RM45.00 Fish Head Curry

I have just finished reading Harian Metro, the online version and I was amused by this report where somebody is complaining about the price he has to pay for the fish head curry (kari kepala ikan aye). RM45.00. Too much? Well it depends on who’s paying. If I’m paying, may be it is a little bit on the expensive side but looking at it otherwise, if we are able to pay RM39.90 for a piece of meat we call steak (be it mushroom, black pepper etc) then we should be happy if our kari ikan aye can stand up and compete with the western food or delicacies.

The thing I don’t understand here is that why we put steak so high and we are able to pay a premium for the steak and not for the kari kepala ikan aye? The report goes on saying that the guy actually went to the market to check on the price and he told the newspaper the price of the ikan is only RM19.00. Of course the market would sell you at that price and the most will be RM25.00 (depends on the location of your market and the size of the fish). However the guy forgot to calculate the other costs such as employee costs, going to the market costs and of course making the fish into a fish head curry costs. Right? And a fish only has one head. That’s why it is so expensive. If fish head comes like octopus limbs then I don’t think it would be so expensive.

(rationalizing here)^

Same thing when you go to the market and get yourself a nice chunk of tenderloin (1 kg for steak), the highest it will get is RM25.00 nothing more. But nobody question when the bill for steak comes and says it is too excessive. And you don’t get the whole 1 kg of the meat. The most you get is 450gm.

The moral of the story is always ask for the price first before you buy something (especially food) and always appreciate your local food and not forgetting once you enjoy the food and if you don’t check the price first, just pay… don’t have to be so sour and make people business run to the ground…

Occupational Hazards

I graduated secondary school donkey years ago (but just to highlight to the readers, I am not that old). I would say I went through school well. There are some of incidents which I will not forget till the end of me and there are some that I wanted to forget and try very hard to forget. However, school taught me well. The teachers taught me well and I think they have done a good job. But are the schoolteachers the same people like what they were some nearly 20 years ago.

I mean, teachers do not only teach the subject they are assigned to do but also instill discipline, moral and good values to the pupils or some of us call these people student. I remember my time when my friend and I fought in the classroom or did something which is not supposed to be done in school, then the teachers will not hesitate to give us a spank (not in a perverted way) and we would never complain or what more bring that to our parents. Whatever happened in school will be left at the school gate and no further.

But now with the high tech gadgets, pupils can’t wait to send a short message to the parents telling them that some teachers had given them a spank. Most teachers in the recent years had experienced something like this. Spank the pupil and the next thing you know, you are the bad person. To make things worse, news comes in and says teachers are not supposed to do this and that.

I live in the administrative capital of Malaysia. Where else, Putrajaya that is. There are about dozens of school there, primary and secondary. Offspring of the government officers went to those school and these kids acted as if there are the one with power. Just the other day, my neighbor was telling me that a teacher scolded a pupil in his school and to the teacher’s surprise that particular student picked up the phone and call the father who is so and so in some government department. Immediately the special officer came to the school to “deal” with the matter. The teacher was given an option whether to apologize or to get transferred and finally the teacher then apologizes to the student and the matter was solved.

It also happened to my mother who is a teacher for nearly 30 years. One fine day she decided to “rotan” this boy who is notorious for his “kurang ajar” behaviour (not to prejudge the kid). Later that day the father came to school and threaten to go to the authority if some action is not taken against my mother. But no action was taken by the authority because to them and the headmistress my mother’s action was acceptable.

The point here I am trying to highlight here is not that the teacher are angels. We do have teachers who misuse his or her position as teacher and took the wrong action. But to let the teacher admits that his wrong and show the student (who is wrong most of the time) that the parents are on their side is just not acceptable now. If I were to tell my father last time that the teacher slap me, then for sure I will “kena” again and this time from my father. It is a matter of principal. Whether you want the teacher to teach and educate your children or not. I remember how my grandmother use to tell me that during my father’s time, when a child goes to school the father (or who ever that sent the child to school) will say, “Ini anak saya cikgu, buat lah macam anak sendiri, jangan bagi patah jangan bagi mati sudah” (This is my child, please treat him as your but don’t fracture any limbs or let him die that is enough).

That basically means that the teacher will have full power to do whatever to the child. If the child need some spanking action then be it. There must be something wrong if the teachers spank the student right? Teachers do not spank students with good “track record”. Ask my brother if you do not trust me. He’s the angel in school as compared to me who was suspended twice in secondary school for fighting and was given the cane in public for various offences. No teacher will go and just slap the student. I see some kids now are just plain “kurang ajar”. I sometimes feel like giving them a very good slap. A teacher who slap or “rotan” the student without no reasons is crazy and need to be sent to some “happy” hospital.

We as parents should not jump the gun and form a conclusion of every report our children ring home. There must be something wrong on our children part when the teachers take an action against them. If we were to take their side all the time because that way, we are showing them in one way or another that they are right all the time. I know the teachers are not angels but our children are just mere mortal as well. So, we need to be smart and balance what is right and what is wrong. If the teacher is found wrong, there is no need to take such drastic action and (in case of the senior government officer) no need to transfer the teacher to Long Pasia. It is a loooooonnnnnngggggg way up there. I do not mean that it is a bad place. But for a teacher who grew up in the civilized world, Long Pasia is not a place for him and for us parents, let the teachers do their work so we can see a very good person in our children and say, “The Education Policies Worked Well”.