If you can change the world... or perhaps just one person's thinking..

1. I am confronted with the possibility of putting myself right in the middle of the crossfire - the MRT project, with a controversial contract owner as a potential employer. As always, I'd need to examine my heart and pray the istikharah - not that I have even attended the interview.
2. To do this, I need to have a sincere positioning as to this opening. What is my role, and this role must be one that I can live with. Of course, the devil uses all sorts of bogeys to prevent decisiveness and encourage uncertainties - but alhamdulillah Allah has provided aql and also to reach out to Allah for hidayah.
3. Principles are as below:
• That I benefit the most people in my position of responsibility
• That I uphold truth and justice in my dealings. While this means exercising independent thought, this also means being able to discern the different roles of the different stakeholders.
• That I have the opportunity to do good to my family and to myself.. ie leave a legacy. 
4.  Now I've got that out of the way, let's examine facts about the MRT.
• by all accounts, extremely high cost vs all others. I'm not sure if inflationary effects and base raw material effects have been included in the consideration, but surely that is a question to be asked? Are the specifications common or there are additional features in the Malaysian design that seemingly inflated the costs to most worrying levels.
• That it seems rushed. The alignment has still not been sorted out for the Jalan Sultan, TTDI and perhaps other locations. The overall MRT masterplan is still out there somewhere. Yet this unsolicited MMC-Gamuda bid has been awarded at this inflated cost.
• Speaking of costs, does the Govt know how to value projects of this size? My prior experience in PBX2 seems to indicate they have no idea and the fact that there is willingness for the public sector to fund private sector profits indicate they are ignorant of a proper funding structure for these PPP/PFI type projects.
• Auctioneering is necessary otherwise government will always be beholden. Will the private sector refuse generous terms? Are there kickbacks involved? I wouldnt want to know if there are - but these are dangerous times to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to this types of development. The Arab Spring had "sprung" up in reaction to raging impotence to a sense of injustice. RM36b - RM50b can do that. The question will be what is the funding structure? Refusal to have open tenders, or a token Swiss Challenge, is insufficient.
• But again, Government is probably a bit smarter in that there is the added layer of building a "world-class private sector objective", although in this case, privatising profits is a strange way of doing it. There should be no additional subsidies / grants to support financing given the ridiculous profit margins for this and to consider the construction as purely a private sector play. Having said that, where is the breakeven for the operators?
• And here GoM has the trumpcard of a property play for the sites. And so, there is the answer for a rather complex equation. Does this mean the numbers work out? That remains to be seen.
5. So what would my role be? Primarily to deliver value to the company, increase credibility of the engineering profession, and ensure I turn out fine insyaAllah. May Allah guide me in my affairs.

FW: Danger: America Is Losing Its Edge In Innovation

http://blogs.forbes.com/ciocentral/2011/01/20/danger-america-is-losing-its-edge-in-innovation/

Interesting take on engineers and their role in this world.

Posted by Eric Savitz
Written By Norm Augustine
Norm Augustine: We're falling behind.



I’ve visited more than 100 countries in the past several years, meeting people from all walks of life, from impoverished children in India to heads of state. Almost every adult I’ve talked with in these countries shares a belief that the path to success is paved with science and engineering.
In fact, scientists and engineers are celebrities in most countries. They’re not seen as geeks or misfits, as they too often are in the U.S., but rather as society’s leaders and innovators. In China, eight of the top nine political posts are held by engineers. In the U.S., almost no engineers or scientists are engaged in high-level politics, and there is a virtual absence of engineers in our public policy debates.
Why does this matter? Because if American students have a negative impression – or no impression at all – of science and engineering, then they’re hardly likely to choose them as professions. Already, 70% of engineers with PhD’s who graduate from U.S. universities are foreign-born. Increasingly, these talented individuals are not staying in the U.S – instead, they’re returning home, where they find greater opportunities.
Part of the problem is the lack of priority U.S. parents place on core education. But there are also problems inherent in our public education system. We simply don’t have enough qualified math and science teachers. Many of those teaching math and science have never taken a university-level course in those subjects.
I’ve always wanted to be a teacher; in fact, I took early retirement from my job in the aerospace industry to pursue a career in education. But I was deemed unqualified to teach 8th-grade math in any school in my state. Ironically, I was welcomed to the faculty at Princeton University, where the student newspaper ranked my course as one of 10 that every undergraduate should take.
In a global, knowledge-driven economy there is a direct correlation between engineering education and innovation. Our success or failure as a nation will be measured by how well we do with the innovation agenda, and by how well we can advance medical research, create game-changing devices and improve the world.
I continue to be active in organizations like the IEEE to help raise the profile of the engineering community and ensure that our voice is heard in key public policy decisions. That’s also why I am passionate about the way engineering should be taught as a profession – not as a collection of technical knowledge, but as a diverse educational experience that produces broad thinkers who appreciate the critical links between technology and society.
Here we are in a flattening world, where innovation is the key to success, and we are failing to give our young people the tools they need to compete. Many countries are doing a much better job. Ireland, despite a devastated economy, just announced it will increase spending on basic research. Russia is building an “innovation city” outside of Moscow. Saudi Arabia has a new university for science and engineering with a staggering $10 billion endowment. (It took MIT 142 years to reach that level.) China is creating new technology universities literally by the dozens.
These nations and many others have rightly concluded that the way to win in the world economy is by doing a better job of educating and innovating. And America? We’re losing our edge. Innovation is something we’ve always been good at. Until now, we’ve been the undisputed leaders when it comes to finding new ideas through basic research, translating those ideas into products through world-class engineering, and getting to market first through aggressive entrepreneurship.
That’s how we rose to prominence. And that’s where we’re falling behind now. The statistics tell the story.
•U.S. consumers spend significantly more on potato chips than the U.S. government devotes to energy R&D.
•In 2009, for the first time, over half of U.S. patents were awarded to non-U.S. companies.
•China has replaced the U.S. as the world’s number one high-technology exporter. •Between 1996 and 1999, 157 new drugs were approved in the U.S.  Ten years later, that number had dropped to 74.
•The World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. #48 in quality of math and science education.
Innovation is the key to survival in an increasingly global economy. Today we’re living off the investments we made over the past 25 years. We’ve been eating our seed corn. And we’re seeing an accelerating erosion of our ability to compete. Charles Darwin observed that it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change.
Right now the U.S. is not responding to change as we need to. But there is a way forward. Five years ago, I was part of a commission that studied U.S. competitiveness. We issued a report called Rising Above the Gathering Storm, which made some important recommendations and specific actions to implement them.  The recommendations were:
•Improve K-12 science and math education.
•Invest in long-term basic research.
•Attract and retain the best and brightest students, scientists and engineers in the U.S. and around the world.
•Create and sustain incentives for innovation and research investment.
Our report was received positively and enjoyed tremendous political support. I felt confident that we were finally getting back on the right track.
In 2007, Congress passed the America COMPETES Act, which authorized official support for many of the steps urged in the Gathering Storm report. When the stimulus package was passed early in 2009, most of the COMPETES Act’s measures received funding. There was an increase in total federal funding for K-12 education, the creation of scholarships for future math and science teachers, and financial support to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a new agency dedicated to high-risk, high-reward energy research.
Since the completion of our study five years ago, however, 6 million more kids have dropped out of high school in this country. What kind of future will they have? Likely not a promising one. It is quite possible that our nation’s adults will, for the first time in U.S. history, leave their children and grandchildren a lower standard of living than they themselves enjoyed.
Global leadership is not a birthright. Despite what many Americans believe, our nation does not possess an innate knack for greatness.  Greatness must be worked for and won by each new generation. Right now that is not happening. But we still have time. If we place the emphasis we should on education, research and innovation we can lead the world in the decades to come. But the only way to ensure we remain great tomorrow is to increase our investment in science and engineering today.



Norm Augustine is an IEEE Life Fellow and retired chairman and CEO of  Lockheed Martin.

Organic growth of innovation vs Centralisation of institutions, MRT

Innovation

1. Malaysian Government under Najib has a funny way of doing things. When things dont work, they undermine the whole system by duplicating the role. Take EPU. Planning without execution, botched megaprojects etc.. create PEMANDU.. hooray lots of megaprojects and EPPs for all ETP, which will meet the NKEAs being tracked by NKRAs. RMK10 throw in the dustbin. MOSTI not paying attention to the I, fine - create UNIK.
2. Leadership is about getting the right people on the bus, and making sure the wrong people gets off the bus. Especially in situation requiring hard decisions. Constrained resources. People respect you for doing the hard decisions, but you must explain yourself. The waffling, flip-flopping nature of Pak Lah's administration is now replaced by waffling, you-can-get-away-with-anything administration of Najib. At least, there are decisions. Wrong, but decisions nonetheless.
3. Now this creature of UNIK. What does it do first? Come up with an Akta that centralises innovation powers in its hand. The la-la hypothesis is that the Chief UNIK is a know-it-all and a snap of his fingers will cause the whole of Malaysia to tremble in fear and be innovative. Sounds like a Stalinist / Hitlerist maneouvre to me.
4. Why cant ppl in Malaysia be trusted to do the right things through incentivising innovative practices, and then discouraging stupid acts of giving some inflated contracts to unqualified people? Why cant the best global talents be facilitated into the country and lead and mould best practice entities, and hoping there is enough tech absorption by creating the environment for people to accept best practices? Why cant we do away with just giving some pieces of the cake to people we know who can talk their way out of trouble but probably lacks the competence and gumption to make a difference? Where are the innovative entrepreneurs (not the innovative rentiers) that the country has produced so far, and give them a free and facilitating hand to expand? What are incentives to offer to private capital to come in?
5. Instead, UNIK will have powers to 'streamline' existing funds and appoint innovation ambassadors. Fine, there are opportunities to improve, but these are incremental improvements, not game-changers as those outlined in Item 4. If UNIK can only do incremental stuff so that the game-changer explodes, I'm afraid innovation will still occur in Malaysia, but it will be inspite of UNIK not because of it.
6. Innovation will thrive when the environment allows it to. Lifelong education, primary, secondary, tertiary. Entrepreneurial training - engaging Entrepreneurs in Residence to mentor successful ventures. VCs and PEs need the deal pipelines in place, and this can be done by co-locating them into major innovation centers - and sorry, but somehow that means not in KL. Target sectors should be able to access global markets, but sorry, knowing a couple of MNCs may not be sufficient. Someone needs to tap local agencies with global reach, and large MNCs to open up market access. And this is no small matter if we look at some of the areas that we are interested in - large pharmas - US, Europe and India, industrial biotech - US, China, Europe, Brazil, ICT - mainly emerging markets, other sectors as relevant.  
7. If after no 6, what we do is centralisation, I'm afraid someone is hopelessly deluded. Innovation ecosystem and culture - and centralised in one single agency because the multi-agency committee / ministry failed to execute its function before. Perhaps this can be dismissed as just another Malaysian cynic. Maybe so. But if people up there are serious to do good, Rakyat Didahulukan and all that stuff, this is one hell of a strange way to carry out your functions - relying on one smartarse to perform what a ministry has failed to do.

MRT

1. It's shameful that the absurd costings and silly alignment that the EPP for MRT as shown in their open day kind of shows the shallowness of the proposal. The project feels and looks rushed. Accepting an unsolicited proposal from the private sector and after protests appointing the same company as a project manager, and then promising a Swiss Challenge is merely an afterthought. Just one question. Where is the bloody masterplan incorporating the whole transport planning for the Klang Vally and its adjacent satellite towns. If there isnt one, shame on PEMANDU, SPAD and everyone related to this proposal! Federal Highway will still be jammed because Subang Jaya isnt part of this planning. Where are the traffic forecasts? Where is the costing? Where is the inputs from the planning agencies from all the local authorities? Who is driving this - SPAD, PEMANDU, or GAMUDA? Who bloody cares about the increased property prices?
2. Worst thing (or Best of all) about all of this is a Citizen-watchgroup calling themselves TRANSIT has a proper masterplan and proposal to do this. Malu weh.

Quick thots on the Malaysian RE landscape

1.       There are significant demand drivers eg uncertainty of oil price, effective FiT and RPS incentives that increase usage of RE as a proportion of total energy source portfolio in developed countries. As a result, tech is improving and thin film solutions and next-gen cells and wafers are seeing increased efficiencies while prices are dropping with China’s manufacturing capabilities that competes with US and Germany’s unparalleled leadership.

2.       As a result, Malaysia is joining the bandwagon – very late in the game. Even then, decisions have been painfully slow, NGTC is formed but it appears there is a belated appreciation that a new statutory body is required – so SEDA comes in. This is now separate from EC and I assume it will fall under KETTHA. Which will be the hobbyhorse when we look at the various RE tech options?

3.       If we breakdown the tech source options, then we find that GBI, which is more industry-led and has acceptance from professionals and market potential could be more regional, and then we have the other biomass, biogas, solar PV options which is very dependent on FiT rates being put in. There seems to be some revision to the rates and I’m not sure which has national policy backing now. It’s very undecided –and there is a distinct lack of leadership. K could be right by focusing only on the carbon capture part.

4.       The absence of market creation strategies seems to hinder the whole initiative. There probably needs to be a change management advisory which focuses primarily on the regulators that can help close this huge gap. Suddenly the existing networks seem to be very valuable. Where are the penalties for polluting to complement the incentives? Even a no plastic day seems to be seen as a major breakthrough. This is a strategic focus then.

Reflections & calibration: Naeem, Hira', Al-Juneid and ARMA

Naeem on Tahfiz

1.       Naeem’s first steps on his journey to be hafiz / (huffaz?) of the quran yesterday is something I’d need deep reflection on. The steps I did not take, the opportunity costs of not wanting to extend myself, of averting from additional pressure probably cost me aspects of personality that could have been changed. Is this regret? No, Alhamdulillah, things have turned out as it were, though there are aspects where in a parallel universe I would have found more ease in. I suppose the weakness in this thinking is the fatalism that I’ve subjected myself to that this is the best that I could be – the main point is, were there things that could have been improved? The answer then is of course, just as things could be improved now. But, if we are intent on taking the best opportunities, increasing the preparedness in our lives we need to be ready for these openings.

2.       Naeem going to tahfiz provides a stronger spiritual dimension in his life. It is also preparation for an academic study into spirituality-deeniyah and dunya. It also follows that his parents need to improve as parents of a hafiz. The objectives here are for a pathway into deeniyah studies and a suitable dunya education following the strength and character building part of his self. These would be the main things to watch out for in Hira’.

3.       Therefore watch out and strengthen the little things, as well as the large things which have been in error or in omission. And to Him we beg for forgiveness and ask for an expiation from sins, and the fortitude to stay on His path.

 

Tahfiz model

4.       On the other hand, the tahfiz model as per Al-Junied is as below:

Islamic Studies: Quranic Studies : Hifz / Tilawah with tajwid, At-Tafsir, Ulum Al-Quran,  Al-Akhlak, At-Tauhid, Al-Mantiq

Al-Fiqh :  Usul Al-Fiqh, Al-Qawaid Al-Fiqhiyah, Al-Hadith / Mustalah Al-Hadith, Al-Faraidh

Arabic Studies: Al-Insya’, An-Nahwu,  As-Sarf, Al-Adab Al-Arabi, Al-Balaghah, At-Tarikh Al-Islamic

Academic Education The curriculum for the academic adheres to the syllabus prescribed by the Ministry of Education, Singapore. PSLE at Primary 6 and ‘O’ Level at Sec 4 where the students qualify for Polytechnics / JC in Singapore.

Co-Curricular Activities:   Islamic Calligraphy, Recitation of the Holy Quran (Taranum), Sports, Domestic Science, Nasyid ( An Islamic choir), Astronomy

Community Involvement Programme: Students are directly involved in all special projects and fund raising activities conducted by madrasah or Muslim organizations, Students assisted financially by the welfare department will have to serve 30 hours of CIP

 

5.       I am absolutely convinced that just as Hira’ and Al-Amin chain of schools under Musleh is superior to the government model, and that includes the new Ulul-Albab model being rolled out under Yayasan Terengganu, MRSM and JAIS – which I believe is still experimental and may lack the necessary academic staff aptitude and support (and this I need to ascertain) – I believe given time, the madrasah system in Singapore will be the model to emulate. Talk of meritocracy being a superior model to the ‘assisted support program for underperforming majority’. The Singapore model is quietly transforming themselves from quite good to excellent, shepherded by very capable people and supported by the government. I repeat, the Government of Singapore! Contrast this with unhelpful rhetorics of Al-Amin being a breeding ground of Wahhabis and such.

6.       Ya Allah, grant me the strength to make a contribution to the way things are proceeding here in Malaysia, so that it could be for the betterment of the ummah.

 

BR Consult

7.       Interesting opp. I’d need to put on a very different thinking model here. One, how can I support the business growth objectives so that this ould become a self-sustainable opportunity for me, family and transform the way things are currently. The kiasu-ness needs to kick-in. I should not allow this to work towards a standard op, but study what successful consulting firms are doing. This is a business development problem.

 

 

 

 

Tolled Roads and National Embarassments!

Tolled Road Solutions

1.       Asas Serba has come up with a RM50b dividend bond proposal to fund its takeover of all the expressways in Malaysia, and also promises a 20% reduction of tolls as part of the proposal. Is is feasible? Sure. But that is not the question.

2.       Why are expressways lucrative? Most international funding agencies cite the PPP / PFI arrangement of tolled roads as workable. BUt the real question was how it was structured that was positively lopsided so as to create a disadvantaged party in the Government.

3.       Malaysia's structure allowed for the concessionaire to cite a construction cost, which already included a substantial margin. In return for the financing risks undertaken by the concessionaire, the toll concession will be for an agreed period, say 20 years, with builtin adjustment formulas to compensate the concessionaire for the maintenanc, upgrading, operations and also for inflationary pressures over the period.

4.       This is not dissimilar to the first-generation IPP structures, and certainly provides the concessionaire with an advantage for it to diversify into other areas such as YTL's forays into global markets knwoing that there is a stable, recurring cash cow back home that could protect it from risks inherent in foreign deals. Anyways, YTL's foray into regulated markets meant that it was still cautious enough, and the sweetheart deals it could conclude with dodgy clauses about appointing key personnel from the other party to juicy posts meant that it could live well off the initial deal.

5.       Quite why UEM, Renong, and now Khazanah has been unable to take advantage of PLUS is another

5. issue. The latter may well need PLUS to cover for the other dodgy deals that it has inherited.

6.       Where's the sweetheart deal in toll roads that Asas Serba is so interested in? The secret probably lies in the capital structure. Why bonds? This will be a fully leveraged deal - but the finer details is where Asas Serba is hoping to clinch it. And beware the valuation for all the expressways and the concession period that it is asking for. In all probability, the public would do well to consider if it intends to forsake the multiple generations beholden to tolls for a 20% reduction Asas Serba is throwing about.

7.       For whatever the deal’s worth, the question is who’s paying? Government saves on compensation payments, and lest we forget, it’s not the Government’s – it’s the rakyats. Now who will pay for the sweetheart deal for Asas Serba? For sure, the existing private shareholders for the toll concessionaires will receive a premium to facilitate their decision to sell for the profitable routes, and the less profitable ones will still walk away with their money’s worth.

8.       The solution isn’t replacement like-with-like. The solution is for expropriation, and the rakyat owns it. If Asas Serba, without track record and just a few sheets of A4 people can expect to raise RM50b, why not sovereign government of Malaysia?, Let it be that once toll concessions end, we can expect that there will no longer be continual payment in perpetuity, whereas now exits are deferred by concession extensions.

Musa Hassan - the embarassing IGP, Syam - the more embarassing Minister in charge

9.       The issue here is justice. If you can dispense justice, and there is integrity and professionalism in how you dispense your responsibilities, there are no embarassing questions you need to fend off. And if the IGP of Malaysia 'merajuk' - bloody hell, what hope do we have? We may as well have Rafidah Aziz there. And if the Minister echoes and supports this embrassing turn of events - ei... malu la!

10.   I have serious reservations abt Syam and his pronouncements. More often than note, he just hits the wrong nerves. He’s just so out of touch – and if this is the best UMNO can offer… bloody hell!

Observations, too...

Over the last three decades, we can observe that the engineering profession is quickly losing, or has lost, its lustre. When I was in my primaryschool days, I could feel the respect when my mother speaks about our backdoor neighbour who was an engineer with UDA, never mind the fact my schoolteacher parents could afford to have the exact same house as he did. (of which, I am proud of, Mak..;-) ) It was probably imprinted in my subconscious, that about 7 years after, subsequent to getting my SPM results, at our family meeting discussing my study and career options, despite my sense that my parents were hoping for the “doctor” answer, I suggested engineering with the excuse I am not much good at cutting up cadavers. If they were disappointed, they didn’t show it, and even went out of their way helping me get my TNB scholarship by meeting with Dr Salim Sairan (arwah now), Dato’ Rashid (unknowingly the father of my colleague here in SWF), En. Karim(!?) (curse on my memory lapses) and many others. Thanks again, Mak. (and abah, too, sorry I probably did not voice it out when you were around)

Since then, I have evolved into this super-rational human being, heard that people have said that I seem emotionally void at times, dungu at others, and being in the investment realm doesn’t help remedy that, instead it has probably accelerated the process further. But engineers have other redeeming features. We say it as it is. Although moving up the organizational pyramid and moving to the financial industries have seriously removed that from me. Okay, we are logical, able to spot gaps and issues and arrive to a conclusion quickly. Hmmm.. let’s not go there, as I certainly can not claim that as a personal virtue. Right, we inquire about the truth, and defend it to the hilt. Perhaps, moreso a long, long time ago, but especially not now in this industry where I’m still trying to find my footing.

But, back to my main point, why and where did engineers lose their attraction? The advent of IT was certainly a major factor. IT graduates commanded more pay, had better job offers and the industry shone brightly. In Malaysia, finance and banking industry boomed and grew by leaps and bounds in the last two decades aided by GOM’s drive to accelerate Malaysia’s economic growth. I know plenty of engineers in finance, and elsewhere, financial engineering has even been blamed for the unfolding economic crisis. It also became fashionable to import expertise from outside in developing Malaysia’s iconic buildings, Hijjaz Kasturi was probably the exception of a local who managed to swell his reputation despite the unfair global competition. FTAs and the WTOs will further liberalise these services sector, and the remaining engineering services providers will either become small-scale organizations living on scraps, or partners and sub-contractors of Aussie and New Zealand (!) engineering companies trying to enter our markets. (I mean, British, American, Japanese, Dutch – OK I can understand, but New Zealand? Come on.., Aussie – well OK they are probably good, but I don’t like them to a fault, so there u go)

So, engineers end up not having much in terms of pay. They don’t have that many places to practice their trade, and if they did it will be doing mundane, routine, mind-numbing stuff in GLCs, and hence, they also find their route to the top of the pile jealously guarded by people who are more innovative and has more game-changing arsenal compared to the average Mat Engineer. It is a systemic problem, and the brutal truth is that who ever is left in the profession will bear the brunt of the blame, or the shit-cleaning job, of the landslides, cracks in flyover pillars, foundations, buildings and such like. Others who have the capacity to change lanes should leave their tracks, and seek the arsenal required to change this fate.

As a nation, can we live on being a nation of economists, financiers and Islamic bankers? Sure we can. But at the end of the day, wouldn’t a diversified skill set working within the framework of nation-building, be better for Malaysia?

The human development policy in Malaysia is in such shambles that any demand for salary increase is a political issue, and none is more adept at playing this game than CUEPACS. Schoolteachers have had their increase, private sector can job-hop and get their increase, fishermen, taxi-drivers etc will get what they want as soon as the guy in charge sees a perceived erosion in political support. The ad-hoc, elastoplast, cant see beyond tomorrow approach has been the bane of Malaysia in the last 4 years. A mitigating factor for Pak Lah is that the last 5 years of Mahathir was also not great as he sought to exit with his political reputation intact.

Economically, the low-wage structure has got to be gradually unraveled. We cannot sustain this as the costs are too high. The “brain drain” to moneybags Middle East and ravenous China is turning into a tidal flow- where it was once only geologists, it now includes engineers, accountants, nurses, doctors and anyone who is able to pad up his CV with important sought-after recruitment keywords and has friends already working over there. The leftovers are unable to make up for it, and already sectors such as manufacturing are crying over firstly, the lack of quantity and then the quality of the local graduates, either struggling to speak coherent English or ability to grasp mundane work instructions. It is a sad indictment of an education policy which encourages, subsidises and allows our people to pursue expensive, overseas education, (the Malays who get their overseas education paid for by government agencies are proportionately most at fault here, and those whose parents, including the non-Malays- can most afford it are the ones which we need to train our guns on the most) could not provide the employment opportunities upon their return, their individual attitude’s towards depending upon government handouts notwithstanding.

Obviously, meritocracy would be the solution. But we have lost the last generation of our people being molly-coddled and pampered to the extent that any drastic removal of privileges and opportunities would create sustained political fractures as racial jealousy and demand for personal, class and racial rights overtake common sense.

It would seem the first step is always to create the right environment and context to move forward, prioritizing firstly, judging equally between man (populace, if you happen to be one of those gender-sensitive people who bite at such trivialities), removal of suspicions of underhanded motives emanating from other countries, respect for the legacy that we have and our 51 year history which has allowed us to move this far, that only then can we begin to take the first tentative steps towards removal of these forces which hold us back.