Why Can't I Be an Astronaut?

by Haji Juliahi Haji Suut as reproduced by Amde Sidik in Kadayan Journal (http://kadayanjournal.com/?p=1997)
Translated to English by CY the Gemini (http://karljam.blogspot.com)

Please refer to the translator's note at the end of the post.

I have a story to tell. Maybe I should write in the Proper Malay to allow our countrymen to preserve their dignity and ego. In the very least, they can be proud that our mother tongue has not lost out.

Last time when I was schooling at Tanjung Lobang College from Form 1 (in 1984) to Form 5, there were several discrepancies in the teaching-learning process. It was an alien atmosphere. I could remember the look of burden of my teachers' faces as they taught. Oftentimes they faltered for words, and struggled to find the next sentence. It was a pitiful state of affairs.

I can recall one Science teacher gasping for breath as he tried to deliver the lesson in his best Malay. We the students waited patiently until the sentence was complete, oftentimes interjecting wherever we could help. He was not the only teacher lost in a language transition. The same thing happened during Maths. In short we the students became the teachers.

At times the situations were totally beyond salvation. For example:

“Segi tiga sudut menentang segi lurus darjah tak sama.”
(Literal translation: "The alternating angles of a right-angled triangle are not equal.")

“Bila inertia habis dalam angin jatuhkan jasad kepada bawah.”
(Literal translation: "As there is no inertia in air, a body would drop.")

“Graviti membawakan jatuh epal dari bumi.”
(Literal translation: "Gravity causes an apple to fall to the ground.")

Thus we students were dumbfounded.

My teachers' pronunciation, sentence structure and tone of speech in the Malay language left much to be wanted. As a result, the presentation of their lessons suffered.

It is not an overstatement to state that the students of Tanjung Lobang College of my time relied heavily on text books for knowledge, as opposed to class lessons. The language of instruction was a severe hindrance to transference of knowledge. A lecture of 40 minutes could only provide 10 minutes of equivalent knowledge.

We know that if the mold is faulty, the result is defective. However it is not fair to blame the teachers or students of Tanjung Lobang College (1984-1988). It was more likely that the recipes for the mold was insufficiently prepared in the first place.

Enough with Proper Malay; I shall continue this article in the popular Malay.

It must be noted that the Tanjong Lobang College of my time is not without stature. It was a boarding school consisted of high achievers from all over Sarawak. Around 50 students were selected to launch the elite program. I was among those young pioneers, those so-called "selected students". We were the bright students carrying the national hope to become future engineers, doctors, scientists, or even better, astronauts.

It must be stated also that the teachers entrusted onto these genius classes at that time were not selected on a whim. They were professional teachers with excellent teaching records, degrees from overseas universities and were qualified to teach until Form 6 if they wanted to. They were, themselves, genius teachers.

To make a long story short, we genius students didn't become much of geniuses. Of course, some became engineers and doctors after our schooling days. They were all not handsome. The handsome ones like yours truly only managed Grade 2 in SPM and until now I can't build my own rocket. Most of us became housewives and contractors. One or two became bank clerks and office boys.

So what went wrong with the geniuses of Class 1984? Why can't I be an astronaut?

If we were to say that the teachers were not good tutors, that would be unfair. If we were to say the students were too smart to be taught, that is even more ridiculous. So what went wrong?

Perhaps the most likely culprit was the language of instruction. When chemical reactions taught in the classroom were spelt differently from those found in the guide book and library references, it is normal to become a bit disoriented. And why not? To have to refer to bilingual dictionaries of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka was a waste of energy and time. And when you needed to do so on a repetitive basis, cross-referencing became a chore.

Before moving on to other national issues, I wish to convey my regards to all the genius teachers of Tanjung Lobang College, Mdm. Yeoh Bang Keng, Mary Chiam and May Ho Leng. You have all done your best, and we know that. Thank you very much. To Anuar, Shukri, Hasimah and the others; thank you so much as well. We have tried our best.

_______________________
Translator's note: I translated this article as I could relate with the author and also to increase its accessibility to readers less proficient in the Malay language. Any discrepancies in translation are my responsibility. As I completed translating, I found the original version of the article, which is considerably different and much longer, here (http://knightadventure.blogspot.com/2008/06/english-vs-melayu.html). As such, this translation is for the article as reproduced in Kadayan Journal.

Big Jokes Don't Fly

This post, its main objective is to keep this blog alive, since I haven't been blogging much since I discovered the joys of fayshbook. Fayshbook is much more interactive -- you can write a note and tag people, forcing them to read it (hahaha), and the shy ones with nothing to say can just indicate they 'like' your status or photo or music or note or whatever else you post there. Blogs are fast becoming tainted with political stuff. Stuff that make your blood boil with intense hate for our politicians and for people of our own kind, stuff that make you forget to be thankful for the little things that go well with our lives, despite the obvious weaknesses.

Everyone has problems, everyone has troubles. But the ones with the most problems and troubles look beyond them and smile. While we of many blessings, nitpick at the one or two loose threads on our fine shirts.

I still remember when blogging started as a trend in Malaysia, we were all maintaining our little private secret online diaries, just me myself I and whoever else cared to read -- words from our mind, we vent here when no one else listened. For paper is silent, paper is kind and paper is gentle. Paper does not talk back, paper does not interrupt you mid-sentence. And blog was the new kind of paper.

When I think back of my academic life, I have always wanted to prove a point or another, sometime or the other. For example, when I went into university, I wanted to prove it was all a big joke, this education system. This system that says you have to go through a processing factory for a few years, exit a somewhat repackaged, 'safe' product and then only you can start 'living'. And that was the mindset that I harboured throughout the first year of university. That this is all a joke. I felt like an arts student studying science, for my mind was free and unbounded by the limitation of words and man-made boundary, but I soon began to love what I gradually began to understand and find simple...

Then I soon encountered snobbish seniors and arrogant Dean Listers, and I vowed to achieve the Dean's List myself in order to prove it is nothing to be proud of. And soon enough, I achieved it. And then I graduated. The joke was complete. Then in the final year of study, my lecturer said it's hard to get accepted for oversea study. I vowed to prove him wrong on this point; I haven't succeeded.

But looking back now I wonder, I really wonder -- why has my life been about proving people wrong? And when has this what started as a big joke, now has become a love of my life, a long-term relationship?

Today's thoughts, transcribed

It's like an infusion of meaning into an empty cause, one which has been explored and abandoned many decades ago, one which was unfortunately assigned to me. It's heartening to realize how much your work is appreciated, when, after spending so much time with the trees, you start to forget the names of the forests.

It's the birds of endless creatures fluttering about their wingless parades, preying on the helpless with eyes that see through the times of change that flow, and blowing with the seasons they watch. And wait. And wait.

The limitations of words in transcribing raw feelings and emotions, I have recorded prior. It's imperative to recognize this fact. And those that berate language to its vast unimportance seek to shelf a part of their mouths in silence, and shame on them if their hearts never saw the light of day, of a blossoming flower in pure poetry lightens the lips of a fair maiden composed.

It's late. But time is relative, as not far away a world is awake. Not so long from now the cycle returns all that are up to down, and all that are down to up. It's a clambering for order in a world where two opposites make up the entity, where disorder rules the mind. And this consciousness, it's alive within us.

"Mermen on the shore"

Please enjoy my latest composition: (you might prefer to download it -- Right click and Save Link As...)

bright eyed, cannon ball you
glanced into my mind and
pulled some strings of
words constructed#

where sailors roam the land
and pretty maidens on the sea
they wait for mermen on the shore
like you and me

* and i feel i wanna know the end
taking shortcuts thru a field of dreams
all the MEMories i've GOT oh i would give it in exchange
for a glimpse of who I'm gonna be

strange light pantomime
along the 22nd street@
at nights like these you feel at home
they stole my heart but
i don't mind
i've got plenty more to give
but to whom and when
the answer lies

Some notes:
@ 22 refers to a popular Elton John song with the line "22nd row".
# This verse is loosely adapted from an earlier song, Song-Giver.

I've spent a lot of time making this song, so please leave a comment :)

Words of the Wise

These words I foresee will come in handy for me in the future. I post them here so I can refer to them when the time comes:

"I have dealt with difficult children a number of times - one thing i do know is, all children or teenagers, no matter how bad you think they are, usually eventually responds [sic] to patience, kindness & sincerity. Don't shout, don't dig it in & make the child feel worse than he/she is already feeling. Take a breather, try another approach. But never ever hit a child. Hitting a child is similar to teaching the kid, violence is okay. He will carry this in him for the rest of his life."

- Online commentator "lynn"

"... education requires nothing more than just a little love,encouragement and the sincerity that comes from compassion for the job."

- Online commentator "imanj"

From Malaysia Today, http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/20474/84/

Wax On, Wax Off

On NTV7's Breakfast Show this (Friday) morning, Zaini and Naz were discussing PM Najib's new Cabinet line-up. After they were done they invited people to call in and talk to them. It always gets interesting at this point (I watch this show every morning; well, partially anyways, before I go to work).

The first caller described the new line-up as "new wax on an old car". Zaini and Naz's earpieces must have been burning with instructions from the Producer, for they immediately bolted straight up and started talking very quickly about how we should give the new ministers a chance to prove themselves. Naz asked the caller, "Which is more important: the external appearance of the car, or that the old car is running?" The cornered caller replied, "Of course that the old car is running".

Smiling, Naz repeated his point that the new ministers should be given a chance. The caller relented and ended the call.

They then took on the next caller, a frequent caller by the name of Haji Othman, whose first comment after the pleasantries was: "You know, it's like old wine in a new bottle".

You should have seen the look on Zaini's face!

..........................................*...........................*........................... *

On a related note, I personally prefer the anchor combination of Will and Naz, though it's very rare that both of these guys are together. Will Quah is knowledgeable and outspoken, Naz is entertaining and refreshing, whereas Zaini Ahmad likes to interrupt his co-author at every end of the sentence too much and Joanne tends to be too safe/passive (sorry!).

NTV7 if you're reading this, please consider increasing the frequency of a Will-Naz combination, thank you!

Chicken and Duck

CY [3:03 PM]:
..........what's the difference bet. CMOS and VDMOS?
Colleague_A [3:03 PM]:
.......... CMOS included NMOS and PMOS
.......... VDMOS is vertical DMOS
.......... i dun know how to answer ur Q
.......... do i answer ur Q correctly ?
CY [3:05 PM]:
.......... can we say CMOS and VDMOS are the same?
Colleague_A [3:06 PM]:
.......... definitely NO
.......... it's chicken and duck
CY [3:07 PM]:
.......... which one is the chicken?
.......... CMOS = chicken MOS
.......... VDMOS = vertical duck MOS
.......... ok, got it
Colleague_A [3:08 PM]:
.......... sure .....

Staged Fight

I got onto the stage. Groggy from lack of sleep, a necessity from an early morning wake for need of travel, with one too many cups of tea to prop me awake. Unprepared, unrehearsed and unaffected.

The only words I had in my head over and over were my first ones. Short, brief sentences. Nay, phrases. Short phrases attract attention.

As I said my lines, formerly equally forlorn and drowsy eyes were no more and now on me.

Soon I realized that I'd forgotten to smile. I was scaring the audience. I instantly smiled and introduced myself, "Let me introduce myself. I'm..." and see one lady in the audience instantly relaxing in relief. Good.

When you speak in front of a crowd, you wield a mighty power over the audience. You can make them smile, cry and/or nod, perhaps all at the same time, with mere simple lines and gestures. Many people don't realize this power, and many of them don't use it.

By not seriously rehearsing, I was as usual ad-libbing my lines. And yes, I fumbled. Once, I lost my train of thought in the middle of the sentence: I merely gestured with both hands in a vertical circular motion saying, "Sorry, lost for words" and started again. Simple.

On hindsight, by not practising (reading sentences from your powerpoint slides is a serious crime!), I effectively was different and refreshing.

And that was all that was really needed.