Malaysian Government does not encourage Flying

Although Malaysia touts as being very advanced to the point of sending
astronauts to Space, they are more likely space tourists because they
are not pilots.

Even in Malaysia, there is no encouragement in getting involved in
Flying as shown by this statement by the Sultan Azlan himself.
Actually it is a fact.

Despite Profefssional Pilots being recognised as the highest paying
job at entry level in Malaysia, at RM10,000 a month, there is no
scholarship on offer for students who want to become Professional
Pilots.

Even Aircraft Maintainance courses, are not given any offer for
scholarships. Luckily parents such as myself can afford to contribute
some financial aids in addition to the insufficient PTPTN loans.

KWSP does not recognise flying as one of the courses that it allows
for withdrawal. It is considered similar to learning how to drive a
car or motorcycle. In fact driving is part of the skills that is most
important for many jobs and yet the Malaysian government does not
encourage it.

It encourages Malaysians to be passengers instead of being the
drivers, as clearly exemplified by the so called ASTRONAUTS.

One excuse could be that driving can be used for private purposes.
Aren't education useful for recreational private purposes as well?
This is especially true for the PPL, private pilot license. As its
name imply, it is a license to allow a person to fly a limited type of
aeroplane for private purposes, but it was clearly stated that it can
also be for business purposes, as long as the pilot is not paid for
flying the aeroplane.

Isn't it similar to our normal car driving license. Of course it does
not have any private mentioned anywhere but its terms and conditions
are very clear. You cannot use the license to ask money from
passengers. In order to ask money from passengers, he needs to get
another type of driving license. Similarly for aeroplanes. I heard of
a doctor who pilots an aeroplane whenever he visits the Pamol
Plantation. Unfortunately he his plane crashed while taking off.

Now Pamol Plantation is accessible by good roads so the airfield there
may not be maintained any more. However there are many other estates
where it is worthwhile to fly. In Australia, many farmers fly
aeroplanes.

Aeroplanes are no longer expensive. Ultralights in Europe, or Sport
Planes in USA can cost less than RM100,000. However, it is the
certification and licensing that is most difficult in Malaysia. In
Malaysia, it only allows these planes if they are assembled and built
by the pilot himself. He cannot import the plane readily built.

For a backward nation like Malaysia, it is no longer surprising.
Malaysian is in the level of the worst nations on earth, the sub-
sahara, such as Eritrea. Our GINI, i.e. gap in national income is
similar to these backward nations.

Even Eritrea operate more advanced jets than Malaysia. They operated
Su27 earlier than even Malaysia getting its Su-30, which is the
updated version of Su27, but Eritrea operated its Su27 20 years ago.

The only loud mouth that Malaysian government tells its people is that
it is well developed. Well, after seeing Dicovery Channels of the so
called backward nations such as Rwanda, Somalia and Palestine, it is
very clear that these nations are also well developed, judged from
their houses, all large stone buildings. Even the police cars operated
by the Hamas administration are much better than the Kancils that the
Malaysian police use.

Most Malaysians are still stuck with small terrace houses or houses
with rusted zinc roofs, as clearly shown by UN statistics. Abdullah's
claims that our average income has increase by 4% per year as a sign
that Malaysia is improving, is actually a lie. It is lower than
inflation and with the highest GINI in Asia, second only to Papua New
Guinea, most Malaysians don't earn that much.

The worst affected are Sabahans and Sarawakians. Its oil is given less
than 5% royalty, and its gas is just stolen for free, despite the
destructions of our environment and therefore the livelihood of our
fishermen. No wonder Sabah is among the poorest in the whole world, in
the same level as Myanmar, Acheh and Sulawesi. If the Malaysian GINI
is 0.49, Sabah should be 0.7, probably the highest in the world.

What is worst is that, there is no sign of it being improved. Budget
is still at 8% for a population of 13% and area of 25%. What is
promised is RM1 bilion, not even sure if it were for one year. If it
were for one year, then the budget allocation should have been
increased by 20% of the 8%, making it only 9.5%, which is still
inadequate.

The Education Ministry is the only ministry that address Sabah more
fairly in giving it 16% of the national budget in Education but it is
too little and too late. Many schools in Kalabakan still do not have
chairs and tables. It may appear to be generous, but it shows that the
Malaysian government even discriminate Sabah further especially in
other areas. With Education given 16% allocation, it means that other
departments are given much less than 8%. For example, the allocation
for roads in Sabah is only RM50 million per year.

One reason why there is a reasonable allocation for Sabah's education
is that its top leaders in Sabah are staffed by Sabahans and are still
professionals, i.e. they are teachers or lecturers, unlike the PTD
staff that normally head other departments. Unfortunately PTD is
already encroaching into the professionalism of the Education
Department by installing their officers in the Education Departments.
Sooner or later, the leaders of these Education Departments will be
the unprofessional PTDs.

A clear example is the case of the Sabahan top Federal Government
Financial Officier in Sabah, who is a geologist. I also heard cases of
a Librarian heading the Immigration Department. Or Accountant heading
an engineering department or vice versa. These accountants and
engineers may be professionals if properly certified and trained but
putting them in other fields will negate their potential to be
professionals. Unless, the Mr. Geologist can take Accounting exams to
be certified by the Accounting body.

Malaysians must wake up. We are already low down in the world ranking.
It is only a matter of time we will be the lowest. Lower than even
Papua New Guinea and Timur-timur. I'm sure Sabah will join these
poorest groups much earlier, if not already in these groups given the
high inflation in Sabah.

Extracted from Google cache:

NST Online » NewsBreak
2008/05/17
Flying academies must give equal opportunities to all
BERNAMA
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IPOH, Sat.:

Flying academies in the country should give equal opportunities to all
Malaysians who wish to undergo pilot training regardless of the
candidates' financial background, said the Sultan of Perak, Sultan
Azlan Shah.
The Ruler urged all agencies responsible for providing financial
assistance to give special consideration to those from the lower-
income group to take up pilot training which involved substantial
cost.

"The flying academies must give equal opportunities for training to
everyone. The agencies responsible for sponsoring students should
provide scholarships and loans to assist students from the lower-
income group to train at these flying academies," he said.

Sultan Azlan Shah said this at the conclusion of training for the
'Military Wing Standard' (MWS), 'Commercial Pilot License/
Helicopter' (CPL/H) and 'Multi Engine Conversion/Instrument Rating
(Helicopter)' (MEC/IR/H) licences at the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport,
here today. Also present was the Raja Muda of Johor, Tunku Ismail
Ibrahim.

All the courses were carried out at the Integrated Training & Services
Sdn Bhd (IT&S) located adjacent to the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport,
here.
Currently, the cost of training to be a helicopter pilot at the IT&S
is RM475,000 for a period of 18 months while the course for flying
fixed-wing aircraft is RM232,000 for a period of 18 months.

Nine helicopter pilot trainees from the Army Air Unit (PUTD),
including a younger brother of the Raja Muda of Johor, Tunku Idris
Tunku Ibrahim Ismail, and four pilot trainees from the Royal Malaysian
Navy (RMN) received their `wings' and certificates for the MWS course
from Sultan Azlan Shah.

Nine pilot trainees from the Fire and Rescue Department completed
their training for the CPL/H course while 13 pilots from the PUTD who
completed their MEC/IR/H also received their wings and certificates
from the Sultan of Perak.