If education is not a priority I don't know what is?

I read with much disgust the suggestion by Higher Education Minister,
Mohamed Khaled Noordin, to have Public Universities source for their
own funding.

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KOTA KINABALU 14 Sept. (Utusan) - Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi akan
mengemukakan cadangan kepada Kabinet supaya institusi pengajian
tinggi awam (IPTA) di negara ini mencari sumber kewangannya sendiri
dan tidak terlalu bergantung dengan kerajaan.

http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009&dt=0914&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Terkini&pg=bt_03.htm
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Given that public universities are generally run by either
politically-inclined yes-men type Vice-Chancellors (who could forget
Rafiah Salim?) or career lecturers / professors with the typical civil
servant mentality, it is a rather far fetched idea to expect them to
be financially independant after generations of direct assistance.

I believe, as with everything else in this country, the burden will,
as always, be passed down to the consumer. These may come in the form
of full fees and what nots being charged to the students. As always
the Malays will be at the losing end. For one thing, with todays
appalling level of English proficiency, the kampung types have no
where else but local universities to go to. And for the less
fortunate, local institutions were also the institution of choice due
to the subsidized fees. Even if they were to attend on a PTPTN loan,
the repayment would not be as steep as compared to paying full fees.

Scholarships are a thing of the past. PTPTN loans are the norm these
days but at least fees were reasonable for the average kampung
aspiring graduate. Take thant away and they may end up taking 20 years
to pay up their PTPTN loan if Uni's take the easy way out in terms of
self sourced funding.

If Education is not a priority then what does our government spend on?
Crony-enriching projects like this:
http://www.nst.com.my/articles/11KSL2/Article/index_html
or proper funding for Education and Healthcare?

I'm sick of the over-privatization of everything from Highways to
Public Transportation to even Sewerage Services. If the government
let's loose all these entities, privatize them or even let them fend
for themselves, then why are we still paying taxes? What are the tax
dollars being spent on? Even the building of Putrajaya is done by a
GLC so what does the government actually do with our money?

Anyway, Khalid Noordin is an ass of the highest order and should be
sacked from his post for even thinking of a suggestion as ridiculous
as that.

My two cents....

Cheers!

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