Taking credit for the goodwill of the world.

There is something odious about the regime in Myanmar that is quite beyond belief. The world has watched as Myanmar's ruling military junta have opposed the efforts of the world to help their desperate people (estimated to be up to 2 million people in dire need of assistance, in the most recent information on the matter). The junta is requesting that aid be delivered without any foreign workers being allowed to accompany it. They say that they will then distribute it.

When I first heard this, I was very suspicious of their motives. My interpretation was that they wanted to take the credit for providing aid to their people. Just think about it: if the man who gives you the box of free food and medicine is in a military uniform, from whom would you think the aid was from? To whom would you be grateful? By the simple expedient of preventing foreigners from distributing it the Burmese government could achieve two aims at once: they would prevent the oppressed Burmese people from learning that the outside world cares about them and is assisting them - and they would create the false impression that the Burmese government does, actually, care for its people and is doing something about it. To allow the Burmese government to distribute the aid is to allow two very big lies to be told, therefore.

Now, that is what I thought when I heard of their conditions. I did not imagine, however, how far the Burmese government would take their deceptive ways. According to a recent Associated Press report, the military government in Burma is handing out aid packages that HAVE BEEN RELABELLED. Stuck on them, in large letters, are the names of Myanmar junta generals. The cynicism of this deception is quite appalling.

I would like to give you the names of the generals who are relabelling food aid - but I can't. You see, one name was mentioned in the AP report, but when I checked back later, the name had been edited out of the online report. I find this odd. It seems to imply that AP have been contacted by the Myanmar government and told where to get off.

So, instead of being concerned about the 2 million endangered citizens of Myanmar, the generals are concerned about turning it into a propaganda opportunity.

All of this makes me wonder why the international community has tolerated this particular regime for the last 46 years. It seems to me that something decisive should have been done a long, long time ago, on behalf of the Burmese people. Yet, nothing is done - and I don't suppose anything concrete ever will be done. The people will just suffer on. The ones who don't die that is.

So, we now have a curious situation in which the world is in a double bind. If the world stands by and does nothing, the people of Myanmar will suffer and die (for their "masters" will do nothing to help them). However, if the world sends aid for the people of Myanmar, their masters will take the credit for it, reinforcing their stranglehold over this choking people - and so they will suffer on. Either way, the people of Myanmar will suffer.

Not to send aid, is to watch the Burmese die. To send aid, is to reinforce the Burmese regime. What a situation.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

A socially aware child: interpersonal intelligence

Fintan is a very socially aware child. In being so, he shows a generous degree of interpersonal intelligence. This is the intellectual function proposed as one of the multiple intelligences, by Howard Gardner - its counterpart is intrapersonal intelligence (knowing oneself).

A couple of weeks ago, it was a hot day. Syahidah and Fintan were in the Dempsey Road area of Singapore - which is a sheltered enclave of idiosyncratic shops and restaurants in low-lying buildings. They recall earlier times when Singapore had more space: it is popular with expats, perhaps for that very reason.

Fintan, four, and Syahidah were walking through the area, casting an eye into the shops that they passed. They had already been there some while and it was nearly time to go home. Suddenly, Syahidah said: "Let's go into the organic shop, Fintan."

They did so. Syahidah walked aimlessly around for a while, in its cool interior, then asked a shop assistant: "Do you have kale?"

"No."

Syahidah lingered in the shop with Fintan, until finally she left with him.

Fintan, four, was studying his mother very carefully. "Mummy, you didn't want anything in that shop did you? You just wanted to go in because of the aircon."

The funny thing is, he was right. Syahidah had just sought the relief of the aircon against the heat of the sunlit outside. She didn't really intend to buy kale, or anything else for that matter. Somehow, Fintan had divined this.

This is not the only time Fintan has seen through matters to their social truth. He often catches the real meaning of what is happening, to a surprising degree.

I think, of all the different ways a child can be smart, this particular one is among the most useful in the long run. After all, understanding people and their ways has implications for success in all areas of life.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Mas Selamat Kastari in the eyes of a child.

Overseas readers might not know who Mas Selamat Kastari is, so I should explain. He is a suspected terrorist, who had been imprisoned as a potential danger to society, who managed to escape detention, in Singapore, a couple of months ago.

So, what would a young child think of this situation and this man?

Fintan, four, revealed his thinking today. He pointed at one of the posters that have appeared all over Singapore of Mas Selamat Kastari and said, to his mother: "Who is this guy? He is everywhere. Is he important?"

It was a funny moment. It was interesting to see that even a four year old noticed the oddness of a man having his face posted everywhere. He had deduced, too, that he must be important - which, in a sense, he is.

It seems strange that even a four year old recognizes Mas Selamat now. That seems to indicate that there is not much chance of him hiding in Singapore - yet, he remains at large. This would seem to suggest that he is not in Singapore at all...for he cannot even hide from four year old eyes, now.

What an odd world we are creating for our little ones to observe - a world in which suddenly a man's face is everywhere who had previously not been seen at all. No wonder my four year old son thinks it is peculiar.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar: the true danger.

Cyclone Nargis swept through the Irrawaddy delta, in Myanmar, killing a confirmed 22,500 people, leaving 41,000 missing and hundreds of thousands homeless and hungry.

That seems bad enough and is assuredly a terrible humanitarian disaster - but what is, in fact, the greatest danger to the people of Myanmar: a cyclone or the state itself?

There is a greater danger, here, than might be apparent, at first. Myanmar's military junta is famously secretive and famously uncooperative with the international community. Yet, now, at this time of great need, they need to drop their usual ways - they need to open up and cooperate with the international community. What will happen if they don't? Well, those hundreds of thousands of people without food and shelter are presently roaming an area filled with rotting corpses lying randomly about devastated fields that once grew rice. The danger of disease - of malaria, dengue, cholera and untold other infections is very present. Without assistance, the death toll for this disaster could dwarf its present total. Indeed, more people could die from the consequences of the cyclone than directly from the cyclone itself. This is the danger of Myanmar's style of government - for they are behaving, to an unfortunate degree, in their typical style. Aid agencies are reporting that the Burmese government is attempting to attach too many conditions to any incoming aid. Basically, they are telling aid agencies: "Give us money and we will distribute it." Yeh, right, sure they will. A government that wants to be aided with money, rather than food and medicine is a government that has another agenda other than the security of its people. That money, unless exchanged for useful goods and equipment, in the situation, is utterly useless. It can, however, enrich the wrong people if it is not, in fact, distributed (as no doubt it wouldn't be).

The government of Myanmar is doubly culpaple in this disaster. Firstly, they failed to warn their people of the incoming cyclone - something any state could and should do. A simple warning could have saved many lives. Secondly, they are not cooperating in an optimum manner with aid agencies - they appear to be trying to use the situation to benefit the ruling elite in other ways, rather than directly assisting the endangered people.

It is abundantly clear, that the present government of Myanmar does not have the best interests of its people at heart. Perhaps more of the people of Myanmar will realize this now that they see the behaviour of the government in its biggest crisis in many years.

There is a price to be paid for a closed society. A society which is not truly open to the wider world is also more vulnerable to any disaster that might befall it. It is a more fragile and brittle society. Myanmar is discovering that in these trying days. I only hope that the Burmese government begins to think of its people and allows the aid agencies free and unimpeded access - and that it drops aspirations of cashing in on the situation.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

The passenger should be in control

In Singapore, taxi drivers pride themselves on their dishonesty. Or, at least they appear to. I have travelled quite widely (about 20 countries) but I cannot recall a nation of taxi drivers so prone to invent ways to increase their income at the expense of the passenger.

A case in point, minor as it might seem, is when the taxi stops. Ask yourself, how many times has the taxi driver refused to stop the meter at that moment - but then makes excuses to wait, by adjusting the mirror, fiddling with the steering, staring vacantly into space, or edging the car forward again, after stopping, all in the hope of nudging the meter up another 20 cents? If you have had the same experiences I have with taxi drivers then you would have to say that most drivers do this. Almost all drivers will try to wait or roll forward, to make the meter roll up another 20 cents.

Does 20 cents extra per journey matter? Well, it does if you add it up across a year. Many Singaporeans take at least two taxi journeys a day, some take four or more. However, let us look at 2 per day. That is 730 per year. That works out at $146 per year stolen from you by taxi drivers, simply because they cheat the fare by 20 cents at the end of every journey.

Today was an example of this kind. The taxi stopped. The meter didn't. The taxi driver started adjusting everything in sight. I told him: "Stop the meter". He didn't. He carried on adjusting. "Stop the meter". I said again. He didn't. He carried on adjusting - in sullen silence. "Stop the meter". I said. He didn't. Though he did stop moving. He just sat there, hoping the meter would suddenly tick over. It didn't. Finally, I said: "Stop the meter!" rather more insistently. Finally he reached slowly forward and stopped the meter. It hadn't rolled up despite his best effort. (It takes 45 seconds of waiting, I understand, or some extra distance - hence the rolling forward). Now, I don't know about you, but I find this taxi ritual irritating. It irritates me that I have, so often, to fight the driver to get him to stop the meter when he should. It shouldn't be like this. A change is needed. The passenger should be in control of the meter. Any passenger should have the right to reach over and stop the meter. In fact, I have been thinking about starting to do just that - to stop it myself, at the end of every journey. I wonder how that would go down?

Anyway, it would be good to see a special button in the back of every cab, that allowed the passenger to stop the meter - because $146 a year taxation on a typical Singaporean, by cab drivers, is a little too much. In fact, for many it would be much more. My family typically takes perhaps 4 cabs per day. That is $300 a year extra in unnecessary charges because almost all taxi drivers show this particular kind of dishonesty.

I suggest that people start stopping the meter, when the cab stops: just reach over and push that button. You really shouldn't wait until the driver gets around to it - it isn't fair on you. Or put it another way, do you really want to give taxi drivers an annual bonus of $146 out of your own pocket, as a reward for dishonesty?

I don't.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

How to console a little boy.

On May 2nd 2008, Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, came into the room where I was working at something.

"Where's mummy?" he asked, looking around for her, clearly a little tense.

"Mummy is out." I looked down at him, trying to say, with my eyes, that Daddy was here, so that should be OK.

He wasn't satisfied. "Where's mummy?" He asked, rather more insistently, looking intently at me.

I explained to him where mummy was.

He seemed to have another idea. He looked past me at the wall and pointed at a photograph he saw there: "There's mummy!" He hurried over to the photograph, all tension seeping from him. He stood there, looking up at the photograph, quite content. I was touched. It was enough for him to see a picture of his mummy, to be consoled.

He played quite happily thereafter, until her return, knowing that all he had to do if he missed his mummy was to look up at the wall to see her. Sweet.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and five months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and ten months, and Tiarnan, twenty-seven months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind, niño, gênio criança, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)