Category: Uncategorized

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.

I was feeling a little sien today and decided to go run out somewhere. After all, I’ve got a new set of wheels and there is no reason for me to stay at home all the time now. So, I made the suicidal decision to go to 1Utama this afternoon – suicidal because anyone who knows 1U, knows that you should never go there on a weekend. However, I made the decision to go because the last time that I was there, the new wing had barely just opened and there were two MPHs in 1U (meaning that it was an awfully long time ago).

So, I drove down from my place onto Old Klang Road and took the normal route I used to take in the past – i.e. down OKR all the way to the end, slipping into the LDP highway thru the Federal Highway and then straight on until Bandar Utama and 1U. Okay, my first surprise was that they actually placed a toll-booth at the end of Old Klang Road. It’s called the PJS2 gate or something like that. I got my first hint that something wasn’t quite right when I passed the Jalan Templar junction and saw the Lebuhraya Bermula (Highway Begins) sign. Shortly after paying the toll, I saw the Lebuhraya Tamat (Highway Ends) sign. I had to pay RM1.60 for the privilege of using barely a 1km stretch of highway. Note to self – avoid this toll by cutting down Templar Road onto the Federal Highway.

Then, after I got onto the LDP, it was slow traffic almost all the way until it reached the Sprint Highway interchange. I remembered that I used to speed down the LDP on my way up to Ipoh (via the Damansara toll-gate) at much higher speeds than this. So, it was kind of sad that traffic was so slow these days. You cannot really call the LDP a highway anymore if the traffic slows down to 60kmph. I used to be able to reach 1U within 30 mins of leaving my home but I spent almost just as long, trudging along the LDP today. In addition, I must have made a mistake somewhere as I ended up reaching the PLUS toll-gate instead of Bandar Utama, and had to use the back-route of getting into 1U (passing Centrepoint). Note to self – avoid the LDP at all costs!

Anyway, I finally arrived at 1U and proceeded into the parking. Some things never change. It took me almost 40 minutes of driving around the multiple levels of parking until I finally found a space. At least this didn’t break a previous record I had of driving around for 45 minutes before finding a parking space there. Good thing that 1U charges a token fee for the first 6 hours of parking. There would be riots if they charged by the hour. Finally, I was there and I proceeded to have a look around the place.

I immediately went off shopping. Those of you who know me will know that there are very few things that I actually bother to buy – DVDs, CDs, electronic gadgets and books. In the end, I spent some money on more Korean DVDs and one music CD. I had actually managed to track down 2 copies of Suki’s Akhirnya album. This is surprising because she is practically sold out everywhere else – in both large and small record stores. However, it was very sad for me to see Tower Records reduced to selling Japanese Anime in order to survive. The bulk of the shelf-space seems to be taken up by nothing but Japanese Anime. So, I got to listen to a lot of Suki on my drive back through Section 16.

For dinner, I was a little tempted by laksa as I have not had any for quite some time. So, I proceeded to my regular laksa shack and ordered my favourite Laksam Kelantan. This was when I noticed that their selection of laksa has shrunk considerably since I was last there. They used to have every conceivable kind of laksa from each state in Malaysia (including those from Borneo). However, it’s now become fairly limited to the more commercial varieties only. Thankfully they still had my favourite and so I had it for dinner.

After dinner, I visited the Science Fiction section of MPH to see if they could qualify as Science Fiction. Personally, I do not consider a bookstore as having a SciFi section unless they at least carried books by William Gibson or Neal Stephenson. The good news is that the MPH at 1U carries both these authors but the bad news is that they only had one book from each. How sad! Maybe I should pay Kinokuniya a visit one of these days to check out its SciFi section. I have a recollection of it being fairly big and extensive.

Then, while strolling around the place, I noticed that there was a ‘free wifi’ area that was sponsored by Maybank2U. When I was in Malaysia a few years ago, broadband and wifi was very difficult to come by. Everyone was trying to sell you hotspot packages from different telcos. However, you are able to get free wifi everywhere these days, even at the local fast food joint. I have never actually tried any of them but I think that I will pay my local Kopitiam a visit one of these days to see if it is any fun blogging while having lunch.

This was our last full day in ChiangMai and one that was not on the official tour. However, our guide was so nice and came to bring us around on his own anyway. We wanted to go to a local morning market to buy some Thai rice and other sundries such as dried longan. Since we did not have the tour company minivan, we went about on local transport (i.e. songthaew). It was during this ride that I noticed a PETRONAS petrol station in Thailand! I have always known that they had operations in Thailand but it was still a surprise to see a familiar petrol station there. So, I took a snap of the local pump prices. At the time of this photo, our pump prices for RON97 was RM1.90/L (about 18.64 baht/L). So, as you can see, we’re not paying less for petrol than our Thai neighbours and we are an oil & gas exporter! I would certainly like to hear our government explain this away, seeing that they loved comparing our pump prices with Thai pump prices during the oil inflation.

Anyway, I do not want to sully this entry with my political ramblings. Let’s talk about something related to local Thai politics instead. Another thing that our guide informed us was about dress. According to him, there were two political factions in Thailand, the ‘reds’ and ‘yellows’. Seeing that northern Thailand is a red base, he said that if you wore red, the local people will like you more. As a result, you can get a better price at the market. If you wore yellow, the local market people may not even want to sell you anything. Seeing that we were tourists, it probably wouldn’t affect us one way or the other. However, our tour guide was curiously dressed in a red shirt that morning, when he took us around to the local market. Well, there are a curious number of red dressed people in the random photo. So, maybe he was right!

Something else piqued my interest at the market – Thai motorcycle parks. You read that right – motorcycle parks. There were designated zones for motorcyclists to park their bikes and these zones were manned by a parking attendant or two. When a motorcycle pulls up, the motorcyclist would park his or her bike and then wait for the attendant to come along and give them a parking coupon, which was affixed to the brake handle of the bike. The cost of parking is 2 baht per entry and you could park for as long as you want. How terribly entrepreneurial! We need the same system in this country to prevent motorcyclists from just dumping their bikes randomly on the streets, constantly causing traffic problems for everyone else.

It also occurred to me that the Thai people were extremely honest folk. Well, according to our guide, Thai people are “always happy with big smile on face”. This can be visibly seen from the way that they behaved. When a Thai motorcyclist parks, he/she would actually wait for the parking attendant to issue a ticket while their Malaysian counterpart would probably take-off. Furthermore, they leave all kinds of things lying in the baskets of their motorcycles while our Malaysian cyclists cannot even leave their helmets behind without it being stolen. I guess it comes from the fact that the Thai people are not poor-poor and are not driven to desperation. We sorely need some sort of social welfare system to help the poor in this country.

Oh I give up, let me go off on a short socio-economic rant. The main difference in our social-economic situation is probably due to income disparity. The GINI index for Thailand is about half of ours. You can see this clearly in the kinds of entreprises that I have quoted in the last few blog entries. While the average Thai may be poorer than the average Malaysian, there is a better spread of wealth so people do not become desperate. You can see all sorts of little entrepreneurial things in Thailand that wouldn’t work in Malaysia. Although these people may not earn very much, they will at least make enough to feed themselves. At the very least, they have the monasteries and missionaries to help them. Our NEP needs to go back to its original roots and fix itself to make this work!

Anyway, this was effectively the end of the trip for me as I fell ill later that day. I vomited quite a bit and spent most of the day lying in bed. It was probably something I ate. The next day, we caught our flight back to KL and had to go through the whole debacle of poor LCCT service again. It was chaos in there!

Oh, there was one other curious thing though. My family randomly met another family that we had known donkey years ago. They were holidaying in ChiangMai and took the standard package tour. So, we spent a while catching up with each other. We were checked into the same hotel and met each other during meal hours. Their eldest child studied mathematics and is now working in Bank Negara. This surprised me as most of my other Bank Negara friends seemed to be terribly busy (you know who you are!) and would probably have a tough time trying to take a 1 week leave to go holidaying in ChiangMai! However, it was nice to catch up with some old acquaintances you’ve not met in ages. I seemed to be doing a lot of this lately!

We started our day by visiting the tribal people – Karens. These are those famous long-necked women that depress their collar bones for beauty. The thing that interested me more during our visit was their use of local engineering and technology. I observed that their roofs were made with regular dried leaves and they used water power for their machines. Such things interest me because I’m a hardcore engineer but it will probably bore most of you to death. So, I’ll just skip it. However, it’s still interesting to note that these people are, by themselves, a tourist attraction. When they see me coming with my DSLR, they all move into position for me to take snap shots. How quaint – not having to get people to pose or ask them for permission.

After that, we went off to a few other tourist attractions including, a petting zoo for tigers (!!!), a snake show and an umbrella factory. It is at this umbrella factory that I witnessed more skilled craftsmanship. I told my family that if these artistes set up shop in Central Market, KL and charged between RM10 to RM20 for each drawing, they would make a fortune. Most of the teenage girls in KL would love to have these artistes customise their clothes and accessories for them. RM10 is nothing much to spend on getting some quality artwork rendered on your favourite bag, for example. Furthermore, these artistes worked so fast, it hardly took them 5 minutes to render this drawing on our clothes. Since they’re meant for umbrellas to begin with, it’s all water-proof!

At this point, I had grown rather weary of factories. We were of course, brought to a few others – leather, cotton and what nots. Since this was the end of our official tour, we asked that our tour guide drop us off at a local shopping mall so that we could pick up a few other items at local prices as opposed to tourist prices. Our guide told us that there were only two malls in ChiangMai, an older small one and a newer big one. So, we went to the big one. While exploring the big one, I learned a few more things. The cost of goods in ChiangMai is pretty much similar to that in Malaysia. Of course, this was limited to the things that I’m interested to buy – i.e. DVDs, books, electronic gadgets. The only cheap stuff in ChiangMai are the local crafts and of course sundries like rice and vegetables.

PS: As you can tell, I’ve grown rather weary of writing as well! But, I shall press on!