I would like to comment on the National Economic Action Council's proposal to establish a full-fledged research university.

Having spent my last 30 years abroad with some early years in universities in the UK and the US, I can empathise with some of malaysiakini 's readers on the subject.

When I completed my HSC (STPM now), I was faced with the stark reality of coming up with the necessary funds to go abroad for studies.

University of Malaya (MU) was out of the question for most of us candidates not 'qualified' enough to make the entry quota. This resulted in a number of us spending the next several years working at various jobs trying to come up with the funds required for further studies.

Fast forward to the mid-1980s. One of my uncles (a senior lecturer in a university) was passed over for promotion to the Dean's chair even though he was the most-qualified candidate and had the most support. The position, of course, went to a bumiputera.

A few years later, my brother, despite having excellent grades for the engineering school in Universiti Malaya, was offered, instead, the Science stream ('superfresh' I think, is what they called you where you skip the first year).

Funnily enough, when he applied for a Petronas scholarship he was offered a place in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia to do engineering. He later obtained admission to the MIT in Boston and asked Petronas for a loan. He did, eventually, graduate from MIT and now lives in another state.

The point I am trying to make now is that education in Malaysia is a very politically-managed system. If the letters from malaysiakini readers are anything to go by, this appears not to have lessened one jot even after all this time.

Hence, my take on NEAC proposal to establish a full-fledged research university is 'here we go again'... deja vu . I wish I could be more optimistic but nothing I have seen or read in Malaysia over the last 30 years leads me to conclude otherwise.

What is sad (and younger readers may never know) is that we had a true world-class education system at one time. Even Singaporeans vied with our best to get into UM, which was seen as the crme de la crme of the best minds in the region. Nobody really talks about the tertiary education system in Malaysia anymore.

The irony of it all is that we must already have a well-qualified base of individuals in Malaysia (and abroad) who can serve as the initial catalysts to jump-start the research pool. Staffing the research university might not be the problem (if done on a merit basis), but initial funding, and even more critical, ongoing funding, is going to be the real challenge.

One cannot churn out totally theoretical thesis or a string of non-practical white papers. Everything has to have some practical application or translate into something that has utility - at least in the initial stages. More esoteric research, from an industry perspective, can wait or can have less emphasis.

Undertaking specific research directed, and paid for, by industry (whether it is a market study or a feasibility study or some operational tests) would be one quick way of gaining credence especially when delivered quickly.

From the company's perspective, it is one way to get the same (or better) research done at a fraction of the true cost. I recruit Summer interns on campuses in the US for some of the work we do and this technique has worked well enough for us to make it an annual affair.

I fear that the many years of disenchantment with the education system in Malaysia may have bred a deep distrust within the ranks of industry that will, at least make it very cautious if not unwilling, to fork the money over very readily. It is going to take time.

What makes Malaysia's education situation all the more tragic is that excellence (the ability to build, staff, fund, administer and deliver world-class research) lies so tantalisingly close, but for political reasons, it chooses not to seize the opportunity.

I hope I am wrong in my assessment but I have been disappointed many, many times before.