tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post1995398057745217726..comments2023-10-29T15:18:25.355+08:00Comments on de minimis: Interlok revisitedde minimishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06478671079348612565noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-45492714038281214262011-02-08T17:23:26.949+08:002011-02-08T17:23:26.949+08:00Another perspective on this important subject:
ht...Another perspective on this important subject:<br /><br />http://epaper.sun2surf.com/tuesday/pdf/theSun2011020112.pdfetheoristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03412913576145631384noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-41791037178396092922011-02-08T11:45:56.388+08:002011-02-08T11:45:56.388+08:002/2
This country is young; a break from the past ...2/2<br /><br />This country is young; a break from the past may be necessary if only to disabuse some the monopoly to national profile when the country is a rojak of diversity. <br /><br />This salad is not just a goulash of local fruits and veges. The pineapple, mengkuang, sour mango, jambu, keropok and so on need something to perk up their individual flavours. That special prawn paste sauce enhanced with peanuts and sugar is what creates the unique coalescence of this country which in turn contributes to the bigger and more holistic global coalescence of mankind, thus making the whole bigger than the sum of its parts.<br /><br />If this be so, those who object to the objectors should be able to understand their sensitivity for raising their dismay in the first place which itself is predicated on this logic:<br /><br />"if we don't object to this now, how will we know that our silence won't encourage others to expand on it until it becomes mainstream, bad as it already is our communal situation?"<br /><br />In the end, it's all about knowledge. And the real reason why there will be other interlok issues is because we don't have a national learning curve. We don't learn one new generation to the next what we must be careful about which hampers our march towards becoming more universal in our outlook in order to multiply our options in the world.<br /><br />Since today we are talking about a book for young minds, that observation should rake some cause for concern.<br /><br />Meanwhile, do indulge me for suggesting this as a good read for young minds:<br /><br />Complications: A Surgeon's Notes On An Imperfect Science<br /><br />excerpt:<br /><br />" The junior resident picks out a spot for the stick. The patient is so hauntingly thin. I see every rib and fear she will puncture his lung. She injects the numbing medication. Then she puts the big needle in, and the angle looks all wrong. I motion for her to reposition. This only makes her more uncertain. She pushes in deeper and I know she does not have it. She draws back on the syringe: no blood. <br /><br />She takes out the needle and tries again. And again, the angle looks wrong. This time Mr. G feels the jab and jerks up in pain. I hold his arm. She gives him more numbing medication. It is all I can do not to take over. <br /><br />But she cannot learn without doing, I tell myself. I decide to let her have one more try." <br /><br />If you google its author, Atul Gawande, you will know why i suggest this book instead. He can be a role model for those of our youths whose minds have yet to be contaminated by the dross that has leavened our national rubric.<br /><br />Don't believe me? Ask our med interns who are given only one day off in a month and have to scramble to find specialists to understudy.wallahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17580252352785040456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-600802170849928872.post-76729203173276774692011-02-08T11:45:08.593+08:002011-02-08T11:45:08.593+08:00Perhaps the reason why there is an interlok issue ...Perhaps the reason why there is an interlok issue in this country is because our peoples have yet to interlock.<br /><br />One would think that after so many years of coexistence with one another there would have been an easy insouciance on all matters historical, social and cultural which would automatically disqualify in the minds of all any attempt at stereotyping, whether intentional or otherwise.<br /><br />That we are still in a fragile inter-communal state in our society points to some underdevelopment in the arena of interracial relations.<br /><br />To be generous, let's assume this underdevelopment could indeed have but not necessarily be ascribable to some nationally-administered policies whose sum effect has been to divide our communities in order to maintain a certain political profile so much so the resultant effect is to make people scramble for the past in order to shore their present. Bodies like the BTN may be able to throw their special and hallowed light on this assertion.<br /><br />However, if this assumption rings true, then the content of not just literature but also history and social science in the education systems of this country should be delivered to show how stereotyping in a modern world of coalescence is regressive for the final objective of education in the first place. To make globalists out of all.<br /><br />But that would be too high a hope to place seeing that mono-racial and silo-minded designers of such content are still emplaced in the present circles of those who just because they think they can pull out some official-sounding excuses are therefore in the right to continue their prejudices in all but name.<br /><br />For instance, all it takes is one second to ask this simple question:<br /><br />"isn't marginalizing an entire community just as bad as casting human beings as untouchables?"wallahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17580252352785040456noreply@blogger.com