'Chinese kids do business, Malay kids shoot birds'

 

Stressing on the importance of entrepreneurship, Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan lamented on the difference between Malay and Chinese children.  

"Chinese children, even though they are not taught entrepreneurship in school, they come home and go to their parents' grocery shops to learn.

"They help their parents in grocery shops, factories, they go to their parents' companies.

"But Malay children are not like that. They shoot birds with a slingshot under the oil palm trees, bathe in waterfalls and drains. When can Malays be entrepreneurs?" he asked.

In view of this, he suggested that the government shorten the teaching time allocated for geography in secondary schools and include a subject called "entrepreneurship".

"Open the world map, show the 200 countries (in the world), done. What else is there to learn in geography?" Ahmad asked during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

However, the Umno information chief said that he has "nothing against geography".

Ahmad said he had put forth his suggestion to Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (left) and the response was positive.

He also explained the rationale behind introducing the "entrepreneurship" subject at the secondary school level.

He said that it was an effort to create more entrepreneurs, especially among the bumiputera, and this would help Malaysia become a high-income nation.

"Perhaps only 30 percent of SPM holders pursue tertiary education, 70 percent of SPM holders, hundreds of thousands of them out there have no knowledge of entrepreneurship.

"After SPM, where do they work? Earning wages at factories and companies. They are unable to be independent and become entrepreneurs. This happens every year, we have lost hundreds of thousands in terms of human resource.

"If they had learned entrepreneurship since Form One until Form Five, they can set up a company after SPM. It can be small and medium enterprises, service companies, contractors and so on," Ahmad added.

Apart from this, he said learning from the Chinese, who are generally adept in business, is also another method to improve the entrepreneurship in Malaysia.

The deputy minister described the Chinese as "bangsa usahawan" (race of entrepreneurs), Malays as "bangsa makan gaji" (race of wage earners) and Indians as "bangsa professional" (race of professionals).

"Malays and Indians should learn from the Chinese," he said.