KENAPA MESTI KOREA, KENAPA TAK KITA?

Tengah tengok K-POP world festival. 10 participants all over the world, selected from more than 30,000 try-outs in Great Britain, US, Peru Argentina, France etc. performing on Korean stage, dying to impress the Korean, dying to mimic Korean culture. They sing Korean songs, they dance Korean dance and they even talk Korean. Korea and its people have dictated the world. Aku jealous and feel desperate all at the same time. Why it got to be them, why cant it be us? Korea diclassify sebagai sebuah negara bawah poverty line in the 60's but now they govern the world. They have worked hard, when we have not. That is the reason.

Kenapa dunia tak tiru BOLLYWOOD mcm diorg tiru KPOP?. Sebab India tak bagi contoh yang baik dlm bidang yang lain spt industri, pendidikan dan sosial status/standard. Korean have proved it all. Academics diorang, saintis diorang, industry diorang, social standard diorang, semua tinggi dan maju hence the world is singing KPOP songs i.e. after Korean have proved it all that they are worth and deserved to be followed and admired. KITA BILA? What proofs do we have???????? Arghhhhhh tension!! wahai student2 aku...jom la belajar KUAT2!! JOM LA!!!

 

ME, SCYLLA AND ERCAD IN NEW SUNDAY TIMES

Scylla Operation, ERCAD and I were in the News Sunday Times last sunday (25th December). Below is the newspaper cutting and beneath it is the article which I cut and paste for your reading (only if you are interested, of course).

ENGINEERING fields of today have gone through drastic changes due to the revolution of IT and computer technology. While having theoretical background of engineering disciplines is still vital to an engineer, the application of computer technology especially in the analysis and design works has become a compulsory skill that must be possessed by a practicing engineer.


Malaysian students and universities are having difficulty in buying commercial software as it is very expensive because it is foreign-made. Because of this, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) with the collaboration of KPERAK INC, CREAM-CIDB and Scylla Operation Sdn Bhd have successfully produced an engineering software called Educational Reinforced Concrete Analysis and Design or ERCAD.


It is recognised as Malaysia's first homegrown software because the source codes were fully written by local experts comprising of UTM scholars and programmers from Scylla Operation, a Malaysian company that specialises in engineering software development.


In addition, it is the first software that is tailored to suit the civil engineering teaching and learning environment and its creation was led by Dr Airil Yasreen Mohd Yassin, a senior lecturer and research fellow at Steel Technology Centre (STC), Faculty of Civil Engineering (FKA).


The software automates the analysis and design of low and medium rise reinforced concrete building, utilising the finite element method for the analysis and BS 8110 for the design procedures. The development of the ERCAD software has seen the involvement of 10 UTM academicians comprising professors, associate professors, senior lecturers and a tutor.


HOW IT BEGAN: The history of the software development goes back to 2007 when CREAM-CIDB funded a research project at UTM. The project's objective was to produce software for the design of Industrialised Building System. The initial software was then named Automated and Integrated Design of IBS or AID-IBS in short.


Towards the end of the research duration, the commercial potential of the work was identified by KPERAK INC, a non-profit agency established by the Perak State Government, which then funded the pre-commercialisation of the software. Due to sales and marketing strategies, the focus of the development shifted, however, towards reinforced concrete building and as a result, the software was renamed ERCAD.


On the involvement of Scylla Operation Sdn Bhd, the company's establishment was a natural evolution and the byproduct of the research project. The company is owned by a group of UTM alumni who originally worked on the research to develop the software. The establishment of the company is in line with Malaysia's higher education agenda that is to instill entrepreneurship in university education as well to ensure the continuity of the research work.


AS GOOD AS FOREIGN-MADE SOFTWARE: In ensuring the quality of the software especially in terms of the performance and functionality so as to meet not only educational but industrial demands and needs, the development of the software was benchmarked against established foreign software.


The software has also been sent for beta-testing or a trial-run at an established local civil engineering consulting firm and is continuously monitored by experts from several higher learning institutes who have been appointed as external reviewers. The software has also been demonstrated at Jabatan Pengajian Tinggi (JPT), Malaysia and obtained full support from the ministry. ERCAD has also been demonstrated to many stakeholders such as Jabatan Kerja Raya for continual improvement.


Since the objective of the project is to produce software that is equivalent in performance but cheaper in price, ERCAD is provided at a very low price. Based on a selection of product packages and pricing, ERCAD can be purchased by a student at a low price of RM100 and this is very affordable compared to established foreign software which would cost more than RM50,000 for a standalone version.


ACCESIBILITY: Affordable software is very much needed because current practice requires students to queue-up to get access to the software which is usually installed as a network version at a faculty or department's computer lab.


In contrast, ERCAD allows civil engineering students to use the software anywhere and anytime since it is installed in individual computers. ERCAD can also assist civil engineering faculties and departments in the EAC-BEM accreditation since inclusion of computer aided engineering (CAE) in the engineering syllabus has become one of the accreditation criteria.


The software has entered the commercialisation stage where road shows are currently conducted around the countries and thus far the response has been very welcoming and encouraging. Sales promotion activities have also been conducted at 10 national universities and more than 180 units have been sold since it was launched three months ago.


More information can be obtained from Dr Airil Yasreen ayasreen@ utm.my or visit Scylla Operation's website scyllaoperation.com.

ME AND THE THEORY OF MUSICS PERFORMING AT PEKA DINNER/STANDING COCKTAIL

Ahad lepas, aku perform dengan student2 class theory of structures aku, hence the name of the band "Theory of Musics" (tp aku yg bagi nama ni..haha). The band consists of Syafiq (Kacu- Drummer), Farhan (Pa'an - Guitar), Faiz (Phea - Bassist) and Tuan Kamaruzzaman (vocal).

Kitorang perform untuk PEKA's Dinnner/Standing Cocktail which was held at Good Hope Hotel (PEKA stands for Persatuan Kejuruteraan Awam). FYI, I was the President of Peka in 1997 and was the Advisor of Peka until last year (terminated without any notice..hahaha). We played two songs both originally written; the first one was KEMBALI (lyrics written by Lynn, my wife) and the second one was GIVE ME YOUR LOVE. There was also special performance by the nation famous alternative band, STATIK (diorg ni budak Skudai rupanya).

Herein, I would like to express my gratitude to PEKA committee, past and present especially the Presidents, past and present (Arif, Ryo and Franklin) for inviting me and the Theory of Musics to perform that night. A special thanks also to STATIK yang sudi hadir tanpa bayaran untuk menghiburkan kami warga PEKA. Thanks a lot STATIK.

Below are three video clips for you to watch. The first one is KEMBALI which lyrics are immediately given beneath, the second one is GIVE ME YOUR LOVE (for the lyrics please click HERE) and the third one a clip of STATIK playing their number CHERITA KITA

CLIP 1: KEMBALI (written by Dr Airil and his wife, Halinawati)

Setelah puas kau berjalan

Dan apabila tiba masanya

Kau berada di hujung jalan

Dan apabila tiada apa di hujungnya

Oh kembalilah

Kerana ku di sini

Akan tetap di sini

Menanti mu

Oh kembalilah

Kembali pada ku

Setiap langkah kau kembali

Jangan ada yang kau sesali

Kerna setiap yang kau lalui

Pasti ada yang mengingati  

CLIP 2: GIVE ME YOUR LOVE (click HERE for lyrics)

CLIP 3: CHERITA KITA (by STATIK)

NEW SINGLE: PERMAISURI BY AIRILSAMETOK BAND

I totally have nothing to write for the past few days, busyness most probably the culprit. Time like this is therefore the best time for AirilSametok Band to release our new single. What follows is a video clip of 'Permaisuri' with the lyrics at the bottom of this page. Please enjoy it while I think of something for upcoming entry. Wish me luck.. 

Permaisuri by AirilSametok Band

Tiada kata dan luahan yang dapat
Menggambar betapa aku benar-benar
Menyayangi dirimu seluruh hidupku
Ku serahkan padamu

Engkaulah segala-gala dalam hidupku
Bulan dan bintang bersinar menyinari
Malam-malam dinginku bila
Ku dijamah rindu pada dirimu

Engkau permaisuri ratu hatiku
Tiada pengganti engkau yang satu
Izinkan aku terus bersamamu
Hingga hujung waktu hujung hayatku

Tiada lagi yang ku inginkan
Hanya bersyukur padaMu Tuhan
Kini kau di sisi tiada lagi sepi

Indahnya bagaikan di syurga
Kau bidadari turun ke dunia
Kini kau di sisi tiada lagi sepi

MACAM YANG ISLAM SURUH

 Kita dah buat macam yang Islam suruh?

Kita tahu tak ‘orang lain’ kerja rajin macam yang Islam suruh?

Kita tahu tak ‘orang lain’ pandai macam yang Islam suruh?

Kita tahu tak ‘orang lain’ hatinya ikhlas macam yang Islam suruh?

Kita rajin tak macam yang Islam suruh?

Kita pandai tak macam yang Islam suruh?

Kita hati ikhlas tak macam yang Islam suruh?

Tengok ‘orang lain’ di sekeliling kita

Tengok ‘orang lain’ di luar negara

Betul ke kita cemerlang macam ‘mereka’?

Kalau betul, APA BUKTINYA?

Tanya ikhlas betul-betul pada diri sendiri

APA BUKTINYA yang kita rajin, pandai dan ikhlas

MACAM YANG ISLAM SURUH.....

Kalau belum, kalau tiada buktinya lagi
Sebelum kita salahkan 'orang lain'
Buatlah dulu apa yang Islam suruh.

DR AIRIL'S HYPOTHESIS ON HUMAN'S CONFLICT

This article is my attempt to reason thus to understand the constant conflicts occurring between us human. "Why are we always in conflict?" is the question which the answer, as I am about to hypothesize, can be derived from the following two just proposed principles (since these are yet established principles, lets call them Dr Airil's Principles of Human's Conflict):

Principle 1: Principle of Conservation of Best Interest 

This principle is proposed to state that human always wanting to act in the best interest; so the 'wanting to act in the best interest' what is conserved. This is based on the axiom that goodness is innate in us human. For an example, a Green activist would do anything to save the world from Green House effects; an immediate proof of  him or her wanting to act in the best interest.  For an another example, but this time an extreme one, even a killer would argue that if he has other options, he would not commit with the killing; a testimonial of  him still wanting to act in the best interest regardless of him being the 'bad guy'.

Principle 2: The Uncertainty Principle of Definition 

This principle is proposed to be read in a similar tone to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle of Quantum Mechanics. Whilst Heisenberg's says something like "if measured using classical mechanics, measurement of quantum states becomes uncertain", the proposed principle says "since the level of understanding between individuals will always be different, their definition on a particular thing or matter or value will also be different therefore becomes uncertain".  

Let me elaborate further on the Uncertainty Principle but the keywords are "definition" and "understanding", so please take note. Lets start with a question, how can we define "definition"? Since I am the one who is writing this article, it is my choice to provide my own view on this. I would define "Definition" as the description of something based on my understanding towards that something.  For an example, I define finite element method as another type of numerical solution in solving a set of partial differential equations which operates on the weak statement (or weak form) of the physical problem whilst being characterized by the employment of shape functions so as to express explicitly the degree of freedoms which purpose is to allow for the easy treatment of the boundary conditions. Obviously, an incomplete thus different definition of finite element method would then be given by my students which incompleteness hence the differences are due to the different level of understanding on the subject between me and them. 

Why Conflict Occur?

Having stated the two principles, we are now in the position to hypothesize why a conflict occur. A conflict occur between us human because we are always trying to satisfy the two principles. We always want to act in the best interest but it is always hard for us to agree on the mean of achieving it. Even the motivation in achieving it usually varies from one person to another or from one society to another. Worst, even the definition on the best interest itself is debated between different groups or parties. 

Lets take the Green activist as an example. Everyone wants to save the world but the Green activist is more desperate because his or her knowledge on, say, environmental science makes him or her see how Green House effect is really a real threat, in fact, an immediate ones more than others would see it. This desperateness motivates the activist to go great extents say to the extent of sabotaging some oil companies only to creating subsequent conflict. If only the oil companies share the same desperateness, such a conflict would not occur. Or the other way around, if only the Green Activist shares the same interest as the oil company, the occur would not occur also.  The big SO is therefore, disagreements and desperateness in doing good what induce the conflict. Ironic isn't? What supposed to be a good course can sometime be the cause for a bad course. 

Disagreement Versus Desperateness

Since disagreement and desperateness are the causes of conflict, which one is really to be blamed? How wrong can desperateness in doing good can be? I think, it can't do no wrong. Wanting desperately to do good is always good and this an axiom! So disagreement is to blame. But not all disagreement is bad, disagreement guided and supported by knowledge is benign, in fact, many times, it is a good thing because variation in ideas and opinion trigger advancements. It is the disagreement due to ignorance that is EVIL. But this is a twisted thing; if we know we are ignorant, we would not be an ignorant in the first place, would we? And telling others that they are ignorant is indeed the main cause of conflict, especially if they are in a deep ignorance!! The more ignorant we are, the more we hate to be called or told as ignorant. But, isn't knowing what we are ignorant at is the prerequisite to becoming non-ignorant or enlightened? Twisted isn't it?

Is It a Dead End?

If the above question refers to the conflict between human itself, the answer is yes because if the above principles are really true, they will hold forever because that is what a scientific principle needs to be. So, conflict between us human is something that we must accept as a fact of life. It has not, is not and will not stop. It is a dead end.

But, if the question refers to how can we live about with this fact of life, in other words, how can we minimize such conflicts so that we can have a better life, the answer is no, it is not a dead. And the way to do this is proposed as follows:

1) be open-minded; ready to receive input and information without prejudice.  

2) do not judge easily ; things may be not as it seems

3) be critical; but be self-critical first

4) acquire and get updated knowledge; but do not 'stay' localized in both time and space

5) and many more which are open for discussions

Wallahhualam 

GIBSON, BLUES, HOUSE AND ME

I have a GIBSON Les-paul, a guitar I dreamt to posses since I first saw her being played by Slash on top of the piano in the November Rain video clip some 17 years ago, but which I  only got her early this year after years of hard work (including getting a PhD). But the waiting made it all worthwhile. And I thank Allah for this 'nikmah' of life, alhamdullillah.

Why Gibson? Only Gibson’s lovers know the answer. But it’s a clear cut thing you know; it’s either you a Gibson or you are the rest (Fender, Ibanez, Jackson, Paul Reed Smith etc). It’s the attitude!

Attitudes resonated by BLUES. If you have a Gibson, blues is your soul; rebellious, arrogant, self-centered but mysterious and who else can express it the best if not Dr HOUSE; the cool but typical eccentric intellectual figure as well as Jung Yong Hwa of CN BLUE (only to mention contemporary names)

AND ME............

(psst!, trace the bold and underlined words above, they make the title “GIBSON, BLUES, HOUSE AND ME”. Sync isn’t? Haha.. and by the way, below are three videos; the first, me playing blues with my Gibson and the second, Dr House playing his Gibson Les-paul and the third his Gibson Flying V. We both play Gibson, take note guys!.).

VIDEO 1: ME IN BLUES WITH GIBSON

VIDEO 2: DR HOUSE IN BLUES WITH GIBSON

VIDEO 3: DR HOUSE IN BLUES WITH GIBSON FLYING V

READING BACK MY COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

I am reading back Computational Fluid Dynamics by John D Anderson Jr, for how many times I am myself not sure. But it has become my habit; every time I am about to embark on a major project, I would read some few related books basically cover to cover to refresh everything. This is in contrast to day-to-day basis problems where I would just refer to some chapters or sub-chapters for information. You want to know about the project? I am sorry but I could not tell, wait until mid next year, insyaAllah. (Below is the photo of the book)

But, every time I read this book by Anderson, I can’t help myself from admiring the conclusiveness of the knowledge possessed by the author. When I read this book, it feels like it was completed in one week time due to the perfection in the continuity of the discussions. Reading Chapter 4, Chapter 2 felt like it was written yesterday if you know what I mean. But the actual would be, I guess, the completion of the book would have taken months if not years. So this only tells two things,

1) In prior to the writing of the books, the author knew already what would be ‘the first sentence and the last sentence’ of the book. In other words, everything was in his head already. And we’re talking about all the mathematical and scientific principles which are voluminous in nature.

2) The author really had and has a great mental strength. To hold an idea or a set of ideas (i.e. what have been written and what to write next and how to connect and to integrate etc) for a long duration say in months or years requires a strong mind, else one would give up out of fatigue at worst or write gibberish at best.

In fact, the above two points are what really differentiate between two authors hence between two books. At the outset, a book is a book but what contents inside really matters.

Another characteristic of a good book is this; every time I read I always feel like the author is talking to me. It is like a recorded voice only that it is my voice echoing his writing. Such a feeling I consider the measure of sincerity and wisdom of the author. In other words, if I get personal with the book, then it is a good book.

But a good book for one does not necessarily a good book for another. It is like a relationship. You might get along with some type of people but others you might not. In the same vein, there are authors suit you in a sense may be you and him are ‘meant to be together’. His thinking suits you, he talks the way you talk, and things like that. So, to find a suitable authors hence books is another thing but it is not a major issue; have you heard the phrase “smart peoples think alike”?.

So, what you can do is to seek an advice for what book to read from someone who is really ‘experienced’ in the field because advice from such a person is usually helpful. I myself was advised by Professor Pellegrino who at the time was a Cambridge’s Professor but now teaching in Caltech, to read Cook’s book instead of Bathe’s book considering I was still a beginner at the time. In another occasion, I was advised by Arash, a PhD friend of mine to read Chen Wai Fah’s book to learn about tensorial treatment of continuum mechanics. These advices have been very ‘correct’ as the books were indeed easily understood as far as my understanding are concerned. Now, I also advice my students in regards to their reading based on my own experiences.

Before I end this writing, I would like to pose a question to myself and to all academicians who are reading this; will we be able to become such a great author and write such great books? I myself yet to know the answer but the best I can do now is to prepare myself by learning more, reading more, thinking more, researching more and working more so that when it times for me to write book of such a magnitude (you see, I have started writing some book which I do not consider on the same pedestal as the type of books we are discussing), I will be the author who;

1) has everything already in his head

2) can hold the ideas of the writing for a long time so as to produce a masterpiece

3) can produce a book that talks to its readers.

InsyaAllah. Amin.

A DAY AT UTP

It has been a long, long week. I was in KL last weekend, had a discussion with Dr Kamil, KPERAK's CEO on Monday in Ipoh, spent a whole day in UTP on Tuesday, shoot back to JB first thing on Wednesday and went straight to Desaru for a two days STC's workshop, got back to JB late Thursday night so as to make it for today's morning lecture on Theory of Structures at 8am. Fiuhh!!!

But it was all worth it especially the day I spent at UTP for all the good reasons. I finally met Dr Ben since last when we were in UTM 11 years ago. He didn't change physically so I easily recognized him even he was still in his Exora approaching me and Scylla's experts at the car park adjacent to UTP Dewan Cancelor. We exchanged greeting and he then guided us to the Civil Engineering Buildings.

At first sight, I was really impressed with the buildings. Its modern looks really tell Petronas wealth. I noticed the color mimicked KLCC's; grey and dull green I believed was the theme. Below is the photo of the building captured for your vieweing. Impressive, innit?

I was there for two reasons, one was to conduct sale and promotion (S&M) activity of ERCAD and two, to deliver a talk on my experience in learning FEM. The S&M started around 9am and I was introduced by Prof Malay Chauduri. I was very honoured by the attendance of many UTP's young lecturers; Dr Zahiraniza, Dr Koh Moi Ing, Ir Mubarak together with their graduates students. My communication with them indicated the potential of UTP to become world class university. They were all very enthusiastic in research as well as knowledge. The future is simply bright for UTP. I also had a discussion with Prof Shamsul Rahman during lunch and we talked on various issues. The first two photos below were taken during the presentation, seen in the picture are Dr Zahiraniza, Dr Koh Moi Ing and Ir Mubarak followed by the third photo showing the discussion with Dr Ben (light brown shirt).

After my presentation, Scylla's experts conducted the hands-on session of ERCAD and we were very glad to have the interest of UTP's lecturers and students trying out the software. Below is the photo of the hands-on session.

After lunch hour, I talked about the experiences I had during my learning of FEM. The talk was attended by Dr Ben's final year project (FYP) students. I started with some slides on current FEM outputs (to include Erwan's Karman's Vortex modeling) with the intention of introducing the versatility of FEM in carrying out complex engineering analysis. I then proceed with some brief discussion on differential equations and its corresponding numerical solutions technique to include FEM. I finished up the talk by showing movie clips taken from A Beautiful Mind, the movie with hope that it could motivate the students as it did for me. I hope that my talk was fruitful to them. Below are the photos showing Dr Ben's FYP students while they were watching the A Beautiful Mind's movie clips.

Below is the photo of Dr Ben's students during my discussion on differential equations and numerical techniques.

Finally, I and Scylla's experts like to express our gratitude to the hospitality offered by UTP's residents especially Dr Ben during our visit. To meet eager young minds always an honor to us. A day at UTP only told me one thing, there is a bright future waiting for us, as a nation and as an ummah, insyaAllah. (Below is the photo of us before we left UTP for Ipoh).

SAINS DAN MATEMATIK PERLU DIFAHAMI UNTUK DIKRITIK

Saya menulis artikel ini kerana pengalaman saya dalam penerokaan ilmu-ilmu sains dan matematik telah menyaksikan begitu ramai ahli-ahli sains yang begitu taksub dengan pemikiran matematik dan sains sehingga mereka berprejudis terhadap agama.

Contoh yang paling terkenal ialah Stephen Hawking yang telah memilih untuk bersetuju dengan hipotesis Parallel Universe kerana hipotesis ini boleh memberikan alternatif kepada teori alam mempunyai permulaan. Beliau tidak mahu menerima teori alam mempunyai permulaan ini (walaupun ia adalah teori beliau sendiri asalnya yang lebih dikenali sebagai Big Bang Theory) kerana ia menjurus kepada kewujudan Pencipta. Beginilah sebenarnya prejudis seorang saintis yang sifat tersohor sepatutnya tidak berprejudis.

Tetapi apakah kaitan pemilihan Stephen Hawking dalam menyebelahi hipotesis Parallel Universe or Multiverse dengan perbincangan kita? Kaitannya akan terlihat jika pembaca perasan (notice) yang saya telah meng'associate'kan perkataan TEORI untuk Big Bang dan saya meng'associate'kan perkataan HIPOTESIS untuk Parallel Universe atau Multiverse. Ini bermaksud, Parallel Universe, walaupun matematik mem'benar'kan kewujudannya, tetapi pembuktiannya untuk di'nobat'kan sebagai satu teori memerlukan kita 'keluar' dari alam atau universe ini, sesuatu yang tidak mungkin dapat dilaksanakan. Inilah yang saya maksudkan tentang ketaksuban seorang saintis sanggup meng'contradict'kan prinsip asas sains iaitu memerlukan pembuktian. Apabila beliau diberikan dua pilihan, satu yang boleh 'dibuktikan' manakala satu lagi tidak boleh 'dibuktikan', kerana diselubungi prejudis, beliau memilih yang kedua walaupun beliau tahu ia tidak akan dapat dibuktikan dan seterusnya hanya akan meng'contradict'kan prinsip 'beliau' sendiri. Bagaimana dengan saya, adakah saya prejudis dalam bab ini? Saya rasa tidak kerana:

1) Saya 'memihak' kepada teori Big Bang kerana alternatif kepadanya adalah hipotesis; maka dalam hal ini saya bertindak dengan objektif

2) Diantara Big Bang dan Parallel Universe, yang pertama lebih 'ringkas' penerangan nya maka sepatutnya lebih diterima. Ini adalah berasaskan prinsipal ilmuwan barat sendiri yang dinamakan Occam's Razor yang menyatakan "penerangan yang lebih ringkas adalah kemungkinan lebih betul berbanding penerangan yang lebih kompleks".

Tetapi adakah saya telah melanggar lunas-lunas agama apabila saya berhujah seperti diatas? Saya katakan tidak, kerana saya berpegang kepada prinsip 'fight fire with fire'. Bukankah asas kepada hujahan mesti disandarkan kepada axiom yang telah dipersetujui. Dan prinsip saya ini saya sandarkan pula kepada pegangan dan pemikiran Imam Al-Ghazali sepanjang perdebatan beliau dengan ahli-ahli falsafah seperti yang telah dirakamkan di dalam kitab beliau, Tahafut-Al-Falasifah. Di bawah, saya turunkan petikan-petikan yang berkaitan:

1. "As regarding their contention that reference to Logic is unavoidable, it is right. But logic is not their monopoly..We often call it the Book of Disputation or the Data of the Intellects..In order to remove this misunderstanding, we propose to discuss the Data of the Intellects in a separate work...we will speak to them in their language.."

2. "As regarding Mathematics, there is no point in denying or opposing it; for Mathematics include Arithmetic and Geometry and these two sciences are not dispute here. As regarding Logic, it is just and investigation in the instruments of reflection over the intelligible. And as such, it involves no contradictions which might deserve our consideration. And in the book called, 'The Standard of Knowledge', we are going to introduce as of this subject as may be helpful towards the undestanding of the contents of this book"

Beberapa pengajaran yang boleh kita ambil dari pernyataan Al-Ghazali di atas:

1) Beliau amat luas pengetahuannya meliputi pelbagai ilmu; agama, sains dan juga matematik.

2) Beliau menyarankan agar perdebatan mestilah fokus, tidak meleret leret.

3) Beliau sendiri mengiktiraf ilmu matematik dan logik.

Malah, beliau menyelar sesiapa yang kononnya berdebat atas nama agama tetapi menggunakan fakta-fakta sains yang salah, kerana ini akan hanya memburukkan nama agama itu sendiri. Berikut adalah pernyataan beliau berkenaan perkara ini:

"We are not interested in refuting such theories (refering to established scientific facts) either, for the refutation will serve no purpose. He who thinks that it is his religious duty to disbelieve such things is really unjust to religion and weakens its cause. For these things have been established by astronomical and mathematical evidence which leaves no room for doubt....that these things are contrary to religion, your assertion will shake his faith in religion, not in these things. Greater harm is done to religion by an immethodical helper than by enemy whose actions, however hostile, are yet regular. For, as the proverb goes, A WISE ENEMY IS BETTER THAN AN IGNORANT FRIEND".

Keperluan untuk mengkritik sains di zaman ini makin mendesak disebabkan sains yang mutakhir telah dilahirkan oleh ramai saintis-saintis yang memprejudiskan agama. Dan ini tidaklah menghairankan kerana kelahiran sains yang mutakhir itu sendiri dipengaruhi oleh perjuangan menentang kongkongan gereja. Cuma persoalannya, bagaimana untuk mengkritik sains yang mutakhir ini? Adakah dengan menggunakan ilmu-ilmu sains yang dibelajar di sekolah atau pun peringkat universiti? Percayalah, dengan tahap pemahaman sains kita sekarang, ia umpama 'jauh panggang dari api'. So ini dilemmanya,

1). Imam Ghazali berpesan, mahu berdebat, biarlah berilmu
2). Sains mutakhir perlu didebatkan
3). Tetapi kita masih belum cukup ilmu sains tersebut

Pengajaran yang amat penting yang sepatutnya kita sedari sekarang ialah KITA MESTI FAHAM DAN KUASAI SAINS DAN MATEMATIK UNTUK KITA KRITIK DAN MENGAWALNYA!!!

Sesungguhnya seruan ini telah lama berkumandang dan antara ilmuwan muslim kontemporari yang memperjuangkan perkara ini adalah Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Beliau dikenali sebagai pengkritik sains barat dengan slogan sains tidak merdeka dari nilai (science is not value-free). Walau bagaimanapun, seperti Imam Al-Ghazali, beliau juga tidak mencadangkan kritikan semborono keatas sains sebaliknya menegaskan betapa pentingnya pemahaman yang mendalam sebelum sebarang kritikan itu dilakukan. Berikut ialah beberapa petikan dari buku beliau yang bertajuk ISLAM, SCIENCE, MUSLIMS AND TECHNOLOGY;

"..we should try to understand and integrate them into Islamic perspective. And that has to be done at the forefront, at the very frontiers of the sciences, especially physics and within it quantum mechanics, where we can interpret quantum mechanics in a metaphysical way."

"It is impossible to understand, critize, integrate or transcend any form of science without deep knowledge of it. No amount of slodaneering and emotional outburst can replace knowledge, whose primacy the noble Quran confirms in the verse: Are they equal, those who know and those who do not know? (al-Zumar:9)".

Berdasarkan perbincangan diatas, boleh kita simpulkan, SAINS DAN MATEMATIK PERLU DIFAHAMI UNTUK DIKRITIK. Wallahualam.

STUPID

by Dr Airil Sametok

I don't want you to stop
So I didn't want to write this
Please do not stop
For stupid amuses me

I play you like a toy
I wish you will never see
But I wrote this still
Without a single worry

For between these lines
You will never see
So you will not stop
Amuse me, you will always be

PPSMI: MY LAST RESPONSE

I know from the beginning that I would be fighting a losing battle when it comes to PPSMI. This is because, PPSMI in the first place, was an ingenious idea; radical and unconventional in nature, therefore do not suit  a 'stagnant' or 'play-it-safe' society like ours. Risk-taking is still an alien concept to us; all there is, are just the countless rhetoric. I believe, not many of us can appreciate, to the highest degree, Mark Zuckerberg's utterence:

"The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks." - Mark Zuckerberg

As an ingenious idea, originated from the best Malay's brain, PPSMI is not meant for a smooth ride, it demands determination and sacrifice for it should be perceived as 'the strategy' or as the 'special ingredient' of our success. It should be the answer to the question, "As others are also moving, in fact at much faster speed, what is the extra-special thing that we have which allows us the possibility to overtake?", which the answer is supposed to be, "Luckily, we have resorted to PPSMI at time others had not think of it". This aforementioned statement of mine should be read in parallel with the following Einstein's words for better understanding:

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

What we have is actually a different levels of concern. Mine is higher and my 'opponent''s is lower. In my opinion, the latter is rooted from over-optimism. One of the great danger of over-optimism is that it can lead us into the state of denial. As an analogy, celebrating our winning at Geneva Exhibition as great scientific achievement would make the success of the People Republic of China in building their own space station (after been rejected by the ISS program) looks like a mediocre work. For an over-optimistic society, if 'time permits', they think they can build it too.

When I said contemporary learning requires learners to read 'English' books of thousand pages on their own, my 'opponents' simply replied "So, what we need is our professors to produce such a book but in Bahasa Malaysia". Due to over-optimism towards their professors, my 'opponents' fail to appreciate the fact that our professors are not really that capable of producing such books. Below is my major reference on finite element, a book written by KJ Bathe, an MIT professor published in 1996.

Despite its 15 years of age, I dare to say, no one in Malaysia understand completely this book including me; to produce one is therefore beyond any 'right' Malaysian mind. Since nobody in Malaysia can produce such a book neither in Bahasa Malaysia nor in English, at least not in the next 10 years to come, what must we expect of our learners to do? Keep reading lecturer's notes? And the irony is, our next ten years is the year 2020. Over-optimism makes us to be contradictory, you see. We want to be advanced but we want to do it slow and steady. In this era, 'advanced' and 'slow and steady' contradict each other most of the time (I said most of the time not all the time).

All right, by now you might be asking whether I can show some proofs or hints on what reading these kind of books can do for us. Below is the video of a computer program which has been written fully and 100% by my master's student, Mr Erwan Hafizi Kasiman who's is now a tutor at the faculty. It is not some use of existing software like Fluent, Comsol or Abaqus but a pure source coding from scratch of the mathematical equations including the interface. To watch, just click PLAY and please wait for a few second for the flow disturbance to become obvious

What the above video shows is the unsteady incompressible flow, either of fluids or of gases, known as Karman's Vortex which development requires the discretization of the following Navier-Stoke's Equation. And to do this, Mr Erwan has been required to read the same Bathe's book which success are due to, of course hard work but also due to the luxury of having me 'besides' him to explain every words. But we are not living in a quantum mechanics world where I can be at different places at one time, aren't we?. So we need more teachers like me, which are self-taught. Believe me, if a hundred of our countrymen has this kind of knowledge, then we can build our own 'space station'. Below is the aforementioned Navier-Stoke equations for your viewing.

If you ask, can any other Malaysian do this?, as far as I know, NO, and I have been in the business for quite sometime now (please read about my publication, HERE and HERE). Another proof for my claim would be the ERCAD software which I have developed with my post-graduates students. I have posted about this previously so to read just click HERE. This software is equivalent to the foreign software which the latter all cost more than RM 50,000 but since ERCAD is 100 per cent developed by us, we able to dictate the price to the lowest of RM100 for Malaysian students. You see, if we really have the knowledge, we can no longer be the 'user' and the 'buyer' anymore in fact we can start selling our 'products'. We can be the 'real deal'.  And all that we need is to take some risk. For your information, more than 130 units of ERCAD have been sold since it was launched a couple of months back, and if these were foreign products, if would have cost our country 130 x RM 50,000 = RM 6.5 million. So we have saved about that much in two months time. Oh, why can't you see?

Having said all these, I therefore, do not want to write any further about the issue because I believe I had written enough in this blog (9 entries to be exact). What I have been trying to say is all down to this:
1. We need our newer society to be self-taught.
2. Why self-taught? Because one, this is the way of the new world and two, our older society are no longer able to teach us, but please, do not blame our older society for they have served their intended purposes brilliantly, that is to survive us the newer society
3. To be self-taught, the newer society must read by themselves the 'English' books of thousand pages, and they must read it 'quick'.

So, this is about it and I do not want to talk about it anymore. But, one thing that amused me during this endeavor is the childish behavior of some people I personally know, not from this blog but in FB (I am glad that those in this blog have responded in most intellectual manner). Such childish responses only mean two things: 1) either they do not understand my writing due to their intellectual limits or 2) they have personal issues against me or both. Whichever the case, this behavior is an immediate proof of how many of us have been bred with shallow minded and prejudice; they are the sole cause for our social instability. To these people, the following phrase of Einstein would make no difference:

"Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." - Albert Einstein

They fail to accept the facts that there are still existed people who are really sincere in their endeavor and a 'weird' idea or opinion should not be an excuse for them to reduce the quality of such a sincerity. Neither the following phrase of Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal which I extracted from his book, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam matters to them:

"..if he ceases to feel the inward push of advancing life, then the spirit within him hardens into stone and he is reduced to the level of dead matter. But his life and the onward march of his spirit depend on the establishment of connections with the reality that confronts him" - Muhammad Iqbal

And before I leave, I like to share with the general readers a beautiful poem which I found at the last page of Muhammad Iqbal's book. Initially I thought it was his as he was also a great Muslim poet but it turned out to be written by an unknown author. I googled it up in the internet and found some information which I am not going to tell considering some of us are still not really that open minded. So just read it and enjoy.

When I was young and free,

and my imagination had no limits ,

I dreamed of changing the world.

As I grew older and wiser,

I discovered the world would not change,

so I shortened my sights somewhat

and decided to change only my country.

But it too, seemed immovable.

As I grew into my twilight years,

in one last desperate attempt,

I settled for changing only my family,

those closest to me; but alas 

they would have none of it,

And now as I lie on my death bed,

I suddenly realize: 

If only I had change myself first,

then by example I would have changed my family.

From their inspiration and encouragement,

I would then have been able to better my country and,

who knows, I may have even changed the world.

 

Wallahhualam

PPSMI: INI REALITINYA

Ini realitinya. 10 tahun dulu waktu kita belajar di UTM, kita cuma bersaing sesama 'kita'. Tapi zaman dan berubah, dan ia berubah dengan terlalu cepat. Tak terbayang pun kita dulu yang kelas2 di UTM akan dipenuhi dengan student antarabangsa. Foto ini aku ambik waktu kelas FE tadi untuk bukti dan tantapan semua. Terpulanglah...

 

PPSMI: GOOD LUCK BRO!!

ARGHH TENSION!! Bila TPM kata murid darjah 2 dan keatas akan habiskan study sampai form 5 dalam PPSMI, aku ingatkan dasar ini akan dilaksanakan di semua sekolah, rupanya tidak, hanya di sekolah terpilih saja.

Beliau berkata (dalam Berita Harian): " ..proses semakan itu hanya membabitkan pelajar yg mengikuti PPSMI sepenuhnya iaitu kira2 lima peratus drpd jumlah kelas di 7495 sekolah rendah....yg ...tidak mengikuti PPSMI sepenuhnya atau menggunakan dwibahasa...tidak perlu membuat semakan kerana dijangka tiada masalah berbangkit"

Hmmm...ikut sukalah! Aku dah malas dan tak larat nak layan...Haziq, Hasya, Nuha, Binish, Fatihah, Dhiya dan Hafiz, bila diorang masuk U nanti, biar aku ajar sendiri, apa guna diorang ada bapak dan bapak sedara yg POWER mcm aku....anak orang lain? anak orang lain suh bapak dia ajar la, kan bapak dia yang tak nak PPSMI...

Macam aku cakap la, kelas engineering di universiti2 sekrg dah bagi lecture dlm english sbb ramai international students, esok kalo anak2 korg panas punggung jgn salahkan aku...ala, korang bagi la diorg tuisyen calculus, mechanics, statics, dynamics, FE etc dlm Bahasa Malaysia kt rumah...korang kan power...aku nk ajar anak2 dan anak2 sedara aku sendiri mmg takde masalah punye..GOOD LUCK BRO!!!

DR ASRI'S ARTICLE TITLED "BOLEHKAH BUKAN MUSLIM SELAMAT DARI NERAKA"

In 22nd Sept I wrote I TRIED TO DO DA'WAH AT IC ONLY TO BE SCOLDED BACK. In 9th Nov, Dr Mohd Asri (aka DR MAZA) wrote something that is in a similar mode titled BOLEHKAH BUKAN MUSLIM SELAMAT DARI NERAKA. Alhamdullillah, I thank Allah because I am not alone in this matter (on the issue of how we muslim must be great to be exemplary). To read my writing click here and to read DR MAZA's click here. Please read both.

PPSMI: ALAHAI BANGSA MELAYU AKU NI....

BANGSA MELAYU AKU NI tak boleh kena kritik. Eh, macam ramai orang dah cakap je. Yup, memang dah ramai tapi aku belum cakap lagi, ni baru nak cakap. Antara sebabnya adalah kita telah lama dimomokkan dengan peribahasa2 yang menjadikan kita terlalu sensitif. Contohnya, "merata dulang, paku yang serpih" yang amat jelas sifat defensifnya. Secara tak sedar, kita telah diasuh dengan sikap ber'prejudis' terlebih dahulu sebelum boleh dibawa berbincang. Ini amat bertentangan dengan tabiat 'berlapang dada' dan 'berfikiran terbuka'.

Antara peribahasa lain yang berkaitan adalah "ikut resam padi, lagi tunduk lagi berisi". Ini pula mem'brainwash' otak kita dimana kalau kita ditegur atau diajar, itu bermakna orang yang menegur itu bersifat sombong kerana jika dia berilmu, dia pasti tidak menegur kita, sebaliknya dia akan berdiam diri. Kalau macam tu bila nak belajar atau diajar kalau yang berilmu itu kena 'tunduk' seperti padi sentiasa.

 Kalau tak pun, yang menegur itu pula akan dituduh "kalau kail panjang sejengkal". Mana nak tau kail siapa yang panjang sejengkal kalau bila diajak 'ukur' dikatanya sombong lagi?

BANGSA MELAYU AKU NI sensitif. Melayu akan cakap berlapik dan berkias serta cakap terbalik  menyebabkan penghantaran informasi atau maklumat tidak efektif. Kalau ada yang straight to the point walaupunnya niat nya baik akan dicop sebagai kurang ajar. Di zaman dimana orang lain berubah dengan cepat melalui sistem penghantaran maklumat yang semakin canggih, orang melayu terus di tapuk lama berkonsepkan, "kalau nak tegur tu perlahan2, lembut2 nanti orang terasa". Hmmm, elok lah tu, orang lain berubah dalam masa 3, 4 tahun, bangsa aku ni, kalau berubah pun, ambil masa 30, 40 tahun untuk capai perubahan yang orang lain capai dalam masa 3,4 tahun tu. Di waktu itu, orang lain dah mangalami perubahan yang equivalent kepada 300, 400 tahun melayu.

BANGSA MELAYU AKU NI disebabkan sensitif sangat, maka tak pernah di"sentak" dari "mimpi" (ye lah, tegur pun tak boleh). Dalam 'mimpi' ini, bangsa aku ni terasa yang dia memang dah cukup bagus dah, sama macam bangsa2 yang lain diseluruh dunia. Dia tak perasan yang professor2 dia, ramai yang artikel jurnal antarabangsa tak sampai 10 pun. Dia tak perasan yang professor2 ni tak ramai pun tulis buku, kalau ada pun lebih kepada tahap monograf dan nota kuliah. Dia tak perasan juga yang menang segala pingat di Geneva tu tak diiktiraf pun oleh akademia sebenar. Dia tak perasan pun, statistik menunjukkan tak sampai 30 % pensyarah yang buat PhD habis on time, yang tak habis langsung pun melambak. Dia tak perasan pun yang banyak research kita tak sampai standard, pasal tu lah tak boleh published di jurnal antarabangsa dan pasal tu jugak tak boleh dikomersialkan. Dan dia tak perasan semua ini adalah sebab ilmu kita tak kukuh lagi. Professor tak banyak artikel jurnal sebab ilmu nya tak cukup, tak tulis buku sebab ilmu nya tak cukup, pergi 'main' kat Geneva sebab ilmu tak cukup, PhD tak abis sebab ilmu 'background' tak cukup, research tak sampai standard sebab ilmu tak cukup. Sebabkan dia tak perasan semua ni, dia pun bertanya, " Ye ke? Kalau ye pun, apa masalahnya, aku tengok elok je". "Elok ke?", aku tanya balik. "Bukan kita complain macam2 ke, barang mahal la, gaji rendah la, bisness tak dapat la?". Aku sambung "ohh, aku terlupa yang semua ni salah kerajaan sebab bangsa aku sentiasa perasan yang dia 'tak salah langsung'!"

Masalah 'ilmu tak cukup ni' salah siapa? Takde salah sapa2. Apa yang kita ada sekarang adalah apa yang kta perlukan untuk survive sepanjang tempoh 50, 60 tahun yang dulu (selepas merdeka). Ye lah, untuk survive, tak salah nak buat benda 'ad hoc'. Buatlah apa2 asalkan survive, tak cukup engineer, keluarkan engineer, tak cukup pensyarah, keluarkan pensyarah, tak cukup doktor keluarkan doktor, tak cukup professor, keluarkan professor walaupun jurnal artikelnya tiada, waktu tu, we've gone for volume but not quality (ye lah tak sempat). Tapi cukup2 lah, perkara ni tak boleh berterusan. Tapi itu lah masalahnya, bila ramai daripada kita yg telah 'survive' ini terlupa akan hakikat 'ini semuanya hanyalah perancangan untuk survive, sampai waktunya kita kena susun semula', sebaliknya kita terus diulit 'mimpi' yang kita ni memang dah bagus.

So macamana nak mulakan 'stage ke 2' bangsa kita? Untuk ini, kita kena consider perubahan dunia sekarang. Kalau soalan ini dilontar pada tahun 80 dulu, jawapannya mungkin berbeza dengan jawapan sekarang. Tahun 80an dulu, kalau nak telefon diluar kawasan rumah, kena cari public phone. Kalau nak ber'surat', kena pos dan tunggu 2, 3 hari baru sampai. TV cuma tunjuk berita2 tempatan sahaja, kalau ada luar negara pun, sedikit sangat dan tidak secara langsung atau 'LIVE'. Di waktu manusia seluruh dunia belum 'berhubung' lagi, kita mmg boleh untuk 'belajar' bersendirian. Kalau nak establish apa-apa pun, diwaktu 80an ini lah our last chance. Dan ini lah yang telah disambar oleh KOREA, negara terakhir pada pendapat aku yg berjaya membangun dengan 'sendiri'. Istilah 'sendiri' ni pun jgn lah dibaca secara literally, in fact, kalau nak dibincangkan istilah ini sahaja perlu satu entri khas untuknya. Dan jangan lah dibandingkan dengan Iran dan Pakistan, sedangkan kita sahaja yang tak tahu tentang sejarahnya. Contohnya, bangsa Iran ada Lofti Zadeh, pencipta Fuzzy Logic sejak tahun 70an lagi dan bangsa Pakistan ada Prof Abdus Salam, pemenang Noble Prize winner in physics. Bangsa2 ini dah lama bertapak dalam lingkaran ilmu. IRAN contohnya lagi, tidak pernah putus budaya ilmunya sejak ratusan tahun diwaktu negara2 Islam lain malap dgn keilmuan melalui gerakan Suhrawardi dan Mullah Sadra, sebab itu lah mereka boleh buat nuclear fusion sendiri.

Kita? Kita tiada saintis lagi dan kalau diperhatikan ilmuwan2 kita setakat ini hanyalah berorientasikan sastera dan sains sosial seperti Ungku Aziz, Naquib Al-Attas, Kassim Ahmad dll. Kenapa? Sebab sastera dan sains social lebih local sifatnya, maka lebih cepat ter'sentuh' kesannya pada masyarakat pada waktu itu tambahan pula ia lebih mudah difahami oleh masyarakat kebanyak berbanding sains dan matematik. Memanglah lumrah untuk manusia mengagumi sesuatu yang dia faham. Ketika itu, prioritynya adalah pen'definisi'an dan 'penyusunan' semula masyarakat, sains serta matematik pula masih lagi suatu 'luxury'.

Tapi, selepas 80an, proses pembelajaran berlaku amat2 cepat, aku ulang, amat2 cepat!. Dan ia semata-mata disebabkan oleh komputer. Kesan komputer ini two folds; 1) Manusia telah dihubungkan secara menyeluruh atau sejagat oleh komputer 2) Proses pengilmuan dipengaruhi falsafahnya, prinsipnya dan metodologi oleh komputer.

Apabila manusia telah dihubungkan secara menyeluruh dan sejagat oleh komputer, mereka belajar diantara satu sama lain dan pembelajaran ini lingua franca nya English. Manusia meng'email', menge'share', meng'upload' dan meng'download', 'buku2' sains dan matematik English yang tebalnya ribuan mukasurat menyebabkan 'kadar bacaan' buku2 ini berlipat kali ganda berbanding 80an dan tahun2 sebelumnya dan seterusnya menyebabkan  'kadar' kenaikan kepandaian manusia amnya turut naik berlipat kali ganda berbanding 80an dan tahun sebelum2 nya. Inilah yang dimaksud dengan 'the world is exponentially changing'.  Tanpa technical English (bukan daily atau Queen's English ok?), Melayu mmg tak terkejar punya. Kalau dulu pun tak sempat nak kejar, apa tah lagi sekarang ni. Kalau ada yang berhujah, kenapa bangsa2 lain masih boleh follow walaupun guna bahasa ibunda, jawapannya mudah, ingat tak yang diorang mmg dah ada RAMAI (aku ulang RAMAI) pensyarah2 dan professor2 yang 'sebenar' yang boleh bacakan dan kemudian ajar balik bacaan itu pada masyarakat nya. Kita boleh buat jugak, tapi balik pada permasalahan tadi lah, itupun kalau pensyarah, professor kita nak berubah dan kalau berubah pun still LAMBAT JUGA JADINYA!!! again, sebab the world is exponentially changing!

Manusia yang telah dihubungkan secara secara sejagat ini juga mencetuskan satu fenomena yang dipanggil globalisasi. Antara kesan globalisasi yang relevan dengan perbincanga kita adalah apabila  sektor pendidikan tinggi menjadi satu perniagaan dan sumber pendapatan negara yang lumayan. Adalah satu wawasan PM untuk menjadikan Malaysia sebagai hub pendidikan serantau. Dan sekarang kita melihat kebanjiran pelajar2 asing membanjiri universiti2 kita yang mengakibatkan perubahan teknik pengajaran dan pembelajaran dari medium bahasa melayu kepada bahasa Inggeris. Perubahan2 ini membuatkan pelajar2 kita sendiri terus 'lemas' dimana hanya satu sahaja cara untuk mereka survive, iaitu dengan mengamalkan dengan lebih totok konsep 'exam orientation'nya. Tapi, adakah harus kita menahan kemasukan pelajar2 asing ini? Atau adakah harus kita tinggalkan bisnes pendidikan yang amat lumayan ini? Tidak, tidak sama sekali. Tambahan, bisnes ini bukan sahaja lumayan, bahkan ia amat 'bersih' dan 'murni'. Apa yang kita perlukan adalah sedikit perubahan, pengorbanan dan perjuangan. Apa yang kita perlukan akan saya huraikan dihujung penulisan ini nanti (tapi anda patut boleh mengagaknya). 

Kesan komputer yang kedua iaitu mempengaruhi falsafah dan methodologi pemebelajaran manusia sejagat telah menyebabkan sistem yang kita ada sekarang sudah lapok. Sistem dimana pelajar hanya membaca nota2 kuliah sudah tidak mencukupi, lapok. Pelajar2 perlu baca sendiri buku2 yang 'tebal' yang boleh 'didownload' , di'share' di internet. Kalau pelajar seluruh dunia membaca 'buku'2 maya ini, apa istimewanya pelajar melayu kita untuk tidak membacanya. Dan kalau ada yang berhujah, pelajar2 kita sekarang ada kelihatan mambimbit buku2 tebal luar negara, ini pula hujahan aku, pelajar2 kita tu cuma membuat contoh dalam buku2 sebagai tambahan kepada contoh2 yang ada dalam nota2 kuliah mereka, mereka tak baca penerangan dalam ayat2 yang panjang yang terkandung dalam buku 'tebal' tersebut kerana mereka tidak faham Englishnya. Percayalah cakap aku, aku yang ada didalam universiti so aku tahu lah apa keadaan yang sebenarnya.

Komputer juga menyebabkan perkara2 yang terlalu 'matematik' suatu ketika dahulu hanyalah 'mainan' pada ketika ini. Kata lainnya, kemajuan komputer menyebabkan manusia makin mudah menguasai 'matematik' yang kesannya terlihat pada kemajuan2 teknologi yang teramat canggih. Telefon bimbit sekarang dah connected to internet for example; sesuatu yang tidak terbayang pun 10 tahun yang dahulu. Semua ini kerana 'math' makin mudah. Tetapi, disebalik manusia seluruh dunia 'mengunyah math macam lauk', pelajar kita masih berkeluh kesah tak faham math, tak faham physics tak faham chemistry, tak faham, tak faham, tak faham. Kenapa tak faham? Sebab tak boleh baca buku yang orang lain baca, itu lah sebabnya. Pensyarahnya pun tak boleh ajar macam orang lain ajar sebab dia byproduct survival peringkat pertama bangsa kita, ingat tak?. Tapi bila suruh berubah, tak nak. Suruh buat PPSMI tak setuju. Kaitkan dengan benda2 yang tak berkaitan seperti menjatuhkan maruah bahasa dan bangsa. Siapa yang nak jatuhkan maruah bahasa dan bangsa? Kita cuma nak adjust sikit je ikut zaman, kalau tak kita tak survive. Kalau 'kita mati' sapa nak cakap 'bahasa kita'?. Sains dan math aje, sejarah, geografi, pendidikan agama, kemahiran hidup dll, semua masih dalam Bahasa Melayu kan.

Dan hari ni, pengaturcaraan komputer telah menjadi subjek pembelajaran lazim diseluruh dunia untuk pelajar physical sciences dan engineering. Pengaturcaraan komputer dan penulisan algorithm memerlukan 'benda' yang nak ditulis dan 'benda' ini adalah matematik dan physics kepada sesuatu permasalahan tersebut. Tetapi sayangnya, perkara inilah yang menjadi kekurangan pelajar kita. Ajarlah C, C++, Fotran, Python, Matlab, Maple, PhP dll tapi kalau dah tak tau 'matematik dan physics' yang nak dialgorithmkan tu takde gunanya, biarlah tahu sampai 100 computer languanges sekali pun.  Dan sebenarnya, lebih daripada itu adalah konsep pemikiran saintifik yang selari dan sejajar (compatible) dengan komputerlah yang amat diperlukan dalam pembelajaran zaman sekarang, a fact that we just have to swallow either we like it or not.

Dan aku pasti, pakar2, ahli2 dan pensyarah2 bahasa, sastera dan sains sosial (i.e. humanities, politics, sejarah) takkan dapat memahami betapa kompleksnya permasalahan kita seperti yang telah dibincangkan di atas. Ini bukan bidang mereka. Bukan mereka yang membaca dan mengajar matematik di peringkat tertinggi. Mereka tidak tahu susah payahnya dan tidak tahu what it takes untuk maju dalam bidang ini. Oleh itu, kerana ketidakbolehan untuk memahami permasalahan inilah mereka menggagalkan PPSMI. Dan kita, dek keterbiasaan kita sejak dari dulu lagi menganggap mereka inilah sahaja ilmuwan2 dan cendiakawan2 negara (dan terlupa akan wujudnya pakar2 sains dan matematik itu sendiri di negara ini) kita terus menerus mendengar dan bersetuju dengan pandangan dan pendapat mereka, PPSMI kita kuburkan.

Maka, berdasarkan penulisan aku diatas, boleh lah aku simpulkan, masyarakat kita menolak PPSMI adalah kerana:
i. Bangsa melayu aku ni tak boleh ditegur
ii. Sebab tak boleh ditegur, dia tak perasan yang dia didalam 'mimpi' yang panjang
iii. Sebab tak boleh ditegur, dia tak perasan yang orang lain dah lama maju dan akan terus maju
iv. Sebab tak boleh ditegur, dia tak perasan yang stage 2 survival kita perlukan kita bertindak secara drastik, mungkin satu tindakan ingenius yang mmg pun orang lain tak buat, iaitu melaksanakan PPSMI. Ye la, kalau kita asyik nak buat apa yang orang lain buat, bila masa kita nak potong orang tu. Eistein kata "if the idea is not crazy enough, there is no hope for any solution" something like this.
iv. Dan bangsa aku tak perasan, untuk survive, mesti lah ada pengorbanan dan kesusahan. Anak2 kita disekolah memang la kena susah sikit, cikgu2 sekolah dan pensyarah2 universiti pun kena la susah sikit. Ai, kalau nak bandingkan kesusahan anak2 Palestin tu, susah kita dan anak2 kita ni tak da apa pun Yeob!!!!
v. Dan akhir sekali, bangsa aku tak perasan dan tak ambil kisah langsung bila sekolah2 cina dan india terus dibenarkan pengajaran mereka dalam bahasa Inggeris. Kalau semua orang tak boleh, tak pe lah juga, biarlah kita Melayu, Cina dan India bersama2 ketinggalan berbanding dengan masyarakat antarabangsa, tapi kalau macam ni, tinggal Melayu sahajalah yang ketinggalan nanti, sebab pelajar2 cina dan india akan terus mampu untuk 'membaca' buku2 tebal dalam English tersebut seperti masyarakat antarabangsa yang lain. Dan nanti bila sampai waktunya pelajar2 melayu 'melingkup', jangan pula salahkan pelajar2 cina dan india ini kerana kita sendiri yang tak mahu PPSMI ni dulu. Entahlah...wallahualam.

My other writings on PPSMI (just click):
1. A USELESS DIALOG ON PPSMI
2. PPSMI PERLU DITERUSKAN: PENDAPAT PERIBADI SEORANG PENSYARAH KEJURUTERAAN
3. JANGAN JADIKAN GERMAN ALASAN UNTUK TIDAK LAKSANAKAN PPSMI
4. ON PPSMI: KERISAUAN YANG BERBEZA
5. ON PPSMI: DO I HAVE TO READ MORE

GIVE ME YOUR LOVE - AIRILSAMETOK BAND'S NEW SINGLE

Balik raya haji kelmarin, AirilSametok Band sempat record some new songs. This one is called GIVE ME YOUR LOVE. Lagu2 yang lain aku upload kemudian. Lyrics ada kat bawah video ni. Happy listening.

Give me your love (3x)

So that I can live

Tanpa dirimu, aku lemah dan aku buntu,

Tiada arah dan tempat yang hendak ku tuju,

Aku keliru, lemas aku dalam rindu mu,

Sesak nafas ku tiap kali ku mengenangmu.

Bila kau tiada dunia terasa sunyinya,

Hilang ceria diganti kelam mendung derita,

Jika begini aku separuh mati,

Berikan cinta so that I live

Chorus:

Tanpa dirimu aku buntu, tiada arah nak dituju

Lemas ku dilanda rindu kepadamu

Oh bila kau tiada dunia

Terasa sunyinya hilang ceria diganti kelam derita

Give me your (3x)

So that I can live

Bridge:

Jika kau berikan ku cinta

Bersinar sinarlah hidupku ini

Aku bertenaga, aku berkuasa

Menjadi lelaki perkasa menjajah dunia

Jika kau berikan ku cinta

Berseri hidupku dengan harapan

Kerna kau disisi

A DIALOGUE ON WEIGHTED RESIDUAL METHOD

Student: What is Galerkin formulation?
Dr Airil: Galerkin formulation is a type of weighted residual method aka WRM.

Student: What is a WRM then?
Dr Airil: WRM is one of the numerical methods for solving DE.

Student: How WRM does that (solving the DE)?
Dr Airil: Ok, lets say we have a DE of a domain. To make thing simple, lets take this domain as 1-dimensional, having a length of L. Then assume a trial function and insert this trial function into the DE. Since this trial function is not the actual solution of the DE (if it is the actual solution, we would not have the problem in the first place right because we already know the solution), there will be a so called residual function, R which in the forms of ordinary function rather than DE. Since it is now an ordinary function, it can be integrated over the domain, that is from 0 to L. Such integration will 'replace' the independent variable say, x into numeral and leave the coefficient of the trial functions as the unknowns. Then we will end up with algebraic equation instead of DE.

Student: But wait, you have talked about this, haven't you?
Dr Airil: Yes I did when we were discussing about the basic idea of any numerical techniques.

Student: Ok, please proceed.
Dr Airil. Thanks, I will continue. But, if we conduct the integration on R only once, we will ended up only with one equation which is not enough because we have many unknown coefficients. So we need more equations, as many as there are the coefficients. Say, if we have three coefficient, that means we need three algebraic simultaneous equations. So, the question is how can we get this three equations? Or the more general question would be, if we have n unknown coefficient, how can we get n simultaneous algebraic equations? Can you follow me?

Student: Yes, I can follow you so far. Please continue.
Dr Airil: Ok. The answer is, we must create the n equations. And this can be done by multiplying R with another function say w before we do the integration. Because every time we multiply R with a new function,w which is independent of R, we can get a totally 'new' function of Rw. So, if we need to create say three algebraic equations, all we need to do is to create functions Rw1, Rw2 and Rw3. But there is one last condition, w1, w2 and w3 must all be independent from each other. After that, we conduct the individual integration on these three 'new' functions to obtain the desired set of simultaneous equations. That's it, this is WRM.

Student: If this is WRM, then what is Galerkin?
Dr Airil: Galerkin is when we employ shape functions as the interpolation functions but since we have been talking for quite some time now, I think its better for me to postpone any further discussion on Galerkin although that was what you initially asked about. I want you to digest first what I have told you about WRM above.

Student: Ok understood. But before I let you go, I like you to know that what you have told sounds a bit difficult to me.
Dr Airil: Do not worry. Please take this discussion as a preparation for tomorrow's night FE gathering. I can assure you that things will be much easier once you see me 'in action', you know what I mean.

Student: Oh, really? If that is the case, I can't wait to see you tomorrow.
Dr Airil: I am glad to hear that. Tomorrow then.