MILLIONAIRE PARENTS
You would need to be a millionaire to raise more than one child in Malaysia (@via Christopher Teh)

In his blog, Christopher Teh discusses the challenges of parenting in Malaysia, as well as the misconceptions of having only one child. With age, work commitments, and quality time being some of the challenges in raising children, the writer explains the main challenge of cost in raising a child from birth until completion of tertiary education.

The writer who is a lecturer at a local university, wishes to provide his 3 year old child with an overseas education. Through personal calculations and comparisons to Singapore, US and Australia, he discovers that it takes an average total of RM1.1 million to raise a child, born in 2007, in Malaysia.

On the misconception of ‘only children’, the writer refers to the study done by Granville Stanley Hall in 1896 entitled “Of Peculiar and Exceptional Children” as well as to sociologist Judith Blake’s book in 1989 titled “Family Size and Achievement”. The former claims that only children are oddballs or permanent misfits, while the latter suggests that only children are over-privileged, asocial, self-centered, and overly intellectual.

The writer begs the question on these findings, using Time magazine’s July 2010 issue (http://bit.ly/970xsa) as reference. The issue reports that US studies have shown no measurable differences in personality between only children and those who have siblings. Instead, the issue states that only children tend to be smarter due to no “dilution of resources” in terms of attention, resources, time, money, and energy from parents.

A common misconception in Malaysian society is that an only child will feel lonely without siblings, when in fact there are siblings who grow into adulthood not close to one another. The writer believes that a marriage is a partnership for mutual happiness, fulfillment, security, and support. He also belives that a success of a marriage isn’t tied to the number of children born, and should not be seen as an opportunity to maximize child production.

Related links
TIME: The Only Child: Debunking the Myths http://bit.ly/bewLI8
G. Stanley Hall http://bit.ly/bMZNrv

FOOD
Waffling about! (via @omnomcast)

The 10th episode of OmNomCast; a new podcast show on Malaysian food, describes in candid detail all there is to know about waffles. Widely known as one of the most popular comfort foods, waffles are the staple of American breakfast food, just as much as Roti Canai is a must-have all-day dish to Malaysians.

The episode discussed the differences between American and Belgian pancakes, and the basic mixture of an extra crispy waffle. The two hosts John Lim and Richard Augustin, gave tips on waffle preparations, suggested waffle batter mixtures and toppings, and also shared a crispy waffle recipe with listeners.

Richard Augustin said, “a trade secret, is to separate your egg whites with your egg yolks. When the egg whites are stiff and folded into the batter, they say it makes the waffles crispier”.

OmNomcast is available online every Tuesday, and includes how-tos of some of Malaysia’s favourite dishes, the best places to eat, as well as recipes. Previously, the show featured interesting episodes on The Ramly Burger, The Bacon Basket Project (a basket made of bacon), pizzas, fried chicken and an amusing episode on ‘Whose mom makes the best curry’.

Download here http://bit.ly/9wJEyf or iTunes http://bit.ly/9cnq2B

RELIGION
100-year old solar powered temple – Sri Maha Mariamman temple becomes first solar-powered edifice in Malaysia (via Malaysia Sun @novinthen)

Based on reports made in TAMIL Nesan and The Star on 3 Aug 2010, and the Malaysian Sun today 5 Aug 2010, the 100-year-old Sri Maha Mariamman temple has now become the first solar-powered temple in the country. With several race-religion issues unresolved and brewing, this is considered to be a piece of good news for Malaysians.

Secluded 4km away from the main road in Sungai Salak in Lukut Negri Sembilan, initially temple worshippers had trouble carrying out prayer sessions due to lack of electricity supply. This drove the temple committee to seek help, and the problem was rectified by Yayasan MyNadi, a non-governmental organisation.

Yayasan MyNadi advises Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on issues affecting Malaysian Indians which includes Tamil schools, welfare, and career opportunities. It was founded in 2009 in a bid to regain ground with indian voters post-Hindraf, and with infighting in BN’s coalition party MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress).

related link:
The Star http://bit.ly/c97OeZ

SOCIAL ILL – SCHOOL BULLIES
What if Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds was set in a Malaysian school? (via @FaiqSyazwan)

Inglorious Busted is a Malaysian parody of Quentin Tarantino’s film “Inglorious Basterds” which was released in 2009. Quite humorous when compared to the original work, Inglorious Bustedfollows closely the plot of Tarantino’s film and replicates it Malaysian style.

In place of the original plot to overthrow the Nazi Germany political leadership, the spoof is about a group of students who plots revenge against school prefects who instill fear in students through bullying and oppression.

The main character Abdul Rahim (in place of Aldo Raine played by Brad Pitt) recruits a team of bullied students on a mission to regain their rights on the school grounds, and take revenge on the prefects who are portrayed as Nazis. Instead of one hundred Nazi scalps, Abdul Rahim orders the bullied students to bring back 100 prefect tags.

Through its dark humor, the parody highlights a very serious issue faced by Malaysian students today – bullying. Acts of physical or emotional bullying in schools have increased in 2010, with the most shocking one happening recently in June 2010 where a 17 year old boy was bullied to his death.

Malaysians are now taking a firm stand in eradicating this social ill, and views bullying that leads to death as a criminal offence. In view of that, the government has been asked to prosecute appropriately on such cases, and to provide psychiatric assessment and treatments to school bullies as needed.

related links:
The Star – Student dies after alleged bullying http://bit.ly/bHgAk