Croissant and Latte

I guess it is too early to start drinking! So it is a jumbo croissant and hot latte for me instead. At Sunway University's Café Madeleine.

A great place to chill out on campus! Just ask my colleague, David Chong.

I was happy to know that Celtic eased past St Johnstone into the semi-final of the Scottish Communities League Cup when they decisively won the match 5-0. Kris Commons struck twice (28, 32) before he created the third goal for Gary Hooper (38). Commons then scored his third from the penalty spot after Tony Watt was fouled (57) and four minutes later, Charlie Mulgrew blazed in a fifth. 

Yes, Celtic showed that they were a class apart!

Happy Halloween 2012!

I sure would like to celebrate this day with a Guinness.

Or maybe a Tiger?

Or even a Heineken?

The Trumpet-blower

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz (left) said that protection under the Whistleblower Act for persons leaking information on corruption will not apply to those exposing alleged abuse of government funds in the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) case.

This means that the Whistleblower Act is not what it is supposed to be. To come under the protection of this Act, a person intending to whistleblow cannot leak state secrets as specified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) including confidential financial information protected under Banking and Financial Institution Act (Bafia).

[This explains why Rafizi Ramli (left), who blew the lid on the NFC case, has been charged under Bafia for disclosing the financial statements of the NFC].

Furthermore, he added that the act of whistleblowing must be done secretly. Hush-hush. You cannot shout it out; you can only whistleblow to an enforcement agency – and not the media – which of course, raises the suspicion that this ‘protection’ is only selective in nature! 

That’s why Nazri calls Rafizi a trumpet-blower because he went to the media to expose the NFC wrongdoing. UMNO didn't have a chance to hide the cattle under the proverbial carpet.

He even added that if Rafizi and gang do not understand about the secrecy element involved in the Whistleblower Act, they can approach him and seek his explanation as he is “the number one law minister” that no one can replace. Now, who is the trumpet-blower?! Please show a wee bit of understanding. He is blowing his own trumpet because no one wants to, that's why!

The Whistleblower Act is a sham. Period.

Axe Commercial that is a Big Lie!

I blogged about an Axe commercial last month (i.e. September 06, 2012). Well, I found another Axe commercial which is well, fascinating!

Readers, be warned. I actually bought an Axe and it didn’t work!

The China Press today reported that about 20 percent of an estimated 15,000 present at a MCA dinner in Kulai, Johor last Saturday left during Chua Soi Lek’s speech. 

Naturally, MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lai played down the reported exodus of attendees at this event, saying it wasn’t an indication of diminishing support.

Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions lah – they left in order not to suffer from indigestion. When stomachs are full, it is hard to listen attentively to speeches, especially the ones that go on and on like a broken record. 

Or maybe they need to go to the toilet and get rid of all that shit!

Zombie Nightmare in NY

As part of the Haunted Pumpkin Garden celebration this year, the New York Botanical Garden had invited artist and master carver Ray Villafane (of Food Network fame) and his team to transform humongous pumpkins into zombies and other unearthly creatures. 

Yup, Halloween is here!

Check out this footage from Saturday, October 20th through Sunday, October 21st:

Photos at webpage http://laughingsquid.com/ray-villafane-his-team-carve-huge-pumpkins-into-pumpkin-zombies/:

Both Liverpool and Everton shared the spoils in this derby draw. 

Luis Suarez made one goal (Baines, own goal, 14) and scored another (20) to put the Reds up but the other team evened the scores through in the twenty-second and thirty-fifth minutes respectively. 

Didn't I say to fire Brendan Rodgers?!

A Corrupt State

I am sure all Malaysians can agree with the above!

These days, Malaysian police get carried away very easily. Rather than focus on law enforcement, they get involved in politics. 

A case in point. A police briefing on crime at a primary Tamil school in Semenyih, Selangor on October 06, 2012 turned into a bashing session against Parti Sosialis Malaysia and Bersih. 

The briefing for about 70 parents and their children – mostly 12 years old and below – was organized by the local Hindu Sangam branch and SJK (T) Ladang Semenyih Parents-Teachers Association.

PSM secretary general S Arutchelvan (left) had alleged that the police told the attendees that PSM are linked to the outlawed Communist Party of Malaya; that PSM's aim is to revive the communist ideology; and that the party are under police watch.

The police also said that coalition for clean and fair elections Bersih 2.0 are a "useless activity which caused a lot of strife for the rakyat".

Arutchelvan told Malaysiakini that he had lodged a police report in order to make the police cease such activities. "I don't expect the police to investigate themselves, but this police report is to ask them to stop what they are doing", he said.

As Arutchelvan said, “I have no problems if the police want to speak on the dangers of drug abuse, crime and gangsterism… but the police crossed the line (by) twisting facts, committing slander and allowing themselves to be BN’s propaganda tool”. 

It is already bad enough for the police to allow themselves to be manipulated by UMNO but going to schools to lie to Malaysian children is abhorrent!

Reciting the Doa

Another case of teachers abusing their position. Malaysiakini reported on October 25, 2012 that parents were furious when a school teacher at SK Bihai in Pos Bihai, near Gua Musang in Kelantan had slapped their children because they did not recite the doa (Islamic prayer) after having their lunch.



One of the parents, Atar Pendik, said his two 12-year-old girls were slapped about 1:30 PM on Tuesday, after the children were made to recite the doa even though they are not Muslims.

Atar, along with two other fathers – Hassan Achoi and Along Pandak – whose 12-year-old daughters were also slapped in the incident, made the three-hour journey from Pos Bihai to lodge their reports at the Gua Musang police station.  [Note: Pos Bihai is located in the interior of Kelantan, near its border with Perak].

Malaysiakini has checked with the Gua Musang police station, confirming that the reports were indeed lodged.

According to SK Bihai Parent-Teacher Association deputy chairperson Arom Asir, the children's faces were bruised after they were slapped by the male teacher. Arom said that the primary school has at least 100 children, all of whom are Orang Asli, and the children were eating lunch together after sports.

"They were made to recite prayers the Muslim way before and after meals but they didn't know how, so they kept quiet.

"Then the teacher picked out the older children and slapped them for being quiet," he said.

Arom added that the parents did not know their children were being taught Islamic studies at the school or being made to recite Islamic prayers until earlier this week.

Parents must keep tabs on their children in schools because this sort of incident is not uncommon. I ask myself. If Muslims dislike being proselytized, why are they doing the same to others? Prime Minister Najib Razak once studied in St John's Institution in Kuala Lumpur, I wonder whether the LaSalle Brothers had forced him to say grace before he eats.

On Thursday, a rare Stewart Downing goal secured Liverpool a Europa League victory over Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala and lifted them to the top of Group A. Downing cut in from the left after the break and drilled a powerful angled drive past keeper Vladimir Gabulov in the 53rd minute.

Don't Insult Islam

Yesterday, some 200 PAS (and PKR) supporters gathered outside MCA headquarters in KL's Jalan Ampang to demand an apology from its president Chua Soi Lek over his reckless remarks that they deem hurtful to Muslims. The peaceful crowd also held up placards with the words ‘Jangan Hina Islam’ (Don’t insult Islam) and ‘Soi Lek wajib minta maaf’ (Soi Lek must apologize).

But whatever happened to UMNO members? What about Perkasa? KIMMA (Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress)? Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, the self-styled champion of Islam? Aren’t these people upset with Chua? Won't they be up in arms to protest against Chua? Why the silence? Please excuse me if I am questioning their faith.

Barcelona carved a dramatic 2-1 victory over Celtic in their pulsating Champions League Group G clash at Spain’s Nou Camp. But it was Celtic who scored first when Georgios Samaras headed into goal off a swinging cross (18). Andres Iniesta helped Barcelona to even the score (45), and Jordi Alba broke Celtic hearts when he stole in to put the finishing touch on a beautiful curling pass by Adriano Correia (90) to give Barcelona victory.

BBC Scotland’s Alasdair Lamont described Celtic as being “outstanding to a man”. Despite the disappointment, Celtic can be hugely proud of their side's display ahead of the return fixture against Tito Vilanova's side in Glasgow on November 07.

Celtic remain second in Champions League Group G on four points, with Barcelona leading the way after three wins from their three outings.

The Division G Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests were held last Sunday at Taylor’s College, Subang Jaya. I emerged as the second runner-up in the Humorous Speech contest. And I wasn't placed in the Evaluation Contest.

Run for Gold

The SUBS Concilium is organizing a 7-km charity marathon aptly named “Run for Gold” on November 11, 2012 to raise much-needed funds for GOLD. [Note: A 7-km race does not qualify as a marathon, not even a half-marathon!]. 

GOLD is an acronym for the vision (Generating Opportunities for Learning Disabilities) and the principle objective of the Association of Learning Disabilities, Petaling District in Selangor, Malaysia. The center is located at Kompleks 3C MPSJ in Jalan PJS 11/2, Taman Bandar Sunway and this initiative by SUBS students is to raise not just money but also public awareness that individuals with learning disabilities live in our midst and they need our whole-hearted support. Kindly check out their blog at http://gold3c.blogspot.com/p/about-gold.html for more information.

Yesterday, six SUBS students came knocking door-to-door promoting to Sunway University staff and canvassing support for the “Run for Gold” – they performed a ditty that urged us to sign up and participate in this event.

Following up on the Pussy Riot case – read my October 13, 2012 blogpost at this link http://helpvictor.blogspot.com/2012/10/one-member-freed.html – the two members of the anti-Kremlin punk band Pussy Riot have been sent to remote prison camps to serve their sentences. Maria Alyokhina, 24, will serve the rest of her two-year term at a women's prison camp in Perm, a Siberian region notorious for hosting some of the Soviet Union's harshest camps. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, has been sent to Mordovia, a region that also hosts a high number of prisons. They are expected to serve the rest of their sentences, which end in March 2014, in the camps, where conditions are reportedly dire. Please keep them in our prayers!

Oh yes, last evening, I was at the joint meeting of the MidValley and MIA Toastmasters Clubs meeting at Cititel MidValley and I was given the evaluator’s role for MIA member Samuel Sham who presented his CC speech #8. There were five speakers and I relished speeches by Satomi Isono and Penny Choo (although the latter must put in more practice to be fluid, fluent and flowing in her delivery). The evaluations were generally good and I was voted Best Evaluator. A good meeting that started three minutes late. I am happy to give the meeting a score of a 7 out of a 10.

TI is 88 years old

Happy TI Day!

Party of the Running Dogs

You know MCA is beating a dead horse when this year’s edition of the MCA general assembly had delegates openly demonstraing their subservience to UMNO as can be seen from the photo – "I love PM" banners accompanied by chants of "Ah Jib Kor (Brother Najib) boleh". 

Looks like Najib is comfortable in his role as the MCA mascot. I mean, what else is he good for? And these Chinese running dogs had sounded the death knell for their party when they displayed their “desperation”. MCA doesn’t mind at all that they are insulting and humiliating the Chinese because they would rather boast how slavish they are to UMNO. They have no shame lah!

My May 25, 2012 blogpost made a mention on the Outcome-Based Education workshop facilitated by USM’s Professor Ir. Dr. Hj. Md Azlin and Dr. Norazura Muhammad Bunnori. Well, the duo made a return visit to Sunway University on Friday and Saturday to provide more of the same for SUBS members. 

Some photos that were taken on Saturday:

OBE is a student-centered learning philosophy that is gaining traction. “Outcome-Based Education means clearly focusing and organizing everything in an educational system around what is essential for all students to be able to do successfully at the end of their learning experiences. 

This means starting with a clear picture of what is important for students to be able to do, then organizing the curriculum, instruction, and assessment to make sure this learning ultimately happens” (Spady, 1994:1). 

OBE is, therefore, an approach to planning, delivering and evaluating instruction that requires administrators, teachers and students to focus their attention and efforts on the desired results of education – results that are expressed in terms of individual student learning.

My impression is that we focus on student mastery of traditional subject-related academic outcomes (usually with a strong focus on subject-specific content) and some cross-discipline outcomes (such as the ability to solve problems or to work co-operatively). 

I would caution that this is not enough and that learning is not significant unless the outcomes reflect the complexities of real life and give prominence to the life-roles that learners will face after they have finished their formal education. 

It is this aspect that I don’t think many of us spend time thinking about – how to orient education to the future needs of students, and of society in general.

Heriot-Watt Comes to Malaysia

The other day I was making a passing reference to “growing old’. To me, how old you are is not really important. Age is just a number. So, when I tell people that I am still studying, they look at me and they shake their heads in disbelief. I guess they have not heard about this concept of life-long learning. Or if they do, they don't subscribe to it. Anyway, they only know me as a lecturer at Sunway University.

So for the unbelievers amongst you, here is the proof:

The photos were taken at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur on October 19, 2012 where I attended an Edinburgh Business School event. EBS is the Graduate School of Business for UK’s Heriot-Watt University, and the University is establishing a branch campus in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

Clinical Celtic soundly thrashed St Mirren 5-0 away on Saturday to secure a fourth straight win in the SPL. Gary Hooper opened the scoring after fifteen minutes and Buddies goalkeeper Craig Samson's fumble allowed Efe Ambrose to volley in the second three minutes later. Victor Wanyama's half-volley and a 25-yarder (32, 38) added to the goals’ tally before Tony Watt’s header (86) completed the rout. Celtic has now won its last six matches in all competitions.

This match served as a good warm-up before Celtic travel to Spain for their clash with Barcelona on Tuesday. Of course, Barcelona will provide Celtic with an altogether different level of opposition but the SPL champions must believe in themselves in order to win!