On A Two-Week Leave
I am taking a two-week leave starting tomorrow to go back to my kampung in Sabah. Will be offline most of the time during the period.
In the meantime, enjoy the good old blues by John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchel. These guys are awesome, don’t you think so?
Oh, What The Heck… Imagine No More For It Will Be Pointless
Close your eyes and imagine, for a while, that dinosaurs are still roaming our jungles and plains, with T-Rex thundering past, hunting smaller dinosaurs and occasionally human, and Brontosaurus chomping tree leaves by the riverbanks and giant birds swooping down from mountains afar.
What the heck, open your eyes. Imagine no more for it would be pointless.
Those majestic beasts have long gone and no matter how hard you imagine how it was like to be living among them, the experience can never be the same as the real thing.
And the real thing is already gone for several million years. You know that. You know too that their extinction at that time had nothing to do with us human.
Thankfully, though, unlike our future generations a century down the road, we do not have to imagine how it is like to be seeing the Orang Utans swinging by the tree, the proboscis plotting monkey business above tree tops, Sumatran rhinos basking in the sun even as their bodies half-submerge in water, polar bears roaming the arctic, a family of gorillas waking up in the mist, majestic birds, though not as huge as their ancient progenitors, flying overhead amid towering trees…
Imagine no more. The real thing, or the great remain of the real thing, is still here. We can still touch them, see them, take their photos and be awed by their existence amid our own.
But they too will soon extinct and this time, the culprit will be none other than us, human.
Thankfully, there is still a window of opportunity for all good men and women among us to delay or even reverse the extinction. Those good men and women could very well be you and me.
New York Times’ 100 Notable Books Of 2008
If you like books or just fancy reading one once in a while, then maybe you can take a look at one of these books which made it to the list of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2008.
One of the books in the list, titled “Atmospheric Disturbances” by Rivka Galchen, tells the story of a man who believes that his young Argentine wife has been replaced by a double.
The book has all the promise of being witty and smart. Take for instance the man at the centre of the story, Leo Libenstein, who is a psychiatrist.
He claims that one day in December, a woman, looking exactly like his wife — wearing “the same baby blue coat with jumbo charcoal buttons, same tucking behind ears of dyed corn silk blond hair” — walks into his door.
Then there is another book in the list, titled “The Good Thief” by Hannah Tinti, which also promises an intriguing story.
“The Good Thief”, set in mid-19th century New England, tells the story of a con man trying to teach an orphan how to lie. He is not a good liar, the orphan I mean, but he is forced to tell one to save his life… and then the unexpected truth presents itself.
The premise behind these two books looks fresh and compelling that I might just grab both the next time I drop by Kinokuniya.
The Tide Is Turning Back
I was listening to Roger Waters’ “Tide Is Turning”, one of my all-time favourite songs, on the morning of March 9, the day I woke up to a changed Malaysia.
I used to think the world was flat, the song says. “Rarely threw my hat into the crowd.” It goes on, “I felt I had used up my quota of yearning.”
It culminates into a powerful finale, with a haunting choir in the background, singing repeatedly “the tide is turning.” [Click on the YouTube clip to listen to the song]
An enormous tide, some say a political tsunami, had indeed swept across the country on that fateful night. The opposition was victorious in five states — six if the Federal Territory had a state legislative assembly of its own — and the ruling coalition had lost its two-third majority.
Anyone who had not felt the sensation of the tide sweeping must have had a heart made of stone.
Now, eight months after the election, I can feel the tide is gathering strength, again. It looks like the tide is turning back and this time it is the opposition that had better watch out or risk being swept away.
Football: Malaysia is Still Burrowing Out of the Crypt
I’ve forgotten that we have a national football team. When I think of Malaysian football, all that I can recall were names like James Wong, Hassan Sani, R. Arumugam, Soh Chin Aun, Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, Zainal Abidin Hassan, Dollah Salleh…
Last year, I wrote a story about Malaysian football from the point of view of a foreigner in the person of Seamus O’Brien, whose company, World Sports Group (WSG), is behind Asia’s high profile events with millions of viewers such as the AFC Champions League, Asian Cup Championship, FIFA World Cup 2006 Asian Qualifiers and Asean Football Championship.
He said Malaysian football was salvageable and if those involved in the sport could do things correctly, in 10 years, Malaysia would be able to climb to a respectable position in world ranking.
The interview was done in August last year, a time when Malaysia was languishing at 153rd position in world ranking. Malaysia slipped further in the rank to 166th since then.
It moved up again to 161st spot last month (October 2008). Recently, however, the country regained 10 rungs and moved to 151st spot, a progress nonetheless but still, there is little to cheer about.
The Malaysian football hit the bottom in mid-90’s due to match fixing. As though hitting the lowest ebb was not enough, it went on digging deeper and deeper down the crypt.
Moving 10 rungs up the ladder is really no consolation. Malaysia is still burrowing out of the crypt and has not reach the point where it can make a real climb.
Below is the team that put Malaysian football at its height, on that memorable night in 1980 when the country beat South Korea 2-1 in the Moscow Olympics qualifier. The winning goal came from King James after a cross from the left by the speedy Hassan Sani. Malaysia had earlier scored the opener through Bakri Ibni.
Scorers — Malaysia: Bakar Ibni (12th min), James Wong (85th). South Korea: Gang-Nam Kim (58th).
MALAYSIA: A. Arumugam (GK), Jamal Nassir, Soh Chin Aun, Santokh Singh, Khalid Abdullah, Khalid Ali, Sukor Salleh (Yunus Alif), Bakri Ibni, Abdullah Ali, James Wong, Hassan Sani.
I was there — a small boy then — cheering the national team in front of a black-and-white TV. I could still remember how the goal was scored, as vividly as though the match was telecast live in high definition!
Singapore Moves A Step Closer To Legalising Euthanasia?
No, not at all, the government says. What the government — its Health Ministry, at least — is contemplating is to “broach the idea” of making changes to the Advance Medical Directive, or living will, which instructs doctors “not to artificially prolong the life of a terminally-ill patient with machines,” the Straits Times reported.
The island state’s health minister Khaw Boon Wan raised the matter last month, throwing in the question to Singaporeans, “Do we allow euthanasia or assisted dying?” amid intense discussion on the subject following the publication of letters urging the government to consider looking into the matter.
I guess that is the price to pay for having one of the highest life expectancy in the world. With fewer babies being born, and people living longer, Singapore’s population is ageing fast.
The dilemma is compounded further by the ever-increasing health care costs, making dying “legally” rather than being bed-ridden in hospital for long, seems like a logical way forward.
No prize for guessing why the sudden brouhaha over the issues in Singapore media, and the well-time reaction from the minister, who announced that the government had indeed planned to address the issue but wanted to hear more debates on the matter.
The ever-pragmatic republic is covering every front, allowing and encouraging debates before going ahead with the plan to amend the living will — or dying will if you please — legislation.
The head of Singapore’s Catholic Church, understandably, condemned euthanasia, with Archbishop Nicholas Chia describing it as “immoral” and also calling on doctors to reject the practice.
“One cannot choose death and ask to be killed. When they do this, they are not only committing the crime of suicide, but also compounding it by making another person a partner in a crime,” he said in a letter that was read out during Sunday services at the country’s 30-plus Catholic churches, the Straits Times said.
To Teach or Not to Teach Mathematics and Science in English?
This is the English version of my previous entry “Ajar atau Tidak Ajar Matematik dan Sains dalam Bahasa Inggeris?” This is a crude translation anyway; don’t blame me, I’m a product of the system.
The Berita Harian newspaper reported today that the government would decide next year whether to continue with the policy to teach Mathematics and Science in English.
According to Deputy Education Minister Datuk Razali Ismail, the ministry would make the decision after the cabinet looked into the matter, taking into consideration various aspects, including views from all parties as well as the results of the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah this year.
So far, he said, four roundtable discussions had been carried out to discuss the matter, involving officers from the Education Ministry, non-governmental organisations, leaders of corporate sector, students, teachers and leaders of the ruling as well as opposition parties.
It seems that there is already an intention to do away with the policy, which has been in place since about a decade ago. Otherwise, the roundtables would not include the issues of whether the government should scrap the policy.
If there was indeed an intention to continue with the policy, the discussions would have been confined to ways to strengthen the teaching of both subjects in English, without including the elements of scrapping the policy altogether.
I don’t care. I mean, why should I? Whether the policy is scrapped or not, it has no effect on my livelihood as any action taken by the government would only affect my school-going children.
Another thing, why should there be a fuss anyway if we are unable to master English? We, after all, would not have intentions to work with multinational companies or pursue studies abroad. We already have many local universities, don’t we?
Let others with better command of English grab the opportunities available. We don’t need those anyway. I mean, why should we bother? If we are unable to get jobs, there is no lack of opportunities in Malaysia to become robbers, extortionists, thieves, drug addicts, snatch thieves…
In any case, the world would not be troubled by our inabilities to master English. The world would not in any way handicapped, or stop revolving, just because millions of Malaysians had poor command of English.
Ajar atau Tidak Ajar Matematik dan Sains dalam Bahasa Inggeris?
[Note: The English version of this entry is available in a separate entry, here!]
Akhbar Berita Harian hari ini melaporkan bahawa kerajaan akan membuat keputusan pada tahun depan sama ada meneruskan pengajaran subjek Matematik dan Sains dalam Bahasa Inggeris.
Menurut Timbalan Menteri Pendidikan Datuk Razali Ismail, kementerian akan membuat keputusan itu selepas penelitian oleh kabinet, dengan mengambil kira pandangan semua pihak termasuk menilai keputusan Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah tahun ini.
Setakat ini, katanya, empat rundingan meja bulat sudah diadakan bagi membincangkan perkara itu membabitkan penyertaan pegawai Kementerian Pelajaran, badan bukan kerajaan, sektor korporat, pelajar, guru dan ahli politik kerajaan dan pembangkang.
Nampaknya sudah ada niat untuk membatalkan polisi yang sudahpun dilaksanakan sejak kira-kira sedekad itu. Jika tidak tentulah kajian tidak dilakukan untuk menilai sama ada kerajaan wajar meneruskan polisi itu atau sebaliknya.
Jika sememangnya ada niat untuk meneruskan polisi itu, tentulah kajian akan berkisar kepada isu bagaimana untuk memperkasakan lagi pengajaran kedua-dua subjek itu dalam Bahasa Inggeris tanpa memasukkan elemen kemungkinan untuk membatalkannya.
Saya tidak kisah. Peduli apa. Batal atau tidak, ia tidak memberi apa-apa kesan kepada periuk nasi saya kerana kelak yang akan menanggungnya ialah anak-anak saya yang sedang bersekolah.
Lagipun, buat apa ribut-ribut jika kita tidak pandai berbahasa Inggeris? Kita bukannya mahu bekerja dengan syarikat antarabangsa atau melanjutkan pelajaran ke luar negara. Di tempat sendiri kan berlambak universiti?
Biarlah orang lain yang mahir berbahasa Inggeris merebut peluang yang ada. Kita tidak perlu itu semua. Nak susah apa? Kalau tak dapat kerja, di Malaysia banyak peluang untuk menjadi perompak, pemeras ugut, pencuri, penagih, peragut…
Takkanlah pula dunia akan menjadi susah kerana kita tidak pandai berbahasa Inggeris. Dunia tidak akan cacat, atau berhenti berputar, hanya kerana jutaan manusia di Malaysia tidak mahir berbahasa Inggeris.
A New Look For “Sans Serif…” Blog
Hi there, if you are here for the first time, you wouldn’t notice the change in this blog’s appearance.
Those of you who have been here before, however, would know that this is a considerable “upgrade” from the look and feel of the previous “Sans Serif…” blog. I’ve always wanted a blog with a magazine and news theme and found this one to be of particular interest.
I’m still playing with the design, getting to know its temperament before I can tweak it further to suit the blog’s personality.
Among other things that I’ve done, was to revamp the blog’s categories by dividing them into nine main categories — aviation, business, journalism, lifestyle & hobby, maritime, offbeat, politics, science and world, with sub-categories coming along later on.
This revamp can only mean one thing — that I’m going to blog here seriously and diligently from now on.
Joe The Plumber
… and Ali the Taxi Driver, Ah Chong the Chicken Rice Seller, Gopal the Barber, Yomogun the Farmer.
If you have been following the US presidential election, you would know who Joe the Plumber is. He is, well… a plumber, who confronted Barack Obama over the Democrat candidate’s tax proposals.
Obama’s Republican rival John McCain, seized the moment in the last presidential debate on Wednesday (Thursday morning Malaysian time) and used the plumber’s exchange with Obama as a central piece of his argument against Obama’s tax policies, saying they would hurt average American businessmen like Joe the Plumber.
Joe the Plumber is rich by average Malaysian standards. Anyone who is planning to buy a plumbing company worth more than US$250,000 (RM850,000), like what Joe the Plumber was reportedly planning to do, is rich by Alis’, Gopals’, Ah Chongs’ and Yomoguns’ standards, assuming Joe the Plumber is living in Malaysia.
In Malaysia, an annual income of RM60,000 is already considered high by the standard of the average Joe, including this Joe.
Even then, with the increase in the cost of living, that amount is hardly enough for a family of four — with two school-going children, a mortgage to pay, a car loan to service and a house rent to pay — to have a decent living in cities like Kuala Lumpur.
Joe the Plumber would have been already an elite here, sitting securely up there in the economic and social strata.
Peralihan Kuasa… Lu Cakap Apa Ni?
Sebelum orang menuduh saya sebagai seorang kakitangan awam yang menulis blog dengan tajuk yang seolah-olah mempersenda pelan peralihan kuasa dalam kepimpinan negara, biarlah saya jelaskan awal-awal lagi bahawa ini bukan satu tulisan yang berbau — atau berwangi mahupun bersalutkan gula-gula — politik.
Tulisan ini sekadar mahu melahirkan rasa musykil mengenai cara penulisan sesetengah artikel, analisis atau fokus berita mengenai perkembangan politik tanahair.
Tetapi sebelum itu, biarlah saya tulis semula perenggan pertama di atas dalam bentuk ayat pasif supaya nanti maksud yang mahu saya sampaikan akan nampak jelas tanpa perlu orang menyuluhnya beberapa kali.
Jika anda membaca semula perenggan-perenggan di atas, anda tentu akan mendapati bahawa setakat ini belum ada satupun ayat pasif yang saya gunakan, termasuk dalam perenggan yang ini.
Berikut perenggan pertama yang telah ditulis semula dengan menggunakan struktur ayat pasif.
“Sebelum saya dituduh sebagai seorang kakitangan awam yang menulis blog dengan tajuk yang diliihat seolah-olah mempersenda peralihan kuasa dalam kepimpinan negara, perlu dijelaskan awal-awal lagi bahawa ini bukan satu tulisan berbau — atau berwangi mahupun sesuatu yang disaluti gula-gula — politik.”
Pada pendapat saya, perenggan pertama lebih bertenaga berbanding perenggan di atas. Anda mungkin mempunyai pandangan berbeza tetapi mungkin kita boleh sama-sama bersetuju bahawa intro berikut bukanlah sesuatu yang memuaskan.
“KUALA LUMPUR: Keputusan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi untuk tidak bertanding jawatan Presiden Umno pada pemilihan parti Mac ini dilihat sebagai satu keputusan yang tepat.”
(Nota: petikan di atas sekadar satu contoh yang saya reka sendiri dan bukan merupakan petikan daripada berita yang sebenar sama ada sebelum atau selepas disiarkan).
Entah apa sebabnya, saya sebenarnya ada masalah dengan perenggan di atas, terutamanya dengan perkataan “dilihat” — pertama, kerana sukar untuk menterjemahkannya ke dalam bahasa Inggeris, dan kedua, kerana sudah sering benar saya melihat “dilihat” dalam intro berita.
Malah terlalu sering sehingga ia tidak lagi membawa apa-apa makna.
(Bersambung… itupun jika saya tidak dilihat sebagai malas untuk meneruskan siri artikel ini)
Sementara itu jika anda berminat untuk mengetahui kenapa penulis perlu sedaya-upaya mengelak daripada bergantung kepada ayat pasif, bacalah petikan berikut, daripada buku “On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” oleh Stephen King:
To Quote Or Not To Quote… That Is No Longer The Question
The question now is, how to quote nicely. Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of a news writing style that starts a story with a quote, especially if the quote holds no special meaning other than to put a sentence in between two quotation marks. Take for instance the story, below:
KUALA LUMPUR: “I’m grateful that my son is back in time for the Hari Raya. I thank the government for the effort to release my son,” said housewife Soandso, 45, when met at her home in Kampung Pinang Sebatang, near here today.
The story above is of course fictional but the news writing style is not.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me but I hate the intro. It drives me up the wall, firstly because I’m not a big fan of a quotation intro, and secondly, the quote itself is not a first sentence material.
But I can accept the style in the name of variety, so long as the quotes are special and unique that paraphrasing them into indirect quotations would diminish the meaning or their dramatic impact.
Below are examples of well-quoted phrases, taken from a New York Times article titled “Obama Expands Economic Plans”:
“At a time when the ups and downs of the stock market have rarely been so unpredictable and dramatic,” Mr. Obama said, “we also need to give families and retirees more flexibility and security when it comes to their retirement savings.” [...]
“These are hard times, my friends,” Mr. McCain said. “Our economy is in crisis. Financial markets are collapsing. Credit is drying up. Your savings are in danger and your retirement is at risk. Jobs are disappearing.” [...]
Mr. Obama reprimanded his audience when people started jeering at the mention of Mr. McCain’s name, declaring: “We don’t need that. We just need to vote.” [...]
During his remarks here, Mr. Obama gently scolded all Americans for “living beyond their means — from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street.”
As you might already noticed, the quotes above are special that they must be presented in their raw unadulterated form that you cannot paraphrase them without diminishing their impact.
The Problem With John “Mr-Know-It-All” McCain, Is, There’s Nothing That He Doesn’t Know
The problem with Senator John McCain, the US Republican presidential candidate, is he knows. And he tells the American people that he is a person who knows everything, and therefore, needs no on-the-job training.
Would you rather have for a president a candidate who says he knows, or one who shows that he knows?
In the second US presidential debate on Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning, Malaysian time), McCain said:
“Senator Obama was wrong about Iraq and the surge. He was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia. And in his short career, he does not understand our national security challenges.
“We don’t have time for on-the-job training, my friends.”
And he mentioned “I know” at every opportunity, in phrases like:
“…sending America’s most precious asset, American blood, into harm’s way. And, again, I know those situations.”
“But the point is that I know how to handle these crises. And Sen. Obama, by saying that he would attack Pakistan, look at the context of his words. I’ll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I’ll get him. I know how to get him. I’ll get him no matter what and I know how to do it.”
“I know what it’s like in dark times. I know what it’s like to have to fight to keep one’s hope going through difficult times. I know what it’s like to rely on others for support and courage and love in tough times.
“I know what it’s like to have your comrades reach out to you and your neighbors and your fellow citizens and pick you up and put you back in the fight.”
“And I’ve been supporting those and I know how to fix this economy.”
“I know how to do that. I have a clear record of reaching across the aisle, whether it be Joe Lieberman or Russ Feingold or Ted Kennedy or others. That’s my clear record.”
“And — and I know that we can reprocess the spent nuclear fuel.”
“By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth. It was an energy bill on the floor of the Senate loaded down with goodies, billions for the oil companies, and it was sponsored by Bush and Cheney.”
And then, he has heroes too. A 72-year-old grandpa who has heroes!
“In Lebanon, I stood up to President Reagan, my hero, and said, if we send Marines in there, how can we possibly beneficially affect this situation?”
“You know, my hero is a guy named Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt used to say walk softly — talk softly, but carry a big stick. Sen. Obama likes to talk loudly.”
And he has lots of friends, apparently:
“But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we’re never going to start turning around and creating jobs..”
“I know how the do that, my friends.”
“My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?”
“My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that we are going…”
“My friends, some of this $700 billion ends up in the hands of terrorist organizations.”
“My friends, the last president to raise taxes during tough economic times was Herbert Hoover…”
“So let’s not raise anybody’s taxes, my friends…”
“We know what the problems are, my friends, and we know what the fixes are.”
“My friends, what we have to do with Medicare is have a commission…”
“Let’s look at our records, my friends, and then listen to my vision for the future of America.”
“And I introduced the first legislation, and we forced votes on it. That’s the good news, my friends.”
“By the way, my friends, I know you grow a little weary with this back-and-forth.”
“I vote against them, my friends. I vote against them.”
“That’s fundamental economics. We’ve got to drill offshore, my friends…”
“My friends, we have gone to all four corners of the Earth and shed American blood in defense…”
“We don’t have time for on-the-job training, my friends.”
“Well, let me just follow up, my friends. If we had done what Sen. Obama wanted done in Iraq…”
“There was a lot at stake there, my friends. And I can tell you right now that Sen. Obama would have brought our troops home in defeat.”
“I’ll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I’ll get him.”
And then, came the cruncher when he referred to Barack Obama as “that one”:
You know who voted for it? You might never know. That one. You know who voted against it? Me.
Way to go, Mr Know It All. You know I don’t mean it. All the quotes are from a CNN transcript of the second presidential debate.
Macro Photography Blog
My photography blog has been attracting quite a decent traffic of late. This is close-up photo of a winged carpenter ant is one of the latest entries on that blog.
One of these days I may let you know the URL of the photoblog. Nothing fancy there, just casual photo-taking using a simple point-and-shoot camera.
So, Anwar Will Sent Letter To Agong…
One of the things I dread most is making glaring grammatical error, like the one in the title above, and not realising it until after the article is “live” for already several hours online, and would have been read — and laughed at — by people around the world.
What makes the error painful is the fact that the error is so basic that even a fifth grader could have spotted it at once.
And the fact that the error appears in the headline itself and not buried in the 3,000,000th paragraph — and therefore less likely to be noticed — makes it more tormenting to the soul. How could a grown up man make such an error?
How could I make such a mistake as though I have no inkling whatsoever about the basic English grammar?
Note to self: When re-reading an edited copy to check for error, never ever see words in isolation. Always see words in relations to other words in a sentence.
And another thing, and this is important, never ever rely on the peripheral vision — or see words in passing — when checking for errors because Anwar will sent a letter if you trust the peripheral vision too much.
