Felt Betrayed By My Own Leaders

On Thursday morning July 9th, 2009, I, unusually, loss my appetite for breakfast. Seeing the day’s headline of THE STAR made my wife’s delicious fried meehoon was left untouched, although I only had tuna sandwich for my last night dinner. The dreaded decision made by the Honourable Minister of Education was the main cause of my sudden disinterest in the first meal of the day.

Before Thursday, I was praying very hard daily that our education system is left undisturbed well, at least, not until after the year 2014, when my youngest daughter will be starting her post-secondary school education. My prayers were not answered after all. My daughter will have to switch to learning Mathematics and Sciences in Bahasa Malaysia when she is in Form 4 in 2012. Bearing in mind that when she started schooling way back in 2003, she was used to the system of learning Mathematics and Sciences in English. Sadly, for the sake of somebody trying to show that he or she is doing a good job in his or her ministry, my last child has to endure two of her remaining years in secondary school learning Mathematics and Sciences in Bahasa Malaysia. It felt like an Olympic 110m hurdler failing to clear the last two hurdles and finishes fourth in the finals, the first placing for a finalist not to get an Olympic medal.

This is not the first time, I felt that I have been betrayed by my own leaders when it comes to my children education. In 2003, my son who was just starting Form 1 was made to learn Mathematics and Sciences in English after six years getting used to learning them in Bahasa Malaysia. I would sometimes shed tears upon seeing him struggling to adjust to the new system and getting unfavourable results in his monthly tests. Trying to motive him to continue learning is another challenge for me and my wife. However, what made us encourage him to continue learning Mathematics and Sciences in English was because at the institutes of higher learning in Malaysia, English is the medium of learning. From that moment on, we have willingly accepted that fact.

We thought it was going to be a sun-shining day, but it looks like it is going to rain in the afternoon. My youngest daughter who had learned Mathematics and Sciences in English for nine years, will have to quickly adapt to learning them in Bahasa Malaysia for two years, and finally reverts back to English if she is qualified to attend an institute of higher learning of her own choice. Attending meeting, discussing issues in detail and making decisions in an air-conditioned room seemed to be an ordinary routine for some, but we the rakyat will have to bear the consequences.

(This article was sent to editor@thestar.com.my on July 9th, 2009)

D-Day for Munif

30-6-2009: 8:30am

It was D-Day for Munif. He had to sit for "Make Up Test". The first scheduled paper was Finance. He seemed ready to take the test, unlike 3 days ago, when I still had the feeling that he was not ready and not fully conscious. Both of us accompanied Munif to the examination room. It turned out that there was another student (according to Munif, his senior) taking the examination with Munif. Munif was able to glance through the notes he had prepared before he was being called into the examination room. We said goodbye and good luck to Munif and left him in the care of the invigilator.

I would like to take the opportunity here to thank COBA, UNITEN KSHAS (especially Puan Siti Marzam, Puan Wan Nurul Huda and her ever cooperative assistant Puan Nora) for their effort that enable Munif to take the "Make Up Test". "Make Up Test" is a replacement test for students who were unable to sit the Final Examination due to health and emergency circumstances. In Munif's case, he was still recovering from motor vehicle accident during the scheduled final examination and needed to rest, as advised by the doctors.

May Allah granted success to Munif, Ameen!

Munif as a UNITEN Undergraduate

It's been exactly a year now since Munif registered as a UNITEN undergraduate at Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Campus, Muadzam Shah, Pahang. I could still remember the instant our Gen-2 entered the township of Muadzam Shah, my first thought was "This is the perfect place for Munif to study." However, I was 100% sure that Munif would not concur with my opinion.

The gathering place was the Main Auditorium. The lobby was packed. In one corner, there was a grandma in tears being consoled by her granddaughter who was holding a UNITEN registration folder. Beside the Main Entrance, a pair of three years old twins playing "Police and Thief", whilst their eldest brother, in UNITEN formal dress code was trying to calm them down.

After a short briefing, we were instructed to go to Desasiswa Bestari, an apartment complex for male undergraduates. Munif was assigned to a 2 rooms apartment, DB5-00-05. His roommate was Abe (Business Studies from Klang, Selangor). Makyo (Business Studies from Ipoh, Perak) and Ajeem (Business Studies from KL) were the occupiers of the other room. Although he was the only Accountancy undergraduate in the apartment, Munif seemed contented. I have known Munif as a person who is not choosy when it comes to making friends.

Before we left, we helped Munif to unpack his belongings. I also helped Munif to identify the best spot for his "Blue Cube". When it was time to part company, we were taken aback when Munif rested his head on his mother's shoulder and shed tears. I understood the situation because this was the first time ever, Munif would be far from home and away from us. I and my wife had agreed not to reveal our real emotion in front of Munif, trying to mitigate the impact of being separated.

I felt I was right in bringing Deqda to her brother's registration day at the UNITEN although she had to skip two days of classes. I hope, from the atmosphere, she will be more determined to follow the footsteps of Kak Long (an undergraduate at UIA) and Abang Munif.

"Kenduri Kesyukuran"

Date & Time: 12th June 2009; 8:30pm

Location: Wawa Cafe @ Wawa Inn, Muadzam Shah

That night, Munif (still donning the soft collar) was reunited with his four friends that were involved in the car accident (as mentioned in the previous posting, click HERE). Syahir (in crutches), Alif, Daoh and Myro managed to attend the kenduri despite still recovering from the injuries caused by the accident. A few of Munif coursemates also accepted our invitations and attended the small kenduri too. Thank you all.

Munif's Hospital Encounter Part 2

28th May 2009 was the saddest day of our life. Our son, Munif, travelling with four of his friends from Kuantan to Muadzam Shah in a Viva, met with an accident. The Viva collided with one Toyota Hilux in the early morning. He was sitting in the middle of the back seat and was asleep when the accident happened. According to his friends, Munif was unconscious when his friends found him with his head trapped underneath the front passenger seat. They carefully pulled him out of the car. His mouth was full of broken glass. Upon noticing that he was not breathing, his friends gave him CPR. After Munif regained conciousness, a man in a white Proton Saga (thank you for being a good samaritan, may Allah rewards you for your kindness) brought him to Pusat Kesihatan Gambang (PKG).

After cleaning Munif's wounds and upon noticing the head injury, the PKG staff immediately put him in an ambulance and transferred him to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA), Kuantan.

12:15pm was Munif's admission time at HTAA. He was under the care of surgical unit of HTAA. The first thing the doctor in charge ordered was to ctscan Munif brain for any internal bleeding. "No internal bleeding", that was the result.

However, Munif was still complaining about neck pains. He was transferred to the care of orthopedic unit of HTAA after the surgical unit gave him the clearance. Waiting for the ctscan of Munif's neck was the longest wait for us. Since the second ctscan could not be done immediately to minimise health risk on patients, his neck was braced. That made Munif very uncomfortable. We had a tough time persuading him to wear the hard collar all the time, however, occasionally and even in his sleep, he would pull off the velcro tape that was holding the brace together and removed it from his neck. Finally, when the ctscan of Munif's neck completed, the result confirmed there were no fractures nor breakages. On the 4th June 2009, Munif was discharged.

Our Favourite Pix

This pix was taken after we have completed our shopping at The Mall, KL. Both of us love to observe the face of Kak Long, 4 1/2, gladly sharing her drink with her brother, Munif, 1 1/2.

Munif's Hospital Encounter

It was two o'clock in the morning sometime in 1992. I was awakened by my wife. She was worried about the condition of our two years old son, Munif. His face was pale and slightly bluish in color. For several days before, Munif had the tendency to vomit out foods and drinks that was given to him although there were no signs of fever, cough, dehydration or stomach-ache.

We decided to bring Munif to the Emergency Ward of Mentakab Hospital. Without disturbing Munif's older sister, Aimi, who was still sleeping, we called on our neighbour's help (Thank you Mak Lang and Pak Lang for being there for us in time of our needs) to baby sits her while we took care of Munif. The observation made by the Medical Officer was that Munif had extra large tonsilitis. This causes Munif to vomit out foods and drinks. The doctor recommended that the tonsils be removed, either in Kuantan Hospital or GHKL. We chose GHKL for the fact that it has better facilities and we have relatives living in and around KL.

Munif successfully recovered from the operation. It was ICE CREAM that made Munif gladly cooperated to undergo the operation. Why? When he was checked-in into the ENT Ward of GHKL, he saw every patients, coming out from post-tonsillectomy, was treated with a cup of sundae ice-cream (his favourite food). While in the Recovery Room, I burst into laughter when the first question blurted through Munif's mouth immediately after he was conscious enough to speak was, "Abah, where's my ice cream?". At that moment, all my fears, tensions and scepticism disappeared.