It's fasting month in Malaysia, but let's all chill

It is that time of the year when Muslims in Malaysia observe "bulan Ramadhan", a month of fasting which precedes the joyous celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

But alas, it seems that each year this holy month is marred by incidents of misunderstandings, badly checked emotions, insensitive remarks and the like.

Just when it has been alleged that a school principal in Johor had uttered unsettling remarks calling non-Malays "penumpang" (visitors), yet another principal in Kedah has behaved in an unbecoming manner by scolding non-Malays students for eating outside the canteen.

It was reported in the Star on 21 August 2010 that "In the incident, the principal had allegedly scolded 10 Form Three students for eating outside the school canteen at about 7am before classes began. The students were eating outside because the lights in the canteen were not switched on. The principal had purportedly told them off for “not respecting” their Muslim friends and that they “should return to their country of origin if they did not show such respect”.

If the principal did utter such remarks, one wonders why such words are being increasingly used these days? Perhaps, there have been too many people in authority/ politicians who have been using such words of late. And therefore, some simple-minded emotional citizens just follow such bad examples.

Asking non-Malays to return to their country of origin? Where would you ask citizens of Malaysia who were born and raised here, for maybe 2 or 3 generations, and who have contributed to nation-building, to return to? Where would be their country of origin? One would have thought that school principals were more educated, enlightened and rational. Sigh......the quality of the people in charge of our schools these days.

And isn't the point of Ramadhan for people to be more patient, compassionate, kind and to resist the body's usual demands? And surely by seeing other people eat - which is their right, since they are not fasting - should not weaken one's resolve to fast or make a person observing the fast to become furious beyond reason? Be assured that non-Malays would not be so arrogant or stupid or rude as to deliberately eat a scrumptious meal in front of our fellow Malays. But if the students in that school in Kedah were eating around the canteen area, then why should the principal be so upset? Shouldn't the principal respect the right of those students to eat their breakfast in peace? (By the way, why weren't the lights in the canteen turned on? Because it is fasting month, so nobody else needs to eat in the canteen?)

Let's all just chill, and may the noble spirit of Ramadhan prevail this month and for all Ramadhans to come.

Why is "saman ekor" still around?

I had thought that the issue of "saman ekor" was settled a long time ago.

A number of years ago, much unhappiness was highlighted regarding the practice of the police issuing summonses to the public for various traffic offences - such summonses either arrived very late or never at all. And people could not remember whether they had indeed committed such an offence. The authorities, if I recall correctly, had said that they would put an end to "saman ekor" and that traffic violations would be penalised on the spot.

Hey, but "saman ekor" is very much alive. And now our DPM says he will "consider" public unhappiness about it.

I recently had to renew my road tax in July, and lo and behold the Transport Dept's system noted that my car registration number had a "block" on it, indicating that I had one or more unsettled police summonses. A first for me!

So off I trotted, like a good citizen, to the main police HQ opposite Ipoh's majestic old train station. Indeed, I had 2 summonses to my car - one on 26 Dec 2008 (just one day after I moved to Ipoh!!??) and another in May 2009. I was renewing my road tax for July 2010.

So, I only discover after almost 1 1/2 years from my first ever police traffic summons, that I had apparently ran a red light. How am I to remember that, to challenge that? How is the police to prove that I did? But you see, the govt and the police see to it that my arms are twisted and I HAVE to pay the fine if I am to renew my road tax. Otherwise, I will be fined for driving around without a valid road tax sticker displayed on my windscreen.

Where is the equity and logic behind the "saman ekor"?? DPM Muhyiddin, please do something useful for the people of Malaysia and do away with the "saman ekor".

Yin Fai Kee - Redeemed

I try to be fair.

I had an earlier blog posting where I wrote that Yin Fai Kee kept my family waiting for over an hour, and we walked out without eating. Well, we gave the place another try - this time for supper. My son had just finished his martial arts class and was hungry, so we went to get the black Hokkien mee and some chilly la-la (mussels fried in garlic and chilly).

We were at first reluctant to go back to Yin Fai Kee, and first stopped at Sun Seng Fatt on the same Jalan Leong Sin Nam (also famed for noodles). But the proprietor told us it would be a long wait - credit to her for telling us in advance. So we had no choice but to go to Yin Fai Kee.

This time we waited no more than 10 minutes and the food arrived. The Hokkien mee still could not match KL standards but for Ipoh, I guess it is one of the better ones. The fried la-la, though, was great. My son really liked it.

And last night, I had a craving for Hokkien mee. I nipped out at 2130 to "ta pau" the black fat noodles and got home with it one minute shy of 2200. Not bad.

So, Yin Fai Kee has redeemed itself in my eyes.

Outrageous pricing at Nasi Kandar Pelita

OK - so the effects of the reduction in subsidies for sugar and chicken must be kicking in.

But I remember reading that the Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners’ Association (Primas) and the Malaysian Indian Muslim Restaurant Operators’ Association (Presma) saying in the papers that they would maintain their prices. Perhaps Pelita Nasi Kandar is not a member of either Primas or Presma.

While we were out at the Tesco in Ipoh, my maid had lunch at Pelita. She had, to be exact, half a serving of white rice, one curried chicken wing and some bean sprouts. Oh, and some curry sauce on her rice. No drink, mind you. Her bill? RM8.70

Tell me that isn't exorbitant. Beware next time you eat at Nasi Kandar Pelita.

Can you trust your school bus driver?

Malaysians are shocked and outraged at the recent case of a 10 year old who was raped by her school bus driver - that he was so brazen to rape the helpless child in broad day light in his bus while parked close to a kindergarten is even more unforgiveable. Thank goodness for the responsible kindergarten teacher who witnessed this terrible crime.

Now the idea being tossed about is to require all school buses to have a conductor on board. Aside from the issue of cost (which will inevitably be passed onto parents), will having a conductor on board the school bus make it safer for our children?

Maybe and maybe not.

The crime of rape may be conducted singularly or in gangs. If the conductor and bus driver are both males I, for one, would not feel any safer. If the conductor is a lady, the odds I think are better. But you might argue that the bus driver could intimidate or threaten his female conductor into being his accomplice.

The crime of rape is unacceptable in any circumstance, more so when the sick rapists target helpless young children. Karpal Singh has proposed the death penalty for convicted rapists. Certainly, they deserve severe punishment - there are many forms to choose from.

Dry curry mee - Yee Fatt

As my parents are here visiting over the weekend, we have been eating out quite a bit. This morning we decided to have curry noodles for breakfast. My husband remembered that his grandmother used to love going to Yee Fatt at the Jalan Kampar roundabout opposite Methodist Girls' School for the dry curry mee there.

We got to Yee Fatt around 9.15am. The place was about a quarter full. We quickly found a table and placed our order - 4 dry curry with mee hoon and mee (mix of vermicelli and yellow noodles) with added roast pork, and 2 meehoon in plain soup for the kids. By now, the coffee shop was quickly filling up.

And hubby said his grandma also likes the "mo yee cha" there - a black sweet tea with a hardboiled egg - so we ordered 3 bowls.

The dry curry noodles were smothered in rich, reddish curry, topped with mint leaves. Very tasty. It also comes with pieces of charsiu and chicken, and of course, bean sprouts. The kids were happy enough with their soup noodles. I liked my breakfast this morning, but hubby thinks that the dry curry noodles in Nam Chau is better.

Well you can try out Yee Fatt and Nam Chau and decide for yourself, too!

Etiquette when visiting friends

I recently had a friend who came to my home. We were actually going to visit another friend together, and since she didn't know the way there, she would hop into my car.

When my friend arrived, I was rushing to send my boy to school. So I told my friend to wait for me at home. At that time, my daughter was still having her lunch supervised by my maid. Before my friend arrived, I had closed the doors to our study and guest room downstairs.

Later, at our mutual friend's music centre opening (Allegretto in Panorama Lapangan Perdana), my friend who was at my home earlier, mentioned how handsome my son looked in his kindy graduation picture. Now, this picture is placed in the guest room downstairs, whose door I closed.

Back home, I asked my maid if she knew whether my friend had gone into the guest room. My maid replied, exasperated, that indeed my friend had gone into all the rooms downstairs, including the ones where I had closed the doors.

I was rather upset at my friend's behaviour as she had violated the privacy of my home. A closed door means "no entry", don't you agree? It is very unbecoming to explore, uninvited and unchaperoned, someone else's home, especially by opening doors.

I don't know if I should tell my friend my feelings, or just let it go. Well, I won't be having her in my home anytime soon.

Sun Marpoh Restaurant, Ipoh Garden

Reading other bloggers rave about this place, I am surprised my inlaws never seem to have tried it, despite living in Ipoh for ages and ages and ages.....

I heard about Sun Marpoh from my maid agency back in PJ! The lady at the agency is an Ipohan too. Well, I am glad to report that my family and I are happy with the food at Sun Marpoh.

The second time we dined there, on a Saturday evening around 1830, the place was packed! We managed to secure a table but worried about a long wait (a-la Yin Fai Kee's bad experience). Ha! I was suitably impressed that despite the crowd, our food arrived in 9 minutes flat. (hubby was timing it) So far, the quickest and most efficient kitchens in Ipoh have got to be 1919 and Sun Marpoh!

We love the butter-cream prawns (actually it's lai-liu har - no clue what it's called in English) - Sun Marpoh gives a generous heap of the crispy fried buttery strands - and my kids polished off the sizzling-bean curd in a jiffy. The black pepper venison was delicious too, though the belacan kangkung could be better - but still, it was good.

This restaurant will surely be a family regular from now on.

Kinta Valley Wind Orchestra - inaugural concert

I did not have high expectations when I went for the Kinta Valley Wind Orchestra (KVWO) inaugural concert on the 4th of July 2010. It was to be held in the Syuen Hotel - not the best place with the best acoustics. I told my husband that I would stay until 930pm max, regardless whether the concert was over or not.

But the night turned out to be extremely enjoyable, with the orchestra members enthusiastic and full of promise, and with tremendous local support as the Syuen ballroom was packed out. So there is room and demand for orchestral music and the arts in Ipoh! We stayed till the end of the concert at well past 10pm.

The 50 member-strong wind orchestra comprised musicians of all ages, mainly novice and amateur players supplemented by the presence and service of professional musicians from the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra who gave of their service freely. Such is their commitment to music.

The KVWO was formed in January 2010 under the auspices of the Kinta Valley Symphonic Society, founded by the generous grant given by Dato' KK Lim. Eugene Pook was brought on board to be the first artistic director and conductor of the orchestra. At the same time, Eugene is also music director of the Perak Society of Performing Arts and advisor to the Youth Circle of Arts Malaysia.

Given the short time with which the musicians had to prepare for the concert, their performance that night was commendable. Conductor Eugene Pook shared with the audience that when he auditioned the musicians, he was heartened that so many turned up for the audition - that was the good news. The bad news, as Eugene put it, "They cannot play! Oh man, I've got a lot of work to do" - to the amusement of the audience. Well the hard work put in by all has certainly paid off. Well done!

I look forward to the growing orchestral and arts scene in Ipoh, never really expecting it to be vibrant here at all. Pleasant surprises to living in Ipoh .....

Too much pressure in Malaysian school system

So, that's what the Education Man is saying now.

There's the UPSR for Year 6, PMR for year 9 and SPM for year 11. And most everyone takes these exams oh so seriously! Even though when you think about it, who cares what you scored when you were 12 or 15 years old? Yet the amount of expectation and pressure piled onto our kids to excel in these exams are tremendous.

While our Education Ministry is now mulling the possibility of abolishing the UPSR and PMR, let me tell you about an interesting development in Perak in the public education system.

The Perak Education Department, or I am told it is the District Education Department for Kinta Utara, has in its exam-oriented wisdom decided to implement a "controlled-school" system. 17 primary schools in Ipoh have been given the privilege to be called controlled-schools, and with it the power from 2011 to demand that all students entering year 1 must possess satisfactiory mastery of the 3Ms (reading, writing and math). These controlled schools will require kindergartens to provide "report cards" for children wishing to enter the schools.

After entering the controlled school, the pressure cooker saga continues. The controlled school is empowered to remove students from the school if in Year 3, Year 4 or Year 5 the student does not achieve a Grae C (50% and above) for the core examinable subjects. This means that there is no certainty that a student can remain in his/ her chosen school after Year 3, as each year the controlled school will review the year-end exams, and the student may be asked to leave the school if his/ her results are not up to scratch.

Imagine the uncertainty, the pressure on primary school students to perform academically just to stay on in the school. Imagine the disruption to the child's education, not to mention his/ her social development and connection to friendships already developed from Year 1 to 3 should the student be compelled to leave the school. And not to forget, the label of being a "failure" and having to leave a controlled school to go to a "school for failures"!

So the Perak Education Department wants to segregate Ipoh schools into "brilliant schools" and "for the dumb ones"? I just don't see the rationale. And I sure hope the Perak Education Department did its homework, research, focus group discussions, invite feedback and opinion before it embarked on this insane education policy.

I also spoke to an officer in the Ministry of Education in Putrajaya about this matter, and guess what? Hey! It's ok, each state can do as it pleases with its education system. That's real united, uniformed and 1Malaysia, isn't it?