We are world class

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TRULY WORLD CLASS: Datuk Lee Chong Wei, Datuk Nicol David and Pandelela Rinong.

Recently the Ministry of Education unveiled the Education Blueprint. The Minister was reported to have said this would help the country to produce “world class” students. Great! At the very least it is statement of intent, and presumably an acknowledgement that we do have quite a bit of work to do on our educational front.

Recently, a report showed that Malaysia’s public universities continue to plummet down the list of QS World University Rankings. Only seven of the country’s universities made it to QS’s list of 800 top institutions for 2013. Of the seven, only UM has maintained its position in the top 200 although it slid down from number 156 in 2012 to number 167 in the current list.

I recall in the past when such rankings were published and Malaysian institutions fared badly a number of people demonstrated acute case of denial. They said something like, “Oh, the survey is not accurate,” “the criteria of measurement do not favour us”, and so on and so forth. Well, obviously these people would not know a spade if it hits them in the face. So, this Blueprint thing is most encouraging though I have not read it in detail. I am sure it is great, being the product of some egghead think tank.

But the thing that caught my eye is the statement about creating world class students. We have been hearing quite a bit about being “world class” Some agencies even have that aspiration as part of their mission or vision statement. However, what irks me is this scenario. Visualise this: an office when one goes to pay one’s bills, facing you is a long counter which is partitioned into “counter 1”, “counter 2” . . . all together six counters, each equipped with a computer, all primed ready to serve the customers. On the wall is a poster on which the words “world class” is emblazoned. Great, you may say, except that there are two long lines of people waiting and four of the six counters are closed. Grrrr.

That’s the issue — sometimes our aspiration only goes as far as slogans. However, in this case we have gone beyond merely making slogans, we have produced a “blueprint”. I love it and let me just give my two-cent worth on this.

I came across a brochure of a college recently and one part caught my eye. It went something like this, “we aim to give you everything to help you to realise your dream but only you can provide the commitment”. That’s the rub. We can have all the plans, roadmaps, blueprints to excellence but in the end it is down to the individual’s desire and attitude.

Nowadays we can purchase cameras capable of capturing the most beautiful pictures quite cheaply – all within the economic range of most of us. Yet, not that many people have produced beautiful photos. We may have access to the tools but do we have the desire and resilience to use them. There are some who have produced photos of world class excellence – the National Geographic standard as I called it. Two of my friends Kenny Lee and Abdul Rahman have been producing images of superlative quality. I don’t hesitate to call them world class. I am sure they are many others who are serious in the pursuit for excellence. One thing is common among them is their attitude – belief in themselves and belief in the value of hard work. I know they are prepared to get down and dirty on the ground to get the best angle for their shots. They are prepared to sit in the rain or on mosquito infested beach to wait for the right moment to capture the right shot. In other words, they believe that there is a no short cut to success. They don’t depend on favours or preferential treatment for the realisation of their dreams.

The Educational Blueprint is a laudable effort and let’s hope that it can inculcate the value that is essential in our drive towards being world class. However, really in Malaysia we have many who have shown the way. There is that group of sportsperson who proved that we don’t have to play second fiddle to the best in the world. Pandelela, a young lass from the little town of Bau, stood proudly on the podium of Olympics, crowned as the third best diver in the world. There is Lee Chong Wei, who despite having found a nemesis in the form of Lin Dan, has proven that he can produce a high standard consistently to be at the top of the world. What can I say about Nicol David, the squash player par excellence except the perhaps she is the greatest player of all times. I believe she holds the record for being the number one in the world for the longest time.

But it is not all about individual achievements. One government department that we must single as having the system and performance to be a world beater is the immigration department, the one dealing with the issuance and renewal of passports. Where else in the world can one gets ones’ passport done in a matter of just 60 minutes! In fact I didn’t quite believe when I was told that. Having filling up all the paper works, providing the necessary documents and paying my fee I was told by the counter staff, “why don’t you just go down and have your breakfast and we will have your passport ready when you finish.”

I thought she was joking but lo and behold my document was waiting for me when I came back an hour later. If that is not world class I don’t know what is. Wow!

Yes, Minister, we can be world class and perhaps it is not a bad idea to get some tips from the magnificent Lee Chong Wei, Nicol David and the Olympian Pandelela. May we should also form a task force to study the system of the passport department.

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