Java Trip (I)

I did my (relatively short) Java trip from Oct 24 to Oct 29. Now, I will publish my travelogue, part-by-part, in this blog.

The Journey Begins

(shot with Lumix)

This picture, showing my backpack, was taken at Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). This bag had accompanied me for many years. It was very old and worn out. Originally, I wanted a new bag for my Java trip. However, partly due to the fact I wanted to save money, and partly because most backpacks in the market were without zipper – therefore couldn’t be locked – I decided to hold on to the ‘old faithful’. Anyway, this was likely my last trip with this bag. Will this also mark the end of my backpacking life?

At the boarding gate, I observed that most of the passengers were Indonesians. (Indonesian passport cover was green.) Java was not yet a popular destination among Malaysian tourists.

Eventually the plane left the terminal. Many passengers continued to use their mobile phones. I thought Malaysians were bad, but Indonesians were worse!

Two-and-a-half hours later, the plane landed at Surabaya’s Juanda Airport. At the Immigration checkpoint, three counters were opened – one for Indonesian passport, one for foreign passport, and one for visa-on-arrival. Apparently I queued at the second counter, but I saw Indonesians in front and behind me…

(shot with Lumix)

Update From Java

I am currently in a warnet, or warung Internet (Internet shop) in Java. Have visited two natural wonders of the island - Mount Bromo and Ijen Crater.

The air is choking in Java. Bad for my lungs...

I have been an unofficial translator for a few Western tourists. Indonesian and Malay are quite similar. Still, sometimes it takes a while to understand what the locals tell me. By the way, Javanese have their own language, which I don't understand at all.

Just read the news of volcano eruption in Central Java and tsunami in Sumatra. I am in East Java. I guess I am safe here...

Malaysian model vs. American model

On Oct 20, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Malacca had achieved the status of “developed state”. This means that, even though Malaysia as a whole was still a developing country, some states were already highly developed. Another state, Selangor, achieved this “status” several years ago. (By the way, Oct 20, 2010 is written in this country as 20-10-2010.)

Upon reading the news on the Web, I couldn’t help but wondered when Perak, where I grew up, would be a developed state too. My guess is not within the next 10 years. Selangor is the wealthiest state in Malaysia, while Perak is one of the poorest.

The disparity between Selangor and Perak underlies one fundamental flaw in the government structure. In Malaysia, most taxes go to the Federal Government, which then distributes the money to individual states. Sadly, the Federal Government has been practicing “favoritism” for the last few decades. Some states get more funding, while other are neglected.

By contrast, state, county and city governments in the United States have the power to collect taxes. For example, every working people pays two types of income tax – one to the Federal Government and the other to the state government. Sales tax also goes to the states. (Oregon has zero sales tax!) Hotel tax, I believe, is determined by the cities. When I was in California some years back, I moved from one hotel to another. Some cities set the hotel tax at 10%, while others had it at 15%.

The local governments will then use the money collected to fund their projects rather than waiting for handout from Washington. Of course, there are times when the states will still need Federal money. To its credit, Washington does not practice favoritism to the same level as Putrajaya. President Obama, a democrat, has been generously enough to support states run by republicans.

I would like to see state governments of Malaysia be empowered. But I am not optimistic this will happen…

Packing

Getting ready for my vacation...

Apple Empire

In the last few years, Apple iPhone has swept the world by storm. Malaysian bloggers Witch and FoongPC are both staunch supporters of the Apple product.

But are you aware that before iPhone, the Web was “free”? Apple makes it less free. Now, we have to buy apps to run on iPhone. Worst, we can’t buy directly from the developers, but must go through iTune. Apple gets 30% from all the sales.

And, unlike Bill, Steve has never been known as a philanthropist.

华教地位岌岌可危

马来西亚星洲日报在10月10日刊登一则新闻，题目是《华教地位岌岌可危》。

星洲日报是在访问马华公会青年团教育主任张圣闻后刊出这则新闻。张氏认为『华教发展江河日下，未来的路只会越来越难走』。

然而，中文教育在大马真的是『岌岌可危』吗？这到底是事实还是迷思？

马来西亚独立初期，许多华人家长把子女送入英文学校就读。后来政府取消英文学校，华文学校就成了华裔家长的首选。而受英文教育的人长大后，也为自己不懂中文感到遗憾，纷纷把儿女送入华校。按理说，中文教育在本国应该是进入了黄金期。别的不谈，马华创党人敦陈帧禄与早期的领袖，大多受英文教育。但自从王家定接任会长以来，该党似乎已由讲华语的一群支配。

还有另一个事实，能说明中文教育的现况。问问身边的华裔中学生：华、巫、英三种语文，那一个是他们最有信心（most comfortable）的。这里所说的信心是指读、写、听、讲的能力，不是指SPM考优等；大家都知道中学五年纪的华文科特别难考。我很肯定大部分的华裔生都会回答说他们的中文最好。

学生中文水准下滑倒是有可能。但那或许是教育制度出问题，或课文欠妥，绝对不关华教地位，也并非华人不重视『母语』。（有学者认为华人的母语其实是方言，甚至也包括了英文和Baba式马来语。）记得我唸中学时，华文课有一半时间是学文言文。后来学校采用新课本，文言文的比例大幅降低。其实华校生唸完小学时，一般已能掌握白话文，中学应当强调文言文和诗词曲才对。

不过话又说回来：我们学中文的目的何在？『华教斗士』会毫不犹豫的告诉我们：『随着中国崛起，中文已经愈来愈重要。』如果我们是以经济利益为出发点，就无须理会文言文；中三程度已绰绰有余。马华又何必搞什么（中五生）『选考华文运动』？

欲提升中文水平，必须对症下药。一味危言耸听，只会给学生、家长和教师施加不必要的压力，牺牲学子掌握其他语文的能力，甚至也加速华族方言的灭亡。

Chopsticks and Spoon

筷子和羹匙

一位出差到吉隆坡的台湾工程师最近问我：马来西亚华人究竟有无用筷子。

我回答说：吃饭一般用羹匙，但吃面还是用筷子。

我个人是比较喜欢用筷子吃饭。当然，如果我在外面用餐，餐馆没提供筷子，我还是会用羹匙。

岂有此理，居然还有人骂我是香蕉人！

A Taiwanese engineer who was in Kuala Lumpur recently asked me, “Do Chinese Malaysians use chopsticks?”

I replied, “Majority use spoon and fork for eating rice, but we still use chopsticks for noodle.”

I am among the minority who prefer chopsticks to spoon, even when eating rice. Nonetheless, when I eat out, if the restaurant does not provide chopsticks, I would still resort to spoon.

Heck, people still condemn me as a banana man!

Light Pollution

When I was a kid, I liked to look at the sky at night. I gazed the moon and countless of stars…

Today, I still look at the night sky, but I see fewer stars… There are two possible explanations as to why I don’t see as many stars: First, my eyes have deteriorated over the years; and second, light pollution.

As a kid, I lived in a small town with little nightlife. Now, I live in a big city that never sleeps. Artificial light fills the horizon with orange haze, and blinds us in such a way that we no longer can see the Milky Way.

Today, if we want to see the long-forgotten starry sky, we need to go to less developed areas, or up a mountain. I wish I could do so, if only for a few nights…

For all the benefits of artificial light, we shouldn’t pretend that nothing is lost.

- National Geographic Magazine, Nov 2008 issue

Starless Sky

Playing with Focus

Teddy & Renee

One oft-used technique in portrait photography is to focus on the subject(s), but make the background out-of-focus. By ‘blurring’ the background, we make sure that the viewers will fix their eyes on the subject(s).

However, in shooting the picture shown above, I purposely did the reverse – focus and the soft toy and make the pretty model out-of-focus. But you probably need to enlarge the picture to see the difference. Ideally, I would like the model to be more blurry, but there were limitations to my gears.

Photography is about creativity. All rules can be broken…