Be transparent

The scholarship problem seems to be a perennial one with no end in sight. When the Prime Minister announced last year that students who score 9 As would be automatically given scholarships, I thought that was a very crystal clear guideline but it was not so.

Of all the people who seem not to understand this is the PSD, including its DG. To an ordinary man like me, it's either the cabinet directive is very vague and ambigous or the PSD is going all out to sabotage the PM and the cabinet.

Malaysians, especially the non-malays, surely do not need such kind of low class treatment. Do the students who scored 10 A+ or 9 A+ and their parents need to go down on their knees to beg for scholarships or a place in matriculation? If Malaysia cannot help and seen to be fair to these creme de la creme Malaysians, then who else can we help? Where is the 1Malaysia slogan we are shouting about?

Please remember these students had slogged hours to achieve their dreams and to make their country proud. In the end what they get is heartache and broken heart. This never-ending scholarship problem has not only become a laughing stock among Malaysians but mock and laugh at by others as well that Malaysia does not know how to value and appreciate its bright and brilliant children. No wonder brain drain is the norm.

Now we need the PM to intervene and tell the PSD once and for all to either shape up or ship out. If the officials in the PSD are unwilling to toe the line they have no business in wasting taxpayers' money in the department. Let's straighten the matter before the molehill becomes a mountain.

Tribute to all teachers

As the nation celebrates Teachers' Day, let's spare some thoughts for all our teachers who had taught us directly or indirectly as well as teachers who are serving at present.

I can remember vividly my teachers in Sultan Yahya Petra Primary School and Sultan Yahya Petra Secondary School who had contributed immensely to my well-being and made me to be what I am today. One particular Standard One teacher of mine was Miss Sia with her special big sunglasses who would play the piano while we sang. Another was Jimmy Ong, my Standard Three teacher with his calm and composed personality who very rarely lost his temper. Of course there were some who were very fierce whom many would never forget, particularly one whom we called Mr Lion.

Secondary school was just as interesting as well. One Industrial Art teacher was always teased by the students in Form One but his caring attitude will not go forgotten. Students always had good laugh during his lesson. Once he messed up the word 'milli' with 'mini' and the whole burst into laughter and of course he blushed!. Another time a student was hammered with a mallet for joking around the petrol engine while he was away just for a split moment.

Those days there were no computers but only the old, rusty typewriter where teachers would click, cluck away. There were no calculators and students were trained in mental arithmetics and to use their God-given brains to find solution to many of the sums. For Geography, there was one Mr Jerome who loved his students to draw maps and identify the places (of course, we trace not draw). Then there was one impatient Miss Ng who taught me Chemistry who would get all cooked up if she had to keep on repeating the same thing. Finally there was this motherly Mrs Verghuese who taught Biology to a class of 40+ students who had to keep blaring in the midst of the lost sheep.

To all my teachers, you will always be remembered. Your sacrifice will never be forgotten. There might be pain and sorrow, some anger perhaps but never treasured in the heart. You meant good when you disciplined your students. God bless you.

Happy Mother's Day

On this special day, let's give some thoughts to all mothers.

They are so special but we tend to take them for granted at times. Think of the time when they were in labour just waiting for the right hour so that we could come into this world. The pain, anguish excitement all roll into one. Suddenly we are here in the light far so different from the darkness within. Happiness, joy and laughter could be heard as mothers cuddled their cute little ones in their loving arms not really knowing what to expect on the long road to freedom but always praying and hoping for the best to come.

Some had to endure terrible anguish and sorrow courting danger in the process after months of heaviness but always ever ready no matter what happened. When the joy finally settled down, mothers face the monumental task of bringing up their precious gifts. Oh, it's not easy for the path to success is not laid with gold!

Many begin to wonder what the next step to take and how to bring out the best in their precious ones. What if I fail to perform? What if my precious gifts do not make it?

Mothers have to toil through sleepless nights shouldering the heavy burden, much heavier than their first eight or nine months.

Finally after years of sorrow and care and seeing the success of their little ones who have now blossom into manhood and are now ready to enter the next phase of life, mothers can proudly say, "I have made it".

Let's hold our mothers in high esteem because they deserve it. They may not have done everything that you want but surely they never intend to forsake you. There is always a special place in mothers' hearts for their children, though we may never understand. We can have thousands of other things but only ONE mother. Happy Mother's Day