Australians to Study in Malaysia?

In a statement which obviously defied belief when I first read it, I wonder why our Ministers must sometimes make such cringe-inducing statements which will only put us on the map for international ridicule.

Apparently, "Malaysia is working out ways to correct the imbalance of student exchange between Malaysia and Australia" according to our Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamad.

He said the number of Malaysian students studying in Australia way outnumbered the number of Australians studying in Malaysia. There are some 15,000 Malaysians studying in Australia compared with only two Australian students at the International Islamic University in Malaysia.

"We are hoping to attract more Australian students to study in Malaysia," he said without elaborating on the ways Malaysia was hoping to do that.

Yes, exactly, how are we going to do that?

Australia has more than 10 universities in the World's Top 200 based on the survey by Times Higher Education Supplement (THES), while Malaysia has only 2 which barely made the cut. Now, is there a wonder why there are hardly any Australian students here? Hmmm...