An announcement - and my JB Trip

As I write my experience here to you about my lone trip to Johor Bahru, I have an announcement to make, in favour of the Christians. I have converted to Christianity myself after understanding the religion for about four years. I must thank Kah Soon for his giving the Bible to me after I told him in Form 4 that I am looking for a Bible to study.

Yet, do not think that just because now that I am a Christian, I am a new me. Believe me when I say that I am still the same Yew Guo Zheng before and after I accepted Christ into my life. I do not wish to write about my experiences here on my journey towards Christianity, for it is very long (four years!), but if you wish to hear my testimony, you can come and see me personally.

So let us focus on what I want to write initially. On the 26th of December 2006, I took a bus ride from Ipoh (Medan Gopeng) to Johor Bahru (Larkin) and arrived safely a few minutes before 9.30 p.m. I expected the bus to arrive earliest at that time so the bus was indeed very punctual. (Based on my knowledge of physics, I had calculated that the bus was travelling at a speed of 90 km/h most of the time. Hehe...)

I was warmly welcomed by Josiah Tay and his father at the bus station. Upon my meeting Josiah, I laughed. Why? Well, he had had a new haircut and the barber gave him a crew cut; no, not so short. Previously, his hair was longer than mine, now mine is! Gone is the long and stylish fringe, and gone are the sideburns, too! Still, that does not deter him from doing his hair, did it, Joe?

I found, to my delight, that Joe's new house isn't very far from Larkin bus station. His family has moved in just recently (and soon I'll be moving out into a new house, too) and I was warmly received by Joe's mother; such a hospitable family they were, indeed! His parents wasted no time telling me about Johor Bahru and all the food that I should try. At about 11.30 p.m. I washed myself up and had a rest for the night (of course, that would mean DotA with Joe and hanging around with him and his church friends in his room).

The next day, while Joe and the rest were still fast asleep (they slept very late at night, no doubt), Joe's mother brought me out for a late breakfast (really, it was actually brunch) and had "kueh teow kia" (pardon my poor command of Teochew/Hokkien; I am shameful to admit I'm Teochew). After breakfast, we returned home and still found them fast asleep. So, we just had a chat together until it was time for lunch, when we decided to wake them up. Sure enough, they did, albeit reluctantly (haha...).

Anyway, it was raining and lunch wasn't ready yet so we had a game of Risk, which I lost badly. Never mind about that. We had lunch and then we decided to go out to Danga Bay, although there was a bit of a drizzle. At Danga Bay, I was amazed to see that there was a boxing competition going on there. We watched it for a while (for one whole competition actually) before we walked around Danga Bay and saw the restaurants, the beaches, the bazaar and many more. We even walked into a compound where they had built the Malay houses that supposedly represent different cities or towns in Johor, for example, they have Rumah Johor Bahru, Rumah Segamat, Rumah Batu Pahat, Rumah Kluang and so on. Though they were all Malay houses, each of them has a unique architecture that our eyes will not miss.

After having a good look at the houses, we made our way to Danga Mall, which is not very big, and not crowded at all. There isn't anything very interesting in there so we decided to leave Danga Bay after walking along the street mall (not to be confused with Danga Mall).

We were then taken for a drive around the housing estates of Johor Bahru (we wanted to go and fetch Joe's brother, Joel). Even the housing estates here are huge! An average housing estate has 20000 to 30000 houses! The biggest housing area that I know of in Ipoh is the Bercham area, but I am not sure if it has that many houses. The houses in Johor Bahru are simply magnificent. Perhaps there are also lots of houses belonging to Singaporeans because to have a land of your own in Singapore is something like virtual reality. And these houses are no ordinary bungalows or semi-detached houses, oh no! They are some of the most lavishly designed houses you have ever seen, so much that you couldn't help my gape at them.

At night, Joe's father decided to take us for a night ride around Johor Bahru city centre, where I got to see for myself how beautifully lit the city is at night, especially Danga Bay! We passed by a building where Joe's father claimed that he saw Freemasons and that the building belong to them. Of course, nobody knows what they do; they are sworn to secrecy. We continued our ride around town, saw City Square for myself, got as close to the Causeway as I could (the jam was horrible!), went along the busy Jalan Wong Ah Fook, and so on before we went for supper in Perling, the area where Joe and his family used to live in.

On the 28th of December, we got up quite late also (with the exception of Joe's parents, of course) and straightaway got up for lunch. Joe and I had actually planned to watch Eragon but there was some inconvenience, so we had to postpone the intention. Therefore, we spent most the day at home playing DotA; some of the kids that stayed over in Joe's house even played with him on my computer (poor you, Joe. You had to put up with them with five easy Computer players). In the evening, Joe's father returned home with a bucket of friend chicken from KFC and other side dishes, and a birthday cake. "Joel's birthday?" I thought. No, it wasn't. It was actually their housemaid's birthday, and the family have been kind enough to actually have a celebration for her. She was so touched that she actually broke down and took quite some time to compose herself.

The chicken meal was good and the cake was simply the best! After the hearty meal (which I'm not so sure if Joe would agree; no doubt he will I suppose), Joe, Joel, their father and I went to Tebrau City (Jusco) which is supposedly the biggest and is the newest shopping mall in Johor Bahru. I had wanted to shop for a pair of jeans (so did Joe and Joel) and their father wanted to purchase a 3-in-1 machine (scanner, printer and photocopier [or facsimile?]). We were taken to Jeans Studio first (owned by Jusco) and I had the leisure of picking a pair of jeans myself. I found two which suit me, but decided that I would go with the black, semi-carrot pair because though the blue one was cheaper, it looked dull. It wasn't long before the three of us (Joe, Joel and I) got our jeans (I think Joel got something else, too) and then we went to see if we could get some nice round-neck t-shirts, too. Unfortunately, none of the shirts were appealing to us. So, Joe and I got out and had a walk around the mall while Joel and his father went to look for the 3-in-1 machine. At last, they got one and we decided to go home. Let me remind you that none of the nights, even the final one, went without a game of DotA.

29th of December came. Today, Joel had tuition class for Additional Mathematics so we decided to drop him off first at about 2.30 p.m. before going to City Square. In City Square, it was so crowded that I didn't really get to enjoy myself shopping. Still, I managed to get myself two shirts, all round-necks, from Factory Outlet Store (FOS) which was located just above Padini Authentics Concept Store. Then we continued to walk around, indulged ourselves in McDonald's ice-cream and walked passed a perfume stall before we saw a familiar face. Who could it be? It was none other than Ng Kee Siong, another of Joe's and my university mate, who was working! We expected him to be in UTP already because he is involved in the International Oil and Gas Symposium in UTP. However, he was not due to be in UTP until after New Year's Day. We had a chat with him for about ten minutes, in which he asked me if I'd enjoyed myself in Johor Bahru, and in which I replied him in the affirmative. Soon after that, we left him to carry on with his work and made our way to see more clothes, in which we were soon uninterested. So we made our way to MPH Bookstores. There, Joe got himself a CD (I forgot what he bought for only RM9.90) and so did I (a Bach collection, as you would have expected, for RM29.90). At about 5.00 p.m. we left City Square to fetch Joel.

We then went to Leisure Mall for Eragon. We couldn't help commenting on how cute the dragon was when she was still little (eats rats? I didn't know that dragons eat rats), but not-so-cute anymore the moment she grew up. It was a nice movie depicting on how a young man, by the name of Eragon found a dragon egg which he thought was a stone. It hatched and the dragon soon saw her dragon rider, in which she made a mark on Eragon's palm. It was a story about the good versus the evil. No more spoilers here, I think, except that we believe it will be a trilogy like The Lord of the Rings. After the movie, we stopped by at a VCD or DVD outlet stall where Joe couldn't help buying an anime for himself.

30th of December now. It was my final day of my Johor Bahru trip. Today, we started off with our lunch of Johor laksa, for how would you consider yourself to have travelled in Johor Bahru if you do not try its Johor laksa? Although the family would have liked me to try the Otak-otak Muar and nasi lemak, they couldn't due to constant raining and time constraints, too. The Johor laksa is nothing like our ordinary laksa, which is normally Penang laksa or Ipoh laksa. Unlike our ordinary laksa, Johor laksa tastes like curry, and you choose what type of noodles you would like to eat instead of giving you the usual type of noodles (semi-translucent) which they would normally use in Penang laksa. This really took me by surprise. Well, you can't expect everything to be the same, right? There are many types of food which we have eaten, but different states would give them different names. Had the Johor laksa been available in Ipoh, it would be known as curry.

My last station of visit for the day is the Vineyard Church, in which Joe's parents work. Joe's father is the pastor of the church and there was a Graduation and Prize Giving ceremony for the kid's division. I was happy to go and rather eager to see how the church looks like. In the church, I made myself rather at home and watched Joe enjoying himself on the drum set. The graduation and prize giving ceremony was a joyful event, and as the photographer was late, I had to replace him as the "new" photographer. Thankfully I had my camera with me, and although the battery was weak, thank God I could take all the pictures that they wanted. (Note: Joe, I wrote this blog entry upon my arrival in UTP in the morning. I'll send you the pictures tonight itself.)

After the event, the worship practice took place in which I enjoyed myself in their practising of the worship songs. And I was equally happy to find that they played two of my favourite songs, Amazing Grace and O Holy Night. After the practice, Joe asked me to come up stage to play, in which I initially declined the offer because I thought that it was a keyboard (a 55-key keyboard is definitely insufficient for me). But upon hearing that they have an 88-key electric piano, I jumped to the offer. Played a classical piece halfway by Ravel and then I decided to attempt to play O Holy Night and Amazing Grace myself. I didn't have the scores so I just played from what I had listened earlier. Being a semi-perfect pitched person (I said semi-perfect because though I can figure out some keys and chords myself, I can still have a hard time telling apart one key from another), it gave me the advantage to figure out the notes and the chords (with a bit of help from Joe) and it wasn't long before I tried to improvise the two songs (which I wasn't so successful for Amazing Grace).

It was about 7.30 p.m. already so we made our way back home for dinner. We had nasi lemak (Indonesian style I guess because the maid cooked it and it was nothing like our local nasi lemak; her sambal was deadly hot!) and after dinner I began packing up. After that (I told you that none of the nights went without a game of DotA, right?), it was DotA time again until about 9.30 p.m. when it was time for me to leave for the bus station again. The whole family came to send me off. The bus was scheduled to leave at 10.00 p.m. but it wasn't until 10.30 p.m. that the bus finally arrived the station. We bid each other goodbye and soon I left the station.

I arrived in Ipoh on New Year's Eve (31st of December) at about 6.15 a.m. where I then settled myself down for some light breakfast before taking a taxi back to UTP (part of my secret trip plan) and arrived at about 7.30 a.m. Deciding that the morning was too early, that was why I decided to write out this blog entry first, also lest I forget some important events in my Johor Bahru trip.

So what have I learnt from this trip? Besides spending a wonderful holiday there where I got to meet some university mates and got to see around Johor Bahru, this trip has strengthened me spiritually. My converting to Christianity is something that both Joe's parents have experienced before personally, and they told me about how I am to deal with certain difficult situations that every convert would most probably face. They were happy to know that I have become one of them, yet I know that there could be hard times ahead of me. Still, being a determined me, I shall not sway so easily.

My trip in Johor Bahru has indeed been very memorable. I feel so indebted to Joe and his family for their hospitality, kindness and attention to me. They had been indeed very attentive to me and I feel very honoured. It makes me so difficult to return the favour but nonetheless it is a trip that I am happy to have made.

So, where to next, you ask? It will be Pulau Redang! I'm comin', Ivan and Chen!

P/S: Joe, this entry would show you very clearly that I am safe and sound at home now. Please convey my thanks to your family again.

P/S 2: Much as I like to include some pictures here, I didn't really take any. As such, no pictures included. So sorry.

P/S 3: Joe, I think I left my novel in your house under the table in the living room downstairs. It's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. If you find it, could you please bring it back to me upon your coming back to UTP? Thanks :) .

Having a fine time here in Johor Bahru

OK, a little update about my adventure in Johor Bahru. I arrived safely in Larkin last night at about 9.30 p.m. I left Ipoh at 1.30 p.m. and told Josiah that if there are no unforeseen delays, I should be able to reach Johor Bahru (JB) by 9.30 p.m.

Unfortunately, as we reached Kuala Lumpur, I found out that we would have to stop at Pudu Raya because some passengers were stopping there. I thought that we would be losing precious time here because we arrived KL at about 4.00 p.m. and it wasn't until about 5.15 p.m. that we continued our journey from KL to JB, which was initially hindered by massive traffic jams.

To make up some lost time, the bus driver continuously maintained a speed of 90 km/h. You might ask how I knew the speed. Well, there are markers at the side of the road which appear every one hundred metres, so I measured the time it took for the bus to pass from one marker to another one which was one hundred meters ahead, and I found that it took four seconds for the bus to travel one hundred metres, so it was 25 m/s, or in other words, 90 km/h. Rough estimation, but nonetheless rather accurate.

Upon arriving in Johor Bahru, I was well received by Josiah and his father. I was taken to their house where I was then welcomed by his mother. We had a nice conversation and soon it was decided that they will take me around JB as I am particularly new here. I'd been to Malacca and Singapore but not JB. How disgraceful, I thought!

Anyway, I laughed the moment I saw Josiah. Well, not that his face was funny or whatever, but it was more of his hair. What happened to his hair, you asked? Well, I shall upload the pictures later and you can see for yourselves what I meant.

Today, being my first day in JB, I was brought around to some well-known areas such as Danga Bay, and toured around the city of Johor Bahru. At night, I was even taken to a night-ride around the city and even had supper in Perling, the place where Josiah and his family used to live. Though the Chinese food in JB is similar to that in Ipoh, the style of cooking is remarkably different.

I won't want to take more time to write now, because Josiah's younger brother needs to sleep. So, off I go now!

I'm back from Kuala Lumpur and...

Tomorrow, I'm going to Johor Bahru! Well, actually, my trip to Kuala Lumpur during Christmas Eve was unexpected. My mother told me about it only a few days before Christmas Eve. I told my mother that I am busy tomorrow too and she was like "Never mind! It is definitely OK!" Fine, so we went to KL and stayed over at my uncle's new house in Tiara Kemensah (at Kemensah Heights just somewhere behind the National Zoo), and had the most filling barbecue dinner!

There isn't anything very special to mention about my trip to Kuala Lumpur. It is the usual go-visit-and-return trip. I had half the intention to go to KLCC if I could, but unfortunately that was not the case. Anyway, I enjoyed myself thoroughly in my uncle's new house. It is a semi-detached house, which is two-and-a-half storeys high, has a nice backyard where the children could have a game of badminton, and as it is located on a hill, it is always windy.

The houses at Tiara Kemensah have no gates. Instead, they have a security guard house as the main entrance. It is like an entrance to a condominium; it is just that condominiums are replaced with bungalows and semi-detached houses. Though there are no gates, the security guard is not to be trifled with; he has a Rottweiler with him, and takes him for rounds at night. The concept of this residential area mimics that of the Americans; there are no gates therefore there is a stronger community bond among neighbours. Security is not an issue here, although there were a few attempted break-ins. All houses are equipped with an alarm system that is provided by the residential area developer.

I enjoyed staying in my uncle's house by enjoying the view of the mountains behind his house. And as there is a lot of wind at the backyard, I sat in a lazy chair for as long as I wanted. When it gets too warm, I would go to the first floor and sit under the fan in a couch (and would almost fall asleep if my young cousins had not been running up and down the stairs).

The return trip wasn't interesting either, except that I got to drive the car home myself! Although I have driven for about one-and-a-half years now, I never had the opportunity to drive on the highway for a very long distance (we're talking about 200 kilometres here!) because we rarely travel out of Ipoh, much less to KL, unless it is to fetch me back to campus!

My father drove all the way from the city centre of Kuala Lumpur up till Rawang when he stopped by the roadside and asked me to drive. I was astounded for a moment, and my mother protested, saying that she could drive if my father feels tired. My father, on the other hand, asked her to just stay where she was and got out of the car so that I could go to the driver's side.

I was expecting my mother to be nagging me every now and then, telling me to "Be careful!", "Watch the car behind!", etc. However, thankfully, that was not the case. I drove at about 90 to 100 km/h. Initially, I didn't realise that I went too fast, to about 110 km/h (I was driving a Proton Saga Iswara - it's a car not meant for speed) and my mother was the first one to tell me about it. For a while, I also thought that it was too fast so I reduced my speed gradually to 90 or 95 km/h. Then I continued driving from Rawang back to Ipoh at that speed.

We started off at 5.30 p.m. The journey back took about two-and-a-half hours, so it became dark while we were almost at Ipoh. Unused to driving in the dark on the highway, I reduced my speed to 80 km/h. I must admit that for a first-timer like me on the highway, it has been quite an experience; cruising at that speed certainly is fun (and I might have gone much faster had my mother not been with us - hehe...) although quite dangerous because all of us were travelling at high speeds.

Long-distance driving is indeed very tiring. I'd better pack now for my trip tomorrow and have an early rest.

Salvaged hopes - and a controversial issue

I was hoping and praying that soon my family and I would be able to go travelling somewhere. I am too sick of just staying at home doing nothing. And today, my mother came up to my room and told me that we'll be going to Kuala Lumpur to visit my uncle because my aunt called us to go for a barbecue during Christmas Eve. My father accepted the invitation, so we'll be going down to KL this Sunday!

Things seem to be getting better for me now. After this KL trip, I shall be going to Johor Bahru on Tuesday. The weather conditions in Johor have improved and the flood in Johor Bahru has also subsided long ago. The sun shone for a few hours today before it became dark again in the evening. However, until now, Ipoh has experienced very little rain.

Just as hopes seem to be gone, God answered my prayers. Praise God indeed!

I just had a conversation with another university mate of mine in Google Talk. I told him about my plans to go to Johor Bahru and I brought up the following point, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." In Johor Bahru, the main medium of communication is Mandarin among the Chinese. I told him that it is rather fortunate of me to be able to at least converse in fluent Mandarin although I came from an English school. I am not so good in writing in Mandarin but my conversed Mandarin is quite good.

Such a scenario made me think. Some parents send their children to Chinese schools for their primary education and let them continue into their secondary schools; some send their children to Chinese primary schools first, and then transferring them into a national secondary school, and there are, of course, those who send their kids to national schools for their primary and secondary education (but in certain schools, they provide Pupils Own Language lessons for those who want to take up Mandarin or Tamil).

In the end, what happens to our Chinese society? We have those who can speak and write in good Mandarin, or those who can only speak in Mandarin but is unable or could only write a little bit of Mandarin and also those who could neither read nor converse in the language. As a result, many people start to categorise the Chinese as A class, C class and E class Chinese.

Those who could speak and write well in both English and Chinese are categorised as A class (which is not many), C class Chinese are those who are totally Chinese educated and their English is weaker compared to those in A class or E class; E class Chinese are those who can neither read nor converse in Mandarin but are very good in English, or in other words, English educated.

Which category am I in? I am not in class C, but I'm like in the middle of classes A and E, for I speak in good English and Mandarin but could only write well for the former; writing in the latter is quite a task for me.

Still, I see such categorisation as stereotyping and rather unfair to the Chinese society especially, because by categorising us into three classes, it is as if they are dividing us into three different "ethnic groups". Why should we divided when we should be united in the first place?

The trouble is this: some Chinese people look negatively at the others. Some would label E class Chinese as "bananas" while E class Chinese would label C class Chinese as "Chinaman".

I don't wish to continue commenting about this topic, but let me conclude this. I don't care whether you are an A class, C class or E class Chinese, but read this! We are one, and we should stay united as one. As concerning the language, if you are a Chinese, try and pick up at least some Mandarin! It's our own mother tongue. Don't take Mandarin for granted. Learning an extra language can be an extra advantage in the future.

With that, I open to the "floor" for comments.

Wherefore art thou?

Perhaps this question is one that I shall be asking for a very long time. You may have seen me posing this question to you somewhere or sometime. It just reflects my current emotions and thinking.

I depend on the Internet for up-to-date information. That is true. I spend most of my time on the Internet reading news and blogs. That is also true. I have now run out of blogs to read for fresh material. That is undeniably true, too.

You see, I'd like to drop by at friends' houses and have a chat with them. I'd like to meet them for lunch or even for dinner (if my parents consent to that); however, who can I call? Everyone is rather busy now as most are preparing for Christmas, and I on the other hand, am sitting down in front of the laptop writing this entry here.

I have said this before, that while most people think being the only child is great (because you get undivided attention from your parents, you don't need to fight for things with your siblings, etc. etc.), I must differ. It's OK if you are alone, but it is not really a blessing if you have nobody to talk to every now and then.

That brings me to my friends. What about my friends, you say? I don't know. I seem to be thinking about them, but are they thinking about me? I yearn to call them out for lunch or tea, but I have another obstacle to overcome at home.

Yes, home. As far as I'm concerned, the Internet is the only medium that connects me to the outside world beyond my private compound. Cozy as my house may be, it lacks something that I need - company.

I have spent about three weeks of my holidays doing virtually nothing. During the first few days of my holidays I've been going out with friends quite often to the point that my parents start to frown when I told them that I have a lunch appointment with some friends. So, I have to stay at home for the next few days. But now, it's time for me to get out of the house again.

I want somebody to confide my feelings, but it's quite hard to get someone whom you can really trust to pour your feelings out. Sure, I could always confide in my mother, but sometimes you just wish that you want somebody of your age to talk to, somebody whom you think understands you better.

Things are about just to beat the lot. I've planned to go to Johor Bahru for a trip of my own. I'm looking forward to the day I'm going to Johor Bahru when the newspapers have to tell us that it's flooded due to Typhoon Utor in the southern part of Malaysia. Disasters just have to strike during the end of the year, huh? And it has to strike when I am going there, too, eh? But what can I do now? The ticket has been purchased, the trip has been planned, and I am so desperate to get out and see the world for myself now.

Sigh... a Merry Christmas, indeed.

I should be excited, but...

I can't seem to wait any longer! I have purchased a ticket from Ipoh to Johor Bahru. I'm going to travel there on my own for good. I just cannot bear staying at home doing virtually nothing! Imagine not meeting friends, not doing anything, just watching television, going online, playing the piano, reading novels - that's all!

I should be excited about my going to Johor Bahru, as it is one of my very few trips whereby I get to travel alone. I'm leaving for Johor Bahru on the 26th of December. It is actually a trip which I planned secretly, for some reasons that I can't divulge here now.

I feel that if I had not gone travelling at one point, I'd be rotting literally. Yes, maybe you'll be seeing flies feasting over my live body. The truth is that I feel entirely useless if I don't do anything. It is as if my holidays are meant for nothing, which is why sometimes I wished that my holidays are not that long. To me, a four-week holiday is sufficient (I'll be having seven weeks of holidays at the end of next semester!) and anything longer than that would be just a waste of time. I enjoy being in university as I can now feel the warmth among my company.

Speaking of company (I have to speak in riddles here now), things have gone somewhat wrong nowadays. Since the National Health Sciences Debates in International Medical University (I'm merely implying the time period), there has been a gap in between friends, or a wall if you like. Somehow, this gap is becoming wider and wider by the day and I don't know why. I have no idea if I had done anything wrong or is it that somebody else have done something wrong.

It's extremely difficult to understand a person's character. And sometimes when you try your best to look at the positive side of a person, you can't help it but to also consider the negative side of him or her. Sometimes the negative side shows so much that it overshadows the positive side of the person, thus you might shun the person away or give him or her the cold shoulders. You might acknowledge their presence, but the intimacy will not be there anymore.

The condition has not gone critical yet, but somehow I don't feel the need to make things better. It is as if that it is not of my fault that such things happen. Though I yearn to know why, but if it is not my fault, I'd clearly refuse to make up for something I've not committed. Why admit a sin that you've never committed right?

Writer's block

What happens when you have writer's block? Would you just put away your pens and forget about writing? Or would just keep thinking about something to write?

I've tried the latter and I'm almost at the point of doing the former when it became the topic itself. Yes, I'm having writer's block now because I couldn't think of anything else which is controversial to write about and I'm out of materials to write on. However, it so happened that my having writer's block has become my new material to write on now. Ironic, huh?

Having writer's block is something that will inevitably happen to you as some point of life. It strikes when you least expect it, and when it does, you would probably be swearing or cursing.

The remedy to writer's block? Unfortunately, there is none, unless you do lots of reading and keep yourself up-to-date with the latest news that are happening in the world. If you like to write about world issues, it's important to have a good command of general knowledge. Actually, it's important to have a deep knowledge on what you want to write on. For example, if you wish to write about music, you need to have at least some knowledge of music to write about it. Otherwise, it's writer's block for you again!

I'd like to write more, but I'm feeling hungry again. I didn't eat much during dinner because I had a heavy lunch. I think I'll stop for now.

The Atrocity of Things

While at the LRT station (at around 10 p.m.), you bought a ticket from Sri Petaling to Sentul. Not being used to taking LRTs, you looked for the correct platform to board the next train but there was no proper signage so you turned back to ask the old woman at the counter for information. Before you could even walk halfway to the counter, the old woman gives a frown and starts shouting at you and with a rude voice telling you which platform to take.

You are going to graduate from a university. Before leaving the university for good, you are required to fill up a clearance form and have the form endorsed by six different departments in the administrators office. The problem is that all six departments are located in six different locations that are not adjacent to each other, and you are required to go to each department in a specific order. Most of the time you are forced to walk because no vehicles are allowed at that particular area.

You are renovating your house. You have submitted all the plans required to the city council. While awaiting approval for the plans, you decided to start the renovation work first because you want to complete it and move in before Hari Raya/Chinese New Year/Christmas/Deepavali. At the same time, three other houses are undergoing renovation, too. One day, an officer from the city council comes to check whether you have the approved renovation plans. He goes to the other two houses first before coming to yours. Unfortunately, you are not there. The officer asks for the plan and the site supervisor simply ignores him. One week later, you get a letter from the city council demanding for RM650 as fine for starting work without the approval of the city council and you are required to submit your concrete foundation plan. You are enraged by this letter and therefore you enquired about it from the neighbours who are also renovating their houses. Upon your enquiry, you find out that not only did they not get the approval from the city council to renovate their houses, they have no renovation plan at the first place! But they got away without any penalty. You soon learn that they escape the fine by giving bribes to the officer who came.

You are driving. The road was busy and there was a slight jam. You notice that some people are just plain impatient and attempt to cut the queue. Whilst they cannot do so from the right (as it should be because we are right-hand drive), they swerve from the left at the narrow shoulder of the road, zooming past you and barely missed your car. You want to cut the queue so you switched on the signal lights to go into the right lane. Not only do other drivers accelerate more in an attempt to overtake you on purpose upon seeing your lights, but they sound their horns at you even when you're halfway out.

You are in an aeroplane flying from Los Angeles back to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. You have to stop at Hong Kong for a transit. Upon changing flights, you notice that you are with a new group of passengers who are locals; even the flight attendees have changed. During the next six hours from Hong Kong to KLIA, other passengers keep asking the flight attendees for food, such as instant noodles, peanuts, beverages (fine, this is normal). Most of the food reserves have run out and on of the passengers starts to argue with a flight attendee because he was informed that they have run out of instant noodles. This last for about five minutes that the flight attendee ends up quarrelling with the passenger and the whole commotion is subdued only when the captain of the flight shows up. (Thankfully, this did not happen in Malaysia Airlines.)

There is a big empty piece of land just opposite your house. People love to use this big space as a place to throw rubbish, such as household waste, stones and bricks from renovation sites, agricultural waste and so on. You are angry with this so you decided to telephone the MP who is in charge of your area to look into this matter. Not only did that MP denied his identity, he tells you that this particular MP has gone "pokai" (bankcrupt). Yet you still see him in newspapers as a "Yang Berhormat Datuk 'so-and-so'". You are fed-up with such an attitude and lodge a complaint at the cicty council. Two days later, upon coming back from work, you find that all the rubbish is gone, but not to your delight, for they did not throw all the rubbish elsewhere; they merely set everything on fire!

You recently attended a debate held by a medical university. You arrived two hours early for registration and preparation. The debate should start at 1.30 p.m. but the motion was not even released at 2.30 p.m. because five other teams from one particular university had not turned up yet; they were still on the way. Upon asking for the reason to why they were late from another participant from the same university who turned up early, the reason was that they allegedly claimed that no debates would start punctually, therefore they came late on purpose. The irony is this: all teams had arrived and the organiser wanted to release the motion on time but couldn't do so because five other teams simply didn't have any sense of time. Therefore, all thirty-nine teams had to wait for an additional one hour. The debate was scheduled to end at 5.30 p.m. but because of the delay, it only ended at 8.00 p.m.

Need I say more?

English as the Medium of Instruction for Mathematics and Science

Really, this is a darn old subject to talk about. Before January 2003, the teaching of Mathematics and Science were done in Bahasa Melayu, which is our national language. English is taught only as a second language. In 2003, our former prime minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad came with a radical idea to convert the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics to English.

Although this idea was refuted by a lot of parties for fear that the integrity of the national language might be threatened, Dr. Mahathir was adamant and carried on with the idea, eventually implementing it to Standard 1, Form 1 and Form 6 students in 2003.

Three years have passed since the implementation of English as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics. What has the government achieved now? For what seemed to be a quiet three years on this subject, lately people have started to reject English as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics.

Many claimed that the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English is not as effective as if the teaching of both the subjects were in Bahasa Melayu. Many also claimed that many were taught in Bahasa Melayu and the sudden switch in language proved difficult for students to get used to new terminologies in English.

I agree with the above argument. I have also experienced this sudden change in the medium of instruction when I first entered university. However, I could adapt and now am comfortable with the teaching of my subjects in English.

What people failed to understand is that as the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English has only been implemented for three years, and therefore is not long enough to justify whether or not the teaching of those subjects in English has been effective or otherwise. Before the 1960s when education was in the English medium, people could still study and excel. Then came the switch of the medium to Bahasa Melayu. Did the people then not face the same problem as students are facing now?

It is still too early, unfair and premature to judge that students are not doing well just because of the switch to the English medium.

I believe that the main factor that students cannot cope up with the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English is that the students themselves did not master the English language properly. Some schools, especially Chinese schools, start the teaching of English language in Standard 3 whereas students in national schools would have already been able to speak fluent English by then. Also, there are some schools which upholds the national language so much that English is often neglected; conversations in English among students are so rare in certain schools.

English, like Bahasa Melayu, requires lots of practice and mastering. Students themselves must kick out the mentality that Bahasa Melayu is the national language and English is the "coloniser's" or "conqueror's" language and therefore English should be given the least priority. Just because we speak more in English does not mean that the integrity of Bahasa Melayu is dashed.

Learning a second language like English can prove to be an added advantage for all of us. Even if the government does not implement the English medium in secondary and primary schools, eventually we will be obliged to switch to the English medium upon entering tertiary education. The government has no say in which medium of instruction to be used in universities (except perhaps public universities) because they recognise the importance of English in the job market. Scientific research is mostly done in English. Business transactions are all done in English. Therefore, how could you deny the importance of English?

In no way am I telling you to give so much emphasis in English that you neglect your mother tongue. It is absolutely fine to converse in your own mother tongue, but let us not forget that it is not the only language we learn. In a society where one is required to be multi-linguistic, we must first learn the international lingua franca, followed by our national language and of course our mother tongue (if you are a non-Malay).

The fact that Dr. Mahathir insisted on implementing the English medium for Science and Mathematics proves that he recognises the importance of English in a scientific and borderless world. The world uses English as the language of communication, business and many more. Dr. Mahathir must have seen it fit that we should follow suit in order to catch up with other developing nations. His vision is so far that it is rather hard for us to be on par with his pace.

Therefore, let the English medium have more time before we decide whether or not to retain English as the medium of instruction. Bear in mind that to revert back to the Bahasa Melayu medium would not only be expensive, but the directly affected parties are the teachers and students. It is easily said and done by government officials, but what do they know about students' and teachers' hardship? It is not fair to let these individuals suffer the consequences simply because of the government's change of policy and their lack of concern.

Some edits on this blog

If you are a bit more observant, you would have noticed some changes to the template of this blog. Not only have I sectioned the sidebar properly, I have also added some new links and altered some labellings of the sidebar.

Personally, I don't really like the font of the sidebar. It is too ordinary. I would prefer something more elaborate or stylish, like cursive style. I'd like to change the font. Does anyone know how?

I know this blog lacks colours, but I don't really have the time or patience to change the template. I'll be looking through some templates and hopefully I'll change them soon. I plan to retain everything (as in the sidebar on the left) so that I do not need to do much renovation to the template.

Maybe I should change to Blogger in Beta now but I do not trust anything that is still in Beta version so I'll wait for the Beta version to be fully implemented later.

Edit:I have revamped the template, partly because I found that there was something very wrong with my template; the picture of the harbour at the top-left of my blog was missing! Therefore, I had to pick a "new" template and re-insert all the links back. It wasn't very tedious, though, and I am glad of that.

Notice that the fonts at the sidebar have changed? I feel that it looks better now.

Where do I go now?

Although the week before this had been rather eventful, I can't help moping around in despair knowing that my semester break this time will not only be uneventful, but perhaps depressing as well.

I know what I need at this time - a part-time job. But I doubt if it would cure me of my urge to go travelling, even if it means travelling within Malaysia. It is so unlike me to just stay at home during the holidays doing almost nothing. I recall my younger days when I looked forward to the holidays because I knew that holidays would mean travelling, even if it was only to Penang, Cameron Highlands, Genting Highlands or Singapore.

But now, at eighteen, I feel so deprived. My hunger to see the outside world is such that I could no longer contain myself. I long to go out travelling on my own, but I fear the response that I will get from my parents, the shelling that I foresee upon my suggestion to travel alone.

All I can do now is just daydream about my travels. I know it makes me sound so desperate, but I am not very far from that point of being desperate. I could only imagine myself travelling in Johor Bahru, Singapore and the like. Honestly, I have not been to Johor Bahru yet and if I DO drop by in Johor Bahru, Josiah and Hann, you will have to bring me around, yeah?

It is rather ridiculous that I feel envious when people go travelling around now. I acknowledge the fact that I have travelled to places that perhaps many people have not been to, but it is unlike me now to just stay at home and do nothing except going online, blogging, working, chatting and playing DotA! Life is more than just those, right?

At a moment like this, I can only relieve myself with some nostalgic piano performance such as this (Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin):

Back from IMU - and a little wiser

Much as I like to post some pictures of the National Health Sciences Debate (NHSD) organised by the International Medical University here, I have to tell you that those will have to wait, because I'm currently a little too lazy to upload my pictures from my memory card into my laptop.

As you all know, I have been away from Ipoh for quite a few days because of the debates. A group of us debaters left UTP on last Friday evening and arrived in Kepong (then Subang Jaya) at night to stay overnight in our friends' houses before we went for the debates the following day.

There were bitter sweet moments in the debate. As it was a National Health Sciences Debate, all debates were related to medical and health issues. And as the theme was "α - ω: Health at the Age of Extremes". This is an interesting theme as the debates were all about health issues related to the elderly and to young ones, especially infants and even of those before birth. The motions for the debate were:

-THBT the government should fund palliative treatment for memory loss.

-THBT all employees medical coverage plan must include a 'Successful Aging and Wellness Program'.

-THW make pre-school education compulsory.

-THW ban genetic predetermination of babies.

-THW continue prescribing Ritalin for ADHD children.

-THBT babies with genetic defects should be aborted.

-THBT sexual assignment for intersexed infants should be decided at adulthood.

-THW set an age cap for practicing clinicians.

-THW vaccinate our children against cervical cancer.

-THBT geriatric care facilities should be government funded.

-THW legalise euthanasia for the elderly.

-THW provide government funding for cosmetic surgery in the elderly.

Just for information: "THW" means "This House Would"; "THBT" is "This House Believes That". Motions that are underlined are those that were selected for the debate.

International Medical University, though fifteen years old already, is not a very big one. However, I cannot deny of its comfort with centralised air-conditioning system throughout the building. Upon our arrival at the university, I personally felt that it was more like a shopping complex, with elevators and escalators.

My university only sent in two teams for the debate. I was supposed to be the Observer (or the Reserve) and two more were to be adjudicators. However, as expected, I was not registered with IMU as an official Observer because my university forgot to pay the extra RM80 which was meant for my participation.

If I had been registered as an Observer to observe the debates, I wouldn't have minded that. I would have gladly sat down and watch. However, as I am not, I am reluctant to just sit around and keep watching. As such, I decided to fork out RM80 on my own, but not as an Observer. I thought that I was not ready to debate (because it was British Parliamentary Style) and yet I wasn't going to spend RM80 just to observe. Therefore, I decided to pay RM80 to be an adjudicator.

During the debate, it was fun to be able to meet a few old friends from Ipoh. Tan-Loh Joash was in the debate and Arvind, the Andersonian, was together as well. It was quite a memorable "reunion" considering the fact that we met during a debate! There, I also made a few new friends from various institutions of higher learning such as Penang Medical College, Multimedia University, etc.

Sweet as those moments could be, I cannot say that I enjoyed it generally. Those bitter moments I went through during the three days in IMU outweigh the sweet moments that I enjoyed.

It had come to my attention that my team mates did not really like the idea of my being an adjudicator, although one of them said that if I had wanted to, I could, by all means, go for it! They said nothing initially, but when one of the debaters came up to me and asked for my feedback and I told him what I thought of him in the debates, that particular team mate of mine started to tease me (as she heard what I said), making remarks that I spoke like an "experienced" adjudicator when I am not. I just took it as a joke.

Much as I had said before, I tried to get my message across quite a number of times that I had been an adjudicator before for a number of times, although I had not adjudicated British Parliamentary Style debates. Still, that does not justify to why I shouldn't register myself as an adjudicator in this NHSD. I know about how a British Parliamentary Style debate is like and I can learn a lot during adjudication. As a former high school debater myself (I DON'T care what you think about high school debates, whether they're useless, childish or otherwise), I believe that I know well enough about how a debate is like, BASICALLY. And as the money for the registration came from me, I have the absolute right to dictate how and what I was going to use the money for.

Yet, such remarks from my other fellow debaters (actually one of them) like, "My position is threatened," or "You have no experience in adjudicating," and so on, which were made quite clear to me by repeating those remarks to me (plus some backstabbing) made it quite obvious that though they seemed to be pulling my leg, there was a hidden agenda behind those words. A remark said once could be dismissed as a joke; a remark that came repeatedly cannot be overlooked just like that.

To make matters worse, they had been giving me the cold shoulders. In most group conversations and jokes, very little eye contact was given to me by the speaker. In fact, some of my team mates would never had spoken to me unless they had something important to tell me. Most of my questions during discussions would either fall into deaf ears or only be heard after I repeated them in a louder voice; sometimes they are never answered at all. Conversations that I started with them would only last for a few minutes, and while I tried to keep a cheerful face, I was constantly lambasted with frowns and angry looks. When I asked for results to how they did in their debates, if they did well, they would tell me softly about their position; otherwise, it would be like, "Go and ask him" with a frown and brushed past me just like that.

I acknowledge the fact that I have been out of debates for almost two years, and my debating skills have fallen dramatically to the point that I could no longer debate properly. Of course, I cannot assume that my team mates looked down on me just because of that, but why is it that my questions are unanswered, unheard and not given a thought (still, I must appreciate when one of my team mates occasionally heard some of my statements and credit me for them)? Just because I have lacked the skills in debating does not justify to why I cannot and should not adjudicate. That is utterly irrelevant.

Frankly, I felt more at home and at ease with those from UiTM INTEC (Joash, Arvinn and the others), which explains why towards the end of the debates I had been hanging around with them more often. I no longer felt the acceptance from my own team, which somehow explains why I would feel regretful to have joined the UTP Debate Team.

Have I sinned by becoming an adjudicator? How have I offended my team mates by volunteering as an adjudicator? I did not adjudicate them at all; I give them my due respect as good debaters but I seemed to be cast out like waste water. Where does the justification of this all lie?

I understand that those who debated in the NHSD felt the pressure and stress. Still, I cannot find the reason to why they should vent their anger or disappointment to me. If you lose in a round of debate, and the adjudicator has justified your loss, and you accept it, then let it be! There is no use grumbling about it.

Then comes the issue that, "If we don't get into the quarterfinals, our university will not send us out for competitions anymore." Fine, that is quite a strong pressure exerted by the university. So what if the university does not send them out for competitions? Will you die? Can't you register for debates yourselves? It does not mean the end for the debaters yet. Money problem? Well, if you're that keen to join debates, even if it costs more than RM100 I'm sure you'd still take part (unless you have financial problems).

Therefore, though it has been a fine experience for me in IMU, the welcome I got from my team mates was not an encouraging one. I feel that I have yet to be accepted into their family sphere.

And if I don't get accepted into their family sphere by next semester (of course I'll work for the acceptance), I'm going to call it quits.

Musings of an Egghead

As I sit down in front of the laptop wondering about what I'm going to write, allow me to pour my heart out. You see, though I've spent an eventful year in university, I fear that I won't be spending an eventful holiday.

I envy those who tell me how they will be spending their holidays. One told me that she would be attending debates and going to Singapore to visit and sail! That is a totally good way to spend your holidays real fast and memorable. Much as I like to be like her to be so active, I can't.

You see, I am in a struggle now. I want to go out into the world badly but I am being held back by my parents. I want to just visit a particular place for a day but my parents would always interrupt my visit to have me back home early.

I understand that they are concerned about my safety outside. However, I feel that I need some space of my own to breathe in. Being protective over me is fine, but being over-protective can lead to some disaster in some way or other.

For many times I've not been telling them where I have been or where I am going to be, lest I shall be in trouble with my parents.

I have the urge to go visit friends in other states, say Johor Bahru, Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and many more! However, I have to push my urge down because I know what my parents will say about that. I know that they can hardly imagine me being eight hours away from them!

Previously, they had been complaining that I stay at home too much and that I should go out more. Now that I'm more active outside, why is it that they want me to stay at home more often now? Is it that they feel lonely that I'm not at home during my study days in university?

The loneliness that I feel now can hardly be described by words. I have not felt lonely since my early Form 5 days. Of course, this lonely feeling isn't as bad as the one I experienced in Form 5, but how long would I need to feel lonely?

It's not that I can't communicate with my parents, but we're not always in the same frequency. Being the older generation, they would have opinions that would differ from mine. And more often than not, I would be compelled to comply to their wishes.

I feel like a bird with fully-grown wings but do not have the ability to fly because my parents won't let me. They want me to be independent too but this holding me back isn't helping me at all.

My mother has been nagging about my going to Bukit Jalil for the IMU debates this Saturday. She has been telling me not to wander about. However, I do so badly want to watch the MPO on Saturday night in Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS.

People seem to think that six weeks worth of holiday is rather short; some say it's long. To me, it seems like eternity before my semester starts. My days in university passed simply too fast, and time seems to just slow down when it's holidays now.

Future plans

What can a university student on holiday do? To be honest, a six-week holiday, though much sought after by my university mates, can be extremely dull and boring if there is nothing to do, right? And if you're an Ipoh boy, chances are that there wouldn't be much for you to do after all.

So, what are my plans after this? First of all, I'll be going for the International Medical University (IMU) debates which will be held on the 9th, 10th and 11th of December 2006. I'm going as an observer because I have no or very little experience in British Parliamentary Style debates; I'm only familiar with the Asian Parliamentary style.

Besides just going for the debates, I've some extra agenda, too. I've watched the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra previously. (Great, a power failure at this time! Now, it's back up again.) I found the MPO performance simply breathtaking. Therefore, I've decided that I'll go and watch again. The experience is simply irresistible.

What would a university or college student do during holidays? Normally, he or she would go out and look for a part-time job to do. That's exactly what I'm going to do after my debates. I had previously worked in a music school, and I am going back to the same centre to work again for the next five or so weeks. I'm quite well paid there so why shouldn't I work, right? It's better than spending time around at home doing nothing and going online so often. I wouldn't want my Internet bill to soar sky-high.

A year has almost passed without my knowing. In fact, my university mates also think that these two semesters have passed like the wind. We have completed one of our four-and-a-half (for Technology students) or five years (for Engineering students) in UTP. Seriously, I never felt one year to fly this quick, too. It seems like yesterday when I first stepped into the university.

Throughout this two semesters, there have been sweet and bitter moments that we went through together. It has been quite a memorable year for me, and I am indeed looking forward to what is in store for us next year.

Out of Action - Now I'm Back!

For the past one week, I was out of commission from posting blog entries here because I was particularly occupied with my final examinations. Well, anyway, nothing much eventful happened during my examination week, except for the fact that another friend of mine, who was my orientation day facilitator, passed away very recently.

With that, I would like to extend my condolences to the family of Gunashankar whose son has passed away due to leukaemia. May God bless his eternal soul. Requiescant in Pace.

I don't think I'll make this entry long, as it is already past midnight and I've got something to do early in the morning. I'll write more later on today.