Some of my friends often joke about me taking over the Ministry of Education. I don’t know if I am a good candidate for the job; however, I do know that there’s something terribly wrong with our education system.

The issue of education is quite dear to me as I believe that it will determine the future of our nation. Even pop songs like Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” talks about how important it is to teach our children well.

I am proud to share that I am a product of Methodist Boys’ School, Kuala Lumpur. I attended both the primary and secondary schools there, and I am now in my second term as the President of my school’s alumni association. Apart from my loyalty and love for my alma mater, I must say that there is something different about our school that moulded many of us into not only successful but also quite decent people.
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Gandhi once said that, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” No doubt, my animal-loving friends will agree with him. Indeed, I have shared this quote with friends from SPCA and they enthusiastically agreed.

Apart from humane treatment of animals, I believe one of the points made by that very wise man was that we can judge ourselves by how we treat others that are less fortunate than ourselves, especially those who cannot fend for themselves.

On that note, I am sad to share this May Day message with my fellow Malaysians. I just read the April 21-28, 2008 copy of Newsweek magazine, which had an article entitled “Lured Into Bondage”. When I first saw the heading “The New Wage Slaves” on the cover of the magazine, I thought it was referring to some other lesser developed country. Alas, to my dismay, the article is actually on Malaysia. Please do check out the link above.
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I just started reading a new book (one of many!). I’m halfway through the preface only, and I already find it intriguing.

By the way, this is a true account of the author’s career as an economic hit man. In his own words:

“Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign “aid” organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet’s natural resources. Their tools include fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.
I should know; I was an EHM.”
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Here are a couple of prayers that I feel are quite timely for humanity.

The first one was apparently recited by a pastor in Kansas state, at the opening session of their senate:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good’, but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!”

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Someone shared these lessons with me…

I’ve learned that I like my teacher because she cries when we sing “Silent Night”.
Age 5

I’ve learned that our dog doesn’t want to eat my broccoli either.
Age 7

I’ve learned that when I wave to people in the country, they stop what they are doing and wave back.
Age 9

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Once again, I’d like to comment on Dr. Chandra Muzaffar’s article, but this time, I agree with what he’s saying.

Basically, I agree that “when we go beyond labels such as ‘secular’ and ‘Islamic’ and connect with the substance of our three principal documents we will discover that there is a degree of congruence between the two positions.” And the three documents that Dr. Chandra is talking about are the Federal Constitution, the Rukunegara and Vision 2020.

Now, my question is, how do we move forward from this apparent impasse? It’s very obvious that the current hooha is created by the Deputy Prime Minister for political reasons. Indeed, it’s so idiotic for him to make such a statement that I won’t even go into the so-called debate.
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I was just watching Water, and a scene somehow connected with a few scenes in my own life.

The scene (in the movie), depicts a holy man saying “Such ignorance. It’s this ignorance that is our misfortune”, and then a widow arrives.

After greeting her, he asks the widow “… you’ve been doing this service for many years. So many years of sacrifice and devotion. Do you feel closer to self-liberation?” After a long pause, she replies slowly, “If… self-liberation means… detachment from worldly desires… Then, no, I’m no closer.”
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