Another One Bites The Dust

Friday 26th June 2009

The world was stunned by the death of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. But for me, the shock didn't end there. A late 20's motorcyclist slipped and fell off his bike, on a highway whilst doing 110 km/h, an inch away next to my car.

I was on my way to Taiping from Subang Jaya to go back to my 'kampung' (Grandparents' house) via North-South Expressway, the journey starts off with a fairly bright afternoon, but ends with a very gloomy evening. En route to Bukit Gantang R&R, the weather starts to rain heavily. Knowing how Malaysian drivers are, even through the thick weather they still manage to overtake cars like Formula one drivers, and (surprisingly) without using car signals. Thus, simple arithmetic created, (expressway add bad weather) multiply by typical Malaysian drivers equal to staying very vigilant.

Rarely as this may come to you, I came across one or two motorcyclist who were speeding faster than they would normally rode on dry condition. To confuse me even more, some of them even took the initiative to take over vehicles on the inside lane rather than staying on the motorcycle lane (emergency lane). The only words I can think of is "What is wrong with these people, don't they want to live?"

After a short while, I was drafting this commercial van for a period of time, due to the heavy, and when I saw the chance to overtake it, all of the sudden this one motorcyclist came out of blue and overtook me from the inside lane. When he got in front of me, his back tyre threw him off a bit, he skidded, but still manage to stand on his two wheel after that. Obviously I was surprise. Funny thing is that he hardly look like a typical 'mat rempit'. So where does that 'courageous stunt' coming from? Then when I was sure the line is clear, I overtake the van.

Ever since that, I was having a very agitated feeling of that motorcyclist. At first I simply ignored it, but as I watched further, the motorcyclist keep on skidding twice or more on his bike. Definitely there's something not right. Five minutes afterward, I came across a lorry. Waiting for a moment to overtake it. When the moment arise, I turn on the signal light to overtake it. Twisted the steering wheel to get on the fast lane. Soon after I was side by side with this lorry, then all of the sudden the motorcyclist whom I was referring to earlier somehow turned and look at my direction as if it was an opportunity. I didn't took my eyes off him for a second because I know something wrong is about to happen. He then cuts in between us, a lorry and a 7 seater vehicle. I was saying to myself, "What is he doing?" Then, all of the sudden, he skidded again, and this time the two wheels didn't stay on the ground, he instantly fell on his left side (which happen to be where the lorry is). The next thing I saw was his bike flipping upside down and the impact sound his bike hitting the road. When I turned to look at the back, all I can see is the sparks created by the bike, and several small dots of headlights behind me. The trailer stopped immediately. I couldn't say much about what happen to the motorcyclist because all I saw was him falling on his left side, the bike flipped along the middle lane without hitting neither of us, and the lorry braked instantly. There is nothing in the news regards of the event on the next day, nor the day after, so all we can wish is for the best, but god knows.

Throughout the journey, all I can think of is why did he do it? Can't he just use the motorcycle lane to overtake us? And also, if someone in their right mind, if they happen to skid more than once, they would either ride very slowly or even stopped to check what is wrong. His action doesn't justify any normal behaviour. To pointed out that he is a typical 'mat rempit', his age appearance does begs to differ. So what is to be the cause of this, and several others incidents to happen? Is it demographic or lack of common sense? Sure levels of education give an impact towards one's intellect, but in this case it's common sense, is it not? Charles Darwin Nature's Law in his theory "Survival Of The Fittest", even animals has a common sense of surviving, how can a human being not capable of this?

To me there is only two solution to eradicate this problem:

• Educate
• Persuade

Again, I stress on the important role of Driving schools. Nowadays there are too many driving school available in the market, and sadly, most of them are irresponsible. Some of them just barely teach how to drive and then leave you be. Not to long ago, some of them even wave licence without even have to go through the JPJ procedures. This is absurd! These driving schools should be responsible of their students' education and be accountable of their graduates' actions. Should a graduate of a particular driving school involved in an accident and are proven it was his/her fault, then some sort of punishment should be impale towards that driving school. Also, education such as road ethics and respect towards the law and jurisdiction should be implemented. Ong Tee Keat, please do something!

The other alternative is to enforce the law, even on the expressway. We can see many developed countries installed CCTV cameras and speed traps alongside their highway/motorway. This is done to counteract individuals who mistreat the law. Having said that, our expressway should also install CCTV cameras and speed traps, at least at accident prone areas, as this will act as a reminder for individuals who doesn't respect the law. If such event to occur, then the authority should take action, either by fine or jail time. Furthermore, patrol cars can also enforce the law on expressway. A schedule patrol by the authority will definitely cut the numbers of accidents down.

Barack Obama Speech At Cairo, Egypt On 4th June 2009

Greatest speech of the 21st Century. I applaud him. But i ponder, is he really going to live up to that expectation? Or all this is just an illusion for another magic 'trick'?

Ill Mannered Malaysian

Before we further discuss into this topic, allow me to cite several malay poems (pantun) and proverbs so that we fully understand the situation we have in hand.

Kalau tuan jalan ke hulu,
Carikan saya bunga kemboja;
Kalau tuan mati dahulu,
Nantikan saya di pintu syurga.

Kuat rumah karano sandi,
Rusak sandi karano rumah binaso,
Kuat bangso karano budi,
Rusak budi hancuala bangso.

Bunga melati bunga di darat
Bunga seroja di tepi kali
Hina besi kerana karat
Hina manusia tidak berbudi

Apa guna berkain batik
Kalau tidak dengan sucinya?
Apa guna beristeri cantik
Kalau tidak dengan budinya

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion”. (Dalai Lama)

“There is one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life - reciprocity”. (Confucius)

“One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind”. (Malayan Proverb)

“A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses”. (Chinese Proverb)

“A smile you sent, will always return” (Indian Proverb)

Without an inch of doubt, Malaysian, especially Malays understand the culture of kindness. It has long been taught by their ancestors, respectively, the virtue of kindness and humanity. However, this quality has evaporated from the lives of many urban dwellers. We can see this everywhere in Malaysia, in everyday life, people tend to be selfish, reckless drivers, push to get on the bus and train, not giving up seat to the much needed individuals, littering, and the list goes on. Worse of all, Malay females of which in the Malay cultures have been long proud of them being gentle and fair (ayu), rather ironic what has become nowadays. My worries are for the majority of this "Gadis Melayu". However there are a small part of which still hold to this principals and I admire them for that. As cited in the last poems above, what is the point of having a beautiful wife if not of her virtues. Make no mistake though, I am not here to discuss conservating Malay classic norms, but rather towards exploiting the admirable standards.

"I scratch your back, you scratch mine"

This old English saying justify the social order of todays modernised Malaysians. This disappoints me as much as it does to others who acknowledge the existance of this illness circulating in our society. But what is to blame the occurance of this disease? Obviously generation of passing customs is not the factor here, nor can religion be the cause of it. Some might say globalisation and modernization are the main cause of this; and as far as I'm aware, this may be the answer to it. During the reign of Tun Dr. Mahathir, his development philosophies was to lead Malaysia from a third world country to a first world country. The idea was correct, but alas he only focused on the economic side of it and not taking in consideration the human capital as Tun Abdullah Badawi did. Some critics mentioned that Malaysia has a 1st class infrastructure, but a 3rd class mind. Fair enough, the "Malaysian Industrial Age" happen in courtesy of Tun Dr. Mahathir and we thank him for that; but what takes developed nations a century to revolutionised, we did it in two decades. Undoubtedly, some of the politicians, economic strategist, and visionaries missed out on the importance of proper education that needs to cope with this sudden growth. Thus creating what seem to be a culture shock of this New Malaysia.

Therefore, to create civic awareness amongst Malaysians, there should be a proper education taught on civic virtues. It should be implemented throughout ones' life, especially during their young ages. Institutions such as schools (Driving schools aswell), religious bodies, and local governments play the critical role in making this a reality. However, this doesn't mean that the private, NGOs, and federal and state governments are scot-free. By merely conducting a few programs such as planting trees and gontong-royong would play an important part in this nation-building.

Below are guidelines from Council Of Europe, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities towards building a civic virtues.

Responsibility towards others

1. Human rights give rise to responsibility towards others. All persons should morally assume responsibilities as their own and base their attitudes towards others on the human rights ethos.
2. This has its corollary in a duty to respect the life, dignity and freedom of all people. to fight for justice and solidarity and to show tolerance for the beliefs of others.
3. No one shall discriminate against others on grounds of sex, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, culture or language.
4. In pursuing their life plans, all persons should endeavour to develop the qualities which people look for in one another. This principle of reciprocity embodies the golden rule: do as you would be done by.
5. This entails a readiness to be well disposed, courteous and helpful towards others, and honesty in one's speech and conduct.
6. Anyone party to a conflict of interests should attempt, as far as possible, to settle the matter through a willingness to negotiate and compromise, instead of treating it as a strategic contest.
7. All persons should show respect for other people's reputation, honour and privacy and for the property of others as the sphere in which they exercise their freedom.
8. All persons should commit themselves, as far as possible, to the protection of the natural environment and the husbanding of scarce resources, so that future generations may also live in conditions conducive to human dignity.

Society

1. Everyone should endeavour to be a good neighbour to the people living locally and show a considerate, friendly and helpful attitude towards them, and should strive to settle disputes through a readiness to negotiate.
2. The social duties inherent in ownership should result in personal responsibility of the owner of property, over and above that provided for by law.
3. In line with the subsidiarity principle, the economic security of each household should, as far as possible, be guaranteed first and foremost by its members' gainful employment. This entails efforts to find employment and a willingness to do one's work carefully and reliably.
4. Within firms and administrations work always involves co-operation between individuals. Everyone, above all those in senior positions, shall therefore treat all colleagues properly and fairly and show respect for their human dignity.
5. Honesty, respect and fairness are also owed to competitors within the market economy.
6. Freedom of the media means that persons active in that field have a special responsibility to impart information in a truthful, balanced manner, to respect people’s privacy, to show regard for standards of decency and morality and to refrain from glorifying violence and brutality.
7. In exercising any occupational activity, all persons should constantly fulfil those duties which generally follow from the responsibilities towards others set forth in this declaration. No-one is exempt from such duties on account of his or her occupation. They shall apply without restriction, likewise in respect of fellow-citizens of foreign origin.

REFERENCES

www.quotegarden.com/kindness.html

www.usm.my/pantun/

Resolution 91 (2000) on responsible citizenship and participation in public life
(Council Of Europe, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities)

Abolish Overseas Undergraduate Scholarships

Since this is my first post, I reckon it might as well be a 'productive' one. Throw in more of an intellectual topic rather than just an "ahh, alright then, fair enough" (one-off) topic.

Anyway, the JPA scholarships has been going on for a while now. Some say base the distribution of the scholarships on meritocracy whilst others say increase the numbers of quota. Lets be fair here, all of these are provoked by a few numbers of candidates who questions the system that the governments practices, and eventually it got political. Unfortunate for Malaysia, some of this politicians desperately need supports from others to pursue their own agendas; they saw the opportunity so they grab it by the throat. Therefore a lot of sparks going on here and there, started from it being a government transparency issue to ethnic diversity issue.

My point here is that we can't really rely fully on the government to support our financial needs. There are a lot of other bodies in the private sectors such as TNB and the NGOs (Yayasan Al-Bukhari) giving out scholarships to potential Malaysian students.

After reading Bakri Musa's thought, I'd figured as much as well, i think its time for us to abolish JPA scholarships. Its just a mean for politicians to achieve their personal gains.

Don't get me wrong though. I'm not implying we should punish our gifted students here by abolishing JPA scholarship, however, what did Bakri Musa brought out does have some logics behind it. And to add more to this, one assemblyman mentioned in the parliment recently that how many of our JPA scholarship holders actually came back after their studies work with the government? Some of them even took the initiative to work overseas.