'Skewed"chicken, a statistician's tool

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A week back attending a function i was seated next to a statistician.

Honestly one tend to forget that we do have a statistics department in our midst, possibly feeding the authorities with reams of data and facts.

In this day of the Internet, somehow we have somehow dismiss obtrusively what come out of the statistics department, well if we have the Wikepedia, google and other Internet sources of knowledge and information no one can be blamed!

Now back to the statistician....i got into a cosnversation with him and possibly the same mundane questions people ask(just like how's the weather ) if one does get to meet them:

Me: Hmm must be an interesting job, by the way, what's the population of Sarawak

Statistician(in a prompt , authoritative manner): 2.5 Millions give and take.

Me: What is our neighbours Sabah's population?

Statistician: 3.2 million roughly!!!

Me: Uhhh? i can still remember in the 80s Sabah has a lesser population, what did they eat? 'Manok?(Chicken in Tagalog)

Statistician gave me a real look of confusion and thinking i must be crazy ,sorry sir you didn't get my drift(ha..)

The conversation continues..

Me: How do we measure poverty?

Statistician: Well, the poverty income level is defined as below Rm800 and our poverty rate in Sarawak is only around 3-4%!!(as he emphasised it rather proudly)

Let me do a bit of statistics work..so Sarawak have around only 100,000 poor people.

Me: How's that? I know for a fact that rural populace on average earns possibly less than that figure.

Statistician(now looking at me in a more quizzical manner): Ah ha we have a way of dealing with this, you see a farmer or fisherman will not have a salary of more than RM800 because of their self sufficiency and of course you cant label them as poor , so we come up with a kind of variation to this sof poverty for the rural folks...

Me (waiting in anticipation for the eureka exclamation) : how's that done sir?

Statistician: you see we collate the frequency chicken meals they have per week or month and a family that has quite a frequent chicken dinner despite earning less than RM800 will not categorise as being POOR!!!

Wow, what great logic and trust statistics to come up with such innovative and may i say a "skewed " chicken idea to redefine poverty into a more palatable(pardon the pun) figure.

Me(just not giving up and probe further..): Sir, what about the urban folks? we know for a fact that even a RM1500 income for family will not be sufficient for them to afford eating chicken frequently! You see, there is always the Kancil and low cost housing payments to take care of and a plethora of other incidental expenses that one has to endure living in towns or cities.

Statistician: (Gave me a wild look and change the subject)......This H1N1 is a scary thing !!

Me: ya indeed.

And i turned to a person sitting on my right ..."what do you think Doctor?"

That's another story and at the function the chicken lunch is great and now i felt a bit more pleased knowing that a chicken meal is indeed still a measure of a person's poverty level!!! ha!

The curtain raiser,a Fletcher's day

Last night saw the usual curtain raiser game for the season, the Charity Shield. Even though officially this game is still considered a pre-season event, nonetheless it still attract due attention and seriousness.

The reason being it will be always viewed as a thermometer to the season to come.

Well the game was true to its billing. It was as usual a great advert for English football particularly if the opponents were none other than the top 2 teams in the English league.

The game started brightly for Manchester united and makes one wonder that while Fergie being shrewd as he is touting the possible replacement for Ronaldo being Owen or Valencia whereas in actual fact it can be Nani the real joker up Fergie's sleeve.

Nani was brilliant until his untimely departure from the game due to hopeful a non serious injury.

The whole game was a real treat ..Lampard as usual commanding but to me if United had won ;the Man of the Match would have gone to one Darren Fletcher. He was brilliant , covering every blade of Wembley grass.

As i watched this once bit part player blosssoming into an important cog in Fergie's well oiled machine of a team , it reflected the underlying strength of United's philosophy.... A great team do not need everyone to be a Galactico but a team also need an unsung hero who burst their lungs out for the team with their drive, hard tackling and wholesome energy.

I remembered such a player in the 70's , Brian Talbot of Arsenal. An all action player that complements the artistic skills of Chippy Brady.

Talbot's impressive stamina and fitness meant he played nearly every Arsenal first-team game for the next five seasons, missing fewer than half a dozen League games. In all, the strong and sturdy midfielder played 327 first-team matches for the Gunners, scoring 49 goals. He also played for England, five times while at Ipswich and once as an Arsenal player.

Fletcher is one such player and as i watched him clearing a ball from danger in the penalty area and next sending a well executed pass to Rooney, i felt content that the Galactico Ronaldo will may not be there anymore donning the red jersey but i will still be looking forward to the new season and hope and confident that it will a Fletcher's season.

Rotinsulu is in town!!

My favourite contemporary singer is undoubtedly Hendri Rotinsulu,his mesmerising and soothing voice definitely will be a good respite to hear after a hard day's work at the office.

Rotinsulu gave a lasting impression to some of us here in Kuching after his performance few years ago at a PERKIM charity dinner. Henceforth we kept in touch including on the Face book.

So it was a great weekend when Hendri came down to Kuching to give another performance at a Wedding anniversary of a prominent couple.

However he and his wife did make time to drop by at my place...well we had a small get together with close friends eating Ba Ku Teh and Sarawak Laksa.

Being a talented singer as he is ,he also serenade us with a few songs ,playing on Diyana's piano and wow we had a great time, thanks a million Hendri.

I was also incidentally invited to the anniversary dinner last night and the crowd that appreciates Malay/Indonesian soul music was exhilarated with Hendri's masterful performance.

It must be a Hendri's weekend for me for today another close friend invited me for lunch with Hendri at the Sarawak club, we had more time to talk and we are asking each other of our specific plans for our birthday...well one thing i can only claim i have in common with this very talented, unassuming singer is we share the same birthday.

Hendri, just sing my favourite song of yours(Citra..) for my birthday , that will be fine my good friend.

Thank you again for making our weekend such an enjoyable one.

Aquino's Army Bastion, the Lucky Plaza

Just came back from Singapore and orchard Road as usual was the place that one normally visit and spend time . Amazed at the large crowd, who says Singapore is in a recession?

The large crowd?
Hold on !! No wonder it is a Sunday and an off day for all Filipino maids and workers.

Their usual haunt is the Lucky Plaza and this ritual has been going on for more than 20 years.

I still remembered while i was working in Johor Bahru in late 80's and frequenting Orchard Road during the weekends, Lucky Plaza was always abuzz with the Filipino maids and workers.

So poignant that the weekend saw the passing of a great Filipino leader, the late Corazon Aquino. She was the symbol of people's power in those days when the autocratic leader, Marcos was overthrown.Aquino symbolised the aspirations of its people then, a need to be free from the clutches of dictatorship and as i watched these Filipino maids chattering away among friends at Lucky Plaza i cant help acknowledging that these are the people that keeps the Philippines economy going for the biggest contributor to the national economy was the billions worth of remittance that these foreign workers send home to their families in Philippines.

I am sure the late Corazon will be smiling as she looks at the optimistic antics of her fellow Filipinos, their country's biggest asset.

A King's feast indeed

Kuching has been abuzz with all manners of activity last week with the Rulers conference being held here and the opening of the new iconic building, the Dewan Undangan Negeri(the legislative assembly).

Got invited for the Royal Feast the other night and the who's who of Malaysia was there. It is not everyday that you meet royal blood and the pomp and pageantry to say the least was awesome. To add, HRH the Queen befits to be our First Lady, such elegance.

While initially expecting a dull affair ,i was though pleasantly surprised and enjoyed every minute of the night as we were serenaded by the inimitable and talented violinist,Idris Sardi , the singers Deja Moss and Bob of the AF fame.

Great night and great company, hail the King,,and Queen .

The Food? I ate some unpronounceable palate of possibly mince chicken in a pasta(???)

Well it has to come with the occasion and why bother if i can still have my own helping of Maggi mee when i got back home from that unforgettable and wonderful occasion.

Passing of a real Malaysian icon

Somehow like most Malaysians, for many years after the golden era of P Ramlee movies, we always give the local production a miss until Yasmin Ahmad came to the scene.

What talent and creativity this lady have... she was still simply awesome and the storytelling in all her productions reflect the sensitivity, dichotomy and anguishes of our Malaysian society.

I was really taken in by what she can deliver to our cinema, Sepet was a great sentimental treat..

and i was looking forward to watch her latest, Talentime and it was with great shock yesterday when i heard the news of her untimely death and it really adds gloom to my weekend.

I felt greater sadness as i read the poem penned by the actress Azean in memory of this great lady;

She was an angel
God sent us
No, he lent us
To be a storyteller
Who spun stories of
Magic,i joy and enchantment
Who we often lose sight of
Her fight was brief
Her leaving was a grief
Just like her movies
The end came too soon
But her wisdom remain
like words to a tune
That we will hold dear
Forever you will be near.
I love you Yasmin
I will miss you always.

i admired her for her intellect and real talent;you can tell here is another Malaysian who only through her sheer talent and genius make us proud to say,"hey she's a Malaysian like me!!" Her obvious authenticity can be seen through her character and her talent was recognised world wide , the film industry will surely have a big gap to fill with her demise.

Al Fatihah.

A tale of 2 Emmas

I watched a good ,realistic kind of love story movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Enmma Thompson,"Last chance Harvey".

Emma Thompson brilliant acting in her portrayal of an ordinary middle aged Londoner grappling with a boring routine life,loveless and possibly "lifeless" somehow caught my eye. Real captivating and a smart woman to beat.

Coincidentally, i happened to read a news article as well that day of how Emma Thompson adopted few years back a boy left stranded and orphaned from the ravages of the Rwandan civil war.

Now here she was a proud mother of that boy graduating from university of Exeter ;now to me that's real cool and possibly typical of this independent,smart free spirited woman. Apparently Emma was a graduate of Cambridge University, wow!! Keep it up Emma ,you may now be 50 but then you still looks great alongside that another great actor Dustin Hoffman in that movie, "Last chance Harvey".

Emma Watson though is old enough to be Emma Thompson 's daughter and she as most young generations aware of is that smart girl,Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series.

I was caught with initial dismay when someone in my face book spreads a story that she has died of a road accident.

What tragedy that's my reaction for Emma Watson as i knew was another real smart girl ,worthy of filling the boots of that free spirited woman, Emma Thompson.

She was also due to be enrolled at Cambridge University ...phew thank goodness the story of her death as i am now aware of is just mere rumours.

Another surprising coincidence that i have also discovered was both Emma's shared the same birthday date. The date 15th April ,wow cool man!!!

15Th April so happens is always a date we the family celebrate every year for it was Diyana's my daughter birthday and incidentally she was born on the same date as Emma Watson , ha ha 15.4.1990.

So here's to the two Emma's..continue your great acting careers respectively and blessed this world with all your good deeds. Now am off to watch the latest Harry Potter movie as i have promised my son Faizul to bring him along for that(been promsiing this for a long while!!!)