1Stream?

Talks on a "single-stream" education system is making its rounds again in Malaysia. It's the "1" phenomena now, 1Malaysia, 1Toilet, 1MH, 1Stream... I for one have always been a supporter of the "single-stream" system over vernacular education systems. I've always dreamed a day when Malaysians will attend a common school where children are not segregated by religion or ethnicity. But the day when 1Stream becomes reality will probably not happen any time soon. Face it lah... we have way too many poliTIKUS who will prefer to divide everyone for their own gain.

There are too much politics involved not to mention the deep distrust between the ethnic groups when it comes to education. The Chinese and Indians have a point - they want the ensure their cultural end ethnic identities are preserved through vernacular schools. The fact that national schools are too slanted towards a particular race and religion remains a valid concern. Furthermore, we are still worried that "unity in diversity" may give way to "assimilation" through 1Stream.

I was a product of the national school, during times when it was still quite favored by the general population especially in big cities like KL, Ipoh and Penang. I have Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Punjabi friends. Malay was our medium of instruction in school while English was widely spoken. I cannot deny that I've less attachment to the Chinese language, particularly Mandarin though i've picked up on it over the years. We had teachers of different ethnic groups who are color-blind (do not discriminate race-wise). As far as I was concerned during my time, I did not feel my ethnic identity was threatened simply because I enrolled in a national school. I felt I understood better our compatriots of different race/ religion.

But times have indeed changed. Since "remove" classes were removed, non-Malay enrollment in national schools have declined. Vernacular schools have become the order of the day. As a result national schools are no longer "national", they are indeed Malay schools. Maybe due to practicality or overzealous school administrators, our "national" schools have become increasingly Malay- and Islam-centric in outlook and practice. Drive past any such schools and you would see Jawi scripts splashed across the walls. Which non-Malay parent would send a child to a school like that? Activities in these schools are also increasingly drawn on racial/ religious lines. It is the "murid-murid Islam dan bukan Islam". Kudos for segregating our kids. Things like you can't wear short pants for sports are common. I'm sure most have read in the papers about the gradual hijack of our national schools. If they are going to introduce 1Stream, they have to remove such unproductive practices in schools and build a truly 1Malaysia outlook.

Having said that, while I do not dare say that 1Stream is the best solution (maybe I have my distrust in government policies), but I am still a supporter of a single-stream education system. There is bound to be opposition to it. When LKY decided to go 1Stream in Singapore many decades ago, there was stiff opposition from the Chinese educationists. Nevertheless he pushed ahead and forced all schools to adopt a common stream of education. At the same time, he reinforced mother tongue language classes. Schools in Singapore are truly 1Singapore and Malaysia has lots to learn from them when it comes to implementing a truly single stream nationals school in a multi-racial society. (Ironically, Chinese educationists have been a headache when it comes to single-stream school in both Malay-majority Malaysia and Chinese-majority Singapore)

Implementation of 1Stream would have to be an eventuality. I am really not sure whether we are ready for it although I still believe it is the best policy versus our present divide-and-teach system. The problem is definitely "implementation". Malaysia is 1st class when it comes to horrible implementation. The policy fears being hijacked by overzealous administrators. Meanwhile, we just sit back and watch everyone debating something which I'm pretty sure will be forgotten soon. Malaysians are forgetful.

While we are in the subject of 1Stream, I've always wondered what on earth is the relevance of independent Chinese schools in Malaysia. I'm a supporter of 1Stream, I tolerate vernacular system as a practical reality but I could never ever understand why we still have an independent Chinese education system. Are these people still having allegiance to China/ Taiwan? Why are they exempted from the national curricula in favor of a China-centric education system? I was told these schools are emphasizing Chinese history over our Malaysian history! And when graduates of these schools were given the pass in university entrance (remember Namewee), they complain like hell though they know that's the fact from the start.

Marina Barrage

Visited Singapore's Marina Barrage today. To the uninitiated, the Marina Barrage is a project to dam-up Marina Bay to become a reservoir right smack in the middle of the city. Marina Bay used to be the point where Kallang River and Singapore River enter the sea. But after it is dammed up, the entire bay becomes a reservoir as the bay is now separated from the sea by 9 huge gates.

The project is in fact a flood-control measure which helps to alleviate flooding in the low-lying parts of the city due to tidal effects. Meanwhile, the desalting process is still ongoing, i.e. they are trying to remove salt from the bay in order to get fresh water which can then be used also be used for supplying water.

This is a picture of the gates. On the left is the reservoir (would-be fresh water) and on the right is the open sea.
The Marina Barrage area is also fast becoming a recreational area with water sports and picnic facilities. It is after all smack in the middle of the city and they can't just waste it all to store water!

This picture shows the surrounding view of the barrage. In the background, you could see ongoing construction works at Marina Sands Integrated Resort aka Casino.

Johor Bahru Chinese Heritage Museum

Johor Bahru has just added a new attraction with the founding of the "Johor Bahru Chinese Heritage Museum". The museum is owned by the Johor Bahru Tiong Hua Association which is made up of 5 main Chinese dialect associations - Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka and Hainan. Apparently, the predecessor of JB Tiong Hua Association was the once influential Ngee Heng Society.

I decided to pay this new museum a visit as I am always quite fond of history. It was a small but nice museum depicting the origins of the Chinese community in JB as well as their contribution to nation-building. The Chinese apparently settled in JB through the "Kangchu" system which saw the opening of gambier and pepper plantations. Naturally, the Chinese were very dialect-centric and thus the formation of various societies and dialect associations. Ngee Heng was one of the Chinese societies which was extremely influential due to its good ties to the Johor royal family. The museum has exhibits of various Chinese wares, items and heritage stuffs. It is also has a showcase of how the Chinese fared throughout different periods of the Johor history - colonial period, WWII, communist insurgency and finally merdeka.

I would recommend any visitor to JB not to miss out this little museum located on Jalan Tan Hiok Nee.

If Only

Find more videos like this on video.filestube.com.

This is a famous Arabic song called Alawa (علواة) which my Syrian driver used to play almost daily in the car. Typically mid-eastern, very ethnic and kampung but with a catchy tune. According to Firaz, it was sung by a famous singer by the name of Melhem Zain (ملحم زين). Never knew the meaning of the song until today when out of boredom I searched the net for it.

Melhem Zein - If Only
If only, if only my lover would come back to me
He is my life and every wish
Why good is a heart that has no lover within it
It's like a stone sitting on the ground
If only we could go back the way we were
If only I could visit you and you could come visit us
Your dad would greet me and your mother would pamper me
Please put my heart out, my pain is burning (literally, melting) me

My hands miss your hands so much
And my eyes long for your eyes
I'm melting in my clothes and I'm a wreck
Pull me out of my misery and make me happy
Oh if only...

What were you coming to take from me?
Telling me how much you me so and that you're burning up
What changed you?
Your beauty took your mind
I never cross your mind and I can't get you out of mine

That was the English translation I found on the web.

Freak storm

A freak storm hit Seri Alam area today. I was at Tesco that time and suddenly it started raining heavily and winds were so strong I've never seen such fury in JB. I could not see anything in front of me and my car was almost rocking in the wind. Somehow, in between the heavy gust and made it out of the car and went into the hypermarket. Surprisingly I met two friends there. We decided there was no way we are going to get out in the storm, so we decided to have tea. The wind was so strong, that everyone in the hypermarket were just staring out from the safe confines of the complex.

We thought probably, the sidelines of typhoon Parma has hit us as rumored through SMS. I left, when the storm has died down. Trees collapsed on every corner of the township, signboards downed, bill-boards turned over and rubbish strewn around. Flash floods were everywhere, and the monsoon drains have basically burst with water overflowing onto the streets. The roads were choked with traffic and it was utter chaos. A freak have suddenly strucked us without warning (except for SMS rumors about Parma which the Met has vehemently denied). It started suddenly and ended quickly. Perhaps it's another sign of the world climate going crazy!

Surprisingly, it seems that the storm has only hit this part of Johor. Later, when I went down to JB everything seems normal and there were no signs of any major storm. Surprising how localized weather can get.

Scenic Drive to our Neighbor

Once upon a time, Dr. M had a dream. A dream to break down the causeway and build a 'Scenic Bridge'. It was a dream to build a bridge on our-side of the Johor Straits whether or not our friendly neighbor down south agrees with it.
Of course, what happened after that was history. Pak Lah turned the idea into rubbish. We kept the Causeway and Dr. M kept the word 'scenic' in 'Scenic Bridge'. Instead, we have a 'Scenic Drive' up the hill towards the new CIQ. Oh...not to mention, the weekend crawl is worse then even!And while we are at it, don't you think the 'Scenic Drive' looks exactly like an F1 circuit? We build our very own F1 circuit in Sepang years ago. Recently, our neighborly neighbor launched their street F1. But as usual, the spirit of 'Malaysia Boleh' ensures we will have 2 F1 circuits instead! One smack at the entrance into Singapore!Bravo! Malaysia Boleh! Sit tight, take a long winding ride up to the JB CIQ whilst enjoying a view of JB city. Oh... and hopefully no more tremors that will keep the CIQ shutdown for 40 minutes. Anyway, one last curve before reaching the CIQ.
Well, at least we don't have to put up with the filthy and disgraceful old JB Kastam. Btw, if you are tired of the long crawls and decide to use the Second Link, please be advised that toll payments can only be made using Touch N Go card effectively recently. No more cash payments! Didn't know about this until complaints appeared in the papers about poor publicity prior to going cashless. Hey, I stay in JB and didn't have an inkling about this new move until it's a done deal. Nvm-lah, I almost never use Second Link.

Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL)

There has been a frenzy of road-works going on in JB lately. One of them is the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) expressway which will link the PLUS highway at Pandan directly to the new CIQ in downtown JB. Scheduled to be operational in 2011, lets hope this new highway project will help to cut travelling time and overcome JB's traffic congestion.

Causeway was jammed in the old days too!

Seems like the traffic on the Johor Causeway as always been quite nightmarish since time immemorial! Judging from the water pipe location in the pic, looks like the crowd is headed into JB... weekend makan + shopping, perhaps.

And this is the crawl we see now in modern-day Johor Causeway. Must be the weekend crowd rushing back to Singapore on Sunday night. Sometimes I can't imagine the thousands of commuters who cross the causeway daily just to earn a living.

If only one day, Malaysia and Singapore do away with the immigration checks and allow hassle-free travel between both countries. Just like in the EU!