A short horror story.

 

  The night was almost completely dark saved for the occasion distant flashes of lightning. The thunder storm showed no signs of letting up and the tropical rain poured down as if the sky had cracked. Standing on the side of a small country road, Ali was shivering in cold. He was completely soaked to his skin. The heavy rain drops fell on his raincoat with such strength that he felt hurt. Whipping viciously through the open field, the strong wind howled around him. His heavy soaked raincoat was flapping fiercely in the wind as though it would carry him into the air. Rain water had flooded the dirt road and he could feel the flow of a small stream up to his ankle.

  Ali cursed himself in silent. His father had advised him against traveling on a full moon Friday night. If he had listened to his father and delayed his trip, he would have been at home and enjoying hot chicken soup and steamy curry with rice. Now, he was wet, cold and miserable, besides feeling really hungry. He hoped a car would pass through that road and give him a lift to the nearest town.

As if his prayers were answered, he saw dim head lights of an approaching car. Not wanting to miss this golden opportunity, he ran to the slow moving car, opened the back seat door and jumped in.

  

   He let out a big sigh of relieve and thanked the driver. To his horror, the car was empty except himself, and it was moving down the road in a slow pace. He picked up a pungent scent in the air. It was like the mixture of rotting food and tobacco. Amid the noise of pouring rain made on the car, he faintly heard sound of heavy breathing close to him. Stories about bad spirits and ghosts flashed through his mind and he could feel his heart pounding hard against his chest.

  In the dim head lights, he saw a sharp bend in the road ahead and he thought the car would surely crash into the barrier. Then, out of nowhere, a dark hairy hand without a body appeared and steered the car around the bend. The road ahead was slightly down hill and the car picked up speed and moved faster. All Ali could do was read out all the prayers he knew loudly and hoped the bad spirits would leave him alone.

  He felt the car was moving slower and the heavy panting became louder. It was as if someone was breathing very close to his ears. Then, Ali saw the lights of a petrol station far ahead of the road. He gathered all his strength, opened the door and dashed out. He didn’t stop running until he was inside the petrol station. Still shivering and panting hard, he told his story to the workers at the petrol station. They laughed at his tale but nevertheless helped him to dry up and offered him a hot coffee. While Ali was sipping his coffee, two men walked into the petrol station. They spotted Ali and looked at him intensely for a short while, as if they were trying to make sure. Then one of the men let out an angry groan. 

   He said “This is that stupid idiot who got in our car while we were pushing it just now”.

Non Abstarct Mathematic

Non abstract mathematics

Mathematics is abstract by nature, and mathematicians are bunch of weirdos who speak in tongues. At least, this is the picture that comes to most lay person, myself included. However, mathematics can be, and should be, explained in simple and comprehensible terms so that normal people like us who don’t understand the jargons and tongues can grasp the basic concepts. Real mathematicians don’t bother to explain the basic concepts to lay persons; it’s probably sort of trade secrets that they are reluctant to reveal, lest that might make them less special.

Hence, I will try to demonstrate that mathematics is part of our daily life and can be explained with simple diagrams. Of course, at more complex levels, mathematics is still an abstract subject that requires comprehensive understandings of the respective equations and algorithms. But, that’s not our concern, that’s the job of tongue speaking mathematicians.

First, let’s look at one very simple problem which we would face at least once in 4 years, if you are a soccer fan.

If there are 5 soccer teams in one group, how many matches will be played if every team has to play the other teams in the same group?

The most direct and simplest way to work this out is to write the teams on a piece of paper and start matching them to each other. Of course you would get the right answer. No magic about this. But is there a simpler, more elegant way to do this without evoking the mumbo jumbo of mathematics equations and what not?

Let’s reduce this to a simpler scenario. There are only two teams in a group. So, how many matches they have to play? Even a dumbo with IQ below 80 points like me can answer this question. One match! OK, now how about three teams in one group, or four teams in one group? It gets a bit complex as the number of teams grows in a group. To have a generic and yet simple way to look at this problem, simply draw the number of teams in the group as dots on a piece of paper and then join up all the dots, such that every dot is connected to all other dots.

For example, two teams in a group are just two dots and a line joining them. The total number of lines will be the total number of matches played in the group.

Two teams in a group – one match will be played.

3 teams in a group – 3 matches will be played.

4 teams in a group – 6 matches will be played.

5 teams in a group – 10 matches will be played.

Now, isn’t this a more elegant way to represent the problem and much simpler to remember? The best thing is, you don’t have to start matching the teams and count the matches every 4 years. Of course, it does get a bit complicated if the number of teams in a group is more than 6. But, there are only 32 teams in the world cup final and each group usually has less than 6 teams.

Now, let’s go one step further. What is we are not dealing with soccer teams but a card game that requires 3 players to play in each round. If there are 5 players in a group, and each game is played by 3 players, how many games will be played if each player has to play all other players in the same group?

You may again start matching the players with pencil and paper, three at a time, until they are all matched and count the total matches. Alternatively, we can use the same diagrams; but instead of counting lines, this time we count the number of triangles with all three corners touching the dots.



3 teams in a group – only 1 game will be played.

4 teams in a group – 4 distinctive triangles, hence 4 games will be played.

5 teams in a group – 10 distinctive triangles, hence 10 games will be played.

If you can't see the triangles in the last figure, the following figures will help you to visualise. There are 5 such yellow triangles (left figure) and 5 such green triangles (right figure).

If you are keen, you may extend the same method to find out how many mahjung games will be played in a group of 5 players, if each player has to play every other player. For those who uninitiated, mahjung is a game played by 4 players.

Hence, instead of counting triangles, we count the total number of rectangles with all 4 corners touching the dots. In fact, this method can be extended for 5-players, 6-players and so on. You may try it to verify.

The best thing about this is – I figured this out on my own. Rub it in!

In fact, what we have seen has formal mathematical equations and theories associated with it. It is termed as “permutations and combinations”. To find the number of combinations of 2 teams out of 5 teams, the equation is:

      5!     .

(5-2)! x 2!

5! = factorial of 5 = 5x4x3x2x1

If we were to check against the formal mathematical equation, the answer would be the same, i.e. 10 matches. Because 5! is 120, (5-2)! is 6, and 2! is 2; and 120/(6x2) = 10.

The general equation for calculating number of combinations of matching r number of teams from n number of teams is:

      n!      .

(n-r)! x r!

Well, I did say mathematicians speak tongues, didn’t I?

Is it time to change your government?

As promised in my last article, let’s objectively look at what constitutes good governance of a country and then evaluate our previous (now the caretaker) government performance in terms of these characteristics.

There is an extremely important pre-requisite to having a good government before any of the following characteristics can even be considered. There must be a true separation of powers where the government, judiciary and legislation are independent and free from interference. Without this true separation of powers, good governance is but a dream.

The foremost important characteristic of good governance is involvement and participation of the people in the country. This is done ideally through direct election of people representatives (as in many democratic countries) or less ideally through appointment of people who represent some ethnic or social-political groups (as in some countries that still practise monarchy system). The bottom line is, everyone is given equal right to participate in the government or represented by people they choose. As such, a fair and clean election system is essential.

Rule of law is the second most important feature of good governance. It is imperative to have fair and just laws that are enforced impartially on everyone, including those who walk the corridor of power.

The third most important quality in good governance is to promote, observe and implement equity in all government policies. This feature ensures everyone in the country is treated equally and free from any form of discriminations due to difference in skin colour, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation and political affiliation.

Next, we have the C.A.T, competency, accountability and transparency in governance. A competent government is effective in carrying out its duties as well as efficient in managing the available resources of the country. A good government will have systems in place to make sure members of the government are accountable to the people in the country while performing their duties. Information on government processes, utilisation of country resource, policies and laws etc must be freely available and accessible to anyone in the country who wants to know. This is called transparency of governance.

For example, an independent evaluation system is required to monitor the measurable performance of various operational branches of the government. The evaluation results must be made available and accessible to the people of the country.

Last but not least, a good government has positive visions and long term objectives in the development of the country.

In a nut shell, a good government has positive visions, and supports active participations of the people, implements rule of law and practises equity in its policies. It is competent, accountable and transparent in its operations.

Now, how many of the above qualities does our Malaysian government have? Is calling for a change of government justified in this coming 13^th general election?

    1.    Participation. We have a democratic system to elect the government. However, fair and clean election being an essential part to ensure equal right of participation is missing from the equation. So, I would say they failed this test.

     2.    Rule of law. We have a legal framework that is based on the common law. However, with the domination of the government over the judiciary, impartial application of rule of law is hardly seen in the country when it involved the powers that be. So, they failed this test.

     3.   Equity. With so many discriminatory and preferential policies such as the NEP, quota system etc, Malaysians are constantly being discriminated by their race, gender, religion and probably the choice of their pet. It’s definitely a fail.

    4.    C.A.T. When jet engines were smuggled out from a military based and sold in South America; when government departments procured everything at severely inflated prices; when armed militants entered the country and occupied a village but strangely nobody was accountable for it; when the MRT project costing billions of ringgit was awarded to a company without any track records, without an open tender process; what C.A.T are you talking about. Hence, it is another resounding failure.

     5.     Vision. You actually mean vision and long term development objectives? Hahaha. Please don’t make me laugh. From vision 2020, Islam Hadhari to 1Malaysia, our national vision changed whenever we have a new prime minister. We didn’t even have a national day slogan in 2012. They failed badly on this one as well.

The previous (now the caretaker) government of Malaysia has failed in all the tests that characterise good governance. Is changing government justified? You make your own judgement, my dear Malaysians.

Is the Malaysian society a successful one?

      In the midst of election faze when every man, woman and their pets are talking about politics and who they ought to vote, let’s take a step back and evaluate the current state of our society. In order to do this, we have to look at some essential characteristics of a society for it to be called a successful, developed and civilised one.

The top three most important requirements of a successful society are:

     1.       Safety. There must be means to safeguard personal safety of everyone. Nobody should live in fear of being hurt physically or being robbed of their belongings.

     2.   Shelter. Everyone should have at least a basic form of shelter for them to rest and keep their personal possessions. Shelters ought to be affordable to the average persons. For the unfortunate group of people, such as the less-abled folks, old and sick folks, orphans, mentally challenged etc, basic shelter should be provided in the forms of nursing homes or centres.

     3.  Food, clean water and clothes. Access to food, clean water and clothes is essential in any successful society. Again, the unfortunate group of people must not be deprived of these basic needs.

The other essential requirements are a good government, social justice, freedom, education and health care.

The role of a government is to administrate and manage the various operations of a society, with the aim of bringing benefits to the people in the society. These operations include security forces, education system, financial system etc. Since good governance is pivotal in the provision of the other essential requirements, it will be evaluated in more details in another article.

Social justice in itself is a big topic. It basically means everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities, regardless of his or her race, gender, age, sexual orientation, political affiliation and religious belief.

The freedom of everyone in the society must be guaranteed and at the same time check and balance must exists to safe guard it from being abused to violate others in the society. Freedom generally encompasses freedoms in: speech, movement, belief, sexual orientation, religion and political affiliation.

Equal right and access to basic education for everyone is essential in a successful society. At the same time, it must be affordable to the average people and provided to those who can’t afford it.

As in education, everyone in a successful society should have equal access to a health care system the society is afford to provide.

Now, let’s look at how we, the Malaysian society, fare in terms of these essential characteristics of a successful society.

      1.       Safety. In the face of climbing crime rate, I would say we don’t pass this test.

    2.       Shelter. Although squatters are abound in the fringes of the big cities, and the sorry state of many shelters in the rural areas, I would still say we pass this test but with a very low margin. Ballooning property price may have made a few people very wealthy, but the general public suffers greatly from it.

      3.       Food, clean water and clothes. I would say we pass this test with improvements required.Thousands in some remote areas are still deprived of clean, treated water.

     4.       Good governance. I would say we failed quite badly in this test. Details will be discussed in another article.

     5.       Social justice. We failed at this as well. So many fellow Malaysians are being discriminated due to their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and political affiliation.

     6.       Freedom. Do I need to say more on this? With so many laws to curb, illegalise and prosecute freedom of Malaysians to express, to demonstrate, to profess religious belief etc, we again fail badly in this test.

     7.       Education. If we don’t consider the quality of our education system and the products from it, I would say we are pretty good in providing affordable and accessible basic education to the people.

     8.       Health care. In my personal opinion, we have a good public health care system that is affordable and accessible to most of the people in Malaysia. More costly private health care services in the form of medical centres are also available to those who afford to pay more for speedier and customised services. However, my personal experience is the wait queue at some of the popular medical centres is the same, if not longer, than public hospital. More importantly, the qualities of professional medical services (i.e. specialist advice, consultation etc) are no better than what is provided by the doctors in public hospitals. I guess, time is money for the specialists in private practice. If you don’t agree to major, costly treatments or operations, spending more time on you is equivalent to spending less time on those genuine, paying big bucks patients.

 I have summarised our report card in the following table. I have to admit this article is written within a short time and they represent my personal, subjective opinions on the subjects discussed. Ideally sufficient research has to be done to back up the claims, which I didn’t. Hence, make your own judgements.

	Requirement	Result
1	Safety	Failed.
2	Shelter	Just passed.
3	Food, clean water and clothes	Passed.
4	Good government	Failed badly.
5	Social justice	Failed.
6	Freedom	Failed badly.
7	Education	Passed.
8	Health care	Passed.