UnDerEstiMated-OverEstiMating

Leached from NST, 23 Nov 2006. I wished I had the rojak-king skill of Amir Muhammad… cam sial ;P

Amir Muhammad on Thursday: Students want Science, Maths subjects to berhenti

23 Nov 2006

A FEW dozen students yesterday sent in a petition to halt the subjects
of Science and Mathematics from being taught in school. The reason: too
much linguistic confusion.

The delegation was led by 17-year-old student and former blogger
Sasparilla Chen, "Kami feel not so sedap lah sebab kena studi kejap
dalam one language, kenap lagi dalam another bahasa. So much the
confusion you tahu!" she said. "So kami nak suggest lagi better kita
don’t studi those sabjek any more, boleh or not?"

The move to switch the language of instruction for Science and Maths
subjects from Malay to English a few years ago has been the subject of
some controversy among language purists. But this is believed to be the
first time that the students themselves have taken such a vocal stand,
and in such stirringly eloquent sentences too.

The petition was handed in at 3pm yesterday to a department that the
students felt could be held responsible. The petition was received by
the receptionist, who told them that the relevant officers were still
on their lunch break. However, the security guard was very helpful in
allowing them access to the building after the students "raised their
hands" to him without the need for proper ID.

Chen cited a few classroom instances that had caused undue anxiety
among her peers. "First kita kena use ‘teorem’ after that kita kena use
‘theorem’. Yang mana is which one?" she moaned piteously, and it would
take a heart of stone not to be emotionally affected.

Her best friend, Karisma Mat Dom, agreed. "This rasa bimbang about
whether we should cakap ‘equals to’ or ‘sama dengan’ is beginning to
makan into our valuable masa that we can guna for other useful
aktiviti, such as taking part dalam kuiz SMS."

Another regular activity that she claims she cannot enjoy with peace of
mind is a popular Indonesian soap opera that she calls Bawang Putih,
Red Onion. "I still watch the show tapi dengan only half my minda."

She adds, "I punya boyfriend too, who is very the hensem, rasa stress
sangat sebab dia nak guna time itu untuk modify his bike untuk pergi
racing with member dia. Kalau his bike tak ada modification yang
sofistikated then he akan jatuh dia punya water-face! I pun tak nak
seen with him lepas tu sebab shy only."

The boyfriend, who declined to be named as he is currently under
investigation for another case, chipped in with: "Yeah lah, cakap to us
whether we patut say ‘prinsip Bernoulli’ or ‘Bernoulli’s principle’. To
avoid this stress gila, better we cuti saja whenever those sabjek kena
ajar!"

All three students agreed that Science and Maths were hardly important
subjects as they are not relevant to Visit Malaysia Year 2007. They
would prefer to just volunteer as tour guides or handicraft makers in
anticipation of the 20.1 million tourists that will flood our fortunate
land next year.

Ambi Mohan, the popular head of the Malaysian Linguistic Association
(Malas), chimed in with his two sen. "Our students these days are not
so bright. They don’t know how to use words like amphibian, biology,
case, dimension and experiment, and those are just the A to E
examples!" he chortles.

"They only know how to recognise genuine Malay terms that have existed
for centuries in this region, such as amfibia, biologi, kes, dimensi
and eksperimen. If they fail to make the switch, the authorities should
take out the whip. Don’t just talk of the whip, kiss the whip and wave
the whip during gatherings. When are they going to use the whip?"

A spokesperson for the relevant department declined comment except to
say that although lunch was delicious, the tenggiri was a bit tangy.

Any chance of me getting even?

Hope so. Need so.

Should I stay on my grudge, or let it go?

But how?

The feeling seems mutual between Abah and me. The feeling of being violated still lingers, especially when night comes. Then comes apprehension, not wanting to wake up for fear of confronting the same situation, again.  We need an outlet, and running away from it will never do. 

I want revenge, and so does Abah. Haha. Like father like daughter.

We both wanted to hit them. Hit them hard. Hit them where it’ll hurt the most. Hit them, and maybe save some of our pride. Maybe cut short the terrifying period that they were here. Hit them to the point they need to gravel and beg for mercy.

Yep. I still want revenge. And the police will not help me get it. Nor the media, now that they got their attention on the RM50million heist.

I guess I’m not the only one in this boat, harbouring secret thoughts of revenge, for whatever wrong that was done. Yeah. Cause EVERY night there’s always a house, a home being violated. There’ll always be families quaking helplessly, each either being terrified to death or fuming with violent plans that has no certainty of success.

Call the cops you say? They don’t answer, who wants to work at 4am.

Hope the neighbours realize whats happening? Unless some of them are insomniacs, they won’t, even if they wanted to.

Fight back? Will your younger sister be able to fend for herself if things take a wrong turn?

What if they have back up?

It’s not always so much on the material loss suffered. Replacable or not, that’s not always the question playing on the minds. Goodbye sense of security, goodbye freedom of whatever. Goodbye free world, goodbye prized possesion and sense of pride.

And so which ever way, it’s always us, good, loyal hardworking Malaysians that will bear the brunt of such scums.

And don’t tell me to calm down or imagine people in Afghanistan or Iraq or Sudan having life worst off. I know. I’m just being me =P

Hehehehe.

Bawang Putih Bawang Merah is extremely popular, to the point it is discussed in the UMNO General Assembly. So I shouldn’t be ashamed to admit I’m one of the how many millions of Malaysians willing their 1 hour daily for its fix (pun ALL intended ;P). Hehe. 

Owh. For those who’s never heard of such a drama, it’s from Indonesia and is about the struggle between the good and the evil. Takde la. Its something like Cinderella, except the daddy is still around (but not anymore) and the evil stepmother does whatever it took to get the daddy’s money. She and her evil daughter. The good ones are Alia, the daddy’s daughter. She is basically the Cinderella and did whatever it took to undermine evil stepmother and evil stepsister. That’s the basic premise of the whole drama.

Ika calls the drama OAG, Onion And Garlic.

And the General Assembly calls it a waste of time. Haha. But they still had the ammo to debate on this drama. Does that make them in lieu with the rest of the Malaysian population? Hehe.

And they can even give some opinion on its plot. They say its complicated. But my younger brother, Umar thinks otherwise. And from his young deductive mind, he sees himself as a sharper kid, since he can clearly see through the plot. One’s on the good side and one’s on the bad side. One’s so bent on getting riches while the other is desperately trying to fend them off. Whatever transpire between those two sides, its simply for the sake of the series longevity. Hehe.

They say such series is complicated and a waste of time. But why ban those that might, that just might induce some creative thinking within the population? Do I need to remind about the Lelaki Komunis Terakhir fracas? I don’t think so. What choices does that leave us normal folks at the receiving end?

Hehehe. Go figure. I’m stumped by the intricate discussions on what is the best for the rakyat.

What would our world be if everyone suddenly morphed into perfect-non-rojak speaking androids?

I do wonder, especially after the directive (iye ke?) from Dr Rais Yatim’s kementrian (alamak saya telah merojakkan blog saya), telling movie and drama producers that they will be black listed if ever their dialogs are found to contain, bahasa rojak.

But we are made to believe that dramas and movies are a reflection of our lives. Does that make us black listed too?

What can actually be termed as bahasa rojak? Historically, Bahasa Melayu contained only three words; babi (haha!), kayu and batu. How did Bahasa Melayu evolved into Bahasa Istana, Bahasa Pasar and Bahasa Rojak? How did saya became beta, makan became bersantap? People of long-ago did borrowed terms from other languages. That’s always the way human culture evolves. We take the good, be wary of the bad.

For me, a language main usage is to get my messages across to other people, regardless of it being pure or rojak (case in point my blogs… it becomes dry without a wee bit of rojak-ism in it). And I always find English to be a better medium of communication, simply because its terms are much more simpler and can further be simplified to our whims and fancy. Haha. That sounds cruel. To rephrase (sheesh I’m simply mengurangkan my biadap-ism), terms nowadays are mostly based on technological gadgets, hence the need to have bahasa rojak. I cannot process muat turun as download quickly. Neither can most of my blog readers (I presume). And I’d need some added minutes to laugh my head off, since it sounds… weird =). Kan lagi senang pakai its English term? But a full sentence might come out like "Cikgu, saya perlu download program Photoshop dahulu". Hence, it is Bahasa Rojak.

What of the terms used in Putrajaya? Precint… Boulevard… nak sebut pun payah. Why can’t they simply use Jalan or Lebuh Raya?

Dr Rais Yatim, you’re being a tad too idealistic for this real world. Seriously. Bahasa Baku sounds so rigid. So kaku. So emotional-indicator deprived. It should stick to its normal usage; in serious and formal conditions. And that does not happen too often in real life. Take a hike my man =P

Long silence.

Lots of going-ons with freaky twists.

I love www.theCICAK.com. Please people do visit.

The reason I haven’t posted a single entry for the last 17 days: I official do not have any PCs. Where did they run to? I don’t have a clue. All I know is that 3-ekor-beruk-with-no-tail broke into our house, terrorized the living light out of our lives (in short we were traumatized), took away our emotionally important stuff (mostly electronic in nature), and vandalized our home (they cut through the damned grill).

Mak was up and getting the sahur for us before 4 in the morning. She went down, visited the toilet, heard some noises but continued on with her business and forgot about it. She cooked fried beef with kicap, and got the food ready. As she was going through this, the 3-ekor-beruk-with-no-tail came up to her single file, and she being surprised, started to bebel "How dare you do this to us, we are in the midst of sahur and getting ready for puasa…" Well, something to that effect before ending her sermon with "Tolong, tolong." They wriggled a parang in her face, telling her to shut up, cut the wire to the standing-kipas, tied her up and tied a scarf around her mouth (tak makan saman jua ibundaku).

Abah was startled from sleep from Mak’s feeble shouts. He went down, and he also added some commotion of his own, causing me to be jerked from slumberland. By then, the parang-weilding-beruk menacingly waved the parang in front of Abah, causing him to quiet down. The beruk demanded "Duit, duit" in hushed tones. Meantime, it clicked that a buglary is in session inside my own house and being me, who sets definite boundaries that no human can cross, became increasingly mad.  So I got up, went to the landing, took a peek at the staircase, and what do you know, beruk-with-parang and Abah were on it! Confirming my suspicions, I screamed… errrr… I totally forgot what I said (but I bet there were splutters of profanity in it) and ran back into my room. Spotting Umar standing groggily, I shouted to him to get into his room and lock the door. I noticed my voice being… too weird.

I got into my room, locked the door. I grabbed the handphone, pressed 999, and debated whether I should call the cops or not. Not knowing what was happening to the rest of the family, I chuck the phone under my pillow. My laptop was staring pathetically at me, I was so high on adrenaline I didn’t think of hiding it. The last YM message on it was from Aris, a BUZZ! and "cik kak" message (perghhh… forever aku ingat). Abah’s pathetic voice came through "Kakak, bukak pintu" and being the angry me, I shouted back "Woi, sape tu??!!!" Getting increasingly agitated. Damn. "Kakak, bukak pintu ni" "Woi sape tu?? Sape??!!" "Kakak, bukak pintu"

I gave in. How dare they do such a thing to my Abah? I opened my door, heart’s thumping but being super alert. As I said, I was high on adrenaline. They asked Abah to open my brother’s room door. The key was dangling temptingly in its keyhole. Umar didn’t give any response, and that parang-weilding-beruk forced Abah to open the door. I gave an impatient instruction, "Tu ade kunci, pusingkan la…" (what was I thinking?) Which Abah did. Another beruk popped up from nowhere and went into my room. I kept my gaze on the floor, knowing full well I’m at the edge of my patience. I felt violated seeing weapon-totting-strangers being kings in my own home. I hated the vulnerable feel. I hated the feeling that I have a string on my back and those 3-beruks are the puppeteers. Babi. And at the pits of my stomach, having the feeling that my beloved possessions will no longer be with me (but will forever be mine =P). Babi.

The ragum-weilding-beruk asked for my handphone. Mine was charging silently behind the curtain actually, the one I showed underneath the pillow was someone else’s. I borrowed the handphone since my own handphone’s battery went out in the office and I need one so that I can contact Abah for balik rumah proposes. My officemate has two, so I borrowed from him. It was a Nokia3310, and I hoped that the ragum-weilding-beruk will leave it be. To my surprise, he took it. Before going off, I asked him "Keluarkan simkad boleh tak?" Suprisingly, he did. I gave ragum-weilding-beruk my Black Ice too. Is there a market for such a phone? Ragum-weilding-beruk ransacked my slingback which is  devoit of any valubles, and the small boxes where I keep tiny tidbits.

I don’t exactly know what was happening out there. But after what felt like eternity, 3-ekor-beruk herded us into my parents’ room, including Mak and Abah, who were tied up. They proceeded to ransack Mak’s wardrobe. And 3-ekor-beruk had the nerve to ask for our handphones, though 3-ekor-beruk already have them (except the one charging behind the curtain). Cheeky Ika answered "nggak ada" and stared directly into HUGE-screwdriver-weilding-beruk. HUGE-screwdriver-weilding-beruk swung the HUGE-screwdriver, almost hitting Ika. I stated "budak mana ada handphone!" Stopping short of adding "bodoh". They asked for more money, which both of my brothers had generously provided to them. Poor kids, duit raya habis dikebas. Satisfied with the top floor, they went downstairs, and before that threathening to kill us if we don’t sit still. My heart sank so deep, seeing them carry my laptop and the digital camera. Just as I had mastered the digicam. Just as I had worked on the laptop, ridding of some of its persistent problems. Babi sungguh. Guling-guling in hell la babis.

Haha. The rage. The freaking rage boiling so so precariously inside of me. I was gritting my teeth, I wanted so much to curse them, I wanted so much to throw punches and decapitate those beruks. And there’s my family. I wouldn’t know how they would fight back, each with their own weapons. 3-ekor-beruk were actually shivering all those while. After about 5 minutes, I untied my parents, and they crept down. I quickly sprinted to my room, checking on my handphone. 

My parents came back up, announcing the coast was clear. Mak called in the police, and we had our sahur, and we became zombied. We didn’t know how to act, what to do. That was the longest 30minutes of our lives. What were our loses? Apart from those things, which we have emotional attachments on, the sense of security, the sense that we can lead normal lives without paranoia. Babi sungguh.

Haha. It scares me to charge my handphone, or leaving it out of sight for that matter. The 3-ekor-beruk came through the grill, cutting it in a perfect small rectangle. I kept waking up at 4AM. Abah will go on his rounds from midnight to early morning. He’s tired most of the days.

I want vengance. I need vengance. They even had the nerve in using Abah’s and Ika’s numbers. Calling IDD, suspiciously to Indonesia, right after getting out of the house. I sincerely hope that those 3-ekor-beruk will be caught, not just for the sake of reducing crime, but also for me to belasah 3-ekor-beruk cukup-cukup.

Good luck in selling those laptops. One’s completely obsolete and already broken (haha buduh!!!!!! siap bleh tanya Abah hidup lagi ke tak pc tu? Abah simply answered hidup, knowing full well the laptop’s useless), one’s full of virus and having a ‘p’ problem, Gemok is pretty fragile, the screen always jiggling precariously on its one hinge…

Tu je la. Moral of the story:

• never piss me off =P
• never take anything for granted
• the police does not care much about such cases (terkejut aku tengok the way they took evidence… takde gloves =P)
• love thy neighbours
• some one has to take the graveyard watch
• even grills are vulnerable
• keep valuables in different places
• if a break in occurs, GIVE full cooperation. Barang boleh diganti, nyawa satu je
• mati la 3-ekor-beruk tu~~