Screen Messaging

 The variety of contemporary social media communication, on screens of all sizes,

spreads across various options.   Messages, especially social ones, are sent at all times of the day or night, with little regard for the niceties of rules after hours and with the apparent gusto of the convenience of the sender.

The existence of group chat messages, although purposeful when they started being available, has witnessed its down side.   Arguments have broken out due to the steadfastness in belief and principle held and expressed by specific individual participants.   Much controversy has arisen over matters and issues practically beyond the control of such indivuduals - and arguments breaking out in group chats over various people taking a stand of their own views.

This further leads to the observation that many such online chat groups serve the need to reinforce the comfort and assurance of those who want to hear and read what they already believe in - and such chat groups are not for those who have a healthy interest in listening to or trying to understand other views on the same subject.

Line, Tik Tok, Instagram, Whtssapp, Signal and Telegram, to mention a few, supposedly have varying degrees of supposed privacy and encryption.

All offer voice, video, message and attachment capabilities.   Some restrict the number of words in text messages, all have storage capacity limits.  Unless one occasionally deletes the creeping build up of content on such apps, there can be inevitable grief.   Many in a group chat app utilise the feature of disappearing messages after a predetermined time, but will some members  miss some earlier messages shared if they do not regularly check such group messages?

Do we want to carry a chat without using audio at all - consisting of finger taps that may not spell properly,  some in a rush without careful thought and others in  such a casual manner of using lingo that will be not acceptable in formal writing.  The art of writing has been undermined and rare do we get to read a message with the grace of full grammar, punctuation and careful thought.  To me, conversation with some other human being is best carried out face to face and by articulating our spoken abilities.

There can be an expectation of a fast reply in messaging.   The reality is that such written messages can be only read at the next opportunity when the recipient has time to do so.   Yes, apps do offer features as well when the message sender knows that their message has been read by the recipient.  It must be borne in mind that each message recipient has a basic human right to be not using a cyberspace device all the time and be free of on screen demands as well - there are other things to do with our personal time.

The over crowding of messages, say on Whats App, does dilute the importance of written messages going through this Meta owned channel.    When a specific sender usually bombs recipients with an over whelming load of messages filled with casual links of video and web connections, many of no mutual interest on the part of the recipient, there can be an inevitable outcome.   Recipients lose interest in such messages, pyschologically withdraw from opening the offered links and inevitably will miss opening  the occasional significant personalised messages from the sender.

This dilution of paying attention in reaction to such overloading of otherwise not personally important messages has occured in the use of emails not long ago.
Such messages can reek of propaganda from a political and commercial view point.   The daily receipt of such communication can be compared to junk in the phyaical post box of old and the advertisements forced upon our viewing pleasure in paid or free to air streaming services.

Daily greetings do mean the effort and concern of meaningful friends or relatives
who make time to reach out to us.  At times, the recipient may not check his screen messages daily.  Is it considered rude not to always respond on a timely basis?

Images and weblinks can be attached on messaging apps, much like what we used to do with emails.  Several types of attachments can pose higher risks of containing cyberspace viruses or attacks, especially when images received can be automatically saved on to your gallery in your smart phones.

Short form written messages can be made in haste.  Recipients can misinterpret, take it out of context or not realise the true intended tone of such messages.

Formal issues are best written on documents or emails for recording purposes rather than left to the casualness of other communication methods.

Video clips can use up limited device storage capacity in our smart devices rather quickly.   Deletion of content can become a regular exercise in using apps.

You Tube links can be short, middling or long in requiring your time to view their clips.   For many of us, our attention span has sadly shortened to quick injections of dopamine to our physical brain wiring.

The instinctive need to share with and forward to friends and relatives can be an inherent human behaviour.    We discover new things on and off when we are informed.   We can be more willing to inquire and trust when we are communicated by someone we know in person, rather than from third parties.   However the recipient can have a problem with information overload.

Is there a protocol of politeness that we have to respond to every message sent to us?   What about messages that are forwarded from other chats, messages that originate from people or sources we do not know, but transmitted to us by a person we know?   Time and time again on the other hand we are advised to not click on dubious links.

In a working envionment, information sent or discussions made on apps may no longer be accessible, unlike emails or email attachments.

So how do we manage and learn to say no in response to the above situations?  I myself plead guilty to committing several of the misdemeanours discussed above.

#yongkevthoughts

What Used To Belong To Me

 Designs on various, current and former parts of the Malaysian Federation seem to not let up.

When the Malaysian Federation was formed in 1963, the Republic of Indonesia under Suharto threatened the formatoom of the Federation, triggering a Confrontation crisis across the Malacca Straits.

Thailand used to have sovereignty over Trenggganu, Kelantan, Kedah and Perlis.
The colonial British authorities referred to them as part of the Unfederated Malay States ( Johore State being the other member).

Penang State's formation was based on some agreement between colonial British Captain Francis Light and the then Kedah Sultan in 1786.  The Pearl of the Orient was part of the Sultanate of Kedah when it was relatively undeveloped on the arrival of the British sailing ships ( I am still curious as to why the Portuguese and Dutch did not venture much into Penang Island with impact).

The Kedah Sultanate paid homage to Bangkok royalty then as expressed in the sending of the iconic Bunga Mas to Thai King Rama I.  The tradititional vibes of Thai culture and practices can be observed especially in Kedah, which has a Bujang Valley full of important Buddhist archeological troves from before the arrival of Islam.   South east Asia was basically under significant religious, language, political and traditional influence from India.

Eastward across the South China Sea from from the peninsular,  the decision for Sabah and Sarawak to join the Federation of Malaysia was made by an inner circle of individuals chosen by the departing British  - no public referendum was held.

Large portions of Sabah and Sarawak were ruled by the Brunei Sultanate, which had conflicts with the Sulu Sultanate.  People from Mindanao historically have ties with Sabah.  The significance of the influence of both the Sulu and Brunei Sultanates has often been undermentioned in the annals of the island of Borneo, now shared territorially amongst Indonesia, Malaysia and the compact but oil rich state of Brunei.

The Phllippines today is a nation with a Malay cultural basis, transformed by 400 years of Spanish Catholicism, a hundred years or so of American colonialism and still having millions of Muslims residing in its southern islands.   Sulu is part of this flank of the Filipino identity.

Back on the Malay Peninsular, Malacca was a city state founded by a Hindu prince and who had converted to Islam by the time the colonial Portuguese arrived.   The port city has historically welcomed trade, migrants, religions, finance and diversity.  Its significant role in south east Asia was overtaken by the burgeoning ports of Penang and Singapore.  Together the colonial British grouped them up as the British Straits Settlements ( together with the much forgotten district of Dindings in southerm Perak).

Sir Stamford Raffles managed in 1819 to get the Johor Sultanate to part with Singapore after the former realised the strategic potential of the island's location at the nexus between the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea.  Contemporary Republic of Singapore governments are very emphatic in maintaining and developing strong relationships with the Johor Sultanate.

Singapore broke away from the Malaysian Federation after only two years.  Its high economic stature in standard of living, growth, financial prowess, governance reputation and technological investment surpasses many other nations larger in land size than her.  The Singapore government is ever conscious of her critical role in geopolitics and dependence on imports.   Will Johor want to reclaim Singapore?  

Will Sulu want to have Sabah back?
Will Penang revert as Kedah territory?
Will the northern Malay States want to rejoin the southern Thai Malay states?

Politics is an ever changing game.   Boundaries can be as fluid and pliable as what those in power want them to be.
Nations control parts which can be home to cultures and religions different from their controlling political centre.

The historical basis of which present countries have been formed can be flagged to the side in the game of acquiring resources, opportunities and power.  

#yongkevthoughts

English Language News

 Nation wide news bulletins across a nation, small or large, understandably reflect the language, political shade and culture of her predominant inhabitants.

Across China, Pu Tong Hua or the Standard Speak, is pervasive across the massive extent of her territory, from Hei Long jian in the north east to Tibet in the south west.  The national tv broadcaster, CCTV, uses an updated version of a language agreed upon the embarkation  of the Republic formed after the fall of the last imperial dynasty in 1911.

We are what we speak.   Our thoughts are articulated in the language we speak.  We often do not lose the ability to speak the language of our childhood, in the community or nation where we first grow up.

The reinforcement of constant language spoken by or to us is reflected in what is articulated in news media, whether spoken, written, read or listened to.  Nations with a mainly homogenous demographic have no issues with the choice of official national language.

What then faces countries with  a diverse population in terms of ethnicity, culture and language?    There are societies facing this situation due to past colonialism,  history or active recruitment of immigrants from different parts of the world.

The Republic of South Africa has a dozen official languages but English and Afrikaans rule the news broadcasts there.
Singhalese dominate in Sri Lanka.  Both Thailand and Indonesia stand out in using only their national languages as news broadcasts, with English notably absent - this is understandable as Thailand was never colonised and Indonesia was under the Dutch colonists.  However, both countries have diverse cultural groups in their domain.

The island Republic of Singapore has a national language of Malay and three official languages of Mandarin, English and Tamil.  Yes,  the free to air news telecasts are available daily in all the four languages.   Even public announcements on the MRT reflect these four languages.

The nearby Federation of Malaysia in contrast has elevated Malay to increasingly be the de facto lingua franca of national and official stature.   I understand there may only be a sole English language news bulletin on free to air tv in Malaysia ( on a commercial channel if I am not wrong).   The numbers of non Malays in the current 34 million population of Malaysia has decreased since the 1980s due to migration, official discrimination,  low birth rates and political climate.

The United States has had an image of welcoming migration.   Think of the lure of the Statute of Liberty,  Hollywood movies, university admission,  relatively low taxation amongst the Western nations,  lifestyle attractions and the power of so called democracy.  Even if Latin Americans propel in numbers to be an ever larger percentage of the USA population,  the Englush language dominates in news broadcasts, although Spanish cannot be ignored,  especially in the parts that truly and formerly were part of Mexico.   Immigrants from overseas continue to take to the English language like ducks to water, especially those from former colonies of the now defunct British Empire.

Australia  had a long term White Australia Policy, until it was dismantled by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in the 1970s.   Since then it has embraced diversity in its welcoming of migrants, until recent developments domestically and in geopolitics.  It is said that capital cities
like Melbourne and Sydney have residents with backgrounds of around 200 nations.

The news media across Australia is mainly in the English language.  An exception is the free to air SBS service funded by taxpayers and going into its 50th year.  I recall being impressed by SBS streaming in news bulletins from across the world as early as the late 1980s.  I could tune in overnight to uncensored news presentations in their original non- English languages.  

Sad to say, since the reign of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Russian language news from Moscow and Mandarin language news from Beijing have not been allowed on SBS.   Instead SBS World Watch now streams in daily news bullletins of several languages from India, apart from Hindi.  There are perhaps 200 separate Indigenous cultures across the Australian continent, yet there is no regular news broadcast in any Aboriginal language.

English language news prevalence in daily news across Australia is spiked by access on free to air of news from the BBC, CBS, NBC, ABC USA,  Deutsche Welle, France 24,  CBC Canada, NHK and the Phillippines.

In recognition of the significant role of English as a practical international language of communication, technology, politics, finance and trade,  several newscasters of note provide world wide access of news in that language.

#yongkevthoughts

The Stars From The Universe Are Watching

 April and May 2025 can be emerging as a a transitionary time, when the stars of the Universe are looking at the choices of many groups of Homo Sapiens in their rituals and society behaviours.   Will the course of human civillisation encounter significant changes, or more things will be the same, with just different players forefront on the world stage?

Elections can be just smokescreens to seemingly give the human being on the street a sense of participation.   The powers that truly are can be putting the individuals they control as their continuing agents.

Registered voters head to the booths to mark their ballots in Canada, Singapore and Australia.   

Canada has seen the exit of long time Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government has overseen the age of Covid epidemics, changing attitudes towards relentless immigration,  more acknowledgement of past injustices towards her Indigenous peoples, continuing pressure from the government of her nearest neighbour and rising costs of living.

Singapore has a newly minted Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, urgently handling a sweeping change of the landscape in international  trade, finance and economic exchanges as the fall out from the return to power of a controversial person as the POTUS.  That latter person has recently been most effective in creating widespread uncertainty.

The Australian Labor Government seeking re-election on 3 May has at most been under performing under Anthony Albanese, who has been reluctant to differ in several respects from its Opposition,  continue to toe the line and requirements from the USA and been ineffective and mainly bushfire reactive to the rising costs of housing, food, utilities, lack of commercial competition and social issues.

Although restricted to the Conclave, laden with traditional secrecy and religious ritual,  the selection of the next Pope at the Vatican is essentially a political process.    The successful candidate, who emerges on the balcony after white smoke is seen bellowing,  presides over 1.4 billion Catholics, mainly in Africa, South and Central America, the Phillippines, Timor-Leste and Europe.

Nations outside the USA are scrambling to reorganise supply logistics, access to critical minerals and manufacturing ingredients, payment systems, trading arrangements, over reliance on the USA and other impacts on GDP and economic growth.

Military conflict, suffering by the masses as part of socio-political aggression, the enrichment of the arnaments business and an intense propaganda media channeling remain key features of continuing disputes in the part of the world that transverses Sudan, Yemen, Gaza, the West Bank,  Ukraine and bordering parts of Russia.

Will Europe wake up to being more self reliant, more proactive and united in her affairs and strategy?   It can be a time to diversify alliances, partners and arrangements.   So can the disparate nations of South-east Asia, historically caught between the tradewinds and politics of the so called East and West.   Problems can be opportunity,   challenges can be the time to build a new future.

The sanctions, boycotts and cutoffs faced by the Chinese economy in recent years have made China even more determined and passionate to significantly improve their growing advanced technology,  reduce strategic  risks and become more self sufficient.    This is a nation that does not have enough food security,  takes on the massive macro debts of an over spending USA and now beginning to reduce the utilisation of the USD, long seen as a safe vital currency.

So will change be grabbed by the horns of the proverbial bull?    Will voters choose more of the same?   Can political leaders realise that viable preparations for a very different social, political and economic future may be too late?   Will governments continue to bask in the comfort zone of a landscape that has disappeared and not come back?  Will societies continue to be led by individuals who think less of their own nation and follow the wants of another country?   Will cabinets wait for reactive mindsets, instead of being proactive?

#yongkevthoughts

As Autumn Arrives

 As autumn supposedly has arrived in the southern parts of Australia,  flora is decelarating growth from their summer speeds.  I say "supposedly" as it can be still humid and warm on afternoons in New South Wales.   Sunrises and sunsets have not displayed thd intense colours, hues and streaks that I expect in April in the Antipodes.

As leaves begin to discolour and drop, I drag out the old furniture to the garage.   Another step forward in the process of the twice yearly roadside disposal provided by the local Council.   Daylight savings had ended a few weeks ago - and nights look more full as they arrive earlier. 

I have a motley collection of mainly smallish items which I say I want to part with - but never seem to be able to do.   What is it that we are encouraged to do - start small, do it regularly and soon the job is done?

I can be the type who loves to pull out the weeds one by one, instead of procastinating and eventually do  a bombardment of weed killer spray.
Procastination irritates me, but I go through periods practising it.   At times I find that delaying a chore can pay off, but often it is simpler and more rewarding to do it on a timely basis.

In a burgeoning contemporary world of more self service and self management,  what I find remarkably irritating are constant App updates to new versions,  regular change of passwords and greater recurrence of cutoffs that never happened before the internet of things.

Is there more choice in entertainment for the family and self?    While payable streaming services increase, there are more ads and less inspiring programmes on free to air screens.   Cinema megaplexes are still around, despite the rise of access to personalised viewing as opposed to shared collective viewing.
Our human eyes strain under the weight of reading, writing and viewing on small but portable devices.

Food we may have taken for granted are increasingly processed, prepacked, programmed and interfered with.  Climate change affects our usual growing sources, politics and logistical barriers challenge distribution and consumers are further distanced from the producers.

We can now bank without physically stepping into one.   We can dine at our own accord without ever knowing the kitchen and staff cooking it.   We  generate work output without meeting our team members.   We  purchase goods and services without having to go to a mall.

We are told we can save our personal time to do other things.   Do we use the freed up opportunity to embrace more of Nature, the vibes beyond the electronic, artificial and virtual world significantly enveloping us?

Do I fully realise its autumn, with her gentle embrace of an ever spinning Earth?

#yongkevthoughts