Sieh Jin's Wedding

I finally got down to writing,
Even though his wedding was two months ago in May I just want to record these thoughts for posterity. One of the thoughts that crossed my mind as i helped preparing the wedding is how every human relationship gives us a bit of the understanding between God and us. Though it is a glimpse but the love the groom has for the bride as mentioned in the Bible is made clearer by the illustration of Jin's and May's wedding. And as Jin becomes a daddy:) I think he will even then start to grasp the meaning of the Father's love.
Secondly, I come to realise that in the end no matter how much we try to change something or make them work it is still in the hand of God. Of course give us many choices and if we work towards those choices it will succeed..so there is still an element of choice but anything beyond that parameter will doomed to failure so a certain level of determinism is still there.

Liberalization of knowledge

Why is it that only people who have to medical school can be doctors?
If the passed the same rigorous examination even though they have not had formal training shouldn't they be allowed to practise. The examination already tested their knowledge and clinical skills. However why is it that the exams is limited to only a few? The more people in a field the richer it will be and with that amount of competition. Prices will be driven down and quality will go up as doctors try to outdo each other. In the old days that is how it was done. There were medical schools to speak of so people are apprenticed to a doctor help the person do all the menial tasks in exchange for knowledge and skills and when they are ready off they will go to the Royal Colleges and take their fellowship exams. I believe the current and this old system should be used as both as it strenghts and weaknesses but since they are there why not use them all?

I am back

I've finished my examinations and passed them,
I am happy for maybe a grand total of two seconds because this is merely a small battle in the grand scheme of things. As I move to phase three of the Failure Defense League objective of reforming the way we see things there is a sense of excitement and at the same time weariness due to the fact that many times things don't turn out the way we imagine it. I have a feeling that it will like what happened to Abraham. He was a relatively young man when he got the promise that he will be the father of a great nation and yet it took 50 years before he achieved the prerequisite of becoming a great nation: the birth of his son Issac and then he didn't see the rest of it though God was faithful and fulfilled the promise in the end. Same the thing with the Failure Defense League, we feel we have a such a great calling but you know what probably only future generations will see the fruits of our labour and the members of the league will probably die wondering they have fulfilled God's purpose for their lives.

Sorry

Dear ladies and gentlemen,
As me finals is in two weeks time I would like to announce that there will only the new posts after the 16th. This is just to let you know I am still alive.

Congratulations

To that girl from Bukit Mertajam,
Who got 16 A1's. I think she is hot too. Beauty and brains, always a good combination. Anyway some people might make fun of people who are trying to score so many A's but I sympathise with these scorers because it is getting harder to distinguish yourself from the rest. Look at the current history book which is more like a comic book(sacrilege. Anyway what I suggest to be done is making all the subjects and introducing higher level material and why not? 200 years ago one can only learn calculus from the university of Cambridge. The thing as knowledge increases so does understanding and when one truly understand something it becomes common knowledge. 7 year olds oday know more about bacteria then the great Aristotle. the textbooks should be getting thicker and people spend more so much time studying the basic core subject that they don't have time for 18. When there are people still doing more than 12 subjects you know the system isn't teaching them enough.

The nation that blessed the world.

Guess who they are are?
Could it be them or them? Well they pale in comparison to the answer. Imagine a world without the 'answers'. The only good thing would be my medical textbooks would be a whole lot thinner and exams whole lot easier to pass.

A vision of future education

Nowadays we have choose between two extremes,
Either too much spoon-feeding and have all our ideas dictated to us by the professors or too much self-directed learning with no guidance whatsoever to the extent that students grow too much like weeds. I propose to remedy this problem by converting lectures into debate sessions between professors of differing point of view. Students are presented with the facts and an idea of what is important to know but they make the synthesis and decisions of what to believe themselves.
Take for example there are many differing views as to how teaching should be done in universities as the above. Instead of forcing students to be captive audience we should have professors duking it out with proofs and rebuttals. The only weakness would be that the more eloquent person will influence more people at the expense of truth but this is preferable than to have indoctrinated people. If people can't be taught to value substance over style and think for themselves then they probably can't succeed in whatever system.

Why must the Prime Minister be local?

Does being born in one country automatically make that someone,
More virtuous, more loyal to the country, less likely to concentrate wealth unto himself, a better leader and other arguments for only having local people for the job. Sadly the answer is no. If you look a at the most African nations there are as worse off and have as much wealth plundered pre-independence and post-independence. The colour of the skin and or land of birth is not as important as the character. Better to have the best person for the job than anyone less just because he is my brother.
Carlos Ghosn turned Nissan around and not some Japanese man. Now I don't think anyone in Nissan if given the chance to do it again will choose anyone other than Carlos just because he isn't Japanese though this was an argument used as reason for not agreeing to his appointment.
The day I know Africa will turn for the better i the day they hire someone who is good at his job to be Prime Minister whether white , yellow or red or even stripped instead of just choosing some warlord because he is local.

On speculative theology

In the New Testament there were two groups of Jews,
The Pharisees who believe in resurrection and the Sadducees who don't but both are considered orthodox and well Christians could have been either side until it was revealed by Christ there is an afterlife. And this is a lesson that Christians can learn. Except for the major tenets such as the nature and divinity of Christ most finer points of theology can be argued both ways. What is the really the problem is we have yet to receive perfect and total revelation maybe because we are not ready. And someday many hundred of years later it will be revealed until then i would be pretty petty to kill each other over whether the rapture come before, during or after the tribulation. Speculations on theology is fun but not a matter of life and death or even salvation.

What pretty girls should do.

Just to let you know I am not one,
But I have experiences with many as in I have been rejected by many a pretty girls. We all know the rigmarole of rejection which is once the girl knows she turns nasty. I understand they have the guy's best interest at heart as they want to help the guy get over them but I feel it is a waste of many a friendship especially if the guy is going to be a somebody one day. The following advice will only be of benefit to a small minority of girls.
Experience states that most girls will probably have at most two or three guys interested in them in their whole lives. A smaller group will have a long list of guys who will be nobodies and even smaller group will have nobody. But the group I am talking to are the ones whose list of "guys who have ever liked them" reads like a Who's Who list.
The fact is you won't know who will be somebody so you might as well play safe. So when rejecting a guy use the "Helen of Troy method". If it is good enough for the most beautiful woman ever it is good enough for any girl.
The first step is to be calm when the guy declares his undying love no matter how geeky he is because he might be controlling the most powerful army in the world in thirty years time. Second, go straight to the point tell him you don't share the same feelings. Third use the Helen of Troy method which will give him a ray of hope while preventing misunderstanding and this will definitely save the friendship. What is the Helen of Troy Method?
Well basically it makes use of the fact when the guy is in love with a girl it is almost impossible to make him hate you even when rejected though this last for about five minutes so strike while the iron is hot. Tell him that if he truly loves you then he will respect you enough to honour her choice and here is the killer: make him swear an oath of allegiance to protect your honour and the man who will be your husband. Most real guys who like the girl enough will do it without thinking twice. So there you get to keep a friend and make a potentially very very powerful ally.
So if your husband cheat on you twenty years down the line invoke the oath and watch the now-powerful men (Prime Ministers, warlords) give you sweet revenge as they rip the flesh of your husband's bones and his mistress with meat hooks with no repercussions. If they refuse to honour the oath shoot back by saying "I am glad I rejected thee for if thou art unable to uphold an oath of allegiance what more a vow of marriage". He will be doing your bidding in no time.
Finally never berate the guy, never shout at him, never ever be mean because the Helen of Troy method not only save your life from future powerful rejectees but also give you all their combined powers.
p.s. This only work if the sum total of the pwoers of all the guys who ever went after you are greater than that of your spouse.

Working hours of House Officers

There has been much talk about house officers working for 36 hours straight,
First a clarification: when one is on call is doesn't mean they do not sleep at all. The amount depends how busy the ward is. It is undeniable that human error increases with such insane working hours however can the government hospital afford not to either by decreasing service to patients of increasing manpower. The only to about is to stagger the hours. Instead of 36 hours straight in 48 hours why not 18 hours in 24 for two days. This allowed at least more than 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep which is much more than most HO's are getting.

Who needs teachers?

Nowadays with the great availability of the interenet,
And also access to knowledge either through the printed or electronic media, it seems the roles of teachers are diminishing. As we can see fromt he previous post I can get knowledge from a professor in the UK without ever even needing to go overseas and spending the money. Having read his article and memeorised it one can say one is as informed as him on that particular matter.
However without teachers how are we to know what is crap and what is not. Teachers are still needed to guide us. Teachers are needed so we can avoid rediscovery. Put simply they are compasses. Textbook are charts. these by themselves do not make a voyage which we must undertake and be responsible for ourselves.

Better than anything I can say

I am for education reform and most of the time I believe the market,
Can the do a better job than the government ever can. Professot Tooley here say it in much better words than I ever can and offers empirical evidence. http://admin.fnst.org/uploads/1044/OP3.pdf to get the rest of his papers go to his website http://www.ncl.ac.uk/egwest/tooley.html

Robin Hood

Whoa I have been lazy for a while but,
Here is a thought. Robin Hood claims to rob the rich to give to the poor. Sure some rich people are evil but most worked hard for their wealth. Being poor does not give special moral authority to ensure others don't enjoy the fruits of their labour. What if the rich decide that working hard isnot worth it any more? Who will there to be robbed?
But Robin Hood is an interesting story in that is illustrate what can go wrong with socialist scheme. Robin Hood is not so much an endorsement of progressive taxation as much as it is a condemnation of government taxation. Many times he robbed the tax money.
WHile many socialist governments claim they are 'Robin Hoods' they are actually the 'Sheriff of Nottingham' with all the heavy taxation. If not for the taxation people won't be poor.

Ultimate activity for nerds.

Do you think nerds are boring?
You thought they have no social lives? Do you know they go clubbing but not the drunkard and debauched ones. They go library-clubbing! Some go book and journal clubbing too. What is library clubbing. basically it is studying in the library until it closes and going idnner together. And it is an all-guys club. One of the last bastions where feminism has not touched it! SO start one in your uni today!

Accounting.

The government is like a giant corporation,
but unlike other giant corporation it has no external audit. There should. I would rather part with 150 million ringgit of tax payers' money to hire KPMG or something so I can have the peace of mind the 150 billion ringgit in the annual budget is well spent. However this is not the case so does the government's books add up?

Floods in Johor again?

Two things that people can do,
Move out of those areas or spend money to improve the drainage. But before doing anything can't we get the many geologist in the local universities and make prove their worth by studying the cause of this flood and the many floods that happen all the time. Time for some canal bulding if it need be.

Mat Rempits?

With certain politicians trying to legitimise them,
I will give them the benefit of doubt but there is certain similarities to Hitler and Ernest Rohm setting the SA or Sturm Abteilung. It hires thugs and turn into a personal army faithful to the National Socialist Party. Legitimising people rightfully in prison is akin to buying their loyalty.

A new party?

The Malaysian Liberal and Libertarian Party will never win a sit,
But hopefully what it will do is create a market of ideas where people will need to sell their ideas with proof and strong arguments and not because they control the media. Debate is the key for it both educates and inform.

More thoughts on equity

This letter is from Malaysiakini,
http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/61858 well it stimulated a lot of thoughts on my mind. I think it is important that people should know that it should about the size of the pie and not the size of the slice. Usually a small slice of the big pie is better than a big slice of a small pie. Well it is sort of unfair to insinuate corruption because the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise and I am not for conspiracy theories but I would like to suggest like in a my previous the Gini coefficient be measured and we will have our proof.

Monopoly of ideas in education

This is crazy,
But when you have one lecturer on a subject in the soft sciences he is basically monopolising the dissemination of information. If he is capitalist his lectures will be biased towards capitalism. Why can't lectures be debates between two opposing camps, for example capitalists veruss socialists on the need ofr minimum wages. Both have to justify their stand but at the end of the day the student thinks for himself.

On the Failure Defense League

What does it mean to be a member?
A member uses his skills, knowledge, abilities, wealth, power and influence to help the marginalised in society be it the urban poor, rural poor, indigenous tribes or simply some weirdo in class that needs someone to talk to.

A haiku

easiest to write,
most difficult to master,
and now for some verse:

spring petals falling,
children squealing in delight,
summer's reign begun.

fire cooking fish caught,
in lake full of maple leaves,
autumn's rule proclaimed.

fox tracks made on snow,
lead hunters among naked trees,
winter now resides.

farmers planting rice,
in melting-snow-watered fields,
spring has returned.

Real oppression and war for oil

Nobody here heard of the Saharawis fight,
For an independent Western Sahara against the Morrocans. http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=62889 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polisario

So will the smart ones be there?

It seems like a great idea,
To nationalise all healthcare. I thought of it once but then again doctors aren't economists http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/58533 If what that guy says happens smart people will stop becoming doctors. Only people with good hearts will be doctors but good-heartedness doesn't guarantee technological breakthroughs that will bring down the cost of medicine. Nokia is full of smart but greedy executives but now everyone can afford handphones.

Where to buy medicines?

It doesn't matter who is selling,
As long as it is the best for the lowest possible price for the patient. http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/61803 This only happens when the consumer doesn't have good knowledge( have second opinion), no choice( not to buy from the doctor) and no easy access( of course he is going to pay ridiculous prices instead of travelling two hundred miles to KL to get it). Freedom to choose.

Competition and choice

One reason why private companies aren't,
allowed in certain sectors is the argument that they will cheat the poor. What happens when the self-proclaimed protector of the poor is incompetent and not doing its job? http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/61809 To make more money private companies have to continually satisfy customers. Government monopolies don't have to. Private investment companies anyone?

Ending the government's monopoly on education

This is one reason why it should be done,
It is hearsay in court but that doesn't mean it is not truth. People be the judge. http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/61811 Competition makes things cheaper and give more choices. The parent will have choice to change to school that is better and lousy ones that try to be funny as above will wither adn die. Fancy losing your job?

GINI coefficient

I always thought this was a lousy measure,
but I realised Malaysia Gini is 0.49! This is higher than the US which is at 0.4. It is a measure of the distribution of wealth compared to an ideal in which every segment of society owns the same amount.
If it is high in rich countries it is okay because no matter what the poor is still rich by comparison(e.g. Bill Gate's billions is of many percentage points of the economy compared to my thousands but I am not poor by any standard) but in a relatively poorer nation it is bad because it means to a certain extent the elite is benefiting at the expense of the poor especially if the economy is not growing or growing slowly.
I wonder what is the Gini co-effecient among the bumiputeras. I think it highlights the Malaysian leadership's ineffectiveness more than the equity issue. And its calculations is well much more standardised. ASLI should find out.

Time for a change in management?

Every ruling party after spending too much time in power,
will grow complacent and sooner or later will lose the elections or experience a change of regime. Sometime soon someone will be setting a viable alternative opposition party that will encourage debate and the momentum for change will be too great to be resisted. Until then there will other alternative parties that will come and go. However they need to come by to pave the way.

Can Keynesian work?

I don't believe in it,
But I suspect it might work if the government gives up its monopolies and be as accountable as other companies with whom they will be competing against when it comes to providing services.
Seriously I do believe private companies can build low-cost housing at a lower cost and with higher quality albeit at a higher price due to the limitations of technology. But remember even the richest most glorious emperor two hundred years ago didn't have flowing water and indoor plumbing. And what is the point of affordable but low-quality housing?

The ideal civil servant

I posted about him before,
but now I know his name. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yu_%28Xia_dynasty_ruler%29 . This man examplifies what it "he who is greatest is the servant of all". Okay he was kind of cruel the part that impressed was never going home for 13 years. If only our leaders will serve masses with one tenth of the perseverance.

Need for accountability

the government is like a corporation,
and the tax-payers its shareholders. If private companies are required to be externally auditted to make sure they don't cheat why shouldn't the government also be externally auditted?
We are after all entrusting them with a lot and alot of our money.

New year resolutions,
1. Talk less
2. Bear my cross with less whining and complaining.
3. Pray more.
4. Shorter blog posts.
5. E-mail and text friends more.
6. Go online less.
So far so good except for 6.