A tale of two drivers

Besides reading the local papers, I also like talking to the drivers during my overseas trips.

In the most recent one to Malaysia, the driver I had a good chat with was the one driving the limousine of the resort hotel. With the possible exception of one I met in Fiji, he is the driver I have come across that speaks the best English. Maybe this is a must for someone working for a luxurious hotel group. Or maybe, like what I noticed during my last trip to the country in January, most Malaysians speak pretty good English. The driver is also very laid back and well-mannered and I found him very likeable.

As our conversation moved from the World Cup and the psychic octopus to something more personal, the drive began to talk about how he and his wife support a family with four children. It was obvious that they find it quite manageable as both of them have jobs which are stable and not too busy. He drives guests to and from the resort hotel six days a week. His wife works as a clerk for the government, and as they live very close to his wife's workplace, she manages to go home to take care of many things during the two-hour lunch time between 12 noon and 2pm (what a luxury!). Her working hours are from nine to five and the driver says that in Malaysia people seldom have to work overtime so they have a lot of time for their children.
Ironically, the difference between the life of this Malaysia driver and the Hong Kong taxi driver who drove me home from the airport. The first thing I noticed after getting on the taxi was that there were altogether seven mobile phones on or near the dashboard - six of which were in operation. During the journey of 45 minutes or so, apart from driving, he was constantly on the phone (hand-free of course), most of the time speaking to a fellow taxi driver friend but also answer other calls to receive and direct orders. This sort of multi-tasking (euphemism for not concentrating on the task one is paid to do) is very typical of the workforce here. All too often I see colleagues, especially the junior ones, navigating between different windows on their computer screens, happily chatting away with their friends or even checking stock prices while working at the same time.
Anyway, it was not possible not to overhear what this taxi driver said with his friend. It was mainly about how he could not make ends meet, what with the rental for the taxi and fuel charges being very heavy, expenses for rearing his only child and his few big dogs very high and all that. He said he wouldn't have been able to sustain the family without working two shifts.

There is no doubt that Hong Kong offers more modern facilities and convenience compared with Malaysia, but seeing and listening to these two drivers, it is not difficult to tell who is having better quality of life.

The seven mobile phones - are they a blessing or a curse?

Saving our close relatives

The resort I stayed at has a nature reserve and one of the activities for the guests is to go to see the six orang utans during their feeding time.

These orang utans were rescued when they were babies after their mothers were killed or their forest was destroyed. The reserve is part of a rehabilitation programme under which captive orang utans are taught the skills they need to survive in a natural environment. The reserve is a kind of half-way home where these primates may roam free but under the care and protection of rangers. When the time is right, these orang utans will be released to the jungle to live an independent life.

Before we went to the observation platform, we were shown a short film which was meant to give us some background information. There were two episodes that I found to be particularly powerful. One was about some young orang utans which have been taken care of by humans all their lives being taken to the reserve to learn how to survive on their own. When their cages were opened for the first time in their lives, the orang utans were so afraid to be free that they huddled in the cage or clung desperately to each other. I have heard it said that captive birds are so used to being caged and fed that they won't fly away immediately when the door is open. In a figurative sense, this is also true of human life. We have got so accustomed to the various controls and confines that we even derive a false sense of security from them. The drive and courage to take risks and to enjoy freedom are lost. If we ask ourselves what is stopping us from pursuing our dreams, most probably the honest answer is "nothing". But still we somehow prefer to stay in the comfort zone.

The second episode was that some of the people being interviewed observed that the conservationists do not have much chance of success because the loss of the forests is much faster than the saving of the orang utans. The rich natural resources are snatched by greedy humans. Forests are cleared, habitats are destroyed, and orang utans are made homeless, captured and sold as illegal pets or even killed. Well-meaning conservationists are fighting a losing battle to save them.

Orang utans, like other primates, are our close relatives, sharing 96% of the human genes. They also have a very close familial bond, with the mothers taking good care of the children and teaching them all the survival skills. So it is a miserable life for baby orang utans who are orphaned after their mothers were killed or captured. In taking care of these young orang utans and preparing them for a life back to nature, this conservation project is pursuing a good cause, but if humans do not change their greedy ways and the destruction of the natural habitat is not arrested, endeavours like that may not have much chance of success.

No sex education, please!

Here are some interesting articles related to education I have gathered from the papers:

"Discipline warning to teachers"
The State Education Department of Sabah has issued letters to 117 teachers (and will issue some more to another 150 teachers) demanding an explanation to their misconduct such as absence from school and failing to report to work on time. The state education director said he would conduct surprise checks to ensure that teachers carry out their duties responsibly.
What I find interesting is that the state education authority is taking action on matters which are supposed to be the business of the local schools. It begs the questions of whether the school authorities have failed to manage the teachers properly and whether it is the tradition of the system in Sabah for the State Education Department to stamp their authority like that.

"Probe report on Tamil school teaching sex education"
The Public Complaints Bureau and the State Education Department will carry out a probe following a newspaper report that a Tamil primary school taught sex education recently. According to the report, parents were upset upon learning that their children were taught sex education. The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department said that if the report was true, he would write to Education Minister urging him to take action against those involved.

"Sex education like teaching thieves how to steal properly"
A spiritual leader disagreed with the move to teach sex education in schools, saying that it will do more harm than good to the younger generation and that it would be like teaching thieves how to steal properly. He said that the move would encourage children to learn about sex among themselves, resulting in negative incidences like throwing away of unwanted babies.
"There is already sex education in Islam like parents should have a separate sleeping place for their children when they reach the age of seven and that women should be properly covered," he said.

These articles said much about the Malaysian society and culture.