POLITICAL ECONOMY: How I'd Run the Nation

Amirah Ameer Ali asks:

1) How can we stop having race-based political parties?

2) How can we improve our education system?

3) And economy?

4) How can Malaysians be united?

What's your opinion?

ANSWERS
1) Provide alternatives such as The National Justice Party (aka PKR) and a Green Party and others that will appeal to Malaysians of all ethnic ancestries. See:
Green Alliance of Malaysia

2) Abolish SJK (C) and SJK (T) schools. Teach students how to learn and how to think, less on the "data" of learning, more on the technique. Provide more on learning theory, the joy of discovery, the thrill of finding out for yourself. Tony Buzan's Mind Maps, de Bono's Six Thinking Hats. Benchmark against the best. What can we learn from the Finnish, Canadian and New Zealand Education Systems?
PISA (Student Assessment)
Education in Finland
Finnish education system rocks - Why?
Education in Canada
Education in New Zealand

3) Spend less on the military. Abolish the Navy and Air Force. Have a Coast Guard instead. Piracy and smuggling are big issues facing national security. When was the last time the TUDM plane was used in combat against a foreign aggressor? A TLDM ship? When was the last time Malaysia fought a war? Why are we wasting so much money on nonsense? Why are we not spending money on real issues facing our country? Why buy submarines that can't dive?

As for R&D spending: Increase R&D spending to 4%. Spend money on nuclear energy like fusion and fission. I tend to think of fission as a stop-gap measure until we get fusion going.

Spend more on infrastructure. Fast free broadband, fast ERL-type trains, or double-storey TGV-like trains. LRT for Putrajaya. Extend the ERL from KLIA MTB (Main Terminal Building) to LCCT, Enstek, Seremban and then onto Singapore (the detailed engineering drawings have already been completed and submitted to govt for approval, govt is still pussy-footing around, possibly trying to decide which crony to award the contracts to).

4) Unity is built on understanding and trust, not intolerance, indifference, fear and ignorance. Understanding comes with knowledge and learning, not ignorance. When was the last time Malaysians were taught the customs and culture of the Chinese and Indians? Why are Malaysians not taught how to fold a banana leaf after eating at an Indian banana leaf restaurant? How come so many of us don't even know it makes a difference? Why is it so difficult for a Malay to learn Chinese or Tamil in school? Or a Chinese Arabic? Or an Indian Mandarin? or any Malaysian Spanish or French or German?

I hope the above suffices to initiate a point of departure for discussion.

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