Once again, a drastic move by Najib, Malaysia’s Prime Minister, he successfully placed a Malaysian team in Formula 1, the most expensive sport in the world. The team is named 1Malaysia and I have a feeling that they are up to no good.

What is 1Malaysia?

1Malaysia is actually a government made concept to unite Malaysians of different ethnicities and religions to achieve a better future. But from my little research on the 1Malaysia website, it seems that 1Malaysia is actually a marketing tool to market Malaysia and Najib himself. There is little about uniting Malaysians in that website.

Is 1Malaysia F1 Team Necessary?

No, I don’t think it is necessary. As you can see, Malaysia’s enrollment in Formula 1 is not merely for the sport, other aims such as the marketing of Proton, Naza and Air Asia is also included as well. These few aims have less than nothing to do with the actual concept of 1Malaysia.

The following is the reason why I feel that 1Malaysia F1 team is not needed.

Failed Marketing Strategy for Proton and Naza

I searched on the internet and found the famous and honest condemnation of Jeremy Clarkson on Malaysian cars…

What I don’t like about these Malaysian cars is you get a sense they were designed not by one man who wanted to make a great car, but by a corporation who simply like to make money – Jeremy Clarkson

To curb the marketability of Proton and Naza after such statement (for a sane person) would be to improve the value of every cent spent on their cars. However, as history repeats itself, Malaysian Government spent more money on marketing piles of rubbish.

Jeremy Clarkson’s influence to the motor industry is superior. If Najib thinks that throwing a Malaysian team into Formula 1 would help Proton and Naza increase their sales despite Jeremy’s statement, I reckon he should do more research before deciding on a wrong decision … again.

At the present, selling Proton and Naza cars around the world is like trading sand with gold.

The Government’s Hoax

We all know these governments’ ploy. For every cent spent, there’s a dollar passed under the table. Nuff said.

Malaysia is not ready for a Formula 1 team

Malaysia does not have the man power to run a team, even with the technology Lotus can offer. In current circumstances, I think Malaysia will end up being only financially involved in the team while all the technology is owned by some other corporation.

“The team will be using Cosworth engines with gearboxes provided by Xtrac and aerodynamics developed by FondTech.” – F1.gpupdate.net

If you look quite carefully, 1Malaysia is a F1 team running on other people’s engines, aerodynamics and gearboxes, and marketing a different car brand called Proton and Naza. It’s like selling homemade burgers at McDonalds.

The Bluffs

My view upon the establishment of a Malaysian Formula 1 team did not improve at all with these quotes I read about the team.

“This is the Malaysian team. The car was designed at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), manufactured at the SIC, tested at the SIC and the car is Malaysian-made. Even the pit-stop team consists of Malaysians” – Najib (The Star)

This is what Malaysia’s respected PM, Najib said. Read the next quote…

“1Malaysia F1 Team, based at the factory of RTN in Norfolk, England” – F1.gpupdate.net

Compared and see how contradicting they are. First he said the F1 car will be Malaysian-made in SIC, GPupdate’s claimed that the team is based at a factory in England.

If I’m the shareholder of the team I would not want my car to be manufactured in England then send all the way to Malaysia to be tested. Somebody must have bullcrapped here.

Lies, lies and more lies…

Asked on the budget and the total investment by the Government, Najib said: “The Malaysian government’s investment is through Proton.” – The Star

Right, so now Proton has enough money to fund an F1 team after losing market shares to Perodua? Governments are literally begging Malaysian citizens to buy Proton cars, how would they have the money to fund the team? More like tax payers’ money is poured into some political farce again.

In a Nutshell

There is no doubt that the participants in the 1Malaysia F1 team will benefit technologically and financially from the sport, Malaysia will of course benefit as a whole as well.

However this does not change the fact that Malaysia do not need to participate in Formula 1. There are better and cheaper ways to improve Proton and Naza’s marketability. Let passionate people build Proton’s car. Do that and Proton and Naza would both prosper, with or without the Formula 1 team.

Any articles categorized in “Indifferent Thoughts” are the author’s perspective on the world. Statements are neither wrong nor right. It is up to us individuals to decide whether to believe or to turn a blind eye on the matter. However, discussions are always welcomed.

A lot of Malaysian government actions(bribery) can be ignored by closing an eye pretending that they never happened before. However, on the 8th of July, the Malaysian Government announced that Mathematics and Science subjects will be revert back to Bahasa Malaysia, the national language starting 2012.

This in fact is an extremely serious matter that cannot be overlooked because it concerns the future of the present youth!

Reason of this Yet-Another-Political-Farce

“Only 19.2% of secondary teachers and 9.96% of primary teachers were sufficiently proficient in English,” he said, explaining the Government’s decision to revert to the old system.

These absurdly low percentages are the result of emphasis on Bahasa on Math and Science before 2003. I am extremely sure that these results have been constantly improving until yesterday when the Government decided to revert back to Bahasa again.

It’s an English Speaking World Out There

Look, the economy leader(the USA) educates their young in English. Educating our future leaders in Bahasa for Math and Science is suicidal. All of their secondary Math and Science educations are down the drain as they reach to tertiary level of education. I know this from personal experience, many Math and Science terms do not make sense in Bahasa Malaysia.

And more importantly Bahasa Melayu, unlike German, Japanese or Chinese, does not have enough vocabulary keep it updated with the technological terms introduced in Math and Science.

Malaysia is different! Even though Bahasa is the national language, most private corporate companies operate in English language. How do you (the Government) suppose not enhancing the English language education in our youth would do any good to the country’s economy in the future?

Of course, here is a quote from The Star that answers my question above

He (the Deputy Prime Minister) however added that there will be greater emphasis on learning the English language.

This is a joke I can expect from the Malaysian Government. Here’s how,

On efforts to emphasize the learning of English, the number of English teachers would be increased by 13,933 — retirees would be hired, as well as foreigners if need be.

Let’s assume 2 thousand salary per month for English teachers. That is about 28 million per month of tax payers’ money spent unnecessarily on teachers! We are better off without the revert and spending that 28 million properly.

What is worse is they now even started to spend on the foreigners! What happened to the Buy Malaysian Products Campaign?

and …

Primary schools will also increase English classes by 90 minutes a week.

That is 18 hours of English studies everyday! Give the children back their childhood days! The children need more childhood experiences, not some badly designed education system!

The bags are literally bigger than the size of their body. Picture From The Star.

On top of that, more tax money have to be spent on English illiterate teachers. We all know what happens when there are not enough “sufficiently proficient in English” teachers to be hired.

Discussion: What do you think about the Government’s decision? How will this reflect the future of our children and the future of Malaysia?

My Point Of View

I think the reason our teachers are so English illiterate (proved by the percentages) is because of these ever changing education system decided only by a handful of clowns. Answer me this question, 3 times since 1957, how do you expect the citizens to keep up?

This announcement also depicts the incompetence of the Malaysian Government that is unable to analyze Malaysia as a whole and make sustainable decisions. I completely understand that mistakes can be made even by the Prime Minister of Malaysia. What I do not understand is why is the government not improving from the mistakes they had made?

Perhaps there is a conspiracy behind these decisions considering the 28 million per month. Maybe it is another act of corruption that has been ongoing for ages in Malaysia. Or is there an invincible being that is more powerful and currently influencing the Malaysian Government? All we know is, this is another farce from our Malaysian Government … again.

On 30th May 2009, the Ministry of Education in Malaysia proved the naysayers of Malaysian education wrong by announcing to reduce the amount of core subjects from six to four by means of reducing the “My son/daughter scored 20As in SPM” frenzy. In addition to that, they also limited the maximum subjects allowed to take in SPM. From a general perspective, I must say the ministry is doing a good job, but until you look deeper into the roots only you will realize that it is not what it seems to be.

These decisions are decided based on the fact that parents have been pressuring their children to take more subjects, to eliminate the exam oriented education system and so on.

As news, I must say it is quite a welcoming one. First, students get to study for less subjects, second if History and Moral studies is not one of the core subjects (I hope so), then it would be a joy for almost all the students in Malaysia! Apparently, that is how you look at it from outside the box, now let’s tear open the box and see whats in it.

For more than 50 years Malaysia has not been capping subjects in SPM and we have been fine all along. This not only allows the student to enhance their broad knowledge, it also helps tuition centers to earn a living, both party win.

The pressure only starts to build when the examination results were scaled carelessly. That is when every parent thinks SPM is easy and starts to pressure their child to take more subjects (since they think it is easy). The fact is it is never easy to take more than 10 subjects, let alone 15 or 20. Then, the ministry decided to scale the results again to show the world how clever we Malaysians are, thus SPM becomes easier as the years go by.

The fact that a limitation of 10 subjects was introduced in SPM also allows me to think it as an act to limit the intelligence of Malaysian citizens. If a student has the capacity to take 15 subjects and score A in every single one of them (scaled or not), let it be. Why limit their potential to excel academically?

Exam oriented studying environment or not is a matter of how a student study for the exam. It has nothing to do with the amount of subjects taken.

Perhaps the ministry would like to consider abolishing or reduce the scaling of examination results and spend more time on making subjects more interesting at school. This would allow students to critically analyze their ability to even handle 10 subjects, or not.

Not only that, scholarship providers can also easily distinguish the best out of the best if scaling is abolished. Unlike the current scaled results where a straight 11A scorer can be an underdog in the university and be stripped out of their scholarship.

Also, imagine if SPM were to be capped and scaling were still to be done, everybody will be scoring 10 straight As. Now tell me, how is that good for anybody?

I am all in for the reduction of core subjects for SPM, since History and Moral Studies should not be taken into account to determine a student’s future. However the limitation of maximum subject is really a no-no for me since it spoils the education industry, spoil the students and confuse the scholarship providers.