THE CICAK.com

Thinking outside the third-world mindset

By SAMIR HARITH

I had the good fortune (or misfortune) of catching one of the latest programs on RTM, a rather weak attempt to reach out and empower our local graduates. You can check out the program’s background here.

Anyway, this particular episode was discussing the third-world mindset within the local graduates of today. The program had four panelists and a crowd of young students from our local public universities.

The panelists consisted of one mediator, an Associate Professor, the president of the student union of UKM and the vice-president of the student union of Kolej Yayasan Melaka.

The entire purpose of the episode was for the mediator to get the others’ opinion on the issue of local graduates not having a “first-world mentality.� However, the responses given by the student leaders failed to address the issue. If anything, they only further proved the point that our local graduates indeed lack this first-world mentality.

Rather than questioning what a first-world mentality really is, the UKM president went on mouthing off statistics and reading from his little notebook, like a little robot dressed in a blue batik shirt. The poor boy looked so nervous, it seemed like becoming a panelist was a punishment for him.

When asked whether it would be helpful to develop a first-world mentality by going overseas, the second youth panelist from Kolej Yayasan Melaka responded that there is no need to go overseas as we now have the Internet. It’s obvious that he has done his research; after all, who needs to leave the country, learn English, absorb foreign cultures and develop a sense of independence when you can do it comfortably at home?

After a while, the mediator himself got fed up with these youth and asked them to stop reading from their notes. The dude from UKM obliged and surprisingly launched into some rhetoric which actually made sense. However the Kolej Yayasan Melaka still stuck to his notes, like it was a safety blanket of sorts.

This then prompted the mediator to say that students tend to produce better results when what they do is done spontaneously, from their hearts.

I would agree with him on this. And perhaps maybe this is what a “first-class mentality� entails: being able to express oneself and convey what one truly feels.

But before I go any further, let us try to define what a “first-class mentality� really is.

In my opinion, a “first-class mentality� does not necessarily mean having to think the same way the people from “first-world� countries do. For me, having a first-class mindset means being able to accept the views and ideas of others, being able to express one’s views and opinions on others’ thoughts and on the world around us, being aware of what affects us and those around us, and being able to take the initiative to do something about it.

Which brings us to the question: are local graduates equipped with this first-class mentality?

Considering that our local education system is stifling in nature, and the fact that most Malaysians are, essentially, racially polarised, thus shutting themselves off from the thoughts and sensitivities of others, it’s not surprising that a lot of people say they aren’t.

Furthermore, in most of our local public universities students seem to put academic achievements at a higher level than other activities, thus making university life seem like a mere paper chase.

Well, what can be done about it?

In most local public universities, student activities are highly regulated by university authorities, to the point where most student leaders are just suck-ups with little or no substance. I believe one of the ways to resolve these issues is by giving students more freedom to associate. They should be given the skills to learn and to run activities which they really want and which are of real benefit to them.

There is much brouhaha today regarding the high level of unemployment, the low quality of our local graduates, and so on and so forth. But what are the root causes of the problem?

The system? The society? The family?

Perhaps it’s just the students themselves…

What we have now are a generation of students, some of whom want to speak out but simply do not know how.

It’s a point to ponder, for are we as young Malaysians willing to allow some stiff, nervous wreck who can’t speak without his notes to represent us, or are we going to take initiative and represent ourselves as “First World citizens?�

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SAMIR HARITH is an assistant editor for theCICAK.

Samir, also known as Sam, is a right-, upper-, centre-, and diagonal-left-winger. Although currently pursuing a certified Association of Chartered Certified Accountants qualification, he does not intend to crunch numbers for the rest of his life. Deceptively naive and silently observant, his weaknesses include cute girls and computer games. Visit his site.