1/3 schools not having water and electricity – not surprising when about same % of rural households in the interiors especially Sarawak & Sabah also have no access to regular water electricity supply. (The other obvious problem is how to force new trained teachers to go to these interiors. Would you go if you were a teacher?) How come water and electricity could not penetrate these rural interior places?

Don’t know the answer but can speculate : maybe lack of coordination amongst various stakeholders. How did TDM’s spate of privatization (or ‘piratisation’) of utilities affect the equation? For electricity, have to deal with privatized/corporatised TNB, Sabah’s SESB, Sarawak’s SESCO and Independent Power Producers (IPP). When privatized aren’t they not concerned with bottom line consideration of cost & profit? If so, will they be as keen to negotiate and procure wayleave for transmission lines and grids in rural interior areas where capital expediture is big and returns small?? Water also privatised – think these entities will be enthusiastic to incur costs to lay down water treatment plants or distribution in loss-making sector of rural interiors?

When schools are involved there’s further interfacing with in Ministry of Education, Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri and Pejabat Pelajaran Daerah, Ministry of Health and maybe even Environment run by little Napoleons. Regulatory structure involves so many different stakeholders –but who takes overall responsibility to coordinate and get every one to do their part?

Can our politicians have real effective control over the bureaucracy to implement socio-economic programs expeditiously without resistance?

Perhaps they can’t or maybe they don’t care but for time being instead if grappling this intractable problem of control coordination of different bureaucracies controlled by different Napoleons and implementation, our top politicians/ Ministers find it more expedient to improve their image and political stock by coming out with all kinds of well publicized grand visions [‘2010?, ‘Vision 2020?, ‘developed-nation status’ and ‘billions of ringgit of funding’, vision school smart schools].

Then there are Capital expenditure constraints. Allocation is one thing but how the Jabatan Pelajaran Negeri and local Pejabat Pelajaran Daerah cherry pick to appropriate and apply them is quite another.

What happens if they prefer to appropriate allocations to all kinds of seminars and workshops ostensibly under cover of training in 4 or 5 star hotels viewed as perks for teachers from outstation to do their shopping etc? Who really exercises oversight over these appropriations and take responsibility for it? Will there much left to allocate for facilities to rural areas or interiors? No perks for decision makers in implementing these projects!

Many of the poor send their children to schools that are closest to home even if they have no regular water and electricity supply because of financial barrier that they cannot afford to go anywhere farther & nearer towns. Many of such schools use diesel to power the generators but with the diesel hike?

I don’t think the problem has anything to do with political leadership having deviousness to perpetuate class stratification, maintain “the sense of deprivation of the physical, psychological and intellectual aspects of the schools” to “produce more of those citizens who will be desperate enough to find ways be and become like the successful ones, but through desperate means” in service of the cause of Capitalism or Materialism (as Dr Azly insinuates).

The problem is sum of the whole system of government at federal and local level, bogged down by lack of acountability and talent/meritocracy, bureaucratic mentality, Napoleonistic tendencies, inefficiency, more interested in mega infrastructure projects (eg “Petronas Twin Towers, Multimedia Super Corridor, Monsoon Cup and Iskandar Malaysia”) with opportunities to make money than socio-economic non profitable projects.

The problem besets not only the sphere of education but all other aspects of governance as well including monetary & fiscal managment of nation’s resources.

It may be argued that we need a system over-haul – ie. change of government, Federal & state .

Dr Azly assumes this when he said “the new governments of the Pakatan Rakyat must undo what the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has done to the most under-privileged schools”.

Even with Pakatan Rakyat taking over, can it discipline, change the mindset and ethos of our bureaucracy, dismantle the prevailing feudal political culture so quickly?

Here we proceed on optimistic assumptions that Pakatan Rakyat politicians will be able to control effectively the bureaucracy; that they will not themselves embrace this feudal political culture like BN when they are eventually ensconced in power – an optimistic assumption as I said!

cheng on soo,

If you’re in electricity & water supply line, and you’re of the opinion that it is not that difficult / expensive, to bring electricity & piped water supply to rural areas, perhaps you can inform us why that is so. For I cannot understand why in spite of decades of allocation for rural development so many rural households and schools in the interiors have no regular access to these utilities.

Take for example electricity supplier, TNB, a privatized/corporatised – and listed company.

Management has to regularly report to shareholders, make bond holders analysts or bankers happy regarding what’s the operating costs of increasing generation, transmission and distribution networks of electricity and how as a near monopoly it could, after paying expenses including servicing of over RM 23.50 Billion loan, it could enhance debt collection and generate (say) ‘a record net profit of RM3.93 billion for the nine-month period ended May 31, 2007 compared to the RM1.42 billion in the previous corresponding period’ to declare dividends. To my simple mind, spending money to venture into rural interiors for socio economic program of helping rural poor which have not got the critical mass to generate revenue to cover its capital expenditure is not something TNB will look upon and do in big way with enthusiasm – unless Government gives direct allocation and subsidies to it. But does the government under this Privatisation concept ?? I don’t know enough on this.

I would imagine Water Supply another set of problem. Who is responsible to make sure interiors get supplied? Water supply is also privatized. Same profit considerations apply. Water is state matter and different state governments involved may have different policies. And then land – one needs to acquire land for say water treatment plant – that too is a state matter – what is Federal Power vis-à-vis state on water supply? Can Federal control the states in how they appropriate Federal Funds and allocations and whether they do so to supply rural interiors? I don’t know the answers to these questions.