User:Two hundred percent
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This account was created primarily to clean up articles related to Malaysia. I don't need to elaborate more about myself.
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[edit] That's all I can stands, cuz I can't stands n'more!
Generally, the quality of Malaysian articles is appalling and lacks encyclopedic value (some end up reading like tourist brochures and advertising).
[edit] The alley cat and the merlion
What I also can't stomach is the fact that systemic bias is overwhelmingly present towards Singaporean articles in the English Wikipedia (in the form of references, quality of writing, contents and images), while those on Malaysia are incredibly shoddy and *gasp* poorly written. Allow me to prove my point. Take a look at these comparative articles:
- The Kuala Lumpur Railway Station and the Tanjong Pagar railway station.
- Langkawi/Tioman Island and Sentosa.
- Perpustakaan Negara Malaysia (linked from the list of national libraries) and the National Library, Singapore.
- The geography of Malaysia and the geography and climate of Singapore.
- The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and the Singapore Conference Hall.
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the University of Malaya combined, and the National University of Singapore.
- Carcosa Seri Negara (Kuala Lumpur)/the Eastern and Oriental Hotel (Penang) and the Raffles Hotel. I'll bet my ass anyone would remember the old Eastern Hotel in Kuala Lumpur either (demolished 1990).
- Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) and Light Rapid Transit (Singapore) have individual articles on their rolling stock. Where the hell are information on rolling stocks from the PUTRA LRT, Star LRT, and KTM Komuter!? Don't even get me started with the goddamn stations!
[edit] The painful reason
There are a few factors to this Malaysia-Singapore divide in the English Wikipedia:
- Singaporeans have better access to the Internet and Wikipedia; while there is some Internet penetration in Malaysia, Malaysians prefer to use the Internet for leisure, not work. Most Malaysian editors are also concentrated towards the south west parts of Peninsular Malaysia, leaving the east and north ends of the peninsular, and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak) underrepresented.
- Singapore is essentially a single city roughly the size of Kuala Lumpur's metropolitan area. Because of the country's size, almost everything in Singapore is within easy reach of Singaporean Wikipedians. Malaysia is roughly 470 times larger with 11 cities and countless towns and villages, but has a shortage and uneven distribution of able Malaysian Wikipedians.
- Despite having a population 6.5 times that of Singapore (26 million against 4 million), most Malaysian editors sport negative traits that guarantees poor participation in Malaysian articles:
- Malaysians editors tend not to bother actually editing or researching. Has a lot to do with this "tak apa" ("never mind"/care-free) attitude ingrained in Malaysian culture. If they do edit, occasionally they tend to be half-assed in their efforts. That's why it's common to find Malaysian editors copy and pasting copyright info from websites without any knowledge of copyright infringement, or typing in personal opinions normally reserved for blogs. The initiative to actually improve Malaysian articles is just not there among many Malaysians. The same applies to the manner they upload and manage images. Shitty and short-sighted work, if there is any.
- Singaporeans are generally fluent in English. Many Malaysians have poor command of English to ever edit properly. Has to do with the local educational system, primarily those in the public sector, as they were in favour of using the Malay language as a teaching medium over English. That being said, I'm not sure about the Malay Wikipedia though.
- The majority of Malaysian editor are either pro- or anti-UMNO/Malay/NEP/Islam, hence the likeliness that they will focus on politics or religion in Malaysia. A minority have edited neutrally or contributed to less controversial topics, but it never seems to be enough. The current social and political climate in the country may also prompt some editors to be emotionally charged towards such topics, while real-life concerns from said climate may not grant Malaysians the leisure to edit permenantly. This is why Second Malaysia Plan, Ketuanan Melayu and Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia, articles on race, politics and the Malaysian government, are the only featured articles primarily on Malaysia.
- Some Malaysian editors had edited articles on locations and history to read like glossed tourist guides or sanitised history books. I can't believe they are reduced to using Wikipedia as vehicle for bias or promotional info on something that may not be accurate or true to what is on the ground.
There are a few exceptions. A good amount of effort was made by a few editors to at least improve listings of Malaysian transportation articles. Those who are working on them should know who they are.
Still, generally crap work on Malaysian articles. Prove me wrong and I'll reconsider my stance.
[edit] Down to business
Reshuffle Category:Rail Transport (Malaysia) and populate Category:Rail transport in Malaysia.Done {04:13, 5 March 2007 (UTC)}- Still undecided if categories for the Klang Valley are needed.
- Reorganise topics in Category:History of Malaysia, and create categories for British colony officials and
battles prior to Malaysia's formationDone. {04:13, 5 March 2007 (UTC)} - Rename the following (capitalisation) and find/create a category for the following:
Template:Infobox States of MalaysiaTemplate:Infobox Districts of Malaysian States→ Remove enclosed Category:Districts of Malaysian states in template; add category in linked articles. {08:03, 14 March 2007 (UTC)}Template:Infobox Districts of SelangorTemplate:Infobox Federal Territory of Malaysia {07:06, 10 March 2007 (UTC)}Done. {07:43, 14 March 2007 (UTC)}
- Create article on Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, the Tourist Minister. {18:03, 12 March 2007 (UTC)}
- Create article on Papan, an apparently notable town during WWII. {07:43, 14 March 2007 (UTC)}