How to speak Chinese.

Everyone can speak Chinese. All you need to know is that the only language the Chinese understand is money. So, key to fluency in Chinese, lies in the wallet.

Now, there is a reason I say this. Yesterday, China executed a mentally ill man for a crime he did not knowingly commit. I very much doubt that any other country in the world, at China's level of development, would have done so. Thus, China is an aberration by world standards.

Many developed nations spoke out against what China wished to do...they pointed to the man's SELF-EVIDENT mental illness as a reason for commuting his sentence - yet China refused to listen. The reason they did not listen seems clear. The protesting nations spoke in terms of "human rights" - well, China does not care about human rights. The protesting nations spoke in terms of the value of human life - well, China does not value human life. The protesting nations spoke about the rule of law - well, China does not care about the rule of law. So, China killed him anyway. The reason China did not listen is because the protesting nations and organizations were speaking the wrong language. There is only ONE language the Chinese really understand: money. Thus, the way to make the Chinese listen is very simple - all the British had to do, to save Akmal Shaikh, was to say this: "We will suspend all trade with China until you guarantee Akmal Shaikh's safety. No British company or individual will be allowed to buy any Chinese goods until he is set free and returned to us for suitable treatment."

China would have listened to such language. You see, Britain is China's third largest trading partner, globally. Trade with Britain is worth tens of billions of US dollars annually to China. They would do quite a lot to avoid losing such income. In their eyes, I am fairly sure that setting one man free would be a minor matter compared to losing tens of billions of dollars of income.

So, in future, if the world needs to make China listen, they should just propose suspending trade if they do not. This, apart from war, is probably the only way to make China listen to the wishes of the international community.

This suggestion comes too late for Akmal - but it could be used in any situation in which China is about to commit what is, by international standards, an atrocity, or grave injustice.

There is another aspect of this that has been overlooked. China refused to accept Akmal's mental illness as a reason for clemency (although it has been reported that Akmal's defence was so incoherent, in the court, that the judges openly laughed at him - a very disturbing reaction, in itself. How often have you heard of a judge laughing at a defendant, anywhere in the world?). It is clear, that if China ignored Akmal's mental state that they are likely to ignore the mental state, also, of any Chinese national who comes before them. Thus, their judiciary is, most probably, committing many such acts of terrible and cruel injustice, annually, to THEIR OWN PEOPLE. So, it would be fitting if the international community of nations and organizations lobbied China for a change on their rules concerning the prosecution of the mentally ill. It may even be necessary to apply the kind of pressure mentioned above to get them to listen - because, after all, like most authoritarian regimes, China basically ignores world opinion.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

A need for moral insight.

Does the People's Republic of China have moral insight, at a State level? I ask this because recent events suggest otherwise. I shall explain.

A British man, Akmal Shaikh, 53, is under penalty of death and due to be executed tomorrow morning for carrying 4 kg of heroin into the country. Now, that might seem like a simple matter of executing (under Chinese law) a drug smuggler who happened to get caught. However, it is not so simple: you see Akmal Shaikh has bipolar disorder and, at the time of his supposed offense, was acting under the delusion that he was flying to China to make a hit record. Apparently, he had been duped into carrying a suitcase filled with heroin, of which he was utterly unaware - at least, that is what his supporters say. The Chinese State, on the other hand, seems to see things in a rather more black and white fashion that goes a bit like this: "Man caught with drugs. Drugs bad. Kill man." They are not considering whether it was even possible for this particular man, to understand what he was doing, or what, in fact, is going on.

It is curious to note that China is unable to immediately see the problem with their proposed execution. The rest of the world seems to have no trouble identifying the trickiness of this scenario. Yet a spokeperson for the Chinese embassy would only say that the amount of heroin he was carrying "could kill 26,800 people". Yes, it could, if they all decided to overdose on it. However, almost all would not. It is interesting, however, that the Chinese refuse to understand the situation and keep harping on the drug he was carrying. It has never occurred to them that you can't convict a man of doing something he didn't know he was doing. There is something called "intention" - and he had no intention of carrying these drugs and, we are told, no knowledge that he was carrying them. So, it is clear that, although a crime has taken place, he is not a criminal. The crime lays with whomever GAVE him the drugs. That is the person or people who should be tracked down, caught and tried - not the innocent mule who was unaware of his burdened status.

Then again, there is the matter of his bipolar disorder. If he was "high" and knowingly carried drugs (which it is said he was not), then he could not have been responsible for this, either - since, in that condition, he may be unable to understand the implications, consequences and nature of his actions.

All of this is very straightforward and most reasonable people have no trouble understanding it. However, as it is now, the Chinese have given no indication that they understand these issues - or appreciate their relevance to the impending execution. Yet, I note something most, most odd: the Chinese have kept Akmal Shaikh prisoner in A HOSPITAL. Thus, they know, for sure, that he is mentally ill: that is their OWN assessment - yet still they persist in arranging his execution. That indicates a fundamental lack of morality in the justice system - and a fundamental failure to appreciate human rights. The need to make an example of this hapless man is greater than the desire to see that the RIGHT thing is done and the JUST thing is done. Spectacle is to take precedence over humanity.

I hope, for the sake of this unfortunate man, that China wakes up to some degree of moral understanding before the morning and cancels this man's execution. Akmal Shaikh doesn't need a lethal injection - he needs a quiet place free of stress where he might calm down and achieve some equanimity.

Looking at this matter from a broader perspective, it strikes me as peculiar that certain countries are very quick to execute drug mules (Singapore and China for instance), but less in a hurry to track down the networks that supplied the drugs. It would have more impact, in the long run, were they to keep the mules alive and pump them for clues as to their "bosses", in the hope of working out the supply chain. Maybe they do try...but I don't see much result. All we see are fairly regular executions, in this part of the world, for people carrying sometimes surprisingly modest amounts of drugs.

So, it is not just China that needs to look to its conscience in this matter - but other countries, too. Should the mules be sentenced to death, since they are often unwitting pawns in a much larger enterprise? Or should such sentences be reserved for the organizers?

We will find out, tomorrow, how much China has understood of these issues. So will Akmal Shaikh.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight 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.

We are the founders of Genghis Can, a copywriting, editing and proofreading agency, that handles all kinds of work, including technical and scientific material. If you need such services, or know someone who does, please go to: http://www.genghiscan.com/ Thanks.

IMDB is the Internet Movie Database for film and tv professionals. If you would like to look at my IMDb listing for which another fifteen credits are to be uploaded, (which will probably take several months before they are accepted) please go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3438598/ As I write, the listing is new and brief - however, by the time you read this it might have a dozen or a score of credits...so please do take a look. My son, Ainan Celeste Cawley, also has an IMDb listing. His is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3305973/ My wife, Syahidah Osman Cawley, has a listing as well. Hers is found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication prohibited. Use Only with Permission. Thank you.)

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.)

Talent will out

There is a saying in Britain: "Talent will out". This means that those who are talented will eventually succeed - but is this true? One doesn't have to be very observant, in life, to come across many people who are evidently talented, but not very successful. Clearly, all is not as it seems.

My contention, supported by a lifetime of experience and observation, is that talent, in itself, is not enough to guarantee success in any field. There are simply too many other factors at work, as well. Often, it is not the most talented person who succeeds - but the best connected. This is an example of the "who you know, not what you know" phenomenon.

Acting is a case in point. What is the background of the actors who "make it" in public life? Well, very often, in fact, too, too often, they come from families who are already connected to showbusiness. This explains something I was often confronted with, when I was an actor: the best actors did not necessarily get the jobs - and the ones who did get the jobs, weren't always that good as actors. They had something else going for them: they knew the people involved in the projects. This happened a lot.

I met many good actors in those days. I met many actors who seemed to have much more talent than their famous colleagues - and yet, they were relatively unknown. They had talent but they didn't have the opportunities provided by good connections in the business - and so, ultimately, they failed to succeed.

I use acting as an example, but this phenomenon will apply, in varying degrees, to almost all areas of life: knowing the right people really helps - in fact a lot more than actually being the right person (in the sense of having the talent).

Let us just check out the backgrounds of a couple of famous actors as examples. Ewan MacGregor - of Star Wars fame. Now, those who know him well, won't be surprised, but others, who don't, might be surprised to learn that he had a relative in the original Star Wars film. No doubt that connection helped put him in touch with George Lucas, at the right time. Furthermore he is related by blood or the marriage of his relatives, to three established figures in British showbusiness: Denis Lawson, Shelia Gish (very respected) and Lou Gish. With such a base of connections to start out with in the showbusiness world, it would have been a lot easier for the young Ewan MacGregor to establish himself than his unconnected contemporary competitors.

Another example is Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. He started out his career as one of the most connected individuals you could imagine. Both of his parents work, in some way or other, in showbusiness. His mother is actually a casting director. That is the person whose job it is to select people for roles on behalf of production companies: they are the people who cast actors. Clearly, she would know, personally, many key players in the business, many people able to give her son a job. The same could be said for his father. He is a literary agent - which is more relevant that it seems. A literary agent is connected to the film and tv worlds through the sale of books to them. So, his father, too, would have good showbusiness connections. It is impossible to run Daniel Radcliffe's life again, without his parents connections, but undoubtedly he would have had a hard time of it - and may, in fact, never have succeeded at all, without them. That is what I would expect, anyway, from what I have seen in other talented but unconnected individuals.

There are many talented people in this world who never really get the chance to shine. I met many on my way in England. None of them made it. Yet, many of them "had it" - in the sense of talent. It is a pity really. I have often thought how much better films and theatre would be if the person who was cast was actually the best person for the role - rather than just the best connected person (as it usually is). I rather feel that the quality of that particular art would be so much higher if it were so.

No doubt this observation applies to many other areas of life, too. Everything would be so much better if it was genuinely the best, most suited person doing it. Indeed, it would be good, indeed, if the saying: "Talent will out", was true - but it isn't.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and four months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and nine months, and Tiarnan, twenty-six 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, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)

Why does no-one speak out?

Today, I went to the post office and learnt something more of the nature of the Singaporean people.



The post office is just like Singaporean banks: prone to long queues and slow service. Today, however, the post office staff excelled themselves. They seemed to be competing with each other to do as little as possible to while away the hours - and get paid for their time. I only wish they were actually paid for what they do.



When I arrived at Killiney post office this afternoon at 4.40 pm, there were five post office staff present. That seems a reasonable number. Oddly, however, only one of them seemed to be attending to customers. The others had adopted various postures of idleness. There were two people sat behind the counter - one serving, the other hiding behind a sign that said their position was closed.



The queue wasn't a long one but it was a very, very slow one. There were only about four people ahead of me in the queue - but it was a full twenty to twenty five minutes before I got to the front of the queue. That is far too slow, for so few people waiting.



As I waited, gradually more stations were opened. First two, then finally three. (That still left two staff doing apparently nothing, of course).



However, this did not seem to speed matters up particularly. I waited at the front of the queue for a good five minutes before something both bizarre and unwelcome occurred.



A very large woman (larger than me) wearing bright yellow, one or two places from the back of the queue, gestured to one of the post office staff with two objects in her hands. He was the man at the "Speedpost" counter. (I know it is a funny name for such a slow postal service!) He had been serving general customers as well as "Speedpost" customers. He looked at what was in her hands and gestured that she should come over to him.



I was shocked. I had been waiting in the queue for far too long - and so had everyone else - yet this woman from the back of the queue was being gestured to come forward to be served immediately.



He attended to the objects she held. Then she presented him with a huge pile of bills that I had not previously seen. (Bills can be paid at Singaporean post offices). She proceeded to pay each bill, one at a time.



I looked at this scene in amazement. Others too had seen her jump the queue and get served without having to wait like everyone else. However, I was particularly irked since she had taken what should have been my place.



What I was more amazed by was everyone else's reaction. Though what this large, yellow lady had done was unjust to all who had waited for perhaps 20 to 30 minutes in the queue, no-one, absolutely no-one said anything. They all accepted this injustice in silence.



I saw in their silence a more general tendency not to speak out. A nation of people who won't speak out on the little things, won't speak out on the big things, either. Here was a nation of people that anyone, absolutely anyone, with a bit of nerve, could treat unjustly - and no-one would say a word. They would accept the unjust circumstance, rather like they accept the rain - as if it is something about which they can do nothing.



As I watched their communal silence, and their evident communal awareness that someone wasn't playing fair, I grew ever more perturbed. There was something unnatural in the way they accepted her selfish action, without comment. The natural response of most people would be to complain to the woman or the staff member who had served her. Such a response would be prompted by emotions innate to all humans, everywhere. Yet, those emotional responses were either absent from, or not expressed by, these Singaporeans. I wondered, then, what had been done to these people to make them so suppress their natural response to injustice. It seemed as if they had deeply imbibed the lesson that silence must be maintained in the face of all that is wrong with the world. It was most odd.

Finally a counter became free and I was served. It took no more than 45 seconds to attend to my simple task - though I had waited at least half an hour to be attended to.

As I was leaving, I approached the staff member who was still busily serving the queue jumper.

"Why did you let her jump the queue?" I asked him, in a voice loud enough to be heard by all in the room, but not so loud as to be unrestrained.

He stared up at me in silence.

"Don't you know it is bad manners?", I continued.

His silence remained unbroken.

"It shouldn't be allowed. It is unfair on everyone else."

His grey hair framed his uncommunicative face, but he refrained from speech.

Interestingly, the woman who had queue jumped said nothing either. Surely, she knew that what she had done was wrong.

Somewhat depressingly, the whole queue of customers looked on, in silence. Not one person took the chance to join in, in support. Not one person joined me in voicing a complaint. What is the point of standing up for a people who will not stand up for themselves? It is a thankless task. These people didn't even speak up for themselves when someone else had stepped forward to do so (providing them an example) - not even that could prompt them to speak.

The funny thing is, from the way they maintained their silence when I spoke out, it was almost as if I, too, was breaking a social rule when I complained - the one that said: "Don't speak out, no matter what!"

I left Killiney post office with a much lower opinion of its staff - and a better understanding of the Singaporean people.

It is clear that something in the culture here denies the natural responses of all humans to react to injustice - on both an emotional and intellectual level. The natural emotional expressiveness common to all humans, is stifled here.

In the western countries I have lived in, I would have expected the customers in the queue to berate the woman for jumping the queue, at the very least. It is likely that an arguement would have ensued. In some countries, it is even possible that that arguement may have become physical. I would also have thought that the staff member would have scolded her and sent her back to the queue. This would have been a typical outcome for her attempt to jump a half hour queue, at the expense of everyone else. However, nothing happened apart from a sullen silence from all who were present.

I would welcome comments from Singaporeans themselves as to what urges them to silence in situations when people from virtually everywhere else in the world, would speak out. I am sure a lot of people would be interested to know.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and one month, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and seven months, and Tiarnan, two years exactly, 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, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)