Malay dad. Chinese mum

This is what the kid said:

My old man thinks the Chinese deserved 513 for being b****es and questioning POWAH MELAYU, that Malay supremacy should never be questioned, or the Chinks will use our land to rear babi [pigs].

My mother thinks Malays are all lazy bastards, rely on government handouts, are inefficient civil servant monkeys, and can't survive without Chinese taxes. Till this day votes rocket, doesn't believe positive discrimination, and "tak suka kawan Melayu [do not like to befriend Malays] because their attitude sucks".

Science and math in English may not be great after all

I left the article below since most people don't like to read a wall of text.

I received instruction for the sciences and maths in Malay before college. At college, everything is in English. I recalled that I had little problem with this transition.

When ex-Prime Minister Mahathir pushed English for science and maths, he argued that students will benefit by knowing technical terms of these disciplines in English and that this will ease our efforts towards becoming a knowledge-based economy. Many pro-English Malaysians lauded this move despite opposition from Malay and vernacular proponents.

Today, the academics are arguing that the instruction of science and math in English isn't really benefiting students. They point that students had such a poor grasp of the language that it effectively impair learning and comprehension. Ok, so they now know terms in English, but it stops there.

Just like how we know some words from some languages foreign to us but possess low proficiency in them.

If they did reverse the policy back to Malay, Tamil, and Chinese, besides from the government wasting resources to prepare materials in English, I would say it will not be a step backward for Malaysia. After all, it is most important that students comprehend the subjects being instructed.

But do I think English is important? Definitely. However, if the social and political climate does not allow for a full-scale English adoption in schools - with the purpose to better the mastery of English - teaching science and math in English just because of the 'technical terms', is fail policy.

I had little problem transiting from Malay to English in the sciences. I believe those with decent English share this lack of difficulty during the transition.

From The Malaysian Insider

Language barrier splits Malaysians into classes

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 — A visibly angry Maimunah Hamid shook her head in desperation as Education Ministry officials struggled to explain to angry parents gathered at a parent-teachers meeting at a national school in the city last week.

"I have had enough, I am moving my daughter to an international school," said Maimunah, an accountant with Maybank, Malaysia's biggest bank. "I am sick of this flip-flop policy, why can't you all make up your mind?" Most of the 120 parents agreed with Maimunah, 46, a mother of two daughters aged nine and 12.

"Make up you mind please — English or Malay. Don't torture the children," said another parent Kanagaratnam Vellupillai, 39. "This issue has been going on for years and years." In fact the issue — English or Malay as a medium of instruction — has been hotly debated and remains unresolved since the British colonialists left in 1957.

After acrimonious debate the matter was settled in 1967 that Malay would be the medium of instruction in all national schools, but that Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools could continue teaching in a mixture of Malay and their own mother tongues.

However, in a decision in 2002, which was widely opposed by parents, officials, opposition lawmakers and even civil servants, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad ordered the return of English on the grounds that national education in Malay narrowed student minds, retarded economic growth and that if continued, Malaysia's competitiveness would collapse against Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

The return of English was widely supported by middle-class parents such as Maimunah and Kanagaratnam, who were already westernised and inclined to want an open, English-based education for their children.

However Malay nationalists, Chinese educationists and Tamil parents, who wanted Tamil as medium of instruction for Tamils, strongly objected to Dr Mahathir's desire to bring back English.

The veteran politician offered a compromise — only science and maths would be taught in English. All other subjects would be in Malay and vernacular languages.

That decision has been hotly debated ever since and the latest round erupted last month with academics, teachers and parents hotly divided over whether to continue Dr Mahathir's policy or revert to teaching all subjects in Malay.

The matter remains an emotive issue in this multi-ethnic society divided by race, religion and now mother tongue education.

Five years after Dr Mahathir retired in 2003 his successor, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, still finds it difficult to reverse the "science and maths in English" policy now widely described as a "silly legacy".

At the time it was introduced, the move was strongly opposed by parents, educators and teachers, but Dr Mahathir pressed on. Opposition continued over the years and has reached a peak in recent weeks with top educators openly arguing that the five-year-old policy has seriously damaged students' grasp of not only English but also science and maths.

"You cannot study a language by studying maths and science in that language," said Ungku Aziz, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Malaya.

"The tragedy of our time is that students have no idea what is grammar and syntax, they are not proficient in English," he told an education forum this month, adding his weight to chorus of demands to end the policy.

"English or any language should be learnt as a language on its own right."

National Union of Heads of Schools president Pang Chong Leong agreed with the argument against using English as the medium of instruction for science and maths.

"If the intention is to improve the pupils' English, then they should start with the arts subjects, such as moral studies, and also increase the number of English periods," he said at an education forum last week.

"Science involves a lot of thinking while maths does not use too much language and vocabulary. It goes against the principles of education and does not achieve any objective."

Dr Mahathir reasoned though that by teaching the two subjects in English students would not only master the language but also science and maths to make the economy technology-driven, and implemented the policy against strong opposition in 2003, months before he retired after 22 years as prime minister.

Neither aims, however, have been achieved, experts argue.

They say English proficiency fell because less time was devoted to it in language study, while grasp of science and maths also suffered after the sudden switch from Malay.

English originally was taught five times a week, 45-minutes a session in primary schools, but that time was reduced to once a week under the new policy. The saved hours were used to study science and maths in English, leaving teachers and students in the lurch.

The government pressed ahead, spending billions changing school textbooks to English, training teachers to work in the language and at one time even importing scores of teachers from England to fill a shortfall.

Over the years several government "review committees" have studied the issue and recommended to end the policy, but Dr Mahathir's influence in the political arena was so great that a final decision was always postponed.

Another reason for the indecisiveness is that long-time education minister Datuk Hishamuddin Hussein is a Mahathir loyalist and unwilling to embarrass the former prime minister by ending the policy.

However, at a teachers' meeting early this month, Hishamuddin promised the government would make a firm decision — abandon English for Malay or continue the policy — by year end.

Some parents, such as Maimunah, are not prepared to wait for the government to decide.

"I want my daughters to have a wholesome, internationally recognised education so they can work and live anywhere in the world," she said.

"Later this year I am pulling them from the national school and registering them in an international one that follows the English semester system. It's expensive but worth it."

However, parents like Kanagaratnam, a City hall bus driver, cannot afford expensive private education. "English is a must for world commerce and the future. We must have a strong grounding in English," he said.

"I hope the government keeps instruction in English just for science and mathematics. We don't want out children to return to Malay and play catch up all over again."

The government appears reluctant to reverse the policy five years after spending so much money on textbooks and retraining teachers to switch science and maths from Malay to English.

"We have already lost one generation switching from English to Malay. By reversing I fear we will lose another," said retired teacher Kathy Fong in a letter to the New Straits Times daily last week. — South China Morning Post

Drink more coffee and become coffee

From here.

The human species is set to evolve within a thousand years into a ‘coffee’ coloured race of 6 ½ foot giants who can live up for up to 120 years, according to a new research project released today

They will also modify themselves – through technology or otherwise - to attract partners and will therefore be better looking. ‘Race’ will also be a thing of the past - by the year 3000 all humans will have ‘coffee’ coloured skin.

Looking further into the future, 100,000 years from now, thousands of years of mate choice and sexual selection will create greater and greater genetic inequality, which could see humans diverge into two separate sub-species – a genetic upper class and a genetic underclass.

Sexual selection and why so many short men

Someone commented:

Somewhat , I think from the genetics point of view, girls mind having shorter bf, but don't mind having shorter husbands.

If tall guys are more popular... more tall genes would be able to get inherited. But it seems that majority of the people are short... (at least in Malaysia)

My hypothesis on the other hand: there are so many short guys out there because their mums are short.

Anwar Ibrahim and the forgone Sept 16 dream

When 16/9 was nearing, some people were already writing that it was not possible for Anwar to take over the government at that date. Parliament wasn't in-session then. Knowing that, there were only 2 possibilities; either Anwar doesn't know about that (aka: he doesn't have it planned) which is almost impossible considering that he should be watching parliament's sessions closely, OR he was intentionally pandering to us all.

I remembered catching a column in the Sun on 16/9 which addressed the day's event. The columnist pointed that Anwar knew that it was not possible to topple the gov on that day, but made the announcement then anyway to woo Sabah and Sarawak MPs (Malaysia Day is after all an important day for them). It follows then that Anwar doesn't have the MPs at hand.

Anwar could very well have the intention as described by the above columnist. If that is so, he pandered to us all. If that ain't so, he's shortsighted.

He may be brighter than Pak Lah, but I find it difficult to believe that he's a man of high morals. After all, even if he wasn't involved, he was at least overseer of the ministry of finance during the age of cronyism.

I don't think Anwar likes to postpone this. He must know that for every passing day, his followers shrink less and less. As his promises become more and more distant, his followers will be more disillusioned. A lot may not like the BN, but they certainly don't like to get lied to either.

That said, I don't believe he has the numbers at hand, I used to, not now.

Japan

Happy Meal

I notice that kids are always smiling in McD, but the parents have a grumpy look.. why is it like that?

According to the law of conservation of happiness, the total happiness in a system is constant.

Exam mentality

Senthil said

Back home, the mentality is very different. The attitude is, if it is not going to help you in your grades, don't bother wasting your time.

Awhile ago when I was surfing around a Malaysian forum, a student asked

"My teacher said understanding theory is more important than practicing problems in SPM physics, do you guys agree?"

You can almost infer that the students doesn't agree with his teacher.

It's true that doing sums help you a lot in exams. But saying that it's more important than theory is like saying that scoring exams is all that matter.

I still feel though that there's nothing wrong with this. It's just sad. Not wrong.

How to create an Olympic logo

Adopted by the 2012 London Olympics




at least the idea was not from the blood splatter of an execution.

Please don't leave me...

For some reason, I feel that the reason many people plea with their partners not to break up is analogous to why many people don't want to lose their jobs.

It's not like if they're very loyal to their companies, but they just don't like the idea of losing their jobs and the insecurity that pervades. In short, people may not love their jobs a lot, and they would still prefer to stick to them just because they don't want to be in the jobless transition.

They know the transition state may be a long one. Although their partners may not be where their affinities are, they are probably thinking that the status-quo is better than the partner-less transition if they break up in the hope for something better. It is just like the job market.

I may be wrong though, or maybe I'm just half right.

Sometime ago, I have someone who told me that when the money's right, you'll love the job. I can already see parallels of this in the dating/relationship scene. Can you?