Beats

2009-06-09T20:47:00.002+08:00

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit"

Thank You, Lord

2009-05-08T17:28:00.006+08:00

A heart-wrenching, utterly saddening video about my country's government and the police force. How absurd, that as the crime rates escalate in the nation, the police are unscrupulously arresting people with opinions- the very people our country needs! How will the young learn to love their country and all its ideals, when the people who do are put behind bars and silenced? How will the ones with a heart for this land; the people who have been jealously guarding its reputation and serving the government continue, without thoughts of leaving and bitterness if they stay?

The young can, and the people who love this country can, with a stronger resolve. Let's not lose hope.

To my uni friends and fellow (stressed up) students,

2009-05-06T21:50:00.007+08:00

The cause > the cost

Religion and grace

2009-05-06T21:02:00.012+08:00

"In church the other Sunday, I was intent on a small child turning around smiling at everyone. He wasn't gurgling, spitting, humming, kicking, tearing the hymnals, or rummaging through his mother's handbag. He was just smiling. Finally, his mother jerked him about and in a stage whisper that could be heard in a little theater off Broadway said,
"Stop that grinning! You're in church!"
With that, she gave him a belt and as the tears tolled down his cheeks added,
"That's better," and returned to her prayers....

Suddenly I was angry. It occurred to me the entire world is in tears, and if you're not, then you'd better get with it. I wanted to grab this child with the tear-stained face close to me and tell him about my God. The happy God. The smiling God. The God who had to have a sense of humor to have created the likes of us...By tradition, one wears faith with the solemnity of a mourner, the gravity of a mask of tragedy, and the dedication of a Rotary badge.

What a fool, I thought. Here was a woman sitting next to the only light in our civilization- the only hope, our only miracle- our only promise of infinity.
If he couldn't smile in church, where was there left to go?"
-Erma Bombeck (in What's so amazing about grace? by Philip Yancey)

The tragedy of contemporary Christianity is despite the radical truth about grace it carries, followers adulterate the message of the Cross with worldly legalism and self-righteousness. The world continues to cry for grace and a love that is beyond man's limited capacity to give while elitism creeps into the religious circles.

What a sobering reminder to me... that we, who have the truth and the gift of grace, are capable of betraying the people who need them the most. Non-conformity, if not balanced with grace and a heart for the people can easily turn into religious exclusiveness. If we serve a God of grace, we must be people of grace.

2009-04-26T22:36:00.001+08:00

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”-Sun Tzu

A vaporous life

2009-03-21T11:13:00.009+08:00

It is said...

An average woman, over a lifetime,
- Spends 2 years getting ready for a function
- Cleans her household and performs chores for 2 and a half years
- Cooks for 3 years
- Spends 6 years watching television
- Talks on the phone for 5 and a half years

An average man, over a lifetime,
- Spends 10 and a half years working in his office
- 6 months getting ready for a function (as opposed to 2 years for women)
- 1 year shopping
- 2 years exercising
- 3 years in the toilet (as opposed to 6 months for women)

One wonders how much can be achieved or experienced in a short lifetime of 70 years, when one is awake for 50 years (20 years spent sleeping), out of which 2 weeks are spent waiting for red traffic lights to change and 3 years are spent waiting for others (possibly getting ready for a function).

Truly, the average human doesn't have much time on his hands. God speed

A matter of greeting

2009-03-12T17:40:00.015+08:00

Eastern pride says "I'm fine" when the opposite is true.
Western pride asks "Hi, how are you?" when there is in fact no interest.

Simple greetings tell much about us.

Quote

2009-03-06T11:52:00.004+08:00

"Sad is the day for any man when he becomes absolutely satisfied with the life that he is living, the thoughts he is thinking and the deeds he is doing; until there ceases to be forever beating at the door of his soul a desire to do something larger which he seeks and knows he was meant and intended to do."
-Philips Brooks

Be not weary of well doing

2009-02-11T00:46:00.011+08:00

In my absence I've been reading quite a fair bit, and I chanced upon the story of John Wesley who wrote his last letter to William Wilberforce, the man we remember today for his opposition of slavery. It was a significant letter for the both of them- for Wesley because it was to be the last recorded letter of his life, and for Wilberforce because upon receiving the letter he had just suffered another defeat in one of his many futile attempts to abolish the cruel practice of slave trade. The words of this letter, however, inspired Wilberforce many a time in years to come to continue in his effort until finally, the Parliament outlawed the practice in 1807.

Balam, February 24, 1791

Dear Sir:

Unless the divine power has raised you us to be as Athanasius contra mundum, I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a "law" in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this?

That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley

"O be not weary of well doing!"

2009-01-23T23:10:00.002+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year and happy holidays to all :>

Moments Captured (Dec to Jan)

2009-01-16T00:39:00.019+08:00

Some of the guys in my cell, after a hike in FRIM. A good bunch who remind me of my own youth.

Photo courtesy of Jonathan, taken during the camp briefing in the youth camp. I served as the Camp Commandant last year, and thoroughly enjoyed the process of planning and executing our plans.
The committee, whom I appreciate very much and are dear friends to me.
The 145 of us, unprepared for the shot. Photo courtesy of Leo.
This is Eugene Koo, my treasured team member, who leads the group of young guys with me.
Watching Vegetales intently with some friends, during the Christmas Eve Party.
Christmas Day, with Meng Yoe, Joey and Kar Kien.
This is Jason, a close friend of mine from the days of high school whom I think has never been mentioned here. We meet every now and then, and during each time, share and exchange ideas, thoughts and dreams. Soon, Jason leaves to Tasmania to further his law studies.
This is a reluctant 'Arsenal' fan whose picture I thought is worth displaying. My fellow 365 committee member and buddy, Daniel Chia.
Chien Aun, another friend who leaves to continue his studies in Monash Australia soon. A person of well balanced opinions and good sense, I enjoy many engaging conversations with him.

This is a shot of a MUFY orientation session in which I came along to assist my youth pastors in, speaking as a Monash student on university life.

I decided to spend the rest of my holidays helping out at a home for disabled and handicapped children during my free time. The experience alone has many colours to it, and I thoroughly enjoy the kids there. Many have terrible stories to tell, and many of these stories need to be told to the rest.

Have a good week, to all of you.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T14:31:00.003+08:00

Unity

2008-12-19T21:17:00.029+08:00

A collage is made when cuttings which vary in size, shape and colour are put together meticulously, piece by piece, until a bigger image is formed. Prior to the finished work is the process of sticking these papers which by themselves, bear no logical sense or aesthetic value unto a big sheet or canvas. In isolation, an insignificant, tiny piece of coloured paper is of little value. At a close range, one barely sees a meaningful image when looking at these cuttings. From a distance, the collage, made up by tiny, insignificant pieces makes perfect sense.

Unity must never be carelessly equated with similarity, or mere common-ness. To achieve homogeneity (a state in which a group of people are found to be uniform in characteristics and are like-minded to each other) is to achieve nothing more than a comfortable place of similarity. There is no synergy here; there isn't a 'team' of people, rather a ritualistic and bland condition people succumb to which they call 'unity'. On the other hand, to completely advocate 'diversity' may sometimes be folly; we cannot embrace anything under the sun that is right, and wrong too. Unity is more that this.

Wars at all levels, from the domestic to the international have been fought because of this very struggle: to embrace the differences, or to stand up against the unacceptable. We know today, many of these wars were justifiable, just as well as we know some of them should never have been fought. We hear unity preached and bellowed from the dim classrooms of our schools to the living rooms where our televisions are.

What seems to be lacking however is the understanding that unity is not a single coloured sheet of paper, but a collage of sorts. Yellow and brown are different, yet when put together as one, they present a common picture. The educators need to know: achieving unity is NOT by making the people homogeneous through the pages of national History books. The governments need to realise: too much of a single colour ruins the collage. Friends need to see: 'different' is not necessarily 'opposition'. Legalists need to tell apart: tolerance and compromise. To say, "my team is not united because its members are too different from each other" is a false idea. There is only unity where diversity comes together.

2008-12-11T23:49:00.004+08:00

"You're never closer to defeat as when you are in victory"

To ponder upon. I pray hype and temporary excitement will not get to us; because a lifelong commitment to die to selfish dreams and lofty desires is what makes it all truly worth it.

Cats

2008-12-11T22:40:00.010+08:00

2008-11-25T10:49:00.002+08:00

Truly live

2008-11-06T00:55:00.008+08:00

"The paralysis of refusing to act leaves a man exactly where he was before; when once he acts, he is never the same.
The moments when I truly live are the moments when I act with my whole will"

-Oswald Chambers (My Utmost of His Highest)
(One of my favourite authors)

...But we must not obsess about 'acting', without rightly acting.

2008-10-12T21:42:00.003+08:00

"Who is the judge?"
"The judge is God."
"Why is he God?"
"Because he decides who wins or loses. Not my opponent."
"Who is your opponent?"
"He does not exist."
"Why does he not exist?"
"Because he is a mere dissenting voice of the truth I speak"
-The Great Debaters (2007)

Liberal? (applying post-structuralism into a moral context)

2008-10-08T01:18:00.012+08:00

In the last few weeks of classes some of us have been subjected to the grueling idea of post-structuralism (and wondering whether we really do exist if ‘reality is a matter of production’). In taking a double-degree, I find the Business course solid and pretty objective, while the School of Arts and Humanities offers many interesting discourses to chew on (and spit out). Nevertheless, the latter provides many lenses with which to look at life and to ponder about certain realities. p.s. Will post again after my exams (ending on 4th of Nov).

________________________________________

The idea of post-structuralism fits well in this age of expressionism. Prevalent in every form of written/oral communication are thousands of attempts to express emotions of some sort by individuals who desire to be heard and known. This very web page, an outlet of expression and thought, is no different from the millions of blog pages around the world- it only guises itself in a less personal way than the average Ah Lian blog. Some present their expressions in the guise of clever thoughts, some in profound pictures, some in narratives; but in essence, all have the same basis- to make a statement of some kind for others to be aware of. Otherwise, blog pages will not be blog pages- they will be saved Microsoft Word files safely stored in a personal folder.

Post-structuralism finds its roots in the fact that all meaning is reduced to language, for we cannot think without first forming our thoughts through the medium of language. Because no thought could be made without the inevitable influence of language, post-modernism says all meaning may be deconstructed. In summary, the 'truth' behind meaning is irrelevant in a post-modernist world because we can construct 'reality' by the use of language.

If this is true, the world we live in is one flooded with messages which bear unstable meanings, for they could be interpreted in any way and may be used in any way. This is daunting, because this negates any truth. More importantly, this means many things are ‘relative’ and non-absolutes.

Yet, this idea fits perfectly in our expressionist world, where the 'liberal' are glorified and the conservative, stoic ideas are perceived to be 'closed and narrow' ways. This is the convention of the world today- any truth could be seen in any way. Any code could be read in any way, and therefore, moral codes are not absolutes, for they have relative meanings and are to be interpreted in a relative manner. Individuality reigns supreme, and 'one man's meat is another man's poison'. We live in a relative world.

Where, then, can we find ‘truth’ in a post-modern world, where one's own rights are fought for (often out of sheer selfishness) and "human rights" are glorified (often excessively and naively) and where the righteous are always 'stiff and up-tight' while the liberal are always 'open-minded'?

After all, history itself has shown that humankind requires absolutes to function. From the dawn of time, laws have been made and re-made for one reason: to limit human activity and to draw the line. Humankind needs borders in order not to ‘cross the line’- and borders are absolutes to be obeyed. Why is it, that the immediate reaction to a ruthless case of rape is usually the demand that the perpetrator be punished severely according to the law?

The waves of this age of post-modernism may bring to many a sense of liberation from the 'weights of moral and social codes', but we must never be too enthralled by the spirit of liberation, especially when it is used loosely and when it is the excuse for decadence.

It was the 'weights', after all, that built the strong man, not the sense of liberation.

Be right back

2008-08-27T22:45:00.003+08:00

The absence of any writing here is by no means a sign of a loss of interest; it is only due to the fact that between what I have to do and what I want to do, the former takes precedence. I will write here again soon...

"You do what you need to do, to do what you want to do"

2008-07-22T23:57:00.003+08:00

The river goes to places of which its source will never dream of reaching.

The extent of our services or actions for other people may go further than the immediate results we are aware of.

We will keep learning

2008-06-21T21:59:00.018+08:00

As a matter of honour, if you’re a member of a team, submit yourself to your authority as you would expect submission from your team under you

As a matter of honour, you don’t pull a punch on someone when he/she’s turned away, or conspire among other social circles

As a matter of honour, you speak straightforwardly and uncompromisingly, directly- one to one- and the buck stops there

As a matter of honour, you unflinchingly refuse to take sides within the same team, should it happen, for the maintained unity and well-being of the team

As a matter of honour, you don’t allow yourself to believe all that is said about another teammate, especially if it induces prejudice or disrespect for him/her

As a matter of honour, you show the same grace to your teammates as you would receive it from them for your own shortcomings

As a matter of honour, you don’t fight fire with fire, or unfairness with unfairness- because it is already enough that the mistake has been made

As a matter of honour, others' shortcomings must never be forum discussions or unnecessary e-mail threads, or coffee talk

And

As a matter of honour, if performing the above puts you in a less than desired position, you try to do them anyway- accepting the hard lessons.

______________________________________________

-To tickle your funny bones... :> One of my favourite YouTube videos

When You Ask Her About Monsters

Happy 20th

2008-06-08T23:34:00.004+08:00

To Han Sheng who has been a dear buddy to me in all the years of our academic lives: SKDU (primary school), SMDU (secondary school), HELP (pre-uni), and presently, Monash University.

(...and unless the trend is proven otherwise, it looks like there will be more pictures like this taken of him, years from now.)

Flag bearers

2008-06-08T22:56:00.009+08:00

Personal reflection (faith)

The war stories tell of soldiers who march out to face their enemies and perish by the blade of the sword or the bullet of the gun. Some march out valiantly, some march out reluctantly, but the bullets don't favor anyone. At the battlefield, a prominent soldier carries in his arms the pride of the army, and the spirit behind their foolish march onward: the flag. He knows very well that everyone in the opposition will take their aim to bring him down, just as everyone behind him will take their aim to kill the other flag bearer. But he also knows of other foolish ones like him who wait to pick up the flag when that happens.

The flag bearers in the war know that they run into their deaths for representing their army and taunting their opponents, if only for a few moments. They don't whine when the bullet meets the flesh- they subscribed for it. They don't quit at the prospect of being shot. They share the same fate of their commander-in-chief, in victory or in suffering.

Likewise in the matter of faith, the flags we carry bring, and will bring

slander, false accusations/labeling, punishment for standing up to the right thing, betrayal, rejection, disrespect, mockery, deception, being used, abuse, assault, misrepresentation...

..but grace abounds for us to march on.

2008-05-18T19:05:00.022+08:00

Just a quick follow-up to the post below particularly regarding the scholarship and education system in Malaysia. Some facts to consider (*taken from unicef, unescap) that prompted my questions:

About half of the youth in Malaysia are not 'urban' youth.
Only 29 % of the Malaysian youth between 15-23 have a tertiary education
Only 34 Indian youth received the PSD overseas scholarships this year (NST 15th May)
25% of average Malaysian families survive on a household earning of less than RM 1000 a month (quoted in the Eighth Malaysian Plan)

I read with interest an interview with the Public Service director-general in the newspaper today, and think some steps taken should be rightfully applauded, like the steps taken to punish government-funded students who study overseas and refuse to return home to serve the country (a total waste of our tax-payers money):

"Before 2003, if you broke your bond, you or your guarantor had to pay. The amount was less than what was spent on you. But now, the penalty is the actual cost (of what was spent on the student). So, before this, if you were doing medicine, you had to pay RM160,000, which is less than a year’s scholarship. We spend RM1.2 million for each medical student. But over 90 per cent of our students come back. The ones who don’t come back are mostly medical students. If they don’t come back, we get their guarantors." - Tan Sri Ismail Adam

That being said, my opinion stems from the logic that monetary aid can benefit two groups of Malaysian youth:
1) The group that applies for a scholarship/loan and, if rejected, can still afford to pursue tertiary education
2) The group that applies for a scholarship/loan and, if rejected, cannot afford to pursue tertiary education

This was not covered in the interview, and my contention is that the criteria points-system of 70- academic excellence, 10- interview, 10- family economic background and 10- co-curricular activities, should be revised in favour of the lower-income earning groups. The second group should be given priority, and not just a mere 10 points bonus. Hey, some youth are already getting more pocket-money than 25% of all the families in the country (imagine 5 family members per family) every month.

According to the 8th MP, only 9.8% of Malaysian families have a household income of more than RM 5000 (the top of the income class). Let's assume these people can afford to send their kids to universities.

If one makes a further assumption that in each family there is 1 youth, 90 out of 100 youth in Malaysia are born to families that earn less than RM5000 a month. The lower the income groups get, the more difficult it is to support youth planning to pursue their education. Why give so much money to the top of the income classes who can afford it, when the bottom can barely get by with daily necessities and deserve this more? Which is more pressing- award according to merit (easily attained by the rich who have resources available to them) or aid for the poorer groups? Giving more money to the rich who already have the resources to study and who don't really need it is another form of elitism, I'm afraid.

Just consider: Rm 1000 per month, shared between 5 family members who have to eat, pay for school/electricity/water/petrol/rent bills... and then compare it to your monthly spending as an 'urban' youth.

Do things make sense? This is the world we'll live in for the next 50 or so years. The world of 6.6 billion, out of which 1.1 billion live on less than US$ 1 a day.