Since the currency peg on the Malaysian ringgit was released, we’ve seen the ringgit rise by around 4.8 percent to its current status of US$1 = MYR3.60. While this is predominantly a good thing given its adherence to the free market principles our Government desperately hopes will propel Malaysia’s future development, it hasn’t really helped Malaysian students aiming to go overseas to study as much as we’ve hoped.

Why? Well, the two traditional tertiary education hotspots overseas, i.e. the United Kingdom and United States, have held their own on the foreign exchange market pretty well - especially in recent weeks. The Pound Sterling has recovered much of its strength in the past month, and is now close to returning to the RM 7.00 = 1 Pound threshold UK-bound students know and fear.

But there is hope for the future, at least analysts think so. Recently, it was announced by the ANZ Bank (plus some other organisations) that it is likely that the Malaysian ringgit will appreciate further over 2006 and 2007 due to strong economic prospects, and of course, a weak US dollar. Expectations of higher interest rates have also assisted the ringgit’s rise, and will help underpin a stronger ringgit.

But if the Pound Sterling continues displaying its remarkable strength… urghh, a British education will continue to be hell to pay for. At least students bound for the US have a better outlook given the strong belief that the US Dollar will continue its fall in the medium to long term.

Probably almost every blogger in Malaysia has touched on this subject before. About Public Service Deparment (PSD) scholars, especially medical ones, not returning to Malaysia to serve their bonds. About PSD scholars without even a speck of integrity, or loyalty to the country that educated them, for free too.

So, given the scenario faced by the Government, should potential scholars be protesting that PSD is sending most of their medical scholars to cheaper destinations, e.g. India, Indonesia and Russia, rather than Australia, Ireland and England? After all, not only is it expensive to send potential doctors to the UK, but also potentially foolish if you consider the excellent job prospects provided to them after they complete their studies.

Even locum doctors (temp. doctors) can be paid £1000 a week. Heck, it’s seriously tempting isn’t it? You could effectively work there and pay off your scholarship. Why return to Malaysia and get paid ridiculously low salaries in government hospitals for ten years?

However, that isn’t the whole problem. The fact is that even with the excellent salaries doctors (or engineers, etc.) are paid overseas, there are still a large number of scholars not returning to Malaysia and disregarding their bond entirely. The least they could do is repay their bonds, right? At least that way, the Government wouldn’t be losing money sending scholars overseas (as long as they are paid with market-rate interest too).

So, what should the Government do to curb this behaviour? Already, scholars that do not return to serve their bonds get referred to the Attorney-General for legal action, but since they are already overseas, that’s unlikely to result in anything substantive. Act on their family? Well, probably.

But even that is unlikely to help in the long run. In the long run, there is need to ensure that our scholars want to return home - which is something our neighbour, Singapore, has managed to do. In the past, top Singaporean scholars didn’t want to return to Singapore either. They wanted to stay in top institutions is the United Staes, and conduct research there - something that used to be impossible in Singapore. These days, however, it is rare to find a Singaporean scholar not returning to serve their bonds. After all, their career paths are lined with gold. The organisations they are bonded to are world-class organisations that anyone would love to work in, e.g. Economic Development Board, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

That’s exactly what we need to replicate here in Malaysia. No longer can we afford to let scholars believe that they have no future as an ex-scholar in Malaysia. Understandably, building world-class organisations for scholars to return to will take (a lot of) time, but ensuring that scholars (and the public) know where in the world they will return to and what in the world they will be doing 5 years down the road, should be a piece of cake, right?

Wow. I’m sure male high school students all around the world would scream for pornography as “punishment” for not completing homework. So, it’s surprising that the 13-year old students forced to endure this “punishment” informed their parents about it (yes, I’m only joking, sheesh!).

Anyway, enough of the bad jokes and back to the facts. It seems that recently, a government school teacher forced his students to watch a pornographic movie as punishment for not completing their homework. Both his male and female students were herded into an audio-visual room for this “punishment”.

At this point in time, I’m not sure whether the teacher is a sex maniac, or merely imbecilic. Porn as “punishment”? Did he think he wouldn’t be reported? What happened to the rod, the water bucket, or running around the track as punishment? Whatever it is, I really doubt I would even want to know.