Puteri chief slams Dr Mahathir over remarks on graduates

Bede Hong Bede Hong Updated 6 years ago · Published on 20 Jan 2018 1:08PM · 7 Comments

DR Mahathir Mohamad was wrong in saying Malaysian graduates are forced to take on odd jobs to makes ends meet, said Puteri Umno chief Mas Ermieyati Samsudin.

“The opportunities are many. What is wrong?... We see many Puteri (members) becoming Grab, Uber drivers.

“I think it was wrong, it was a mistake for him to say that,” she told reporters after the launch of Azalea, Barisan Nasional’s women’s youth wing, in Kuala Lumpur today.

On Wednesday, Dr Mahathir had said graduates now needed to work as nasi lemak sellers and Uber drivers due to an education system that failed to prepare them for the job market.

“They are forced to sell nasi lemak because they do not have job opportunities. We are training them to their full potential, not to be Uber drivers and nasi lemak sellers,” the Pakatan Harapan chairman had said during a question-and-answer session on Facebook.

Mas Ermieyati, who is also deputy tourism and culture minister, said graduates were merely taking advantage of opportunities to make more money, and that the trend should not be interpreted otherwise.

“I don’t think that was a wise move by Dr Mahathir. Today, we see many people, even accountants, who are Uber drivers.

“I don’t think it is wrong at all for people to earn side income. We see that many Malaysians today like to have options, whether to take taxis or Uber.

“For Wanita Muda, I think now, we should think of ways to add to our income.”

The youth unemployment rate is at 11%, three times higher than the current national average of 3%.

Dr Mahathir had said instead of increasing budget allocations for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Putrajaya should boost the education system.

“What we see is that the government is reducing the education budget.

“Like university (allocations), the budget is reduced to RM1.1 billion, and we find that there is more allocation for the PMO, three to four times more than during my time.

“Education, job opportunities and investment have a strong link together. If they are not together, it is a mismatch.”

The Malaysian Insight previously reported on graduates who took up cleaning work after they could not find jobs that matched their degrees.

Other graduates have also shared how they preferred resorting to illegal blue-collar work overseas because of the exchange rate, as well as the difficulty in securing jobs at home.

Employment website Monster.com reported that 36% of fresh graduates quit their jobs in their first year of joining the workforce for a range of reasons, including the burden of high living costs in Kuala Lumpur, which has pushed some to give up permanent employment at good firms in the capital for low-paying jobs in their hometowns.

In August last year, Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh said nearly 55,000, or some 22%, of 236,137 graduates were jobless within six months of completing their degrees.

The figure includes graduates from both public universities and private colleges. – January 20, 2018.

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Comments

  • Madam with due respect THAT SHOW MALAYSIA UNEMPLOYMENT STATUS AS WELL THE STANDARD OF EDUCATION. FACE THE FACTS

    Posted 6 years ago by Mohanarajan murugeson · Reply

  • What? Graduates have no jobs, your fault!

    Posted 6 years ago by Uncle Sam · Reply

  • Hi Madam...you said "For Wanita Muda, I think now, we should think of ways to add to our income.” Why we need to think of ways to add our income while it doesn't happened last time? Maksudnya, wang tak cukup & peluang perkerjaan tak cukup lah Kak. Tak paham ke? Aduuuiii....

    Posted 6 years ago by UpDown LeftRight · Reply

  • i just want to make a comparison of the income of a first year legal assistant.
    in 1955 VC george commenced his carrier in seremban with a Salary of 500.
    today we assume it at rm 3000.
    does it match up
    i dont think so
    real income had dropped considerably

    Posted 6 years ago by Satkunabalan Sabaratnam · Reply

  • Oh for Almighty sake Mas Ermieyati --- Shut up. You know nuts about what is in the street economic situation and most probaly you are still suckling to know the difference.

    Posted 6 years ago by Lee Lee · Reply

  • Malaysian's university education is of low quality, but to be fair to najib, it has been low quality even during Dr. Mahathir's time. University graduates during Dr. Mahathir's time were not jobless not because they were good, but because the great number of MNC's who were attracted to the FDI policies implemented during Dr. Mahathris era, opened numerous factories and production lines in malaysia, and thus malaysian graduates then could get jobs even if they were not particularly good at what they did, because there was just an abundance of jobs then. Malaysia is a middle income nation now, and as one, we are not going to attract foreign companies to come here and open their manufacturing facility here because the cheap cost of production. To maintain the lifestyle that we are accustomed to, our graduates must be able to create services and goods that are attractive enough to arouse the interest of the rest of the world. We can't do that because our universities are not that good, and so our graduates are not that good. To be fair, Dr. Mahathir should responsibilty for the poor quality of our universities more than Najib. Afterall, our universities has been of poor quality since his time.

    Posted 6 years ago by Nehru Sathiamoorthy · Reply

  • What Tun means is BN does not know how to develop human resources and put them to better use. Understand?

    Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply