Language or Mindset?

There has been much debate about teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. The Ministry of Education has been contemplating whether to revert back the teaching to Malay (for National schools) and the respective mother tongue (for Chinese and Tamil schools) or continue to use English as the medium of instruction for these two subjects.

The Year Six examination (UPSR) 2008 is the first cohort of students who were taught Science and Mathematics since their first year of formal schooling and their performance in this major examination will determine the fate of the entire Malaysian education system. This morning, Director-General of Education has finally announced the long-awaited results.

I wish to share two of my observations about this issue.

Firstly, it is rather surprising that the government will want to evaluate and make a decision with just one cohort of students. Statistically, isn't this a little too small a sample for evaluation? Although the policy had been implemented for six years, nonetheless, one needs to remember that education policy is always a long-term project and the effect might take years to be fully observable. Because of this, I recalled in one of the philosophy of education discourses that politicians should never get involve in education policy-making as they will usually not able to survive their "short" political lifespan in order to see the effects take place, thus resulting in many short-term and inefficient policies being made for the sake of personal legacy. I really think that this policy might takes another five to ten years before the effect is fully comprehensible. After all, it took about two generations of Malaysians to fully see the devastating effect of changing the language focus from English to Malay in the late 1960s.

Secondly, another startling observation is the students' preferred language used in the UPSR examination. If I understand correctly, the examination questions are bi-lingual (either English-Malay, English-Chinese or English-Tamil depending of the type of schools). The contrasting percentages have an interesting story to tell. Quoting from The Star newspaper (December 16, 2008), in Tamil schools, 62.76% of students answered in English for Science and 89.11% for Mathematics, while in Chinese schools, only 2.86% answered in English for Science and 1.29% for Mathematics. There were no statistics reported for the National schools (or the students might not have the bi-lingual option).

The interesting story here is why such a low percentage of students in Chinese schools used English in answering their Science and Mathematics papers as compared to the Indians. To me, these statistics point towards a more serious problem, which is what has been taking place in the schools for the past six years. Such a low percentage of usage in English language in Chinese schools could be due to the reluctant of teachers and educators in seriously implementing the policy and thus the students are not fully expose to the English language in learning Science and Mathematics.

Therefore, the evaluation at this point of time with this one cohort is not the effectiveness of learning, but rather, the effectiveness in implementing the policy. With the biggest critics of the policy coming from the Chinese communities, the startling statistics truly reaffirmed that much of the debate is not about the medium of instruction but rather the mindset.

This post is also available in The Malaysian Education Debate

What's the BB Object?

"The advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness." This is the original BB Object designed by the founder, Sir William Alexander Smith in 1883 (read First for Boys by McFarlan).

Ten years later, in 1893, the word "Obedience" was added into the BB Object. This is also the version of BB Object that I was taught in 1994 when I joined the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia.
"The advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian Manliness."

Several years later (exact year not sure), the BB Object in the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia became:
"The advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Members and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true Christian Character."

This change from "Boys" to "Members" was due to the admission of girls into the Brigade. Although in my opinion, it would be more meaningful to have "Boys and Girls" instead of "Members", nevertheless, I came to accept that this will be the BB Object that I have to pass it down to the next generation of members.

Just a few days ago, I was shocked to know that there is a suggestion to further change the BB Object of the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia more drastically that I could ever thought of and it's something like:
"The object shall be pursued by the development of the upmost potential of members in a holistic manner; socially, physically, intellectually and spiritually and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends towards a true noble Character."

Firstly, I cannot but felt pity for all the new members who will be joining the Boys' Brigade in the future that they have to memorise a much longer BB Object, not yet taking into account the understanding and appreciation of the content. Even with the current and shorter version, I have encountered so much difficulties in helping new recruits to memorise the BB Object correctly.

Secondly, on the technicality, the BB Object is the mission statement of the Brigade. It clearly states the objective and goal that the Brigade envisioned to impact upon boys (and later including girls). However, it would be rather weird to also include the means of achieving the objective in the mission statement. Why would the BB Object need to specifically include socially, physically, intellectually and spiritually; and isn't holistic sufficiently illustrate all these aspects?

Thirdly and the most important, where is the Christian Manliness or Christian Character that the Brigade envisioned upon for the past 125 years? This has been the highest focus of the Brigade that is to train boys according to the Christian principles (and not converting them to become Christian. To me, the decision to become a Christian is a personal decision and the Brigade only trained according to the Christian-based principles).

Is noble the same as Christian?

I cannot helped but felt disappointed. The Boys' Brigade in Malaysia has finally taken a reversal route to follow the Boys Scout. From history, we know that Boys Scout is a movement that originated from the Boys' Brigade, minus the religious value. Therefore, the act of removing the "Christian" value in the mission statement of the Boys' Brigade in Malaysia is very much adopting the principles of Boys Scout. Isn't that a move backward?

More importantly, by replacing Christian with noble, does this change signaled a shift in the philosophy of training in the Boys' Brigade. If nothing else but the wording of the BB Object changed, then how are the members going to reconcile the Christian-based training imparted upon them with the understanding of that being a noble-based training? It's like adopting one training style and yet conducting another training style.

Being a Christian, we pronounced our faith openly. We can't be ashamed of what we believe and yet not dare not publicly acknowledged it. Isn't that what Jesus reminded us in the Bible that if we are ashamed of acknowledging Him, He will also be ashamed of acknowledging us in front of the Father?

The biggest question of all is whether the change from "Christian" to "noble" as the ultimate aim of the BB Object, is after all an act of wanting to be seen less "religious" so as to attract more Boys and Girls to join the Boys' Brigade or merely heading for a different direction in the philosophy of training the next generation of Boys and Girls in Malaysia?

Brain Gain vs "Brain Tapping"

Brain Drain is a common phenomenon where the precious resource of human capital flows from a developing to a developed economy. Brain Gain is the opposite phenomenon where the human capital return to the source economy.

After reading a statement about Brain Gain project in Malaysia to attract the country's academics from overseas to return, I could not help but thought of another term called "Brain Tapping" that might benefit the developing countries and the "resource" more than the actual "brain gain".

Malaysian universities, especially the public institutions, had been urged to recruit world-class academics to boost the ranking and reputation. Millions had been spent to invite world-renounced "superstar academics" on a visiting status. UM and UKM had already embarked on such projects and received tremendous criticisms about it. Although the ranking did increase, but the crucial question is how did the academia in Malaysia benefit from it.

Now, the Minister has urged the public higher education institutions to recruit Malaysian academics abroad that might have been retrenched due to the economic recession. I actually wonder how many Malaysian academics might had been affected.

On a practical note, if the country is serious to improve the quality of research and university, the utmost move is to recognise the "brain" that has drained out. The country can benefit not only from gaining them back to serve, nevertheless, in such a globalised and high-technological age, tapping on these brains can be more cost effective and yield greater benefit.

Instead of attracting one or two to return with huge monetary attraction, it would be more economical to establish network with as many as possible Malaysian academics outside the country. In many universities, particular those in the United States, academics are only paid 9 months a year by the university and are suppose to source the remaining three months of their salary via research funding. Therefore, if the country is sincere in wanting to tap on these Malaysian "brains", the most practical way is to provide funding opportunities for these "brains" to collaborate with the local "brains" in long-term research or at least provide joint-supervision for research students in Malaysia.

This is much more economical as the cost is much lower and at the same time, allow these "brains" abroad to continue serving Malaysia and enhance their career development overseas. Adding to the economical benefit, option such as this is also more attractive for academics to adjust and understand about the working/research culture in Malaysia before seriously thinking of moving back. After all, the fear of not being to adapt to the working/research culture in local universities is one of the most important factor for them to embark on the such a journey home. Such decision is certainly much more than a career decision.

Lastly, perhaps rethinking of "brain tapping" might be a more practical initiative on a short and medium-term to tap upon the Malaysian brains abroad and at the same time, providing the necessary avenue for Malaysian universities to benefit from such transnational exposure.

Some Thoughts about UM VC "Crisis"

Just some thoughts about the latest crisis regarding the appointment of Vice-Chancellor in the University of Malaya (UM).

1) Transparency
I would say, I don't even know who is on the search committee and how many people are there. I am, and I think the former VC, should also not be too surprise that there isn't a criteria for selection. After all, before her appointment, the only criteria mentioned was the next VC for UM is a female. There is also no clear criteria being outlined as to why she was selected in the first place, although her CV looks pretty credible, but is she the best candidate at that time?

2) Gender discrimination
Being given a 2-year contract instead of 3-year is silly. Why take the person in the first place? Because if someone is not competent for the job, why even give him or her one day to try out and here we are talking about leading the top university in the country.

If it's because the appointed candidate is a female and given a 2-year contract (and male given 3-year), as claimed, then please argue it before taking up the appointment and not after the contract is being terminated. Discrimination had already took place right at the beginning.

3) Political interference
I would think it will be a naive decision to ignore political interference at the point of accepting the VC appointment. The appointment was made by the Prime Minister, which is a political position. Therefore, to expect no interferences from the boss who is a politician, is almost impossible.

Adding to that, given the huge political baggage of UM, evidenced by the intensity of political enthusiasm of both students and staffs, it is a fact that UM never was and will never be politically neutral. Realistically, there are so many "academicians" who are there simply because of political connections and they survive purely based on such political networks without academic credentials. Simply too many to counts with fingers and even toes.

4) Academic freedom and university autonomy
The integral part of academia, but sadly, it's almost non-existence in Malaysia. I better not dwell deeper into this as these 5 words could well be a PhD topic.

Remarks:
From my brief encounter with her and gathering from students and staffs, I have to admit that the (now former) VC had tried to reform the university and was sincere in wanting the best for the university. However, I guess it's just too difficult to be fighting so many institutional, structural and political obstacles.

Philosophy

Philosophy. An important field of study. A challenging one indeed.

I have the first taste of it with KM (soon to be Dr KM) but didn't quite like it. Was adviced by several other "influential" people in my intellectual life to give it a try or even to seriously put more thoughts into it. But the most I have gone so far was to grab a couple of books and read not more than half of it.

Finally, attended an "informal" lecture with a philosopher, an educational philosopher to be exact. It was not really a lecture but more of a discourse along with some alcohol. Though the session was short and slightly more than an introductory, it has left so many questions in my mind about education. Certainly will spend more of my Tuesday evenings to explore philosophy with the group. After all, I'm here to study for a degree called the Doctor of Philosophy.

Just to share some questions as well as sort of reminder to myself:

What is education?

How to we justified someone as educated?

Why does education has to be confined within the framework of formal schooling?

Since I'm doing a Doctor of Philosophy, why is philosophy not part of my syllabus?

Why does the discourse had to be done so informally through the effort of a fellow coursemate to engaged the Professor?

Finally.....I arrived

It has been such a painful delay. It really puts my perseverance to the ultimate test. I guess God just wants to test me out and prepared me for the three years to come.

Reflecting back, to be able to finally arrive in Oxford is another big manifestation of God's miracle. I would now think that if getting an offer for doctoral studies and fellowship to finance the three years was remarkable experience of tasting God's providence, then the painful experience of bedridden for 2 weeks and being able to walk again 2 weeks after that was truly God's grace.

During the painful period of sickness, I have at times given up hope of making it this year. Much thoughts have been given to deferring the course to the following intake. However, reflecting back, it seems like the plan is still for me to do it this year and I believe this incident was truly a learning experience in testing my perseverance, which I believe should come in handy for the next three years and after.

Yes, finally I have arrived in Oxford.

Magna Charta Universitatum

My final piece of work as a Research Officer. I guess I'm going miss the excitement of preparing these fortnightly articles.

Enjoy

Magna Charta Universitatum

Tertiary Education and Publicity

Taking a glimpse of the advertisements in the newspaper and around the billboards and banners on the streets, one could surely find some tertiary education institutions publicise their institutions and the courses that they have to offer. Adding to that, road-shows by these educational institutions are also becoming a norm to attract students.

I, for one, felt that these publicity activities might have a negative effect on the institutions. Why is there a need for these institutions to publicise themselves if they are already the best in the industry? To me, some of the advertising techniques were simply begging students to pursue courses with them. Do students really want to be begged to study?

Frankly, after attending numerous education fairs and road-shows, I came to realise that the truly prestigious and respectable institutions are usually not represented. This is simply due to the fact that they are already getting those quality students, perhaps more than they could accommodate.

Going by this logic, then publicity of tertiary education should have negative effects to the institutions as it produces the signal to the consumers (students and parents) that the institution has yet to achieved a respectable status in the industry.

Just sharing some of my thoughts.

Setback to Miracle

It has been a miraculous journey since November 2007, beginning with me receiving an unconditional offer from a world-class university to pursue doctoral studies. Next came an unexpected opportunity to work in the area that I intend to pursue one month later. Who can ask for a better foundational preparation. Following that, the miracle continued with the unplanned and unanticipated offer of a fellowship, which technically I didn't apply. How could I not said this is a miracle where God has arranged everything for me.

Everything was shaping up smoothly towards my departure. Then came the setback three weeks before my scheduled departure. I was downed with leg pain, which was due to some problem in my back. I was technically bedridden for 2 weeks and this greatly jeopardise my preparation. Furthermore, I was even admitted to hospital for 2 days.

Now, although the pain has been drastically reduced, walking continue to be a painful act to do. I have postponed my depature for a week and now eagerly praying and hoping that I could walk painlessly this Sunday when I depart for this miraculous journey.

There has been thoughts in me, urging me to look forward to the challenge and excitement of the doctoral studies; yet another part of me struggled with the fear to go ahead with the journey bearing the pain in walking and venture in the unknown.

It has been a miracle so far. No doubt about it! My only prayer now is for God to grant me more faith in Him to continue the journey or seek His wisdom if the plan is for me to delay or defer the studies.

Lord, I give thanks for the miracle plan You have placed in my life. I seek Your guidance whether to continue the journey or delay it for me to fully recover. You are the God that guides as well as the God that heals. I commit into Your hands this decision and the subsequent challenges ahead. Thank you. Amen.

Harmonisation of Higher Education

Another 2-part series about harmonisation of higher education in various regions around the world as well as specifically about Southeast Asia.

Part One
Part Two

APEX University

THE JOY
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) was awarded the status of the first APEX university in Malaysia. Congratulations to USM! There were certainly a sense of joy in me as I have just received the fellowship from USM to pursue a doctoral studies in UK. After all, who is not happy to be associated with the institution that were targetted to implement the accelerated programme for excellence, which means transforming into a world-class institution of higher education.

THE DISAPPOINTMENT
However, the announcement of the APEX university also has an element of disappointment. Being an alumni of University of Malaya (UM), one cannot help but felt disappointed that the oldest and highest-ranked university in Malaysia (according to the controversial THES-QS ranking) failed to obtain the APEX status.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE RELATING BOTH INSTITUTIONS
I have studied in UM and worked briefly in UM as well as USM. What I would like to share is my personal experience of the institutions' enthusiam in grabbing people which are able to contribute.

I received an offer to pursue a doctoral programme in UK. I approach both UM and USM for fellowship support. Being an alumni of UM, my initial priority was to apply for fellowship and thereafter, serve the institution upon the completion of the doctoral studies. However, after approaching many mid-level academic leaders in the university, I just could not submit the application for the fellowship, as I was kicked all around here and there. Finally, through someone in the administration, I managed to get the application directly to the Vice Chancellor. I have to admit, the Vice Chancellor was very supportive and forthcoming. However, even with the strong support of the Vice Chancellor, I was only called for an interview two months after submitting the application to the VC. (By that time, USM has already offered me the provisional offer for the fellowship).

Concurrently, as I was working temporary in USM, the university also came to know about the doctoral offer, and my director in particular, was very enthusiatic to help me secure a fellowship with the university. Due to the multi-disciplinary area that I will be approaching, schools in USM were not keen to offer the fellowship. However, when the application was appealed to the Deputy Vice Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor, the application was approved the following day. How could I not whole-heartily accept such a great offer from people who were so sincere in wanting me to serve the university and contribute in the future.

Although this is just a mere case of offering fellowship, this does reflect the attitude and culture of the institutions in training and retaining people who could contribute. This is an important step towards being a world-class institution. After all, my doctoral offer is from the world's oldest English speaking university.

P/s: I take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation for individuals who have supported my application tremendously in both USM and UM. Thank you.

Ways to be World Class

In awaiting the announcement by the Prime Minister of Malaysia this afternoon regarding the selection of the university to be placed under the Accelerated Programme for Excellence (APEX), let us ponder upon some of the pointers highlighted by the eminent Asian scholar, Professor Wang Gungwu, about world-class universities at a recent international conference.

"World-class universities need to be consistent in recognising talents and reward them accordingly"

I interpret this statement that transparency and meritocracy being the core values in developing universities to be world-class. This means that evaluation of talents will have no bearing on religion, gender, race, ethnicity, family background or political leaning; but solely on the ability of the individual.

"Sweat and Passion"

To be the best, sweat and passion are the necessities. In my intepretation, passion initiates the drive and motivation in wanting to achieve the objective. In the process of working hard to strive for the objective, sweat is the immediate sign reflecting much efforts had been put into the task. Therefore, sweat and passion are essential items to be the best.

"Modernity do not threaten culture or tradition, but is enriching"

Prof. Wang was talking about modernity of Asian universities. People tend to respond that modernity is a threat to culture or tradition. However, modernity can also be an enriching experience for universities, without compromising the culture and tradition, if great care were given to balance the act. Therefore, universities in aspiring to be world-class need to balance modernity and the preservation of culture and tradition, to provide a wholesome educational experiences for the graduates.

Perhaps, as Malaysians await the announcement for the APEX university, it is also interesting to ponder and reflect about the characteristics of what it takes for higher education institutions in the country to become truly world-class universities, instead of merely taking the various world rankings as the sole indication of success.

Dialogue vs Debate

Prof. Dr. Hans van Ginkel, a renowned academia leader, spoke briefly about the differences of debate and dialogue in one of the conference that I attended recently.

In debate, we argue to win and we have to speak to be victorious.

In dialogue, it is the discourse of understanding and listening.

For a dialogue to take place, the following elements must be present:

• knowledge
• respect
• understanding
• unity in diversity
• inclusiveness

The interesting comment that Prof. van Ginkel made was universities were good in training students for debate, not dialogue. I strongly agree with this statement because university students were taught to present their viewpoint and defend the criticisms that come along the way.

Therefore, perhaps a shift in mindset is much needed, if our society wants to engage in dialogue, as most of the participants in these dialogues are trained to debate and not dialogue.

Global University Model

Several Malaysian universities are vying for the prestigious APEX University Status. I have recently written a series of articles about Global University Model by first looking at the characteristics of a world-class university and secondly to look at the performance of universities in the Asia Pacific.

I further discussed the case of Singapore and Hong Kong in the third part as well as China and Japan in the following section of the series. The concluding part of the series seek to explore how Malaysia should approach world-class status with the characteristics discussed.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

Appreciate comment and opinion.

Sixteen Years of Distorted Gender Equality

Sixteen years had past since girls were first accepted into the family of Boys' Brigade. The initial idea of starting the Girls' Wing was a noble idea of optimising the limited resources of churches that could not afford to have both Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade concurrently and yet not depriving girls from receiving the opportunity to be trained physically, mentally, socially and educationally through the twin pillar of discipline and Christian Education.

I have the privilege of listening directly from the person who initiated the proposal as to why Boys' Brigade needed to have Girls' Wing. I agree that circumstances at that time (early 1990s) pointed towards the need of Girls' Wing. Sadly after sixteen years, the following problems seem to have outweighs the benefits.

Identity and Uniform Crisis
From early-1990s till late-1990s, girls in the Girls' Wing were wearing knee-length skirt (or rather pants plaited with skirt). The fairer gender do not wear marching boots but only black shoes; with the rest of the uniform remains the same.

However, since late-1990s, girls were beginning to wear long pants - similar to what the boys were wearing. Today, both boys and girls wore exactly the same and most of the girls are now wearing boots. The only different is the little asterisk on the name tag of the girls.

I am a person who agrees with gender equality but at the same time, I also acknowledged that God made Man and Woman differently. Therefore gender equality should not be taken blindly. The same principle applies into this issue. Yes, Boys' Brigade has accepted girls through the Girls' Wing. However, after 16 years, why isn't there a proper identity given to the fairer gender?

The Boys' Brigade in Hong Kong started accepting girls in 1986. Our friends from Hong Kong has provided such a beautiful identity for their sisters in the Boys' Brigade where boys and girls wear different uniform while both were still Boys' Brigade members.

Many argued that girls of this generation do not want to wear skirt. I am not suggesting for the current Girls' Wing uniform to simply change from pants to skirt. My suggestion is to give the girls a totally new uniform that perfectly portrait them as girls although they are in the Boys' Brigade. Simply saying girls do not want to wear skirt and we subscribe to that argument shows how immature the officers and decision makers are in handling this problem.

If our girls really hated skirt so much, then why are they still going to school? All female school uniforms, be it in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea etc...enforced that girls must wear skirt. Why are these officers and decision makers in the Brigade simply just fall for such shallow argument that if girls' don't like skirt, then Girls' Wing uniform should not be skirt. Are they more concern for the development of girls or the threat of withdrawal from the girls which affects the statistics?

God made Man and Woman differently. This means that an identity must be given to both gender that enables distinction, not merely separated with an asterisk on the name tag. To me, that's a mockery of respect to the fairer gender.

Educational Development
I agree with education experts worldwide that co-education is more effective to the development of teenagers. The opportunity to interact and communicate freely under the guidance of officer (adult) is indeed a good learning experience for both boys and girls.

Unfortunately, the lack of initiative to provide separate identity for boys and girls could have dangerous consequences simply because boys and girls might not be able to fully comprehend the differences between the gender. A simple illustration is a couple who already have three sons and then took home another baby girl to be their daughter. However, until the age of 16, the parents raised the little girl like their three sons. The daughter wore the exact same clothes, play the same toys, and carried herself exactly like the three brothers. How could the daughter ever learn that she is a girl and how could you expect the three brothers to respect and see the sister as a girl? This illustrated what is taking place in the BB with the Girls' Wing.

Drill and Band
There were so arguments of not creating a separate identity for Girls' Wing because this will severely reduced the uniformity in drill and band.

Firstly, I wish to point out that wearing skirt and being dressed more feminise, do not hinder a girl from doing drill. Our sister organisation, the Girls' Brigade, are strongly training their members to do drill and yet they are still wearing skirt. If GB could do so, why can't the girls in Girls' Wing could not do so?

Secondly, having different uniform for boys and girls do not reduce the uniformity of the band. To be a respected band, it is the quality of music that counts. That's why the title for the best BB band in Malaysia always head downsouth, simply because the quality of the music produced is good.

Thirdly, let's pull the argue a little bit further. If uniformity is really so important, is BB going to stop any boy from the Sikh Community from joining us simply because he has to wear a turban and not the Field Service cap? Similarly, if different identity is given to the girls and boys and they wear different uniform, two different uniform posed no problem to uniformity. A quick look at the BB Hong Kong website reassured everyone that two different uniforms is really no big deal.

Is the Name Appropriate?
Critics to the Girls' Wing will further emphasised that the name of the organisation, the Boys' Brigade, is inappropriate to accommodate girls. I agreed that indeed it is confusing. My wife and my sister were both members of the Girls' Wing. When it comes to scholarship application or job application, the impression of a girl being a Boys' Brigade member gives quite a bit of negativity.

There was once, someone after looking at my wife's resume, informed us that she made a typing error of Boys' Brigade instead of Girls' Brigade. At least, we could explain it to the person. I was just wandering how many girls from the Boys' Brigade having their resume and application being rejected simply because the people who access the resume could either assumed the application as:

1. not checked properly and have spelling or factual mistake, either in gender information or extra-curricular activities column; or
2. this must be a copy-and-paste resume from a friend in Boys' Brigade and the girl forget to change it

In short, much negativity is associated with such application, simply because the girl joined Boys' Brigade and not Girls' Brigade.

Some of the supporter of Girls' Wing might argued that this is just the name. Like other organisation, YMCA and YWCA, the name is gender-based but it is now open to both gender.

I would like to view it differently. Firstly, most of these organisations are social organisation, where the members are adult and their involvement are only social in nature. On the contrary, Boys' Brigade and Girls' Brigade are youth organisation and is closely affiliated to schools and other educational institutions. Such confusion has great implication to the future of the members, particularly those from the confused section of the Girls' Wing of the Boys' Brigade.

Conclusion
Conclusively, the lack of identity to the Girls' Wing is an important issue for the Boys' Brigade of Malaysia to deal with. Sixteen long years had passed and yet, the mentality to deal with this section of the Brigade is still at the infancy level. It took the Brigade almost 12 years to regulate the use of asterisk to differentiate the gender, because the officer at the uniform inspection could not identified whether the child standing in front of him is a girl or boy.

The mentality to see girls as merely statistics in the membership roll needs to be changed. Decision-makers and officers in the Brigade need to address the core issue that boys and girls were made differently and this indeed is according to the biblical principle where God created Man and Woman to be unique. No one could afford to wait another sixteen years, where at least another 3 generations of girls will have already walked through the ranks of Boys' Brigade with this distorted idea of gender equality. The recognition and identity remains the core of the issue.

Farewell to the Officers

I attended the Memorial Service of an old officer from 1st Penang, Mr Cheam Hock Seang. Though I do not know him personally, but the feeling of paying the last respect to someone who has served in the Brigade had driven me to the service.

The next day, the more shocking news came. A former officer from my former company, aged only 6 years more senior than myself, was called home by God. Mr Leow Kok Wei, someone considered to be very junior as an officer, but has left tremendous impact on the boys and girls. He's always close to the boys and girls, cheerful with no ego being an officer. After BB parade, boys and girls even addressed him "Drumstick" (because his leg looks like one) and he was never bothered with such unconventional way to reach out to the boys and girls. All this friendliness and cheerfulness, remains unchanged though, he himself was a high-achiever in the Boys' Brigade. Being the first batch of President's Award receipient of 6th Penang and was twice the BB National Bible Quiz Champion, he remains down to earth and never boost about it.

On a personal note, he is also one of the officers that have spent many important hours to listen and advice me when I was still at the infancy stage of learning to be a leader. Sadly, he was 'forced' out of the company the same time I assume the important leadership position of leading the NCOs and never have the chance to work under his leadership. His leaving from Boys' Brigade was indeed painful and I safely guess that many other incidents subsequently followed that he lost this whole group of brothers and sisters from the Brigade, which they have grew up together and experienced the thick and thin of teenage years.

All those who turned up at the funeral have not met him for at least a year. This is sad and hopefully with his return to the heavenly Father, it will serve as a reminder to everyone that life is indeed fragile.

Anyway, I personally salute these officers, for their passion, love and commitment laboured to the ministry of the Boys' Brigade. One whom have personally touched my life and another whom has impacted 1st Penang to be what it is today.

I am confident, we will meet again in heaven. Adios!

Which is More Important?

This is just one small little question that I could not understand. I was watching the news about the request to debate about motion of no confidence for the Prime Minister. The Opposition head informed the press that the request has been submitted to the Office of the Parliamentary Speaker.

Here comes the irony. When the Speaker was asked whether will the request be accepted or rejected, he answered that he has yet to make any decision about it. He further added that now he just want to go back to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and see his animals (cows and goats were mentioned). He said, "I'm a Kampung boy and I want to go back and see my animals first. Then I'll decide."

Is the debate about the country's leadership not as important as the animals in Kota Kinabalu? Which is more important?

What's So Big Deal

Opening of franchised cafe in public universities seem to be such a big issue. The Deputy Minister of Higher Education has to made statement on such important issue.

I recalled that more than a decade ago, University of Malaya (UM) was supposed to have a MerryBrown restaurant at the Law Faculty building. Due to students' protest (I doubt they were the majority), the project was called off and the facility turned into another air-conditioned Malay restaurant in UM. (This paragraph was written based on what I heard from others. Might have factual mistake).

Malaysia projected herself as a multi-ethnic and multi-racial country. However, the pitiful monotonous variety of food in public universities certainly do not portrayed the image that has been projected. I could recalled the excitement in UM in 2005 when Kentucky Fried Chicken opened a KFC house outside the campus. Students practically flocked to the newly-opened and westernised restaurant to eat the finger-licking good meal.

After my 3-year in Malaysian public university, I was given the opportunity to head downsouth to the "little red dot" island to spend another 3 semesters to pursue a post-graduate degree. To my surprise, in National University of Singapore (NUS), there were franchised cafe and restaurant almost everywhere in the campus. McDonalds, Subway, New Zealand Ice Cream, Burger King, Japanese Sushi (can't recall the brand name) just name a few. Students were given so much of choice when it comes to food.

On top of such pricey franchised and westernised food, every faculty is well-equipped with canteen that offers more than 10-15 food stores. You will be spoilt of choice. In the Arts and Social Sciences canteen, or what is known as The Deck, there are Malay, Indian, Western (Chicken Chop, Fish n Chip etc...I miss the Beef Steak - cheap and good), Pastry, Economic Rice, Vegetarian, Japanese, Fruit Juices and Fresh Fruits, Coffee and Drinks, Fish Ball Noodle, Sichuan, ClayPot Rice, Chicken Rice and Yong Tao Foo. After the renovation in 2007, the number of stalls in The Deck remains the same but another level of the canteen was built to accommodate Burger King, Thai Express and Italian food. The choices of food in NUS is indeed international and multi-ethnic.

Comparing the scenario in Singapore and Malaysia, I would say the decision not to encouraged franchised cafe and restaurant in public universities is not done with the interest of students at heart.

Firstly, it makes no economic sense not to welcome these cafes and restaurants. When such franchised outlets operate in campus, such as in NUS or Starbuck at University of Hong Kong (HKU), students who displayed their matriculation card will be entitled for discount. NUS students are entitled to 30% discount for Subway Sandwiches and the same for HKU students who also enjoy 30% discount of all Starbuck beverage. Malaysian students are paying the market rate to enjoy such food and beverage, adding to the transportation cost to travel outside the campus.

Secondly, these franchised outlets also provide great facilities for students to interact and have group discussion. The air-conditioned environment along with internet connectivity are considered the essentials to students in this part of the world. An escape from the heat and great comfortability of sofas and chairs. Malaysian students were usually confined to corridor or lobby of the faculty for such discussion and many a times, without "efficient" internet connectivity.

Thirdly, we all know Malaysian university students were most active at night and until the wee-hours. Going "Yam-Cha", "Supper", "Mamak" were among the common terms that students used to illustrate their habits of gathering at stalls for supper. Although there were such stalls within the public universities, yet many students would still prefer to venture out of campus for such group activities at night. With the increased choices of stalls and hang-out places within the campus, students can reduce the venturing out rate and that actually provides greater security coverage for students, especially public universities located in the Klang Valley.

To me, what's so big deal about such franchised cafe and restaurant. For university administration to ponder on such trivial matter is indeed ridiculous. University administrator, please focus on higher education matters and let the student affairs management people to decide. If they can't do their job to fight for students' interest, just fire them and get someone else who can do better. Really no big deal!

Wonderful News

This morning, I woke up half-awake and was about to start reading The Star newspaper (28 June 2008), saw an interesting picture that immediately got me fully-awake. The picture showing someone whom I have personally met few years back. Without hesitation, I turned to page 18 of the local news for the full coverage.

This piece of news was reported as if it is a sad piece of news. However, in my personal opinion, this is indeed one of the best news to have happened in the higher education sector of Malaysia. A Vice-Chancellor's (VC) service in a state-owned university was terminated.

This VC has previously "laboured" as Deputy VC at the oldest university in the country while I was still a student there. In his job capacity to handle students' affairs, I have the "bad luck" of meeting him personally. During my second year, I was heading a cultural and sports delegation to visit Beijing. My proposal was rejected twice and I have personally made an appointment to meet with him to find out exactly what went wrong. The so-called DVC was 30 minutes late for the appointment and even before allowing me to finish my first sentence trying to explain to him about the project, he "raised" his voice and agitatedly said why waste his time by talking about projects that had been rejected. He went on to say that the committee in project is not multi-racial. (I really cannot understand - 20 member delegation with 8 malays, 8 chinese and 4 indians as not multi-racial?)

Due to the multitude of problems given by this person, the project was shelved. Two years later, a junior of mine, took up the project and send in the same proposal and the project was approved. The reason could probably be that I'm a Chinese and he's a Malay. Probably, he just cannot accept a delegation led by Chinese to visit China.

To cut it short, he is an extremely racist person, who single-handedly transformed the so-called political landscape of the oldest university into an extreme racial-based segregation. To sum it up, he is a true-blue political creature.

I could also clearly remembered his first meeting with students in my residential college when he took up the DVC position. He spoke to passionately about internationalisation and his "rich" experience of studying in one of the Ivy League university. What was striking indeed was his inability to speak fluent English. Initially, I would have given him the benefit of doubts but my subsequent unfortunate experience of attending some of the events as student leader, fully affirmed my conviction that he simply can't speak English fluently. For someone who have difficulties to speak English fluently to lead the internationalisation of students, we can understand why internationalisation in the country's oldest university is still at such infancy stage.

If someone that truly loves the universities in Malaysia and understand the problems these institutions are going through, I am certain you would have agreed with me that such a person will do more harm than good for the higher education of the country. Indeed this is the best News of the Day!

This is just a personal opinion.

Higher Education in Middle East

Another three-part series about the latest happenings in regards to higher education in Middle East. The first two parts discussed the progress of various countries in the region with the final part focusing on the implications to Malaysia.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Please feel free to drop your comments as well as suggestions of topics that are interesting in the higher education sphere.

Good Topic, Great Result, Lousy Report

I was reading about the research findings analysing the coverage and tendency of media during the recent General Election in Malaysia (here's the report). Research was carried out by a 4-member team from a public university.

Personally, I felt the topic was an interesting one and therefore went to search for the entire research report. The data collected was even more astonishing, with plenty of exciting trends and observation to write about. Those who are inclined with data analysis will certainly be glad to see such findings.

However, to my biggest surprise, the 49-page report only has a half-page acknowledgement and a one-page summary. The entire report was filled with tables, graphs and charts, with no report or text to explain the findings or trends.

This is one of the biggest letdowns I did not expect coming from a team of researchers in a university. Perhaps secondary school students could have done a similar report, perhaps with better graphics or presentation.

Regionalism in Higher Education

A three-part series on regionalism in higher education. The articles tried to illustrate how different forms of regionalism has created different impacts to higher education sector.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three

There again, feel free to voice your comments and feedbacks.

China's Higher Education

Global Updates from National Higher Education Research Institute. My first piece of writing in this new job.

This is a 4-part series, which will be release every fortnight, that focus on China's higher education and its' relations to Malaysia.

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four

Feel free to drop any feedbacks and/or comments.

First Working Trip

My first working trip in my new job, is surprisingly relaxed and enjoyable. Took a plane from Penang to KL and had the whole Sunday evening to myself, spending the entire night catching with a close friend that I have not met for couple of months.

The job assignment was as expected, a rapporteur. This is one of the most interesting rapporteuring experience for a very simple reason - strong personal interest in the subject of discussion. I even felt like raising my hands, asked questions and engaged in the discussion but I refrained from doing so.

It has been a pleasant working trip throughout until I reach the airport. I arrived about 2 and half hours before my scheduled flight. When to the ticketing counter to try my luck in getting an earlier flight home, which is due to fly off in about 50 minutes. Reaching the counter, I was given a number, indicating that there were 11 other customers in front of me. The 12-counters ticketing office was packed with passengers but to my surprise, only 4 or 5 counters were operating.

After 10 minutes of waiting, I went to the customer enquiry counter to reconfirm whether should I continue waiting or should I proceed to the check-in counter. The trainee sitting there proudly and rudely told me this is the only place to get an earlier flight.

By 3.20pm, after 30 minutes of waiting, I could not tolerate the inefficient service of the staff there. There were only 4 counters operating but there were easily more than 20 staffs hanging around behind the counters doing nothing. I finally got someone to check the ticket status, as I was visibly frustrated, as the flight is about to leave in 15 minutes. I was then told that my request to board an earlier should be done at the stand-by check-in counter in Level 5 and not in this "inefficient and useless" ticketing counter in Level 3. I know I'm going to miss the flight.

With a cunning smile, I went over to that trainee at the customer service and requested for her full name. Although slightly surprised at my request, she happily give me her full name. Following that, she asked me why I wanted her name. I then strongly told her the reason that I am pissed with the service and I had missed the flight, which I will proceed to lodge a complaint.

She then in a very uncompromising voice said, "Hello......". I just walked out straight.

After this incident, I can understand why our country's National Carrier is in such a bad shape. The customer service is horrible. Loaded with staff but highly or even completely inefficient. In other word, "rubbish". I am sure those waiting in the queue of the ticketing counter will agree with me.

The standard of food and beverages on board is lousy. A Rm500 two-way ticket from Penang to Kuala Lumpur is superly expensive. They only serve a packet of peanuts (cost less than RM1) and three-quarter filled cup of fruit juice, which was diluted with water. From this experience, I wonder why the national carrier is under-performing so badly.

Although it has shown sign of recovery from the financial loss, but from this experience, I wonder how long can the profit sustain. I will certainly not be taking such flight again if not for my employer's policy to only fly with the national carrier.