Month: June 2014

Examine, Evaluate, Estimate

I recently read that the new Form 3 exams are going to be called PT3 – Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3. As far as I understand it, taksir means to estimate. Checking the DBP dictionary, it seems that I am not wrong in saying that one of the meanings of taksir is anggar or estimate.

So, we’ve moved from examinations, to evaluations and finally to estimations. Whomever came up with the idea for PT3 deserves a medal. I can imagine all the jokes that the kids are going to crack about their PT3 results – merely an estimate.

The idea of decentralisation is great, assuming that we have the system in place to manage it. Otherwise, it is just going to be abused by the schools to improve their own rankings by ensuring that everyone scores. It’s a win-win situation.

This is probably why they’re calling it an estimate – because the results are not accurate as they’re subject to what the teacher had for breakfast that day. A student’s results will vary depending on which school they were enrolled in.

In order to moderate and mitigate such problems, teachers need to be transferred regularly. This is the same system that I always use to moderate marks when judging national/international competitions.

The typical way of doing judging at these competitions is to break the teams up into groups and have each group judged by a different panel of judges. The judges then select the best from each group and then filter out which ones are the winners. If necessary, the finalists are called for another round of judging.

Much like the World Cup, actually.

However, this results in a lot of favouritism as each panel will have their favourites and will try to stick to their favourites. This is what I’ve seen every time I conduct judging at these competitions. To solve the problem, I rotate the judges at the group stage.

As a result, there are no fixed panels and every judge sees a different set of teams. So, it’s not easy for anyone to hold onto their favourites. We’ll still need to find the best teams from each group, but the judges in each group are now rotated – and moderated.

So, I’ll recommend a similar system be used for PT3 – that teachers are rotated regularly so that they do not keep to their favourites. At the very least, their exam papers should be divided into groups and marked by teachers from different schools.

But this is just going to complicate things and I doubt that the MOE has the resources to coordinate such things.

Good luck to those taking their PT3 this year though. It’s tough being the guinea pigs.

What is My Malaysia?

This video got me thinking.

What is my Malaysia?

I see Malaysia as full of possibilities. We’re a nation blessed in so many ways. We have an abundance of natural resources, have a diverse population, and are strategically located. But I think that it’s our people that are our greatest assets.

Malaysians are special.

We are a nation of cynics. Malaysians view the cops as the most corrupt, more so than politicians. That’s quite an achievement for a country with the longest surviving civilian government in power for over 5 decades, to be considered less corrupt than the cops.

We are a nation of creative thinkers. Sure, our kids don’t do very well in problem solving tests, but give them a road without a zebra crossing and they will find a way to cross it even if they don’t have to. You won’t find this in Singapore. We have our own ways to settle all problems.

We’re also a nation of geniuses. Every Malaysian is multi-lingual. Recent studies have shown that people who speak more than one language are smarter. Malaysians are so damn smart that we’re in high demand throughout the world. As a recent World Bank study showed, we have the highest level of diaspora in the world.

We are also the most lalang people around. We can bicker and fight about the most sensitive of things such as race and religion. But give us a Thomas Cup finals and we can flip aside all differences and come together as a nation for at least 6-hours. Of course, we go back to arguing about race and religion right after. But this shows that our differences aren’t all that deep.

We also have so many pretenders around – Chinese who do not speak Chinese, Indians who do not speak any Indian, and even Malays who have trouble with Malay. A nation of pendatangs, we’re all caught in an identity crisis. None of us are truly who our ICs say we are. We are truly and uniquely Malaysian, in that sense.

Anyway, I could go on but I need to get back to studying.

I love you, Malaysia.

PS: When did Nat become an artiste?

Double Traffic Standards

This rant has been a long time coming. I am kind of frustrated with the blatant law breaking ways that motorcyclists in this country ride on the roads. Honestly, it has come to the point where, if I were to see a motorcycle involved in an accident, I’m inclined to presume that it’s the motorcyclists fault.

As far as I a know, all motor vehicles are governed by the same Law in Malaysia. The fact is that we all take and pass the same undang-undang test before we are allowed to get our license. While we are governed by the same Law, it seems to be applied differently to motorcyclists.

Firstly, motorcyclists seem to think that they are merely petrol powered bicycles. They are often found going in the opposite direction as traffic and riding on pedestrian or bicycle lanes. They do this largely to cut through short cuts and avoid the main thoroughfares.

They are also endangering the lives of others when they do that – particularly that of pedestrians and bicycles. I have actually seen pedestrians curse at motorcycles who horn them to get out of the way.

Secondly, motorcyclists don’t seem to realise that they are supposed to ride in the lanes of the road and not on the dotted lines between the lanes. This is a sure fire way to get themselves killed by motor vehicles that cannot see them. They do this largely to get an express lane through traffic.

The troubling thing is that they think that it’s their right to do so and don’t even realise that it is wrong – and it’s going to get themselves killed. When riding between lanes, they are exposed to being hit from more sides than if they were within a lane.

Thirdly, motorcyclists like to weave through traffic even when it’s flowing normally and not at a standstill. I’m sure that you know what I mean when I say ‘weave’. What makes it worse is that they will even curse at you if you’re in their way.

What’s worse is that such unlawful and dangerous practices have become entrenched because there has never been enforcement action taken against them. Now, they think that it’s a legal right, regardless of what they learn in undang-undang class.

Sadly, this is the state of traffic double standards in Malaysia.

Non Agreement Disclosure

I have a personal beef with the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). If we look around, it’s quite a common practice by large organisations to get people to sign NDAs with them before dealing with them.

I was recently approached by a GLC to aid them with some work, which I turned down when they asked me to sign an NDA before we even had a single meeting. Call me old fashioned, but I do not think that a business relationship can survive without trust. So, that’s the first thing that I look for in a business relationship – building trust. Asking me to sign an NDA is a sign of distrust.

The reason that I do not like dealing with companies that ask me to sign an NDA is because it reflects a fundamental philosophical difference in approach to intellectual property. To me, if they have some secret sauce, they should seek proper IP protection. Otherwise, if they just want to gag me, it’s an infringement on my fundamental right to freedom of expression, which I detest.

Furthermore, getting me to sign an agreement that is not legally binding is a sad reflection on how silly things are getting when it comes to IP. Whomever is giving them legal advice is probably not giving them an accurate picture of things. This to me, is amateurish practice. There is no point in getting someone to sign a document with no legal power except as a power play, which is stupid.

However, the main reason that I do not sign an NDA is because it’s because I’m an accredited professional. What this means is that I am to provide the best service that I can to my clients, whomever they are. If I were to be hired by Company A to help do something, and then I was later hired by Company B to do something, I must provide both companies with the best service that I can even if they are competitors.

If I ever act in an unethical manner, they are free to report me and get my Chartered Engineer registration revoked. What adds insult to injury is that the people asking me to sign the NDA are non-accredited professionals themselves.

Maybe I’m crazy to expect trust from larger organisations.