I was born Malaysian

Location: Kundasang. Photo: The Chukai Insider

Malaysia Day has passed us. I do not know how your version of celebrating Merdeka and Malaysia Day but surely is something that we have always taken for granted.

I leave the space to tell about our histories to the newspapers, documentaries and to some both clever and stupid politicians. Besides, there are lots of versions of the history of Malaysia than any other time in the media today. Go to The Star, you will have the snippets of its own version of history and The Malaysian Insider features many articles with many different opinions. Watch a politician’s Youtube video, you will totally get another different version. Aren’t they enough for you to get interactive learning of your nation’s history? Duhh.

However, we must take stand to so that we know we are heading in our process of understanding. It does not mean we are closed for discussion and further corrections when we take our stand. For me, the notion that our nation had never been colonised before is just playing with semantics. Why not? (You can read all the legal stuffs portrayed by the historians at other websites). Colonisation was not just about playing with legal words, agreements and paper works. It is beyond that. So, when some quarter of people saying that we were not colonised before made me think of how we view our dijajah era. Was it just about the technical details that marked the colonisation period? Was there no penjajahan (colonisation) to the minds of the people?  Or as in Malay ‘penjajahan minda’?

But it is good that we have this kind of thing in Malaysia. Our society has begun to mature and able to accept people’s views and synthesise from it. From there, we would be able to judge which are the best opinions and the most perfect version. Mind you that we live in a democratic society and open discussion and projection of ideas are things that make us a blooming democracy. In my Trengganu words- gining baru kelas, nampok pandai-pandai orang Malaysia. Dok la ikut belake cakap orang! Hok mane betul tu betul gok! Nampok macang negare maju skit! Dok ke kelas gitu?

How can it be more interesting than to live in today’s political landscape? Many things are happening in our political world which we cannot run away from since it shapes our society and consequently shaping us. Don’t you think we would have been a different person if we were born in a communist country? Yes, Mat Sabu. Anything to add? Or the pain on your right/left leg come again and you are not able to answer that? I thought the expensive medicine made the pain gone? No?

Enough of that.

Or would it be different if we were born in a nation where there was only one religion, one race or even one party? That would be worse for Muslims in Malaysia. Where would there be space for you to get to know each of different people when our religion says that we must get to know each other?

Overall, Alhamdulillah that I was born in Malaysia. Alhamdulillah too that I was born in 1990 when after 21 years after that was the most interesting period of the political landscape of my beloved nation. Let's do something good for Malaysia!-The Chukai Insider

Sejarah oh Sejarah...

For those of you who don't read newspaper because you were sick of the UMNO assembly, here's something new: Sejarah will be made a must-pass subject in three years time. Oo...

I don't question the rationale behind the decision of making it a compulsory subject to pass in SPM like Bahasa Melayu (or Malaysia? They change it all the time. Next minister come in, they'll change it again). What are the consequences? It's okay for the 90% maybe who will pass it, but for the rest? There will be another subject for them to worry about if they want to get their high school certificates.

Again, I don't question the rational. I don't want to question the content of our Sejarah syllabus as well as I'm not even an expert. Lots of discussions in newspapers however really delusion all of you guys with the fact that the columnists are all historians. So, be careful. 

What I want to bring as an issue is the methodology of teaching and assessment of Sejarah. Kesian for many of us who does not have the ability to grasp the subject and forced to do something they are not good at.

Teaching of Sejarah in schools normally would involve one-way communication. Teacher talks, you listen. You tak dengar, cikgu baling kapur, hahaha! Or marker! Better, group presentation. You talk, others listen. When exam is coming, wooosh! There comes the tonnes of past year papers! Woosh, answer that. Look in the textbook a little bit, and then tomorrow, you can answer the exam. That's  the case for the smart students. 

What's the purpose of Sejarah in school actually? Which one is better? You know all the facts, and then can put it in the essays or you have to analyse the Sejarah by knowing all the facts? That's the problem with Sejarah  lessons. You don't feel the Sejarah is alive. When talking about this, there's a report saying that the methods will change by putting more time on forums, discussions, debates and even drama and theatre! What? They are the activities the students are running away from! Malu la I nak berlakon jadi Sultan Melaka..sape jadi Hang Li Po..ouuu..

We, students want to watch movies! We want to go jalan-jalan. So, bring us to historical sites! We want to get marks for that! We will remember the significance of the A'Famosa better if we go there and not just look at the pictures in the full-of-words-with-no-interesting-pictures-at-all textbook. 

Thinking about thinking in Sejarah? Look at the questions. The only thinking question is when it come to the "Apakah pengajaran daripada peristiwa ini?". Nearly all of the students can answer pengajaran questions...duh..

I guess (because I'm not an educationist) it is better if the question goes like this: Bagaimanakah kejatuhan kerajaan Melaka membawa kesan kepada empayar di bawah kekuasaannya? Cewah, wat poyo skit. You have to think to answer it (think). You have to know which states were in the empire (facts). You have to predict because I don't happen to remember this fact is in the textbook (analyse). It's like you are playing with your minds to imagine what will happen to those states under the empire. Don't just put you-know-or-you-don't-know questions like this: Apakah sumbangan kerajaan Agraria? You know, you get full marks. You don't know, urmm padan muka. 

We are talking about the larger masses of students here. Those who don't want to be historians. I lauded the move to make it must-pass subject, but change the method of teaching and assessment. 

ps: there's no interesting history movies like how good Upin and Ipin is..

-The Chukai Insider

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore, Dr. Mahathir and Malaysia : Try make a 'good' story from the words given

Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew: Citizen Singapore: How to Build a Nation (Giants of Asia series)

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Lee Kuan Yew, his then Singapore counterpart, would go down in history as a very remarkable intellectual and politician at the same time. 

His comments appeared in this latest book on Lee written by an internationally syndicated veteran American journalist and columnist Tom Plate. 

Commenting further on LKY, Dr. M said : "He is a bog frog in a small pond. He had ambitions to become the Prime Minister of all Malaysia."

" He tries to lecture people but people dislike that.People do regard him as an intellectual, as something more than just ordinary politicians," he added.

How does an American present an accurate and non—judgemental view of Singapore? For columnist Tom Plate, he took that challenge head—on — and being from Los Angeles, he approached the story as if he was writing a screenplay on a blockbuster that is Singapore.

Tom Plate, author of “Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew”, said: “You come into a room, and you start talking with him and he cracks a joke and you say something. And then you disagree, he agrees, and back and forth, and it’s almost like a movie.

“No footnotes, a lot of dialogue and it’s an intimate but issue oriented profile of a political giant.”

The 200—plus page book covers topics ranging from Mr Lee’s views on China and US presidents to revelations about his family life.

For the author, it was also an opportunity to dispel some Western perceived myths about Singapore.

Mr Plate said: “He’s state of the art political management — I mean this is not a chewing gum, caning environment; this is a serious place, brilliant people.

“We Americans don’t know everything, we’ve made our share of mistakes, but we make a terrible mistake when we write Asia off.”

I highly recommend this book to all Malaysians if you really want to see how LKY views Malaysia and Singapore. Reading this book makes me wonder, what would happen to Malaysia if Singapore stays with us. For me, Dr. M and LKY are different but the same.

What I learnt from this book? 1.LKY makes me think that Malays are lazy as our long-lived culture made them so 2. Work culture is very important in building nations 3. I       need to learn more about Confucianism 4. LKY is a great man 5. Malays in Malaysia need to change.

Beatrice and Virgil

I bought this book just before my Further Mathematics exam to cheer me up. When I saw the cover, it looks familiar except that the animals are not the same as the one that I remembered. I went near and yeah, it is written by Yann Martel. He wrote Life of Pi before.

Beatrice and Virgil tells a story about fate. Henry, a writer living in a foreign city, receives a mail from an unknown. Instead of the usual fan mail, the envelope contains a story by Flaubert, a scene from a play featuring two characters named Beatrice and Virgil, and a note asking for Henry’s help. The note is signed “Henry,” and the return address is not far from where Henry lives. When Henry walks his dog to hand-deliver his response, he is surprised to discover a taxidermist’s shop. Here, stunning specimens are poised on the brink of action, silent and preternaturally still, yet bursting with the palpable life of a lost, vibrant world. And when the mysterious, elderly taxidermist introduces his visitor to Beatrice and Virgil—a donkey and a howler monkey—Henry’s life is changed forever. This novel brings art, animals and people together and relate them to Holocaust. It is a novel about Holocaust that has never been told before, unlike other Holocaust novels which tells us suffer, hardships etc.

At the end, author Henry develops some "games", 12 questions posing moral quandaries: would you allow your son to endanger his life to try to save the rest of the family? If you knew people were about to be killed and you couldn't stop it, would you warn them? If only Martel had bothered to dramatise any of these dilemmas, he might have produced a novel that didn't show the limits of representation quite so painfully.

Yann Martel’s previous novel, Life of Pi, has become a modern classic. A fantastical tale about a boy and a tiger shipwrecked in the Pacific, it asked probing questions about belief and reality. Now Martel has written another story that uses animals to examine our humanity. In Beatrice and Virgil, he poses enduring questions about life and art, truth and deception, responsibility and complicity. Haunting and unforgettable, this is an extraordinary feat of storytelling.

More about B&V: 

Reviews - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nina-sankovitch/embeatrice-and-virgilem-b_b_534909.html#

                http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/30/yann-martell-beatrice-and-virgil

SCHOOL DEBATERS VS POLITICIANS

In inter-school parliamentary debate competition, it is very interesting to see the debaters are more well-mannered, civilized and brilliant then our politicians in the Parliament of Malaysia. It is an excellent activity for the students to generate ideas and give their views on issues that matter in a very systematic way. A big credit should go to Ministry of Education for providing platforms for students to develop their thinking and communication skills. It is very often to see that the debates are fiery and filled with cynical anecdotes from both sides of the tables.

Unfortunately, in the Parliament itself, the politicians are debating about how the Prime Minister got his ideas of 1Malaysia from an Israeli-based company. Well, I think it is a big matter for the politicians to discuss that particular issues because they drive BMWs and have castle-like bungalows! The Rakyat will never care about those superficial matters. Subsidies, economics reform, education and social integration are all the things that matter to us.

Short Stories of My Life

Popular Bookstore- 11 years old

The tall dark men next to me took out large sums of money to give to the cashier. He was willing to pay all of my R.L Stine’s Goosebumps and Michael Lee’s Midnight’s Story series although he did not understand much what the books are all about. But my father did understand my passion for reading, and he knew it was good for his son. Being in standard five, I have not much to care about the world around me, only my Goosebumps and evenings filled with Disney Channel time.

SMK Sultan Ismail II- 15 years old

“Wow that is such a great camera! How did your father allow you to buy it? ” I asked my friend when he brought his own DSLR camera. I was stunned by the images captured by the small-but-heavy black thing! I could not care less but to surf the internet and looked for the best camera.
“NO, the final answer is no!” my father said.
“It’s okay, I’ll buy the camera using my own money” I replied. My father just smiled and walked away.

I knew I could not get enough Ringgit Malaysia to buy the camera which was my passion and so was my father. I looked for ways to develop my passion in capturing moments. I studied independently on how to capture my own best photo using my friend’s camera and from the internet. Digital Camera magazines were my in my list of things for camping.

In one evening in January, I came back to school and found a yellow-framed magazine. It was on the table. National Geographic? Yes, it was. I was so glad that my mother subscribed the magazine as my birthday present. Until now, it is still my favourite magazine. Nothing could compare my pleasure of drinking a cup of coffee while engaging myself with the photos in Visions of Earth section in the magazine. Canadian Oil Boom, Yellowstone National Park and recently published Indonesia Facing the Fanatics are the journals portraying the real world natural phenomenon and human-made crisis. The stories were told beautifully made myself deeply sink into the world.

Kolej Tuanku Ja’afar- 18 years old

“How much is too much?” the voice of Oprah was vibrating in my ears as I was reading my favourite author’s new book, Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly of Everything. My mother was doing her daily routine; watching Oprah while I always accompany her while reading a book. I found it was intellectually engaging to watch Oprah although my mother just anxious waiting whether the audiences were going to get surprises from the show. While watching the show, I develop my passion for the physique of our Earth. The book I was reading truly brought interest in me for our Earth.

I went to boarding school and away from my father’s care and my mother’s guidance. My Sunday mornings have been replaced with time for reading The Star, the leading nation’s newspaper. Zainah Anwar’s column, Sharing the Nation was my favourite together with Dzoff Azmi’s Contradictheory. Being an activist, Zainah Anwar has always inspired me with her thoughtful and critical views.
Growing up, I found memoirs to be inspirational. ‘Tis a Memoir and Angela’s Wishes by Frank McCourt truly stirred my heart with his moving stories while my favourite author’s memoir, The Life and Times of the Thundeborlt Kid made myself to discover that my life is full of beautiful things to do!

I came across a book one day that grabbed my attention. ‘Outliers: The True Story of Success’ by Malcolm Gladwell. I just picked up the book and read it. I skipped dinner and finished the book in one and a half day! I was so captivated by the stories, analysis and arguments presented in the book. Those who are successful are outliers, and they are successful because of accumulation of success. Well, truly interesting when I reflected my own chronological stories. Without my father’s will to spend so much money for my books, without my mother’s daily routine, without my 15th birthday present and without my passion for photos; how would I be today?

What historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed?

I can imagine myself standing in the middle of a crowded street watching Malays and Chinese killing one another in a battle which would amount to nothing but innocent deaths. Horrified, I would run away from the awful scenes of monstrous killings. One word could accurately describe what was in my mind; clueless. Citizens out of nowhere from all over Malaysia came and killed those who do not belong to their race, blinded by hatred and a thirst for justice that they believe could never be achieved without bloodshed. Everything was so medieval and crude, screaming men running after each other with machetes, neither one with a justified reason for their actions.

I would really like to know the true reason and facts behind all of this; the racial riot on May 13th 1969 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a tragedy which will forever mar the image of my country. Is there any hidden motive amongst the multi-racial leaders or just a political gimmick from both sides of terribly misunderstood parties? A series of question have long plagued my mind - why massive killings, what was the significance, and why is there no hard evidence even now? Perhaps if I am able to live in that era of horrible racial prejudice, I can fully understand what went wrong after 12 years of independence.