Bye, Bye Mat Skodeng Squad
At last, Malacca's Mat Skodeng Squad (Peeping Tom Squad which consists of the members of 4B Youth - meant to police the morality of the public) has been directed to disband by the Malaysian Cabinet. At least someone in Cabinet has some common sense. BRAVO...
I remember when I was a student in USA, a group of Malaysian students who considered themselves as religious, setup a team which went around to other Malaysian students' appartment to peep and check on their sexual or close-proximity activities. At least in USA we can depend oh the police to catch these peeping toms...
STUPID Members of Parliament
STUPID and WASTING TAXPAYERS' MONEY...
Datuk Rosli Mat Hassan (BN - Dungun)
In the New Straits Times dated March 23, 2005, The ruling party BN's MP from Dungun, Datuk Rosli Mat Hassan wanted the advertisement on courtesy to be withdrawn as it did not accurately reflect what an educated Malay man was like. His call was supported by an MP from my state. Mohd Alwi Che Ahmad (BN - Ketereh).
Please Mr. MPs, do not waste my tax money on trivial issues. We elected you to debate more important issues than a TV commercial.
UnemployABLE Malaysian Graduates
In the New Sunday Times date March 20, 2005 Abdul Razak Ahmad wrote about
unemployable Malaysian graduates. In his article, at last we start to recognize the problem is more on the quality of the graduates produced. "Soft-skills" such as ability to communicate effectively, and analyze and solve problems efficiently has been pinpointed as the culprit of the unemployable graduates.
We in the private sector knew this long time ago. We have been shouting about the quality of the graduates for the last many years.
Producing straight-A's students at SPM level is not enough. Let us take the latest SPM's Best Student performance who achieved 17A1's. At least 3 subjects were redundant for example Tasawur Islam is actually part of Islamic Studies, English for Science & Technology is part of English subject, and Basic Science is already covered under Biology, Physics and Chemistry.
Are we a nation which only loves for big numbers regardless of quality?
To Hell With Indonesia
I was never comfortable with hiring Indonesians to fill up vacancies in Malaysian job markets. I was never comfortable with special treatment given to Indonesians eventhough these people broke Malaysian laws by being in the country illegally. And I was never comfortable for verbal instruction given by my employer to recruit more Indonesians professionals.
Illegal immigrant from Indonesia hiding in Selangor singing "Indonesia Raya". See
here for context.
To hell with them. Malay has a saying for this kind of situation "Bagai melepas anjing tersepit di pagar" (meaning "like releasing a dog from a trap, at the end it turns and bites us").
What a Hectic Few Days
My weekend was ruined. My third daughter (child number 4) suddenly fell ill on Saturday March 5, 2005 and we had to admit her at the Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital for observation. She has very high fever and had to take blood samples to rule out dengue fever.
My wife and I had to stay in the hospital together with her and our youngest daughter and had to leave the other 3 (also sick) at home to fend for themselves (technically I have my mother with them but she is now unreliable due to old age).
Note: Just got back from the hospital (Mar. 8, 2005 7:57pm). My daughter has been discharged from the hospital about one hour ago.
Rational - Architect (iNTp)
I took the
Keirsey Test today and guess what? I am an
Architect (i.e., Phlegmatic "NT"). Which a rare breed considering only about 5% - 7% of the world population are considered
Rationals- Phlegmatics (about 8-10% are Idealists- Cholerics, about 40% are Artisans- Sanguines, and about 40-45% are Guardians- Melancholics).
I am in a good company of Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Abraham Lincoln, and Steve Wozniak - just to name a few.
"To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all that there is." - Albert Einstein a Rational Architect
Note: The result contradicts the Personality Profile test done which classify me as "Powerful Choleric" (i.e., Idealist "NF" according to Keirsey). The contradiction must be due to influence of my learned skills on my personality. Either I am a Rationals or Idealists, I am still in the rare group.
Texts below are taken from
here (By Danielle Poirier):
Rodin's Thinker is introverted. Here these thinkers ponder the apparent chaos of the world in order to extract from it the universal truths and principles that can be counted on. These principles, once extracted, will provide the logical structure on which to build strategies.
They have a finely nuanced ability to analyse situations, find root causes and foresee consequences. They distrust action taken too quickly without the necessary investigation. They are usually levelheaded, objective, impersonal yet intensely involved in problem solving. They are fiercely independent, seeking input and comments from a chosen few. When reporting to others, they need to establish credibility first: their own and that of the person they are reporting to. If the gap in knowledge and expertise is too great and their own proficiency dismissed, belittled or ignored, they will lose interest and motivation.
They are less interested in running the world as they are in understanding it. They are curious and capable of explaining complex political, economic or technological problems, taking great pleasure in explaining all the factors and intricacies. They are rigorous with their thoughts and analysis, choosing the exact words that convey precisely what is meant. They may spend a lot of time defining words, concepts and systems in order to define a problematic solution.
They are armchair detectives, scientists and philosophers, spending most of their time in quiet reflection to ponder truth, and solve mysteries. They may tend to neglect social requirements and responsibilities, finding many relationships to be too superficial to be of much interest.
After JAWI now JAIP
After JAWI made a blunder for overzealously detained Muslims for indecent exposure at Zouk, now
Taiping Religious Department (
JAIPerak) has joined the crowd by wrongfully arresting a non-Muslim transvestite, Ravi Varma Nambiar. He/She(?) has lodged a police report on his wrongful arrest. (The Star, 2 March 2005)
Another black-eye for "The Defender of The Faith". Yo! you have done a great dis-service to Islam.
Student-Athletes
Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato' Seri Najib announced a few days ago that student-athletes will be given 10% exemption on their credit hours for graduation. Is this the right decision?
In my opinion, this is wrong. Why not we learn from the American Universities such as my alma mater University of Miami, where instead of giving exemptions these student-athletes were given extra coaching in their studies? I used to be in the same class with these jocks (baseball players, football players) and they did the same assignment, the same examinations, and the same deadlines. And they were performers not only on the field but also in class.
