Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by cameltoe

SEA May Become Production Hub Of Future

cameltoe — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:39:25 +0800

Taiwan DigiTimes Reports:

Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacture's Association has recently released an investigation report for investment risk and environment of Southeast Asia and India in hoping to provide the latest investment information to Taiwan IT players.

QUOTE

Due to China's new labor policies aiming to raise the income of its people, labor costs in China have been rising in recent years and the country is gradually losing its advantage of having low labor costs. Although Taiwan IT players are moving their production lines into inland China as a temporary solution, IT players believe wages in inland China will catch up with that of the coastal area within the next 2-3 years and the players will eventually need to face the rising cost problem again.

Affected by China's one-child policy, manpower that enters the labor market in China is shrinking each year; therefore IT players' production lines will face a 5-10% labor shortage each year and the percentage even rises to 20% when competing against first-tier players. The report pointed out that China's average age in 2010 already rose to 34.2 years old, indicating that China is already starting to see an aging problem.

The association pointed out that both China and Southeast Asia will become a new investment market for IT players and players should be cautious for investing in different region since each region has its own special investment ecosystem.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110502PD221.html

What now? China becoming richer and now they are passing the dirty sweat shop work to SEA for no brain outsourcing routines?

Higher Education Bubble About To Burst

cameltoe — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:25:11 +0800

QUOTE

The college-is-a-bubble meme just keeps growing. Student-loan debt surpassed credit-card debt for the first time in history last year.Tuition is rising at three times the rate of inflation, and there are growing concerns about the quality of education offered at even our nation's fanciest schools. Meanwhile, prominent venture capitalist Peter Thiel is paying young entrepreneurs to drop out of school. It's become more fashionable than ever to equate higher education with homeownership: once a rock-solid piece of the American Dream, now a fool's bet and a sad reminder of overinflated expectations.
But in reality, demand for an American-style college education, and the long-term value of said degree, is unlikely to decline any time soon. Here's why:
College degrees are still relatively scarce in the U.S. Less than 30 percent of the population have BAs, and we're 12th in the world in the rate of young workers that have associate's degrees or more. President Obama's goal is to increase the percentage of young people with some kind of postsecondary certification to 60%.

Global demand for education keeps growing--it's on track to double over the next 10 years, to over 225 million students worldwide. According to UNESCO, India would have to build a new campus every two weeks between now and 2025 just to meet the demand. And the U.S. model is still the most desirable internationally. U.S. private universities are expanding overseas from Abu Dhabi to Singapore to meet this growing global demand.
As Kevin Carey of Education Sector points out in this column, a college degree, unlike a home, is nontransferable. It can't be flipped. Nor can it be foreclosed on. Student loan borrowers can go into default, which can in extreme cases actually negate the positive salary impact of their degree, but this is still pretty rare.

The other place the college-is-a-bubble meme might do some good is in the for-profit education sector. Dogged by persistent allegations of financial fraud and misleading recruitment practices, as well as increasing regulatory pressure from the federal government, the industry, a darling of the venture market just three years ago, has been weathering diving stock prices over the past year. These colleges, which enjoyed a decade of soaring enrollment with little or no oversight into the quality of education they provide, really do deserve the title of subprime.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1751087/why-col...sity-of-phoenix

Is College the Next Bubble?

With the housing bubble well and truly popped, economists and investors are on the look out for the next overinflated asset. And PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel thinks he’s spotted it — college. The venture capitalist’s opinions, aired recently in Techcrunch, have set off a firestorm of debate on the Internet. So what did Thiel actually say? It’s a long piece and well worth a read in its entirety but, in essence, Thiel argues that,

QUOTE

the bubble that has taken the place of housing is the higher education bubble. “A true bubble is when something is overvalued and intensely believed,” he says. “Education may be the only thing people still believe in in the United States. To question education is really dangerous. It is the absolute taboo. It’s like telling the world there’s no Santa Claus.”

Like the housing bubble, the education bubble is about security and insurance against the future. Both whisper a seductive promise into the ears of worried Americans: Do this and you will be safe. The excesses of both were always excused by a core national belief that no matter what happens in the world, these were the best investments you could make. Housing prices would always go up, and you will always make more money if you are college educated.

Another quote

QUOTE

1)The average senior graduated with $24,000 in outstanding loans 2009 and last August, student loans passed credit cards as the nation’s largest single largest source of debt, closing in on $1 trillion.

2)Since 1978, tuition at US colleges has increased more than 900 percent, 650 points above inflation. Housing prices, by comparison, rose only 50 points in the same time period.

3)According to Richard Rothstein at The Economic Policy Institute, wages for college grads outside of finance have stagnated or diminished.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/entry-level/is-co...ext-bubble/4649

Streamyx Connection Keeps Disconnecting & TimeOut

cameltoe — Sun, 09 May 2010 18:33:15 +0800

Does anyone have this problem as well?

My connection keeps getting time out with no response and the connection established gets disconnected every few minutes.

DSL sync seems to be fine and stable.

This gets worst during peak hours.

Intel Closing R&D unit in Kulim Hi Tech Park

cameltoe — Sat, 08 May 2010 18:26:23 +0800

Intel to close R&D unit in Kulim Hi-Tech Park

GEORGE TOWN: Intel Inc, the world’s largest chip maker, plans to close the assembly, test and development unit at its Kulim Hi-Tech Park (KHTP) facility within a year.

Intel sources told StarBiz that four senior executives made the announcement on Tuesday to about 500 workers who would be affected by the move.

Three of them were vice-presidents in charge of technology and manufacturing – Robin A. Martin, Babak Sabi and Nasser Bozorg-Grayeli. The fourth was director of sort test technology development Navid Shahriari.

According to the sources, Intel would gradually close the unit over the next 12 months.

The work done at the KHTP facility would be transferred back to the US to be close to Intel’s wafer fabrication plant in Arizona.

The affected workers would be redeployed for other job functions at the KHTP and Penang facilities.

Sources said the affected staff included managers and engineers.

The assembly, test, and development unit in KHTP is responsible for developing, testing, and packaging chipsets.

At press time, no Intel official was available for comment.

Last December, Intel Malaysia officially opened its US$230mil Kulim Microprocessor and Chipset Operations facility at KHTP.

The facility is earmarked by Intel as an important focus for its next-generation 32-nanometer processors and chipsets.

To date, Intel has invested more than US$3.7bil in Malaysia.

Source:
Biz. The Star

Big Flaw In TM Subscriber Account System

cameltoe — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:36:14 +0800

TM Subscriber Billing System does indeed have a big flaw!

While most other telco companies like DiGi, Maxis all allow only 1 call plan to tie to each phone number, TM fixed lines if let's say you intend to upgrade/convert your existing old plan to a new one but the desk officer did not remove your old plan carefully.Your next bill will be fakap!
You can be charged 2 call plans simultaneously

I went that day to a TM streamyx reseller hoping to convert my old call Merdeka plan to the Blockbuster deal.
That dumb guy has the nerve to make me go round the merry go round. What a dumbwit!

He told me I must terminate my line at TM Point centre first then come back and see him.
Who would want to go to TM Point and wait for hours on working days and even if I did I wouldn't need a reseller.

People dun need to go to work on weekdays? Stupid.

Why does TM processes makes it so hard for people?
Easy way dun wan make it so hard for everyone!

Pos Malaysia Can Report RM546million Loss

cameltoe — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:21:01 +0800

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno’s Ex-Elected Representatives Associa-tion has urged Khazanah Nasional Bhd to provide the Prime Minister with the “right perspective” on why Pos Malaysia Bhd suffered RM546mil in losses.

Pakku president Tan Sri Adam Kadir claimed that Pos Malaysia’s losses were a result of Khazanah’s “muzzling of the national postal service company” more than three years ago.

“They (Khazanah) should be answerable to the leadership,” he said. “The leaders must be given the right perspective of what happened to Pos Malaysia. They can’t simply say that Pos Malaysia is in a bad shape.

“There must be a reason for it and the reason lies squarely with Khazanah, as Pos Malaysia was transferred by the Finance Ministry to Khazanah in 2006,” he told reporters after Pakku’s closed-door forum on the New Economic Model here yesterday.

He said Pos Malaysia’s situation worsened when Khazanah issued a stop sale order of its 40 million shares in Transmile (with an overall value of RM560mil) over three years ago.

He alleged that Khazanah’s recent announcement on the strategic sale of Pos Malaysia was to cover weaknesses that had been created when RM800mil was taken out of the company’s reserve.

Adam, a former Dewan Negara president, also said those responsible for Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd’s RM8.5bil debts and losses amounting to RM900mil should be held accountable.

The Star

Isn't Pos Laju the most preferred and used national courrier service in Malaysia?
How can a post company which do not have any competition make such a huge loss?

Umobile Prepaid Broadband Only Phone As Modem

cameltoe — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:04:11 +0800

Broadband provider
ISP/package: Umobile Prepaid
Location: KL
Have you called your ISP's helpline?: Yes

Personal equipment
Modem: Huawei E1550
Router:
Firewall used:

Problem details
First occurence of problem: Able To Log On to Network
Problem frequency:
Problem description: Unable to Connect For Net Access

Umobile Prepaid Broadband cannot be used with generic USB 3G modems!

You can only use it when you insert the SIM into your HP for some reason the network will only authenticate your device that way.

It has not been addressed until today.

I am not sure about their XFone modem which they are selling but my generic Huawei refuses to connect even with the correct APN: my3g and dial string settings *99#

Anyone knows the solution to this?

Vietnam 2nd Fastest Growing Economy In Asia

cameltoe — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 11:21:30 +0800

See for yourselves:

[youtube]XQeASkGRiW0[/youtube]

[youtube]Zq9E0ziaqPE[/youtube]

What Microsoft Doesn't Want U to See

cameltoe — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 10:36:40 +0800

The image Microsoft doesn't want you to see: Too tired to stay awake, the Chinese workers earning just 34p(RM2 per hour) an hour

Showing Chinese sweatshop workers slumped over their desks with exhaustion, it is an image that Microsoft won't want the world to see.

Employed for gruelling 15-hour shifts, in appalling conditions and 86f heat, many fall asleep on their stations during their meagre ten-minute breaks.

For as little as 34p an hour, the men and women work six or seven days a week, making computer mice and web cams for the American multinational computer company.

This photo and others like it were smuggled out of the KYE Systems factory at Dongguan, China, as part of a three-year investigation by the National Labour Committee, a human rights organisation which campaigns for workers across the globe.

The mostly female workers, aged 18 to 25, work from 7.45am to 10.55pm, sometimes with 1,000 workers crammed into one 105ft by 105ft room.

They are not allowed to talk or listen to music, are forced to eat substandard meals from the factory cafeterias, have no bathroom breaks during their shifts and must clean the toilets as discipline, according to the NLC.

The workers also sleep on site, in factory dormitories, with 14 workers to a room. They must buy their own mattresses and bedding, or else sleep on 28in-wide plywood boards. They 'shower' with a sponge and a bucket.

And many of the workers, because they are young women, are regularly sexually harassed, the NLC claimed.

The organisation said that one worker was even fined for losing his finger while operating a hole punch press.

Microsoft is not the only company to outsource manufacturing to KYE, but it accounts for about 30 per cent of the factory's work, the NLC said. Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Foxconn, Acer, Logitech and Asus also use KYE Systems.

Microsoft, which exports much of the hardware made at the factory to America, Europe and Japan, said that it is taking the claims seriously and has begun an investigation.

One employee told the NLC: 'We are like prisoners. It seems like we live only to work - we do not work to live. We do not live a life, only work.'

The NLC's report included an account from one worker whose job consisted entirely of sticking selfadhesive rubber feet to the bottom of Microsoft computer mice.

But the monotony of sitting or standing for 12 hours, applying foot after foot to mouse after mouse, was not the worst of the worker's testimony.

It was the militaristic management and sleep deprivation that affected the worker most. 'I know I can choose not to work overtime, but if I don't work overtime then I am stuck with only 770 Chinese yuan (£72.77p) per month in basic wages,' the worker said.

'This is not nearly enough to support a family. My parents are farmers without jobs. They also do not have pensions.

'I also need to worry about getting married, which requires a lot of money. Therefore, I still push myself to continue working in spite of my exhaustion.

'When I finish my four hours of overtime, I'm extremely tired. At that time, even if someone offered me an extravagant dinner, I'd probably refuse. I just want to sleep.'

Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the NLC, said: 'It sounded like torture - the frantic pace on the assembly line, same motion over and over for the 12 hours or more of work they did.'

Microsoft said it was committed to the 'fair treatment and safety of workers'. A spokesman added: 'We are aware of the NLC report and we have commenced an investigation.

'We take these claims seriously and we will take appropriate remedial measures in regard to any findings of misconduct.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...stay-awake.html

Paper Chasers

cameltoe — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:08:01 +0800

Recently a friend e-mailed me and told me that he wants to enhance his status and he needs a PhD to do that. The interesting thing was he asked me whether there is a cheap PhD course because he is quite tight with money. I really couldn't believe what I was reading. Here is a person who thinks that a PhD will solve his problems and get him out of his present woes. A PhD is not a magic wand!

If one could not make it with a university degree what makes you so sure you can make it as a PhD? Seriously a person who thinks like that actually already has PhD (Permanent Head Damage).

I'm not against people pursuing PhD for the sake of knowledge - if you have the money & time, by all means do it. But if your family are still wanting and you are down in the pocket - it's a totally different matter.

Below is a very interesting part of the speech delivered by Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle Corp. and the 2nd richest man in the world, at the Yale University last month.

"Graduates of Yale University, I apologize if you have endured this type of prologue before, but I want you to do something for me. Please, take a good look around you. Look at the classmate on your left. Look at the classmate on your right.

Now, consider this: Five years from now, 10 years from now, even 30 years from now, odds are the person on your left is going to be a loser. The person on your right, meanwhile, will also be a loser. And you, in the middle? What can you expect? Loser. Loser hood. Loser Cum Laude.

In fact, as I look out before me today, I don't see a thousand hopes for a bright tomorrow. I don't see a thousand future leaders in a thousand industries. I see a thousand losers. You're upset. That's understandable.

After all, how can I, Lawrence "Larry' Ellison, college dropout, have the audacity to spout such heresy to the graduating class of one of the nation's most prestigious institutions? I'll tell you why.

Because I, Lawrence 'Larry' Ellison, second richest man on the planet, am a college dropout, and you are not.

Because Bill Gates, richest man on the planet .. for now, anyway - is a college dropout, and you did not.

Because Paul Allen, the third richest man on the planet, dropped out of college, and you did not.

And for good measure, because Michael Dell, No. 9 on the list and moving up fast, is a college dropout, and you, yet again are not.

http://www.daretofail.com/articles/july2k.html

KDDI, Google to cooperate in laying Cable

cameltoe — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 10:46:56 +0800

Japan’s KDDI Corp announced yesterday it will take part in a project being run by US-based Google Inc to roll out a new 8,300km submarine cable system connecting Japan and Singapore. The Southeast Asia Japan Cable (SJC) system, which is scheduled for completion in Q2 2012, is expected to cost around USD400 million and will provide initial bandwidth of 17Tbps, but could ultimately be increased to 23Tbps – making it the highest capacity system in the world. Four other telcos in the region have also signed up to the SJC project: Globe Telecom (Philippines), Network i2i (a 100% subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, India), Reliance Globalcom (through FLAG Pacific Limited, Bermuda), and Telemedia Pacific Inc (Hong Kong/Indonesia). Moreover, other firms are expected to join the project in the future. The six initiating parties reportedly signed the agreements in Manila on 10 December 2009.

http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.ph...1298&email=html

Philippines, Indonesia, India and HK are involved in the initiating parties for the project, mana Malaysia?

FLAG is a partner for Jaring. Could Jaring be the next isp to join this initiative?

17 Terabits.

TM boleh bungkus.

AAG on the other hand is only capable of 1.92Tbps when it comes in operation.

Unknown New ISPs Popping Up

cameltoe — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:39:01 +0800

Did many of you realize that recently there are many new isps popping up and claiming that they provide FTTH etc.?
They only provide their services to VERY limited areas and some of them have sites which just look like scam adverts with no proven track records and subscribing to them is just like finding a pin in a haystack.

What has this got to do?

Has this got anything to do with the recent complains done by investors about our country and the dreams of establishing an IT hub in this region?
It's still funny that if you dig deeply enough into the company backgrounds they are still heavily dependent on buying bandwidth from TM for their operations. TM holds them by their tails or are they really spinoffs created by TM to give the impression that we have MANY isps in the market?

Someone did said that we need more spin doctors.

We Need More Spin Doctors
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNew...126-182362.html

Symphonet?
V Telekom?(Where most of their backbone runs along the railway - hints Fiberail a Telekom subsidary?)
YTL now teaming up with TM?

Discuss.

BT Call Centre: "I Will Blow Your House Up"

cameltoe — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:42:01 +0800

'I'll blow your house up': BT customer claims he received death threats after row with call centre worker in India

He is not the first person to have fallen out with a call centre operator.

But when Allan Wardle rang BT after his internet connection crashed, what happened next left him shocked and frightened.

A technician called him back but instead of the problem being resolved a row broke out and, Mr Wardle claims, the technician threatened to blow up his house.

'I couldn't believe what I was hearing,' said Mr Wardle, 24. 'I was incensed.

'I was scared at first and then really angry. I called the police straight away.

'I'm disgusted that something like this can happen with such a respected company. The whole thing has been upsetting. It doesn't get much worse than someone - a stranger - saying he is going to blow you up.'

The alleged threat was made just days after Mr Wardle had signed up for BT broadband.

Annoyed at being unable to send emails, he rang the helpline - believed to be in India - and explained the problem to them. He was told to wait by his phone while they investigated his internet connection and promised to call him back.

What happened next left him lost for words.

As he sat down in front of the television the technician rang and told him he would be unable to fix the problem unless Mr Wardle was online.

The irony of that requirement provoked a heated exchange which ended, Mr Wardle says, when the technician threatened to bomb his home in Wallsend, Tyneside.

'The operator told me that unless I was connected to the internet he couldn't do anything about it,' said the former supermarket worker.

'But I told him again and again if I could get online I wouldn't be calling in the first place.

'It was getting ridiculous. He wouldn't listen and I did swear at him, I think, but he was refusing to fix the problem.

'He was rude and unhelpful, it made me feel sick.

'I now want BT to get to the bottom-of this.' Mr Wardle says he was in no doubt the call had come from BT because the hotline number flashed up on his phone.

After the call, he immediately contacted the police and informed them of the threat he had just received.

He admits he lost his temper during-the call but maintains there was no reason for the technician to threaten him.

Last night, a spokesman for BT said an urgent internal security investigation would be launched into the allegations.

Bosses are expected to study the transcript of the phone calls before taking any further action. Northumbria Police confirmed they had received a complaint and said that officers were treating the case 'extremely seriously'

A spokesman added: 'We have launched an investigation into these complaints.'

BT was one of several household name employers that moved jobs to India in 2003. The switch was part of a shift of labour to emerging economies aimed at cutting costs and improving services.

In August BT, which shed 15,000 jobs last year and is planning a further 15,000 cuts this year after a dire performance by its IT division, announced plans to move at least 2,000 call centre jobs back to the UK.

The plan, it said, was aimed at preventing compulsory job cuts. But the move is now said to be in jeopardy amid fears from British workers over the numbers of hours they will be expected to work to cover the shifts of their Indian counterparts.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12...rker-India.html

[addedon]October 19, 2009, 10:47 pm[/addedon]I wonder how he figured out the call was from India.

Must be because of the slang..

Following The Trend

cameltoe — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:06:19 +0800

Did anyone noticed nowadays that people tend to copy each other when they see others doing a smilar business?

A good example is when you see many similar shops in town.
When someone open a boutique, restaurant outlet, saloon, phone shops and some new kind of business, there's a tendency that a competitor will emerge in the next few shop lots in the same row.

Due to this rampant social illness, in some countries like China people are becoming very paranoid with their surroundings. It's that bad that in Shanghai, even friends do not trust each other when they go out to eat among themselves. They never walk away from their food with fears that their friends would spike them and they never disclose where they work having fears that friends will outplay them due to stiff competition.

Is this also becoming a social issue in Malaysia?

Malaysian Chinese Vedic Medicine Student Jailed

cameltoe — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:25:13 +0800

New Delhi, Aug. 31 (ANI): A Malaysian spiritual seeker, who had come to India to learn Vedic healing, had to spend almost two years in an over-crowded Varanasi jail for violating Indian immigration laws.

A follower of the Krishna Consciousness movement, Lim Soon Seng of Johor landed on the ghats of Varanasi in 2001. For the next six years he diligently renewed his visa as he wandered in orange robes with sadhus (holy men) and lived a life of solitude.

But Lim’s spiritual sojourn turned into a nightmare when his passport expired in 2005 and he failed to renew it.

For the next 20 months, Lim, in his 50s, languished in Varanasi jail, one of the most crowded and dreaded Indian jails where notorious criminals are held, the Star Online reports.

Lim was charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, where offenders can face a jail sentence of between six months and seven years.

A German diplomat, who visited the jail to meet a fellow citizen, came across Lim and notified the Malaysian High Commission in Delhi about his predicament.

Once the embassy assured the local district magistrate that he would be repatriated to Malaysia safely, Lim was released.

“I lived with hardcore criminals, about 120 prisoners in the same cell. We slept on the floor with just a blanket and ate dhal and chapatti. Sometimes I asked the prison doctor for milk.

“Several times during my trial, I pleaded with the magistrate to release me but he refused. He said this was a serious offence,” Lim said over a home-cooked dinner at the High Commissioner’s residence in Delhi.

Now, the Indian government needs to issue him an Emergency Certificate to allow him to depart from the country. (ANI)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-..._100240520.html

Salary Guide For JobSeekers

cameltoe — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:49:24 +0800

Download the salary guidebook here:

http://www.kellyservices.com.my/res/conten...alaysia2008.pdf

This should give you a rough idea how much you're worth.

IF you get anything less, you will know that you've been shortchanged.

Hope this would help many from regretting later on after accepting a job.

Malaysians After Dodgy Degrees

cameltoe — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:14:59 +0800

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians are so caught up with degrees that many would go to any lengths for one.

And degree mills — bodies that award degrees with little or no study — are ready to hand out the awards to many who want to boost their business position, social status or political standing.

The Starprobe’s search reveals that many Malaysians are buying dubious Bachelor’s, Master’s and even Doctorates from popular degree “conferring” bodies, among them the American-based Preston Uni-versity and Newport University; Dublin Metropolitan University (DMU) and Irish International University (IIU).

Other dubious institutions which are not in recognised accreditation registries include Connaught University, Pacific Western University, American Northeast State University, Western University, European University, Hill University, Rochville University and Buxton University.

When the Starprobe team conducted a search, including on the Internet, for the “alumni” of these degree mills, the list included prominent personalities in different sectors:

QUOTE

> a Selangor Umno division chief who is also chairman of a local publishing group (MBA, Connaught University, UK);

> a Kedah Umno division head and Umno Supreme Council member who became a self-made millionaire after school (MBA, Preston University, US);

> a Perak DAP state assemblyman (Bachelor of Business Administration, Paramount University of Technology, US) ;

> a retired Royal Malaysian Police department director who is now serving in a government body (MBA, Newport University, US);

> a leading Chinese educationist with three PhDs (PhD, Kensington University, US);

> a celebrity motivational speaker who has set up a private college (MBA and Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA), European Business School Cambridge of European Union);

> a top entrepreneur and chairman of one of Malaysia’s leading manufacturers (DBA, Irish International University); and

> a chairman of a local IT media company who was charged with furnishing false statement to the Bursa Malaysia (Bachelor of Science in Building Construction and Management, Connaught University, Ireland; MBA, North West London University, UK; and Doctorate of Philosophy in Business Administration, Pacific Western University, US).

Can you guest who they are?

The questionable “qualification” is evident in the official resumes of these public figures which the Starprobe team obtained from their offices or official websites.

When contacted, some were genuinely surprised to find out that they had been duped but others evaded questions and refused to comment.

One person with two alleged doctorates did not deny receiving the bogus doctorates but simply urged Starprobe to quote his third doctorate from the Southern Cross University, Australia, which is legitimate.

All the universities mentioned claim to be accredited, but none is recognised by the national accrediting body Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) or its foreign accrediting partners.

The IIU was blacklisted by MQA(then known as National Accreditation Board) in July 2005.

A disturbing trend is that these dodgy institutions offer prominent personalities degrees so they can gain credibility with the “qualifications”.

This is the standard practice for many of these bogus universities, said a senior Irish academic attached to a local private university who declined to be named.

“These institutions go to another country, especially in the less developed and developing world, and offer local prominent personalities doctorates and other degrees. These are not honorary degrees but they don’t ask the VIPs for money either.

“They just invite the important people to put in a 1,500-word essay or write something about themselves, and they ‘award’ them their degrees.

“It becomes an endorsement of sorts — when the institutions get complaints from parents and students, they will simply point out the important people who have their degrees,” he explained, adding that it is prevalent because it is win-win for both parties.

“The institutions get the chance to be set up and the important people get their paper qualification.”

Republic of Ireland deputy ambassador to Malaysia Eoin Duggan highlighted another device for these universities to gain credibility.

They would invite VIPs, including politicians, to their convocations and sometimes confer on them honorary degrees.

“Their presence gives the ceremony importance. Having, say, a junior minister’s name on their list meanwhile would add credibility to the institution’s name,” he said.

For example, IIU’s previous honorary luminaries include a senator who is famous for championing minority rights, the president of one of Barisan Nasional’s component parties and the director of a local think tank.

Although most have wised up and dropped the dubious qualification from their resume, a few still list it in their academic credentials.

Education blogger Tony Pua believes that half of those holding bogus degrees knew that their “qualifications” were not bona fide.

“It lends credence to the university to have VIPs on their list. But if you can get a doctorate without doing any research, it is a fake one. It is impossible to get a credible doctorate via a long distance learning programme, especially if you are studying part-time,” said Pua, the Petaling Jaya Utara MP.

British Council Malaysia Education and Programmes Director Peter Clack agrees, pointing out that a degree is intended to reward academic excellence and requires hard work and commitment as that is what gives it its value with employers.

“If a degree course sounds too good to be true, then it is more than likely to be a bogus one,” he said.

Unfortunately, there is nothing much that authorities can do to stamp out this fraudulent practice.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=...2725&sec=nation

[addedon]August 23, 2009, 2:23 pm[/addedon]Most of these dodgy universities are from the US followed by the UK.

The degrees which they usually get are usually MBAs and DBAs which is actually quite subjective if you were to question these individuals about how genuine are their papers.

You couldn't tell whether the papers are fake if the person has many years of work experience and good at presenting himself.
He/She might have not attended school but bought the degree after many years of working.Do you think such candidate is not learned enough?
Bet he/she could even pawn many local as well as fresh grads in interviews.

So the question is does paper qualification matters for marketing and sales jobs?
Of course technical and science degrees are different cases all together because if you know nuts about maths, formulas and skills your employer will straight away identify that you're a fake but this is not the case for business and arts subjects.

Which Is The Best Metro Transit Rolling Stock Cars

cameltoe — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:56:22 +0800

Which is the best rolling stock cars for a metro transit system?

I personally like the HK MTR EMU SP1900 Cammell Series

179 Petronas Scholarship Defaulters

cameltoe — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:54:48 +0800

Today 179 names where given free publicity in our local papers for defaulting their scholarship loans by Petronas Berhad

Diminta melapor diri untuk menerima anugerah.

Full 2 pages.

Aussie's National Anthem - Advance Australia Fair

cameltoe — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 23:00:33 +0800

Majulah Australia Om Putih

[youtube]fcMuf8wE52k[/youtube]