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Demands for free education at all levels by a number of student groups in Malaysia has attracted the attention from various public - government, political parties, NGOs, etc. - and received mixed reactions from them.
They have come forward and give the reasons why should the education to be given free to the people. Among them is Malaysia is one of the largest producer of crude oil and palm oil, and the profit from the sale of these commodities should be used to provide free education to its citizens.
To strengthen their argument, they have given some examples of crude oil producer nations that provide free education to their citizens such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Norway, and many more.
Unfortunately, they forgot the most basic question to be answered when talking about this matter: ARE WE READY FOR IT?
TAX AND FREE EDUCATION
Taxes are one of the main source of income for a country. Various types of taxes imposed on citizens, businesses, services, goods, etc. to allow a government to run infrastructure projects, to protect the security and sovereignty of the country, and for many other reasons.
Ranked 27th in world's crude oil producer list, Malaysia has imposed 0%-26% individual income tax (IIT) rates to the citizens, 25% for corporate income tax (CIT) and charge 5-10% for goods and service tax (GST).
For this issue, I have chosen six oil-producing countries which provide free education to its citizens to be compared with Malaysia. They are Saudi Arabia which is at the top of the list, Venezuela (ranked 12th), Norway (14th), Libya (17th) and Brunei (42nd).
Based on the above diagram, Venezuela (ranked 12th) and Norway (14th) impose higher rates for all of the selected taxes than Malaysia to allow its people to get free education. While some countries impose lower IIT than Malaysia, rates for other taxes particularly CIT are high, depending on the policies of these countries.
Low IITs attact skilled labour into a country and increase the people's purchasing power but at the same time increase the cost of living if high rates of GSTs are imposed. Foreign investors will be less interested to invest in a country if the CIT imposed on them is too high unless there are other incentives that could attract their attention made by the government of these countries.
So now, there is a question. Are we ready to received free education and bear high taxes at the same time, or, we just let the corporate sector to bears the burden alone and attracts only a little number of investors to open their businesses in Malaysia?
FREE EDUCATION AND COST OF LIVING
Based on data released by the website Numbeo.com, Norway scores 151.31 for cost of living index for 2012 thus lead the chart. Saudi Arabia got 93.42 points (ranked 23rd) and followed by Malaysia at 64th with 54.90 points.
As there is no data available for Venezuela, Libya, and Brunei, I have chosen another three oil producing countries which also offer free education to ensure the relevance of this writing is sustained.
Russia is the second largest oil producer was ranked 50th in the 2012's cost of living index with 64.85 points. Their ally, Iran (4th largest producer) was ranked 65th with 54.84 points, while Mexico (7th largest producer) got 55.06 points thus ranked 63rd in the table.
For your information, the index is an indicator of consumer goods price (groceries, restaurants, transportation, utilities, etc.) in each of the selected countries.
Despite given with free education at all levels, the Norwegians, Saudis, Russians, and Mexicans bear higher cost of living than the Malaysians. Although Iran offers lower cost, with 0.06 points difference, it barely make any difference.
Again, for the second time. Are we Malaysians are ready to face the rising cost of living but receive free education?
QUALITY OF FREE EDUCATION
Newsweek magazine has conducted a research to identify the world's best countries for education. The evaluation is done by measuring the academic achievement of students in the participating countries. Points were given based on combined universal score on TIMSS and/or PISA tests as well as regression of literacy rate by CIA World Factbook and average years of schooling against the universal score.
Through the infographic released on The Daily Beast website on 15th of August 2010, Malaysia was ranked 36th in 'The World's Best Countries for Education' with 86.43 points.
It is obvious that by giving free education to the people, it does not guarantee that they will get a quality education as equivalent as the countries that not providing free education at all levels to their people. In fact, four of the top five countries in this category is are small oil producers such as Finland (87th producer), followed by South Korea (61), Canada (6), Singapore (85) and Japan (47)!
I repeat once again for the last time. Are we ready to get free education but poor in quality?
In fact, there are many other things that can be included in this issue. But, it's enough for now. We let those unmentioned points to be discussed through commentaries that are made with an open mind, maturely, and intellectually.
If these criteria are met, then we deserved to be entitled with free education!
Until next time.
To strengthen their argument, they have given some examples of crude oil producer nations that provide free education to their citizens such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Norway, and many more.
Unfortunately, they forgot the most basic question to be answered when talking about this matter: ARE WE READY FOR IT?
TAX AND FREE EDUCATION
Taxes are one of the main source of income for a country. Various types of taxes imposed on citizens, businesses, services, goods, etc. to allow a government to run infrastructure projects, to protect the security and sovereignty of the country, and for many other reasons.
Ranked 27th in world's crude oil producer list, Malaysia has imposed 0%-26% individual income tax (IIT) rates to the citizens, 25% for corporate income tax (CIT) and charge 5-10% for goods and service tax (GST).
For this issue, I have chosen six oil-producing countries which provide free education to its citizens to be compared with Malaysia. They are Saudi Arabia which is at the top of the list, Venezuela (ranked 12th), Norway (14th), Libya (17th) and Brunei (42nd).
 |
| Figure 1 : Percentage of selected taxes in oil producing countries which provide free education to their people compared to Malaysia. |
Low IITs attact skilled labour into a country and increase the people's purchasing power but at the same time increase the cost of living if high rates of GSTs are imposed. Foreign investors will be less interested to invest in a country if the CIT imposed on them is too high unless there are other incentives that could attract their attention made by the government of these countries.
So now, there is a question. Are we ready to received free education and bear high taxes at the same time, or, we just let the corporate sector to bears the burden alone and attracts only a little number of investors to open their businesses in Malaysia?
FREE EDUCATION AND COST OF LIVING
Based on data released by the website Numbeo.com, Norway scores 151.31 for cost of living index for 2012 thus lead the chart. Saudi Arabia got 93.42 points (ranked 23rd) and followed by Malaysia at 64th with 54.90 points.
As there is no data available for Venezuela, Libya, and Brunei, I have chosen another three oil producing countries which also offer free education to ensure the relevance of this writing is sustained.
Russia is the second largest oil producer was ranked 50th in the 2012's cost of living index with 64.85 points. Their ally, Iran (4th largest producer) was ranked 65th with 54.84 points, while Mexico (7th largest producer) got 55.06 points thus ranked 63rd in the table.
For your information, the index is an indicator of consumer goods price (groceries, restaurants, transportation, utilities, etc.) in each of the selected countries.
Despite given with free education at all levels, the Norwegians, Saudis, Russians, and Mexicans bear higher cost of living than the Malaysians. Although Iran offers lower cost, with 0.06 points difference, it barely make any difference.
Again, for the second time. Are we Malaysians are ready to face the rising cost of living but receive free education?
QUALITY OF FREE EDUCATION
Newsweek magazine has conducted a research to identify the world's best countries for education. The evaluation is done by measuring the academic achievement of students in the participating countries. Points were given based on combined universal score on TIMSS and/or PISA tests as well as regression of literacy rate by CIA World Factbook and average years of schooling against the universal score.
Through the infographic released on The Daily Beast website on 15th of August 2010, Malaysia was ranked 36th in 'The World's Best Countries for Education' with 86.43 points.
 |
| Figure 2: Comparison of ranking and points for 'The World's Best Countries for Education' among Malaysia and selected crude-oil producing countries that provide free education to their citizens. |
It is obvious that by giving free education to the people, it does not guarantee that they will get a quality education as equivalent as the countries that not providing free education at all levels to their people. In fact, four of the top five countries in this category is are small oil producers such as Finland (87th producer), followed by South Korea (61), Canada (6), Singapore (85) and Japan (47)!
I repeat once again for the last time. Are we ready to get free education but poor in quality?
In fact, there are many other things that can be included in this issue. But, it's enough for now. We let those unmentioned points to be discussed through commentaries that are made with an open mind, maturely, and intellectually.
If these criteria are met, then we deserved to be entitled with free education!
Until next time.
posted from Bloggeroid
