits a year. The cost of treating these NCDs put an incredible burden on families and on our country’s economy and health-care system.

Many of these diseases are either preventable or can be cost-effectively managed if caught early. Our current approach is simply paying to treat chronic disease over the long term.

Instead, we could save money and suffering by encouraging behaviours that would stop these diseases before they start.

Everyone is surrounded by opportunities to be sick, stress is what determines why some people get sick and others never do. Health is a process composed of psychosocial factors, lifestyle, and experience. For all of biomedical science’s impressive achievements in treating illness, it has not been as successful in promoting wellness. Looking at our own city, Kuala Lumpur, we have built some of the most toxic and disturbing environments in our history.

In designing our environments, we can recognize that architecture can have an impact on health. What if the architecture of our homes, workplace and cities could actually make us healthier? What if it could help prevent disease? Reduce violence? Increase productivity?

It may be easiest to understand the word salutogenic by first defining its opposite. If pathogenic is disease-causing, then salutogenic is health-causing. Salutogenic design focuses on creating, enhancing and improving physical, mental and social well-being through well designed and planned environments — environments where making healthy, sustainable choices is easy.

The concept of salutogenic design moves beyond conventional notions of sustainability to encompass not just the building’s impact on the environment, but also its impact on users. It becomes another measure of good design, in addition to other measures such as profitable, efficient, sustainable, programmatically compliant, and dozens other measures of design success.

Salutogenesis, which is to say a belief that, in order to be healthy, you have to address the root of unhealthiness rather than merely treat the illness.

Designers can take this concept to incorporate salutogenic strategies into design on multiple levels.

Single buildings can accomplish this with natural light, viewsheds, ventilation, nontoxic materials, prominent and welcoming staircases rather than elevators, serene colors, and clear wayfinding signals.

Neighborhoods can relieve food deserts, include safe and well-lit sidewalks, and accommodate bicycle paths to make physical activity an easy choice, rather than an out-of-the-way recreational option. Cities can make room for town plazas, unfold according to a simple street grid, and replace congested arterial roadways.

I believe DBKL has practised salutogenesis in a small way with the aerial pedestrian walkway from Bukit Bintang to Chow Kit. Now lets take that walk to better health.

Being Children Again

I did not set out early morning on Merdeka Day to capture this picture. My Merdeka Day shots would have been the typical scene of Merdeka Day parade colours and gleaming faces of people from all walks of life at the parade.

Instead, a beautiful scene was there in front of me as if it had been set up and choreographed for a photo shoot. It was such an illustrative scene and so telling of what every Merdeka Day means to me – living under the strong foundation that our forefathers have built, carefree life in a pristine environment; prospering in freedom to pursue our dreams in a safe and peaceful country. What looms in the far horizon is for us to invent today.

Beyond displaying our Jalur Gemilang, every Merdeka Day is our moment to invent the future, building on the foundation created by those who fought for Merdeka, sacrificed for our freedom and prosperity. Inventing the future today is perhaps a great way of honouring those who fought and sacrificed for us.

How do we invent the future today? My answer is: pay more taxes and go beyond the superficial show of patriotism. Instead of just for nationalistic displays, let the flying Jalur Gemilang be the beacon of our commitment to our nation’s future. For our nation’s future is the future of our children and their children’s children.

What our nation’s future will be, depends to a large extent, on our capacity and capability to pay more tax and on the capacity and capability of our children.

So, Merdeka Day means independence from our own self-imposed limitations to develop our competencies, to gain new insights and to broaden our horizons. Merdeka Day means independence from indulgence in trivia (of which are plenty on the internet). Merdeka Day means independence from tendencies to celebrate mediocrity. Merdeka Day means independence from our selfishness to share knowledge and to contribute as responsible citizens.

Merdeka Day means being children again – being without inhibitions to explore, being free from mental constraints to pursue new dreams, being brave to invent the future.

Close Proximity, Minds Apart

Every time I stroll along the KT Waterfront at night, I would have my hands full arresting couples caught for khalwat or for making out in close proximity - that is, if I were a Pegawai Pencegah Maksiat.  But the sight of couples making out does not distract my  urge to compare the thinking process of the people who created this waterfront and the thinking process of those who created Singapore's Gardens By The Bay. 

The KT waterfront is indeed spectacular at night, thanks to the bright and vibrant artificial trees lining the waterfront. There's nothing as attractive in KT.

On closer look, the spectacle is just decorative lights in the form oftrees lined up in no particular artistic fashion - just planted without any further thought. Not much artistic value, no functional value. Not sure if the lights are meant to attract sotong for the candak sotong season.

Wonder what's the planner's or designer's vision is for the KT waterfront.

Singapore's Gardens by the Bay, is a 250-acre sprawling series of indoor and outdoor waterfront gardens. It is part of a not-so-simple plan to reinvent Singapore as a city in a garden. The idea is to create a sustainable garden in the city, generating a better environment for humans with a creative fusion of technology and nature.

The man-made mechanical forest consists of 18 supertrees that act as vertical gardens, generating solar power, acting as air venting ducts for nearby conservatories, and collecting rainwater. To generate electricity, 11 of the trees are fitted with solar photovoltaic systems that provide lighting and assist with water flow in the conservatories below.

These trees serve several purposes: they act as a vertical tropical garden, as the engine room for the environmental systems of the conservatory, and as rainwater receptacles. And yes, they light up at night!

The Supertrees, which vary in height between 80 and 160 feet, are made of four parts: reinforcement concrete core, trunk, planting panels of the living skin, and canopy. Just like non-mechanized forests, the large canopies operate as temperature moderators, absorbing and dispersing heat, as well as providing shelter to visitors walking below. This suite of technologies can help to achieve at least 30% savings in energy consumption, compared to conventional methods of cooling, according to the project’s website.

Special sky bridges connect a few of the trees, for those brave enough to walk above Earth at the height of the top of skyscrapers.

Are KT's city planners and developers brave enough to bridge the mind gap?

Basic Instinct

Salam Eid Mubarak :-) As our friends join the balik kampong exodus, I'm reminded of what balik kampong means to me.

My “balik kampong” means ascending to being human again. Each Raya Balik Kampong reminds me of the profound journey I took in my early secondary school life. In those days, every month I would balik kampong - a journey that took almost five hours on foot and a river crossing in a sampan.

On one of those occasions, I arrived home and handed over to my mum an application form for a scholarship of eight ringgit a month from my school. My mum took the form, tossed it into the wood fire as she was cooking (She didn’t need to read it as she is illiterate). That profound moment is the most spiritual thing on earth residing in me - my north star.

Recently, I was reminded of that moment as I took the Menara KH lift on my way to the KL office on the 25th floor. Together in the lift was a pretty lady and her colleague with a trolley load of Raya gift baskets and hampers. She was busy ticking off the names of recipients on her long list. If I were to receive one of those Raya gifts, my mum would ask if I earned it. Still, she would insist that I’m not entitled to it and that I should not even feel entitled to receiving free gifts or to things that I do not earn.

The sight of Raya gift hampers in the office cuts to the quick of my psyche with searching questions asked of my basic human soul - the question of whether I should feel that I am really entitled to many things in life such as having no obligation to pay income tax, or a parking space in front of the office, or a bumiputra status or a big office room or a company driver to do my personal errands, or hand-outs from the Government or Raya gift hampers from the vendors. Should I feel entitled to things even if I don’t earn them?

Feeling entitled has been woven into the fabrics of our culture as amplified by the “No Gift Policy” notice placed by a Fortune Global 500 company, Petronas. The notice is placed at the registration counter of the Petronas Twin Towers. (Petronas climbed to 68th spot on the Fortune Global 500 list, up from previous ranking of 86th).

When I receive a Raya gift hamper from a vendor, is it for me or for my office? Should I take it home or should I leave it in the office to be shared with my colleagues? As I balik kampong for the Raya, I hope my north star guides me to feel that a no-gift policy takes me to my basic human being.

Selamat Hari Raya, maaf zahir batin

Orgasmic Moments - New Indicators of Progress

If only Prime Minister Najib cares to measure how many orgasmic moments we have in a year. Isn't it our happiness and well-being the KPIs that matter most? Not GDP! Here's why.  
1.   Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert says our beliefs about what will make us happy are often wrong -- a premise he supports with intriguing research, and explains in his accessible and unexpectedly funny book, Stumbling on Happiness. Dan Gilbert believes that, in our ardent, lifelong pursuit of happiness, most of us have the wrong map. In the same way that optical illusions fool our eyes -- and fool everyone’s eyes in the same way -- Gilbert argues that our brains systematically misjudge what will make us happy. And these quirks in our cognition make humans very poor predictors of our own bliss.

2.   Jack Welch, who is regarded as the father of the “shareholder value” movement that has dominated the corporate world for more than 20 years, has said it was “a dumb idea” for executives to focus so heavily on quarterly profits and share price gains. His comments, made in an interview for the FT’s series on the future of capitalism, come as the economic crisis has caused a radical rethinking by many leading executives and policymakers.

3. “Gross National Product counts air pollution, and cigarette advertising and . . . the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play . . . the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life wothwhile.” Robert Kennedy, 1968.

The above three topics may seem totally unrelated. However, upon putting my radical rethinking hat while considering Prime Minister Najib’s key result areas and gov’t KPIs in relation to measures of progress of Sarawak people, these three subjects are indeed, totally related. Governments, businesses and citizens must focus on what really make us happy.

Sarawakians must now set out a radical proposal to the new state government to guide the direction of modern Sarawak and the lives of people who live in them. In contrast to the conventional narrow focus on economic indicators, we must call on the new state government to directly and regularly measure people’s subjective well-being: their experiences, feelings and perceptions of how their lives are going, as a new way of assessing societal progress.
Some 40 years ago, in my kampong, my parents and siblings lived better, healthier and happier lives, despite no electricity, no roads and none of today’s modern necessities. We cooked over wood fire, got our water from the cool mountain stream and plenty of harvests from the farms.

Today, the rivers and streams have fewer fishes, we use too much pesticides in the farms, we live too much on credit with our education, house and car loans and we have to work harder to pay many bills and to cope with higher and higher costs of living. In all, I’m more miserable than I was 40 years ago.

The roads and electricity supply in the modern kampong today are not making our planet any better. In fact, these modern amenities only serve to increase our carbon footprint. We’ll be leaving to the future generations, a planet that’s degenerated and too costly to clean up. Our Malaysian education system is failing our children and educating them out of their natural creativity. And why can't the government hospital in Bau provide the same quality of clinical outcome as the Gleneagles Hospital or Cleveland Clinic?


Not only our beloved Sarawak, but the whole world is facing a breakdown of communities, environmental degradation, global warming, continuing poverty, and climbing rates of hunger. It is the perfect opportunity to reconsider development, progress, and purpose in terms of what is truly most important in life. Development is under scrutiny as a cycle of more production for more consumption to boost gross national product. There is an urgency to reconsider development in a broader, holistic manner and reclaim the concept of progress as genuine desirable change.

Economists, policymakers, reporters, and the public rely on the GDP as a shorthand indicator of progress; but the GDP is merely a sum of national spending with no distinctions between transactions that add to well-being and those that diminish it.

Mike Pennock from Genuine Progress Indicators (GPI) Atlantic argued that measures such as Gross National Happiness provide a guideline for developing a framework of national accounting where suitable monetary value can be placed on assets such as the environment and voluntary work. Thus costs and benefits can be calculated and accounted for in a balance sheet, and policymakers in turn cannot overlook vital aspects of human, social, and natural capital.

Some pioneering visions of alternative progress have emerged in Asia, chief among them the concept of Gross National Happiness as coined by Former King of Bhutan Jigme Wangchuck. Gross National Happiness has four pillars: the promotion of equitable and sustainable socioeconomic development; preservation and promotion of cultural values; conservation of the natural environment; and establishment of good governance. Gross National Happiness values are measured by tracking wellness in seven domains: economic, environmental, physical, mental, workplace, social, and political.

Currently there are two parallel global movements. The first can be characterized by the World Economic Forum, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund, supporting traditional notions of development. The second is the World Social Forum, Gross National Happiness, and allied movements that seek to redefine progress.

The new Sarawak state government, as a mainstream policy-making body, can be more sensitive to alternative approaches and start to measure Gross National Happiness and translate the indicators and data into public policy.

If Sarawak’s new policymakers measure what really matters to people—health care, safety, a clean environment, and other indicators of well-being—economic policy would naturally shift towards sustainability and real progress and happiness for all Sarawakians.

References:

Redefining Progress: Genuine Indicators of Progress

National Accounts of Well-being

Oxford University Human Development Initiative

The Promise of 72 Virgins

Over lunch, a discussion about global peace quickly turned into one hot discussion about 72 hot virgins. Apparently there is a widespread belief that seems to illustrate an interconnected relationship between peace, virgins martyrdom, sexual bliss and suicide bomber.

Someone at the lunch table said that what drives mindless terrorists and suicide bombers is the promise of 72 virgins in Paradise. Armed with an iPad and Google Search, our lunch friend was quick enough to proof his belief with articles that Google Search showed up, substantiating the belief. He showed one Hadith quote that mentioned specifically the 72 virgins.

Of course, there is no religion or no society that does not condemn terrorism, violence and suicide. And it's crazy to reason that a terrorist will be rewarded generously in Heaven. Still, I couldn't believe there is so much written on the Internet supporting the belief that suicide bombers will get 72 virgins in Heaven.

I need to know how this belief came about. In my search for enlightenment on the subject, I came across several websites and articles on the topic. Here's a more credible one, Virgins? What Virgins?

Maajid Nawaz, A global Culture To Fight Extremism.

Everyone Wants Sex, But Not Everybody Have It

Malaysians who find themselves affording less than their contemporaries overseas have distorted and inefficient markets, lack of competition, low wages and a weak ringgit to thank for their poor purchasing power, which in the case of KL, is only 34 per cent that of New York.

Despite government assurances stating that inflation is under control, Malaysians are becoming increasingly restive over the cost of goods in relation to wages, especially those who are able to compare the corresponding price-to-wage ratios in developed economies.

Malaysians who have experienced working and living abroad often experience sticker shock when they come back and see prices in KL.

“Oh my God, a Tiramisu is RM15!” said Calvin Lee, a Malaysian who has lived in Sydney, Singapore and now London, referring to what cafes in KL are charging for a slice of cake as compared to about GBP5 (RM25) in London.

Aidi Zalman, a consultant who studied in the UK, told The Malaysian Insider that salaries in London could go much further than KL.

He had worked part-time as a waiter in London and noted that a single day’s wages of about GBP50-60 was already enough for him to buy a pair of branded shoes and even a low-end iPod, a concept unthinkable for local waiters.

“GBP100 can feed two apartments of students for a week,” he said. “Here you can spend RM100 and get hardly anything.”

“I hate it when politicians make stupid statements like Malaysia is cheap,” said Edward Seah, an engineer who has previously worked in Singapore and the US. “Prices might seem cheap when you convert it to US dollars yes, but then we should also convert our salaries to US dollars.”

Victor Wong, a Malaysian expat in Sydney, said that Australians get more mileage out of their money.

A report by Swiss bank UBS AG shows KL residents have to work 22 minutes to afford a loaf of bread as compared with 18 minutes in Los Angeles.

He gave the example of clothes where he said he can get a good quality shirt for about AUD100 but would need to spend about RM200 to get similar quality in KL.

Wong pointed out that even Asian food could be more affordable for those living in Sydney than KL.

“You pay RM15 for a bowl of soup noodles in KL shopping centres but only AUD10 in Sydney shopping centres,” he said.

The 2010 Prices and Wages report by Swiss bank UBS AG show that residents in KL have only 33.8 per cent the purchasing power of their counterparts in New York, 42 per cent that of London, 33.7 per cent that of Sydney, 32.6 per cent that of Los Angeles and 31.6 per cent that of Zurich.

The same study showed that on average, KL residents have to work 22 minutes to afford a loaf of bread as compared with 18 minutes in Los Angeles, 16 minutes in Sydney, 15 minutes in Tokyo and 12 minutes in Zurich.

The figures grow much worse for imported items. To buy an iPod Nano, a KL worker would have to labour a whopping 52 hours as compared with just 9.5 hours in Los Angeles and Sydney, 12 hours in Tokyo and nine hours in Zurich.

A check on salaries and prices in selected developed country cities by The Malaysian Insider showed that despite being touted as one of the world’s least expensive cities, KL residents pay as much or even more for chicken, broadband, cars and mobile phones as a percentage of their income.

Communications, for example, is one area where Malaysians are paying notably more than residents in developed countries even after currency conversion.

A 5Mbps broadband package costs RM149 in KL while in London, a 10Mbps package would cost GBP13.50, in Melbourne a 5-8Mbps package costs AUD40 and in New York, a 7Mbps service costs USD41.95.

Those who want to buy an iPhone 4 in KL, meanwhile, would have to pay RM1990 with a basic 24-month contract while in London, residents can get an iPhone 4 for just GBP199 with a basic 24-month contract and in Singapore, it costs just SGD210 with a basic contract.

Maybank Investment Bank chief economist Suhaimi Ilias said that what is important is local perception and not official inflation figures which claimed that the inflation rate in Malaysia was only 1.7 per cent last year.

“I think on the ground, not many people feel we are cheap,” said Suhaimi. “They feel that the cost of living is high regardless of what the inflation figures are.”

He added that inefficiency and lack of competition are contributing to the higher prices in Malaysia.

“I can’t understand why a motorcycle should have to cost RM6,000-7,000 and a car like the Perodua Viva should cost over RM30,000,” he said.

RAM Holdings chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said that cars are one of the sectors where the Malaysian market suffers the heaviest distortion.

Despite being touted as one of the world’s least expensive cities, KL residents pay as much or even more for basic items as a percentage of their income.

A Honda Civic in KL costs about RM115,000, or 20 times the average monthly salary of an auditor.

In Melbourne and London by comparison, a Honda Civic costs AUD25,000 and GBP19,000 respectively, or only about three times the average salary of an auditor in those cities.

The high cost of cars is part of the reason that Malaysians have leveraged themselves to a record 76 per cent of the country’s GDP.

Bank Negara statistics show that at the end of last year, 20 per cent of Malaysian household debt was due to cars, an asset which depreciates over time.

Yeah also said that the ringgit is undervalued and distorts the country’s purchasing power for imported goods.

“We need to ensure prices are right and that there are no market distortions, no subsidies and allow market prices,” he said.

But even if the ringgit is allowed to rise, there is no guarantee that savings would be passed on to consumers. The ringgit is now hovering at RM3.02 to the US dollar but Goldman Sachs predicated yesterday the currency could hit RM2.98 to the US dollar in the next three months.

When The Malaysian Insider contacted the director of wholesale and retail at government think tank Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), Ravidran Devagunam about the higher prices Malaysians pay for branded goods, he acknowledged that some retailers will maximise profits on luxury items not readily available in Malaysia but said that the government is “unable” to compel them to discount their prices even after the abolishment of import duties as luxury goods and apparel are not controlled items.

“However, we believe that market forces and consumer education will eventually force a price reduction of these goods over time,” he said.

The Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations Secretary General Mohd Shaani Abdullah said people should question the prices that they are currently paying.

“Consumer protection will only come about when people make noise,” he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted. “Only then will politicians act.”

Source: Malaysians plagued by poor purchasing power

By Lee Wei Lian, Yow Hong Chieh and Melissa Chi

Malaysian Insider April 19, 2011

Analysts say the undervalued ringgit distorts the country’s purchasing power for imported goods.

How Quality of Life is as Poor as Sex Life

For some time now, economists have become comfortable with catchwords that we once associated with the speech of psychologists. Even as they speak about money, profits and balance sheets, they no longer blush when they mention such things as emotional well-being, self-esteem and spiritual vitality.

And Malaysian politicians and technocrats have caught up fast in using these jargons. They are no longer talking about “standards of living” or “costs of living”, but rather the “quality of life”, as if it means anything to the poor Malaysian wage earner struggling to provide his family with three square meals.

Malaysia’s good old days are really not that old. Middle-aged Malaysians can still remember when you could have coffee with a friend for 20 cents. (We used dollars and cents then.) And if you had an extra 50 cents in your pocket, you could each have a roti canai or a bowl of mee or kuay teow. Your bus fare probably cost you 5 or 10 cents, and you could talk forever on the phone for 10 cents if it was a local call. If you earned around $500 a month, you could own a car.

In short, life used to be good. There was quality in it.

Today, an urban family earning a household income of RM3,000 a month would be lucky to survive the costs of food, utilities and transport. Try shopping with RM50 and see what you can take home to your family.

And now rumours are bouncing around that another round of price increases is in the offing.

Meanwhile, the issue of minimum wage is still in the dock.

Serious problem

Nothing has probably changed since the 2007 survey that showed that more than 57.8% of Malaysian households earned less than RM3,000 and 70.7% earned less than RM4,000.

Many villages in Sabah and Sarawak are still not connected by road and more than a quarter of households there do not have electricity. Furthermore, at least 50,000 families in the state are in need of new or restored houses.

In urban areas such as the Klang Valley, public transport remains a serious problem. Infrastructural coordination is poor and “networking” exists only in our dreams.

Municipal councils seem to be blind to the serious shortage of car parks, a shortage that takes its toll on housing estates and shopping centres and turns even the well-bred into inconsiderate motorists who have made a habit of double and even triple parking.

The rat population is increasing at an alarming rate in residential areas as night markets and hawker stalls sprout up everywhere and uncollected garbage pile up into mountains.

Quality sleep

Highways and expressways that cut across residential areas are causing so much noise that we can only daydream about having quality sleep.

It was once said that in Malaysia, as elsewhere in Asia, the affluent tend to surround themselves with comforts befitting their status, shutting out the plight of the less fortunate around them.

But times have changed. There are problems everyone suffers, regardless of income. The decaying environment, traffic congestion and rising crime rates make life lousy even if you are rich. Bad governance and inept public administration affects everyone.

In 2005, Malaysia was ranked 36th in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Quality of Life Index. By 2010, we had fallen to the 85th position.

If the quality of our life is not improving, should we change our lifestyle to suit our economic position or should we change the ruling regime? Perhaps Malaysians should be thinking instead of the quality of the government that they want.

source: Free Malaysia Today.

Enjoying IT on a lap top position

Malaysia slid from 27th to 28th in the 2010-2011 Global Information Technology report released yesterday after it was bumped down by Qatar which jumped 5 spots from 30th to 25th.

Malaysia’s placing this year is equal to its ranking in 2008-2009 and worse than the 26th ranking achieved in 2006-2007 and 2007-2008.

Sweden and Singapore retained their first and second placing respectively atop the rankings with Finland, Switzerland and the United States rounding out the top 5.

The Global Information Technology report is an annual publication prepared by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and INSEAD which assesses the impact of ICT on the development and competitiveness of 138 economies worldwide.

The WEF said that this year’s report confirmed the leadership of the Nordic countries and the Asian Tiger economies in adopting and implementing ICT advances for increased growth and development.

It noted that Sweden, Denmark (7th) and Norway (9th) are all are in the top 10, except for Iceland, which is ranked 16th.

Singapore meanwhile led the Asian Tiger economies with Taiwan and Korea improving five places to 6th and 10th respectively, and Hong Kong SAR following closely at 12th.

A look at the sub-rankings show that Malaysia was helped by government readiness (11th) but hurt by the infrastructure environment (51st) and individual usage (45th).

It was also ranked 42nd for international internet bandwidth and 59th in terms of broadband subscribers.

The ICT rankings come after Malaysia dropped two spots in the WEF competitiveness index last year, coming in 26th out of 132 countries and marking the second year in a row Malaysia has dropped in the rankings after falling from 21st to 24th spot in 2009.

The WEF rankings in coming years however are expected to show how effective are the Najib administration reforms such as the New Economic Model, the Government Transformation Programme and the Economic Transformation Programme, all of which were launched between January and December last year.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysia-slips-down-ict-competitiveness-ranking/

How To Revitalize - From Dysfunctional to Soulful Fullfilment

Education reform is a top agenda of the new Sarawak state government. We have seen that despite massive

spending by the Federal government and ambitious attempts at reforms, the performance of our education system has barely improved in decades. In fact, compared to school systems in the region, ours has seen a decline.

The Malaysian Smart Schools System - developed by a consortium led by Telekom Malaysia, and a flagship application of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiated by the then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir in 1997, has failed to bear fruit despite the billions of ringgits being spent. The Federal government’s 2009 National Key Results Area (NKRA) for education has not produced any report card to convince us that the NKRA initiatives are delivering results.

Children in Sarawak cannot be allowed to fall victim to Malaysia’s failing education system. It is a priority of the new Sarawak government to immediately and quickly establish a new education system that works to raise Sarawak children to a level as those in Korea, Finland and Singapore – countries that have that world’s best performing education systems.

The Sarawak Community Action Network (SCAN) has undertaken a year-long study to understand how to develop a high performing education system for Sarawak. The result of the study is to be used by the new Sarawak state government to establish an education system that truly works for children of Sarawak. The new government cannot afford to have a single child fail and that is what today’s adult Sarawakians owe to the coming generations of Sarawakians.

The study involved an analysis of selected education systems from different countries that have improved significantly, analysis of education systems that have been maintaining top positions, interviews with some thought leaders in those education systems and an analysis of the annual OECD PISA results from 2003 to 2009. During the course of the study, elements that are specific to the individual system and those that are of universal relevance were explored in order to help Sarawak’s new educational leaders replicate the success of high performing education systems.

This paper presents a summary of the findings of SCAN’s study.

The study began with these key questions: Why do some education syste

ms always perform better and improve at a faster rate than others? Why do some schools consistently succeed where others do not? What do successful school systems have in common? What methods and tools do they employ to improve learning outcomes of students?

The SCAN study found three most important universal elements that work:

1. Selective hiring of the right people to be teachers,
2. Develop them into highly effective instructors, and
3. Ensure that the system is capable of delivering only the best instruction for each student.

The successful systems demonstrate that significant improvement in desired results can be achieved in a short time – 3 to 6 years. The systems also show that by applying these practices, significant improvements is achievable in failing school systems and that the practices are applicable to any system, irrespective of culture and geography.The following commonly used approaches to improve education systems in many countries, including the US and the UK, have been shown to be least effective, in that they do not contribute significantly to student outcomes as measured by scores in mathematics, science and reading:

1. Increase in public spending per student,
2. Improvements in student-to-teacher ratio,
3. Decrease in class size,
4. Decrease in school size,
5. Structural reforms in the governance of schools, such as autonomy of schools governed by elected boards and decentralization of powers to local school districts,
6. Reforms in curriculum standards,
7. Changes in assessments and testings,
8. Funding of schools,
9. Inspection of quality, and
10. Reforming relationship of schools to communities.

The SCAN study shows unquestionable evidence: student learning cannot be improved without improving quality of instruction. It is also noted that almost every education system have undertaken the process of reducing class size. For example, most countries in OECD over the past 7 years have increased the teacher-student ratio. However, evidence shows that this effort does not significantly result in better student outcomes, except at the very early grades. More teachers translate to less money per teacher and systems cannot be selective about who could be teachers.

Evidence from the SCAN study suggests that the new Sarawak educational leaders must focus on quality of teachers as this is the main driver of the variation in student learning. The quality of any education system cannot be higher than the quality of its teachers.

For example, a seminal research in one education system shows that if 2 average 8-year-old children were taught by different teachers – one a high performing teacher and the other a low performer, the learning outcomes of the students diverge by more than 50 percentile points within 3 years. Reducing class size from 30 to 15 students improves an average student’s performance by, at most, 8 percentile points. In a study of another system, evidence shows that students in earlier years of schooling, when placed with low-performing teachers for several years consecutively, suffer from irreversible educational loss. In some systems, students who score in the top 20% on literacy and numeracy at age 7, are twice as likely to obtain a university degree as children in the bottom 20%.

Sarawak’s new education leaders now have evidence suggesting that even in good education systems, children who do not make good progress in their early school years because they are not taught by teachers of sufficient skills and competencies, have very small chance of recovering the lost years. All top performing education systems depend ultimately on the quality of its teachers.

All top performing systems from Dallas to Seoul and from Singapore to Helsinki, dispel the common belief that it is impossible to make teaching a preferred profession for good number of high-performers and that attracting better people requires the government to pay higher salaries. These systems have shown that making teaching the career of choice does not depend on high pay, but more on small, simple policy choices such as: designing and establishing robust hiring and training processes, giving attractive starting pay, and managing the status of the profession more carefully. For Sarawak’s new educational leaders, it means legislating an entirely new policy on education so that a new education system can be implemented rapidly.

By continuing the education system of the Federal government in Sarawak, we will only fail Sarawak’s future generation.

http://tinyurl.com/edsys2012

Life-Affirming PS22 Chorus

PS22 Chorus' singings are a MUST listen. This group of 50 hopeful adolescents led music teacher, Gregg Breinberg, have been uplifting, inspiring and touching the hearts of millions with their brilliant rearrangements of Tori Amos, Lady Gaga, Jay Z, Björk, Chas & Dave and, most recently, Fireflies by Owl City. Their enthusiasm is infectious and their choir singings are incredibly life-affirming.

The Webby Awards 2010 recently honored the PS22 Chorus with an Artist of the Year award in recognition of their online contributions to music, popular culture and the online medium itself. With more than 17,000,000 YouTube views, the PS22 Chorus has gained countless fans, including some of the most respected artists of our day, and in doing so has pioneered the online medium by engaging, connect- ing with and inspiring people around the world.

One's Most Valuable Asset

Overheard - "If you have it, flaunt it!" - a well-endowed lady who flaunts her cleavage on all occasions, responded to a comment from a friend. Well, most of us flaunt our assets - our cars, our clothes, accessories, etc.

If you haven’t read, the book entitled “What Color Is Your Parachute?” is recommended reading, even if you are having a steady job and progressing in your career. A best-seller, it’s about more meaningful work, changing career and job-hunting. More so, it’s about exploring and discovering what you want out of life and who you are as a person. The book takes a relook in a different perspective at the question, “What type of work am I willing to do?”

What’s the significance of a book that talks about meaningful work?

Often, within the short time spent in a lift with office workers getting to their offices, the common conversation is about share price and stock market. All news channels in print or electronic, have something about share market performance. There’s no shortage of stock market news on the Internet. Company board meetings certainly touch on boosting share price.

Is the stock we own our most valuable asset?

An employee share option scheme left a number of a company’s employees in debt and their savings nowhere to be seen following the drop in share price that came in tandem with the recent financial crisis. The hope and expectation of making some money from exercising the ESOS turned tragic.

A Nobel Prize-winning economist, Gary Becker, said that in modern economy, up to 80% of a person’s economic output comes from human capital, against land, machinery and others. Many people are mesmerized by how rich they can be with the portfolios of stocks and properties they own, but do not see the crucial asset they have in their earning power. Our education and training are worth a lot. We can get value not just from shares, but from ourselves and the mechanism of getting the value is a job. Our salary is the dividend on our human wealth.

Those of us who’ve been affected by economic recessions and financial crisis or those of us who’ve lost our jobs may already relearn how to create wealth as we relook at our jobs differently. Especially so if that thing we do in the office every day is our sole financial lifeline.

Those who have not been affected would not know the true value of what we have until it’s gone. These days, a predictable salary seems more appealing than big bonuses and ESOS. Government jobs, one of the last bastions of security, is definitely getting even more appealing.

A better option now is to use whatever money we have to take a class, instead of spending on shares, unit trusts or properties. Perhaps, soon we’ll find ourselves perusing a list of the best-paying, fastest-growing professions as we visualize ourselves as a network engineer or wellness therapist.

Stimulating Growth

More than 70% of all businesses have less than 6 employees. This demonstrates that thriving small businesses generate the most jobs and economic activities. Microenterprises created 37% of all new jobs between 2001 and 2007. For Malaysia, small and medium-sized enterprises account for over 75%

of all enterprises and are responsible for more than 60% of private sector employment and 55% private sector turnover. Massive hydro-power dams or huge aluminium smelting plants do not create the kind of employment opportunites that small enterprises do.

Clearly, entrepreneurship is the engine of economic growth in local communities. While employment is established as a major route to sustainable livelihood, and for some, as a route out of poverty, entrepreneurship is increasingly being recognized as a major creator of economic and social opportunities.

Within local communities, participation in the local job market unlock the potential of young people, providing a route to economic independence. It is crucial, both for their own fulfilment as well as in the broader economic interest of their community, that their talents and energies are harnessed in productive work opportunities.

While entrepreneurship is not suitable for everyone, it is vital that opportunites are open to young people in local communities and well-understood by them upon completion of formal education. Entrepreneurship can provide a successful route to sustainable participation in the job market, more so if the entrepreneur is well-supported in the business start-up phase.

By running businesses, young people within local communities achieve economic independence, reducing reliance on government subsidies or state welfare. Young people who run their own businesses are more likely to engage in their local communities. They create additional jobs and thus, more young people become productive members of their families and communities.

The opportunities are great as Sarawak will have a larger, more skilled workforce. However, Sarawak's young people must be well-prepared in order to create and find jobs. The spread of Sarawak’s population over the vastness of the state in small communities, presents unique challenges and opportunities to develop entrepreneurship.

Research undertaken by the Sarawak Community Action Network (SCAN) reveal that there are practical actions that the new Pakatan Rakyat-led state government and established business organizations can take to develop entreprise culture within local communities through out the state. Among the practical actions identified by SCAN include:

1. Establish high priority for investments in youth entrepreneurship.

This will help to reduce the need for young people to leave their communities in search of employment in West Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere. There have been incidences of Sarawak's young people who have been lured by promises of high paying jobs in West Malaysia and Singapore, but end up being cheated by employment agents or their employers.

By prioritising and targeting investments at entrepreneurship schemes for young people, the state can create employment, improve livelihood at local communities, reduce dependence on subsidies and increase tax revenues for both state and local governments.

Towards this end, the state must establish a grant for youth entrepreneurship, disbursed through the district offices or local branches of selected banks. SCAN’s research estimates that a grant of RM10 mil can potentially create 900 new small businesses which can potentially generate an estimated 5,000 new jobs. The investment can potentially generate an estimated RM135 mil sales revenue.

2. Microcredit institutions should improve access to financing for young people.

Microcredit institutions like TEKUN and the banks that have been tasked by the government to disburse microcredit should work with local organizations that better understand the risk profile of young people. This will enable the institutions and the microcredit funds allocated by the government to reach new sections of communities and new segments of society that may have been excluded from finance. A good example can be found in India, www.bystonline.org.

3. Use existing business networks to support the development of youth entrepreneurship.

Business networks such as chambers of commerce can be most valuable to start-up businesses. The government can use existing structures such as business networks to support and promote entrepreneurship. Chambers of commerce can begin initiatives to support start-up businesses at local levels before scaling up to state-level.

4. Encourage established companies to partner with youth enterprise organizations to strengthen their capacities and capabilities.

Through sharing their experience and expertise, companies can enhance the services that district offices and youth enterprise organizations provide. Employees of the company can impart invaluable skills and knowledge to the youth enterprise organization and to support young people starting

out in business, especially in mentoring capacities.

Establishing relationships between new entrepreneurs provide many benefits. Start-up businesses boost the local economy, expanding the overall size of the market and contribute to the value chains of existing companies. For the start-ups, they gain from the support, networks and other relationships. A proven example can be found in the Youth Business China’s mentoring program which is supported by major Chinese and international companies, www.ybc.org.cn.

5. Ease the administrative process of setting up a business.

The time, effort and cost involved in registering and establishing a new business can be cumbersome and creates deterrents, especially to young people who do not have sufficient means to persist against administrative difficulties. There must be coordinated support by both state and local governments for emerging entrepreneurs in small business sectors. District offices should establish convenient walk-in information and processing centres for young entrepreneurs across Sarawak. The services of these venues should be designed to stimulate local business and assist communities reduce the administrative process of dealing with the state or federal government.

6. Include self-employment as a viable alternative to sustainable livelihood.

Our traditional advice to young people about making a living is biased towards the benefits of working in a large company or government. Seldom are the benefits of supporting young people into new business communicated. The state government, through schools and community programmes, can bring entrepreneurship experiences to young people. The state government can better promote entrepreneurship education opportunities and dispense resources to train young entrepreneurs to advance their local economies.

The state government should also encourage schools and colleges to run business plan competitions that promote start-up opportunities. The world over, business plan competitions have proven to provide effective approach to intorduce a variety of business-related subjects to new audiences. Winners are given the opportunity to turn their business proposition into reality.

A good example is the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), www.sife.org. SIFE runs business competitions for university students to develop social enterprises in their communities to meet local needs.

7. Enable more companies to provide apprenticeships and training programs.

Take the example of Business in the Community’s Work Inspiration program, www.workinspiration.com. This is a business-led program aimed at strengthening the relevance and impact of work experience for the benefit of both the young people and the companies involved. This is one valuable role the private sector can play to boost the motivation, confidence, experience and capability of young people to be enterprising.

Conclusion

Improving the livelihood of Sarawak’s communities by boosting youth enterprise presents a significant challenge. The outlook for the future of young people in communities demonstrate the need for immediate, coordinated and sustainable response. Enterprise can provide sustainable livelihood for many young people. Both the new state government and private sector can play significant roles in making entrepreneurship work.

When both sectors work together in a coordinated manner, more opportunities open to young people and the culture of entrepreneurship is developed further.

For the new PR-led state government, enterprise can reduce subsidies and welfare costs, and provides opportunities for the government to benefit from the talent, enthusiasm of the young people whom the government serve.

For the established companies, it helps the development of a dynamic small business sector and boosts demand in the local economy.

For the community at large, it helps alleviate challenges associated with youth unemployment, helps spread prosperity, and minimises disenfranchisement of young people and social conflict.

Clearly, the new Pakatan Rakyat-led Sarawak state government will have to channel some of the state’s revenues to invest in high priority youth entrepreneurship at local community level in order to boost economic activities, create new jobs and improve income levels of more Sarawakians. Established companies in Sarawak that traditionally build their wealth from the state’s natural resources will need to be asked to contribute more significantly to develop youth entrepreneurship.