Please Retain PPSMI

I know I have dwelt on this earlier, but I can't resist the urge to bring this up again, simply because the government takes no action and listens to not advice to the public's yearning.

The decision to abolish PPSMI contradicts what the Government acknowledged earlier - English is an important language that one should never reglect because English is an international language that is universally used in virtually all jobs.

And yet they abolish PPSMI.

This is rubbish! PPSMI is important because Science and Maths are subjects that are learnt worldwide. Every country is learning Science and Maths in English (I mean, in university) and it'll certainly benefit students who learn them in English because it'll improve their English and they can study overseas and share their knowledge and profession when they are working by cooperating with professionals from other countries.

PPSMI doesn't challenge BM. BM will always stay as the bahasa kebangsaan as agreed. Nobody has the right to challenge it's status and nobody can neglect it's importance. Everybody knows how important it is, so you don't have to worry about it.

Your support for abolishing PPSMI: China, Japan, Korea and many other countries are learning Maths and Science in their own languages, and yet they can become advanced countries and have profound influences. You know what I think? I think you guys are like students who fail their exams but decide to look at students who fail worse than you. So you get, let's say 39 marks for your exam, and the marks is extremely low. While 30 others in your class get above 70, around 6 of your friends get only about 10+ or below 20.

So instead looking at those who get above 70 and motivate yourself, you look at those who get below 20 to lie to yourself that you're quite good in some sense and you need not do any changes or improvements. This is what the government seems to imply - I know English is important, but since other countries can learn them in their own languages, we should learn from them, don't bother about those countries that learn them in English.

Learning Maths and Science in English doesn't challenge your mother tongue. Approximately 75% of people in this world are learning a second language (English, Chinese, French, Thai, Japanese, Korean et cetera) and it doesn't seem to have influenced their mother tongue. So what do you think people who learn Malay as a second language? Do you think they challenge their mother tongue by learning Malay as a second language? If yes, then why do you encourage it? I'm learning three languages (four, if you consider a dialect as a language) and none of them challenges my mother tongue. 

So please retain PPSMI for the sake of Malaysia's future. Malaysia needs to improve as they are rooms for improvements. So I stress this again: the public wants PPSMI to be retained (as proven by the surveys conducted), so please don't disappoint Malaysians. Retain PPSMI!

Percubaan SPM, Day 11

If only things had gone as swimmingly as what I imagined.

First paper of the day: Modern Maths paper 1, a paper that most poeple neglect. Why? Simple: It requires little attention as it warrants little mind twisting. Modern Maths is simple and the easiest subject to score an A+ for SPM. Sometimes you do not even need a calculator to answer a question because the calculations will not be exceedingly disconcerting.

Second paper of the day: Sejarah paper 1, which follows 30 minutes after the previous paper. Objective questions aren't really something we should really worry after, because there are four options and the chances of getting the correct answer for the question you can't answer is 25%. Therefore, nobody is really 'dying' for the paper, but everybody still studies it anyway. Anyway, the paper is fine, if you consider 'easy' is fine.

Third paper of the day, and the last paper of this trial: Physics paper 1. It sucks. First of all, the nice printing deludes virtually everyone who sees it. The thick booklet is an ominous sign, and the perplexing questions are the harbinger of apocalypse, the embodiment of a train to hell. The questions are challenging and require mind-bending which are enough to twist your brain into a jumble of mass - the worst way of ending an exam.

But who cares? Exam finishes, everyone whoops and dances, and everything is forgotten in mere 10 seconds.

Undilah

It's very sad that this video is banned from broadcasting.

It's very pathetic the government insists we are a democratic country when a music video that delivers the importance of voting is banned simply because a member of an opposition party appears in the video.

How is Malaysia considered 'democratic' when you acted exaggeratedly towards something so trivial?

Percubaan SPM, Day 10

First paper of the day: Additional Mathematics paper 1. I really do not have much to say, because the paper, to me, is moderate and and not really a pain in the ass. As for the second paper of the day: Biology paper 1. Before the exam I pored over form 5 syllabus, from chapter 1 to chapter 5, reading everything carefully, scanning virtually all facts so that none is left out. But, in the exam paper, questions that pertain to form 5 syllabus stand only 20% of the total questions, which means: only 10 questions are derived from form 5. The rest are from form 4. And what's more shocking is that most questions are taken from past year SPM papers, and some students gain advantage from that. Good news for them, bad news for me.

Percubaan SPM, Day 9

First paper of the day: Biology paper 3. With its ridiculous requirements and enormous number of experiments to memorise, you can hardly say everyone would love Biology because of practical. This is Malaysia - making the interesting uninteresting. Anyway, the first question pertaining to the potometer is fine, although you can argue that you cannot find it anywhere in the practical book. The second question regarding the yeast is also okay, but the answer scheme will reveal something unexpected so I wouldn't have my finger crossed yet. Second paper of the day: Chemistry paper 1. The paper is fine too. Question 1 stirs a lot of questions and many people seem to have a misconception that covalent molecules do not have melting points beyond 100 celcius. I'm sorry, friends. Covalent compounds do have melting points beyond 100. As of the others, well, I'll say they are moderate.

Percubaan SPM, Day 8

First paper of the day: Physics paper 3. Among Paper 3 for three sciences, Physics is the easiest. Why? Because you are given two questions and you're asked to answer only one, the mark allocated is much less compared to Biology and Chemistry, and the questions allow your imagination to run, unlike Biology and Chemistry which have to be semantically identical to the practical book. Rubbish! As long as your experiment works they'll do why do they have to follow the practical book pedantically? Anyway, the paper is fun. The first question about CRO caught me off guard because I ain't expecting questions from Chapter 4. Question 2 is fine, question 3 is okay. The question about heat capacity shouldn't be out though, but everything can be explained as 'SPM is unpredictable'. Second paper of the day: Malay paper 2. While you can say students get advantage by having ample time for revision, teachers will be all miffed and pissed as the time for them to mark the papers would be scarce. As for the paper, it's moderately hard. There really is nothing much to say because I do not know anything as long as I haven't seen my papers.

Curry Neh!

This is the best song from Nasi Lemak 2.0! I still remember I laughed my heart out! Best song! Extremely creative!

For those who don't know, this is not a parody and neither is it a racist. It's from a Malaysian film called Nasi Lemak 2.0. Perhaps only people living in a multicultural society like Malaysia can understand its true meaning.

Even Indians enjoy it! :)

Nasi Lemak 2.0

I have a confession to make: I never approached Nasi Lemak 2.0 with a warm greeting. Chinese films, regardless of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore production, as much as I hate to say it, always failed to impress me. Films like Kungfu Mahjongs and The Banquet aren't my cup of tea. Money No Enough is great, but it fails to lighten me up either. Hence, Chinese films aren't on the top of my lists.

After hearing the overwhelming positive reception about Nasi Lemak 2.0, I pled my mother to watch the movie with me, and so she agreed.

Well the movie starts with a boy seeing a woman being badgered for money by 4 samsengs, and the boy, on his own volition, acts on a whim to throw an aluminium can to them, causing them to divert their attention to the boy. It definitely saves that poor lady, but the boy becomes the pray then.

This is an important part of the story because it tells you how he becomes successful. Upon running he is saved by a cook (walau eh song ar song ar!!!) and the cook inspires him to become successful by motivating him. He then looks upon him as a hero, and motivates himself to be a rewarding cook.

But then he stumbles upon difficulties after he graduated from "Institute of Cook" in China. His restaurant is poorly received. 

On another case, a restaurant (whose name escapes me) is hiring a new CEO and there was a feud going on. A decision is made and the new CEO will be elected based on the results of a cooking competition. And yes, Namewee's one of the competitor.

Hence, Namewee begins his trip to learn to cook an awesome dish of nasi lemak. He has to go to 3 places to master the recipe. He needs to learn to prepare the sambal from a Baba and a Nyonya, then he has to proceed to learn to cook curry from an Indian, and lastly he has to search a Malay to master the final recipe.

The film is itself entertaining. I've been watching movies for years and no movies, including Pirates of the Caribbean, successfully make me laugh till my tears pour out. There are many elements in the movies that you can only understand it if you understand Chinese, for example, the name of Namewee's rival - Lan Qiao (in Hokkien it sounds almost identical as lan jiao) and the name of the three judges.

There are things too you can only understand if you're living in a multicultural society and that you're exposed to different races and cultures. For example, the Indian song and the language. 

While Namewee did make a song that spawn fury, this film shows an entirely different story. This unaccounted for movie depicts the true 1 Malaysia, where all Malaysians, regardless of races, live in harmony and help each other to bring about a satisfying result. The Baba and Nyonya definitely tell the story of their culture, the Indian and Malays show how three races in Malaysia live in peace and harmony. They joke around, have fun, help each other, and more importantly, show no disgust towards each other.

But there are few things that he has made fun about, but there's no need to make a big deal about it. He makes fun about Cheng Ho and others, but since it's a fiction, none of us should really make a big deal about it. We don't need to make a fuss about something so trivial it doesn't even deserve to be given attentions on.

Anyway, my ratings for the movie is 10/10. The best movie for the year: definitely recommended.

Just for further information: you cannot see any racial issues in this movies. Even Malays who have watched the movie eulogised it and welcomed it. Forget Namewee's past, accept his present and future. He is certainly a talented director and one day, I believe he can unite the country through his future productions, if there's any.

Percubaan SPM, Day 7

First paper of the day: Chemistry paper 3. This paper is defined as a paper that gives us marks by teachers because it is allegedly the easiest paper amongst three of them, which I quite agree. Unfortunately, some rote learners decide to memorise all experiments to obtain high marks, and I strongly condemn it. Anyway, the paper is fine but I won't say I can get high marks. Second paper of the day: Chinese paper 2, a paper that is analogous to hell, the harbinger of apocalypse, the route to peril. As expected, the paper is torturing, brutal, and full with violence (all metaphors). As of the outcomes, well, inevitably it'll be horrible. The results are predictable for both trial and SPM. 

Percubaan SPM, Day 6

Two days before today was about memorisation, and owing to that our mind nearly expanded beyond its limits;  yesterday was about calculations, and our brain neurones nearly intertwined to transmit impulses randomly. Today, however, is much relaxing. First paper of the day: Mathematics Paper 2. No matter how hard the paper can be, it can never be harder than Additional Mathematics. As expected, the paper is moderate. I will never say easy because I can never get an eye-appetizing 100. Second paper for the day: English paper 2. Set by a TESL teacher, the paper is moderately difficult, much better than second-class test's paper, which is full with flaws and confusing sentences that even native speakers are disconcerted. Anyway, the paper is, like I mentioned, moderate. I strive to score 60+ for the paper in question, but I fear that I can't reach my aim. Fingers are crossed!

Percubaan SPM, Day 5

Yesterday was all about memorisation, tomorrow is all about calculation.

Therefore, most of our minds are nearly crushed under the weight of formulae and as a result of twisting.

First paper for the day： the subject I conjecture most people fear the second most (the most would be Biology) - Add.Maths paper 2. Set by the notorious teacher KKS, the paper is thought to be diabolical, but gladly it turned out moderate. I can do some of the questions and I can't do some, but I choose not to leave anything blank.

Second paper for the day: Physics paper 2. I assume the paper is not going to be difficult because my teacher has told me prior to the exam that calculations in Physics have greatly reduced to nearly 20%. In Malaysia, Physics is not about calculation, it's about theory - Malaysia Boleh!

However, there are still quite a number of questions that left me discombobulated. But since it's over, I guess it doesn't matter much anymore.

Percubaan SPM, Day 4

Today is the embodiment of hell, as everybody is rushing to peruse (or plough through) 100+ thick biology reference book to sit for the exam.

The thing is, there's too much things to study for Biology and hours or days are not enough to cover them. Hence, some resort to sacrifice their slumber to prepare for their exam, and ergo, many people come to school with heavy eye bags, black face, and lack of spirit.

Anyway, to me, the paper is moderate. Some I can answer, some I can't. But this exam does one thing to me: I realise I like reading Biology, but I hate studying it.

Second paper for the day: Moral - the most useless subject in the universe. The paper is so BORING till many people drop off when they were trying to finish off the question papers. The questions are boring, and the answers are overwhelmingly long. Summary: Useless and Boring subject.

Percubaan SPM, Day 3

One week of holiday, but typical students would only frolic and play, and eventually waste the whole holiday.

I'm a typical student. So, you can conjecture what I did during the holiday.

The first and only paper for today: Chemistry Paper 2. Perchance we should pray and thank God for only arranging one paper for today. Time was ample for us to read, but, typical students would be distracted by the surroundings and eventually lured to speaking. I'm a typical student, so you might have known......

Ok. When the exam started, the rain bucketed down too. Owing to the direction of the moderately strong wind, some rain were blown into my class. And it was very unfortunate the window I was sitting beside couldn't be close. Therefore, I had to sit on the teacher's table. Very embarrassing....and it was further exacerbated by the fragrance of the cupcakes that wafted from the rubbish bin.

Anyway the paper was fine. It wasn't torturing, but it wasn't a cinch either. A moderate standard. I did quite well (I presume) but I hope my results is good too.

Well, I should start revising now.

Bad Habits Beget Troubles

I have been trying to think for a long time, trying to recognise the person who has been living with me for years.

Yes - I'm trying to fathom my personality.

It appears that nobody can truly see their true self, and I'm a subset of 'nobody'. Therefore, I sometimes turn to my friends for help, but they usually find this mortifying.

Well, I won't talk much about my bad habits or personalities (I do not think my personal lives should be shared with all and sundry)

One thing about me, that I'm sure all my friends loathe about and actually, I hate this myself, is that I couldn't control myself from lashing out or lamenting every time I see something that is not to my liking.

It's true - I admit this is my biggest flaw, and one that is deadly hard to eradicate.

But I would still try, with every effort I can make. I MUST TRY to kick this habit because it'll only haul my friends away, not drawing them to me.

For those I have behaved like this to them, please accept my sincere apology.