You

So it turns out that most likely you will still be there
I have already noticed this before
You are bright, but not the brightest
And our family is not the wealthiest
All I wanted you to do was only to aim higher
However small the chance is
So that you don’t get depressed when you know the reality
Like how I did

So, I want to wish you luck
Be careful
It may look convenient there at the wallow
But stay enlightened for the newest advancements
I will always be here to assist you,
But you must also try your best
More than the standard there

One more
Stay away from the comfort zone.
It’s very very dangerous.

On Electoral Abstention

And once again I am questioning what the logical background of white voter’s right to protest removal^[1] is.

1. Even a consenting absentee might have participated in the country’s development in another way.
2. This is a form of ad hominem.
3. Good criticisms can come from any person. Filtering them out merely based on whether the speaker has voted or not is not a good idea, for the government’s sake.
4. You can just protest if you’d like.

Anybody desires to enlighten me? Otherwise I will stick to the idea that every citizen has the right to abstain.

UPDATE:

[1] Just to make it clear, I think there is a consensus (at least in my home country) that an absentee has no right to protest the government, since s/he does not participate in the election(?). “Orang golput wajib diam“, white voters must keep silent, they say.

[2] For an extreme example, consider all candidates in presidential and parliamentary elections abstaining. What should happen?

Most Traveled People

I forget how I stumbled upon this website, but anyway, Most Traveled People. So basically this website divides the surface of Earth into 773 regions, not only based on the countries, but also the geographical features of the places. From the newsletter that I received, they are also looking forward to incorporating the UNESCO 920 World Heritage Sites.

I am just wondering how I can climb up to the top of the list. The #1 person, none other than the owner of this website, has only visited 715 places. I bet this is tiring and not budget-friendly.

You

Announcement of Tokyo University Entrance Exam results. I want you to feel at least the same level of happiness, and subsequent stress.

Honestly, I want you to go out and see the world.
Appreciate different cultures,
imitate their working spirit,
and learn world’s recent advancements
very early.
Don’t wallow and rot inside
like me how I used to be.
Affected and haunted by my past.

Go, go to the places where the symmetries are broken,
where the light traverses through the silicon.
The land of the rising sun
and the fragrant harbour under the five stars
should be where you drop your anchor.

…but I am not sure if you are keen of it; you don’t even bother to peek into the websites.

On Chinese Indonesian Names

It is common for Overseas Chinese to adopt western aliases, so that foreigners can pronounce their names easily. Jackie Chan, Vicky Zhao, Stephanie Sun, etc. However, I was just thinking that this NTU’s new assistant professor’s name is a nice one. Mayasari Lim. This is a good pattern for Chinese Indonesian name, which goes as follows:

Indonesian front name + Chinese (non-Mandarin) surname

with + is a string concatenation operation, while the Indonesian name can be derived from Indian or Arabic names, which are from closely related cultures and also commonly adopted, but not Western ones. That’s why I colloquially refer to this friend of mine as Budi Tan. And what else can we have? Ardianto Ong? Kamila Tjia? Candra Soe? Sukma Kwik?

UPDATE: There is a more thorough about this. [Link]