To find the best mee bandung in the world, you need to come to Muar; and to find the best in Muar, you go here:

You can't miss stall plastered with reviews & photos of famous patrons.

Abu Bakar Hanipah runs a stall in Restoran Wah San: 9A, Jalan Abdullah, Muar. They also have a stall in Tanjung Emas.

In a set-up typical to Muar and a lot of colonial towns, Abu Bakar prepares the food while the owners of Wah San prepares the drinks and other dishes.

Uncle with old legs preparing breakfast. Check out his teko.

The mee bandung was top notch, as always. We came early in the morning, so the lauk was generous. Besides the whole egg & sawi, there are beef pieces, sotong & small shrimps:

Mee was generous, but Uncle made my coffee a bit weak this morning.

They also serve toasts with kaya, half-boiled kampung eggs, nasi goreng and some wicked fried chicken (but I guess you’ve already read the menu in the first photo!). You can also buy ready-made spices to make your own mee bandung at home.

Likewise, the best asam pedas in the world can be found in Medan Asam Pedas Parit Jawa, in a small fishing town off Muar. [Location on Google Maps]

Last time, we already went to Mak Pon’s shop in the Medan Asam Pedas, so we decided to try Ani’s, which is located a couple of steps away. The restaurant had run out of ikan mayong (a type of catfish, with juicily tender meat), so finally we went to Mak Ngah’s which is just next door.

We ordered both tail & head; I prefer the head, of course.

A complete meal set of asam pedas comprises of the fish, some sayur campur & telur dadar. I added half telur masin:

I add kicap manis too, something I took from my late grandpa.

A visit to Muar is also not complete without buying some local coffee! I stocked up with Kopi 434 and Kopi Gajah from Sai Kee in town, at 34 Jalan Maharani.

Yes, it is so true it’s funny, but I was actually more mesmerised by the infographics. Neat, innit?

Here you go (credits to the original poster):

(1) Opinion

Westerners: Talk to the point.
Asians: Talk around the circle, especially if opinions are different

(2) Way of Life

Westerners: individualism, think of himself or herself.
Asians: enjoy gathering with family and friends and know each other’s bloody business.

(3) Punctuality

Westerners: arrive on time.
Asians: arrive…in time.

(4) Contacts

Westerners: Contact to related person only.
Asians: Contact everyone everywhere and cc to the whole world.

(5) Anger

Westerners: Show that I am angry.
Asians: I am angry, but still smiling… (Beware!)

(6) Queue when Waiting

Westerners: Queuing in an orderly manner.
Asians: Queuing?! What’s that?

(7) Sundays on the Road

Westerners: Enjoy weekend relaxing peacefully.
Asians: Enjoy weekend in crowded places like the mall, or spend hours looking for parking.

(8) Party

Westerners: Only gather with their own group.
Asians: All focus on the one activity that is hosted by the CEO.

(9) In the restaurant

Westerners: Talk softly and gently in the restaurant.
Asians: Talk and laugh loudly until everyone can hear.

(10) Travelling

Westerners: Love sightseeing and enjoy the scenery.
Asians: Taking picture is the most important; scenery is just for the background of the picture!

(11) Handling of Problems

Westerners: Take any steps to solve the problems.
Asians: avoid conflicts is more important than solving problems.

(12) Three meals a day

Westerners: Two good meals is sufficient, usually heavy breakfast and light dinner.
Asians: At least 3 meals a day plus a 4th bonus: SUPPER before sleep.

(13) Transportation

Westerners: Before drove cars, now cycling for environmental protection.
Asians: Before no money and rode bikes, now got money to show off cars.

(14) Elderly in day-to-day life

Westerners: When old, there is Snoopy for companionship.
Asians: When old, companionship means interfering in grandkids’ upbringing.

(15) Moods and Weather

Westerners: The logic is: rain means no outdoor activities.
Asians: More rain, more prosperity.

(16) The Boss

Westerners: The boss is part of the team.
Asians: The boss is the Dragon King.

(17) What’s Trendy

Westerners: Eat healthy Asian cuisine.
Asians: Eat expensive cholesterol-laden western cuisine.

(18) The Child

Westerners: The kid is going to be independent and make his/her own living.
Asians: Interfere in kids’ life even after they are married with grand-children.

What do you think? Spot-on descriptions, or mean stereotypes? Leave it in the comments.

Not really a surprise then, when I found out that I have already lived by most of them. FML.

Here I’m going to list all the commandments, and how I compare to them (in italics):

1) Thou must experience as many nerdy properties as possible throughout your youth (nerdy parents must assist with this). By the age of 20, you must have chosen at least two sides of the following: Star Wars or Star Trek, Kirk or Picard, Marvel or DC, Mac or PC, Trukk or Munkey, Baker or Tennant, and Joel or Mike. If these topics come up, you must argue your choice past all reasonableness.
I have SIX: Star Wars, Picard, DC, PC, Trukk and Tennant.

2) Thou must always recognize your first exposure to a nerdy property was the best possible incarnation of that property. Likewise, thou must always find new incarnations, sequels, spin-offs, rip-offs, and media inspired these properties to be crappier than your prized original.
Yup.

3) Thou must revere the Nerd Girl, because she is as rare as the diamond and just as valuable. Thou shouldst not stark her just because she’s the only girl in your nerd circle, and if/when she turns down your advances, you will not spurn her because that’s just shitty. And Nerd Girls, thou must be careful, for thy power is great — and can be used for both good and ill.
Thank heavens for Puteri:

4) Thou must try to convince your significant other to name the child after a character of nerdy importance. If thou are cut from the cloth of the nerd tribe and have managed to breed, , and bringeth into the world the Lando’s, the Anakin’s, the Kal-Els.
He he he. Unfortunately, I want my kid with a name that starts with ‘z’. Haven’t found an awesome character that starts with ‘z’ so far. [Edit: Oh wait, there's Zaphod! Woohoo]

5) All nerds must be able to sketch, from memory, the basic outlines of the Millennium Falcon, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), and the TARDIS.
Huzzah:

6) Thou shalt not question who shot first.
It’s Han. Period.

7) Thou shalt acknowledge that Batman beats everyone, ever, anywhere at fighting. That’s right, he beats everybody. Even Optimus Prime. Even Darth Vader. Even Chuck Norris. He’d find a way. He’s the goddamn Batman.
Exactly. He’s the goddamn Batman!

8) Thou shalt be prepared to survive the zombie apocalypse, and teach thy children similarly.
Ready.

9) Thou shalt not forget to honor and give thanks to the Dice Gods for your triumphs and victories.
Mmmm, not applicable. I don’t play D&D. (Would love to learn, though)

10) If two nerds ever find themselves holding cylindrical objects of at least 9 inches in length they must immediately make lightsaber ignition noises and face each other down in mortal combat.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, lightsaber duel with my padawan on the Harbour Bridge [video]:

11) Shouldst thou hear a man proclaim, “Now you know,” for whatever reason, then thou must reply in your most triumphant voice, “And knowing is half the battle!” Let he who should offend against this law be cast out from the company of his worthier fellows and be made subject to aspersions made ‘gainst his improper rearing and the cuckolding whore that did sire him and perform the rearing.
Ah, I don’t really watch G.I. Joe, there you go.

12) When searching for something to watch on television you must watch the geek movie you come across, even if you have said movie in your collection. If anyone asks, “Why don’t you just watch the one you own?” stare at them like an idiot and explain, “That is not the point.”
Nope, I’d rather watch something I haven’t seen.

13) In order to assure procreation of the nerd species, thou shalt not utter nerdy quotes during sex.
I haven’t…have I?

14) Thy first crush must be upon an cartoon character.
Sara, Yellow Flash from Choushinsei Flashman:

15) Thou must not be the nerdiest person in the room, the one nerd that even the other nerds are scared to be around. If your obsession causes you to lose a job, significant other, or cause harm to yourself, GET SOME FUCKING HELP.
So far, so good.

16) Thou must learn how to do to the Vulcan hand gesture, whether thou likes Star Trek or not.

17) Thou shalt be required to attend at least one nerd convention (videogames, anime, comics, etc.) during thy lifetime.
Not yet. =( No good conventions here in KL.

18) There shall be no viewing of fansubs by any self-described otaku/anime fan who can afford to purchase the said material (exceptions: viewing at conventions or titles that have no chance of being released stateside).
Ahahahaha. I LOVE fansubs. Suck it.

19) All nerds, when purchasing something in a store, must never pick up the first item in the front, because the item in front has almost certainly been touched by unclean hands, and thus its condition is less mint, the grade must pleasing to the nerd gods.
OMG it is so true, it’s scary.

20) Thou must obey the Law of the Golden Mean.
Yup, I’m quite obsessed with this concept.

The article ends with a parable called The Parable of the Nerd Bastard and the Fox, which really, should be read by all self-confessed geeks & nerds. The parable after the jump (it’s quite long):

“And from the high mountains of the realm known as internet came a traveler. He was a normal man, but one of great size and mainly of gerth. This man was a prophet of Nerd Law, and he went by the name of Bricken. In his hands he carried great tools. In his left hand, a device known as a laptop, which he claimed he had direct contact with all of his people, even if his grammar wasn’t exactly correct.

Walking through a nearby village, he stumbled upon several children gather around a viewing screen that was called, television. Bricken stopped to watch what the children were viewing. On the screen a show, was a wondrous show that appealed to all the aspects and laws contained in the book of Nerd Law. It had vibrant characters and interesting stories. However, a Fox was sitting in wait a few paces behind the television.

Bricken intrigued, turned to a boy near the front, ‘Boy, how long has this show been running?’
The boy smiled and said, ‘Why, Master Bricken! This show is first run! Would you enjoy it with us?”

Bricken was overjoyed! ‘Yes! I shall!’ Sitting, Bricken watched the show with the children and found himself entranced with the show.

Three episodes in, a Fox slipped into the crowd and began to count those in the audience. Bricken was puzzled, but ignored the Fox. When Fox was done, it slipped behind the television and pulled the plug. The children were horrified and Bricken howled at the Fox, ‘Fox! Why have thee killed our show?’

The Fox, cackled with laughter, ‘This show was creative and slowly gaining an audience. However, not quickly enough. Therefore, I shall replace it with this!’ Lights flickered on the television and the creative, interesting, well thought out story that appealed to every aspect of Nerd Law was gone. In its place was a show that only a heathen would like.

The children ran away to their homes, hiding their televisions from the dreaded Fox. Bricken stayed behind and spoke to the Fox, ‘That was a cruel, cruel thing to do Fox. Was not your audience large enough.’

The Fox smiled, ‘It was, it was. However, I have decided to go another direction. Another dancing program where people are judged. What are you going to do about it Bricken?’
Picking up his mighty laptop he began to write to his people. Posting after posting, he warned his people of the cruelty of the Fox. The Fox’s powers grew weaker, but they didn’t go away entirely. ‘Bricken, you have weakened me, but I can never truly go away.’

Bricken nodded, ‘This is true, for there is even a place for you in this book of Nerd Law, and I, only lowly prophet Bricken, can do nothing to defeat you entirely. Even with the threat of skull fucking. It would take the entirety of the following of the Book of Nerd Law. However, I can do this!’

From this story, the Nerd Law was written, “Thou shall never fully trust a program presented by Fox, no matter how closely it follows the rules within the book of Nerd Law, for it could go away without warning. Even with the threat of a skull fucking.”

It is very true, is it not?

How do you compare to the 20 commandments? Leave it in the comments.

"Tweet, or tweet not. There is no try". (Yoda Twitter by ApeLad)

Twitter syntax, just like any language, is organic. It is bound to evolve—indeed it has—as more people use it and add their vernacular quirks to it. On the flip side though, for every language, there is a set of grammar to make sure that different people can communicate using a uniform set of rules.

After tremendous response for A Guide to Having Fun on Twitter, I aim to make a rough grammar-book for Twitter. This is not a definitive guide, nor is there a definitive syntax for tweeting. What I’m presenting here are the norms: good and acceptable tweeting practices, learnt through my experience and observance of other professional Twitter users (tweeters).

1.0 Tweets

It doesn’t really matter what you tweet about, but it is good manners to:

1. Shorten your links.
2. Tweet less than 140-characters if you wish to be retweeted (will be discussed later).

Try to use symbols or short phrases to make your tweets concise. Take it as a writing practice.

2.0 Mentions

By using the @[username] syntax in a tweet, you are mentioning that person, and your tweet will show up in his mention-timeline:

I just found an article by @sheeradjafar on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

This is useful in including him in a conversation, or to direct your followers to his Twitter page (where they then can follow him).

Mentions will not work without the alias sign “@”.

3.0 Replies

Replies are preceded with @[username] of the person you wish to reply to. Most Twitter clients insert it automatically when you hit the “reply” button.

Say, if I want to send the tweet above to @hawayou:

@hawayou I just found an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

3.1 Problems in Replying

Problems might occur when you want to tweet (but not reply) with a username in the beginning of the tweet:

@sheeradjafar has just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

The original tweet  means that “Sheeradjafar has just written an article…”, however, it will turn out as a reply to Sheeradjafar with the message “has just written an article…”. As a consequence, some people who follow you, but do not follow @sheeradjafar, will not receive this particular tweet.

A common way to fix this problem is to simply rephrase your tweet so the username is not in the front (perhaps by using slashtags; will be discussed later).

3.2 Replying to more than one person

Simply put all the usernames to be replied to in front:

@hawayou @bukhariramli I just found an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

Most of the time, it is acceptable to reply as a tweet (directed to all your followers), if you’re replying to the public or a lot of people and there is not enough space to include everybody.

3.3 DO NOT:

1. Tweet to all followers to reply to just one person, even after affixing his username at the end of your tweet. Reply by putting that person’s username in front. Unless you’re CC-ing (will be discussed later).
2. Reply by RT-ing. This is a very bad practice. (will also be discussed later).

4.0 Re-Tweeting (RT)

Retweet by prefixing RT @[username] [colon] to your tweet. This is also now mostly automatically done by the client:

(1) Original tweet by @sheeradjafar:

I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

(2) @hawayou retweeting the tweet above:

RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

If you wish for people to help you RT your tweet (for a cause etc), do affix a “Pls RT” at the end. More than one experiments have proven that people are more likely to help you RT if you just ask nicely.

4.1 Retweeting a retweet

You can do this by nesting the RT-syntax. For example, if I’m RTing the tweet above (2) by @hawayou:

RT @hawayou: RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

If you’d like to retweet something which has already been retweeted two-levels deep, such as the one above, it is acceptable to drop the “RT”s, so it becomes as such:

RT @zurairi @hawayou @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

The purpose of RT-ing is to share a tweet, and at the same time give credit to the original tweeter.

The new-style RT has made this obsolete, since only the 1st tweeter will be credited.

4.2 Adding commentary in RT

This is only possible in the old-style RT.

Leave your commentary before the RT:

Those look yummy! RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

4.3 DO NOT:

Do not leave your commentary after the RT, as such:

1. RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu // Those look yummy!
2. RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu << Those look yummy!
3. RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu >> Those look yummy!
4. RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu -> Those look yummy!
5. RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu –Those look yummy!
6. RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu (Those look yummy!)

The reason why it is important to commentate before the RT is so your followers will know who said which. Are the commentaries above by me, or was it by @sheeradjafar?

If you RT by appending, it might be misconstrued as said by the person you RTed, which will totally change the meaning of the original tweeter, and/or his intention.

Besides, there is no standard way to append commentary, as we have demonstrated above.

4.4 Abbreviating for RT

It is acceptable to abbreviate someone’s tweet for RT, especially when that tweet is too long (see Chapter 1.0, second point).

This is however, much trickier than it sounds. You need to shorten & abbreviate words so that the original tweet does not lose its meaning. You can do this by:

1. Substituting words by symbols (numbers, “and” for “&”, etc).
2. Using txt-style spellings. Some clients have features, like TweetShrink, that helps with this.
3. Omitting irrelevant phrases, descriptors and/or sentence(s).

It is a bit hard to abbreviate without offending the original tweeter, so it will take a little bit of experience to achieve a balance.

Once again, you might want to consider new-style RT to keep the context for the original tweet.

4.5 RT in replies

You can RT something, which is intended as a reply to another person by combining the reply and RT syntax like such:

@hawayou Check out these macarons! RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

Don’t forget, reply username at front!

4.6 Twitter Faux Pas: Replying with an RT

This is a very frowned-upon practice in Twitter for its sheer inconsideration. It is one of my biggest pet hate in Twitter, and if you practise this, know that I view you with disdain and contempt every time you do this (as if you care what I think! Haha).

The only reason people don’t make such a big fuss about it is to keep a cordial relationship. It is also why I’m writing this: to let you know that it is bad manners.

What is replying with an RT? It usually looks like this:

Where’s my macarons? I gave you that inspiration! RT @sheeradjafar: I’ve just written an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

See, how I obviously wanted to reply to @sheeradjafar, but instead, I directed my reply to everyone else, by omitting reply-syntax, and using RT.

Why is this a bad practice?

1. Not all followers want to read your personal replies. Yes, they chose to follow you, but for your insightful content; and subjecting them to this is just inconsiderate.
2. You’re wasting space by inserting the RT in the reply. Surely the person you’re replying to knows what you’re talking about? (In extreme cases, you can use RT in replies, see Chapter 4.5)
3. It shows how vain you are, since you’d want everyone to read every single thing you have to say. That’s just a jerk move, mate.

If you didn’t know before, now you do.

5.0 Hashtags

If you’re familiar with tags, then you shouldn’t have any problems. You use hashtags by appending your tweets with #[tags] or using it/them in your tweets:

I just found an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu #food

I just found an article on #macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu

People usually use hashtags to:

1. Keep track of a particular discussion, conversation or thread,
2. Insert hashtag jokes, or
3. Participate in memes…

…since it’s easy to search for hashtagged tweets on Twitter.

Do not:

Put hashtags of every single inane thing in your tweet. You’ll look like an arsehole:

I just found an #awesome #article on #macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu #food #lol

6.0 Slashtags

Slashtags are pretty new, but I find it to be extremely convenient. They have gained acceptance among a lot of users lately; and were introduced by Chris Messina, the same dude who suggested hashtags.

Basically, they consist of the slash delimiter “/” and three “pointers”: “via”, “cc” and “by”.

You use them by stringing the pointers together after a slash delimiter, as such:

• /via @[username]
• /by @[username] via @[username] cc @[username]
• /via @[username] cc @[username] @[username]

etc and appending them to your tweets.

Why are they popular? They shorten tweets, such as, from “(via @hawayou)” to just “/via @hawayou”.

6.1 via

/via is used when you want to give credit to someone else for your tweet. It can also be used as an alternative to RT, or to quote someone:

I just found an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu /via @bukhariramli

6.2 cc

/cc works just like in the email, where you want to carbon-copy someone. With this, you can direct someone to your tweet, and get their attention. CC-ed person also is not expected to reply those tweets:

I just found an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu /cc @hawayou

6.3 by

/by is used to give credit to someone for the tweet, like RT or /via, but it’s usually to denote that a certain link or article, is written by that person. It works like citation, to attribute the tweet to that person:

I just found an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu /by @sheeradjafar

Or you can string them as:

I just found an article on macarons: http://bit.ly/6V5oBu /by @sheeradjafar via @bukhariramli cc @hawayou

You can read more about these slashtags here.

7.0 Outro

Once again, I hope you find this guide helpful and help you tweet better. By tweeting better, it will help remove misunderstanding and misquoting; or even increase productivity!

I’d like to say again, that this is not a definitive guide. As the grammar changes, I will make necessary changes to the grammar book. It is also not rigid, anyone can bend the rules—I sometimes do too—so don’t feel constrained.

Let me know in the comments if you disagree with any of the rules, or if I have forgotten anything. Corrections will be made as I find any mistakes.

Happy tweeting!

Submissions in this thread sometimes carry over to other submissions, and these past few days saw some hilarious submissions on the topic of “guy friends”.

It all started with this comic of a girl after a break-up:

I found it such a hoot since it’s such a common story: a girl complaining that the moment she breaks up, she will find her guy friends—and sometimes, the friends of her ex—suddenly hanging around her, circling like predators in for the kill.

The second submission however, is my favourite since it is so relatable, which tells the above story from a guy’s point of view:

Seriously, some girls just have issues.

They just seem incapable of letting people love them, and they waste years after years involving themselves with jerks who treat them like shit.

What gives?

The final submission offers the solution on the first problem:

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

While it’s not completely true…there are some guys…ok, it’s mostly true.

But don’t let that put you off, girls. Some guys are awesome friends, and they wouldn’t mind listening to you ramble. They will also respect you, and give you space, knowing that you’re not currently in the mood for a relationship.

They might probably really fancy you though, so if they are doing such a great job concealing it from yourself, it’s a good idea to not take them for granted.

Anyone else go through these situations often?

When Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai announced that the 1Malaysia clinics will go on operating without doctors, it stirred up a bit of commotion among Malaysians online. For example, fellow blogger Niki Cheong in his article 1Malaysia Clinic has no doctors? commented:

If I still need to go to a hospital or polyclinic, why would I go to the 1Malaysia clinic in the first place? And who exactly are these health assistants and how much will they be able to help me if they are not doctors?

Are these health assistants qualified (they claim to have at least five years experience, but does this legally hold?) to even treat a patient? What about prescription of medication etc?

Knowing the logic behind this lack of doctors in clinics—me and my doctor sweetheart talk about this sort of thing often—I tried explaining the situation on Twitter. However, I feel an urge to give more information out, since some people take it as an opportunity to bash the government and the 1Malaysia concept.

Perhaps a disclaimer: I have no great love for the government and 1Malaysia, but I think it is ridiculous to ridicule (ha!) this 1Malaysia clinic concept without at least some background knowledge.

So, allow me to pass some information on the Malaysian public medical system—facts courtesy of Dr Puteri Zatil Aqmar—as roughly as I can in laymen terms.

Malaysian Public Healthcare System

In Malaysia, the public healthcare outlets belong in a hierarchy that goes like this:

HOSPITAL
(secondary care)
|
_______|_______
|                              |
KLINIK KESIHATAN     KLINIK DESA
(primary care)

Hospitals can be found in cities, with some big hospitals offering specialists in different fields. Klinik Kesihatan are usually situated in towns and in each district, while Klinik Desa are in rural areas and small kampungs.

In this hierarchy, the clinics will defer to the hospitals. Therefore, clinics will deal with simpler and less serious cases, while in hospitals, the cases you deal with become more specific and chronic. Patients who need to be warded, which is classed secondary care, will be handled by hospitals.

In a concept called triage, patients are sorted according to their priority. Therefore, one can make sure that those with minor injuries and illnesses do not need to crowd the emergency department (ED), and more room will be available for serious cases.

The same goes for the specialists in hospitals, it is a waste for them to spend their time on minor cases when their expertise can be used on bigger cases. Therefore, you only need to see doctors in Klinik Kesihatan for simple cases, and if need be, you will be referred to the hospitals.

Klinik Desa are usually situated in rural areas, to benefit those who are far away from other institutions. They are staffed by veteran nurses called Jururawat Desa (JD), and a doctor will make rounds to the Klinik Desa every few days. Therefore, Klinik Desa are run by the JDs, not doctors.

Nurses and Medical Assistants

In nursing school, two courses are usually offered: to be a nurse or medical assistant.

You should be familiar with nurses. Nurses are not only responsible for taking care of the patients, but most of the times they also do the legworks for doctors, such as taking blood samples etc. They help with the practical work so doctors can spend more time admitting and diagnosing patients (a doctor takes care of a whole ward by himself). Nurses are also predominantly female.

Medical assistants (MA) on the other hand are mostly male. Besides having the same knowledge as nurses, they are also capable of administrating first aid. Since they’re mostly men, MA also do the grunt work such as lifting and moving patients. MAs study 4-5 years in medicine, and they’re granted with licences to legally prescribe common drugs.

In Klinik Kesihatan, usually each room is staffed by MA, who will attend to the patients while the doctor rotates between them. The same concept of triage works here too: doctors will prioritise between patients, and MAs will take care of the rest, to treat as many patients as possible in a day.

Remember the Jururawat Desa? They are all veteran, senior nurses. So, I don’t need to stress how experienced they are in attending patients. Besides being full-versed in delivering babies, these nurses would also have taken extra nursing courses, and are nursing experts in certain fields. For example, if in a nurse’s village there are many children, the JD will probably take a paediatrics course to treat the children better.

Nurse licences do not allow them to prescribe, but a special arrangement by the Ministry of Health allows JD to prescribe common drugs, just like MAs. This special arrangement is important since there is a definite lack of doctors to operate and cover hundreds of Klinik Kesihatan in the country.

By this arrangement, the JDs will be able to triage (again) and treat common illnesses like fever, cold, cough etc. It is a symbol of trust to the JDs since they’re running a clinic by themselves, and the JDs know better to not betray that trust, since they will need to renew their licence very often.

Klinik 1Malaysia

Therefore, the concept of clinics without doctors is not so foreign at all. Klinik Desa have always been operating without one, and now Klinik 1Malaysia will too.

With respect to the hierarchy, I surmise Klinik 1Malaysia are on the same level as Klinik Desa. They are exactly the same, just situated mostly in urban areas. So the hierarchy should now look like this:

HOSPITAL
(secondary care)
|
_______________|_______________
|                               |                               |
KLINIK KESIHATAN     KLINIK DESA     KLINIK 1MALAYSIA
(primary care)

So, to allay our fears: yes, nurses and MAs are capable of doing their job. In fact, all this while it has been them who were doing the medical work for us, right beside doctors.

Once again, it all comes down to the concept of triage. If one can understand the concept and its importance, then one will see that not all patients need to see doctors or hopsital straight away.

We still do not have enough doctors, and I believe nurses and MAs are doing a great job sharing the burden in order for Malaysians to get decent healthcare.

Klinik 1Malaysia might be a really shitty name, and the government share the failure of convincing cynical citizens already fed-up with the 1Malaysia schtick.

However, no one can say that this won’t benefit the people.

Just RM1 for treatments…come on!

At times, writing can become such a chore, and at other times you just feel that your writings are insignificant among other wonderful works out there. It is during these times that I usually take a break, after which those feelings disappear, leaving me with sharper wit and abundant confidence.

Just like countless other bloggers (yes, I know you’re one of them), I believe I am guilty this moment for that period where scant updates appear, and when they do, they come in short. However, unlike those other periods where I take a break, this time it is a bit different.

You see, currently, I am in a prioritising dilemma.

Coffee Conversations

Last year, on the 25th of October, Coffee Conversations turned two.

I had planned an anniversary post just like in 2008, which came with its own Blog Awards. Astute readers would notice that no such celebration happened in October, and still has not happen up until now—a fact that is pointed out to me by my fellow conspirator, a certain Hawa Othman, every other fortnight.

This was partly due to a flurry of events that occurred at that point of time, and as I postponed the celebration month by month, it just turned less relevant and less exciting to write about.

I plan to rectify this today with this post.

So what have we been up to in the last 18 months or so?

First of all, I returned to Malaysia from Sydney, and moved back in relocated myself to Putrajaya. It was a time of political uncertainty—Anwar Ibrahim was promising the change of regime in Malaysia, and quite frankly, I was excited for the prospect of a new Malaysia. Well, here I am, more than a year later, and the status quo is pretty much the same.

Returning home though, spurred me to write more on socio-political issues. I admit that I wasn’t much a political enthusiast back in Sydney, but being here where so many affronts to liberty and freedom is being touted right in front of my eyes, I felt the need to tell these stories and assert my opinions of them.

When we started, I used to write mostly about abstract concepts, and science issues that excite me. Lately, I’ve started to cover geek culture more, especially comics. I wrote a weekly column of comics review called Coffee Over Comics hoping that some newspaper or magazine will hire me for their weekly columns. (They still haven’t, haha.)

I managed to write thirteen issues of that column before deciding that the process of reviewing makes reading comics not that fun any more. On average, I read around 20 issues of comics every week, and to review weekly means I have to cram reading them all in one or two days, before spending some time analysing them. I’d still be interested though to write weekly comics reviews for any publication, so do contact me.

Along the year, Coffee Conversations have been featured twice in The Edge’s website, one for the critique of PAS’ muktamar and the other on the usage of Twitter. We were also featured in Malaysiakini, Google Blogs and joined the joint-statement by Sisters in Islam. The biggest feature so far is on the front page of WordPress.com, and all these thankfully managed to bring a lot of traffic to the blog.

I was flattered to be nominated for Best Geek Blog / Best Hidden Gem Blog award in the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2009, thanks to a campaign by Hawa Othman & Puteri Zatil Aqmar. In the end though, I didn’t get to be shortlisted, and this only added to my disenchantment with the Malaysian blogging community.

At that time, I was dismayed that apart from politics, foodie and fashion blogs, the majority of recognised Malaysian blogs are personality-driven. They are blogs of celebrities who are celebrities because they blog. These blogs, in my opinion, offer nothing to the public than the juicy details of their celebrity lives. We need more informative blogs.

I thought that in order for me to capture the public’s attention and garner an audience is to target a specific market, rather than dipping my toes in different pools. So began my experimentation to write for blogs that concentrate on just one topic.

My first try was with Nothing Geek (www.nothinggeek.com, the domain no longer operates), a magazine-type site that covers geek culture. It was a joint-operation with Hawa Othman who came up with the idea, and Sheera Djafar, and the three of us realised that we just did not have the time for that kind of operation back then.

I tried to expand on the operation solo, with cakerawala, yet another blog that covers science, technology and geek culture news. My emphasis was on aggregation, with frequent short posts. This idea too, fizzled after I realised that the scope was too big to handle alone.

They say the third time’s the charm. That was when Unscientific Malaysia came to being.

(To be continued)

• What Your Teacher Didn’t Tell You – Farish Noor (23/12/2009)
  
• Moving Forward: Malays for the 21st Century – Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (23/12/2009)
  
• Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times – Barry Wain
• The Greatest Show on Earth – Richard Dawkins
• Peter & Max – Bill Willingham
• Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan – Lisa Katayama
• What the Dog Saw – Malcolm Gladwell
• Yasmin Ahmad’s Films – Amir Muhammad
• I, Too, Am Malay – Zaid Ibrahim
• Why Evolution is True – Jerry Coyne
• Free – Chris Anderson
• Good Without God – Greg Epstein
• Little Brother – Cory Doctorow

Or a Nook! =D

Yeah, it’s pretty much a case of too many books to read, too little money.

Well, I don’t REALLY need to buy these, I just want to read them. So if you have a copy and wouldn’t mind lending any of them to me, I’ll be more than happy.

Therefore, along my childhood (and up until university), I never got the chance to have birthday parties together with friends and classmates. I guess this lack of sense of belonging spurred my interest to find who else share the same birthday with me.

Which lead to the horrible realisation a few days ago, that I share the same birthday with Rosmah Mansor. FML.

However, Lubna cheered me up yesterday by telling me that my birthday is also the Human Rights Day. “How cool is it?” she asked.

Pretty cool indeed.

So on this Human Rights Day and ahem, my birthday, let us all embrace diversity and end discrimination. We’re all born with the same human rights, and no-one can deny us that. Not the authority, not the government, and not religion.

Like Optimus Prime once said, “Human rights is the right of all sentient beings!” Or something equally similar, anyway.

Screw Rosmah, besides having Human Rights Day on my birthday, I also share my birthday with one of the most fantastic woman ever:

Ada Lovelace. Queen of Programming.

(not exactly a queen)

Lovelace was the daughter of the poet Lord Byron, and was very skilled in mathematics, that Charles Babbage dubbed her “The Enchantress of Numbers”.

Together with Charles Babbage, they paved the way for computing. Babbage had invented the difference and analytical engines, but it was Lovelace who saw the way to use them, with algorithms that are today known as “programs”.

Lovelace died at the early age of thirty-six from uterine cancer and bloodletting (a dubious pseudo-medicine act back then).

Or at least that’s what they tell you.

The truth is (or was) Lovelace and Babbage continued to expand their machines with funding from The Queen, and they used their technology to fight crime! AWW YEEAAAH!

Don’t believe me? Check out The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.

*p.s: Thank for all the lovely birthday wishes everyone! =)

(click for bigger size)

The Lanterns of the whole spectrum reciting their respective oaths to prepare for war against the Black Lantern Corps, from Blackest Night #5. Art by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert.

L-R: Saint Walker, Sinestro, Hal Jordan, Atrocitus, Carol Ferris, Indigo-1, Larfleeze.