According to a recent article from TheStar, we Malaysians suffer from a ‘mega sale’ culture. There is plenty of evidence to support this, especially in KL. As evidenced by this photo that I took on Christmas eve at MidValley, the shopping malls are thronging with shoppers and practically every car park bay is full. When I got to Zone A, the counter outside was only showing 10 lots left.

This is a very promising sign, particularly in the face of the looming economic crisis and recession. However, my understanding of the label goes a little deeper than that. We are most definitely a nation of bargain hunters. We are willing to put in extra effort to find a good bargain for almost anything and everything. The article also states that the only difference between shoppers today and shoppers yesterday, is that we no longer purchase ‘luxury’ items.

In fact, after visiting IOI Mall in Puchong, I noticed that a new wing had just been erected and that some of the tenants seem to have just moved in or are in the process of moving in. I figure, this means that they are expecting to expand next year with more shops and more shoppers. So, it seems that the Malaysian economy is not that bad after all.

As someone mentioned to me the other day, Malaysians are generally a fairly rich lot. It is our government that is having trouble filling its coffers. About 46% of our national income comes from oil money and the last budget was done with the assumption that the price of oil would stay at US$125 per barrel. Since it is now just under US$40 per barrel, our country is set to lose billions of dollars in revenue in 2009 alone.

That is why, the government is thinking up schemes to funnel some of the peoples’ hard currency into its own coffers. These include things like issuing more government bonds and fixing a floor price for petrol. So, I am personally not too worried about things in the country. The people will make sure the the economy turns, even if the government is unable to do so itself.

However, I will also be on the lookout for bargains, once the full brunt of the recession hits and prices are slashed on a number of ‘luxury’ items.

The most significant thing that happened to me today was being addressed as ‘uncle’ by some girl who worked at the local Carrefour. I was in the store shopping for some daily provisions. I paid for my purchases at the cashier counter and the girl who worked there asked me, “uncle, do you want the 5 sen back?”. Uncle??!! I didn’t know that I looked old enough to be called ‘uncle’ except by my niece and nephews. This girl working at the cashier counter was probably some school girl earning some pocket money over the school holidays. However, it still meant that she was at least 16 years old. However, this does not explain why she called me thus.

In other news:

I read an article in TheStar today with regards to the PMR results for science and math in English. It quoted a representative from that which was formerly known as UCLES. The representative said that, “the standard of our Mathematics and Science paper was higher than the United Kingdom’s”. Incidentally this is nothing to be proud of.

In the UK, the scientific community has been complaining about the dire straits of their math and science standards for many years. They know full well that they are falling behind the rest of the world in this respect and are understandably worried about it. A mathematician PhD that I once lived with also made a similar remark before. The scientific community over there tries their best to raise awareness and pressure the government to upgrade standards.

However, it just dawned on me that our recent arguments about teaching math in English is rather moot. Everyone knows that math is a language unto itself. Hence, it should be just as easy (or difficult) to teach math in any language, alien or terrestrial. This article may be of some interest. The case for science is rather different though.

On another note:

I have come to notice that a lot of Korean sentences end with the phrase ‘su-mi-da’ or something to that affect. I should really ask my Korean friend what it means.

PS: My friend says that it is something like ‘desu’ in Japanese. Now, that makes some sense.

I have just finished reading a good novel, Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson. This novel was a gift from a good friend of mine. I like the author and while there are those who have complained about the book, it was not such a torture for me to read because I took several months to finish it as I have been writing my thesis before.

The tome, is actually made up of three books. The first book centers on Daniel Waterhouse and his exploits as a young Natural Philosopher and friend to Isaac Newton. The second book consists of “Half-Cocked” Jack Shaftoe, his meeting with Eliza and their subsequent adventures together and apart. The 3rd book features Eliza and Daniel in the events leading up to the Glorious Revolution. Therefore, it was not until around page 800 that the story actually begins to build upon the characters thus established.

I really like Neal Stephenson (I have almost all his books in my collection) and his writing style. I do intend to purchase his latest book – Anathem, but that will have to wait until either I go back to the UK or when the Malaysian book stores decide to slash the price of the book from its present RM70+ for the paper back. I like him because he weaves a believable web of fiction around very true and actual persons and events. Also, he puts technical computer knowledge into very subtle uses that any non computer scientist can appreciate, while all mathematicians and computer scientist would absolutely love.

However, I have to confess that there are two other reasons why I liked this book. First, is the oft mentioned places at Cambridge – it conjures up very vivid imagery in my head from the fresh memories as the first book introduces a host of characters including Natural Philosophers and the beginnings of the Royal Society. Second, is the use of French that is garnished across the pages – it adds an extra flair to the book and is simple enough to understand as the second book was filled with courtly events, Versailles and the Sun King.

While reading this novel, it made me think of some of my mathmo friends at Cambridge. I think that they would be able to appreciate his writing, if they are the kind who actually like reading fiction.

Alright, a friend of mine got married yesterday and I got drafted in as one of the ‘guys’. Since I had a new car, I did not mind helping out. My car has already seen 2000km in just 30 days. Not too shabby eh? Anyway, my duty was to follow him down to the bride’s place to pick up the bride and her entourage.

I had to wake up at 4am in the morning to gather at his place with the rest of the guys who were going down. He lived near 1U and the journey there took a mere 20 minutes, instead of the usual hour. I arrived with plenty of time to spare. After a light breakfast and a quick briefing, everyone journeyed down the Sprint-NKVE-Elite-PLUS highway route together towards Melaka.

I cannot say too much about the journey down except to say that we stuck together as a convoy almost the entire way. For some reason, we ‘rushed’ down to Melaka and arrived with plenty of time to spare. On arrival at the bride’s place, we honked our horns and generally made a nuisance of ourselves at the early hours of the morning. Then, it was time for the fun and games.

Anyone whom has watched any HongKong serial will know what these fun and games usually entail. However, the bridesmaids doing it were not particularly experienced. Therefore, I think that the groom was let off rather easy. The rest of us guys had to help out with things here and there too but he mainly did everything himself. In fact, the best man later showed me the stacks of red packets that he still had stashed in his various pockets as backup. Something for me to learn. Bravo!

After that, it was the traditional tea ceremony at the bride’s home followed quickly by our timely exit. At this point, three other young girls from the bride’s family hopped into my car and we ‘rushed’ back to KL for the groom’s side of the ceremony. I cannot say much about the journey back except that it involved a lot of creative overtaking. Again, as we arrived, we made a nuisance of ourselves by honking our horns. There was another Malay wedding along the next road and their guests seemed rather annoyed.

It was also at this point that I realised that there were lots of weddings happening this weekend. Many couples must be trying to tie the knot while there was still some bit of 2008 left. Along the highway, we encountered several other wedding convoys and there were tents set up in the housing areas as well, for different weddings. Anyway, at the groom’s place, they had to go through the tea ceremony followed by various photography sessions.

As for the dinner banquet, the place was filled with lots of VIPs and old people. However, seeing that everyone in Malaysia is linked by 2-degrees of separation, I actually bumped into a few people I know, and a few other people I am supposed to know, but cannot remember since it’s been ages since I’ve seen them. I was placed at the same table with the rest of the UK friends, including the MC and the best-man. So, at least it wasn’t too dull.

We actually prepared a special brew for the groom. We mixed some cili padi with a glass of wine. Then, when he came around, I pennied him in the good old Cambridge tradition and he had to down it. However, he could only drink a little before giving up. Then, the bride tried to help but couldn’t either. But since it was almost time to say goodbye, the happy couple had to dash to the door, which gave them the excuse for not finishing up the drink.

In the end, I think that the best thing about this whole day was that I had an opportunity to wear two new outfits – one of which was my purple suit with silver-purple silk shirt. Seriously, it isn’t as bad as it sounds and is actually quite good.

One of the films that I picked up yesterday, was a surprisingly good film. The title of the Korean film is ‘Open City‘ and the female lead is Son Ye Jin. For some reason, I have bought quite a few of her films. I think that it’s probably because I have been influenced by the film ‘Classic Romance’.

She normally plays the sweet-innocent kind of character but I’m not interested in those acts (one can only stomach so much glucose). However, she has been trying out some different roles and I’ve bought some of those. In this particular film, she plays the role of a criminal ring-leader of pickpockets. While her acting could do with a little improvement (I’m not entirely convinced that she’s a criminal ring-leader), the same cannot be said of her wardrobe.

I lost count of the number of outfits (after 20) that she actually wore in the whole film. She appeared on screen with a different one for every scene and there were a lot of scenes. In many of the scenes, she was dressed to kill. According to the story, she was supposed to use her sultry charms to her advantage. I noticed the clothes because it was like watching a fashion runway, with a bunch of other things happening in between.

The story itself was rather well written. At the beginning, I thought that this would be another perfectly predictable film from beginning to end. However, it turned out to be less predictable than I had imagined. Furthermore, the film was well edited and presented using flashbacks as a tool to link the storyline. In the end, I think that it was a rather enjoyable film. I’d watch it again if only to see all the outfits once more.

PS: Pics are not mine!!

I continued my exploration of KL today, by paying a visit to the shopping area in Mutiara Damansara. This included a visit to The Curve, Ikano and Cineleisure. I felt that I should just blog about experiences and observations. Don’t worry, this is not a review about the shopping malls or the shops.

I took the LDP there and parked inside The Curve. It was very curious to me because all the signs in the basement car park area were in English except for Keluar (Exit). Surprisingly, it also took me quite a while to locate a lot, even on an Tuesday afternoon. As I was already hungry, I immediately chose a place to have lunch – at Waroeng Penyet.

I chose the place because it had a cute name – Penyet (flat). However, there weren’t enough seats and I had to share a table with an old uncle. Since we were sitting together anyway, I decided to strike up a conversation. What my friend said is true – in Malaysia, everyone is separated by 2-degrees of separation. It turns out that we both know one particular person. He was a civil engineer and he ended up giving me a lot of worldly advice on working in Malaysia. He agrees with me that it is much better to work in Malaysia than overseas because there is more money to be made here than elsewhere.

After lunch, I went off shopping for stuff. I know that even 1U or MidValley would be packed full with people on a Tuesday afternoon. However, The Curve was strangely quiet. I found some things to buy for myself and my car. Then, it was time to cross the road over to Ikano and that was when I encountered another strange incident.

I was in Harvey Norman looking at random electronics when I overheard an argument between a woman and the shop manager. Seemed like the woman wanted to return something that she bought and the shop manager was trying to explain their ‘no refunds’ policy. Then the woman whipped out her mobile phone and mentioned that she would like to call her lawyer to check to see if the manager could do that. Finally, the manager gave in and gave her a refund. Now, the drama didn’t end there.

Then, the woman decided to go off shopping elsewhere and told the sales assistants to watch her son who was probably around 7. This was where it got interesting. Obviously, the sales assistants didn’t care at all that the poor kid ended up crying from being abandoned by his mother. I then overheard the mother saying to her friend that she needed to teach her son a lesson. The sales assistants were also joking among themselves at this kid’s expense.

All this time, I was thinking to myself that this is a terrible mother. Yes, you may need to discipline your child from time to time but this is not the right way to do it. Abandoning your child at a shopping centre is not right. I’m sure that the lawyers would have something to say about that as well, if she had bothered to give them a call.

After that, I met up with my friend who was shopping at the Japanese store there. Everything in the store sells for RM5. That is the gimmick. Most people would think that RM5 is not very much money and start buying stuff. Then, before you know it, there would already be RM100 worth of junk in the basket. This almost happened to my friend and she ended up sorting through the stuff and dumping some of it before buying the rest. After having tea together, we bade each other farewell and I decided to come home.

It was quite nice that they charged only RM2 per-entry for parking on a weekday and only RM3 on a weekend. Curiously though, the parking machines displayed two prices – one in Ringgit and the other in Euros. I doubt that the machine accepts Euros but it is curiousity anyway.

On my way back, I decided to try a different route. I paid RM2 for the privilege of using the Penchala Link and then another RM1.50 for using the Kerinchi Link before ending up on the Federal Highway and taking the normal road home. In the end, although it was smooth traffic all the way back, it still took a similar amount of time as the route was much further.

There has been recent suggestions by the government that all muslims should go for mandatory pre-marital HIV screening. I would go further and actually suggest that everyone, muslim and non-muslim, go for pre-marital HIV screening. In fact, I would suggest that we do not stop at HIV screening but to screen for a whole host of diseases and genetic anomalies, anything that may cause problems in the marriage later.

These days, the local labs like PathLab, do provide various pre-marital health check packages that range from the dirt cheap to the really expensive. It all depends on the battery of tests the couple would like to do. All it takes is a trip to the local GP to extract some biological samples, which are then sent to them for analysis. However, even this good practice is not often performed by regular couples.

There are a host of genetic incompatibilities that can be detected through some of these tests. The couple can then be told of their chances in having children who may end up developing certain illnesses. However, all this information should be presented to the couple and the final decision on whether or not they should wed is still up to the couple. I personally believe that this should be the right thing to do.

However, our Perak MB believes that people with HIV should not marry. He thinks that it is a gross error to allow someone very sick like this to marry. I think that he must have mush for brains. Personally, I wonder what sort of medical pre-conditions he might actually suffer from considering that most of us suffer from some sort of ailment that may one day kill us.

Furthermore, he suggests that a HIV couple will definitely copulate and have HIV infected babies, he is grossly misinformed. First of all, it is perfectly possible for people to engage in sexual intercourse without having babies. You know, there is something called contraception. It is kind of sad that the MB is probably ignorant about their use. Secondly, even if the parents were HIV positive, the baby need not necessarily be infected. According to wikipedia, perinatal transmission of HIV is 25% in the absence of treatment and 1% with the right treatment and tools in place.

Then, he goes even further and to suggest that HIV carriers should be quarantined away and everything should be done to treat them. I think that he deserves to receive the ‘straight-jacket award’ for making this particular nutty statement. One really needs to wonder what kind of gestapo-esque MB did the Perak people end up with. It seems that our local politicians lack certain quality, regardless of which side of the house they come from.

Dude, you really need to do your homework before mouthing off and exposing the ignorant facist that you are.

PS: Of course, all this assumes that the news reporting has been accurate. For some unfathomable reason, our politicians are so often misquoted by the press.

I went to MidValley today to pick up my new pair of spectacles. Yes, I have a new pair of spectacles now. When I first picked them up, I noticed that there was a small gap between the frame and lens of the left eye. So, I had them fix it, which they supposedly did by tightening the screws on the side. It looks a little different from my previous pair. Hopefully, I’ll look less of a geek with my new pair of spectacles.

This was also the last weekend before Christmas. So, Christmas celebrations were in full swing at MidValley. I was treated to a group of carol singers singing Christmas carols at the centre of The Gardens. Then, many of the staff members of various shops were also dressed in slightly Christmas-y attire. However, the funniest thing to watch was probably people rushing about trying to do some last minute Christmas shopping.

As for me, I don’t really want anything for Christmas. I’ve already bought everything that I need for a while. So, there isn’t much else that I really want for this Christmas.

Yesterday, I went for a Karaoke with the rest of my family and sang till my voice went hoarse. Actually, I would’ve continued singing right up until they chased us off, if not for the fact that my niece pulled the plug on the whole thing. Towards the end, she kept telling people to “Go back!” but nobody seemed to want to budge. Everyone enjoyed singing so much that we did not notice her walking towards the back of the room. Then, she flicked the main switch off. That was pretty smart for a 2 year old little girl.

The Karaoke that we went to was Green Box karaoke. It is owned by Red Box but is targeted at a different market. It comes with a dinner buffet, which is very tasty for a place that is not focused on food. It is also pork-free and smoke-free. So basically, it is just like any other karaoke place, minus the sleaze. So, it is somewhere suitable to bring little kids and old folk to (incidentally, kids are free and senior citizens are half-price).

I belted out so many songs till my throat was sore. Thankfully, there was a free flow of drinks – it’s a dinner buffet! However, I did not engorge myself with the food as I spent most of my time singing, rather than eating. Maybe I should have actually spent more time eating the food instead but I was rather tired after driving for 500km yesterday (day trip to Johor). So, my car is also now due for its first service.

This article in TheStar made the most interesting reading today. It is about the final round-table meeting that was held yesterday concerning the use of English in teaching Science and Math in schools. I am actually really curious to find out what language the meeting was conducted in. Regardless, the most revealing information provided by the article were the statistics (I abhor statistics).

From an earlier article, the number of students that opted to answer the papers in English were 159,234 (Science – 31%) and 238,153 (Math – 64%). This is a marked increase compared to last year, which had 1,324 (Science) and 1,075 (Math). At the very least, we can be assured that a very large number of students are comfortable with answering things in English. However, it would have been more interesting to find out the urban/rural breakdown of these numbers.

Yesterday, more statistics were revealed, with the overall results in both urban and rural schools averaging upwards and that the performance of English has gone up by a significant 4.4% while BM remained stable. So, these results show that the students can cope with the subjects in English and it may have had a positive effect on English as a whole. Okay, I am taking some liberties with causality here but it is at least a positive sign, if not a cause.

However, the most telling statistics were those that were released for the SJK schools. In SJKT schools, 62.8% and 89.1% answered the Science and Math papers in English, in contrast with SJKC schools where only 2.9% and 1.3% answered the papers in English. Now, this is very surprising and statistically significant.

Personally, I don’t understand the resistance in SJKC schools. I guess that the teaching quality there must not be as good, with students fearing to take the subjects in English. Alternatively, they was instruction for them to avoid the English papers, which would not surprise me one bit. Otherwise, there is no statistical reason why these SJKC students should buck the national trend of a marked increase in adoption of English as the Science/Math language. To me, this has been to their detriment as we do not have any significant data on how well the SJKC students coped with the subject.

The round-table meeting resulted in 7 potential proposals:

• Stick to Mathematics and Science in English;
• Revert to Bahasa Malaysia;
• Let primary schools teach both subjects in the mother tongue and secondary schools use English;
• Let primary schools decide for themselves;
• Mathematics and Science be taught in Bahasa Malaysia and mother tongue for Years One to Three and in English from Year Four onwards;
• A combination of mother tongue in the first three years and a choice of mother tongue or English after that; and
• The two subjects will not be taught in Years One to Three and instead be integrated into other subjects.

I would like to add an 8th proposal. Personally, I think that the solution is clear. Science and Mathematics should continue to be taught in English for all schools except SJKC schools where there is an apparent resistance. There has even been alleged threats of protests from the Dong Jiao Zong. So, SJKC schools should be allowed to teach these subjects in Mandarin if they so wish to. This will doubly ensure their slow but timely death as their brethren experienced in Singapore. No sane parent would enroll their kids in SJKC schools if they are the only ones resisting this positive move.

To me, this is a win-win-win situation for everyone involved. I’m surprised that nobody came up with this suggestion. They must be quite daft for failing to see the obvious.

** Pic from TheStar article. Not mine.

While many things do not change, some things do. I have been wearing my present pair of spectacles for more than 6 years. Although it cost me a pretty penny when I first bought it (~£300) it has been worth every sen. However, it has started to show its age as the lens coating is coming off and the paint job is peeling off. So, I went off to the previous optical place to make myself a new pair of spectacles.

So, I tried on a huge number of frames before it came down to two options and then I ended up taking an even longer time, wearing both of them before finally deciding on one. Then, I started bargaining on price and was given a good price on the lens with a new set of transition lenses. The new set of transition lenses are better than the old set as they are able to transition faster and to a very dark shade of blue. My present set of transition lenses darken very gradually and only to a light shade of brown. So, I guess that they have improved the technology over the years.

Then, they measured my eyesight and it seems that my power has come down for both my short sightedness and my astigmatism. That must be the reason why I have recently been looking over my spectacles when staring at really close stuff. Subconsciously, I must have realised that my power has changed. Well, this surprised me as I thought that my eye-sight should no longer change, seeing that I am no longer developing. However, I highly suspect that my real power probably lies somewhere between the two measurements and is within the margin of error for each.

Anyhow, I ordered the new pair of spectacles and I should be taking delivery of them shortly.

Today, I dropped by another shopping mall, that is located in a residential area. This shopping mall has a Carrefour in it. Surprisingly, this Carrefour has shrunk by about 20% in size. Where it used to occupy a large part of the ground floor, this space is now home to three cafes and one post office along with an assortment of tiny stalls selling mobile phones. I guess that it must have come under tough times and had to let out the space in order to reduce cost and boost revenues.

However, what surprised me even more was the number of rumah urut (massage houses) in the building. By rough estimation, about 40% of the tenants are rumah urut. While I was exploring the place, trying to reacquaint myself with the shops there, I was constantly bugged by the workers sitting outside who kept asking me if I wanted a foot massage. I guess that I must’ve looked like I wanted a foot massage, since I was busy looking at all the shop signs to see what they were selling.

What was even more surprising was when I stopped for dinner at the Nam Heong restaurant there (purveyors of the best chicken rice in town since 1938). I was actually attended to by a Malay male waiter. First of all, it is less common to find males working as waiters in a restaurant in Malaysia. Secondly, it is downright difficult to find a Malay working at a non-halal food joint. One section of their menu is dedicated to pork dishes. I guess that the tough times must really be affecting everyone.

As I did not want to presume anything, I spoke to the waiter in English and ordered the standard set. He asked me pak kai or siew kai in such a monotonous manner that I didn’t understand what it was he said. Then, he repeated the question in English and asked me what soup I wanted. So, I said the chicken feet soup and he promptly asked me kai kiok fa shang and I said yes. After that, I saw him serving other people and was fairly amazed at his command of Cantonese.

I guess that he must be a local boy, one who grew up in KL and mixed around a lot with the local Chinese. It is not so difficult to find these people around but it is still surprising to see them working at a non-halal food joint. Yes, there were two – the other one was actually working in the kitchen!

So, some things do change.