1. I attend an ecological society of Japan meeting this week from ５-８th March. It was the annual meeting for all the ecological scientists mostly from Japan. It was held at Shizouka Convention and Arts Center called Granship. This hall was designed like a big ship. You can see the picture below.
This is view from the back
I am not sure if the name Granship is stand for “Grand” and “Ship” (means kapal besar in Malay). Anyway, forget the spelling. Biarlah depa nak bagi nama apa pun. The main point i want to share here is how they make the conference so efficient by keep simple thing simple.
2. This year is already a 60th meeting, it means they had did this kind of intellectual sharing activities among ecologists and scientists in related field since 1953. Kita belum merdeka lagi bro. This year there are around 2000 participants in this meeting, mostly from university in Japan. By the time my sensei informed me this, i was spontantaneously think about how many ecologists we have in Malaysia.
3. There are higher biodiversity in Malaysia compare to Japan. In simple words, we have more serangga, binatang and pokok. It means a lot of kepelbagaian flora dan fauna. Among the highest in the world. Higher diversity means more complex interactions. There are still a lot of knowledge gap in Japan biodiversity despite 60 years annual meeting, what about Malaysia?
4. First thing impressed me, there are no dress code. You can wear what you want to wear. You can see the picture below.
I remember in Malaysia, you have to wear very smart and formal for such meeting. However, most of the time i thought the event content was not smart enough. You guys understand what i mean. Here, i just wear a loose shirt, with cardigan, and jeans. Nobody pay attention to your attire unless you naked. Nobody evaluate you based on your attire. It was your sharing and participation which counts. I think if you wear sarong and kemeja in Malaysia conference, maybe they wouldn't allow you to enter even to the registration counter.
5. I was totally impressed and amazed by the session contents. I would say most study are scientifically make sense and worth a knowledge. Generally, ecology is a study about nature and their interactions, including phenomena. You can see how the "session" of the meetings is being divided. The session title already very detail and deep. You can see by yourself, i snap a picture to show you. I used to went to western style conference. It was totally different. Malaysian style of conference is far from effective.
6. I give you some example. This professor was very passionate on how we could utilize remote sensing approach to assess wildlife due to climate change impacts.
One of the animal he used is monkey, and the elements was that the mating pattern of beruk (primates-monkey) may changes due climate change. It means we could identify relationship between beruk beromen punya pattern, we could examine the effects of climate change at that site. Beruk beromen berubah disebabkan climate change.
Tengok tu bro. I am not sure study like "perubahan corak beruk beromen" had placed in our students heart and interest. Maybe if such paper is presented by Malaysian in Malaysia, it can attract numerous audience. But, they will smile and laugh. Some will congratulate you, with a "smile". Good job and good luck with your beruk. Next time maybe you could study the divorce or affairs di kalangan beruk "couple".
7. Maybe if parents heard about this, they will lodge a complaint to university. Aku hantar anak belajar tinggi-tinggi, bukan suruh belajar beruk beromen. Maybe the graduating student also already think after this they will lived and go work with beruk. There are no high profile multi national company in "beruk trading" or "beruk engineering". Beruk don't give you high salary. We afraid we may end up with pepatah, "kera di hutan disusukan, anak di rumah mati tak makan".
8. You see the Japanese did this only for one reason. Build up their nation. Built up your nation must be based on knowledge. It was not only engineering, but all field of knowledge must be explored. Understand about something must be fact and scientific evidence. Malaysian must rely on Malaysian to move forward. We cannot rely on others. In Quran, Allah already mentioned this,
Sesungguhnya Allah tidak mengubah suatu kaum sampai mereka mengubah diri mereka sendiri
Ar-Raad : 79
This is Quran bro, a message from our God. Not from any ustaz, or ntah mana-mana unproven kitab. Yet, we still with our attitude of "lah". Takpe"lah" dah ini je yang Allah bagi. No more effort after that. Bersyukur doesn't mean we give up bro. We prefer to go drink teh tarik and become state, national, regional and world politicians. Especially among Malay.
9. Scientifically, high critical thinking is needed in Islam and to success in our current life and afterlife. Serious bro. I am very pleased during the question and answer session, you can see how easy a professor discuss with other professor, a student questioning the professor. Knowledge for everyone. There are no most clever student or stupid one, good or not so good professor. We educate ourselves by sharing knowledge. In Malaysia, you know how was the situation, right?
10. I put the picture of Dr. Labu and Tuan Magistrate Labi. Most of us know this story by Tan Sri P Ramlee. Both are trying hard to claim who is better, to win the heart of "Peragawati Sarimah". One claimed has degree L.E.M.B.U. and another one claiming is having degree of Medic S.E.T.A.N. You can suggest where the story end. This is us. Typical Malay.
11. I can summarized that the conference were effectively reach the ultimate goal of education. Educating others through information sharing. Everyone has chance to learn without prejudice. I still remember when i go to oral presentation in Penang, Malaysia, one and half year back. There was no question and discussion. Maybe the audience did not interested or because there are only 6 persons in the room. One of them is the session chairman. Maybe the fee is too expensive which makes many researchers or academician dont want to go. I remember when i asked permission for a conference in Malaysia to make free admission to undergraduate students, so they can sit, listen, at least learn something new. I want my student had some inspiration. But, the feedback was not positive. Perhaps, there was no feedback at all. The person who in charge of the conference “forgot” to reply my request.
12. Why we like to make simple thing so complicated, and simplify important matter which unbenefit for us? You can see whenever there are conference or meeting in Malaysia, content come first. Not the event content bro, it was the food content. I mean makan punya hal lah brother. There are no lunch in this meeting. You buy your own lunch. Second, you are also tea break yourself. They really keep simple thing simple. The basic requirement to make a coffee is coffee powder, hot water, and cup. That what they give you. You can see how the guy make himself a coffee. Maybe he is a professor.
13. In Malaysia, you discuss less during the session, but they talked a lot during coffee break. You can even choose which drink you want. Coffee or tea. A nice young lady will ask you. She even prepared the drink for you. Dah macam kedai lah bro.
14. You can see how I tea break myself. All from 7-eleven.
15. Another interesting scene attract me is the kids care. They provide space for anyone who bring kids. They also offered services to take care of your kids during the conference session.
I think the Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita dan Masyarakat support these idea 100%. The number of female lecturers, researchers, and academician in Malaysia is increasing. It only happen in Malaysia. Maybe we could also provide service for the husband too. A day care for the husband. It could be designed like this.
This is a famous maid cafe in Tokyo
It was a joke lah. I just want to have fun. Chill a little, bro.
16. If we can change some of our attitudes and mentality, we can improve and move forward. Tak salah ikut perkara yang baik. Most of Malaysians, are muslim. How to increase your faith and love to our God without knowledge. Gaining useful knowledge must be done by underwent scientific thinking process by using scientific approach and proven materials. Understanding relationship and their significant between religion and life is not as easy as listening to ceramah agama or reading books. If education and knowledge really is learned just through those two elements, you don’t have to go to university. Living in ignorance is dangerous.
17. Thanks to Allah, i am writing and got this idea while I enjoying the view of Fuji-san. It looks even more beautiful when we are relatively closer. Learn to keep simple thing simple.
This picture is taken not from good position. It was not enough light to see my face. However, thanks to the Myanmar couple who shot this. You can see the mount Fuji outside the window.
