USHERING IN THE YEAR OF THE SNAKE

I have often been asked why Chinese New Year is always celebrated with deafening loudness - firecrackers, drums, and incessant blaring of Chinese New Year songs at all shopping malls. Well, the Chinese believe the noise will chase away evil. Besides, what is a celebration without the sound of merry-making and gaiety?

The Chinese are very boisterous people when it comes to celebrations. Anyone attending a Chinese wedding dinner will be familiar with the 'Yam Seng' toast to the newly-weds. Simply put, Chinese people are LOUD even when they speak!

Here's a video that captures the spirit of Chinese New Year in Singapore's Chinatown. If only there was a running commentary, instead of the jarring singing in the background.


Here's one of Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. All that glitters is gold, and edible too. Watch and find out.

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WHEN WE WERE YOUNG...

(Different versions of this have been circulating on the internet for quite a while. A version exists at 'Malaysia First, Malaysia Last' blog.)

To those of you in the baby-boomers group, may these images bring back nostalgic memories of the good old days when we were young.

"Those were the days my friend,
We thought they'd never end.
We'd sing and dance forever and a day.
We'd live the life we choose,
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way." (sung by Mary Hopkin)

Ghani Minat was our favourite soccer hero, Wong Peng Soon was our favourite badminton player, and M.Jegathesan was our favourite athlete.

You were not cool if you did not have long sideburns, greasy hair (held together with Brylcream) combed into a 'karipap" (pompadour). You were either an Elvis Presley fan or a Cliff Richard fan. You could not be neutral. The more rebellious among us were Rolling Stones fans.

Films by P Ramlee were always enjoyed by all Malaysians. How could we forget classics like 'Do-Re-Mi' and 'Bujang Lapok', and seeing P Ramlee dueting with Saloma on "Gelora"?

Susu lembu (fresh cow's milk) was house delivered in a stainless steel container by our big friendly and strong Bahi on his bicycle. The container cap served as a funnel. The kacang puteh man came a-peddling, walking and balancing on his head six compartments of different types of murukus ...and we bartered our old exercise books for a paper cone of kacang putih.

Driving license renewal was done by pasting an additional slip at the back of a small red booklet. We could enjoy monthly credit "facilities" from our friendly neighbourhood sundry shop by entering the amounts owing into a little "555" book. This was the "credit card" of the day.

Fraser & Neave bottled drinks came in wooden crates and were displayed on the table in homes during Chinese New Year. We always carried in our pocket a packet of fire crackers during the Chinese New Year.

We also always carried a satu-ringgit note at night in case we were stopped by a mata-mata (policeman) for not having tail lights on our bicycles. One plate of noodles 'chow kway teow' cost 30 sen, and we brought our own egg. One 'roti canai' cost 15 sen and one banana 5 sen. 5 sen for kacang putih and 10 sen for ice "ang tau".  Sometimes, ice ball was only 5 sen "pau ang tau" and half red sugar, and the other half black sugar or sarsi.

We bought 'bangkali' bread from the Indian roti man who paddled his bicycle around the neighbourhood with the familiar ringing sound from his bicycle. Sometimes we bought Cold Storage bread wrapped in wax paper. We would spread the bread with butter and kaya, and wrap it with the wax paper to take to school.

Boys went for the 'durian' crew cut by the itinerant Indian or Hockchew barber. It was 30-cent a haircut, all the way to the top. Reason?.. easy to dry when whenever we sneaked off to swim. During weekends, we went swimming in the river. No swim trunks, only birthday suits.  No one would laugh at whether your "kuku bird" was small, crooked, etc.

On Sunday mornings, we listened to Kee Huat Radio's "Fantastic Facts and Fancies", and on Saturday, "Top of the Pops", both hosted by DJ Patrick Teoh who always ended his show with, "Here's wishing you blue skies."

Saturday mornings too, we would go for cheap matinee shows at the Cathay Cinema, usually cowboy shows or Greek mythologies like "Jason and the Golden Fleece". The Cathay Cinema at Jalan Bukit Bintang opposite the Federal Hotel first opened in 1959 with the film, "Campbell 's Kingdom". Father would give me 70 cent for the matinee shows which normally started at 10.30 am on Saturdays and Sundays - 50 cent for the ticket and 20 cent for the return bus fare, makan was not included. Nobody paid a dollar for the 'Reserved' seats.

Believe it or not, we had double-decker buses owned by the Toong Foong Omnibus Company.  Whenever we boarded the bus, we would run to the upper deck to get a better view of the journey.

We never, never, never talked or mixed with girls until Form 5. I learned the waltz, cha cha, rumba, foxtrot and offbeat cha cha from a classmate's sister. My first time dancing with a girl, I nearly froze and my heart went "botobom, botobom ..."

Standard cure for headache? Take Aspro.  We took a lot of sweet stuff like candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups .... and diabetes was rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was a remedy for fever. Tonic water was always taken at the first hint of malaria. And a spoonful of Scotts Emulsion cod liver oil was a staple after meals.

The first time I used a modern toilet, I squatted on it as I was used to the "bucket system" toilet. Our children would not know the danger of visiting the outdoor toilet at night, nor of jumping in fright when the night soil man collected the bucket while you were in the middle of doing your business. Toilet paper was torn up newspaper on a hook which you had to crumple first before using to wipe your bottom. White toilet paper was an unknown luxury until I left home.

We could turn a mere 5 pebbles (stones) into a game of endless fun. With a ball (tennis ball best), we boys would run like crazy for hours. We caught guppies in drains/canals and when it rained, we swam there.

We ate salty, very sweet and oily food, candies, bread and real butter, and drank condensed milk in coffee/tea, iced kacang, but we weren't overweight because we ran, cycled or climbed trees all day. We fell from the trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and still we continued fearlessly with the stunts.

When our parents found out we were caned in school, it was certain we would get another round of lashes from the rotan (rod) at home. Parents always sided with the teachers.

We flew kites with string coated with pounded glass powder and horse glue, and we cut our hands on the string.  Happiness was winning a kite against a local samseng. I forgot, we also had to make our own kites to suit our "fighting styles".

Most of us never had birthday parties until we were 21.

We were the last generation to know how to use logarithm tables and slide rulers. We had telephones which were really, really heavy weights.

And I believe, this generation produced the best parents because we went through the hard times.

We never heard of "bumiputra" and or "1Malaysia", because we were already one Malaysia then.

(All pictures taken from Google images)

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WHEN SPRING-CLEANING MEANS DE-CLUTTERING YOUR HOME

Books to be donated. Still more to give away.

When it comes to clearing out stuff collected over the years, it can be a challenging task for older adults.

The other day I found myself sitting on the floor surrounded by mountains of books and files accumulated over almost 40 years of teaching English. Many of these books are no longer in print, and many were bought on trips overseas. Teachers from the pre-1980s era will tell you that the majority of today's locally published English textbooks for students and resource books for teachers are an embarrassment to the once noble profession.

A cupboard full of files...

But I digress. So there I was, forced by lack of space to make a quick decision - what to do with three cupboards of reference books. I had tendered my resignation as tutor at Wawasan Open University in December 2011. It was unlikely that I would return to teaching again. My passion now lay elsewhere - working for and with the community of senior citizens. 

I contacted a former colleague at my old school and told her I would be donating my prized books to the English language department. Strangely enough, it wasn't too painful a decision, and I felt such a sense of relief knowing the books would be in good hands and put to good use.

Next up will be my clothes. I still have clothes from the 1960s, like my Form 5 graduation dress, that I still keep for nostalgic reasons. And the sexy high-slit, figure-hugging cheongsam that I last wore during my college days. I have been preserving it in the hope that I'll slim down enough to wear it again. Who am I kidding?

The sudden urge to clean up my apartment is not just spring-cleaning for the Chinese New Year, but more a result of watching the series 'Hoarding' currently being aired on Astro Channel 731. Imagine the horror of living in a house where every inch of space from floor to ceiling is filled with junk and garbage. I also read recently in the Daily Mail about an 85-year old retired engineer who fell and was trapped under mountains of bags and boxes for 30 hours! (Please read the article and view the pictures. Unbelievable!)

Not so lucky was a 76-year old Singaporean who was found dead last August amidst ceiling-high garbage that he had collected from dustbins over the past decade. He started his hoarding habit after his wife and daughter moved out 10 years ago. (You can read the Straits Times full report here.)

No time to read today's papers, so we keep them aside hoping to find some
time the next day to do so. Before we know it, we have stacks of them from
floor to ceiling. That's how hoarding can start. 

Hoarders are often older adults who live on their own. With no one to stop them from accumulating stuff, and with the whole house to themselves, they start filling up every room with anything they can lay their hands on in the belief that it will come in handy some day. That day usually never comes, and so the boxes and bags of useless items keep growing. Eventually the whole place becomes a fire threat and a death trap! The hoarder gets so overwhelmed when he looks around him that he doesn't even know where to begin clearing even if he wants to. So he gives up and continues to let the junk pile up. Do watch the video below to get a look into not only the home of a hoarder, but also into the mind of a hoarder.

I am no psychiatrist, but I can understand why old people hoard. Some old folks like my mother find it hard to throw away things because they have been through the war years when food and basic necessities were in short supply. They have experienced the lean years. So now they collect anything and everything, from empty containers to used newspapers.

There are others who can't resist a good bargain, so they keep on buying and collecting stuff they may never use. When this habit extends to food and perishables, you can imagine the stink it creates, not to mention the maggots it attracts. Urghhhh!

So, spring cleaning for me this new year is to clear out all the stuff that I haven't used in years. It will take time, and it will be heart-breaking. Older adults like me have a lifetime of mementos and memories that we hold precious and keep for sentimental reasons - school report cards, baby photos, love letters, classics, diaries, 33 rpm records...the list goes on. But there are some items I will never throw out, like my high school essay book containing the compositions I wrote back in 1964 when I was sweet sixteen!

I hope I will never pick up hoarding habits or fall victim to Diogenes syndrome, also known as senile squalor syndrome. Please click on the link to learn more about this mental illness. And watch out for signs of this in any elderly person that you know, so that he/she can seek professional help immediately.

Here are 10 tips I can think of on how to avoid cluttering your home. I'll be the first person to follow my own advice!

• Throw out or donate anything that you haven't used or worn for the past two years.
• Avoid buying anything you don't have any immediate use for. 
• Don't fall into the trap of thinking 'Hmm...this might come in handy one day'.
• Free up space by discarding old and seldom used items to make way for new items that you have bought.
• Practice sorting things and keeping them in separate compartments.
• Regularly go through your fridge and pantry, and check food items for their expiry date. You will be amazed at how much expired food you have to throw out.
• Get rid of the 'bargain mentality'. Don't buy stuff you don't need just because it's on offer at a fantastic discount.
• Keep purchases to a minimum, especially if you are living alone. What would you do with six toothbrushes or five tea-pots?
• Avoid collecting items for a future project. You won't find time to work on it or complete it. Examples include building a model airplane, sewing a quilt and putting together a scrap book.
• If something is broken, throw it out. Don't hang on to it in the hope that you will be able to repair it. That may never happen.

A living room to relax in. Click here for more on how to declutter your home.

Not only does clutter deprive you of a beautiful home, more importantly, it affects your health. You are at risk of developing respiratory problems. Finally, hoarders are lonely people because they can't have visitors, including their own family members. If you suspect your spouse or your elderly parent is a hoarder, show him these pictures of hoarding, and pray that he gets the message.

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BEING FILIAL EXTENDS BEYOND CHINESE NEW YEAR

Petronas has always come up with feel-good TV commercials to mark our various festivals and celebrations, like Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Deepavali and National Day. Malaysians would look forward with anticipation to check out the latest festive ads.

This year's Chinese New Year commercial from Petronas has just been released. It has already received the thumbs-up from viewers. For those who have yet to see it on your tv screens, here it is:

The early Petronas commercials were directed by the late Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009), Malaysia's legendary story-teller and human being extraordinaire. Her stories never failed to tug at our heart-strings. They were poignantly beautiful, but never overly-dramatic or weepy. Her favorite theme was filial piety.

These festive screen greetings invariably come with a message touching on filial piety: love our parents, respect our elders, and celebrate each festival with them. Aimed primarily at Generation Xers, these commercials also serve as reminders to baby boomers like us to spend more time with our aged parents while they are still around.

If you are celebrating the Chinese New Year, here are some of the best Petronas CNY commercials from past years to get you in the right spirit to usher in the Year of the Snake.

For more Petronas TVCs, visit the offical Petronas Youtube channel.

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IS OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM IN FREE FALL?

Are parents partly responsible for why their children can't get a job after they graduate from university? Is that why our local grads are picky about their first jobs, and expect a good salary when they have no working experience or employable skills?

Remember those days back in the 1950s and 60s when we had really excellent teachers who possessed only LCE (Lower Certificate of Education) qualifications? The LCE was the equivalent of the SRP/PMR that Form 3 students have to sit for today. Academic standards were very high then. Students who completed their Form 5 and passed their Senior Cambridge exam were considered academically brilliant. The selected few who went on to university overseas on government scholarships were guaranteed top positions in the civil service or the private sector upon their return. Many of these early graduates became outstanding leaders in the public and corporate realms.

Today the story is quite different. Our education system, once regarded as among the best in the Commonwealth, is now better known for its mediocrity. Standards have dropped so drastically that it is easy for students to obtain a string of As in the SPM. Indeed, at one time so many students were scoring 12 or more distinctions each year that the Ministry of Education had to finally step in to limit the number of subjects students could take in the SPM, before our exams became a joke. There were students who scored distinction in SPM English who couldn't even put together a grammatically correct sentence, or speak coherently in English.

This newspaper cutting is dated 6 Nov 2005. Nothing much has changed since. We still have a glut of  graduates who are unemployed and unemployable.

The rot started decades ago when standards were lowered to enable more young people to enter university. To accommodate the huge surge in numbers, more and more universities were built. The government should have gradually increased the number of universities while maintaining standards. Students would then have to work harder to meet the entry requirements. Those who were determined enough about getting a degree would rise to the challenge. Students, when pushed, are capable of producing amazing results. One of my Form 5 classmates back in 1964 received a Colombo Plan scholarship to study in Australia. Her parents were poor and illiterate, but they believed strongly in the value of education. They made sure this was ingrained into their daughter.

But instead of maintaining standards, the Ministry of Education did the reverse. It also did away with a compulsory pass in the English language. Today we have local graduates who can't speak or write good English, and they wonder why multi-national companies don't hire them!

Imagine a small country like ours having a total of 20 public universities! Here's a list of these public-funded universities taken from the government's official portal. How many of these universities have you heard of? What kind of graduates are they producing?

Universiti Darul Iman Malaysia (UDM)
Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM)
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Universiti Malaya (UM)
Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK)
Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)
Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)
Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT)
Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI)
Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM)
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia(USIM)
Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM)
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia(UTHM)
Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM)

Let's not forget the 60 private higher education institutions like Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Universiti Multi Media (MMU), Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten), and Albukhary International University.

My alma mater - a shadow of its former glory as
the country's premier university

Just think of the hundreds of thousands of fresh graduates flooding the job market each year. According to the Higher Education Ministry, universities, university colleges and polytechnics nationwide produced 184,581 graduates last year and 44,391 or 24 per cent of them were unemployed.

Top students are given scholarships to attend ivy league universities abroad. Their future is dazzling bright. The private sector will only hire the best candidates who have the right qualifications. What about those who fail to gain admission to overseas universities or are unable to afford the high cost of an overseas education? They enter the local universities. After graduating, they have difficulty in securing a job. Almost half of the unemployed graduates have degrees in Arts and Social Science. In the end, as always, the government has to step in and absorb a good percentage of these jobless graduates. No wonder our civil service is the largest in the world - 1.3 million, and growing each year!

Even among universities in Asia, we can't break into the top 30!

Each year when QS Top World Universities rankings and the World University Rankings publish their lists, you will not find any of our universities among the top 300. The Minister of Education will pooh-pooh the rankings, and come up with all kinds of reasons about why the rankings are biased, inaccurate or unimportant. yet, when our rankings show some improvement, ministry officials will fall over themselves to congratulate each other for their 'achievement'.

It sure looks like a long long road back to the glory days of our Malaysian schools and universities. Is there no political will strong enough to put an end to this slide in our education system?

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