YOURSAY | The government, past and present, has led them to this decrepit state.

Dr M: Shameful for graduates to end up selling nasi lemak

Aryan: A wrong choice of words by Pakatan Harapan chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad. It is not shameful to earn a living through honest means by selling nasi lemak, but rather, it is regretful the person couldn't get a job to match his education.

Nothing is lost. Successful entrepreneurs are created from such valiant individuals. Who knows, this nasi lemak seller may become famous like Colonel Sanders with finger-licking nasi lemak internationally.

OldHat: Indeed, there is nothing wrong with selling nasi lemak or being an Uber driver. At least, these graduates have the backbone to stand on their own feet instead of relying on handouts.

Negaraku: There is an engineer who gave up his job at the age of 42 and is selling excellent burgers from a van which is new and clean. When asked why, he said his job was taking too much time and he had no time for his family.

Now he works about five days a week and gets back by 3-4pm and earns about RM22,000 a month. He sells 1,000 burgers a day and sometimes he runs out of patt or bread so he has to stop.

So what is Mahathir talking about? This is the great thing about Malaysia, you can be an Uber driver and still earn good money. Many people I know have started to drive for Uber and are making an income good enough to work a five-day week.

Ian2003: There is no shame in selling nasi lemak or becoming an Uber driver. It is more shameful to be idle and do nothing just because you are a graduate.

At least, by selling nasi lemak, you are being productive. If business gets really good, the graduate should innovate and expand his nasi lemak business and make it big.

I would rather be the owner of Village Park Restaurant earning hundreds of thousands of ringgit per year from selling nasi lemak than becoming an office manager.

This is what entrepreneurship is about and they don't teach you this at Harvard University.

Dahjadi Bubur: To clarify, the shame is not to be placed on the graduates - in fact, they should be lauded for their efforts in the situation - but rather on the government, past and present, for leading them into this decrepit state.

Wira: I agree with Mahathir. We are a developing country. Graduates should not end up being Uber drivers or selling nasi lemak to supplement their income. It's the failure of the government to direct them to university courses suitable for their eventual employment.

Vote BN Out: Why is it that up till now no politician will ever acknowledge that locally-produced graduates are not up to the mark? Language being the biggest factor. Next, teaching quality. Then, the quota system.

Vgeorgemy: Our education system has failed us. Private tuition centres which are offering British and Singaporean school certificates are mushrooming across the country as parents take control of their children’s education. We can’t depend on the incompetent to decide our children’s future.

Clever Voter: Mahathir's successors have refined the legacies where everything got worse. The nation could have moved far ahead had the Multimedia Super Corridor concept launched by Mahathir been implemented with commitment and integrity. Unfortunately, the innovative idea turned into a real estate play.

Fast forward to today, universities that had proliferated to churn out bumiputera graduates did so, but at the expense of quality and efficiency. Much money was thrown into the drain to produce graduates that were ill-prepared for the real world.

Industries were squeezed, and they too refused to pay more for graduates, giving the excuse that they were not good enough. Then, fearing political backlash, we absorbed graduates into the public sector.

Commodities have their limits on wealth creation, but now we do not have enough of the right people to support the nation’s big appetite.

The government tells us that in the Internet era, people with the right skills would make the difference. Quite the opposite has happened, sadly.

PM: Public transport neglected due to 'one man's obsession' with national car

Goldee: PM Najib Razak, why bring this issue up now when you and all the other BN leaders shouted “Sokong!” (Support!) when Mahathir launched the Proton project back in the 80s? Were you not one of those supporters of Mahathir back then?

Yet you are now claiming that only one man was obsessed with the national car project. This is a blatant lie.

Anonymous 2436471476414726: Yes, you were a member of Mahathir's cabinet then. Why didn’t you raise an objection to his policies? If you had disagreed strongly, then you should have quit the cabinet. But you didn’t.

You know full well a cabinet decision is a collective responsibility. If Mahathir's policies were wrong, then you are also responsible. You cannot simply wash your hands clean off the matter.

P Dev Anand Pillai: Wrong. The public transport would have been fine if the federal government had left the Chinese-dominated stage bus transportation, which was run efficiently since independence, to develop on its own.

Remember the consortiums like Park May, City Liner and many more? These only created a mess, not a solution. The Omnibus companies throughout the Peninsular were run by the Chinese with a multiracial workforce and the job was well done as they got the public around in time.

They also went deep into the interiors to offer their services till the policy changed and the federal government turned everything around. So please check the history in our archives first.

Hmmmmmmmm: Mahathir left office years ago but public transport is still in shambles. So what have you done about public transport since you took over?

TheAxman: Yes, you are right, Najib. We should have kicked out Mahathir then. Now we should kick you out.

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