Category: Lim Teck Ghee’s Contribution

  In an earlier posting, I posed the following questions: What is the selection process used to determine investment in R&D in the country’s universities? Who are involved and how rigorous are the grant procedures at the university and individual researcher level? Which external body conducts monitoring of scientific and commercial outcomes and deliverables? Are… Continue reading R&D policy reform to bring about the best outcomes

Several days ago, I received an urgent message from a friend inviting me to a seminar on ‘Corruption Prevention in Business Sector 2009’ organized jointly by the MACC, MACC Consultation and Prevention of Corruption Panel and the Business Ethics Institute of Malaysia. The friend – whose name I need not mention here – is an… Continue reading MACC: Biting the Political Neutrality Bullet

  Where is the public money for R&D going? The following recent article caught my attention: “Universiti Malaysia Pahang has invested RM5 million in a state-of-the-art central laboratory that will focus on developmental research and industrial collaborations …. On financial grants for researchers, Prof Daing Nasir [Vice Chancellor] said they were entitled to a sum… Continue reading Higher education: The worst aspect of policy discrimination of private universities

Commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee On the MACC prescription to curb corruption headlined in the NST yesterday (Nov 10, 2009) firstly, the case for a pay rise of legislators must be considered on its own merit. Perhaps this is necessitated by the increase in responsibilities and the cost of running and maintaining political office.… Continue reading Corruption: The case for salary increases for elected representatives (and the MACC?)

Commentary by Dr Lim Teck Ghee (Director, Centre for Policy Initiatives) Najib Razak’s 2010 Budget is called ‘1Malaysia, Together we prosper’. Before the advent of the Prime Minister’s multi-million ringgit public relations sloganeering, his predecessor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had already introduced the ‘Prosper’ theme. Abdullah in his Oct 30, 2005 budget speech announced ‘Prosper’ or… Continue reading Unemployed graduates: Who prospers?

  It is not our practice to reply to criticism — or praise — on the articles and commentaries we carry in the CPI website. However the accusations by Malay Mail columnist Rusdi Mustapha warrant a rebuttal. His Monday column ‘Seri Menanti: Daulat Tuanku! What it means’ appearing in the tabloid on Oct 12, 2009,… Continue reading Response to Malay Mail article calling CPI ‘communist’

On September 25, I wrote on the recent Time Higher Education- QS Ranking of World Universities which rated our Malaysian public universities poorly in the region and world. By coincidence, the following day, the secretary-general of the Higher Education Ministry, Dr Zulkefli Hassan, had an article in The Star (Sept 26, 2009) titled ‘Towards a… Continue reading Malaysian Universities and the NEP

No Escape from International Comparisons and RankingsFirst of all: a reality check.  We are in a new globalized era in which everyone – whether an individual, a business, an organization or the nation state – has to compete against everyone else, with competitors  coming not only from the neighbourhood but from the rest of the… Continue reading Malaysia’s International Competitiveness: Sliding, Sliding …. (Part 1)

Readers have recently been flooded with news on the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) recently – over radio, television and the newspapers.  Some of the claims made for what is possibly the most ambitious development project packaged for the country are the following: The implementation of 189 projects with an estimated value of RM112 billion… Continue reading East Coast Eastern Region: Gateway to Development or Disappointment?

Kee Thuan Chye’s comment, “The Malaysian way to better English??? (The Sun, 14 August) finally lets the cat out of the bag on what really happens in many of the closed door high level brain storming meetings and consultations conducted by the Government on controversial or sensitive issues such as language policy, culture policy, history… Continue reading The Malaysian way to compromise