For every exam paper there should be a purpose and aim. What are we testing for ? What are we to achieve ? It should not be the purpose of any test to pass or fail an examinee. It should be tested for a relevant and applicable knowledge. Hence a driving test should not be asked about the law of physics. But there is also a test for general knowledge like the qualifying test for the Phd.

If we want everyone of our citizen to know the 5 pillars of Islam then in every exam the question on the 5 pillars of Islam must be asked straight forward and let it be clear. let everyone knows the question and learn the and know the answer and got the assured marks. I sat for the driving test in Indiana and found the question never intended to fail anyone, rather want everyone to know the facts on driving.

Not every nut can set up question. It has to be a qualified person to do so. There must be an item analysis, and the discussion among the examboard members for every question, to see every objective in it. When someone proudly claimed that he was appointed by the MCMC to set RAE questions, I immediately concluded that the MCMC is nut or that guy is a nut. Many would strongly argued that q-Codes should not be asked because they are codes for CW.

What do we want a ham able to do and has to do it. Without doing it he can never come on the air. Then we have to study the situation and real happenings today. Today ham gears are sold everywhere. Hams and non-hams can buy them. They put a long wire to it and goes on the air. They opened up radio websites, looked for commercial stuffs and ordered and used them. May be only about 2% bought the ARRL handbook and study it from cover to cover.

So what kind of things do we want these people to know ? The SOP ? The authority has laid down the SOP in the websites. And they are all over the internet. In this case even the question analysis is difficult to make. There is no relevancy towards the daily practices.

To say a ham radio must have a certain technical skill is a myth. Even a basic color code cannot be intrepeted by many licence hams today.

Is RAE a form of control ? If RAE is a form of control then the question of irrelevancy does not arise. It is to control the influx of irresponsible people into ham radio frequencies. Does this mean that all the present hams are responsible people ? They do not cause disturbances on the band ? They always follow rule ? They use the Q-Codes rightly ? The use SOP rightly ?

Unfortunately I do not see it is a form of control. It makes sense to say without RAE the influx of people on the ham bands will be beyond control. Then we have to look at the activities of the CB and other radio activities. In Indonesia there are million of Radio Rakyat. How much problem do they cause on the air ?

Either for control or no control we have to think and act fairly not to suit our ownselves. If we are saying people are unfair to us, we have to make sure we are fair to others. We don't talk of man made policy unless we really understand the birth and history of any policy.

It is always true that RAE is not relevant at all to be a radio operator.