'Plagiarism' of religious sermon: An unethical conduct

The very first day upon registration for my first degree years ago, we were briefed about the unethical conduct of plagiarism of academic writings. We were strictly told of the dire consequences that we would face should we involve in such act. Though I could not say for sure whether the message was well received by all, but I knew not of any who were caught in the act of plagiarizing the academic work of others. 

And so, I am particularly very upset when upon attending a religious sermon to 'witness' a 'bizarre' plagiarizing act in action. And it was a religious sermon. Such a disgrace and shameful. My heart 'bleeds'. And what makes me feel even more bitter and angrier was the fact that the sermon was supposed to honour the birthday of our Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). May Allah s.w.t. forgive us all for our lackadaisical attitude in ensuring a good succession of religious 'leaders' among the younger generation.

Frankly, I am not a regular at the mosque myself. But, that does not give me an excuse not to enhance my religious knowledge every now and then. In fact, it is an obligation and becomes more so in this present era in order to help keep our mind and heart 'clear' of the right behavior to adopt based on religious teachings. Fortunately, with the technology that we have now, it makes it even easier to listen to religious sermons every now and then, despite the busy schedule.

So, I have my own 'favourites' among the religious teachers in the country. There are a few. I need not mention names here. But, there is one particular religious teacher who is a bit 'controversial'; i.e especially among the religious teachers themselves. He speaks his mind from the bottom of his heart. Making clear of what is wrong and what is right based on the Holy Quran and Hadiths. And he likes to sing; i.e. from the oldies of the sixties to the Hindi songs to the modern songs of the younger generation. It is his way of making his audience 'glued' to listening to his sermon while at the same time 'stressing' on the important aspect of that religious teachings.

We keep a large collection of his CDs and VCDs at home as his sermons are being recorded and sold. And I am lucky to have a husband who shares similar passion that he will voluntarily make an effort to download more religious sermons from the internet; i.e. of that particular religious teacher and others as well. So, when we are both in the kitchen or even when it is only one of us in the kitchen having breakfast or lunch or dinner or cooking or washing the plates, he will play the recordings so that we could listen to these religious sermons, since having demanding boisterous growing-up children surrounding us in most of their waking hours, having a time of our own is sheer luxury. And what better way to eat than with good words being 'consumed' together with the food.

And so, when I heard a 'replay' of his sermons being unashamedly used and imitated ( almost word by word), from the anecdotes right to the songs being sung by this unethical young man of supposedly coming from an academically-religious background, my heart was pounding hard. Frankly, I do not know who I am angry at more. The speaker, for his unethical conduct or the audience, who simply make themselves so ignorant? What was supposed to be a solemn event for the remembrance of our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. became an 'entertaining' event filled with meaningless laughs and low-class  unrelated jokes coming from a 'younger' speaker directed to a more mature audience, as again, 'form' takes precedence over  'substance'. I could not help but think, where did they find this 'bogus' speaker in the first place?

Obviously, 'Faith' (i.e. iman and taqwa), is not hereditary; and have we forgotten that our beloved Prophet Muhammads(s.a.w.) was 'illiterate' himself? Thus, it makes it even more important to reread his 'sirah' in this competing knowledge era, which is widely based on paper qualification (i.e a superficial form). The simple fact is that, anything is possible if Allah (s.w.t.) the Most Compassionate, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful wills it. But, I must say, with his skilled imitation, this young man surely is a suitable candidate for our local TV programme : 'Raja Lawak Season 4'.

I am indeed very very angry.

May Allah s.w.t. forgive us all and not take His blessings away from us.

Peace be upon Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) the Messenger of Allah s.w.t.

Of Peace and Pluralism : A 'UNIVERSAL' concern

It had been hectic for me the past few weeks. This explains my 'absence' here. I actually miss my writing 'affair' with you. After all, it is my heart and soul. But, I am not the kind of person who could juggle everything at one time, although there are people who kindly believe that I am a 'superwoman'. Frankly, I love to 'dream' myself to be as such. Well, if only I could. And so, there are of course, sacrifices to be made as we try to fulfill our commitments; i.e both within personal and professional realms. This is one of the crucial times when you have to decide which is more urgent, or more important, or important but not urgent, or urgent but not important, etc., and in the process, you may 'anger' certain people who could not see the 'urgency' of your work from your point of view. Well, to have to decide on this crucial matter is actually a 'tiring' mental exercise.

As it happened, there were people (within my personal and professional circles) with good intentions who wanted me to go out from my secluded 'confined' state of physical being and to meet 'real' people of the world in person, whom I should interact and have 'lively' and 'noisy' discussions with. And so, last week (with a heavy heart, at first), I finally succeeded in making myself to 'physically' attend the 1st International Conference on Exploring Leadership and Learning Theories in Asia, in USM, Penang, from 15th to 17th February 2011. Well, my dear readers, I must humbly confess that it was actually my 'debut'; making an entry into the world of scholars. In fact, I did feel like a 'debutante' myself, ( i.e. relatively, a 'mature' one, of course). And the feelings....? Well, I did not expect to have  this 'serendipity' kind of feeling but frankly, I felt very much 'at home'.

Upon reflection, it is funny thinking how it all began. Honestly, I must admit that I have a friend who have this 'specialty' in making people 'trapped' in the process of doing things that they did not dream of doing in the first place. I must say, he is really good at it. And I know that it is to his satisfaction to have me admitting here, (I could actually see him smiling as he reads this), that I really had had such a good time there. But, please do not think of future collaboration as I will not be letting myself to be  easily drawn by any 'provocative' thoughts anymore. Well, my dear readers, our collaborative effort was not without its obstacles. There were of course, misunderstandings, frustrations, hiccups, confusions, setbacks, disturbances, etc. which occurred along the way as we embarked on our collaborative effort. It was indeed, a time of great test; i.e mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. And it really took a strong faith to persevere.

And so I believe that to most of the ELLTAs of 2011, it was a 'first' time experience to them as well. It was obviously so for the organizers; the dynamic 'trio' in the names of Anders Ortenblad, (from Sweden), Muhammad Babur and Roshni Kumari (both from Pakistan). Though I had not been able to have a personal chat with Roshni, the 'batik-wearing' Anders and the 'sweet-looking' Babur left an indelible impression on me. Well, there must be a 'strong' connection among these 'three', for 'space' and 'time' seemed not to be able to dampen their spirit in ensuring that ELLTA 2011, would commence as planned; away from their own countries of origin. As I am one who does not concern myself much about 'form', I am particularly pleased indeed that there is actually a strong 'substance' in ELLTA.

I also had had the opportunity of meeting other first-time participants of international conference as well as visitors of Malaysia. Well, on the first day, I met a young Japanese chap, Yusuke Suzumura whose fine manners and innocent looking appearance made us (the Malaysians), felt so obligated to help him search for his other country-mates, (i.e. if there were any, that is). Indeed, there was. And we (the Malaysians) were the ones who became over-excited when we met Sophi, a beautiful Japanese lady, who by that time had already found another first-time participant and visitor to Malaysia, as her 'companion'; i.e Suvendu Baral from Bangalore, India, who indeed kindly offered his hospitality should we plan to go there. Alas, our match-making attempt was futile after all, for we could not simply take Sophi away from this kind gentleman.

I also had had the time to engage myself in interesting academic discussion with young scholars who are  both novices as well as experts in their specific areas. Well, an academic discourse with Tyo from Indonesia concerning English language was interesting as he diligently fed me with his vast knowledge on his subject. I also met Gerry, a recovery expert, who is currently working in Japan, whose nature of work I might not be able to compute at this moment still, who nevertheless, emanated a strong sense of confidence and is indeed proud of his work. And there was also Fatima from Pakistan, a young lecturer (both in age as well as in working experience) who made me feel that I was not alone at the conference for we were both still 'raw' in this industry. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to have a long chat with another young lecturer, a local who is now on her Phd leave, Nazuar from UUM.

The Gala Dinner held by the organizer at Equatorial Hotel further provided me with opportunities to meet other participants whom I did not have the chance to meet during the day. Interestingly, I met with three jovial Indonesians : i.e. Ibu Yanki, Ibu Umi and Bapak Adi. It was funny how they innocently asked us (me and my colleague), about the meaning of 'Rumah Kelamin', a signpost that had created a 'disturbing' image; i.e. as upon coming into contact with the word, their mental lexicon conjured up a different image altogether. Well, our languages are said to come from the same 'ancestral' origin, but we do indeed have differences in meaning of the same words.

With us during dinner was also Gioko, from Kenya, who was a sport as he learned to use the chopstick to eat rice. In fact, he was good at it. He imitated whatever Yanki was saying in Indonesian language, though we suspected that he understood nothing of what he was 'parroting'. He actually brought his 'warriors' to the table, and it is his custom of which we know we should have to respect. In fact, he was telling us the other day of how in his village, when a man marries a woman, he can get another one as a 'compliment'. But, when we asked him whether he has two wives, he answered that, unfortunately for him that upon his marriage, there was no other woman who offered herself to be his second wife. Funny. And he was after all, a good company with a great sense of humour.

Apart from the diversities in terms of place of origin and professional undertakings, ELLTA 2011 was also a place where I met some important 'gurus'; i.e. real 'experts' of their own field. On the first night, I attended the 'special' seminar. I felt so 'related' with Prof. Abdul Rashid Moten (from IIUM), as  when I heard his speech that night, I could not help but felt his strong love of Allah s.w.t. and Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.). And I said to myself that I will be his 'student' if he takes me. It was also an invigorating experience listening to the talk of Prof. Michael W. Apple from University of Wisconsin-Madison, whose sharp and critical observations, as well as his blunt and witty remarks had left a lasting impression on me. I also had had such a 'cute' encounter with Dr. Zane from Monash Universtiy, whom I met shortly before my presentation, and who, after listening to my presentation was indeed generous with her praises and compliments. Such exciting experiences, indeed.

ELLTA 2011 was without a doubt, a place which provided me with fruitful learning experiences. Of course, it really depends on how we look at things. To me, from the point of view of a participant, the conference, though young and immature it may be in terms of its period of conception and organization has much greater potentials, yet to be unleashed. In fact, the diversity as existed in terms of nationality, race, gender, age, academic fields, religious beliefs, cultural values, etc. illustrate a colourful existence blended in harmonious relations that make ELLTA one of its kind. Of course, we may differ in our religious beliefs (and that is a fact that will never change), but the fact remains that we can have common grounds in aspects of humanities. And for that, I believe each and every one involved in ELLTA 2011 would agree with me if I say that we do have a UNIVERSAL  concern ; i.e to have the existence of PEACE despite the 'cacophony' of our PLURALISM realities.

Well, having said all these and almost nearing to the end of my writing, you might have thought that I had missed one important point. Of course I had not and did not intend to. How could I be when, with the blessing of Allah s.w.t., it is through this great man that people of diverse background could actually meet and mingle in harmony and share different views of important matters. His name needs not mention whatsoever, even more so in this little blog of mine, but, I would bring more disgrace to myself than to him should I attempt to 'ignore' his great contribution to ELLTA. He is none other than the great Professor Dato' Dr. Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid, whose 'passion' in his work is so obvious to the eyes of many.

I was actually introduced to his name much much earlier than to the person himself. And finally, at ELLTA 2011, I took this golden opportunity to simply introduce myself to him as he obviously did not need to introduce himself to anybody. I was told by colleagues of his great leadership since they had had the opportunity to be under his guidance, of which I am among the unfortunate ones who do not have that. Well, I must admit that I understood the reasons for the great 'admiration' that people have of him. I do not wish to be great myself, but I would be a fool if I do not take the opportunity to learn great lessons from this man. It is in fact, an obligation to always seek knowledge to better ourselves and it is even more so to learn from the wise ones whom we have the opportunity to cross path with. So that whatever new knowledge we acquire we could further generate for the betterment of mankind.

Well, my dear readers, again I could not entertain you with beautiful pictures of events happening during ELLTA 2011. I have not make it a habit yet to capture events in 'still'  or 'moving' moments. Forgive me for my 'stubbornness'. Nevertheless, I do hope that I have somehow been able to 'illustrate' through my wordy expressions, the 'substance' of ELLTA 2011. And that, my dear ELLTAs and readers, remains very much 'alive' in my memory.

What do you know when you know a word?

If I were to ask you "What do you know when you know a word?", honestly, what would your answer be? I bet most of you will answer that knowing a word means knowing what its meaning is. Of course, that is basically, the function of a word : i.e to carry 'meaning' of some abstract concept or to be a direct reference to a concrete entity. Nevertheless, in any interaction, it only eases the flow of communication when the meaning of a word is mutually understood by both the sender and receiver.  This means that both participants need to have the same 'schemata' in order to mutually agree on the meaning of a "term' ; i.e a shared knowledge based on previous experiences, derived from either personal or professional endeavors. I purposely used the word 'term', due to a simple fact that in this knowledge-based era, new words are constantly being coined to appropriately suit its context of use.

Quite recently, a friend asked me of a suitable term to use in the web he's creating and maintaining. He asked of the correct term to use concerning the payment mode. He was contemplating on using the widely used term "payable to". Still, having me as the person he consults regarding language matters, he feels a strong obligation to ask for my opinion. Well, I, a 'straight' government servant, coming from a linguistics background with a qualitative nature of thinking would always try to give the best  of my judgment, and in this case to best situate the meaning of the term to its 'suitable' context of use. So, my 'bizarre' suggestion was for him to use the term "to be paid to", instead. Simply straight-forward. No 'implied' alternative. The only problem: i.e it is not a 'popular' term.

My friend, who was once a 'Physicist', of course, found it difficult to accept my suggestion since he believes in a 'general' accepted opinion. Being always a 'balanced' person in unchanging environment, well, that is understandable. Still, he repeatedly asked me to consider the first term, of which out of exasperation I told him, he actually is at a liberty to choose the term which he himself feels comfortable in using. My answer was only a suggestion. Nevertheless, coming from a linguistics background, I would say that I am more receptive to change since I believe that language and its users are dynamic social entities.  In fact, that is how language evolves because there are always dynamic people who are bold enough to introduce new words to provide new meanings to the ever-changing environment that we live in.

So, when the term K-economy was first coined and landed on our local shores about more than a decade ago, it became a buzz word. Indeed, I would definitely agree that it is a catchy term coined in an economical manner. Being in the teaching line, it was not hard for me to figure out the meaning of the term. Naturally, it made us (i.e. the educationists) realize that as knowledge workers we need to 'empower' ourselves through learning, unlearning and relearning processes so that we would always be informed of new knowledge and be aware of our obsolete ones in order to continuously generate new wisdom. Many were in fact, inspired to embark on advanced knowledge-seeking endeavors in order to maintain their competitive edge in this challenging global era.

The term indeed has a larger impact on our society and its social structure. Being highly knowledgeable actually puts one at an advantage in securing better positions and status  (i.e both within personal and social domains). In terms of economic advantage, the advanced knowledge that one has successfully acquired, undoubtedly enhances one's entrepreneurial value  which is facilitative in acquiring wealth. At a macro-level, with the knowledge that we have successfully acquired, we undoubtedly become the 'human capitals' of the country. And with the government aim to develop first-class human capitals among its citizens who could further take the country to reach greater achievements in both the local and global domains, it becomes a 'moral imperative' for us (the educationists) to provide a succession of highly knowledgeable citizens among the younger generation. Of course, this could only be done through public education where equal quality learning opportunity is provided for all to ensure social mobility especially among students who come from poor-income families.

Well, this is my actual understanding of the meanings of the terms 'K-Economy', 'human capital' and 'moral imperative' as they are widely used within our social domain. From the perspective of an educationist, of course. However, as a linguist I am  very much aware that meanings of words or terms, more often than not, reside in the individuals themselves. This means that each individual actually carries a particular meaning of the word when he or she uses it in human interaction. Within a wider context of social use, the same term may denote different meaning to different social groups depending on how they perceive the term to be in relation to their role and function in the society. In other words, my educationist' understanding of the terms 'K-Economy', 'human capitals' and 'moral imperative' may differ from other social groups such as the economists.

Being a language person by nature (i.e my 'innate' capital) enhanced through advanced academic knowledge (i.e my competitive edge in K-Economy), I feel a strong obligation (i.e my moral imperative) to offer an alternate meanings of these terms from a different perspective to aid in  making better judgment for self-evaluation and self-regulation behavioral purposes. But first, I must admit that most of my thoughts are guided by the great thoughts of Drucker, who simply posit that : "There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer." This simply means that in 'K-Economy' where knowledge is an important commodity, the economists have to think of 'potential' customers since the present older generation and the existing social structure would not be able to sustain its meaningful existence in the future.

And this consequentially gives a new and different meaning to the term 'human capitals'. Indeed, humans are the capitals; i.e the targeted consumers (not producers) for which the knowledge products are being produced, distributed and consumed. Of course, to have a longer life-span for the product to stay in high demand, the younger generation is the correct age-group to be targeted as the consumers. With the 'moral imperative' of business people is to maximize the profit, they have to make their knowledge product attractive to the ones having economic means by making quality knowledge product as a social privilege that clearly distinguishes the social status between the empowered social class and the others.

Well, this is my illustration of how meanings of terms may be differently conceptualized by different people or groups in a society. I could actually provide you with another alternative for the meanings of these terms, probably from a religious stand-point, but at this juncture, I would say, that it is suffice in making my point vividly clear about my initial question of "what do you know when you know a word". We may speak the same language but the essence of what we speak actually differ in the meanings that we ourselves have conceptualized which may be based on various factors such as the social class we belong to, our academic background, the beliefs that we hold and many more. Still,  in line with our ongoing effort to sustain the progress of our nation and to achieve our aim to become a developed country, as an educationist, I firmly believe that generating first-class 'holistic' human capitals among our younger generation, IS, without doubt, our moral imperative. This, of course is greatly aspired in our national education policy of which the public education is based on.

The role of narratives : A system thinking in action

When I was teaching primary children many many years ago, I used to tell stories ( i.e. apart from songs, games and other 'fun' activities), as a 'closure' to my lesson on that day. And always at the end of the story, there would be a short session to 'discuss' on the moral values of the stories; i.e. in line with the philosophy of education to develop 'holistic' individuals; i.e mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. And what other better way to do this than to tell stories. Through my past experiences, I must say that I was impressed with these young innocent students who related well with the stories to the extent that they by themselves could actually 'extract' many embedded values within a single story without me having to tell them so.

I believe everyone of us grew up with stories at some point of our life. And I also believe every society has its own 'unique' stories aka 'folktales', where often the aims are to provide guidance for correct behavior be it in family relations or as members of a society as a whole. Come to think of it, it was  creative of our forefathers back then, to use stories effectively to 'shape' our behavior. From oral tradition to written materials to the use of advanced technology, stories never cease to create a certain impact on how we perceive the world, which to a substantial extent psychologically influence our thoughts and behaviors.

Among the Malays, we are all familiar with "Si Tanggang"; i.e a story used to remind us to always be good to our mothers. It was widely told orally from one generation to another, which then through the sincere effort of those who  had had a sense of great responsibility to preserve the good old stories to be passed to the next generation, had it transformed into a written form. And as modern technology enables a face-lift of a dull appearance to be done, so the 'uninteresting' form of the printed story had taken a new 'physical appearance', which is more entertaining and convincing since we are able to  actually 'witness' the event with our own eyes.  After all, "Seeing is Believing" they say.

At one time, during my school holidays spent with my late grandmother, I had had the opportunity of watching a Malay movie being shown on a very large screen. It was a public show and the venue was at the football field, some walk-away from my late grandmother's house. There were no street lights at that time, so, the only lights available were from the movie itself. So you could imagine the wonderful play of emotions among us created by the story throughout the viewing time, since being a 'scary' movie  ( I think the title was "Mata Syaitan"  or literally translated as "The Devil's Eyes") with lots of superstitious elements,  the audience (in particular, me) sort of understood our 'cues' in making the movie  more 'alive'. 

And so, we 'screamed' hysterically ( and harmoniously too), and trembling with horror when being instigated by the 'so-loud' a sound effect, interlaced of course, with the spine-chilling laughter of the devil himself. We silently moved and sat very close with each other for fear that the devil would just pop-out from the screen and sat among us and stared menacingly at us with his eyes, with a clear intention of devouring us. When things became so unbearable to watch, some of us (especially me) closed our eyes with our hands, with the fingers spread apart though, as we were greatly torn in between wanting to watch and not wanting to watch the gory scenes. Thankfully, to our relief, the devil was defeated in the end, and we went home with a 'renewed' spiritual determination not to associate ourselves with the devil.

Such is the effect of a movie and because of that back then, it was a wonderful medium for the dissemination of religious beliefs; i.e. as an enhancement to the religious lessons at school . Do you believe me if I tell you that our mothers and fathers actually used these scary movies to their full advantage when trying to make us listen to them. They used some of the scenes in the movie to scare us, for example, from staying outside when dusk approaches. They threatened us with the consequences (by making us 'replayed' the extreme punishment scenes shown on the movies in our minds), should we fail to abide to religious teachings. We were made to clearly distinguish between 'good' and 'bad' behaviors based on religious teachings.

But, of course, I will never disagree should any of you think that the ways we were brought up back then reflect an orthodox kind of thinking. You are indeed entitled to your own opinion and beliefs, as I am to mine. And personally, I am of the view that being orthodox does not necessarily mean being wrong. What is more important to me is to always uphold the good values and true beliefs, regardless of the context that we are in.

Still, I am of the strong opinion that stories have more to teach us than just being stories used for entertainment purposes. However, as I had mentioned earlier in my other posts, interpretation of meanings of stories differ among individuals and from one context of experience to another. In fact, this was the reason why I took up on analyzing Jean Rhys' "Wide Sargasso Sea"( a post-colonial literature), as it is said as a 'reinterpretation' of Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre";(i.e. for my masters' thesis). Suffice for me to explain here, that Rhys was attempted to rewrite the character of the Creole woman in 'Jane Eyre' in her novel because  she felt that the character was 'unfairly' represented in the English novel. In her novel, therefore, she provided the 'missing' context in which the identity of a madwoman given to the Creole character in Bronte's novel, would be understood as not an 'inherit' traits from that particular race but rather was due to the oppressing condition caused by the act of colonization.

In our present context, I believe many are aware of the new creatively modified form of 'Si Tanggang' now being told to our younger generation, which also carries slightly modified themes. In comparison to the previous theme, where the aim was to secure good conduct among younger generation, the present one, I personally believe aims at inculcating a bold attitude among our youths especially in embracing new paradigm and for the older generation to be more 'open' towards the thinking of the younger generation. Frankly, I don't see any conflict of values between the old and the new beliefs, especially when both actually aim at inculcating positive values.

Yet, I do see the danger of values being 'misinterpreted' since the present form  of the story is somewhat 'distorted' ( a shortened version), which utilizes only the first person point of view; i.e. that of Si Tanggang's. It is solely his 'voice' that is being  presented to us. Well, to me, taken out of its original context, the meanings embedded in the story (both explicit and implicit), could easily be manipulated. This is why I strongly feel the importance of understanding past events or history  or story to aid in making sense of  present situations. Only then, could we draw a 'holistic' picture of events or happenings so that we could arrive at better conclusions and make informed decisions.

I would like to relate a Malay story I had had read many many years ago. But, I would like to offer my apology in advance for any 'distortion' that might occur as it was a story I vaguely remember. The story is about a couple ( with a baby and a 'faithful' cat) living far in the woods, who make ends meet doing 'traditional' work. Everyday they have to go into the jungle to earn their living. The 'faithful' cat will look after the baby when they are out. One day, upon returning home they saw the cat waiting on the front door with blood all over its face and body. Thinking of the worse, they hit the cat without mercy and killed it. It was only when they went into the house to check what had really happened that they found the baby was safe and sound, sleeping in the cot and not far from where the baby sleeps was a dead snake. So reactive indeed. Well, no use crying over spilt milk.

My point is that there is always a lesson to be learned from stories. In fact, if you ask me, personally I would say that, stories could and should be used if one wants to engage oneself in system thinking, for a better understanding of events so that a better course of action could be taken, be it in personal or professional domains. A holistic view of how essential discrete elements such as the people, the chronology of events, patterns/trends of activities/movements, cause and effects, etc. are intertwined as parts of a system, which are consequential to the occurrence of an event. Simply, in Drucker's words, it means that : "The 'whole' has to be seen and understood and the 'parts' exist only in contemplation of the whole".

Nevertheless, I am not suggesting that any or all stories could be used, especially in the present modern context that we live in today. In fact, I personally find that good stories are hard to come by nowadays; be it the movie, short story or any other forms that stories are being delivered. Not much of 'valuable' lessons to be learned, are they? Well, I guess, one way to ensure the 'worth' of the stories to be utilized in our decision making processes, for instance, is to analyze them for accurate 'facts' clearly presented or the hidden 'messages' subtly embedded in the stories. And only with good analysis that one could have a better perspective.....and then of course,  'to live happily ever after'- "The End".

"Doing what you love" and "Loving what you do"

I am not so much of an ICT-savvy. Whatever little knowledge that I have of ICT, I would classify it as just basic knowledge. Using Maslow's Hieracrchy of Needs as the analogy, well, I would situate my knowledge at the lowest level of that hierarchy. Purely my 'basic' needs; i.e. suffice for me to get by in this era of information and technology. So, one day, out of my other 'basic' need of creating a platform where I could share my thoughts and feelings about 'things' I feel, observe and experience as a human being situated in a societal domain, I managed to create this blog. Simply using the basic knowledge that I have of ICT; i.e. with a bit of 'trial-and-error' though.

Frankly, my drive for creating this blog was due to my 'love' for knowledge. Reading books is interesting. Sharing what I read with others make it even more exciting. But, putting it down in written form, that is the final satisfaction. I actually could 'see' my own thoughts in their 'physical' forms. And that is when I understood the importance of  making my tacit knowledge as explicit as possible so that I will be well understood by people who read or try to read my thoughts. Judging from the 'silent' response as well as some 'transformation' of ideas made by friends in other contexts of use, well, I guess I am doing fine.

Recently, a friend asked me to add some pictures to my blog. It took me a while to think of how best should I rationalize my 'preference' of not adding pictures. Although I find Gardner's Multiple Intelligence as insightful to the understanding of how we should cater for different kind of Intelligences inherent in different individuals and that some people prefer to have the 'visual' effects to be 'spatially' utilized, I have my reasons for not to. And I purposely chose pure black and white as the 'background'. They are 'not' colours, and that is actually the reason; i.e. pure idea presented  in its basic form, and it actually falls upon you to choose the suitable colours to 'paint' my ideas with ; i.e. from your own personal collections, of course.

I know it is selfish of me. But, I only want you to read and focus on my 'abstract' ideas and not to be distracted by other colourful tangible 'things', of which I believe you could easily find in other blogs should you wish to entertain yourself with beautiful sights. And also, as I intend to spread what I myself termed as the 'seeds' of knowledge, I leave it to your own discretion whether you want to let my ideas grow and blossom or, as you wish, to not let it grow at all.  No obligation, whatsoever.

In fact, my opinion is no different than what Drucker once described of what IDEA is when he  defined : "Ideas are somewhat like babies - they are born small, immature, and shapeless. They are promise rather than fulfillment". In other words, you may choose to throw my seed away if you feel that this type of seed does not suit the climate of the place that you inhabit, and you might in fact, know by a hunch that it will not survive even a day should you try to plant it in your knowledge garden, already filled with beautiful, colourful, exotic species of various knowledge plants . The choice is ultimately yours.

There was another friend who bluntly asked me how much did I earn from making this blog. Funny. Haven't you heard of the famous saying that, "Money can't buy Love"?. Well, I must say, I totally agree with this saying. This is all about LOVE. My love for Knowledge and I love doing this. So, this explains why there is no single ad in my blog. To this, I could not agree more with Drucker, ( I really like this man of great thoughts), when he stated that "Economic wants and economic satisfactions are important but not absolutes. Above all, economic activities, economic institutions, economic rationality, are means to noneconomic ( that is human or social) ends rather than ends in themselves". But, this particular sincere comment of his is the one which has the highest impact on my conscience:  " I saw no point in being the richest man in the cemetery". Funny. He really does have a great sense of humour.

So, my dear readers, I must admit though that having a strong love for knowledge, will NOT blind me to the simple fact that DUTY (aka 'responsibility' ) takes precedence over LOVE. I personally believe that it is the high regards for DUTY that will enable one to do something that he or she does not love or to simply persevere in the face of adversity. But, if you have both LOVE and DUTY as your source of passion that motivates you in whatever you do in life, then, I must say, you really have a KILLING combination of inner DRIVE. I strongly perceive that it is in the sincere attempt to execute one's DUTY which might be born out of LOVE that will transcend one's limitation to one's exceptional performance. 

And so, when I read about a mom being charged for giving a false information just to ensure that she could enlist her child into a 'good' school, I said to myself : "This is purely an ACT of LOVE". Of course, my motherly instinct tells me that it was her love for her child that has tempted her to commit such an act. Her pure love to ensure that her child will have chance at obtaining a better future. It was also an ACT of DUTY. Again, my motherly hunch is that it was purely her strong obligation that instigated her to try all her might to 'free' her child from 'inheriting' her present depressing situation; i.e. by providing her child with an enabling condition for potential development. Of course, I could be wrong, but as they say, only a woman understands another woman.

Nevertheless, she really understood the IMPORTANCE of KNOWLEDGE as an essential MEANS in one's life. No doubt, she actually displays a good understanding of what K-economy is all about.  With knowledge being the commodity, becoming an 'enabled' knowledge worker allows one to own one's 'means of production'. This brings me back to my childhood memories. I remember a motto (or is it an old saying?), I came across when I was small. In Malay, it was written as "Ilmu Pelita Hidup". Literally translated, the meaning is more or less like this: "Knowledge : The Torch of Life". And this simply explains why I have such a high regard for knowledge and in fact, silently hoping that everybody will actively engage themselves in knowledge-seeking endeavors.

However, in the ever-changing and fast-paced world that we live today, it is no exaggeration on my part to say that I do sometimes find myself caught in the midst of confusion and and trapped in a  chaotic  environment. And that is when I realize the crucial importance of relying to one's faith when everything seems to making no sense.  Sincerely, I believe faith will not fail to 'light up' the heart and provide me with spiritual guidance at times when I sense that the feeling of darkness is starting to envelop me. And that my dear readers, is simply the power of faith.

Well, back to the predicament faced by the mom, I sincerely believe that we all could learn some valuable lessons from her situation. Personally, I feel that her  'failed' attempt is not merely about championing her cause for the right for education for all, but more importantly for equal quality education for all so that the potentials of her child could be well developed and enhanced. And so, in our quest to develop first class human capitals, I strongly believe  we need to go all out in discovering the hidden potentials among our young generation. This,  of course, signifies the forever importance and the relevancy of utilizing a centralized system of assessment of students' performance. Simply because, it is only through a standardized evaluation could we identify the unpolished gems of the country from all over the place and then, to tap on their valuable potentials.

History of Ideas: From limiting memory to limitless potentials

I was never a good student of History subject. Particularly because I was never good at memorizing names, years and events. Could it because of the 'Behaviorist' way ( i.e the rote-learning method and what not) that the subject was thought back then, that somehow had made the subject not so 'learner-friendly' to me? Or could it be because of the 'fragmented' information that we had to remember that after frequent attempts to avoid 'mixing' and 'matching' the wrong people to the wrong events or to the wrong dates, that I finally gave up all attempts in memorizing them? Frankly, I have a strong feeling that the reasons were actually, both. So, if anybody were to ask me questions regarding historic events happening both in the local and non-local settings, I must admit that my answer would be 'vague' to them as their questions are to me.

But, a comment made by Annabel ('thank you'), on one of my posts 'forced' me to reflect on my cognitive preference regarding this particular subject. It was then that I realized for the first time that I actually had strong interests to reflect on things happening in the past and how they actually provide clear insights to the understanding of events happening at our present time. In fact, having this vivid link between the past and the present situations as inputs to our 'mental model' ( I believe the concept actually is as an expansion  or further explanation to Piaget's  concept of  'schemata'), allows us to anticipate  events happening in future time .

Of course, I am no 'Nostradamus' who could predict the future, but I believe we are all familiar with this famous saying, that : "History repeats itself". Ironically, it is always the MISTAKE that gets repeated; seldom is the success. Still, it is not impossible to achieve future success. Perhaps, we should try and change our 'traditional' approach. Rather than 'reflecting' on the past as guidance for the right solution to present problem in contemplation of better future (i.e REACTIVE), I believe that we should 'fore-reflect' of future success instead, for example, by analyzing present situations in comparison to past happenings ( a bit PROACTIVE,  don't you think?).

And this is because I realize that upon reflecting on 'history', it was actually the IDEA or the thinking that has led to such events occurring which actually caught my interest. This explains why I am able to link the past and present events; i.e. because of the IDEA.  Not the names; not the places; not the dates. The simple fact is that Idea actually LIVES on and 'TRANSFORMS' itself  so that it could be well-accommodated with the context it is situated in. It transcends the barriers of SETTING; i.e. time and place.

This means that in different periods of time, it  takes on different 'forms', although the 'substance' remains the same. It employs different names, occupies different place, and manifests different behaviors.  Yet, the similar 'substance' could never escape the critical minds, though the different 'form' could easily fool the unsuspecting ones. I believe many 'critical' strategists think the same and welcome the 'challenge' of unearthing this 'subtle' manifestation of ideas.

On a personal note, I strongly believe that Louis Althusser had had this 'sense' when he introduced the concept of 'Ideological State Apparatus' (ISA; eg. means of communication, etc.), as a 'tool' to disseminate certain 'idea' as it is an easy way to 'promote a certain societal conditioning through natural ways of seeing the world'. And I also believe that Antonio Gramsci had had a similar sense when he conceptualized the term 'hegemony'; i.e the dissemination of ideas by making alliance with the target group. Well, these are two different forms, I believe substantial ideas could be disseminated.

Let me share with you one example of a great 'History of ideas on woman', where ideas are realized through different forms in history. Actually, it is the title of a book by Rosemary Agonito(1977). Nevertheless, before I proceed , let me assert here that I am no feminist and also not against one. However, that simple fact does not stop me from 'admiring' the great thoughts of Mary Wollstonecraft, whose radical views made her both famous and infamous in her days. Her strong views advocating the equality of sexes, in fact, has the 'power' to lift  the spirit  of women that consequentially (i.e after a gap of a 'century') they became the doctrine of woman's movement.

According to her, men attempt 'to secure the good conduct of women by attempting to keep them always in a state of childhood' and that 'women are told from their infancy, and taught by example of their mothers' that they need a man to support them. Well, if we reflect on the period she lived and the society she belonged to, we could easily see how the context she was in had shaped her  social beliefs. But, what I like to point out is the ideas: (i) to secure good conduct by keeping them always in a state of childhood; (ii) told from their infancy, and taught by example. These are IDEAS that actually live on, although the context may be different.

I remember the 'traditional' Malay ways in which most of the present older generation was being brought up. Back then, it was a 'closed' society. The elders were highly respected and there was a clear gap between the young and old generation. I also remember that children were often being reprimanded by their mothers every time they tried to interfere with 'adult' matters. At times, they were given 'sweets' to distract their attention or to keep them occupied when the adults have urgent matters to attend to and did not want to be disturbed. So, you see, the ideas live on regardless of the context.

We are not free from our past memory, and in fact, should not be so as the previous knowledge still has its relevance in the current context. However, as society evolves, the past knowledge may reappear in different forms. Therefore, I strongly agree with Drucker when he asserts that  "Post-capitalist society needs the educated person even more than any previous society did, and access to the great heritage of the past will have to be an essential element".  Maybe then could we identify the real 'substance' being subtly hidden in various forms or to recognize that the outer forms may not necessarily indicate the inner substance. And also maybe, we could, as noted by Drucker; "identify the future that has already happened",  so that we could adjust our behaviors accordingly in our attempt to create new realities.

To this existing 'paradox', a friend exclaimed : "My God, how could I be sure that I'm not SLEEPING with an ENEMY?!". Well, I believe, if all else fails (i.e. quantitative and qualitative ways), just rely on your hunches, then. So, to all my female readers( especially to Annabel ),do not take for granted of the significance of our past experiences; though limited they may be. Instead, lets share our 'limiting memory' so that we could reflect on them and to transform them to become our 'limitless potentials'. Last but not least, thank you again, Annabel, for the sharing of provoking INSIGHTFUL idea.

Acquisition or Learning? : Towards a meaningful instruction

I remember watching 'My Fair Lady' when I was little. I liked the movie; simply because it just 'felt' good to my childish, innocent, unsuspecting mind. Well, I must admit I actually liked the 'fairy-tale' element of the story; i.e to be accidentally 'spotted' by a gentleman( i.e Henry Higgins- the phoneticist) who then became so engrossed in his new 'vocation' (as he was challenged by Colonel Pickering), to 'transform' the 'foul-speaking' flower girl (Eliza Doolittle) into a 'proper-speaking lady'. 

So, that was actually my first 'accidental' exposure to 'Phonetics and Phonology'; i.e the systematic study of the sound system of a language. It was only many many years later, when I underwent my training as a teacher did I again come across this funny 'business' of producing English sounds 'correctly'. We were only made familiar with the 'articulatory' phonetics( i.e the place and manner of articulation), and its phonology (i.e the speech sounds, forms and meanings of the sounds). Fortunately, I had had more opportunity to make myself 'academically' informed of the English sound system during my studies both at first and second degree level. 

However, I am fully aware of the 'diaspora' of English language across the globe and how its direct interaction with other language speakers of diverse cultural backgrounds has consequentially 'reshaped' it to being somewhat 'nativized', especially that which concerns the speech 'sounds'.  It is inevitable, since being a 'lingua franca' English language is widely spoken by 'people of the world',  who may not have the 'opportunity' of being formally exposed to the 'accurate' way of producing English language sounds.

So, I am in fact, more 'tolerant' of the 'polluted' sounds of English language that I heard or detected upon interaction with other English language speakers. I am tolerant as long as it is 'intelligible' to me, because I am also aware of the 'free variation' (i.e a sound produced differently), which exists among varieties of English (not to mention the different  sounds of the 'dialects' existing within that single variety). This is simply because I am  of the strong opinion that what is more important is not in 'how' we speak but rather is in 'what' we speak about. Yet, I would not simply sacrifice the 'virtue' of speaking accurately if the sounds produced tend to become 'unintelligible' which may lead to confusion and misinterpretation of meaning.

Well, so much of my short 'introductory' course of Phonetics and Phonology to you. Actually, what drove me back down to the 'memory lane' of my formal studying  of this special area of linguistics is because of a question asked by a friend which I could not simply ignore. I was asked of my opinion regarding the 'phonetics' way of reading being the sole method adopted and being applied in language teaching and learning. This is definitely not an easy question to answer. Frankly, empirical-wise, I have no concrete evidence to support my opinion. What I have to offer is purely a qualitative-based personal insight through my own experiential and formal knowledge regarding language learning and instruction.

Suffice for me to mention here, that studies in first language acquisition highlight the 'innate' ability of human beings to learn language ( i.e a notion introduced by Noam Chomsky, a linguist). The 'babbling' sounds that our infants make in imitation to the sounds that we 'orally' produced, indicates this capacity human beings are endowed with. Interestingly, Chomsky also brought up the idea of  a 'universal grammar' innately built in our brain, which according to him, allows us to generate infinite sentences from the finite set that we 'naturally' have. With Bandura's theory of Social Learning to help  explain further of the influence of social context in providing learning 'input' to our children  in terms of their language capacity, I believe that our children have enough experiential learning to help them cope with their language 'tasks' in social interactions.

And so, upon entering school, it is high time that the young learners are  given a 'comprehensive' formal instruction where they need to be exposed with all the 'basics' of technical knowledge of a language. This, of course, includes the 'traditional' study of 'letters' of the language and how they are then combined to form syllables, which then are further combined to form words, sentences, texts; i.e. from morphology to syntax; from spelling to dictation. This process, though to some (i.e the proponent of phonetics reading method) may seem tedious and time-consuming, is to me,  worth all the while since our young learners whose brain is still at its high level of 'elasticity' would be able to absorb as much information given as possible.

In fact, as proposed by Stephen Krashen, who specializes in theories of second language acquisition,  there is a different between acquisition and learning. Acquisition, to him, involves direct interaction in natural communication and does not require being conscious of the language 'rules'. Learning, on the other hand, involves formal instruction of the language being learned. Therefore, if the language being 'learned' at school is the language, which is also naturally 'acquired' at home, the teaching of the language then, should be formally structured. Through formal instruction, they could be given more challenging input that will keep their inquisitive mind to always be in a state of curiosity.

So, this entails among other things that the objectives( i.e. both long-term and short-term objectives) of language instruction being formally taught in school should be clearly understood. So, if learning a language concerns a systematic learning of the language system, then, it should be done 'systematically' to allow what is identified by Krashen as 'meaningful input' being imparted to the learners. This then would guide towards a clear identification of critical components of the language that would be taught through formal instruction, and which other aspects of language teaching such as the approach, strategies, activities, content, etc. will fall into better perspectives.

I personally believe that the phonetic-way of teaching reading is merely a 'method', which could be substituted with other methods of language teaching. In fact, our knowledge regarding theories of learning behavior (e.g behaviorist, mentalist, etc.) would inform us on the right approach or strategy to use in developing our learners' ability to use the language competently. And apart from the learner differences existing in terms of their styles and preferences, cultural background, etc, I am also cognizant of 'learning disorders' such as 'dyslexia', 'hyperactive' and 'sydrome down' among our learners, which pose as a challenge to our teachers. I know of one such method being utilized to cope with the challenge of teaching reading skill which employs the use of facial expressions to convey the right sound to be produced. It is fun and less demanding.

Still, I am of the view that the majority of our younger generations have the intellectual capacity to be highly-challenged with higher-level of academic activities. I, therefore, see  the need for us to provide a solid foundation of language repertoire from which they could draw upon should they feel the need to further embark on knowledge seeking endeavors on their own. This, of course, need to be done from as early as the first day they step their feet on the school compound in our quest to make them 'literate' individuals. Remember the old saying : "Give them a fish, and you feed them for one day. But, teach them how to fish, you will feed them for life." So, teaching them how to fish involves all the nitty-gritty of the fishing 'business'.