Earthquake

For someone who has stayed in Malaysia all her life and learned in Geography that we don't (it should be didn't) experience earthquakes and twisters, I certainly did not ever imagine that I would ever feel the earth shaking under my feet. And for over 30 years that was exactly how it was like.... till the big quake of 2004 which killed almost a quarter of a million people. It was back then that I first experienced the shaking of the earth... And how did I feel the first time? There was a little fear. But I am aware too this is nothing like the frequent rumbling and shaking in earthquake zones or having the thought of the Big One coming soon.

Yesterday, we had a couple more big quakes of the Sumateran coast. I thought the shaking was more pronounced than the last one in 2004. My windows and doors rattled. Things on the table made sounds. And the water in my aquarium almost sloshed out. I could hear my neighbour's gate rattling away too. To cap it, the shaking seemed to last longer. My neighbours rushed out. And guess what? Many of us were logging in via our smartphones, iPads to check things out. Before the shaking ended, i had already seen a post about it. And within the next hour or so, FB was abuzz with posts on earthquake. Firsthand experiences travelled fast and furious. From friends' posts, I could also read firsthand, news from those in Indonesia as well. Back in 2004, we turned to the Internet for news and information. Google was the preferred choice. FB was just in its nascent years then.

By evening, with some new apps at hand, it was easy to check out the number of aftershocks... This morning, the map was so dotted with red and yellow dots; with each red dot representing a big quake and yellow ones for smaller quakes. The Penang CM office also posted updates on FB. Then we got to know that the CM decided to give the Agong's Installation Dinner in KL a miss in order to fly back to Penang. I think he knows that will score points for him with the people but his action is also so typical of him, always hands-on and practical. That's so unlike another leader who was away during a major flood not too long ago. Anyway, it's hard to find leaders who really put the interest of the people first these days...

Leaders today served to be served.... that's what I see. They get so much benefits. They become so rich... and it's not just the political leaders I am referring too. You see the same in religious institutions too. In churches I see the same... trips, privileges to 'serve' etc, etc. Blessings via service, not that sort that is God channelle but man. The shoe-throwing Imam episode; that too points to such practices. In days of old, kings would lead the charge in a battle. They often suffer mortal wounds or even die leading their men. They fight alongside their men, bear the discomfort of the battle grounds.... These days, leaders delegate and have it more comfy. The concept of leadership has changed....

Am just glad that there was no tsunami... It would be devastating for the people in Sumatera to have their lives turned topsy turvy so soon after the last big one...

The Eighth Confession ...by James Patterson

A Women's Murder Club series by Patterson and Paetro. After a hiatus from intense reading, this one was quickie read. Did in a day cos I was impatient to get to the end.

Appearance can be deceiving.... that's what almost everything in the novel is about. Rich people who are nice on the outside but mean or have a certain peculiarity. Poor or rich, I think we are like that too. Anyway, they get killed by the use of krait, a venomous and lethal snake. Cool, huh? A live snake as a murder weapon. Its venom is quickly metabolized by the body and no post mortem can find traces of foul play. The psychopathic murderess keeps score of the people who had been mean to her. Those who died had crossed her path.

A preacher gets killed. On the surface it seems that an injustice had been committed. But his same 'preacher' runs his own meth lab and enslaves young girls. He turns them into dope dealers and prostitutes. The whole neighbourhood stands together when the truth comes out when the police thinks they have arrested the murderer. Turns out everyone wants him dead. Justice is served in a quirky way.

One of the women in the Murder Club, Yuki, the prosecutor falls in love with a doc she meets at the hospital. By all accounts she likes him. They fall in love with each other. Things went on fine until he told her he was born with ambiguous genitalia. Appearance can be deceiving but in this twist, the doc came out truthful....

Generally, like most of Patterson's books, this was an interesting enough novel to keep me glued to it like a action-junkie waiting for the next act.... It's like a love-hate relationship thingy. Love it cos it's filled with enough suspense to keep me glued. Hate it cos I can't put it down. When that happens, things get procrastinated. Book 8. I am still on schedule with my at least 2 books a month target this year. 8)

World Class

We have our own world class athletes... Lee Chong Wei, Nicol David... I'm sure they don't mind me not putting their Datuk title in front of their names. It' hard to magine Nicol training in Amsterdam and insisting that her coach, friends, trainers call her Datuk Nicol. LOL! .....Datuk Nicol.... Pumping 50 times!!!!

Apparently too, we have our world class education system, better than many first world countries, according to our Minister of Education. I don't know whether the businessmen who came to that conclusion based it on educated guesses or they were just trying to polish our own ego. World class education facilities, I think I'll agree somewhat, but I think if they really want to make it truly world class, the Ministry has got to start thinking about air-conditioning all schools. They should start building schools like office blocks instead of housing classes in different blocks. The heat is horrendous these days and bear in mind too that in this world class education system of ours, extra classes are a must. School starts at 7.30 a.m. and ends anywhere from 3.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. And after all these extra classes, many urban kids go for their own extra classes, aka tuitions. It's a crazy existence, I know but this chase for A(s) has gripped us all and got us fixated on academic prowess.

Anyway, world class we're definitely not... at least not our system. We do have world class materials, though. However, they're ini danger of being dumbed down by our schools.... and the root of it stems from the NEP. Birthed with good intentions to balance the sosio-economic imbalance, it went senget...

Any system built on unfair practice will eventually reap whatever it sows. We've gone so many decades on NEP, a system that skews up our value system. In NEP, we award and reward based on race. NEP got replaced by NDP which also feels like a chip off the old block cos it carries out the same practices. If one wants an instant yardstick to measure, just take a look our education system. It's far easier for Bumiputera students to gain admission into public universities or be given scholarship after their SPM. Just check out any school with Form 6. You hardly ever find Bumiputera students with really good results studying there. You'll find plenty of non-Malays though. I had a Chinese student who scored 7A(s) in her SPM who was left behind after her SPM. She was our best student and she was offered nothing while the rest of her classmates who did not do as well as her were offered places in Matriculation Colleges, UiTM, Polytechnics, etc, etc. She is sitting for her STPM this year, which everyone knows is way harder than Matriculation. In many ways, I feel for her.

My Malay classmates left after Standard 6, SRP and SPM even though their results were not spectacular. By the time I got to Form 6, those who were left behind were really weak but there was only a handful of them. When I got to university, I discoved how 'easy' it was for them to get a place. Had I been one of them, I could have ended up doing any course my combination allowed. But my race became my stumbling block. It's not hard to see why our History syllabus is so myopic. It would be hard to reconcile what we practise with, let's say... what happened in South Africa under the apartheid system. Like it or not, even though we call our practice here Affirmative Action, there were many instances when some form of apartheid practices took place.

When I went to work in the public sector, I met many capable people, of different races. Yet, it was always one race who will get promoted. I was brought up to believe that faith is supposed to make us rise above our selfish and greedy self. But I have also learned that faith is more often than never just a tool.... a means to achieve an end. Then I thought that perhaps the type of faith might have something to do with that skewed behaviour that I see. But it wasn't so either. Faith, regardless of types (i.e. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc...) are used by many as means to ends too. Over the years, I've seen and experienced too, how in churches even how those who show themselves to be the most faithful behave in the same manner too because they cannot see beyong their own desires and wants. Faith becomes a means to an end.... I guess it's not what religion you prescribe to that turns us all into this selfish creatures... It's the failure of our world class education to inculcate into each one of us this sense of justice and fairness....

So is there hope? I'd like to think so. I think just as in we can be skewed, there is always this hope of getting it right again too. It means letting go, getting the right footing again... Doing right requires more courage than doing wrong, I feel. That's why it's always more difficult to do the right thing. But it's still possible.

World class education... Who are we trying to kid? Our graduates don't seem to meet market requirements. Talk to most teachers and many will tell you that there is a deterioration of quality. Talk to the employers and many will tell you that the employees they take in these days seem more docile, passive and unimaginative... Oh yes! Poor problem solvers too.

World class education? I think it's just a matter of time before some of the private institutions like Monash Malaysia University, Nottingham Malaysia University, Southampton Malaysia and some other foreign universities lead our charge to be world class... One simple reason would be the entry requirements in such instituitons which are set at a certain standard. Our local institutions have always practised 2 standards of admissions. For everything that is executed without honour... the offsprings of that labour can only be Cheat, Rot, Deceit, Lie, Lazy, Greed.... In the long run, nothing good really comes out from all these skewed values.....

Oh ya! I think this is perhaps true also! Each one of us is a certifed world-class cheat, quite easily, without a doubt. No training required. Training and discipline however, are required not to be a world-class cheat.

Through My Eyes ...by Tim Tebow

This is the season of hope. Easter... the reminder of the resurrection and the hope that comes with it. Happy Easter.

Book 7 for 2012. This is a book about football, not the type that we are more familiar with here in Malaysia but the American version. In Malaysia we call soccer football. And this is also a book about how a young man chooses to honour God through his football talent.

Been more than a month since my last book, in part because this is usually the time of the year when there are more things to do. Plus also, my temporary home help, my boy, has gone to work full time. 8( For a while it was nice to have the laundry nicely folded when I come back from work....and someone to go get tidbits for me during teatime.

Anyway, back to the book. If you do a search for Timothy Tebow, you'll realize that he's actually quite famous. Currently playing for New York Jets, he shot to stardom from his Florida Gators playing days. He would etch Bible verses on his face in the games that he played and in 2009 one of the verses was John 3:16. This verse was searched over 90 million times after his game.... and it was a game that was won in style; stuff that made a good story.

Born of missionary parents (they were in the Phillipines), Tim's mother was told to abort him as the pregnancy would endanger her. But she believed God would see her through. And God did! They dedicated him to God. The youngest of 5, he and his siblings were homeschooled. A lot of his athletic prowess had roots in the hard work that he had to put in on his parents' farm in his growing up years.
The book describes in detail his playing days with the Florida Gators; University of Florida football team. I learned a lot about American football from this book, I should say. 8) Reading about Tim Tebow brings to mind another budding basketballer, Jeremy Lin, a basketball player who recently had a meteoric rise too. These are extremely talented young men who choose to acknowledge the gift that their Creator has given them. They choose also to live a life that is honourable to God.
However the journey into fame is just starting. I hope they stay faithful. I'm not football crazy and I think because of that, there wasn't this push to get me going. But this is still a nice read.

Why English Can Be So Fun....

Bonsified.... I had a good laugh when I read how Hishamuddin Rais coined the word. And that's why I've always found English fun. It's dynamic, adaptable and moves with time. When Google did what it did to information search, it was only a matter of time before it was made a verb. Same goes for Xerox and countless other words such as ululate... It's fun to see how new terms are coined. Proper nouns turned verbs...

Bonsai are plants which continue to grow but remain small. Bonsai is about controlled growth. How the plant turns out and grows are dictated by the grower... and I guess one can also coin up words such as bonsifist or bonsifier.

To some bonsais are pretty. But to me, to turn a plant into a bonsai is to restrict its ability to reach majestic proportions. I think we can turn any tree (or shrub) into a bonsai. All we need to do is to exert control, i.e. control the amount of nutrients and space for growth by placing it into a pot. The next step is to trim. You trim it down to whatever size and shape. And in the process sometimes restrict or direct growth by applying pressure, tie or bend certain parts....

And that's how our education system has bonsified most of our brains. The curriculum has been bonsified to the point that we no longer can stand tall among the best education systems in the world. International assessments have been pointing to a downward trend of our students' abilities. Our local graduates cannot meet the requirements of even our local labour market.

Our executors are also products of the bonsification. One of the byproducts of intended bonsification is the lowering of standards in the quality of people recruited into the teaching profession. A bonsai needs care because they are potted. They cannot draw nutrients from the ground because they are not rooted to other sources of food. Food has to be administered by the bonsifier. A bonsai depends on the bonsifier. Without its master (or caregiver), it will die.

But then again bonsais are pretty. However, a big majestic tree provides shade. It provides oxygen. I am sure the amount is definitely way more than that of a bonsai. It helps to cool the environment. It keeps the top soil from being eroded. It becomes the homes of squirrels, birds, insects.... an oasis of life. The biggest plus point? Its roots are long enough to find its own nutrients! And of course, it it ever is sacrificed, it can keep a fire going, provide enough wood to build a small house, be made into furniture, turned into paper.... Now try asking the bonsai to be all that!!!!!

Unfortunately our current education system is like the bonsai. It has been bonsified because the bonsifiers want to be in control. Control benefits the one who exerts it. You can help yourself to everything and dictate everything, and no one to answer to in the case of total control. Our schools are a pale shadow of their former glorious past. Bonsified minds think small. Bonsified minds can be rather myopic. Keeping a bonsai is more about appearance more than anything..... And that, unfortunately is what's happening in our schools.

I have seen teachers being forced to hold extra classes. School ends at 2.10 p.m. Extra class begins at 2.30 p.m. Teacher goes into class at 2.30 p.m. and comes out at 2.40 p.m. to pray. She performs her prayers till 3.00 p.m. and then goes back into the class. Class ends at 3.30 p.m. I think Zohor prayers is between 1.15 p.m. to about 4.15 p.m. (approximation). Teacher does not want to rush after her last class. Neither does teacher wants to stay back at after class to pray. So teacher steals time from extra class hours. In the first place this teacher probably has most days where her classes have to end at 2.10 p.m. cos of the possibility that last periods may have been blocked for some people.... So tell me, isn't the bonsaification of the mind taking place? Appearance over doing it right... but curi-curi the time and then make excuses. And if you were to pass a remark, you'd get an indignant look as if a sanctified ground has been tresspassed... bonsification a success!

You see bonsais are pretty... looks nice to behold. But apart from providing that pleasure, they don't contribute much else. And sometimes if we take a closer look at the bonsai, we'd also find all these unsightly bumps or 'benjol' potruding here and there.... again some may argue that that gives it a natural look. You don't get much of those unnatural bumps on tall trees which grow into awesome beauties in most places....

But then again, all of us become bonsais every now and then too....

Walk down a road lined with bonsai, pretty as they are, you get no shade. And you go only a short distance before the heat gets to you. With bigger trees, you might last longer. And if you have no food for yourself, those big majestic trees, perhaps among them, under the boughs and branches, you might find some water or food, that might sustain you a little longer....

English is memang fun... don't you think?

4th May, 2012

Interesting developments from the Scorpene submarine scandal. Due to the bonsification of our minds all these years, the bonsifists have been helping themselves silly.... It's now labelled The Great Malaysian Robbery.

So What Do You Want For A Career?

This is the time of the year when a few hundred thousand students will begin to ponder about their future. For 500 000 SPM holders, it's either to enter the job market which a sizeable does, or to continue their studies. For the latter, there're many paths - Foundation, SAM, STPM, Matriculation, A-Levels, Diploma, ADTP and countless other avenues. These days as long as you have the money and meet the requirements, you'll get to continue your studies.

My own boy is in the latter group... the ones at the threshold of university studies. And picking his career path has been difficult, mainly because he has choices. Plus like most young people his age, they don't really know what they want. This is something which I feel is a failure of our education system. Kids don't get a feel of different jobs. They're detached from the real job world cos their education is very academic.

In Malaysia, many parents whose kids get good results will push for their children to do medicine. Can't blame them because many attach prestige and a stable income to the job. A great number of our best and brightest end up here. But the proliferation of medical schools because it's such a lucrative business has seen the number of medical schools ballooning to 36, at last count. And if this writer is to be believed, it looks like we're facing several problems which might jeopardize the career path of aspiring doctors.

In the early 80s, because of a severe economic downturn, engineering graduates were known to drive taxis or sell char-kway-teow to tie over the hard times. Back then, engineering lost its lustre somehow. Who is to anticipate that engineers are much sought after today. Or that computer related graduates would be in great demand too. Computer Science for example were mainly taken by those who could not qualify for the more 'prestigious' courses back then. But today, many of those who studied Computer Science are doing very well. None of us would have imagined today's world as being so integrated by computers? The study of science involves new terms coined in the last decade or so such as nano technology, biomedical sciences, material science, etc, etc... and it's still evolving. Psychology graduates are more in demand today too...

For our boy, he's more fortunate than us. Prudent planning on our part means private education is possible for him. That means more options for him, and that he 'escapes' the quota system. Having so many of our friends in various fields also means that we roughly know what different career paths entail. But still, choosing is tough and he is still yo-yoing in choosing, like many of his friends. I did not have such luxury because my parents could afford anything beyond public universities. I had to take whatever that was offered by the UPU. But still, I was lucky to get into a public uni, though when I got there, I realised there was a big difference in terms of entry requirements for the Bumi and non-Bumi. It was at university that I had my first hand experience of preferential treatment for the Bumi(s) at work. The difference in points with some of my coursemates was something like 20 points or 2 grades lower for each of the 5 subjects I took in STPM. And of course, Like many of my friends, I felt cheated. And our parents had to work very hard to put us through those years. Today, nothing much as changed. Rather sad that there hasn't been much progress cos the group that has been and is still being helped still seems mired in mediocrity generally. Our leaders prefer to be leaders for those who need crutches....

Anyway, I've been doing so much reading about different career pathways recently. In a couple of years, I would probably be doing the same again when my girl's turn comes. I wonder too whether there would be any meaningful changes in the admission system. Only time will tell...
As for career choice, I think one must like what one does. Practical reasons such as prospects, aptitude for the course also must take precedence but it's always a double bonus to have a passion for one's vocation. To be stuck doing something that feels like a chore, while might be bearable because most of us are adaptble, can sometimes prevent us from maximizing our potentials too.

Mental Block

It's been a tiring last few weeks. Too many things occupy this little space that houses my gray matter; personal, work... I guess just about most things.. Work is not much fun this year. Of late, and as the years pile up, I begin to feel more the ugly racism at work place, not only because it involves me but because I see not merit at work even for those with the 'same' skin colour. For most of us Non-Malays who work in schools like mine, we're hardly ever considered.... But even for my Malay colleagues, I feel sorry for those who are overlooked... Seriously, a few of them actually have the right attitude in place. But in a system which does not value ability, even 'their own' suffer. One thing for sure though, those with minds of their own will less likely ever be acknowledged. Patronage at work because integrity and all those nilai-nilai murni supposedly practised are but lip service.

Then there were the STPM and SPM results. This is supposed fo be the year when scholarships for SPM are supposed to be cancelled. But apparently not; somewhere a U-turn got executed again, in typical Bolehland way. Like many, I can't see why scholarships be awarded for this level... which means they get 1-2 years of scholarship for Foundation, A-Levels and what have you not. Just makes no sense, except that this is Malaysia, where pre-university education goes along racial lines too; the easier Matriculation for the Bumiputera and the more difficult STPM for the non-Bumis. Funding for them and pittance for us kinda thing. And another funny thing, it seems that the 'us' pay most of the income tax. It's more sensible for scholarships be awarded at tertiary education. Yet, we don't act sensibly.

SPM 2011 - The best SPM in 5 years. A record number of 559 students scored straight A+(s). This I think doubled from 2-3 years ago. BTW, there are 3 types of A; A+, A and A-. And so will all 559 get scholarships? What about the other 10803 straight A(s)? Even if it's 11A-(s), it still counts as straight A(s). So now we have 11632 students who should be given scholarships... I wonder how many will continue to score straight A(s) in the next level.... of if at all the A(s) count for everything. Again, what about the STPM people? That's why 1Malaysia sounds hollow. And our Minister of Education claims our education system is better than countries like the UK and US. Yet, employers still complain that many of our graduates lack the necessary skills? Baffling cos I don't see people from the world coming in droves to clamour for places in our UM or USM.

I was looking at Daughter's breakdown of subjects taken school recently. And we just realized that of the 700 possible marks for her exam, 500 marks come from language - BM Penulisan, BM Pemahaman, Chinese (Writing), Chinese (Comprehension) and English. The remaining 200 marks come from Math and Science. In Kebangsaan school, the weightage is 300 marks for language and 200 marks form Math and Science. Going by that, I guess it's okay to assume that we're a nation bent of producing linguists... Studying one language is difficult enough. Studying 2 is tough. Doing 3 languages is crazy. From my own kids, I see how the 'agony' of learning the languages turned them (and the teachers) into harried people. Many become casualties of their inability to cope with the differet languages they need to master.

For some other reason, the planners of our curriculum don't seem to remember what they've learned about the different types of intelligence. Looks like our education system is a graveyard for non-linguist kids. Face it, some kids struggle with language. I know mine did! In a system like ours, many kids get buried by language learning... But nah! In the name of race preservation, the community leaders are trying to show their own that they are championing their rights, heritage, culture... call it what you want, kononnya to protect them from threats.... it feels like here in 1Malaysia, races feel threatened all the time, mostly from imaginary or concocted fears. And guess what, personally I think mastering 2 of the languages actually don't mean much except to satisfy some ego built along racial lines. And English becomes the casualty... the language of science of technology, international relations, commerce and trade, blah, blah, blah.... A BM expert; beyond our shores, it's of not much use. It used to be the same for Mandarin too, except that these days it's good to know it because China is too big of a market to ignore. Still, a working knowledge of the knowledge is sufficient to get by if you want to be able to do business in (with) China.

So while the rest of the world has stepped up their learning of English because they understand the need to, we bury our children under so many language papers because we're ethno centric, and because we want to be seen as champions and defenders or our race.... The joke of course, is on us, the little people cos while we get worked out whenever somebody touches on this issue, our leaders aka politicians are busy lining their pockets with cow money, and directing godzillion amount of money to some other lands.... Of course that money comes in handy in sending these people's kids to the best boarding schools.... where they learn English in the most conducive environment.
In the mean time, we continue to mistrust our fellow citizens because the skin colour or name is different...... small fries' battles. Letih..