Does Our Leader Need to be Smart?

I always landed up in hot water every time I bring this topic up on the dinner table with my Mum. She is a staunch UMNO supporter. Being born in Permatang Bertam, Kepala Batas - so was I - a mere 200 meters from Tun Abdullah's family home the whole kampung is very close to Tok Lah's family. Note that I use the term Tok Lah rather than Pak Lah, as only people outside the kampung call him Pak Lah. We from the same kampung have more respect for him. I am not saying that Tok Lah is no intellect, but if we compare to other national leaders at the international scene, we were clearly lagging behind.

The question really boils down to a few fundamental questions. Is an intellectual better at running the country compared to others? I think the problem here is the association of being an intellectual and possession of a degree. Is going to university equate to being an intellectual. Actually it's not. Prophet Muhammad (saw) and all the Caliph are smart people, but they went to no Cambridge. The point I am trying to make is, we need leaders that are wise. Not the ones who climbed up the ladder because of the family they are born into, the amount of money they spend in their campaign etc. We need people who are wise to lead, adapt and inspire the country froward. We don't want a leader for the sake of leading. They need to be innovative. Innovation can only come with wisdom and intellect. Even being an Ustaz, you need to be blessed with intelligence and wisdom let alone leading a nation.

Looking around, one cannot sit but to admire Barack Obama for his academic credentials. Graduating magna cum lauda from Harvard Law School, a brilliant writer and orator. Closer to home we have the Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsein Loong. Son of Lee Kuan Yew, I am sure he had hardly needed to do anything should he be a Malaysian to become a leader one day. But no! He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1974 with a First Class Degree in Mathematics and a Diploma in Computer Science. He then got his Master's from Harvard in 1980. He was also an Officer in the Singaporean Air Force, with a stint of military training in the States. He retired in 1984 with a rank of Brigidier General.

When I brought up academics in politics here in Malaysia, 2 names always come to my mind. The late Alex Lee and Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon. Since Alex Lee is no longer with us, let just concentrate on Dr Koh. His first degree was in Physics from Princeton. He then completed his PhD from University of Chicago. Later he became Fulbright Fellow at Stanford University. Before joining politics, he was a Deputy Dean of the School of Education at USM until 1982.

Both Lee and Koh speaks better Malay than most of the Malay politician. They are always measured in the mannerism and does not resort to name calling while in a political debate. This is what we should see and nurtured from our future crop of politicians. Intellectuals and academics are generally fed up with the local politics in Malaysia to participate. Given choice they would rather stay away. This essentially contribute to the dearth of intellects in politics at home. Back to the main question now. Personally I think we should include intellectuals in higher politics. It can at least eliminate the yes man and keep our leaders informed rather than being showered with things they just like to listen to. One can but hope!

And The Topic for Today ......... ITP

As I mentioned last night, was rather tired. Crunch some more data this morning before the ward round, after having a look at my RSS feed. Quick browse into the topic in NEJM this morning. 2 main topics, brown adipose tissue and esomeprazole in asthma. No time to read yet.

My friend Jimbo is back in Malaysia after a good week and a half in Austria. Welcome back!

Argh! Fungus! No! - Bad fungus!After the typically long grand round and day care, I listened to Iqbal talking about ITP and then to Bee explaining flow cytometry. Heavy stuff! Then back to counseling patient and home.

Good Fungus!

Idlan is enjoying his term break and is quite keen to go out. We decided to go to Jaya Jusco for a bit of shopping, then dinner. But the main issue for the day is the new Cabinet announced this afternoon. I commented on it on a separate page. In fact the blogs were buzzing, the forums even more exciting. All the TV channels were commenting on the happenings today. Back from NZ, feeling sleepy, but so much to catch up on the blogs and also from the journals. Time to hit the sheets!

Statistics ... Smatistics!

Real tired today, I mean mentally drained. Spent a good few hours studying the statistics of a project I am involved in. The long and short of it is my non-familiarity with SPSS. Most of the data I have were actually kept in a program called Filemaker Pro. It is a program written by Apple, and me being a MacHead, finds the flow to be logic and easy to use. For analysis, I just convert the data I needed into spreadsheet and paste them into SPSS. That's where the problem started. I manually tabulated the 2x2 (contingency) table, but just cannot analyse them in SPSS.

The morning was not made easy by the disappointment of United only sharing the spoils while letting in two away goals in the Champions League last night. Now their task is clear, to win in Porto! By hook or by crook!

After a day of prodding and asking around, I think I am getting there. So back to more statistic tonight.

Today, I had lunch with one of my student that did not make it through the exam. He has to defer for the next six months. His class will start next week. No rest for the wicked I suppose. He told me that he met the Professors yesterday and this morning for some feedback. He reckoned that he did badly in the short cases. One thing I am glad is that he accepted the result and is ready to move on and pass the exam the next time around. Talking to a few of the students, I got the feeling that the process of announcing the exam results could have been better. It is not the wait or the venue, but the fact that those who failed only found out when their names were skipped during the announcement. I think a courtesy phone call or a gentle prod to take them out of the room may be a bit more classy. Something I will talk with others in the future I am sure.

Since the main parking lots have been filled by the time I drove to work today, I had to park on the monkey hill, walking through sixth college on the way in. Going home, I bumped into at least three of the students packing their stuffs away. A quick look on Facebook showed a few of them having a whale of a time, some of them in Phuket! Great stuff! I am also planning to go on a weekend break to Genting as a family. Looking forward to that, but only after the report is sorted. I'll send you guys a postcard!

Congratulations All Around

My view of the proceedings from today

Had the pleasure of attending the ceremony earlier. As usual I preferred to turn up after the ceremony starts. Perfect timing this time. Got inside just about the time Prof Ikram was about to start his speech. Grabbed the nearest seat to the exit, right in the middle, at the top of the stairs. Nestled in between the Faculty staffs, enough time to catch some gossips. If I come early, I might be asked to put on the pink gown!

Everything appeared to have run smoothly. No major hiccup, although they should have lined up the 'Cemerlang' recipient to up the stairs rather than having to wait for them to run down the hall to get up. Luckily there was no mishaps. Now! That would be unceremonious!

Oh before that, the oath! I am sure when Hippocrates was practicing, there is no such thing as promising to give just care to everybody regardless of their political affiliations and sexual orientation! I wonder whether it is a tambahan! We were then treated to some makan, while the graduates were having fun with a group photograph! During the tea, I went around to say my last goodbyes. The weather was getting dark outside, not really keen to get stuck.

Saw some of your families. The parents present were gracious enough to shake my hands. A father of one of a Perak student stopped when I was shaking his son's hand to congratulate asking whether I am graduating from UM or Ipoh. Now, that really made my day! The son then explained that I was one of his examiners from last week, and said that I was kind during the questioning.

Some of you were clearly saddened that their parents were unable to attend. One of you even told me that his parents are no longer around. That took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting that answer. Some of you sounded like planning to stay a bit longer in KL before going home.

Maybe the next time we meet, it will be during your Graduation Ceremony proper. Good luck and enjoy the next few weeks before your Housemanship starts. Sorry if my entry tonight is rather stop and start. I am actually listening to a Myeloma Debate online live from Vienna. Streamyx died tonight, maybe due to the by-elections tonight. Had to use my mobile as a tethered. Streaming was choppy, but at least I can read the slides still. Another distraction is my favourite ice-cream, Haagen-Dasz Coffee! *hint* if you plan to belanja me some ice-cream, the cheap one tak main! I can finish the tub in one sitting, especially when ManYoo is playing! Yummy!

Update on Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 11:20PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Hot off the press. Pakatan Rakyat secured the two hills while BN has to make do with a river!

The Journey Starts Today

Heard that some of you have finished packing your stuffs. I'm sure you can't wait to get away. Or maybe some of you were still tired, being woken up by the fogging at 7.30 this morning having only hit the bed at 5am. All of you are still manic from the experience, and the mania won't stop for another 2 weeks, well at least it took me that long to pass off mine.

I am on leave today, so had time to wake up with my two boys. Idlan is on leave for a week, so I got the Wii set up for him. We were playing Mario Kart just now, he and his Luigi, and me of course with Toad. Then I had the time to look into the blogs and Facebook. Struck me that there were not that many Lecturers turning up last night. The two I expected to come were Vivek and KS Lim (the real KS Lim, not the Chris KS Lim loh!). You guys should have call them and paksa them to come. I think the main difference between the UM and the Perak graduate was their clinical skills. I am sure it has a lot to do with the better access to patients during the weeks leading up to the exam. I am sure it was also due to the dedications of these group of lecturers staying back late to take you through some of these cases.

I took today's leave because I wanted to see you off during the mini-graduation. I did not plan to attend last night. In fact it was my Badminton night. Took real sacrifice to miss that! I will try to find where the graduation is later and say my goodbyes. You should ring the other lecturers who have helped you along to come as well. Call them. It is still not too late.