We made a slow drive to old Penang city
A small island a hundred miles to the north
To meet with old friends from our university
Not knowing what the day will bring forth
It was a little more than five years past
Since we last set foot on the island shore
And now we have the chance, at long last
To see what for us it has in store
While driving through each busy crowded street,
Past each rustic shop-house, each transient shadow cast,
The city seemed not to have come forward, for me to greet,
Instead, I felt, I have gone back to its lingering past.
Soon we arrived, somewhat dazed, at the old hotel
A towering twenty-storey resort by the beach
For my wife, this place rings a nostalgic bell
For she had been here twice, for courses to teach
The grand old tower has not changed much
Over the rippling course of flowing time
From old wooden panels that felt rough to the touch
To the wobbly taps and the sound of lifts arriving with a chime
There was but one journey left for us to complete
To which this long awaited trip must pertain
It was a journey not by any road or street
But one to be made on memory lane.
To be continued . . .
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
I think, therefore I write
Je pense . . .
"Je pense, donc je suis", wrote René Descartes, the French mathematician who invented the Cartesian coordinates system in the 17th century.
Descartes also wrote it in Latin, "Cogito, ergo sum" in another work of his.
In English, it is that well-known saying that many of us have heard of,
"I think, therefore I am".
It tells us that we are what we think in our thoughts. Our character, our personality, and our disposition is composed by our thinking.
This idea did not originate from the 17th century.
A similar statement was written more than two thousand years earlier, around the 6th century B.C. by King Solomon in the ancient kingdom of Israel, in his "Sayings of the wise", the book of Proverbs which subsequently became part of the Old Testament of the Bible.
"For as a man thinketh, so is he . . ." , wrote King Solomon in Proverbs 23:7 KJV
King Solomon's complete statement says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.", telling us that a person's real character comes from what he thinks inwardly, not what he says' to you outwardly.
A similar saying also exists in an ancient Chinese proverb, in the Cantonese dialect, that says,
"You know a person's face, but you do not know his heart"
Again, this statement tells us that a person's thoughts and intents make him the person he is.
As such, we cannot really know a person just by listening to his words, or seeing his deeds. We can only be certain if we know what he is thinking in his heart.
If only we can see what everybody is thinking. If only we know what's in their hearts.
There is, however, one group of people whom we can know very well by their actions.
They are writers.
Writers write what they think. A writer thinks, therefore he writes. If you want to know a writer's heart, read his books.
"Je pense, donc j'écris". I think, therefore I write.
"Je pense, donc je suis", wrote René Descartes, the French mathematician who invented the Cartesian coordinates system in the 17th century.
Descartes also wrote it in Latin, "Cogito, ergo sum" in another work of his.
In English, it is that well-known saying that many of us have heard of,
"I think, therefore I am".
It tells us that we are what we think in our thoughts. Our character, our personality, and our disposition is composed by our thinking.
This idea did not originate from the 17th century.
A similar statement was written more than two thousand years earlier, around the 6th century B.C. by King Solomon in the ancient kingdom of Israel, in his "Sayings of the wise", the book of Proverbs which subsequently became part of the Old Testament of the Bible.
"For as a man thinketh, so is he . . ." , wrote King Solomon in Proverbs 23:7 KJV
King Solomon's complete statement says, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.", telling us that a person's real character comes from what he thinks inwardly, not what he says' to you outwardly.
A similar saying also exists in an ancient Chinese proverb, in the Cantonese dialect, that says,
"You know a person's face, but you do not know his heart"
Again, this statement tells us that a person's thoughts and intents make him the person he is.
As such, we cannot really know a person just by listening to his words, or seeing his deeds. We can only be certain if we know what he is thinking in his heart.
If only we can see what everybody is thinking. If only we know what's in their hearts.
There is, however, one group of people whom we can know very well by their actions.
They are writers.
Writers write what they think. A writer thinks, therefore he writes. If you want to know a writer's heart, read his books.
"Je pense, donc j'écris". I think, therefore I write.
Monday, July 16, 2018
Do manners make a man?
"Manners maketh man", they say.
This well known expression is said to have been coined sometime around the 15th or 16th century by a headmaster of a well-known school in England.
It is often taken to mean that good manners distinguish human beings from animals.
The notion that a person's manners make him man, or woman as the case may be, simply because animals are not capable of such a thing called "manners", led me to ask myself another question, a provoking one:
If good manners make us human, what do bad manners make?
That is, if a person of good manners clearly distinguishes himself from "mannerless" beasts, what about a person of ill-manners? Is that person still human?
In other words, can we point to a rude, uncouth, foul-mouth, ill-mannered person and say,
"Behold, a man, who is clearly not a beast!"
Or should we instead point to a mannerless animal and utter,
"Behold, an animal who is not ill-mannered at all"
I write this today after having recently pondered over a few encounters with some rude, some vulgar and some hostile people, and sadly, some of whom used to be my friends.
One insulted me badly by throwing almost every expletive he could find under the sun at me over a simple disagreement. Another made a maliciously false and slanderous remark at me when I complained, politely, about not being told of an event that I would have liked to take part in.
There was also a friend with whom I have worked together in a group for more than two years, who lashed out with a much hatred and anger at a couple of our group members for merely suggesting that he should stop doing some things that are unhelpful to others.
Of course, I have had my share of impolite colleagues who ignored my "Good morning" and refused to acknowledge my "Thank you" on some occasions. I have also lost count of the rude and and inconsiderate drivers on the road, who cut me off in highly dangerous situations almost causing me to meet with accidents. And the irritating "hand-phone" guy ahead of me at the intersection, who is oblivious of the traffic-lights turning green, causing me to wait for the lights to change another full cycle.
"Such ill-manners, such inconsiderate behaviour, such abusive and unpleasant words, . . . such beasts", I thought to myself.
It makes me realise that "Ill-manners degrade man", that a man of poor manners is worse than a mannerless animal, for as much as an animal by nature knows not how to behave politely nor courteously, the very same animals also know not how to behave rudely nor discourteously.
Animals, by virtue of their inability to use language, do not insult, neither do they slander nor do they curse, nor hurl malicious accusations at others.
Animals have no manners: neither good nor bad.
When man loses his good manners, he has lost to an animal. An ill-mannered man is no longer man, he is not even beast. He has descended to a place lower than the animal kingdom.
This well known expression is said to have been coined sometime around the 15th or 16th century by a headmaster of a well-known school in England.
It is often taken to mean that good manners distinguish human beings from animals.
The notion that a person's manners make him man, or woman as the case may be, simply because animals are not capable of such a thing called "manners", led me to ask myself another question, a provoking one:
If good manners make us human, what do bad manners make?
That is, if a person of good manners clearly distinguishes himself from "mannerless" beasts, what about a person of ill-manners? Is that person still human?
In other words, can we point to a rude, uncouth, foul-mouth, ill-mannered person and say,
"Behold, a man, who is clearly not a beast!"
Or should we instead point to a mannerless animal and utter,
"Behold, an animal who is not ill-mannered at all"
I write this today after having recently pondered over a few encounters with some rude, some vulgar and some hostile people, and sadly, some of whom used to be my friends.
One insulted me badly by throwing almost every expletive he could find under the sun at me over a simple disagreement. Another made a maliciously false and slanderous remark at me when I complained, politely, about not being told of an event that I would have liked to take part in.
There was also a friend with whom I have worked together in a group for more than two years, who lashed out with a much hatred and anger at a couple of our group members for merely suggesting that he should stop doing some things that are unhelpful to others.
Of course, I have had my share of impolite colleagues who ignored my "Good morning" and refused to acknowledge my "Thank you" on some occasions. I have also lost count of the rude and and inconsiderate drivers on the road, who cut me off in highly dangerous situations almost causing me to meet with accidents. And the irritating "hand-phone" guy ahead of me at the intersection, who is oblivious of the traffic-lights turning green, causing me to wait for the lights to change another full cycle.
"Such ill-manners, such inconsiderate behaviour, such abusive and unpleasant words, . . . such beasts", I thought to myself.
It makes me realise that "Ill-manners degrade man", that a man of poor manners is worse than a mannerless animal, for as much as an animal by nature knows not how to behave politely nor courteously, the very same animals also know not how to behave rudely nor discourteously.
Animals, by virtue of their inability to use language, do not insult, neither do they slander nor do they curse, nor hurl malicious accusations at others.
Animals have no manners: neither good nor bad.
When man loses his good manners, he has lost to an animal. An ill-mannered man is no longer man, he is not even beast. He has descended to a place lower than the animal kingdom.
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Technology is not a good teacher
Yesterday, I read a caption posted by an online news site on facebook quoting our new seventh Prime Minister's comment on drastic changes needed in the way teaching is carried out in our schools.
"OLD SCHOOL: Malaysia's Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad says the country's teaching methods are out of date and wants to place less emphasis on teachers and instead allow students to be taught via "discs or thumb drives" which contain materials from experts for students to learn from.", the report quotes the Prime Minister.
In my opinion this notion that technology can play the role of teachers is alarming.
The best teacher one can afford in life is not technology. It is neither disk nor thumb-drive. It is neither app nor cloud. The best teacher to learn from is, well, a teacher: a trained, educated and human teacher.
An old friend responded to my opinion, asking what I thought about " . . . the idea of a learning facilitator + technology based delivery ? In other words emphasizing the facilitative part of the role of a teacher."
I replied him that this belief in a facilitator of learning rather than a teacher of expertise has been around for a long time. It was actually part of my teacher training back in the early 1980s, in those days being used as one of several approaches in the teaching-learning process.
The issue we had to address in those days was the long time it would take for a child or an adolescent to "discover" knowledge, gain sufficient understanding, and apply themselves to real problem solving situations. And that's not yet going on to analyse, evaluate and synthesize new theories.
In my opinion, a facilitator role needs to work hand-in-hand with a coach role, i.e. the facilitator must himself have sufficient expertise to explain, demonstrate, prescribe drills, correct mistakes and to motivate the learner to achieve objectives.
In other words, the student needs to learn from an experienced person. Perhaps, this is somewhat akin to the "pair programming" that my old friend, a software engineer, talked about some years ago on extreme programming where, simply speaking, computer programmers work together in pairs with one writing the program codes and the other reviewing the code line by line.
Yesterday, while waiting to use the air pump at my neighbourhood petrol service station, I saw the driver of the car in front, a young man, setting the pump pressure to almost twice the normal pressure typically recommended for a sedan. In fact, he had virtually set it to 300 kPa (44 psi), the maximum limit for the tyres on his small car.
As he proceeded to pump up each tyre, I thought to myself, "That is MAX. The tyres are at bursting point. Set it any higher, and they may explode! "
After some hesitation, I decided to get down from my car and alert him about it. By then he had already inflated all four tyres on his car. I told him that it was very dangerous for him to do what he was doing. He could get hurt, even killed if the tyres explode while driving. I urged him to set the tyres to a lower pressure.
He said it was the first time he pumped a car tyre and he didn't know the correct pressure to set. Obviously he didn't even know that the recommended tyre pressure is displayed on the door frame plate inside the driver side door.
Not only that, he didn't know how to read the door frame plate. I had to do it for him and tell him that the recommended pressure for his car is 230 kPa (33 psi). I also had to show him how to set the pump down to 230 kPa and how the pump, a new model, would automatically release excess pressure from the tyre by just "pumping" the tyres all over again at this lowered pressure.
I was relieved that the tyres did not burst and that no one was hurt.
Before saying good-bye, I found out that he is an undergraduate in the university nearby . . .a university student who was completely ignorant about tyre safety.
The young man did not know the safe tyre pressure for his car. He did not know how to find that out. And he did not know about the dangers of driving around with super inflated tyres.
This person needed someone knowledgeable and experienced who could talk to him about the dangers of inflating tyres to their maximum limit. He needed someone to show him how to find out the recommended tyre pressures, to reduce the extreme pressure that had already built up in all four wheels
He needed a teacher.
Whether you call facilitator, guide, coach or mentor, a teacher by any other name must still teach. Without a teacher, the notion of students learning from technology will not work.
"OLD SCHOOL: Malaysia's Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad says the country's teaching methods are out of date and wants to place less emphasis on teachers and instead allow students to be taught via "discs or thumb drives" which contain materials from experts for students to learn from.", the report quotes the Prime Minister.
In my opinion this notion that technology can play the role of teachers is alarming.
The best teacher one can afford in life is not technology. It is neither disk nor thumb-drive. It is neither app nor cloud. The best teacher to learn from is, well, a teacher: a trained, educated and human teacher.
An old friend responded to my opinion, asking what I thought about " . . . the idea of a learning facilitator + technology based delivery ? In other words emphasizing the facilitative part of the role of a teacher."
I replied him that this belief in a facilitator of learning rather than a teacher of expertise has been around for a long time. It was actually part of my teacher training back in the early 1980s, in those days being used as one of several approaches in the teaching-learning process.
The issue we had to address in those days was the long time it would take for a child or an adolescent to "discover" knowledge, gain sufficient understanding, and apply themselves to real problem solving situations. And that's not yet going on to analyse, evaluate and synthesize new theories.
In my opinion, a facilitator role needs to work hand-in-hand with a coach role, i.e. the facilitator must himself have sufficient expertise to explain, demonstrate, prescribe drills, correct mistakes and to motivate the learner to achieve objectives.
In other words, the student needs to learn from an experienced person. Perhaps, this is somewhat akin to the "pair programming" that my old friend, a software engineer, talked about some years ago on extreme programming where, simply speaking, computer programmers work together in pairs with one writing the program codes and the other reviewing the code line by line.
Yesterday, while waiting to use the air pump at my neighbourhood petrol service station, I saw the driver of the car in front, a young man, setting the pump pressure to almost twice the normal pressure typically recommended for a sedan. In fact, he had virtually set it to 300 kPa (44 psi), the maximum limit for the tyres on his small car.
As he proceeded to pump up each tyre, I thought to myself, "That is MAX. The tyres are at bursting point. Set it any higher, and they may explode! "
After some hesitation, I decided to get down from my car and alert him about it. By then he had already inflated all four tyres on his car. I told him that it was very dangerous for him to do what he was doing. He could get hurt, even killed if the tyres explode while driving. I urged him to set the tyres to a lower pressure.
He said it was the first time he pumped a car tyre and he didn't know the correct pressure to set. Obviously he didn't even know that the recommended tyre pressure is displayed on the door frame plate inside the driver side door.
Not only that, he didn't know how to read the door frame plate. I had to do it for him and tell him that the recommended pressure for his car is 230 kPa (33 psi). I also had to show him how to set the pump down to 230 kPa and how the pump, a new model, would automatically release excess pressure from the tyre by just "pumping" the tyres all over again at this lowered pressure.
I was relieved that the tyres did not burst and that no one was hurt.
Before saying good-bye, I found out that he is an undergraduate in the university nearby . . .a university student who was completely ignorant about tyre safety.
The young man did not know the safe tyre pressure for his car. He did not know how to find that out. And he did not know about the dangers of driving around with super inflated tyres.
This person needed someone knowledgeable and experienced who could talk to him about the dangers of inflating tyres to their maximum limit. He needed someone to show him how to find out the recommended tyre pressures, to reduce the extreme pressure that had already built up in all four wheels
He needed a teacher.
Whether you call facilitator, guide, coach or mentor, a teacher by any other name must still teach. Without a teacher, the notion of students learning from technology will not work.
Saturday, May 12, 2018
No more mujik No more koin
A short poem dedicated to my two-year old grandson whom I visited about ten days ago, fondly recalling a little make-believe game of flying a plane, that he played with me in the bedroom.
The little boy has an endearing way of mispronouncing words. Music becomes mujik. Coins becomes koin. And aeroplane becomes, quite correctly, airplane. At the end of each short flight, he would invariably utter the same words:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane.
The imaginary plane that he commanded
Had finished its flight for the day.
He got out of the craft that had just landed,
Waving his upturned palms he'd say:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
The little boy has an endearing way of mispronouncing words. Music becomes mujik. Coins becomes koin. And aeroplane becomes, quite correctly, airplane. At the end of each short flight, he would invariably utter the same words:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane.
The imaginary plane that he commanded
Had finished its flight for the day.
He got out of the craft that had just landed,
Waving his upturned palms he'd say:
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
He hopped a little hop on the bouncy mattress
And got down on to the floor
But hardly had he taken any rest,
When he would return for more
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
A step onto the mattress he'd take
To climb into his plane
And "whooo" a whirring sound he'd make
As his flight took off again
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
And off and on the plane he'd get
Over and over again
Until tiredness and boredom beset
He'd fly his fantasy plane.
Nomore mujik, nomore koin
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Go down
Bye-bye airplane
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Congratulations Malaysia
This morning I woke up to news that the evil administration of Barisan Nasional over our country has come to an end. For the first time in history, a new ruling party forms the next government of Malaysia.
After putting voting day in the middle of the week,
After getting candidates unjustly disqualified on nominations day,
After sending out postal ballot papers very late,
After allowing impostors to vote using fake identity cards,
After slowing down the voting at polling centres,
After turning away, at 5 o'clock, many voters who have waited in queue for hours,
After chasing away an uncle who arrived in bermuda shorts,
After all the blatant gerrymandering and extreme malapportionment,
And a host of other cunning plans and trickery,
The evil one has lost.
The people of Malaysia have won.
Congratulations Malaysia!
After putting voting day in the middle of the week,
After getting candidates unjustly disqualified on nominations day,
After sending out postal ballot papers very late,
After allowing impostors to vote using fake identity cards,
After slowing down the voting at polling centres,
After turning away, at 5 o'clock, many voters who have waited in queue for hours,
After chasing away an uncle who arrived in bermuda shorts,
After all the blatant gerrymandering and extreme malapportionment,
And a host of other cunning plans and trickery,
The evil one has lost.
The people of Malaysia have won.
Congratulations Malaysia!
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Tonight, tonight is just the night
Tonight tonight is just the night,
I've never seen the moon so bright.
Oh don't you see, Jacqueline,
Our hearts are joined above,
'Cause it's the right time for love.
I've never seen the moon so bright.
Oh don't you see, Jacqueline,
Our hearts are joined above,
'Cause it's the right time for love.
Hello, please answer me, my dear,
Oh, won't you speak into my ear,
A word of love, Jacqueline,
And melt my heart of stone,
'Cause I'm here, waiting alone.
Oh, won't you speak into my ear,
A word of love, Jacqueline,
And melt my heart of stone,
'Cause I'm here, waiting alone.
Chorus:
Jacqueline, Jacqueline my love!
Don't you know? I have loved you so.
Please give to me the thrill of your love!
Make my loneliness go . . .
Jacqueline, Jacqueline my love!
Don't you know? I have loved you so.
Please give to me the thrill of your love!
Make my loneliness go . . .
Jacqueline, lyrics by Harold Huang. 09May2018
************************
As we wait anxiously for the results of our 14th General Elections, I am reminded of this song, "Jacqueline". I'd like to think of Jacqueline as the results we're anxiously waiting for, that we long to see very soon.
As we wait anxiously for the results of our 14th General Elections, I am reminded of this song, "Jacqueline". I'd like to think of Jacqueline as the results we're anxiously waiting for, that we long to see very soon.
The above is my version of "Jacqueline", an oldie popularised by Rocky Teoh in 1966-67, based on the Chinese classic Ye Lai Xiang.
I have rewritten a major portion of the lyrics to bring in some rhyme and rhythm to the song.
(See link in the comments below for Rocky's original lyrics and video.)
****************************
These are the original lyrics sung by Rocky Teoh in 1967.
JACQUELINE
Tonight, tonight is just the night,
While the moon is shining so bright.
We shouldn't miss such a night,
Like this, my dear Jacqueline,
'Cause it's the right time for love.
Hello, hello, my dear,
I'm trying to call you on the phone
Because I'm all so alone,
Counting the stars above.
Won't you please listen to me?
Chorus:
Jacqueline, Jacqueline my love
Don't you know? I love you most of all
Well surrender now, be mine tonight,
Give the thrill of your love
https://youtu.be/5KHggkJb1KY
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