Week One in Goteborg

How's Sweden? It's great! It's the expected answer for the typical question people back home ask me. What else can one say? What they really mean is: how are you, and how do you find Sweden? We never really ask what we mean to ask, with a question. It's one of my pet peeves about communication.

So how is Sweden?

# I notice myself hunching sometimes because of the cold. 11-28 degree weather for summer.

# There's broken glass all around the student housing area from last night's party, when people got so drunk they started smashing things or dropping bottles. Iusually leave before that happens, though.

# Goteborg is rainy. Intermittently rainy, which is bad in that the weather is unpredictable, but good because bad weather is over quickly. But there will be more rain.

# It's expensive (duh!). The cheapest groceries are slightly more expensive than buying food in Singapore, but some things are very expensive. Fresh fish is at least RM50 per kg, and even more for salmon.

# Everything comes in XL size--the wildlife, the vegetables and the people. We bought an onion larger than both my fists put together. Here' s my RM1.30 white button mushroom, known as champignon at the local markets. It's a medium-sized one of the day's pick, by the way.

# People are friendly. They offer help whenever they see you lost and staring at a map to figure out the 11 different tram lines.

# Goteborg University has one of the best exchange student programs, with special courses for exchange students (because everything else is in Swedish), student buddies who actually organize things, dedicated administrative officers who reply emails on time, and even a special welcome dinner from the city council. This is what the cheapest student housing looks like (all furniture from IKEA). The armchair was originally just draped in white cloth, but I found a throw left behind by my predecessor, among other useful things. Of course, it's relatively the cheapest. I'm paying the equivalent of a fully furnished room in Singapore. The plus side is, this is student housing, so we get to cook and have parties.

# For photography, natural light can be very harsh. I had problems taking landscape photos when facing west in the afternoon, and when facing east in the morning (whether or not the sun was in the picture). Note the glare from the window in the first photo above. I had to draw the curtains to get a decent result for the second photo, and that was the light from a southeastern window on a sunny morning.

# It's beautiful, and the houses are pretty. The red house with the slate roof is typical of houses in the countryside. I have yet to see a building with peeling or weathered paint.

# The world has expanded. I learn that Nazis still exist in Germany (as a tiny and vehemently opposed minority), find out where all the police are hiding in Sweden, and realise that most European countries do not hold parades involving the military.

Malaysian Student Leader's Summit

The MSLS was a two-day conference which brought together Malaysian students from campuses worldwide to listen to and discuss perspectives on education, the arts, politics, and socio-economic issues in Malaysia. Highlights included a heated debate on the PPSMI issue, light verbal sparring between Khairy Jamaluddin and Tian Chua, and a forum on Article 153 (which protects the status and special rights of Bumiputeras and more specifically, the Malay race).

So much was discussed that I eventually ended up with 23 pages of notes (relax. I used an A6 notebook). Over the next few days I'll post my thoughts on the "topik-topik hangat" which were discussed.

On PPSMI

"Bahasa Melayu mesti dimartabatkan." ~Dato' Saifudin bin Abdullah, deputy minister of higher education

"What are you going to do with a language whose value ends at KLIA or LCCT?" ~Wong Chun Wai, chief editor, The Star

My discussion group examined this issue. We decided that the government could have maintained the bilingual version of PPSMI while working on recruiting and training more English teachers. Teaching Maths and Science in English was not going to devalue the Malay language or produce students less proficient in Malay, as the Malay language syllabus is of a very high standard. We also decided that PPSMI failed to produce results because it was not planned and implemented in a wholistic manner, taking into account all the factors necessary for such a large-scale change.

The education system as a whole suffers from a huge problem in human resources and quality control measures. The system has failed to attract sufficient numbers, to adequately train and correctly deploy the teachers, whether in English or other subjects. Thus, change was far too sudden for teachers and students to be able to cope. On hindsight, the ministry might have commenced in stages, from educating the teachers to teach in English (starting from the training colleges, not through crash courses), raising the numbers of English teachers and the overall standard of English education, and then switching Maths and Science to English. Special care would need to be taken with allocating greater resources and more teachers to rural areas

Admittedly, though, this is easy to say only in hindsight. The original purpose of the switch lies in the murky regions between a desire to raise the standard of Maths and Science education and a desire to raise the standard of English education. Unfortunately teaching in English only helped widen the urban-rural divide as urbanites could choose to work in Malay or English, while rural students still depended on learning in Malay.

In my view (not my group's view), the question of which language to learn in is less important than the larger problems of teaching quality and student quality. The problems with human resources I have stated above. As for quality of students, the grade curves are toggled to the point that the passing mark can be as low as 20%, and the grades for As unbelievably low, producing A-students who sometimes can barely qualify for anything other than a public university. We need to recover the integrity of our education system and be brave enough to face the fact that it is failing to produce results in students, instead of tweaking the results to look good.

Finally, reverting the PPSMI is a wise choice if one has evaluated that the urban-rural divide has indeed widened, and if this effect is deemed to weigh more heavily against the arguments for keeping PPSMI. This seemed to be Dato' Saiful's justification of the decision. It is one which I actually accept, as urban students can afford the sacrifice more than rural students can afford another ten years of struggling in English while the government rushes to increase their standard of English--no easy task, when teachers are unwilling to be deployed to rural areas. It may be a step back, but if "they," whoever they are, can define a direction to take and stick to it after this, I wouldn't be so worried. The thing is, nobody knows who really studied the matter and who had a hand in the issue. The mess in human resource allocation is not just in the implementation but in the planning as well. Is the government relying on experts and academics in the field who can produce unbiased statistical data? Most likely not. If they are, then they aren't making the most of it by publishing the reports and communicating with more transparency. The habit of tweaking results is widespread. It's not just in our grades, it's in statistics and "investigations". So right now the decision to cancel PPSMI just looks politically motivated and nobody knows what "they" are going to decide next, and what "they" want to do with the education system in Malaysia. The lack of transparency and the shackles which bind educational policies to national politics worry me more than reverting to Bahasa Melayu.

Penang

For all future posts labelled "travel," practical tips about the destination will be included at the end of the post.

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I spent a total of three days in Penang, and had a roaring flu throughout. Thus, I could not taste much of the acclaimed Penang chendol, char kuey teow or O chien (oyster omelette). And the day we decided to walk out, it rained. So I don't have many pictures.


This is what most of the town centre looks like. Cars, shophouses and the odd hotel or shopping mall hulking in their midst. The dingy, nameless shophouse may contain one of Penang's last-surviving craftsmen in rattan-weaving, nyonya beadwork, signboard carving and so on. If you don't want to miss them, be sure to obtain a heritage site map from a nearby hotel or the Penang Heritage Trust at 26 Lebuh Gereja.

Despite rain and a blocked nose, it was worth the visit. Penang is a great place, easy to get to, with many guest houses and cheap hotels right in the heart of town (trust me, Georgetown is of far greater interest than Batu Ferringhi). The heritage zone can be traversed in half an hour, but to visit all the sites would occupy a number of days, and I would gladly stay a week for the food alone. I don't care what anyone says, Penang food is still the best! It's not Gurney drive or the places with big signboards, it's the Macalister/Rangoon Road hawker centre, the Famous Teochew Chendol off Penang Road (Keng Kwee Road), the numerous nameless nasi kandar outlets--need I go on?

Stomachs aside, Penang has a varied historical flavour because of its history as a port and entry point for immigrants. The Chinese founded clan strongholds here in the shape of Kongsi or clan houses, huge mansions with elaborate entrances which functioned as a meeting place for business associates, hanging out, and ancestral veneration. The temples, Kongsi, and personal mansions are testament to the huge fortune amassed by the Straits Chinese in times past. Then there are the Victorian oddities which dot the area--the clocktower, the courthouse and the current city council premises (I think).



No pictures of the kongsi because it was raining. Anyway, by this time you'd know I am the sort of eccentric photographer who takes photos of things that interest me, like buildings, scenery and striking trees.

Yeah. I'd like to meet an Ent like this tree. The wall's a piece of Fort Cornwallis, which is worth the RM3 ticket for a chance to take a picture with good ol' Francis Light (or whoever founded Penang), see the cannons, look out to sea, etc.

The other highlight was the Chow Rasta market area. The ground floor is divided between a wet market and a dried goods section; the shopkeepers sell all manners of oils, ointments, traditional biscuits and foods. The upper floor is divided between clothes sellers and traders of secondhand books. The book bazaar is one of a kind. Two rows of stalls lined to the ceiling with books. Only the traders can tell the borders between their piles. Several of the stalls have their floors covered in books, and some of the ceiling-high piles are two or three books thick. It's a book-hunter's haven. I never visit Penang without stopping by Chow Rasta.

On my next trip, I hope to take in the museum, the Sun Yat Sen house, more food (of course) and the beach (it deserves a fair chance).

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Getting to Penang:

Air--Bayan Lepas Airport receives international flights

Land/Sea--Buses to Penang are frequent. Bus/train to Butterworth, followed by a short ferry ride (RM 1.20 two-ways!) is a good option for the pedestrian, as the ferry stops at the edge of the heritage district. There are good public bus connections at both ferry terminals. The ferry also loads vehicles (but the bridge may be a faster option).

Warning: I have not found a direct KL-Butterworth line. Most bus companies make multiple stops along the trunk road or require you to change buses along the way. I will try the train next time, but I think it's more reliable. At least you don't get stuck at bus terminals in the middle of nowhere.

Famous things:

* Penang Chendol on Keng Kwee Street (there are now two stalls, but my friend and I bought one from each and compared them. The Teochew one is sweet and creamy, while the other stall serves a slightly saltier version. It's up to your taste, but I preferred the Teochew stall, and it's the original one, I believe).

* Tau sar peah (Tambun Biscuit)--famous biscuit with a marvellous powdery filling made of beans

* Nutmeg oil, preserved nutmeg (and various other preserves) ubiquitous at Chow Rasta and other Chinese bazaar places like Kek Lok Si Temple)

* Kek Lok Si Temple--a little way from the main town area is a temple on a hill. A thriving bazaar selling fascinating objects surrounds the temple and its pond of countless tortoises and turtles. Well, it should still be there. I was last there ten years ago.

General Tips:

1) Do not buy return tickets unless you are travelling during a festive season. You can always get a ticket on the day you wish to return because there are no shortage of bus companies serving the routes, especially along the west coast. This gives you greater flexibility if you think it's worth staying a few days longer than planned. I regretted buying a return, because I was rather ill but had to travel as it was too late to change the ticket. If you're worried, find out the bus schedules beforehand so that you have two or three buses you could possible take.

2) I do not recommend Transnasional. First, the person on duty at the information counter was completely incomprehensible and garbled all his words. It wasn't just that I had a problem understanding Malay; all four of the Butterworth-ticket holders only knew that he was jabbing his finger madly at the sign for Teluk Intan. Worried, we waited for the bus driver, who found that his bus to Teluk Intan was overbooked and he couldn't fit us. This was worrying as it meant the company didn't plan well when taking in travellers to small towns with multiple changes/stopovers. We were then hustled to another north-bound bus which took us to Duta, a bus interchange on the outskirts of KL (my best guess), where we waited another hour for the actual Butterworth bus to arrive.

On the return journey, the bus stopped at Parit Buntar (small town in Perak) and promptly broke down. This means their buses are also not well-maintained. After a two-hour wait (for the mechanic to come from Butterworth), I gave up and walked back to the Parit Buntar bus station to take a Konsortium bus instead. It was a lovely 27-seater, 3 capacious seats per aisle. It stopped at another small town, but that's what you get for travelling from the back end of nowhere. At least I got home. I'm not sure what happened to the other passengers on my first bus. So, lesson learnt. The other plus about buying a single instead of a return, is that you get to choose a different bus company if you didn't like the first one. I definitely would not have chosen Transnasional again.

3) Not from Penang, but from a friend travelling in Malacca. Know the areas you should avoid if you are travelling alone. My friend was struck across the face with a stick and robbed at Bukit China, probably by a drug addict. Daylight does not make open, empty areas safe. Keep to the busy streets.