It is that time again when reality sinks in:

Top scorers discover again PSD scholarships are not guaranteed

A number of SPM top scorers have discovered yet again that a string of A’s are no guarantee to a scholarship from the Public Service Department.

When Mo Ye Voon scored 10 1A’s and a 2A, she thought she was on the way to becoming a doctor.

However, Mo, a student of SM KGV who recently completed her national service training in Malacca, was disappointed that she was not selected by the PSD as a scholarship recipient.

“I was not even considered for a medical course at any of the local universities,” said Mo, whose father’s income as a factory supervisor would not be enough for her to realise her dream.

Full article can be read from http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/5/14/nation/3880204&sec=nation

I am not surprised with this. When the number of straight As have increased in a nation, two main conclusions can be gotten: 1) The standard of SPM has fallen OR 2) The number of quality students have increased.

I am more inclined to believe the former since the study pattern of tuition centres in Malaysia has NEVER change. It is always dependent on ‘practice makes perfect’ and ‘get a good teacher who can spot the questions out’. Moreoever, the rumours of ridiculously low passing level for certain subjects really concurs with the increasingly ridiculous number of straight A students in the country. Another simple observation; if we really have ‘top quality students’ why are these not revealed 5 years down the road in the industry? Why are Malaysian graduates still laggards when it come to industry performances?

It has been artificially inflated folks. The number of opportunities for scholarships and the like are always the same (more or less). If the number of ’straight A’ students are increasing while opportunities remain ceteris paribus, what do you expect? Of course there will be much disappointments!

So don’t take your child’s straight A’s that seriously, okay? Not until the Ministry does something about SPM’s quality. But you know what? Malaysian parents (in general) do not care about it (especially the metropolitan ones), because they still have this idea that SPM is THE best measure of a child’s performance. 

I really beg to differ on this. I pity them. 

Honestly speaking, the Internet is abuzz with Susan Boyle. Basically, a normal 47 year old woman who had no looks, nor any outward appearance that would be considered ‘out of the ordinary’, who wowed the judges on “Britain’s got talent!” Interestingly, the main reason for the buzz is due to the crowd and judges (and frankly most viewers) who thought that she had nothing to offer, since she had nothing physically appealing in her. Then she sang “I dreamed a dream”, a song sung by the Broadway musical character Fantine, and it shut people’s initial disdain of her. 

That is the summary. 

The sad truth is that all that reaction, from the press, and from the audience (and judges) is purely hypocritical. They basically are saying this: Cheers for Susan Boyle for she had no looks, no physical attraction… but her voice of an angel. That is pathetic to say the least. What would have happened if she had not a nice singing voice? The truth is that, she would have been laughed and ridiculed. That is what would have happened. Don’t believe me…. look at William Hung (from American Idol fame). 

Those people who praise Susan Boyle for her singing is basically saying this: a gift IS everything for a person to get respect. 

I beg to differ. Respect should ALWAYS be given to another human being REGARDLESS of whether the person has ANY talent or gifts. 

That is what makes the Gospel so attractive to me: That Jesus Christ, God Himself (the ultimate judge who is PERFECT) goes down into this sick world to save… sinners. It is because we are the most disfigured person, the most wretched person, that Christ came to save. Not the righteous, the one who had SOMETHING to offer and be proud of. 

Respect for Susan Boyle should have began because of the fact that she is human. Give it to fellow humans who are wretched before God’s eyes, and then cheer them! But who would, right?

Oh yeah… because that would mean that we have to respect ALL human beings… something that we (flawed beings) just cannot seem to do, because you and I need to be humbled. 

So, to all the other people who feel justified that they cheered Susan Boyle… ask yourself: would you have cheered if she had nothing to offer? Would you have cheered because she tried? 

Thought so.

This is hardly surprising to read, especially in Malaysia:

A UNIVERSITI Sains Islam Malaysia lecturer who passed only four out of 157 of her law students claims she was forced to resign so that the university could protect its reputation, Kosmo! reported.

Nor (not her real name) said the reason she left was because she could not stand the pressure from the university management on her to give “sympathy marks.”

Full report can be gotten from: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/16/nation/3700410&sec=nation

It is very common for students to be given ’sympathy marks’ especially to raise the average mark of the batch in question. It is a ‘business’ decision, not one of justice (most of the time). Lower marks would mean either a low performance or a defective lecturer who does not know how to teach. Both reflect a university badly. So, you can guess what is the more common alternative which is opted by the majority of education institutions. 

Not surprising.

From: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/1/focus/3598798&sec=focus

Maids can’t take over parents’ roles

 

At one time when I visited my cousin in Singapore, she told me how her own daughter almost wanted to kill her.

She said her daughter was brought up solely by her maid. She, a nurse, and her husband, an architect and businessman, were always busy with work and had no time for their three children.

Her two sons were brought up by her as she was not working then. But her daughter has always been in the care of the maid as she started working again soon after giving birth.

The young girl always had her way and the maid had no power to stop her. Then one day, the mother had a day off and stayed home. The daughter wanted to go out that night. The mother stopped her as it was not proper for a 16-year-old girl to be out alone at night. Her daughter stubbornly refused to yield to her mother’s order as it was her usual night out with the gang.

When the mother insisted that she could not go out, the daughter rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. The mother was alarmed and rushed to the verandah and screamed for help. Luckily, the daughter stopped when she realised the seriousness of the problem.

 

The mother complained that her daughter is very aggressive and incorrigible and she regretted that she had left her daughter far too long with her maid. 

All I want to say is …. duhhhhh….

What do you expect if you were to ‘outsource’ this vital job to another person? You want a perfectly obedient child? Sigh… and yet, you know what? They will continue to do that anyway. Because they believe that financial security is the most important thing in raising up a kid. 

Saddening predicament for the typical asian family though.

She said she had been sexually abused by her father since the age of 11.

Josef allegedly lured her into the cellar of their house in Amstetten on 28 August 1984, drugging and handcuffing her before locking her up.

It was assumed she had disappeared voluntarily when her parents received a letter from her asking them not to search for her.

“Abused continuously during the 24-year-long imprisonment”, Elisabeth bore six children while a seventh, one of a set of twins, died soon after birth.

The dead baby was allegedly taken out of the cellar and burnt by Josef.

Elisabeth said Josef had provided her and three of her children, who were locked up along with her, with clothing and food.

His wife Rosemarie had allegedly not been aware of what was going on.

It’s ridiculous to think that such things are still happening in our modern day and generation, but it is. Read the whole story here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7369851.stm) and feel sick. And yet, this is our life. We live in a world that has gone terribly wrong. Very terribly wrong.

And people still want to talk about evolution and relativism and justify their own sinful actions.

I found the ‘profiling report’ given by the Crime Analyst, funny. Does not add anything to what the commonner, who has read the facts (that has been revealed), would have concluded.

The person, who sexually assaulted and killed the girl found in a sports bag, enjoys inflicting pain on others.

Crime analyst Kamal Affandi Hashim said the perpetrator derived satisfaction from seeing his victim’s being helpless.

“The use of force may be to compensate his inadequacy or a sense of wanting to be superior. He shows that he wants to be in control by abusing the victim before killing her.

“The insertion of an object into the victim’s private parts was meant to produce delayed sexual satisfaction for him,” he said.

“It’s a ritual of a serial offender in progress. I believe that he has done the same before based on the sophistication of the crime.” 

Kamal Affandi said the person also dumped the bag with the girl’s body in a place where it could be easily discovered to show he was in control of things.

“He’s telling the world that he’s smart. He wants to be in control,” he said, adding that the perpetrator could have disposed the body in a place where it could never be found.

Kamal Affandi said he did not believe the killer was abused physically or sexually as a child.

“The killer is anger-driven and may not need anything to trigger his violent action.

“But I wouldn’t say that he is mentally disturbed or insane,” he added.

Read it the report given here.

1) Of course he is a sadist, hence the use of objects to abuse.

2) The need to be in control, could have been concluded by the fact that the victim is a helpless child!

3) “at the bottom of the staircase of a shoplot in PJS1/48″… cannot be construed as the killer making a statement of being ’smart/in control’. In fact, the shoplot drop off is to ensure that the body IS found. This is not a DARE, since it is likely that the “woman in jeans and a red top walking about in the area at that time and the bag could be seen then. The woman, estimated to be in her 20s, later entered a Silver Kenari” is clearly troubled (by the ‘walking about’ term meaning ’seen going back and forth’). My suggestion would be the person was clearly mobile, and the place COULD have been assumed to be randomly selected as a drop off, but definitely is a place that is close to the killer’s or his accomplice’s general movement. In fact, that is what I would emphasis more since the accomplice (definitely a man as the killer, and the girl is the lover). [If we were to believe the claim that the child is illegal (highly probable) edit: as of today at 1.30pm, apparently the DNA tests have confirmed that the child is Nurin. This definitely puts things into a new perspective] few things present itself; The killers were most likely Malaysians (middle to upper class since “brand new sports bag” is a NEW one and a Kelisa to boot). They could have chosen a random child (detachment in an abusive situation, where the abuser does not gain any satisfaction from any attachment to the victim, in contrast to incest rape – an extreme example – and is more commonly the case for a person who has a form of belief system (principles)). Or one could have been foreigners. Both of them could be foreigners would be unlikely (I don’t think so, based on the Kenari and income assertion I made earlier, no offence to foreigners). Moreover, I have a high suspicion of the race of the killers, and how this might further shed light on the case. But I’ll leave it out now, for fear of someone accusing me of arousing racial slurs, etc. Somehow, I think this is what can be safely concluded at the moment.

4) This statement had me chuckling. “Kamal Affandi said he did not believe the killer was abused physically or sexually as a child.” Sigh… if only this can be determined so simply based on Jung’s frameworks. 

5)  “The insertion of an object into the victim’s private parts was meant to produce delayed sexual satisfaction for him,” he said. I agree with this to some extent. Delayed is better translated as ‘prolonged’ pleasure. This is obviously in contrast to him performing the abuse himself (rape). Part of it is to not leave any evidence on the girl. Showing some level of knowledge of this general police investigation, that is gotten from things like watching TV shows (CSI)? Which would again support my theory that the person is not a kampung person or a foreigner.

6) Strands of hair found in the bag is interesting. It could be the lady’s or the man’s. This is good if we can find out what hair type, curly or straight… etc.

If it was me, I would try to find out:

1) THE SPORTS BAG! This is the best evidence we have. What type is it? Where would it be sold and I am sure it would be bought on the day itself (Sunday) or earliest the day before. Details of the bag can really help the investigation.

2) We have the address of the drop off, now it remains to get the details of how long was the woman there before going in. What other thing that the investigators could have left off (like reflection of the person/car), etc.

3) A cursory check on main illegal settlements and ask for any child missing (while promising some form of amnesty for the actual parents, if they are here).

Details and cooperation of the public who may be smarter than the investigators to help out! Seriously…

Going to follow this case closely.

Malaysiakini’s so far covered this in http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/72591 (I’m putting it here for traffic purposes )

I nearly forgot the date and its significance.

It was on this date that world politics became mainstream for the people at Caulfield campus lounge. People were staring into the television in front of the cafeteria that was opposite the arcade centre. Talking and murmuring. A scene of gloom and of despair as everyone started thinking of their friends who were there.

As I walked across Dandenong Road pass the engineering faculty, I could not remember a more silent day than the day after September 11. No honking of cars, no shouting. Just an awful still in the air. The biting cold wind, with its wind chill factor, made it even more profound.

Reality of how big the scope of fear is seen in the eyes of every person I met that day. The lecturer made some remarks about the event, about his relatives there in the States… it was the conversation and issue for the next few days. He could not bring himself to teach, and the class ended early.

It was a cold day, on the day after September 11.

It was a day of despair as man gazed straight into the maws of Goliath and flinched back, knowing that he awaits even the people of modern cities.

Thank God for the David that God has sent.

Rest well, memories of September 11.

O Death, where then is your sting?

I’m filing this up under Modern Cruelty. Seriously, no other words can I use but that. Read the full article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=473376.

Coupled this with Pastor Albert Martin’s Talk on Enoch #2 (http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1250402011) – which I highly recommend, this is seriously a matter to be considered by parents all over.

At nine, Bethany doesn’t ‘feel right’ without fake tan. 11-year-old Belle waxes her legs. Karolina, 10, won’t leave home without scent. Harmless fun? Or proof of the insidious sexualisation of our children?:

Bethany Conheeny takes two hours to get ready each morning. A detailed inspection of her morning routine gives some indication why.

After washing her naturally wavy hair, she spritzes, sprays and straightens it with £120 designer ceramic straighteners.

What a crazy world we’re living in now. *shrug*

Sita, a prostitute from Kolkata who gave only one name, told of her violent childhood marriage that forced her to flee her home and land in a brothel.

“My dignity was torn to pieces. I used to cry a lot. But I soon learnt some things will never change no matter how much you cry,” she wrote.

Read the article: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSDEL28321320070730

If we do understand that the chains are heavy, and even heavier on some than it is on others. Very sad, this.

Underage prostitutes are made, and not born… and they are made by saddistic minds. Its hard to imagine, yet not too far from the power of our minds, how these things are happening in neighbouring countries, and how most likely these things are also happening in our country too… albeit, at a smaller scale in ours (I assume).

For 30 years now, the chairman has been trafficking girls. He used to be a police sergeant, but says he got kicked off the force for adultery. Twice.

His second wife worked in a brothel. One thing led to another, and soon he was travelling around the countryside, recruiting children.

He is disarmingly open about all this – explaining how he lies to the families, buys the girls, and then forces them into brothels.

No-one is sure about the figures. But it is thought there could be 100,000 Philippine children involved in the local sex trade.

Others are forced into domestic work or mining or sugar plantations, or shipped abroad.

They are victims of a trafficking empire that has become one of the world’s most lucrative criminal industries.

But God is just… such despicable people are brought down firstly in their minds…

I have agreed not to reveal his identity, so he is frank about the crimes he has committed – trafficking girls, bribing police and so on.

But sometimes the chairman in him takes over from the crook.

He suddenly insists he never pays bribes, then describes, with apparent conviction, how he no longer wants to hire under-aged girls.

And how he would like to pay for vocational classes for those working in his brothels – and how perhaps this interview can even help to clean up the industry.

The contradictions make sense.

He is 54 now, with eight children, 17 brothels, a reasonably comfortable lifestyle, and a certain status in his “profession”. It is hardly surprising that his conscience is nagging him.

The full article is available here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6507495.stm … read and weep for such a cruel society that is the result of decadency in the moral arena, separated from God’s law and framework; a world of man and man’s own sin holding sway over all things.