In a world of ignorance

May this be my own entry and voice, biased with my opinion of the things that have been happening around me for the past few moments in my life..and may the reader know that this is only an opinon, and therefore people are entitled to their own opinion, whether they like it or not, for it is what makes us human, human.

For as much as I like the States (as they call 'em) there are some issues that I dislike about them. It's not actually dislike as in hate, but just dislike as in, "yeah, cmon~".

Perceived greatness of themselves.

Well, it is generally true that the U.S is great. A nice place. Great spot to live in. All the yadaa yada ydaa~...but look closely. In actuality, the U.S. (and also Australia) was founded by a colony of convicts from yours truly, Britain. And as history goes on, U.S. becomes the place of major migration from all over the world. Pretty much everyone signed up in the bandwagon which goes by the slogan, The Land of the Free, as if it was a major theme park. And even though, it seems that America as it is is settled down, IF you really look closely, you'll find out America is nothing more like a scheme. As many have pointed out during the recent US economy recession, Americans are living off with actually green papers "perceived as money". Donald Trump in his book proved this in fact, by stating that the American national debt have gone to about 70 trillion and the numbers are still climbing. So, why in fact, is the world moved by them, when their whole country would even cease to exist stably in an economic sense, living off of other country's assets, just to realize their military infrastructure with tons and tons of personnel and equipment? Also, one thing of note is the recruitment of many army personnel coming from international migrators. Why should this be noted? It's simple, create an army from non-citizens giving them citizenship as their reward, and you got yourself an instant army just like the two-minute instant noodles, ready to be consumed when needed.

In a land of their own.

If you tune in to the Discovery channel and watch programs such as the Cash Cab or such reality stuff, you'll be awed by their abundant general knowledge. If you watch National Geographic and History Channel, the same sort of thing will also occur to you. Where is the flaw in that, you might ask. Well, one day while watching a martial arts documentary on History Channel, I happened to witness it. The martial arts that was being discussed was the silat, of course. Being a member of Silat Cekak Ustaz Hanafi (now named differently), I was intrigued by the documentary, so I stayed tuned to the program. Somehow, the History Channel (the so-aptly named History Channel, for god's sake), talked about silat as being the weapon Malayans used to fight against the British forces to gain independence. Being a Malaysian (and am proud of it none the least!), my blood was kinda going over the roof about this. I was thinking to myself, "Here is a channel that named itself History Channel, making a documentary, and talking about some nonsense history that didn't even happen at the first place! It's the friggin' 21st century, and here is a friggin' channel that does not even know to do their own research!" And so I promptly emailed a response at their website about the error they made, but I guess they were too arrogant to admit their mistake and apologize for it. Hell, I guess it's also the silat gurus' fault at the first place, as from what I know of silat, it is an art only for muslim malays, as our heritage to remind us of our tradition.

A sorta-Truman show they called the world

In the past century, US history has often been alerted of words such as 'discrimination', 'racist', 'sexist' and the likes. They are claiming their land is the land of democracy, where all people and values are held in respect equivalent in the community. Yet, if you ever meet an American, you'll see other wise. In their eyes, America is a continent, a world by itself, and mostly any other things not American or linked to America in any way, is considered as trivial. Even some Americans here don't know that there is Canada north of the US. I think what is worse is that, they'd easily stereotype things into categories. Asians as number-crunchers and geeks. Third-world countries as utterly poor and desolate. Other places which are not in Europe, America or highly known of as third worlds. Foods other than the normal, greasy and/or fattening food they usually eat as exotics. The list goes on actually but the point is that, what do they understand about the notion of discrimination and democracy? What do they know of humility and humanity? More often than not, they seek to indoctrinate others with their sense of righteousness, eskewed as they maybe. They want to create a peaceful world, but it was also they who suddenly stormed Afghanistan and Iraq, leaving a trail of blood, and social chaos ensuing that. They wanted a democratic world, but isn't interfering in the Vietnam War actually going against their belief of 'letting the people choose what they want to believe in'? And even if they were right about the Vietnam War, what about their actions of retreating and leaving South Vietnam as live bait for the northern communist? The actual world is not a Hollywood studio, to be toyed and experimented upon, but it consists of real people.

I guess the list of my dislikes would go on, but that would be for another time. I'm kinda tired of this actually. The question of why do we even look up to the Westerners at the first place, and other nations as well, sometimes do pop up in my head. Why? What is it about them that makes us want -so much- to be like them? To admire them, worship them, idolize them in such a way...it's kinda perverted and distorted. Rather than doing that, we should note that, if they could do it, so can we. It's not like god gave them such an advantage that they are invincible. They have their specialty (which I think is bullshitting), and we have our own specialty. It is in that specialty that we should build on and grow on. What it is, I'm not able to locate that yet, but our major weakness is and always has been our knack of comparing ourself to better worldly things in life.

So, let's do ourselves a favor, let's turn our weakness into a strength, a disadvantage into an advantage, and enjoy in the fierce positive competition the world gives us.

A bit of Malaysia in a foreign land

Haaah~

After a while of boredom and holiday, it seems like the Malaysia fever has struck me yet again. The durian, the nasi lemak, the sambal, the nasi dagang..fabulous food, all of 'em..sigh~

All in all, I got pretty bored of doing nothing, and since there weren't a lot of activities to do..I suddenly decided to post a Facebook status yesterday, "Sape mau roti canai, meh dtg rumah aku esok..hoho..kalau aku rajin, msk byk2 a.." I was not expecting many hits, since cooking roti canai is never an easy task. The dough preparation, the quantities needed for the amount of potential customers, the cooking itself..in the back of my head, I was frankly pulling off a joke by stating this at Facebook.

...and it suddenly happened. A lot of replies. A really big dough. 16 dough-potentials to be made into either roti canai or roti telur. Wow.

Its kinda tiring, putting all the effort into a single cooking for many people, which unlike many other types of cooking, can only be eaten individually and not shared.

Dedication: Parenting

To all the moms and dads out there, the parents of the children of the world..especially to my own mom and dad..

As of this year, I will turn 21. 21 years since I was brought up on this world as a boy with an older brother and an even older sister. 21 years filled by memories of happiness, joy, delight, and sometimes sadness in the rough patches. Yet, I love every moment of the past 21 years of a life that was bestowed upon me.

To mom and dad,

You have always been supporting me. You are the light in my life when it was once dark. You are the teachers of whom I am proud to be a student of. You are my mom and dad.

There was once a time in my life, where I always sticked by your footsteps, following it in order not to get lost in the world's current. I tried my best to please you, as so not to get to your bad side because without you, I would not be able to do anything at all. I depended on you, mom and dad, on guidance on nearly everything in my life.

Sometimes, I am ignorant of myself and of my feelings toward you, yet you still persevere on bringing the best to me and for me at all times. You showed me paths I would often not see, and helped me on my first steps to the real world.

I thank you. Mom. Dad. Dad and Mom. Mom and Dad. Whichever order should it be, it should be known that it is best if there would be a word that could clearly state my utter respect for the both of you. Even though, there were times when I felt that a rotan by the infamous chicken feather duster (rotan bulu ayam) or the singing leather belt, were unjust and over the limit, but without them, I would have not known my limit and I would have not known the value of humility, limits and discipline. And without the ring of palm-to-cheek slap, I might have been somebody worse than I am now.

I am lucky to have you, the ones who I call my parents.

I surely hope I can one day stand strong and firm like the both of you, wise in my lectures and justly in my actions, for I surely shall be an 'educator' too one day in the future.

Hujan Emas di negeri orang, Hujan batu di negeri sendiri..

..lebih baik di negeri sendiri.

True? or False? I guess it depends on the person being questioned. I have always kinda adored countries like US, Canada, Japan, wealthy and modernized countries unlike Malaysia. Their advancement in knowledge and technology are a thing to behold for someone like me because their passion to discoveries and knowledge seem limitless. Their culture are not bounded by traditions as they are free to live at their own expense.

But how far does it go?

In hindsight, if there would be any country I would settle in, I would list Malaysia as number one. Why? Despite the political chaos, the air pollution in KL, the hecticness of the road transportation system, the laidback (way too) attitude and mentality of the people, and many more, I guess my decision would be based from the fact that Malaysia has a good balance that is needed to raise a child: mental guidance and also spiritual. If a child were to be raised in Malaysia, we have the option to send them to Sekolah Agama while also attending Sekolah Kebangsaan. Islamic teachings are included in the syllabus for the Muslim students. We are taught to share and respect each others' religious belief. If I were to raise a kid elsewhere, I would have to have a firm and extensive knowledge in Islam before extending it to my own children so as not to confuse them from the path.

Fiscally? I would be just happy as to live below the means. As from a book I read before (not sure wheter it was Rich Dad Poor Dad or Why We Want You To Be Rich), most families end up being poor just because they try to live above the means. Taking loans and credit, they try to divulge in the comfortable lifestyle that today's tech brings. In the end, comfortable might just breeds complacentdom, laziness, obesity, and a future spolied generation that goes away from the hereafter and more towards temporary worldly issues.

So, even though I would have loved the cheap things (money unit wise) in countries such as US, I would gladly choose Malaysia.

Malaysia Tanah Airku. =)

Khutbah today: Lesson learned

"..to the seeker and the sought, both are weak."

To sum it up, I'd say that the khutbah today relates a lot of things that have been in my head for quite some time. Contentment, happiness and mediocrity. Not a lot can be said about these words, they are not clearly defined, vague, abstract, but it clicks in when you think of the bigger picture.

Islam is not a religion of extremes. It is a way of life that encourages the thought of mediocrity and not the extremes. The Prophet s.a.w. is a great example of this.

Continuing about the khutbah, the khatib mentioned from the hadis that often what we humans seek out in life, throughout our phase of life, is only a reprieval as the relief will die after a while. In a lot of ways, yes, it is true. When we were a kid, we seek the latest toys, only to enjoy it for awhile before the new generation of toys comes out. When the toys and games facade ends, and we are in the teen years, we seek to prove ourselves to the world, achieving this and that, and showing it off publicly as if we were on top of the world. Yet, the glory ends when it just began, and we were left off to square one. When we became adult, we seek out properties, cars, and more money to be allowed of a stable lifestyle for the future. A bigger house, a newer car etc. Yet, after awhile, the things earned gets boring and the 'new thing' sensation dies off again.

I guess this is where contentment plays a major role in our life and lifestyle. If we were to be the seeker all the time in our life, a lot of time and energy will be wasted to such a cause. Here is our weakness in our life, where we have been brainwashed by the mainstream media of such things. Trends, fashion, digital lifestyle, modernization, globalization etc. We have always been seeking out a temporary happiness that will be needed to replace once again, just like an addiction.

Then, the khutbah went on about the next ayat in Surah al-Hajj, where the term "for the believers" and "strength" were used. Before, the term "humanity" and "weakness" were used. The believers, the ones with Iman, they were said to have the strength because they know that there are things beyond this world and in the afterlife. And for this, the things that we sought are like the seeds of a plant, though it might be long for it to bear fruit, in the end, a truely great reward will be bestowed upon us beyound our expectations, given our effort to the plant.

As I heard this khutbah, it reaffirmed some of the things I have been thinking before. Since most of the things in this world are only temporary as for the hereafter (akhirat) is forever, why do we bother about most of the stuff right now? Yes, as it is, some of the things in this world do help out our life, granting a more comfortable and conducive life. But as for the other stuff, such as worldly titles, a big mansion, those kinda extravagant stuff...why do we bother? Aren't we just better off just living above our means? I guess one such example that could be of note is the Sahabat of the Prophet s.a.w. They were businessmen, entrepreneurs of their time, yet they are still able to give most of their wealth to help out the community, ending up with a normal life. That kinda thing is really unheard of in these times.

Let's all pray that we find out true happiness before it all ends.I sure hope that I can maintain this strength in the times to come.

p/s: Gotta love the khutbahs they give here. It's a lot better than the political khutbahs back home. Khutbahs here are a lot about focusing on the inside: discovering Islam and ourselves rather than focusing outside: blaming and pointing fingers at other people.

Summer leads to boredom, idleness

The title self-explains this post.

A month was wasted on nothing but pure boredom and emptiness as the Midwest Games 2009 at UIUC was called off because of the swine flu. Then, there was the wait for the summer classes to begin on 15th of June, which became all the while longer as the daytime was beginning to extend itself from 6am to 9pm. Pretty much, the month of May was riddled with boredom. Sigh.

Luckily, there was some things that could be done in that month that could not be achieved due to the hecticness of the academic semesters. I guess this could be called a personal achievement of mine, as I sought out to try and perfect my grandma's recipe of Roti Canai/Telur. =P

There was once a time I was set out to stay with my grandma in Melaka for about a week to learn cooking and to prepare myself for living overseas. More than not, what actually happened was that my grandma's liking to cooking did not actually help me much but fatten myself (probably for the coming winter?). Every evening my grandma would cook 'cekodok' and ready some hot tea, which goes well with the breeze coming from the fields and coastline nearby. Aahh~....and we'd talk about the durian tree and its bearing, the rambutan trees in the lawn...

Oh well. Haha. I guess coming overseas really helped me out a bit in my life. If not for coming here, I would never have learned that cooking was pretty much a kitchen experiment: Fun, enjoyable, random while also being edible, and sometimes delicious. Maybe, probably, I want to try culinary sometime later in life. You might never know until you try, huh...

Education: Narrow- or open-minded?

A movie I once saw stated that humankind's knowledge is limited by the knowledge of the civilization of that current era (Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth). From my opinion, this means that even a genius could not foresee the upcoming trend of knowledge with a sudden whim. I feel that this point should be stressed in today's society because of how some society look upon the educational system nowadays.

One such example is the SPM. An ironic turn of events has happened to the Malaysian education system.

In the 90s, SPM was known as a benchmark for a Malaysian teenager in their education. It was one of the dreaded exams we take before we could take a step into adulthood, and sometimes it was even compared to the British A-Level exams. However, I soon realized that it is no more as a state of mind, a fear of the unknown that made the dreaded impression general to every Malaysian citizen. It seems lately, people have been competing in gaining record grades just for fame, taking 17, 18, 19 subjects for unknown reasons. One might say it as interest, one might even say it is as a display for their stroke of genius. I, howver, say that it is just for the sake of appearing in the front headline of a national newspaper, with their happy face, a single moment of fame that may or may not last.

Now, the SPM takers is set to be limited at 10 subjects maximum, which has its pros and cons.

Pros:

- higher number of passers, As, Bs bla, bla, bla

- teachers can concentrate on teaching more on their subjects

- fewer people trying to be in the headlines for "record" grades

- more "quality" education

- etc...(lazy since I am not one for agreeing too much)

Cons:

- students aren't able to delve into their interests (especially in the science-streamed schools like Alam Shah)

- more "generalized" students

- some teachers might be teaching syllabus they are not specialized in

Basically, what I think of this move (limitation on SPM subjects) is a double-edged sword. It's good in some ways, yet it's also harmful in other ways. Sometimes, it seems like there aren't even any option to begin with. I feel that the educational system right now is still lacking not because of the ideals, goals, vision or mission, but in its implementation. It leaves so much to be desired.

As an SPM taker in 2005, I understand the importance of certain subject made compulsory in the SPM because it will make me a more versatile person in the future. Subjects like Malay, English, Math, the Sciences, History, Islam are good to begin with because it creates a foundation in which I can rely on. However, when it comes to the exam itself, I was sort of disappointed. Maybe because it was the amount of time I spent following the school's study plan, or the availability of elite teachers in my school, but the SPM felt like one of those follow-the-guidelines sort-of-thing.

"IF it comes out like this, you do step 1, step 2 and step 3"..."these are the keywords, da da da daa~.."..."write like this if it asks like this".."turn right in bla bla blah miles"..it's like following the GPS. Once these tips are repeated times and times again in your mind, somehow it feels like it's a natural thing. Wake up. Take a shower. Brush your teeth. Head to class. Eat lunch..goes on and on..next day, repeat.

WE are subconsciously made - brainwashed? - to be a worker. Follow this, follow that, yes boss, yes boss. However, once you step out of the SPM exam hall, and into university, it becomes a very different ball game, especially in the United States. No more is the tutor guiding you every inch of the path to whatever path you chose to be, no more is the caring warm light that helps draw the path in front of you. Better yet, what is laid out for you is what I feel the better path of education.

It is the student that seeks out the mentor.

It is the scholar that seeks out the knowledge.

It is the passion that fuels up the interest.

So far, from a year's experience in Purdue's ECE college, even though it has proved difficult, yet it challenges me more and more to pursue my dreams. The classes I have taken gave me the skills and knowledge, and from that I am tested upon in a different scenario that is different from what was taught in class, yet can still be tackled by the foundation laid in class.

Even though the 10 subject SPM limit might be a good move, but I do think and HOPE that they will take it off soon. Even though the limit move is said to improve the quality of education for students, in the end, it is up to the students themselves to decide for their future. If pampering and spoon-feeding are the things that we always grant to our next generation, how are they going to decide for themselves when we are not here anymore?