The Fragile Generation

With me being a Gen X, our generation had the privilege of equal opportunities and an improved system of education. With some exceptions in certain parts of Malaysia, my peers generally did not have to work the farms or walk to school barefoot, and had the luxury of the Internet in our teens. Our parents work(ed) in offices, or did businesses. Life was good (and still is).

Gen Y and Gen Z had it much much much easier as the Baby Boomer and Gen X parents had smaller families and better income to provide more attention, pampering and 'luxury' to their children. 'Luxury' to my late dad was KFC chicken, which was unheard of, and too expensive to purchase from the cities- he had had the KFC meal only in adulthood, after he had worked for many years. Relatively speaking.

He worked nights selling satay and studied in the day, to pay for his studies. The satay needs to be prepared/ marinated in the morning before he leaves for college, and at night he sold it at a food hangout till late, until the satay finishes. He eventually got a scholarship to study in Al-Azhar University, and the money helped for living expenses. [I wished I had asked him more about this in my younger years]. Compared to me, when I studied I was given a supplementary credit card by my uncle (paid for by mum), worked at a call centre during the summer; indoors & air-conditioned. So pampered... and I probably have pampered my children too, in comfort. No hardship. Hardly any.

The result of pampering created a fragile generation (in my view) where comments must be moderated, tough love is misinterpreted as cruelty, and failure is taken as final. Another fear of mine is how the youth of today resort to self-harm or suicide to end the pressure/ stress.

One student of mine had depression because I gave him a B for his project. The work was general with rather broad problem statement. And even though there were numerous research, these were not linked together well to present a convincing story. The B was more than generous. I would have given him a C+ and be done with it, but was advised by the Project Coordinator to re-consider. The student was asked to make some improvements to the project to merit the B, otherwise I will not be able to live with myself.

Another colleague decided to pass a so-so work, because the student apparently has some suicidal tendencies. The lecturer chose to give the student a benefit of the doubt and allow a bare pass, because she does not want the figurative blood on her hands.

My time in education is probably running short. I no longer wish to justify myself (for the marks I gave) or comply to unrealistic demands of giving higher marks for mediocre work or meet continuous deadline to churn exam papers, mark them, test students and pass as many as we can. Yes I do understand that a majority of students do put in the work and try so very hard. However the small numbers that demand grades or threaten suicide or whine for better marks are increasing. I do put it to them about standards, about expected performance and the like, and recommend counseling for those who need it but it looks like my patience is wearing thin & my disillusionment with higher education is somewhat increasing.

To the fragile minded individuals, I hope you get some help with your issues.

COVID-19

Late last year this virus emerged, shortly before the Chinese New Year (CNY) celebrations.

Apparently it originated from a market in Wuhan, Hubei province in China.
Yet a recent post claimed that this may not have been true.
Apparently scientists have discovered it as early as 2015?
There has also been an allegation that China had manufactured this virus, which China denied.

CNY celebrations in 2020 was laid back, as opposed to the usually busy period in previous years.
Not as many people were out shopping, as people generally avoided closed areas where a lot of others flock i.e. malls.

Foreigners in Wuhan were repatriated to their home countries, except Pakistan, who asked their citizens to stay put.

Wuhan citizens are surviving in their own way, with the city in lockdown since January.

Sale of masks have soared & Malaysian government penalised any company that sold the masks for more than the ceiling price.

The virus goes by 2 different names: WHO christened it COVID-19 to avoid any link to/ stigma upon the suspected place of origin = Wuhan. The Coronavirus Study Group (CSG) named it SARS-Cov-2, as it had symptoms similar to SARS. It was earlier known as the Wuhan virus and later 2019-nCoV. The TV stations had a field day, updating their public announcements.

Viral news were abound; unverified at best: that eating curry fought off the disease, because of the tumeric content and lower numbers in India compared to the rest of S.E.A. proves it (they say).

There are NO cases reported in Indonesia.

Many flights to and from China were cancelled. Tourists and students ended up stranded at airports in Jeju and Bali (among others).

Being at home & under quarantine is not great either. There is not much to do, and let's face it. how much of the house can you cover in one day?

Worldwide, discrimination against the Chinese were reported. It was unfortunate that Italians, Malaysians and Canadians of Chinese descent were painted together with the same brushstroke. Despite them never having been to China ever, or recently.

China has been accused of not being forthcoming with SARS so they were a bit more forthcoming with COVID-19 but discrimination happened. [This was probably why they kept quiet about SARS].

Wuhan hospitals are overwhelmed and health workers have started contracting the illness. Some were lucky to recover. Some not so. One who perished was Dr Li Wenliang, who first raised the alarm about COVID-19 but was asked to keep quiet.

At home in Malaysia, as usual we are reasonably more laid back and chill, compared to Singaporeans and Hong Kongers who have cleaned out all toilet rolls from every supermarket shelf. In Hong Kong an armed robbery heist happened- for toilet paper. How toilet paper may help against COVID-19, I am still asking till today.

The outbreak/ incident has forced some folks to be creative: like the couple in Singapore who live-streamed their wedding, as they have recently returned from China and do not want to put their friends and family at risk. Although not having any symptoms, they decided to be more safe than sorry. The hotel refused to cancel their hall booking so they had a videographer on site to record the event, sans audience. Schools have started online teaching & found an alternative way of communicating with their students.

While the world battles COVID-19. Malaysia battles a political crisis (please read my immediately preceding blog ). Clearly an interesting distraction.

Which Devil did we vote for? [also known as the Malaysian political crisis]

Our 4th PM (Prime Minister) became our 7th PM after the 14th General Election in 2018. He resigned yesterday but the Agong requested Tun Mahathir to be the interim PM. There is no more Cabinet, and Malaysians wait in anticipation for 9 March 2020 when Parliament sits.

What on earth is happening in Malaysia?

In summary, there are 2 main groups 'at war':
Anwar-Lim Guan Eng(LGE)-Mat Sabu vs Muhyiddin-Azmin-Zuraida

Anwar-LGE-Mat Sabu is part of the PKR-DAP-Bersatu-Amanah [Pakatan Harapan] coalition that won the elections in 2018.

Muhyiddin-Azmin-Zuraida is the group allegedly planning to form a 'backdoor government' with defectors from various parties, because they want to save the country (they say).

[NOTE #1: I have removed their titles in this posting and referred to their names only, for simplicity]

As the events unfold, Malaysians had sought the wisdom of our King the Agong. To this day I believe wholeheartedly in the role of our constitutional monarch (although at one point I had also felt strongly against government funding of mini-royals belonging to the Kings' extended families), and this is one situation that merit the 'involvement' of the Ruler.

The audience with the Agong has been sought by various parties over the past few days, and the content (of their discussion) remain sacred within the palace's hallowed hall.

Who is behind this fiasco? How will this play out?

[NOTE #2: What follows below is merely speculative, my brand of couch-potato politics if you like]

At the back of my mind, the kingmaker/ mastermind is and has always been Tun M, up to this very day. He is the only one who has a handle on things. He's still the interim PM who may rule for any period of time (but hopefully not another 20 years).

Those who may fall after today are merely collateral damage.

My view: any party defectors should be removed from office immediately and banned from running for public office (ever). The constituent will then be represented by the person having the second largest vote: because he has been chosen by the rakyat; because that number of people took the effort to come to the polling station, queue up, dip their finger in ink and mark the ballot papers (when they could have stayed home and relax in comfort).

The closest major event (prior to this dramatic political scene) was the AG's acquittal of the alleged LTTE sympathisers, who are said to have links to DAP. This 'trigger' would have set the ball rolling and the statements by the Muhyiddin-Azmin-Zuraida camp that 'we are not traitors, we are saving the country' would not have been said in vain.

Beyond this, I will not comment further.

As to who will be the next PM: if it were up to me, I would choose Nurul Izzah or Hannah Yeoh or Yeo Bee Yin or perhaps Wan Azizah (should Malaysian politics want an older person at the helm). We should have a female PM for once, for balance. (The best man for the job is a woman?).

Another potential PM = Ku Li (he is of royal blood and experienced in politics).

All unscrupulous politicians should be enlisted in 2-year compulsory military service (or more), to learn the true meaning of 'serving the country'.

Harry and Meghan Goes to L.A.

When Meghan Markle married into the royal family, I was one of the happiest person around. She is from a mixed family, a divorcee, is successful in her own right, an independent woman. A beacon of hope, that the royal family has become accepting of a 'non-traditional' female. Because the last guy who married a divorcee had to abdicate.

2 years on, Meghan and Harry announced that they will be stepping back from royal duties to seek financial independence. They will refund the public money used to refurbish their Frogmore 'Cottage' and eventually step into the world being gainfully employed.

Before the proverbial ink even dried on their agreement with the royal household, both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were reported to have attended events with JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs. Some reports even suspect that Harry may participate in speaking events in future, to a fee of between $500,000 to $1 million each time.

They had cited their reason to move to Canada as "Meghan was being bullied/ racially discriminated by the UK press", and that "Harry needed to get away from the camera shutters that reminded him so much of his mother's funeral/ passing". Now, after Canada they may be moving to LA where there are no celebrities or camera-wielding paparazzis.

What's up guys?

Thomas Markle has gone on BBC to say that Meghan and Harry are cheapening the royal family, which I think is quite correct considering their moves on the chessboard so far.

Anyway, I do wish them the best. To each his/ her own I suppose.

Being in the public eye and doing royal visits & royal duties without being paid was 'stressful' to Meghan, so they went on the fulfill their potential. Why not.