The Good
Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi a.k.a the Lady is now free from the house arrest imposed by the Junta administration. Having been imprisoned for 15 years of the last 21 years, it amazed me to listen to her exclusive interview to the BBC. For someone who's well in her 60s, her calm and confident voice proves that she is set to get back into Burma's much tainted political fray to fight for a cause so very dear to hear - democracy. She always looks so demure in all the photos and at times, I did think of her as frail (due to being imprisoned for so long) but I guess I was mistaken.
It was not only the voice that amazed me but her vision and mission was clear and honest. In the interview, it seemed crystal that she was planning to engage all her supporters to work together to bring the democracy her parents once fought for. There was no rhetoric. There was no scheming. There was no game. You can listen to her interview here. I guess that's what sets her apart from many politicians these days. Here is one politician who has a clear, just and honest cause to fight for and that is democracy. It's certainly more valuable than what most of our politicians, from both sides, fight for and that is power, either to be in it or to keep on holding to it.
Political leaders in our country seem to think that having power will make the people listen to them and they promise to bring changes only if the people listen but wise Suu Kyi knows that listening to the people will give her the power to bring the changes the people need.
The Bad
If you ask me what's bad these days, it's the weather. Mother nature seems to be in a very bad mood these days. From Mt. Merapi that erupted for god knows how many times to the blizzards and flood happening in our very own Kedah and Perlis. According to my father, even my alma mater, MRSM Beseri, where I had the best time of my life (well, next after my time in the UK) was also flooded.
The weather in the UK are not that much good either. Now that winter is approaching, the temperature has begun to drop well nearing zero you would wish global warming would come to the UK and the rain and the wind are just unbelievable. I had to skive my sessions at the hospital on Tuesday because I was drenched even before I reached the bus stop to take the bus and it was just five minutes walk away from my place. Walking in the wet weather is just plain annoying. I hate it when the water gets into my shoes and start soaking my socks.
I guess I can go on complaining but truth be told, others are waayyyyyyyy more unfortunate. Those people in Indonesia will now have to find a way to get back to their normal live, going through the pebbles and soot and dust of what was once their homes. And those in Kedah and Perlis, I guess they will have to find one way or another to stay afloat, literally and figuratively.
If you are not at all affected by nature's wrath, do give all the help you can give. My experience voluteering to help the victims of the flood in Johor back in 2008 taught me that while the victims needed all the donations and basic necessities, seeing that there were others who cared enough to travel all the way to help them get back on their feet was the one thing that helped lifted their spirits to keep on fighting. So, go and help if you have the time.
The Ironic
I've been speding well over two months in the hospital doing my FoCP and every single week, as I went through one body system after another, I notice that for every caucasian doctor (consultants, registrars or foundation doctors), there will be two foreign doctors (Indian, Chinese, Middle-eastern - you name it!). Now, the trend was sooo obvious even the home students start to wonder the same thing. In fact, whenever they have problem understanding the Indian accent of some of the consultants, they would look at me and my Bangladeshi friend because we happen to be the 'brown' people in the group.
And seriously, even I have trouble understanding their accent. I'd normally just nod and pretend I understand whatever they were saying because my head swivels in my attempt to understand them. And I grew up listening to Samy Vellu on TV every night on the news!
Anyway, I really have no problem with these Asian doctors teaching me. They all make very good tecahers. The accents aside, they are very good at explaining complicated concepts and they are very keen to teach us medical students (aside maybe this one arrogant Chinese ENT registrar!!!). My point is, there are soooo many Asian doctors in the hospital they look as if they're right at home that they could still converse in their original accent without any sign of having been influenced by the English accent.
The whole phenomenon doesn't really surprise me. I'm speculating here but I guess it's a safe conclusion to make that these doctors have choosen to practice in the UK because they're well paid and whatever amount they're earning would be like 10 times the amount they would get had they chosen to practice in their home country. Even with the recession, healthcare professionals are not severely affected.
Having said all that, I still wonder where all the caucasian doctors are because the trend, I'm still speculating here, appears the same in other hospitals across the country. And also in other professions as well. All around, it seems like foreigners (especially Asians) seem to be, subtly, conquering the UK! Then, I came across this article and I've got the answers I was looking for.
The article was written by a local English teacher lamenting the fact that the government is looking for expatriates for teaching positions with promises of benefits and perks, most of which local teachers do not get. That's not to mention that the salary offered to the expats is like 10 times more than what our teachers are getting. From my conversation with my friends from Hong Kong and South Korea, the same seems to be happening in their countries. Expats from all around seem to flock their countries to find jobs because while the living cost is extremely cheap, they would be getting extra perks and benefits simply because they come from so-called modern intellectual countries like the US and the States.
The irony is, while our government keeps on complaining about the brain drain due to the so-called clever people leaving the country to make a living and a name in a foreign country that pays more, the government seems to take for granted the local talents they have right in front of their eyes by luring expats with promises of excessive extra benefits!
Kinda like a classic case of 'anak kera di hutan disusukan, anak sendiri dibiar menangis kelaparan' (giving better treatment to strangers from other places at the expense of our own people).
Hmmm.
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