Transactional Analysis – Ta Basics And Introductory Course

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Malaysia Day 16th September 1963

Malaysia Day falls on 16th September 1963 when all the states that were under the British in South East Asia (Except Brunei)came together to form Malaysia. Unfortunately a year later Singapore left Malaysia to go it alone.
The Malay Peninsula had got independence from the British in 1957. The party running the country from 1957 till today has morphed from the Alliance and to a wider coalition called the Barisan National, has continued to focus on August 31 as the National Day instead of 16th September.
This is a sore point with people in Sabah and Sarawak, the Borneo States. They pointed out that 31 August 1957 was independence day for the Malay States on the Malay Peninsula. It is definitely not the National Day as far as they are concerned. Many in the Peninsula are also wondering the same. The question is why is the Barisan Nasional government not keen to acknowledge such an obvious fact?
The answer to this question has now become much clearer as the dominant partner of the Barisan Nasional that is the United Malays National Party(UMNO) has become progressively assertive in driving the Malay agenda!
After the loss of the Malay heartland and 5 states to the lose coalition of parties Pakatan Rakyat led by one-time UMNO leader Anwar Ibrahim in the last election, the proponents of the Malay Agenda has bared its fangs.
Now it has become obvious to many that the reason why the government is not wanting to celebrate the true Malaysia Day on the 16th is because from that day on the Malay peninsula is just a part of Malaysia and the Malays are just one group of people to be found in Malaysia. The Malay Agenda would be lost because there is no more Tanah Melayu and there are other indigenous people of the country who has been here longer and who are much more deprived and who deserve to be first on the receiving end of the affirmative policies of the government. As it is we are witnessing the continued marginalization of the native peoples in the Borneo States where some of the local leaders have teamed up with people from the Malay Peninsula to develop their lands. Some might recall the robber barons of another continent.
It is by clinging to 31st August that can allow UMNO to cling on to its Malay Agenda.
Lets celebrate Malaysia Day!

So Who Is First?

Seems like being first means having the right to claim everything! I am the first born in my family so I have the right to claim everything that my father owns! My 5 sisters and 1 brother? Just too bad! I am the boss! My brother he is just a trouble maker! He goes to study in America, refused to return and quarreled by telephone, letters and emails with all of us. Now he is back. He is also son of my father and he is saying that he has equal rights to claim my father’s property! But he did nothing! All he did was spend, spend, spend. Whereas I was my father’s right hand. Everything the old man wanted done was done by me. Of course the eldest sister did help. The rest was too small to do anything! So it was me and me and my father.

But now things have gotten worse! The 5 girls are also claiming equal rights! And the cheek of the 3rd sister!! She was adopted when she was a baby! There is a campaign going on. They are all boycotting the family home! My poor mother has been crying because the children are not coming to the family home for the usual weekly dinner. She misses the grand children. I suspect all my 4 brothers-in-law and the fiance of the last sister are all involved in this diabolical plot. They want to force my father to change the will! Everybody to be treated equally and fairly! They are willing to sacrifice the family!

So what am I to do?

PPSMI – Reversion

We shout “Malaysia Boleh” meaning Malaysia Can! Of course we can go to the moon riding as a passenger on someone else’s bus! But we cant even learn English! When things are a little rough we take an about turn! I thought we were going to developed status riding on the horns of maths and science! Is there a way to become great by not making sacrifices and burning the midnight oil? Or shall we set our target slightly higher than Afghanistan and thump our chests on our great achievements? Is that the type of environment you want your children to grow up in. It is easier if make our house of wood because we have a lot of wood. Why make stone or brick houses? Look around you. And ask why? Maybe it is better if we wear bark and leaves, it is easier than making cotton or silk. So lets all learn Malay. Arab? Chinese? English? French? All foreign tongues. We might lose our identity. We might be loyal no more.

Point of View

If you have a point of view, then you must reasonably concede that others too most likely have their point of view. Too often somebody is insisting that his point of view is the only one possible. A logical and sensible approach would be for everyone to re-examine carefully how that has come about. This will involve an assessment of the objective facts and his own personal circumstances as to how the point of view can benefit him.

A person who can do that will always concede that others too can hold a point of view different and even contradictory to his.

Unfortunately once a person starts to defend a point of view he will see opposing views as a threat to him personally. This is when the trouble starts.

New Prime Minister for Our Beloved Malaysia

There are many unresolved issues surrounding our new PM Dato Nazib b Razak. For the moment for better or worse he is our PM. We need him to do the right thing. In these times of crisis how he handles the economy and the political situation will determine how this country will move forward. Is it going to be more repressive with the voice of the majority Malays to be louder and  more important than others? Or is it going to be a situation where everybody’s voice will be heard and everybody’s interest will be taken care of?

There are many in UMNO who are loudly trying to claim that the Malays have more rights than anyone else. They are also seeking to rewrite history with a twist – that all important dvelopments in this country had been carried out by only the Malays. This is a repeat of those who are claiming that the Malays do not need any other race in this country. 

How the PM handles this will decisive for the future of our country.

The Brain and Language Learning

The technology is here! We can now find out which parts of our brain is “turned on” when we think of something, do something or even imagine doing something. 

Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines can take a picture of the brain. We should be able to see which part of the brain is switched on when we learn a language, do mathematics, kick a ball or have a drink of water.

Our experts in the universities should get to work on this.

Seems like a lot of emotions, prejudice and pride is always bubbling to the top in any discussion on language. People are carried away. Decisions are made that maybe detrimental to the real development of our people. In the absence of acceptable evidence people tend to flow with their feelings! If there are incontrovertible facts that can be shown then the correct decisions will be clear.

The whole academic community must weigh in on this. Make all your before and after studies on as many samples as you can and make sure that the methodology is properly spelled out. But for our future’s sake get the MRI machines to work!

The Big Language March

In Malaysia we take our learning seriously! 

We undertand that on the 1st of April there will be a march to parliament to hand over a memorandum to the new PM by no less than 43 people representing all the “races” in Malaysia. They all want learning of Mathematics and Science to be carried out in their own languages. We managed to interview Andal Anak Kabul from Sarawak. 

“Learning science is already difficult for us pribumis in Sarawak! And then we have to learn English too!” Raising his voice, he says, “We are hit with a double whammy! Surely our chance to fail is double.” Why the double whammy? “Cant you see? We were having difficulty learning Science and Maths in Malay! Then we were asked to switch to English! Let us learn in our own language!”

The above sums up the general sentiment of the group. Are they afraid of the water canons? They think the police will not do anything because they are going to march in single file each carrying a flag with the name of the language, starting with Malay, Javanese, Mandarin, Thai, Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kadazan, Murut, Dayak……

Learning of anything should begin with the mother tongue! Let a new chapter begin with our new PM!

National Integration – Blame Yourself!

Politicians are in the habit of blaming others for their own doings. So the racial polarization and lack of integration among the races in Malaysia is due to the different types of schools in Malaysia!

If that is the case..how about this…? Lack of integration is caused by different religions, different languages, different foods, different cultures…? SO lets go make it all one eh?

Funny how these politco types dont get it…the reason why we are not integrated is because of the existence of Race-based political parties like UMNO for the Malays, MCA for the Chinese, MIC for the Indians, etc. These are parties born more than 50 years ago with a mindset and a world setting that is totally out of sync with the current situation. These parties encourage divisiveness among the people, sow fear among them, create enmity and anger whenever it suits them and prevent people from coming together by focusing on the trivial things.

Lets ban all these political parties, pass a law, a fatwa against racial discrimination, racial talking and posturing. Lets see what happens then?

Out with racial political parties!!

Knowledge Now!!

People who can drive change in Malaysia are teachers. There is plenty that you can do. Start with opening the eyes of the people with knowledge that is abundant and all around us. Teach the children under your care how to learn!

Get the children to be internet savvy. Show them the wealth of knowledge that is circling them. Show them how to tap into this. Get them to engage.

It is unfortunate that a large proportion of our teachers are still not literate in IT. They have not embraced IT. The MOE should include computer literacy in training and include it in tests for confirmation or promotions in service. Those who dont get through this component should not be qualified to teach or suitable for promotions. This will ensure that all will learn.