Father Sez

Nana, my daughter number 4, did quite well in her examinations in Standard Six. That was two years ago, and before I took any serious interest in any of my children’s studies. My son, Nana’s senior by a year, did not do so well. This was quite a surprise as Abang was identified by the school teachers as one of the better students. 

That’s the background. 

Now we use an online educational product at home. A product that allows the children to answer countless questions over and over and the results are instantly sent to an electronic report card that their mother and I can view and use as a base to monitor our kids’ progress. We are using the principle of practise makes perfect and so far I am very happy with the progress my son is making. (Incidentally, I am so pleased with the product that I have signed up on its MLM program. I have a blog called More Income for Malaysians on this issue.) 

Nana seems a little reluctant to practice as much as Abang. (True, Abang has had his days of being yelled at by his mother as well as me.) I am beginning to suspect that Nana has an aversion to some of the subjects, in particular Science. She is reluctant to tell me and so is using all her little feminine tricks to escape.

I have been focussing more on Abang as he has an important exam, PMR at the end of this year. Nana would be sitting for this exam next year.  

Malaysia is going through a traumatic period in its education system. Mathematics and Science have been taught in English for the past six years, and there have been some protests about this. These protestors want it to be taught in Bahasa Melayu, as some of the children as well as the teachers are more proficient in that language. I strongly disagree as I think that in this world of globalisation, strong knowledge of one of the world’s commercial languages is an absolute must. 

I do not know if Nana’s aversion is due to this hassle of the language. I am quite sure that many of the teachers are also struggling with English as they were schooled in Bahasa Melayu. Well, the teachers should sort themselves out, not revert from English.  

Today I have made a resolution to find her switch. And I think I know how. Nana is not a dumb girl. She is smart and is a real room warmer with her bright cheery smile and positive outlook towards life.  

I can already imagine the sense of feeling “I can do it!” in Nana’s eyes, as we jointly find the switch and turn it on. Perhaps I should write this post after Nana and I have succeeded, but I want a strong sense of accountability.  

God Willing, I shall write about our joint success very soon.   

People are being increasingly disillusioned by the antics of their elected politicians. Some politicians, on the other hand, with the vast array of resources and powers under their control, seem bent on preserving their positions, sometimes at the risk of grave consequences for the very country they claim to govern. 

Malaysia has just witnessed another of such antics. The Malaysian Insider, a popular online news portal asks if the Malaysian public will ever forget the day the Constitution was pushed aside. 

My blog has nothing to do with politics. But I must ask myself if I can really do my best to provide the best for my children if I were not to do my part to get rid of such shady politicians. For the time being, I can only answer with all certainty that:- 

a)    I cannot sit quietly aside while the politicians push aside the very legislation governing our country,  

b)    I will start updating my family, especially our children on what good government is and how our country is deviating more and more from the path of good governance and 

c)     What we can do to prevent such shenanigans. 

On to the other interesting blog posts that I read,  

GetRichSlick is being advised to start his own farm so as to be able to feed himself and family when the economic apocalypse hits. He seems to prefer gold. Let’s see how events unfold.  

Brip Blap is packing his books, bags and luggage and moving. He has sold his house and now seems to be going location independent. His previous shifts from Jersey to NY to Germany to Russia (not in this order, though) was probably before he had his precious Little Buddy and Pumpkin. At least the kids are young and should be easily able to adapt. I wish him all the best in this new phase of his life. 

Brian Clark is all for free markets. And he makes a very compelling argument for it. If he considers the US a country to flee from, I wonder just what he would say about Malaysia, which is, ummm…not even in the top 40 of the Index of Economic Freedom list! 

Jeff encourages us to unleash our full potential and not live a life of following the path of least resistance. This post resonates so much with the advice a dear friend gave me recently. “In this depressing economic environment, many of us are going to be in the “do or die”, predicament. For those of us without any fall back plans, this is the time. The time to go all the way and no turning back”. We’ll have no choice but to unleash our full potential! 

KC Lau explains a game, iMafia, that he plays on his iPhone. It appears that the game teaches strategy, allocation of resources and timing on wealth accumulation. Perhaps the name, iMafia and the methods of the game, such as robbery, smuggling and fighting may not be the best choice for all.  Still for the video and the mobile game generation, iMafia may turn out to be the equivalent of my generation’s Monopoly. 

Bomohs, the Malaysian equivalent of shamans are big business in Malaysia. And apparently, according to The Malaysian Life, someone has started an online school for bomohs. And at only RM 30 a module. One thing for sure, a bomoh’s livelihood is not threatened by recession or any other economic downturn. I suspect the school’s servers are going to crash with the response. Pity the ML did not list the URL. I might have applied. 

Readers Digest, one of my all time favourite magazines may be going under it seems. What a pity. If this is true, then it looks like the art of book reading may be behind us.  

That’s it for this week, folks. Have a great, happy and productive week!

Scammers have been around for ages, and the sophistication and variety of their scams grow by the day.  

Not too long ago, a Malaysian paper carried a story about a lady lecturer who lost money in one of what has now been termed the “overseas parcel scams”. I must admit, however, that when I read about this victim, the overriding thought was how could she have fallen for this. Not too much pity, I must honestly admit. 

Lately I was told about yet another type of scam. And this is 100% home grown.  

In the area where our goat farm is located, the Malaysian Railways is undertaking an expansion. Yes, we are finally moving to a double track system. The MR has been acquiring land in the area, paying compensation to the landowners and getting them to move out. 

Now this is a rural area, where most of the inhabitants are old and barely literate. Mostly living alone or with their aged spouses. Many have children who have now moved out of the village and are working in the cities and towns.  

One such old lady recently got her compensation. She had planned to buy a small house as her “home of, God knows, how many generations” was about to be torn down, and with the balance, give some to her kids and use the rest for her living expenses. 

One of the demolished houses in Kampung Hilir. No, this was not the old lady’s house.  

On a visit to a hospital to visit her sick grandchild, she was met by a smooth talking local guy who convinced her that the MR had underpaid her compensation. And this guy and his friend (who was supposed to be a senior official in MR) were going around quietly ensuring that the kampung folks got their rightful compensation.  

She met up with this “senior official” who in turn convinced her to withdraw RM70,000 from her savings account and handed it over to him. He assured her that he would be depositing RM100,000 into her account within a week.  Only God knows why she listened to this guy, but she claims that he told her about how he had performed the Haj 4 times and he would never ever stoop to cheating a fellow Muslim! What a slimeball! 

Now the guy is gone and so has the money! 

The old lady can only cry her eyes out now. She does not have enough to buy her house, much less living expenses.  The other kampung folks have helped her to make a police report and obtained copies of the grainy CCTV recordings at the Bank branch where she withdrew the money. But the chances of recovery are very slim. 

Now all the old lady can do is to cry, and pray to God to punish those guys who cheated her. (It is clear that some insiders are involved, as those guys knew exactly how much she had received). Cases like this make me so sad. This case seems so ruthless. These conmen have just made an old lady homeless. 

But they should fear the prayers of the old lady, for surely her prayers will be heard and answered!

Many adults are being seriously stressed by the current economic environment. Plunging retirement accounts, job losses and plunging businesses are contributors. These stresses are reflected in worried faces and forlorn looks at home, and often harsh responses to innocent questions by the kids. 

Children do get stressed too. And as parents, we often just brush it off and do not give it the attention it deserves. Children and young adults get stressed up about exams, relationships in and outside school, their parents’ relationships, parental expectations and a whole host of other things. Read Channel 4’s take on Young Lives under Pressure.  

We learn in our adult life that knowing how to handle stress is important, and in fact, often live saving. And we take steps to better handle this stress. Young adults start their working lives not really capable of handling stress. And we all know how stressful working life can be.  

Picture Credit: Google 

So shouldn’t we start talking to our children earlier on how to manage stress? 

My belated advice to my children on handling stress is to learn not to worry. Worrying will not solve anything. If it could, by now I should have solved the world’s hunger problems….hehe 

Sometimes we do get into situations which seem insurmountable. Then we should seek the help and guidance of the All Mighty. As Muslims, my family has the Quran to fall back upon as the ultimate guide. Reading and understanding the Quran and its advice when it comes to matters of “tests” upon us, is very soothing and calming. 

Third you can sing! Just open a window or go to a washroom and sing! People are happy because they sing, not that they sing because they are happy. A really great song that I strongly recommend is “Hakunama Tata”, the theme song from The Lion King. 

Fourth, exercise. A good brisk jog or a walk should clear away a lot of worries. Maybe it’s something to do with the pumping of oxygen into the brain, I don’t know. The doctors talk about endomorphins and stuff like that. They must do some good. 

Fifth, you can take time out and immerse yourself into an activity that you love. Like taking your rabbit out for a walk. Or watching a movie. Or listening to some songs. Or doing some gardening. 

Sixth, you can look at what would be the worst that could happen. Usually we realise that no permanent damage would be involved. Than why on earth should we worry? This rule can be applied in all those seemingly most important relationship issues.  

Life will be sure to bring about a lot of stressful situations.  

But most of them can be avoided as “we have to allow them to become stressful”.  All we have to do is not to give them permission!!!

A lot is being written in the US blogs about people walking a way from their upside down mortgages. The latest that I read on this was Flexo’s “Should you walk away from your house and mortgage?”  

I know nothing about the legal obligations of the borrower under a US mortgage, but it seems that all that is affected is our credit rating. Maybe demolished completely even, but that seems to be it.  

The Malaysian situation is so much different. A borrower basically signs his / her financial life away. The borrower is made to pay one way or the other, whether, 

-         He passes away. Then his estate is liable for the debt. Usually the banks get a mortgage policy at the time of issuance of the loan. So the loan is paid off.  

-         If the mortgage is for a house under construction and the developer goes belly up, the borrower pays even though there is no completed house for him. This has been a serious problem in the past. There has been a lot of talk on the developers having to build and sell. I am not sure if this has been put into effect. 

-         He loses his job and is unable to pay. Too bad. He just has to find the means or will be dragged through the bankruptcy courts. 

Now, we have always looked at the US as a developed nation and something that we should emulate. Wonder if the Malaysian Banks (including American banks in Malaysia like Citibank) will ever change their standard housing loan documents to match what seem to be US standards?