'It's not the uni degree but honesty we care about'

YOURSAY ‘We do not insist that to be an effective politician, you must have tertiary education... But if you lie about your credentials, that's a red flag'.

Five BN candidates possess bogus degrees, claims DAP

Tehachapi: Potential YBs, be honest and forthright with your academic qualifications and work experience.

With freely accessible information, it is embarrassing for people even attempt to cheat on such basic personal information as academic background and work experience. This reflects badly on the current Umno-BN political culture.

Cheating and lying has developed into a habit and it is frightening. Can you imagine being attended to in ICU (intensive care unit) by unqualified surgeons, technicians and nurses?

We, the voters, have the responsibility to ensure honesty and personal integrity of our elected leaders. Those who cheat should not be allowed to sit in our houses of parliament and state legislative councils.

We should impressed upon these aspirants that leadership qualities, righteous personality and moral character are self evident and need no dressing up. Honesty is more important than your academic status.

In history, we have had successful and inspiring leaders who were themselves illiterate.

Zzzzzz12345: Excellent, DAP election strategist Ong Kian Ming. Now Pakatan Rakyat must spread the word to the grassroots, otherwise you're preaching to the converted. If someone who uses a fake degree to get a job can be sacked upon discovery, how come a potential YB is exempt?

If you, the rakyat, lie in a hospital bed or drive across a bridge or sit in your 20th floor office, can die suddenly because the wrong surgery procedure was performed or the bridge suddenly collapsed or the building came down, you would demand the punishment of that doctor, engineer or architect with fake qualifications. Yet for these potential YBs with similar fake degrees, "semuanya OK" (everything is okay).

We do not insist that to be an effective politician, you must have tertiary education. As we move towards universal higher education, technocrats will increasingly become the norm. But if you lie about your credentials, that's a red flag.

Onyourtoes: Ong, can you tell these fellows that politics is the only profession where no prior training or qualification is required.

Quote them George Bernard Shaw, "He knows nothing and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career."

Fair Play: We should be careful about making sweeping statements. Generally, in the United States, academic qualifications fall under three broad categories; fake (degree mills), legitimate (issued by an institution that is state approved but not regionally accredited) and recognised for a specific purpose (institutions that have obtained regional accreditation and/or professional accreditation).

Many US universities offer legitimate degrees that are not fake or bogus (state authorised or approved institutions).

However, these degrees may not be recognised for a specific purpose such as licensing to practice or engaged in a specific vocation. Many choose to obtain a legitimate degree to enhance their status but you cannot label these people as fakes.

By the same argument in Malaysia, if a person does not possess a qualification that is recognised by Public Services Department (JPA) or Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), can we say these people have a fake degree?

Ontoi: A person who did not study the coarse but is awarded a degree or masters when all he or she did was pay the stated fee - those degrees are fake.

Zen: Not only politicians, some businesspersons and corporate figures are now sporting MBA degrees in their calling cards. Some of them don't even possess a first degree and with their dirty money they bought their certificates in Australia and US.

1Mockery: Nothing surprises me as BN money can buy fake degrees. Unfortunately, it cannot buy intelligence.

Douglas Teoh: I'd really like to see caretaker Deputy Foreign Minister A Kohilan Pillay suing Ong Kian Ming - the DAP leader doesn't even have to look far for the evidence. It's on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page.

The best part is The Star itself acknowledges the two universities - Connaught University and Pacific Western University - as dubious and unaccredited.

CloseMca: Credible university or what nought, all we need to do is to wisely vote against graft and corruption, vote for the party that can most likely to be more open on religious and racial issues.

Who can fit in better? BN or Pakatan Rakyat?

Amalgam: At this point in time, it is rather useless to be countering BN Umno's attacks - we all know what they are and the political parties representatives have to spend more time to go to the grassroots, to the rural Malays, Indians, Chinese and Orang Asli and assure them that a vote for BN-Umno will leave us running on the spot and even going downhill.

Please there is not much time left and with the large number of illegal voters in the rural areas, we are frighten of the outcome of Umno's cheating tactics.

Ally Meme: Such deception is indicative of the character of the candidates. In the workplace, such people would have been fired on the spot. Yet BN expects the people to vote them in.

Fernz: There's no difference between these bogus degrees and the free degrees being handed out by Umno under the quota system, even for critical disciplines. The system of marking in public examinations remains a ‘state secret'.

The Umno government has even extended its free degree programme to universities like Bond University in Australia. This university is guaranteed a certain number of students via the (JPA) every year provided they all pass.

At the same time, the Umno government withdraws the recognition of foreign universities where the students from Malaysia are mostly Indians.

Geronimo: Why is it that none of the BN leaders is from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Cambridge or Oxford, with the exception of Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin?

At least they can brag about quality qualifications where we can instantly identify them as members of the Ivy League. The universities mentioned by them don't impress me at all.

Anonymous #42582403: What do you expect from a corrupted government for more than 50 years. That's why we are the only ‘Boleh' country in the world.

They are like dirty linen which have never been washed before. Vote for Pakatan for a cleaner government and send the dirty linen for a proper wash and spin.

Ridzuan Ali: Fake degree is cheating. This is serious. I felt cheated when I had a good working staff with the same problem and we had to dismiss him when we found out of this unethical action.

Vote-For-Change: Ong, well done. Name and shame them once they have filed the nomination paper. Way to go. - Malaysiakini