Education and Selection Process Determine Quality of Leadership

Posted by Unknown On Monday, April 1, 2013 0 comments
Selecting prefects or leaders of clubs/actvities in a school system is similar to selecting officials serving in the government. For a school, it is vital that the best are selected for leadership to ensure prestige and quality in the school system. However, it does not seem to be the case for *coughs* certain countries which could be the reason why poor quality leaders are selected.

People get the leaders that they choose/vote for hence it is vital that one thinks carefully and not simply vote based on emotions or blind loyalty.

For me, the most important factor is a candidate's education - and potential leaders MUST have at least a first degree, preferably from a prestigious university of world class standards. Look at Singapore's Cabinet of Ministers and their qualifications - especially Lee Kuan Yew's qualifications. CLICK HERE and see the high standards for the Singapore Parliament. CLICK HERE to see an example of a CV of a minister. You can go check up on each MP's qualifications and record and compare for yourself. The ministers there are one of the highest paid in the world because the country is prepared to pay for quality. Do we have QUALITY leaders of high calibre? What sort of calibre????? To scold the other side? Make childish accusations? To evade queries? To serve the rakyat? Who comes first? Self? Party? People?

Take a look at THIS WEBSITE to see the high standards. 

And if one needs to renew the employment pass, they have to do a self-assessment test HERE where integrity, service and excellence are upheld.

To illustrate, if one is not prepared to fork out money for a meal and instead prefers to be penny wise and pound foolish, one may end up eating something that is either not a balanced meal or one that has been prepared with low standards of hygiene, low quality or substandard ingredients and worse still, expired condiments. To save a few ringgit, one may have to pay the price for foolishness if food poisoning is the result.

Similarly, if political parties do not stick to an evaluation system that upholds high standards in morals, ethics, principles, academic standards and record of service, any Tom, Dick or Harry can be selected just because he is so and so's good friend, popular, loyal etc. is selected while those who are not in synch with the leadership but display positive qualities could be put in cold storage or sent to stand in constituences where they are doomed to lose - just so their political career ends.

Here's a very good article that Angela sent me about two weeks ago. The nation really gets what it deserves.

I hope citizens will not be given the runaround or disinformation, misinformation, subliminal propoganda or be distracted by provocative statements from neuron-challenged individuals who are masquerading as authorities for the next GE. It is time citizens STAND UP nd vocalise what WE WANT TO SEE IN CANDIDATES instead of being at the mercy of parties who send candidates to constituencies at any whim and fancy. Vote wisely. See your aduns. Ask them for their record of service. Think, analyze and look at the candidates' qualities, background and genuineness in his/her desire to be elected. Can they deliver? Have they delivered? Do not be swayed by fancy acronyms or slogans. Your future is in your hands. Our future is dependent on collective intelligence and accountability.

Seriously, Malaysians have to be more discerning and not think in a black and white situation especially when the black could be grey one day and the white could be light grey on another. We have to vote because we want this country to develop and not in retaliation etc etc etc. We have to move beyond all that.....


Disclaimer: By sharing the following excerpt, please note...

  1. I am sharing this without prejudice and without any ethnocentric feelings. 
  2. I am not saying or implying that China is better nor am I saying Chinese make better leaders. No. I am not provoking people to call me pendatang etc. 
  3. I am trying to illustrate the premise of this post which is the fact that we must have QUALITY leaders and that can only come with QUALITY education and wisdom in voting.
  4. To stop the rot from worsening, we need to really pay careful attention to our children's education, this country's education standards to ensure all can be on par with or better than international standards.
  5. I am  not promoting communism and am NOT communist. 
  6. I am merely sharely information to stimulate our thinking processes.
  7. If there is  no competitive environment based on meritocracy, we are doomed.

You probably already know that China has a system of annual university entrance examinations, taken by about 10 million students each year. This set of examinations is quite stiff and perhaps even harsh, covering many subjects and occupying three days. The tests require broad understanding, deep knowledge and high intelligence, if one is to do well.

Any student whose results are near the top of the list, is in the top 2% or 3% of a pool of 1.5 billion people.

Getting a high mark qualifies a student to enter one of the top two or three universities, which will virtually guarantee a great job on graduation, a high salary and a good life. Moving down the scale of results, the prospects become increasingly meager.

You may not know that China also has a system of bar examinations which every graduate lawyer must pass in order to practice law in China.

For these, we can bypass "stiff" and "harsh" and go directly to "severe". Out of about 250,000 graduate lawyers who sit for the exam, only about 20,000 will pass and obtain qualifications to actually be a practicing lawyer in China.

Once again, the exams require broad understanding of all matters legal, deep knowledge of the laws, and high intelligence.

So if you happen to meet a Chinese lawyer, you can be assured you are dealing with someone from top 1% or 2% of a pool of 1.5 billion people.

I mention these two items only to introduce a third - the Civil Service Examinations.

Becoming a Government Official in China

The Imperial examinations were designed many centuries ago to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. They lasted as long as 72 hours, and required a great depth and breadth of knowledge to pass.

It was an eminently fair system in that the exam itself had no qualifications. Almost anyone, even from the least educated family in the poorest town, could sit the exam and, if that person did well enough, he or she could join the civil service and potentially rise to the top.

The modern civil service examination system evolved from the imperial one, and today, millions of graduates write these each year. And for these, we can bypass "severe" and go directly to "brutal", because out of the millions of candidates only about 10,000 will get a pass.

The Chinese Have High Standards

And that pass doesn't get you a job; all it gets you is an interview. 

If you meet anyone in China's central government, you can rest assured you are speaking to a person who is not only exceptionally well educated and knowledgeable on a broad range of national issues but is in the top 1% of a pool of 1.5 billion people.

Moreover, China's government officials are all highly-educated and trained engineers, economists, sociologists, scientists, often at a Ph.D. level. Contrast this with the Western system where most politicians are either lawyers or those with no useful education.

We should also remember that the Chinese generally score about 10% higher on standard IQ tests than do Caucasian Westerners, and couple this with the Chinese process of weeding out all but the top 1% from consideration.

When you add further the prospect of doing your weeding from a pool of 1.5 billion people, you might expect China's Central Government to be rather better qualified than that of most other countries. And it is.

The point of this is to bring your attention to the disparity between the quality of 'politicians' in Western countries and China's government officials. The discrepancy is so vast that comparisons are largely meaningless.

Friends, Family and 'Connections'

There are some who will tell you that family connections in China can produce a government job for some favored son, a claim that may be true in some places though extremely difficult at the national level.

But no amount of 'connections' will move you into senior positions or to the top of decision-making power; those places are reserved for persons of deep experience and proven ability.

"Of the Communist Party’s highest ruling body, the 25-member Politburo, only seven came from any background of wealth or power.

The rest of them, including the president and the prime minister, were from ordinary backgrounds with no special advantages. They worked and competed all the way to the top. In the larger Central Committee, those with privileged backgrounds are even scarcer.

A visit to any top university campus in China would make it obvious to anyone that the Communist Party continues to attract the best and the brightest of the country’s youth.

In fact, China’s Communist Party may be one of the most meritocratic and upwardly mobile major political organizations in the world - far more meritocratic than the ruling elites of most Western countries and the vast majority of developing countries." (1)

Choosing the Nation's Leaders

Consider how it would be if a Western country could identify and assemble the 300 best, brightest, wisest, most educated and experienced people in the nation, men and women of great proportion whose depth and breadth of knowledge and ability were the envy of all. And consider this group selecting some to be their leaders - the Prime Minister, President, Cabinet members.

That's essentially how China does it. On what basis can we tell them their way is wrong? For Westerners to refer to this as a dictatorship is offensive and merely stupid.


How nice if our country has such high standards of education and entry requirements for government officials....but......



The truth is...the rot started from the past...grew somewhere, contaminated the education sector and gnawed at our country's human resources like a cancerous tumour in its final stage and now...has spread virally to so many, if not all, sectors!!!

What do you think? The revamp must come from the top, the leaders and most importantly, in the education system or else, we are likely to be doomed, if not ALREADY doomed.

What would happen if some are ruled by $$$ and not conscience?

What would happen if majority in a nation cannot:

  • think independently and critically
  • question
  • analyze
  • vocalize
  • suggest
  • identify
  • evaluate
  • assess
  • and think for themselves what is told to them?
Just look at the current student population and you can have an idea of what lies ahead.

What would happen if there are students of calibre but they are NOT given opportunities? Yesterday evening, I met a tailor and his wife who lamented about how they sold their house to send their daughter for dentistry in India. I am not joking when I tell you that I cried when I heard the cry from their hearts.

They sold their home for 600 000RM and the daughter needs about 300 000RM. They still have two more children. And now, they do not have a home, looking for a house to rent, and worrying about their children's education. She scored 9As at SPM and 2B and 1 A in A levels but cannot get any scholarship except parents' scholarship. Those who can, don't get a chance and many who can't may not want to study even if given a chance.

Whither Malaysia?

Please leave a comment to share your views. Thanks!

Part 2 of this post will be posted at 3.30p.m. today. Please swing by again later.


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