Rightways to Success

Sunday, 25 March 2012

Malaysia needs more engineers

The experts: Dr Goh (left) with Kim Hor giving their talk on engineering at The Star Education Fair 2012 at Penang International Sports Arena.

THE country needs at least 200,000 engineers by 2020 in order to attain the status of a developed nation.

Institute of Engineers, Malaysia (Penang Branch) immediate past chairman Prof Datuk Dr Eric Goh said there were now only 70,000 registered engineers in Malaysia.

Dr Goh was speaking at a talk on Engineering held on the final day of The Star Education Fair 2012.

The institute’s electronic engineering technical division advisor Dr Tan Kim Hor who spoke during the second half of the talk said the engineering profession had great prospects as it was now high in demand.

In a talk about law, barrister-at-law Mureli Navaratnam said that although the country had sufficient supply of practitioners, there was a need for specialists in the field of arbitration and shipping law.

At a talk on medicine, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr K. Suresh said a medical career means lifelong learning while his co-speaker Dr S. Bina Rai stressed on the importance of doing proper research before choosing medical schools.

Another co-speaker Dr Tan Kok Joo said one must think carefully before deciding to take up medical courses.

Stories by WINNIE YEOH, KOW KWAN YEE, HAFIZ MARZUKHI, JEREMY TAN, KIATISAK CHUA and ROYCE TAN
Photos by NG AH BAK, GOH GAIK LEE, CHIN CHENG YEANG, LIM BENG TATT, CHAN BOON KAI and ZHAFARAN NASIB

Soaring high: A large replica of an aeroplane set up above Advanced Tourism International College's booths at the Star Education Fair 2012 which concluded yesterday at the Penang International Sports Arena.

Can money buy happiness?

Two thirds of people worldwide "need to live better"

Whether or not money can buy happiness, people worldwide seem to think it can, at least according to a new poll that canvassed respondents in two dozen countries.

Nearly two-thirds of about 20,000 people surveyed said they "need to live better," the survey by market research company Ipsos showed, while one-third said their life was fine the way it was.

Given a list of factors for improving their well-being and quality of life, 89 percent said a stronger economy in their country was very or somewhat important -- the top response.

Better living conditions and stronger family relationships were named by 84 percent, while only 56 percent listed finding a romantic partner, and 49 percent included meditation or prayer.

Lifestyle factors such as eating better, sleeping or exercising more and finding new challenges also placed high.

Responses from nations as far-flung as Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Sweden, Germany, South Africa, Hungary, Japan and Mexico varied widely, according to the poll.

Hungarians were mostly likely to say they needed to live better, with 89 percent agreeing, and second-most likely to say this was harder to do than ever before.

Saudi Arabians were the most likely to say their lives were fine as they were, followed by those from India and Sweden.

"These sentiments are inseparable from their crushed economy," said Keren Gottfried, research manager for Ipsos Global Public Affairs, which conducted the poll on behalf of Reuters News, referring to Hungary.

"We know from our economic confidence polling that these days only three percent in Hungary say their national economic is good. On the flip side, economic juggernaut Saudi Arabia is least likely to think they need to live better," Gottfried said.

"They also consistently have the highest economic confidence scores," she added.

And despite the popular perceptions of the French quality of life -- ample social services, great food, generous, federally mandated annual leave -- the French were the most likely to say that living better is now more difficult than ever.

While nearly three-quarters worldwide agreed that living better requires a plan, more than two-thirds of the French felt that living better is not something that can be planned.

Belgians were next, but far behind, with only 49 percent agreeing, while Indonesians were the strongest believers in the power of planning for a better life. Almost 95 percent said this was essential, followed by South Africa at 92 percent, South Korea with 90 percent and Hungary and Sweden, both with 87 percent.

"The planners come from all sorts of countries, economically strong and weak alike," Gottfried noted.

Reporting by Chris Michaud; editing by Patricia Reaney) - (Reuters)

US Monopoly on World Bank Presidency Challenged

U.S. President Barack Obama arrives at the Osan Air Base in Seoul, South Korea, on March 25, 2012. Obama arrived in South Korea to attend the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit to be held on March 26-27. (Xinhua)

The United States on Friday named its candidate to lead the World Bank (WB), but this time the selection is not a solo any more.

Two candidates endorsed by developing countries unprecedentedly challenged the U.S. monopoly on the top post of the WB, the leading global financial institution for fighting poverty and supporting development.

SURPRISE PICK

As the deadline loomed, U.S. President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Jim Yong Kim, a Korean-American global health expert, as candidate to replace outgoing Robert Zoellick, whose term as WB president expires at the end of June.

"It's time for a development professional to lead the world's largest development agency," Obama said as he made the announcement.

"Jim has truly global experience," said Obama, "He has worked from Asia to Africa to the Americas, from capitals to small villages. His personal story exemplifies the great diversity to our country."

The selection is commonly considered as a surprise pick because Kim, the current Dartmouth College president, has hardly been talked about for the nominee in the past week.

The U.S. traditional choices of the WB head have been either politicians or business leaders since the bank was founded after World War II.

Obama chose Kim out of several more well-known candidates, such as Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Lawrence Summers, former director of the president's National Economic Council.

Arvind Subramanian, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International economics, called it a "quite unusual choice."

Yukon Huang, a senior associate in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Xinhua the message the White House conveyed was that the nominee is a man of the world - born in Korea, raised and educated in the United States with professional interests that are highly relevant for developing countries.

U.S. economist Jeffrey Sachs, who openly campaigned for the job and finally withdrew, said in an article posted on the Washington Post website that "without incisive leadership, the bank has often seemed like just a bank."

"And unfortunately, Washington has backed at the helm bankers and politicians who lack the expertise to fulfill the institution's unique mandate," Sachs added.

UNPRECEDENTED COMPETITION

Following the close of the nomination process, the WB announced two more candidates for the position: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria and Jose Antonio Ocampo of Colombia.

For the first time, two non-American candidates will compete with a U.S. nominee. What's more, both of them have impressive credentials as economists and diplomats.

Okonjo-Iweala, the current Nigerian finance minister, was nominated by three African countries - South Africa, Angola and her native land. She has profound working experience in the multinational World Bank and her capability has been widely recognized.

Ocampo, endorsed by Brazil, has strong academic background and held posts in the Colombian government as well as the United Nations.

Although Yukon Huang said Kim's selection was not driven by domestic political considerations but by his professional qualifications, Subramanian doubted whether Kim is a better choice in terms of international experience and management.

Domenico Lombardi, a former WB board official said the impressive background of both Ocampo and Okonjo-Iweala signals a big shift and really reflects a game change. He said this is the first time in history for a truly contested election.

However, analysts believe that the United States is very much likely to laugh last as it is the WB's largest donor and has the largest voting share.

Uri Dadush and Moises Naim, senior associates at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, criticized the way that top leaders of the WB and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been selected.

They said the leaders of both the WB and IMF are selected through "opaque, quota-driven negotiations," which have been defied by the meritocracy.

"No well-run global company selects its senior management this way," they added.

Rogerio Studart, the Brazilian member of the WB's 25-member executive board, said there was a strong sense among developing countries that the selection of Zoellick's successor should involve a broader discussion about the bank's future.

By （Editor：厉振羽）
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