Next Half Semester Begins June 2020

Few days ago (on May 27), the Ministry of Higher Education announced that all university classes should be conducted online until 31 December 2020 (see picture below). In some sense, this is to be expected; we have already made online classes just before the MCO in early March and also throughout MCO. The only problem is those classes involving laboratories and laboratory research activities. For these, the same announcement mentioned that it will be allowed in stages as follows:

• Postgraduate students are allowed to return to campus immediately enabling them to continue with their research without delay.
• Final year B.Sc. students whose projects involve laboratory research, will be allowed to return to campus on July 1, 2020. This is also extended to those final year students (irrespective whether they are involved with laboratory research or not) who are having difficulties with accessing the internet at home.
• For completeness, another category are students in polytechnical & community colleges; they are allowed to return to campus on August 1, 2020.

For my own students of theoretical physics, they are not quite included in the categories above since they do not have experiments to run. When asked, most of them have agreed to work from home. To ensure regular interactions, we have our regular QuEST meeting and I have already started supervisory committee meetings with students, hopefully once in a fortnight for each student. Here are pics from my presentation in the last QuEST meeting.

Here's one from supervisory committee meting for my PhD student Faudzi:

From the announcement made by the Ministry of Security and Defence, those commuters from say  Seremban, will be able to cross the state borders to get to their workplace in Selangor, beginning tomorrow. However, I will still continue to work from home tomorrow unless instructed otherwise. Note that the MCO period is until 9 June. Have been told that those who want to be in the campus tomorrow, need to register earlier, which I have not. Was informed that at the main gate, we need to do scan the QR code to register/check on our presence and even for the buildings, entrance is through the main doors. I will try to go to the campus on the week of 10 June just to return library books and get my books home from the office. Was told that the staff presence will be in groups by rotation. Not yet sure how this work yet, whether we will need to be there the full working hour. Virtual classes will resume next week. Even if we are in campus, no physical classes is allowed. We have been told that we need to punch in even if working from home by 15 June but we can start doing so by tomorrow.

Whatever it is, I hope this transition to the new norm will be smooth and not be troublesome. For me, I do prefer to work at home given that my home is a distant away (in Seremban) and thus I do not need to spend time travelling (around 40-45 minutes one way with regular traffic). I also like the flexibility of shifting my tasks around (which I can't do in normal circumstances) but yet maintaining the discipline to do usual work. The only thing that I see as disadvantages are the increase in electricity bill at home in this period and of course the absence of physical interactions. Also, I still worry what to do with EQuaLS 2020 that we postpone/cancel previously. Any ideas, how to proceed with this?

Eid-ul Fithri 1441

'Eid-ul Fithri was celebrated by Muslims on May 24, 2020. This year's 'Eid was celebrated differently due to Covid-19 crisis. In Malaysia, 'Eid fell within the extended MCO period. There have been relaxed conditions for essential business and activities to move. Some form of relaxation is also given to the celebration of 'Eid. People are allowed to visit relatives and friends within the same state but interstate travel are still not allowed apart from essential activities. Even the allowed visits are to be done within a day (as it should - unlike the usual 'Eid month of celebration) and other constraints are put in place. At any one time, there should not be any more than twenty people in the home being visited and social distancing restrictions apply (no salam or hugs).

Our 'Eid began with the breaking of fast together with rendang, nasi himpit and kuah kacang. That night, of course, our mobile phones were busy with virtual 'Eid greetings. We made ours earlier, anticipating the massive online traffic.

The picture in this virtual 'Eid greeting was from last year's 'Eid. This year, we will be celebrating without our second son Ihsan as he is working in Pulau Indah, Selangor (a different state). In fact, he was to be on duty on the day of 'Eid itslef plus several days after as his workmates are mostly from Selangor and they will be spending 'Eid with their families.

Our day of 'Eid began with the family congregational 'Eid prayers in the morning, all dressed up for a photo session thereafter.

One of my brother-in-law is staying in Seremban and we decided to visit soon after. Here are some pics:

After the visit, our 'Eid is pretty much uneventful. My other half and her family members expressed their sadness over their mobile as they are very close to each other. For the family on my side, we already had our 'Eid greetings earlier. A highlight was this video (hope they don't mind me sharing this) send to the family group. It is Geng Wak Long performing with a famous local singer Jamal Abdillah. From the video, I saw my immediate elder brother (the guitarist) has grown a beard. Must say, I do miss them.

End of Ramadhan 1441

We are near the end of Ramadhan 1441. We are also in the fourth installment of the MCO which had the period extended for four weeks (instead of the usual two weeks) which will end on June 9. This goes well beyond Eid for about two weeks. Earlier I guessed that they will extend just a week after 'Eid, simply to avoid the huge exodus to kampung or hometown. Perhaps making it to two weeks after 'Eid will make the exodus less likely. Apparently not. The pic below is late night yesterday.

Source: unknown - from social media

Anyway, I'm less worried about the Covid-19 pandemic now but am more concerned on what kind of life we will be living in (at least) the few years to come. I remember just before the MCO started and people started to be very concerned on the outbreak, I listened to Brandon Ogbunu's talk at Perimeter Institute (PI), trying to understand more about the virus and the disease. I even wrote to him asking him about the extra resources beyond his talk and he did reply but did not get the resources mentioned as he assumed that I had access to them through the PI inner circle (which of course I'm not). I read his Wired article about Carpetbaggers and reflected upon my own self. My intent, of course, was simply to know more about Covid-19 and hopefully will explain to others (locally) in case they need the information. In reality, people still do not know much about the disease and that article however made me reflect more beyond the Covid-19 issue and what we are claiming of ourselves. Sometimes we need to be clear about this, particularly in this holy month of Ramadhan when we are supposed to reflect more on our lives.

When I decided to become a (theoretical) physicist after high school, I consider myself as an average student and I don't have any big dreams. I was not the top five students in the school (but was probably around top ten, I guess) and I never thought too much about the status though there is a sense of competition to be good. When I was in Adelaide, the feeling is very much the same but with huge classes, one felt just being a nobody. As one gets closer to the final year, when the classes got smaller, I found myself doing better despite that my mentality have always been shaped-stereotyped as one of poor performers. I tend to rebel against this stereotyping. When I further my studies in Cambridge and later in Durham, I see a lot more intelligent people around and the feeling of being average sank in again, but of course I never gave up and did what I could, completed my studies (and it is not with ease).

Joining the academia, I really had the wish of establishing a theoretical physics group but considered various options of research areas and see what works. Found myself working alone mostly since not many here are interested in what I do. To salvage the situation, I started to take up more postgraduate students (perhaps too many). This slowly builds a community of theorists in UPM. Started to call in international experts to help us out and to help us explore new directions. My view then is that we must elevate our thinking up to the level of these experts. To some, we might not be ready enough to do this but we have managed to get international experts know us and some of them visited us a few times. What I felt is that we need more conditioning of our thinking cum research at a respectable level for international experts to notice us. This course of action sometimes get questioned by others; what are so-called return of investment. In my mind, was simply just getting the culture into place (not forced collaboration); the rest, all the work, we have to do them ourselves. Currently with the Covid-19, our internationalization efforts will get more difficult with travels are being made limited. Furthermore, we find more international staff are leaving us to  go to other places.

Over the years, things have indeed gotten more difficult as KPIs are set without taking into consideration the technical fields we are doing, mostly shied away by others. Have been classed as non-performers and sometimes suffered insults and smeared campaigns, some of which probably affect our livelihood. I get to the point of hating the word 'smart-working', when in reality, what it means is just gaming the system. After awhile, I do sense I'm not really wanted in that position despite efforts of fitting in. The last few years have been humbling indeed. Deep within me, I understand the thing is not about our egos but putting progress into the community which may take several different paths according to one's own understanding. That's why I finally left with the thought of not wanting to carry the baggage of unpleasant memories with me. In a way, I purposely cut myself off so that I can simply focus on moving ahead (so please forgive me if this looks bad to you). I have only about two years ahead of me before I retire and thus would prefer a meaningful ending. I will continue to move forward with our sizable theory group that I'm with, irrespective of what others think, but these humbling lessons will be in my thoughts forever (not grudges) to remind me to be cautious in life. My prayers in these final moments of Ramadhan is that we can create something meaningful, not to please people, but to make sure that what we do help us progress in theoretical and quantum sciences and hopefully will be counted (at least) as good deeds for our afterlife. 

For the critics, please be kind; your actions actually do affect others. Here's an article: https://www.technologynetworks.com/neuroscience/news/a-lifetime-of-adversity-dampens-the-brains-dopamine-production-327178

Mid-Ramadhan 1441

We have reached mid-Ramadhan and now entering its second-half. We are still under MCO but conditions are now relaxed to allow the economic sector to slowly pick-up. There is a little worry that we might see another wave of Covid-19 infections but so far the number of infection is still well within the two-digit range (there was a slight jump to three-digit but it was around 100-ish). Let us hope that it will be on the decreasing trend and that Malaysians be on their alert and not let the disease spread.

On the personal front, fatigue seems to set in earlier this Ramadhan perhaps due to being at home with lesser activities. We are still working but perhaps at a more relaxed phase. So far, we have already had twice departmental meetings (see pics).

The first pic was on 16 April where we had our Dean attending as well and the second pic was on last Monday, 4 May. Over the MCO period, we had to submit several reports too. I'm making this known so that people get to know we are not just lazing around, sitting idle, while we are 'working from home'.

We had also started our QuEST meetings. Initially just to test the group video chat on FB Messenger (on April 26 - see pic below). I also made a presentation last Tuesday, 5 May on my reading of noncommutative geometry (it was supposed to be on Monday but then we had the departmental meeting). It seems that the FB messenger group chat that we had, have some limitations. So we finally decided to move Google Meet while it is free. Google Meet is part of G-Suite which is not free. Whether I should consider this suite depends on what I want to do when I reached retirement - have to be careful on the extra expenses that I'm committing myself with. I would love to be part of some independent scientific community (particularly with my present colleagues and students) even after I retire.

For my own classes, due to the smaller number, I have mostly limit myself to whatsapp and going online when necessary (especially when there are questions). My notes are mostly on the web - for PHY4503 it's in PutraBlast while for PHY5601 it's on my KetchupSpills blog. I have also put up some of my video lectures on my YouTube channel (only for undergraduate lectures). I only emphasize the main points of my notes in the video; nothing can beat the interactive face-to-face lectures (which I leave this to my live online chats). For my graduate lectures, I've started using Google Meet (last Wednesday for the live session). One downside is that when I share screen with the students, I would not be able to see my students - makes me feel like I'm talking to my own computer screen - that seems common to all platforms that I've seen. Here is a capture of that session.

The other thing that I've done during the MCO period is to update my Acu Frekuensi blog, writing about quantum technology, making ourselves ready for a forthcoming (ambitious) project. There are other things that I wish I could have done but I will leave this for a future post.

Ramadhan 1, 1441 Varia

So we have arrived at another Ramadhan today for the Hijri year 1441. I'm thankful to be given another opportunity to be in another blessed month of Ramadhan. It will be an exceptional Ramadhan with all the restrictions in place, not only for Malaysia but for most of the world (something for us to ponder). It was also announced yesterday by our Prime Minister that our MCO will be extended for another two weeks i.e. for the period of 29 April-12 May 2020. Earlier we had our current third installment of MCO for the period of 15-28 April 2020. So far, the strategy adopted does seem to work. The number of new cases has been reduced to two digits recently and so far maintained as such. The current R_0 is now said to be less than one. Today it is announced that the testing capacity has reached 16,000 per day which is a welcomed news.

The extended MCO will hit the business badly but there are some relaxations being considered as more sectors are allowed to operate. The private health sector is not excluded from being negatively affected by the MCO. It was reported that patients of private clinics get reduced to as much as 25% and some even more. So far my other half is still working despite a momentary closure during the second period of MCO for her self-quarantine of 14 days as she had been seeing some patients with some symptoms. Currently she has bought PPEs for herself and the staff. Hope she will stay safe as Rembau was identified as a hot spot.

As for myself, I try to keep fit while working from home. Read up more materials and try to prepare myself for online classes. Have already bought a white board, a drawing tablet, subscribed to sharing screen-video software and also renewed my Mathematica license during the MCO period. Hope to get everything ready by next week, as we resume our remaining first half of the semester.

To end, I'm posting my video of playing the mbira just to test my software.

Stay home. Stay safe. Have a blessed Ramadhan.

Let's Move On

Yesterday, I have received the news that the Institute for Mathematical Research (INSPEM) will now have a new Director, namely Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Rezal. His appointment will begin on 1 April 2020 until 31 March 2023 which coincides with the anniversary of the institute. It was a welcomed good news since the institute was without a director for a period of one year and four months, which was rather exceptional. I hope now that the institute can now go on progressing full steam ahead.

The news sort of made me recall some memories while I was there. There were a lot of challenges and even office politics which I don't have a stomach for. I am fully aware some criticisms (and even smear campaign) made against me but I will turn these into a valuable experience for me to proceed. I am ready to move on (and I hope everyone else too). Some of my international friends are probably not aware that I have left the institute since 16 November 2019. There were plans of international cooperation made before I left and I hope the new management will take these up seriously. The vision is still to be a research institute of international repute, which is really demanding. But as I have said before being recognised internationally precedes international repute. Thus, when it comes to international cooperation, I have often consider this to be of higher priority during my time. Currently, I will help support such cooperation in my own personal capacity.

As I have mentioned before, my leaving the institute is much due to several episodes of health problems. I am now avoiding high stress environment and have taken many physiotherapy sessions for my back to help me improve my health. However with the current extended MCO, things will grow a bit complicated. My medication supply will run out sometime early next month and I have not been able to go for physiotherapy sessions any more. For the former, I am relying on the contact of my other half with the pharmacies. For the latter, I took the benefit of working from home situation to do more exercises on the treadmill. When experiencing episodes of severe back pain, I can get feverish and have difficulty in even walking. Thus this affects me more now but I'm pushing myself to strengthen my back muscles at least.

To move on, I am open to minor changes in research directions. While I was with INSPEM, I tend to focus more on mathematical aspects of my research to fit the environment that I am in. Presently, I don't take this as a 'constraint' anymore and will try to be independent and consider other possible options. However I will remain close to my core discipline of theoretical physics and particularly quantum theory. Let's move on.

An Extended MCO

Yesterday, the Prime Minister declared that our present Movement Control Order (MCO), which ends on Tuesday next week will be extended until 14th April. Thus, effectively our stay-at-home period is about a month. Now to those with a fixed salary scheme, this only means we get to work at home longer. But many particularly businesses which need to operate daily to ensure income (particularly small ones), will suffer. While I may not have the experience to be in such a situation, my other half is. If ever she decides not to work, there will be less income or even losses. So I can imagine how difficult these prolonged MCO can be to them. Of course she is in a critical sector that was allowed to operate during the MCO which 'helps'. On the bigger scale, there is a need to lessen the infection rate since otherwise we might end up with a crippled work force that in the end leads to bigger economic loss. Quoting Prof. Raina MacIntyre in Australian ABC News report: "If you don't control the disease, your economic losses are going to be far greater and the recovery time is going to be a lot longer…So it's just a fallacy to think it's a choice between saving lives and jobs."

I do not pretend to be anywhere knowledgeable about infectious disease dynamics (in realistic terms, beyond the SIR model), but this begs the question of how long should we expect for the MCO to go? Well, according to a report, analysts at JP Morgan Chase & Co (don't know who they are) predicted that the infection peak will be in mid-April (which coincides with the end of MCO period), after which, I suppose the infection will decrease. The report further said that the infection rate will slow down to 100-250 per day. This is roughly what we have now (see below); in other words - they are expecting a larger infection rate sometime soon. From the https://www.outbreak.my/ website, one can get some info on the Covid-19 infection statistics. I'm listing the figures of daily increase (new cases) from just before the surge seen on 15 March.

• 26 March: 235 new cases
• 25 March: 172 cases
• 24 March: 106 cases
• 23 March: 212 cases
• 22 March: 123 cases
• 21 March: 153 cases
• 20 March: 130 cases (went past 1000th infection)
• 19 March: 110 cases
• 18 March: 117 cases (MCO put in place)
• 17 March: 120 cases
• 16 March: 125 cases
• 15 March: 190 cases
• 14 March: 41 cases

Note: 

• Went past 100th infection on 9th March - at this stage, we have only seen the first wave.
• The Tabligh Ijtima' meeting was during 28 February-1 March and the surge seen on 15 March is right after the incubation period of 14 days.
• The Ministry claims that the infection has reached the 5th generation from the Tabligh cluster (perhaps this means 5 node-distance away from an infected node that attended the Tabligh meeting).
• The whole graph (incomplete pending contact tracing) can be seen at https://www.outbreak.my/cases.
• There is now a Wikimedia entry for Malaysia Covid-19 cases at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Malaysia.

Even if we hit the peak around mid-April, one expects the same rate of infection as we see now will still linger on for some extended period. In fact some predicted this Covid-19 crisis will prolonged up to more than a year before we could resume a 'normal' life. The best bet is perhaps life will not get back to its previous normalcy. There will be permanent changes to our lives and even culture, of which I would like to ponder on. Will not discuss it now though.

After the Long Pause, the Long Break

Have not been posting here for more than two months. However with many things happening, I thought I should restart so that I can make some records in this blog of important things happening. During the long pause, went through ups and downs, do some soul-searching but after awhile one just need to move on and tries one's best for the future. Below, I'll jot down in point form some main events that have passed.

• January 16: Quantum Yi-Jing Sdn Bhd agreed to contribute financially to cover EQuaLS expenses.
• January 17: Presented a talk on Mathematical Routes to Quantum Theory in INSPEM Weekly Seminar, a regular weekly event of the institute. Have always thought that one should attach more importance to this event.
• January 20: Discussed on how to revamp our courses including that of quantum mechanics. Thinking of three-part course. Others, a course on quantum information science (advanced undergraduate or postgraduate)

• January 23: Started to be concerned of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak since we have an international event EQuaLS2020 planned.
• January 24: Shocked to know that school colleague, Prof. Dato' Mashitah Mohd Yusoff (former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University Malaysia Pahang) passed away due to cancer. Didn't know she had the illness.

• January 25: Wuhan Coronavirus arrived in Malaysia with three confirmed cases from tourists of China.
• January 29: Dr. Athirah's PhD student Suzila Mohd Kasim viva examination. Her work is on commuting graphs of finite groups.
• January 30: My son and my other half rescued a kitten from a drain. Later to be our new furry family member Koko

• January 31: WHO declared China's virus outbreak an international emergency.
• Within January, had several episodes of back pain. Was worried about EQuaLS planning, whether we have enough time or not. Sometime in January, we had postponed the event from February to March 2020. Also, all the while, was following the Wuhan virus outbreak.
• February 2: Sent my other half to the airport as she went for umrah with her sister's family. So it was then me, the eldest, my third son (still in semester holiday) and the youngest. My second son is already working in Pulau Indah.

• February 3: Finally received message from my other half in Medina. They are safe and well there.
• February 7: My other half now in Mecca.

• February 5: Made some decisions on what to teach for Advanced Mathematical Physics this upcoming semester. See circled region below.

• February 9: Send back my third son to college in IIUM, leaving myself, my eldest and the youngest.
• February 10: The new semester starts. I'm teaching 'Special Relativity & Classical Field Theory' and 'Advanced Mathematical Physics'.
• February 11: Decided to use Szekeres' book "A Course in Modern Mathematical Physics" as a guide.
• February 13: My other half came back home from her umrah. Was having cough and slight fever.
• February 15: Update my graduate course notes as blog posts in Ketchup Spills.
• February 17: Finally received the formal green light from ICTP (Kate Shaw) for our EQuaLS2020. Thus it will be part of Physics Without Frontiers program at Malaysia.
• February 18: Went to INSPEM workshop at Zenith Hotel Putrajaya.
• February 19: Attended a farewell gathering for me as INSPEM Deputy Director. Currently Dr. Rezal is taking up the duties of the Director. Still can't understand why there is no appointment of a new director. Some photos.

• February 20: Final Skype meeting with Kate Shaw from ICTP. ICTP put up a website for EQuaLS2020 at http://indico.ictp.it/event/9329/overview
• February 21: Start making my own preliminary announcement of EQuaLS2020. Still has issue of one more speaker and Areeya's flight out of Australia (due to Covid19 outbreak).
• February 22: Went to Ismail Budin's son's wedding. Met school-mates there.

• February 23: Political upheaval. Never have liked politics.
• February 24: EQuaLS2020 website is finally ready. http://einspem.upm.edu.my/equals2020/
• February 25: Tun Dr. Mahathir appointed as Interim Prime Minister.
• February 28-March 1: Tabligh Ijtima' meeting that led to second wave of Covid-19 outbreak.
• February 29: Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin appointed as the 8th Prime Minister. Went to Prof. Halim's daughter wedding.
• March 2: Was asked to move from the Guest Room in the Department to another temporary place at Room 216. That's OK, as long as I have a comfortable room to stay in. Thanks to DR. Chan, KY and Amin for helping me move my things. At home, we had new additional furry family members: Sally & Fifi, given to us by an elderly couple.

• March 6: We have started discussing internally whether one should continue EQuaLS2020 when there was already an increase of Covid-19 infection in Malaysia from the Tabligh cluster. See https://www.outbreak.my/. At the time we already had 34 participants. The decision then was to continue with precautionary measures and we had the green light from the university's Health Centre. Was following the development of the outbreak since then. At this stage, I was also look at how other events are being held and looked for consistency.
• March 10: Had our last meeting for EQuaLS2020. Explain rationale of continuing and if there are any other concerns, should be discussed with me.
• March 11: Received concerns by the institute management of EQuaLS2020. Felt being sabotaged. Had to take the day off as my other half went for a heart check-up.
• March 12: Finalised EQuaLS2020 programme. The last day will have a forum on Quantum Information Science in South-East Asia. Afternoon: M.Sc. viva examination for Dr. Chan's first graduate student, Mohamad Hanif.

• March 13: All speakers have booked their flights and have given their itineraries. In the afternoon, members of the Department raised concern on EQuaLS2020. Finally before the office hours end, we receive instruction from the university to halt all activities irrespective the size of the gathering (ours was just a normal class size). My heart sank and finally gave up. Emailed speakers thereafter asking them not to board their flights (which was just on the coming Sunday). This will probably be my last attempt - will now pass the baton to my younger colleagues.

• March 16: Took leave, to settle matters that can't be done online. Afternoon: the Prime Minister announce the Movement Control Order (MCO) for the period of 18-31 March.
• March 17: Cancel leave on Tuesday to discuss ways to conduct online lectures. Tried Screencastify and Open Broadcaster Software.
• March 18: The beginning of the MCO. Tried out Screen-O-Matic as suggested by Prof. Teo Lee Peng. Posted a short clip on FB. See https://www.facebook.com/hishamuddinz/videos/10222095340196595/
• March 19: Posted another video using Screen-O-Matic. See https://www.facebook.com/hishamuddinz/posts/10222106756241989
• March 20: My Hijri birthday: 25 Rejab
• March 23: Today, the statistics of Covid-19 are 1518 confirmed infections (additional 212 new cases since yesterday), 159 recoveries (20 new ones), 14 fatalities (addition of 4) and 57 in ICUs (addition of 10). Worrisome.