H1N1... It's Everywhere!

Picked this up from Malaysiakini... according to the President of Malaysian Medical Association, 95% of the influenza-like-illness (ILI) is now due to the H1N1. Question is whether it's the AH1N1. H1N1 is everywhere! And the MOH has also announced that they will not be reporting the number of infections anymore. Another sign that the virus is out of control.There is nothing much the authorities can do to contain it.

This is a rather interesting video which I came across. It is a bit over-sensationalized but it's also rather informative. It was done in response to the H5N1 or avian flu. And oh! Might I also add that it can be rather depressing as well. But I believe we need to understand what we might be up to. And also the adage prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

After all, the Spanish Flu (1918) came in 3 waves and the first wave was relatively mild. The second wave, however, was so lethal that it together with the subsequent 3rd wave (all over a period of 18 months) took tens of millions of lives worldwide. Some estimates put the figure at 80 - 100 million people. It was a flu with a profound virulence; one could die within hours of being struck by it.

We do not know how to handle a pandemic like this, despite the advance technology that we have. Our greed stops us from taking drastic actions to stop the virus in its track. According to the CDC page a person can remain infectious for 8 days or more, 1 day before the onset of fever some more. Sometimes I think, we beget our own destruction cos we don't seem able to make decisions to save ourselves.

What have our authorities done? Basically they've been trying to placate the people. First they say, everyone can ask for a swab to be done. Then they said no. It's just not possible. We've been reading about 1000 people waiting to see the doctor (get their swabs done) at the Sg Buloh Hospital. Don't think so they can cope. So, they tell the people it's okay to go to the GPs....

More recently they said Tamiflu will be supplied to the doctors... Indiscriminate dispensing (which the private practice is apt to do) will only render it useless in time to come. In Mexico and Canada can be bought over the counter it seems. Anyway, with the mutation that is likely to happen as with all the flu viruses, it remains to be seen whether Tamilfu will work. Our DG seems to be making statements like a politician... first no rapid test... now encourage the use of rapid test kits; swinging back and forth. Wonder whether he's eyeing a career in politics and now he's practicing.

Anyway... 95% of flu-like-illness now seems to be caused by the H1N1.... only let's hope there are no other ensuing (and profoundly virulent) waves coming next, if it's the A(H1N1) they mean.

Update (9/8/09): Death toll at 26.These coming from earlier deaths which were not confrimed. And which also means that the number is most likely higher than what is stated.

History...

Ask students what they think of history as a subject... many wish they can drop it. If History as a subject were to 'drop dead', I think it would make many young souls happy. And why not? Cos history is boring! Therefore it requires great discipline to study it. You have to memorize.. why study about dead people? Plus of course... it is bias... but I suspect it's like this in many countries of the world... we think the young minds are great places to start to be imbued with 'propaganda'... but this is no longer the era of Mao and his little Red Book. There are many alternative sources of information.

History is a convenient propaganda tool. But propaganda or not, kids from the other side of the divide have mastered the art of giving the answers required and still get that A for their public exams! Sometimes, I think the writers belittle the intelligence of our young... It's still better to try to be balanced and fair in our dissection of the past.

Countries are run by people. People make mistakes. History has a purpose in life. It is written so that we don't make the same mistakes. But we ignore facts that are embarrassing. And we deny the follies of our past when we rewrite them in a way that is favourable to us. Facts are bent to favour us. They bend truths and make them half-truths or non-truths.

We seem afraid to face our shortcomings and wrong practices of the past. And because that, it is difficult to move forward. Look at Malaysia, we may seem to have progressed materially but morally, people end up dead when they are called in for questioning. Criminals end up dead under the police care.... the law and the law-breakers don't seem very different, huh? Both seem thuggish! In choosing not to embarrass our race we are actually hurting the future generations. The past is supposed to make the present better so that there is a better tomorrow. But does it do the job? Anyway, material wealth will rot away if the moral absolutes are not adhered to. It's only a matter of time before these birds of the same feather will turn on their own. Greed, corruption, despotism, nepotism, etc. have a way of doing that! History is full of such examples.

Let me illustrate a point here...

This is from Sejarah Text Book Tingkatan 3 page 58.. 'Orang Melayu telah mengadakan demonstrasi secara aman bagi membantah cara Sir Harold MacMichael memperoleh tandatangan Raja-Raja Melayu.'

Pg 62 of the same book... 'Satu lagi langkah kolektif orang Melayu ialah mengadakan rapat umum semasa lawatan L.D Gammans dan David Rees di setiap bandar untuk menunjukkan bantahan mereka.'

The demonstration culture is also in UMNO. But, strangely, when the people opted to demonstrate (as in Bersih, Hindraf and the recent abolish ISA thingy), the very same party opted to use the police to quell the demo. The ensuing 'mayhem' was actually their own doing, not the demonstrators'. It's easy enough to see that. Yet, obviously UMNO (BN gahmen) did not seem to know their own history well. What some writers have been saying about UMNO being birthed from demo actually rings true...

And UMNO being the main component of BN has led BN to more shameful 'demos' like the storming of the APCET II. It was a much uglier 'demo'... windows smashed, furniture destroyed (by the demonstrators); yet I don't remember the police coming in with water cannons and riot gear to quell that shameful episode. The 'protestors' behaved like hooligans yet nothing was done.

So, History is a rather twisted subject here. The twist is purposely intended. We become revisionists and rewrite history to fit our worldview or political goals. There is also such a thing as selective reading but being a tested subject, the students do not have that luxury. So where will we move on from here? There are more examples I could quote...

Another example is the uprising of Dato Maharajalela and co in Perak. One of the reasons given for the killing of J.W.W. Birch, the first British Resident, was he tried to stop the practice of slavery.... To the privileged class, slavery was a way of life. But Birch interfered. If I had been one of the slaves freed because of his interference, I would have been immensely grateful to him for my freedom.

Yet, our history looks at the killing of Birch from the point of the 'pembesar'. I've always wondered how the normal folks (especially the slaves) viewed Birch. Life would have changed much for them... they earned their freedom. This very interference became a reason, which actually had been fuelled by the loss of power over the wealth of the land of the pembesar, for the killing of Birch. That's the price he had to pay for his call to the adventure in the sun of the tropics! But if you read our history books you'd actually feel that it could have been written from a more balanced point. Birch did try to do something good... he tried to free the Malay slaves from their Malay masters! Ironic, isn't it? Cos, finally 2 minor warriors were hung to death for their roles while the masterminds got away with their lives.

But the History syllabus has also evolved over the last few years... these days they have this 'application' questions in the structured and essay questions for the upper forms. It's actually kinda easy to kelentong if you are well read enough and get enough practice from Pendidikan Moral. History as a subject is not actually that difficult. We beat around the same bush... plus you don't really have to think very much. The hard part is the memorizing... there's no real need to understand or think out of the box... they don't require that cos it can be kinda destabilizing for the powers that are!

More on H1N1...

Schools have obviously received instructions from higher authorities regarding this matter. So this morning, an announcement was duly made requesting teachers in their respective classes to send students with symptoms of flu to the office. The reason was so that letters could be issued to them to seek treatment at the hospital.

By the end of the school day, we had sent around 20 students home or to the hospital. I went to pick son up later at his school and he told me that they sent back more than 40 students! Theirs was more stringent. Those with only cough were sent back too.

My school is a small school... around 700 students. So, I was kinda surprised to find that on a given day, so many are actually sick. And today also happened to be a day with high absenteeism rate because it is the last day of the week and that there are some who are not well. Flu season to blame or H1N1 or fruit season???

With one student in the hospital still under observation, I guess you could say that many of us are rather concerned. But I am also aware of the fact that so far there are many other diseases which kill more than H1N1... diseases like diarrhea in Africa which claim more lives every year, the common flu which takes 250 000 - 500 000 lives each year. What I also do know is this... the pharmaceutical companies (face masks), vaccine companies (new H1M1 vaccine to hit the western market in October), anti-viral (Tamiflu) companies are making killing themselves! Sometimes I wonder, isn't a little panic like this good for their business?

Plus I think we are basically quite clueless as to how to deal with something of this magnitude... in the morning I had the privilege of watching one of my bosses at work. You know how she checked their temperature? She stood in front of them and touched each student's forehead with her hand... One of them could have just coughed right into her face... guidelines if there are just don't seem to register...

Poor Kids.... UPSR More Papers to Sit

They're adding an Aptitude Test to UPSR, and the announcement came just slightly over 30 days before the actual exam... you've got to be amazed by the 'ad-hocness' of our ministry people. Poor kids! They're going to have one extra on their hands.... I am amazed at how our authorities can make a decision of this magnitude so close to the eleventh hour. It's like this was supposed to have been announced way earlier but somebody forgot about it.. then last minute it was remembered... and the announcement. Marvelous, isn't it, this bolehness of Bolehland? Can't they wait till next year. The haste this has been handled obviously demonstrated a lack of capability and intelligence of the Education Ministry.

On the last day of the UPSR this year, all Year 6 students have to sit for this test.... it's basically an IQ test. This means the students from vernacular school will sit for 8 papers. It'll be 6 for the national schools. Grades don't count but it'll be reflected on the result slip. If grades don't count then why put it on the result slip? And just a matter of time before another scramble begins from the parents once they understand the importance of this additional paper.

UPSR is the basis of selection for a place in boarding schools and I suspect they're finding it more and more difficult to find the right candidates, now that we get straight-A students at a dime a dozen.

And soon tuition operators will be smiling even wider... and thanking the gods for sending more business their way. Hey! We'll be having tuition classes for the subject called 'aptitude'. LOL!

There simply too many straight A-students now. And we're finding it difficult to tell the really good ones apart in this sea of straight-As. There is another group, with language deficiencies, which has been pushed to oblivion by the first group... this group hardly gets much attention, what more opportunities. They don't score straights cos of their 'language deficiencies' but they are very good in other areas. But these days, if you don't have straight As, it's kinda difficult to get noticed. And these kids sort of just drift around, sometimes getting swallowed by the straight A(s). Aptitude tests would be good for this particular group actually cos maybe they will be recognize for a particular aptitude that they have and be groomed because of that.

Anyway... I think we are going about it the wrong way in our education system. We should concentrating on the basic skills at primary level... reading, writing, arithmetic and perhaps induce a little creative thinking skills also. Right now, I get so many students who can't even write (as in handwriting) properly let alone construct proper sentences.... now something must be wrong when they can't do that, right?

Infectious Disease and the Malaysian Mentality

It's flu season... this season, we've a new 'kid' in town - the H1N1. It's one of those topics that creeps into conversations now. Though the seasonal flu kills more than it, we still do not know exactly how lethal it might be.

And this another interesting piece of news from mainstream papers. It seems the Deputy Education Minister says students will have their temperatures checked before entering classes... Interesting to see how this develops cos the politicians seem to be releasing 'tak boleh pakai' statements all the time... to show that they are on top of things.

I think it's a good thing to have... this temperature check thing. But I really wonder whether we have the will to see to it. The times when we are likely to see things being done is near election time. Roads get done, street lights get fixed, longkang(s) get cleaned, halls get built, all the 'rakyat-based' things get done. Anyway, I await the execution of this latest 'decree' from the venerable politician.

We're having another round of hand-foot-mouth outbreak again in Alor Setar too. This is the second time this year. We seem to take things lightly. Many parents still send their children to nurseries and schools even though their children are not well. They need to work, their children need supervision. You have working mothers pulling their hair now cos Indonesia still hasn't lifted their maid ban to Malaysia. Childcare is a problem and contributes to the spread of infectious disease! So.. infectious diseases spread unabated. Right now, those of us with younger children tend to be more worried as H1N1 is also around. Those with underlying health problems are more susceptible, we have been repeatedly reminded. Sometimes, ignorance is memang bliss.

Back to H1N1 in season... we tell students not to go to school if they are not well. Some are ill, have flu-like symptoms. Guess what? They still show up at school. At a time when most of us are more jittery, we still get such people who seem to take all these very lightly. So, how can we ever hope to contain all these outbreaks... Lucky us this H1N1 is not as virulent as SARS... dread to think whether we could cope if it had been that virulent. The Nipah outbreak doesn't count as it was not highly contagious like SARS or H1N1.

So, what is the Malaysian mentality with this regard? I dunno... sometimes I think we have this 'what will be will be' way of looking at things... and that we feel that things will take care of themselves.... which they do eventually. Depends on which and whose angle you are looking at it from!

H1N1... Malaysia Entering Mitigation Phase

Last count 8 deaths, including a 51-year-old teacher... and countless infections. I've ceased to believe the number given out by the MOE. The situation was never in control... not even since the first day the 'swine' flu landed in Malaysia.

A friend of mine was in one of the flights with the initial infected... she, being dutiful called the Airlines to inform... anyway, they must have lost the flight passenger list or they just couldn't be bothered. When she told them where she was sitting, they told her they are not sure where the infected was sitting... and anyway, they were only going to quarantine those seated within 3 rows of the infected. See the gaps in the info? Not sure but got quarantine. They didn't think she was seated anyway near the patient. And they didn't even check. That's another Malaysia Boleh for you... but in the papers, they tell you everything is under control.

The gahmen was clueless how to handle this thing.... Our newspapers may give glossy reports of how our gahmen is on top of things but most of their reports tak berapa boleh pakai very often. The hands that control the newspapers and the gahmen agencies are also helpless against this unseen tiny virus. Anyway, those hands are too busy trying to hang on to power! Hence, you have the DG of Health (that Merican guy) saying one thing and his political master (that Liow fler) saying another.

Tis a losing battle we're up against...now it's the little wars we're fighting and we've to win these wars! At school, students are reminded to stay at home if they are not well. Well, they are still coming to school. How to contain? Rumour has it that a neighbouring school near mine has a confirmed case... I wonder if they are going to close the school for a week.... Schools are hotbeds for infectious diseases. 30-40 people cramped within 4 walls with poor ventilation due to curtains hanging everywhere, which incidentally are also wiping cloths... another good place for the germs to hang on; close proximity of the institutionalized form and institutionalization by law (7.40 a.m. - 3.00 p.m.)... H1N1 is a lost cause here.

We have entered the mitigation phase which means that the disease can no longer be contained. Resources are now supposed to be channeled towards mini containments and contingency plans. The virus is out in the community, at large. It's no longer confined to small groups which makes containment possible.

In Alor Setar yesterday, one could sense some panic. People are going to see the docs at the slightest feeling of unwell. Read this for the why. Concerns are arising as there seems to be more deaths from this flu worldwide. There is always the worry that the worse is yet to come. This is yet another site for good information. Check it out! Also a good read... this will explain why WHO is concerned about H1N1.. Spanish Flu.

But if any country which might at least contain it somewhat... I think it's our tiny neighbour down south, the land of kiasu and kiasi. Then again, it has also moved into mitigating the disease but they are mitigating it quite successfully. Because of the experience with SARS they are not afraid to be decisive.

So, looks like H1N1 is set to rampage in Malaysia. Take the necessary precautions! Mitigation becomes easier if each one of us play our roles.

Creativity and the Malaysian Schools...

Creative people are a rare breed... You think so? Nah! Actually there are many creative people but their creativity has been doused by our education institution and system.... with lots of cold water!

Creativity... the current definition - the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, originality, progressiveness, or imagination. Okay... that I understand but I don't see much of that in my students. My kinds of students? They open their mouths and wait to be fed! Then like the bulimic they regurgitate!

Do we need a creative population? The answer is clear for all to see. Yup! We need people who can churn out new and innovative ways of doing things, solving problems.... I think right now, if feedback from the employers are anything to go by, Malaysia is short of creative people. Yes man (woman) we have aplenty. Creative and independent workers quite susah to get.

Are Malaysians creative? I think the answer is probably no. If we take patent registration as a bench mark, I think we'd failed miserably. Japan is leading in this area... from a nation of copycat, they've become the world leader in patent registrations. It shows in the way they have been able to forge ahead and become a world leader in gadgetry. The US, UK Korea, Singapore are among the other notable countries with patent registrations.

Do we need to teach creativity? Some people argue that creativity is a natural tendency. If that's true than by pumping our young with facts and more facts will churn out naturally creative people. We go by the assumption that by the time the heads are crammed with facts, these kids are ready to be creative people. Fact is they are not. No amount of facts in the heads seems to be able to do that wonder of turning them into creative creatures. A little daydreaming might. Of course daydreaming is also an art these days as the kids tend to numb their brains with computer games with what little free time they have.

So, how do we teach creativity? I don't know... some of the stuffs that I've read... tolerate failures, teach them how to critique, develop empathy, nurture curiousity, encourage debate, discover and work on the talents, breaking rules for a reason, encourage risk taking, develop intuition... If you look at the list, a lot in our education system doesn't seem to quite move in that direction. Ours is a 'cram, more cramming, stuff, more stuffing... then rush from one tuition to another...

Our system of exams, emphasis on the number of A(s) are real dampeners to encouraging creativity...

My ramblings for today...