Kuching TEE - Some Photos

I came back from Kuching late last night - both my flights to and from Kuching were either cancelled or delayed. The price to pay for flying a low cost carrier.

As per last week, I am really tired today. But it was a joy teaching a bunch of enthusiastic students in Kuching.

Here are some photos of the TEE class in Kuching (thanks to Simon for the photos). I will post a brief reflection later on, after I catch up with my rest.

A group photo of Kuching TEE students

Were they attentively listening to me or ???

Someone caught me in action!

TEE at Kuching: Some Personal Reflections

In one of my earlier posts, I promised to share some brief reflections on my 2 weekend trips to Kuching teaching a course on Biblical Interpretation at our extension there. So this is my slightly "delayed" post.

One of my greatest struggles and challenges was this: How would I cover all the necessary topics in a compressed fashion to the students in Kuching, so that they would be able to have a fairly good grasp of the principles and methods of biblical interpretation?

I must confess it was not easy for me. In my lectures, I moved rapidly from one topic to another, without having the full assurance that the students had fully grasped the concepts. Unlike our on-campus full-time students, we have the luxury of teaching the course over a period of 14-weeks and there is sufficient time for the students to attempt tackling the topics covered before they start writing their exegesis paper. So technically, by the time they write an exegesis paper, they would have, theoretically, mastered the principles of exegesis. However, this was not really the case with our extension centre. All the written assignments are only due 6 months later, including the exegesis paper itself. So the problem I have is this: How certain am I that the students have a full grasp of doing a word study, cultural and historical background, etc, before they embark on attempting their exegesis paper? If they do any of these assignments wrongly, there would not be any opportunity for me to highlight their mistakes or errors. In other words, chances are that whatever errors they might commit in some of these assignments might be reflected in their exegesis paper as well. It would be too late by then for any corrections to be made.

Being a highly practical and hands on course, I am also aware of the lack of access to good theological library for our extension students. For example, I was not able to demonstrate how they could effectively use some of the theological dictionaries and lexicons available in our campus library in Seremban. However, thanks to Internet technology, much of the materials are also easily available online.

Despite the constraints, I find the enthusiasm of the students very commendable. They faithfully sat through the lectures, sacrificing their two weekends by listening to me. They raised very pertinent and relevant questions related to biblical interpretation. There was no doubt that I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them, despite the punishing pace and tight schedule we had (not to mention the experience of having my flights cancelled and delayed to and back from Kuching on the second weekend). To all of you in Kuching, thanks for making the class lively and a real joy to teach.

Recognising that our TEE students may not have the luxury of doing theological studies full time, this model of having classes spread over 2 consecutive weekends seems to fit in their schedule pretty well. As such, I am still exploring various methods of how to deliver my lectures in such a concentrated and condensed format in future so that the students might benefit the most out of it. As such, I would welcome any ideas to further improve the course. Any contributions out there?

Kuching - Food!

I think the above cartoon aptly describes me - in terms of size! I ate so much in Kuching last weekend where I conducted the course, Biblical Interpretation, at our extension centre - the folks there really know how to feed me. I had 4 meals a day, excluding the tea breaks.

When I went for a jog this morning, I suddenly felt some unusual heaviness....must be result of all the great food. Gosh - I will be in Kuching again this weekend to complete teaching the course. How am I going to survive with all the food? Resistance is futile...

Teaching Biblical Interpretation Course in Kuching

In a matter of few minutes' time, I will be heading to the airport, taking a flight to Kuching, the exotic capital of Sarawak. Over the next 2 weekends, I will be teaching a course on Biblical Interpretation for our Kuching TEE Centre.

Do remember us in your prayers.

Back from Kuching

I returned from Kuching late last night - was really exhausted after almost non-stop teaching over the weekend. Will be taking some needed rest today - need to recharge for another coming weekend of non-stop teaching in Kuching.

Kuching - 2nd Weekend

I am off again to Kuching, (literally, the city of cats) this afternoon to teach the second part of the course, Biblical Interpretation, at our Kuching extension centre. Last week's trip was very tiring and it took me a couple of days to recover (I think I have to admit that age is fast catching up). However, I must admit that the great food is an excellent trade-off!

Interesting Facts of 2008 Elections

The people of Malaysia made history in the 12th General Elections. And Malaysiakini runs an interesting article highlighting some interesting facts of the elections.

2008 polls - interesting facts
Mar 10, 08 6:20pm

Barisan Nasional only gained about 51 percent of the popular vote from the 7.9 million ballots cast on Saturday.

However, it took 63 percent of the seats contested - or 140 of 222 seats in Parliament.

Interestingly, its peninsula-wide popular vote was only 49.79 percent, which effectively means that the opposition received the majority vote in this part of the country.

However, when converted to parliamentary seats, BN has 85 of the constituencies in the peninsula, while the opposition bagged 80.Almost 40 percent of the BN's seats are in Sabah and Sarawak - 55 out of 140.

In 2004, BN won about 64 percent of the popular vote nationwide and 92 percent of the 219 parliamentary seats on offer then.

As the dust settles on the 12th general election, we highlight a number of quirky facts and figures.

Election trivia
The youngest candidate was PKR’s Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who is 26. He defeated Seri Setia incumbent Seripa Noli Syed Hussin.

The oldest candidate was grandma Maimun Yusuf, 89, who contested in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary seat. She lost her deposit.

56 also-rans from opposition parties and independent candidates lost their deposits after failing to secure one-eighth of the votes cast.

The largest majority was won by DAP’s Teresa Kok against BN’s Carol Chew, by 36,492 votes in the Seputeh parliamentary seat in Kuala Lumpur.

The smallest majority was just 14 votes for BN’s Hamdi Abu Bakar who beat Abu Bakar Haji Hussain of PAS in the Pengkalan Baharu state seat in Perak.

Four pivotal players in the Lingam tape scandal also won: Loh Gwo Burne (who recorded the footage), Wee Choo Keong (lawyer who represented VK Lingam’s brother during the inquiry) and R Sivarasa and Sim Tze Tzin (listed as witnesses but eventually not called). All four are from PKR.

There will be two ‘lone rangers’ in Parliament: Zulhasnan Rafique, the sole BN survivor in Kuala Lumpur’s 11 parliamentary seats - he took Setiawangsa; and DAP’s Chong Chieng Jen who won Bandar Kuching in Sarawak - the remaining 30 parliamentary seats went to BN.

The biggest number of candidates was in the Sukau state seat, Sabah, where eight candidates ran, including five Independents.

Debutant politicians
Prominent blogger Jeff Ooi - whose campaign was done online and funds were raised through his website - won the Jelutong parliamentary seat in Penang for DAP.

Other bloggers are Tony Pua (DAP, Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary seat), Elizabeth Wong (PKR, Bukit Lanjan state seat) and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (PKR, Seri Setia state seat).

Civil society activists who succeeded were Charles Santiago (DAP, water-privatisation issues), Edward Lee (DAP, local community), Elizabeth Wong and R Sivarasa (PKR, human rights).

Biggest blows
The losses in BN component parties will result in vacancies in various ministries, forcing a cabinet reshuffle.

Ministers
S Samy Vellu (Works Ministry)
Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (Women, Family and Community Development Ministry)
Zainuddin Maidin (Information Ministry)
Abdul Aziz Shamsuddin (Rural and Territory Development Ministry)

Deputy ministers
Chia Kwang Chye (Information Ministry)
G Palanivel (Women, Family and Community Development)
Tan Chai Ho (Home Ministry)
V Veerasingam (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry)
S Sothinathan (Natural Resources and Environment Ministry)
Donald Lim (Tourism Ministry)
Fu Ah Kiow (Internal Security Ministry)
M Kayveas (Prime Minister’s Department)

Parliamentary secretaries
Chew Mei Fun (Women, Family and Community Development Ministry)
P Komala Devi (Education Ministry)
Lee Kah Choon (Health Ministry)
Ng Lip Yong (Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry)
S Vigneswaran (Youth and Sports Ministry)
Rahman Ibrahim (Home Ministry)
Dr Mohd Ruddin Ab Ghani (Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry)
Yew Teong Look (Federal Territories Ministry)

The full team from the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry all lost in the polls.

All top MIC leaders were wiped out - president, deputy presidents, two vice-presidents, women's chief and youth chief (one of the three vice-presidents, KS Nijar, did not contest).

Post-election quotes
Anwar Ibrahim, PKR de facto leader, quoted in Star today
Some mentris besar in the past spent half-a-million ringgit to renovate their offices. Such things cannot be an example in this new administration.

Nurul Izzah Anwar, Lembah Pantai MP at a press conference yesterday
(On whether she will vacate the seat to force a by-election so that her father, Anwar Ibrahim, can re-enter politics after a five-year ban): I have already started working in my constituency. The question does not arise.

PPP president M Kayveas, quoted in Star today
Prior to the elections, Barisan Nasional had kept on telling people to show their dissatisfaction through the ballot box. Now they have really shown it.

Sungai Petani losing BN candidate Zainuddin Maidin, quoted in Star today
It is not that they love PKR or PAS more that they voted against me. The Chinese showed their resentment because of the economic backlash they often complained about. So, PAS and PKR should not be overly proud of their win (in Kedah).The people may have to pay a price for their decision.

Greece Trip (3): We Had A Great Group

The 28 enthusiastic fellow pilgrims that came with me to Greece were a bunch of eager and fun loving students of the scriptures. We had a good time covering the cities visited by Paul in his Second Missionary Journey in Greece. Although our itinerary follows the reversed chronological events, I would post my reflections according to the sequence as recorded in Acts 16-18.

True to the spirit of the original Second Missionary Journey, we had a team of medical doctors with us, just like Doctor Luke with Paul (to be precise, 5 of them. I must say their presence was a great relief as they came to my aid when I injured my ankle on the second day of our 11-day tour - more about this later). Paul also brought along "young" Timothy in this journey, and we have the youngest member of our team, aged 15, from Kuching.

Together with this team, we not only shared the agape and the koinonia of Christ, we also read the scriptures together at various sites along the journey - and this experience has enriched our understanding and deepened our love for the scriptures. Paul's words suddenly came alive for many of us!

So watch this space as I begin to post my reflections and highlight some scholarly debates on some of the archaeological evidence that we saw at the various sites.

For my earlier postings on the Greece Trip, click here. Also, do check out the blog posts on the trip by Alex.