WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE "KUIH" FOR IFTAR?

We have 7 more days of fasting in the month of Ramadhan. One of the common practices among Malaysians is to eat traditional "kuih" - food that by right is similar to dessert, which mostly is sweet and some is hot, for iftar. You can get these varieties of "kuih" at the bazaar if you find it a hassle to make them on your own. So a survey was conducted on my Facebook to find out what would be the most favourite "kuih" among the people in my list.

TABLE: Favourite "kuih" for Iftar

From the table above, karipap is a clear winner as the favourite among the respondents (105). When I was still young, we used to call it "tepung bawang" but among the younger generation, they can only identify the same thing as karipap. It might derive from the English term of currypuff (pastry with curry filling). You can get many types of karipap which could be filled with sardines, potato or sweet potato and eggs which may also come in different shapes and sizes. There is one stall that I like in the bazaar that I always go to that only sells only karipap in abundance hot from the pan and business is really good.

The nearest contender is Buah Melaka (43). Whereas the other type of "kuih" recorded less than 20 votes from the people surveyed online.

There will be one last survey coming up soon for you out there.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE DRINKS FOR IFTAR?

INTRODUCTION:
One of the challenges of Ramadhan is to restrain oneself from drinking. With the present hot weather, it is not surprising if given the choice between drinking and eating for iftar, people will choose the first one. At times, we drink too much water until we cannot eat anymore. When we visit any Ramadhan Bazaar, there will a variety of drinks sold that you can choose and you might end up buying drinks that you can easily make it at home.

OBJECTIVE AND SAMPLES:
This study is to find out what will be the favourite drinks for iftar among people in my Facebook friends list. Therefore the samples will come only from people in my FB list, without any specific criteria.


SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:
Not that significant unless you are going to set up a stall selling drinks for Ramadhan Bazaar next year. At least by now you already know your customers' preference.

INSTRUMENT:
The "QUESTION" application on Facebook, done online. I am thinking of using the same method if I were about to do my PhD in the future.

RESULT OF THE STUDY:

Based on the table, 297 people have participated in the survey. Plain water recorded the highest of number people voted for (69), followed by air kathira (56) and soya bean (43). As for the three types of drinks which show the least number of people are Coke/carbonated drinks (5), lai ci kang/cikong (13) and cendol (14).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION:
(1) It is unbelievably true, or rather truly unbelievable, that majority have chosen plain water as the drinks to break their fast. If that is the case, then people should start selling mineral water at the bazaar because the market should be good. The respondents might have chosen plain water for health reason or to save expenses spent during Ramadhan.

(2) As my samples are people which consist of colleagues and ex-colleagues, students and ex-students, etc. who are residing in Johor or at least have experienced fasting here, so it is no surprise that Air Kathira is on the second spot of the favourite drinks. Air Kathira has been synonymous with the state of Johor, similar to other food like laksa Johor, mee bandung and mee rebus.

(3) The people in my list must be very conscious of their health as only five respondents have chosen Coke or carbonated drinks as their favourite drinks, which is I doubt is true. But the number should confirm the truth.

(4) Another good news is that now we know what to serve our guests when they come visiting for Eid. Hopefully what they like during Ramadhan will be the same in Syawal. That will make my life much easier.

It doesn't really matter what type of drinks that you like to have for iftar, as long as you take it moderately. Isn't one man's meat is another man's poison?

Wait for another survey coming soon, still related to the month of Ramadhan though.

JAIL OR NOT TO JAIL? THAT IS THE QUESTION.

This is the issue that the whole nation is discussing. Students of a secondary school in Johor Bahru claimed they were physically and mentally abused when they were sent for a motivation camp held in jail (not in a jail actually but in the training centre). If you miss the boat, you can read the news HERE.

If you ask me about my opinion, I could write a book to discuss this issue. However, I can just state that you have to be in our shoes, the teachers' shoes, to understand. People can simply complain because it is easier said than done.

Prior to the heated argument whether is it really necessary to send students to prison for this kind of thing, I had carried out a survey on my Facebook page. I just discovered this function so this would be my first try. So the respondents were asked to respond to the statement. Nevertheless, not that many were interested to take part actually.

CHART ONE: Should Students Be Sent To Prison For Motivation Course? (Teenagers' View)

From the first group of respondents which comprised of teenagers and young adults, 78 people took part in the survey. 31 people gave positive response while 11 were negative regarding the issue. Nevertheless, 37 were not sure of their stand which was surprising as I expected a more enthusiastic response from this group.

CHART TWO: Should Students Be Sent To Prison For Motivation Course? (Adults' View)

While for the other group of people which consisted of adults who should be more matured in their decision making, 16 people supported the view that students should be sent to prison for a course while only 5 disagreed. 4 people still could not make up their mind.

It could be concluded that majority of the respondents involved are more convinced of their choices either by saying "yes" or "no". The other group had to be sure of what they thought of the issue so as to provide a clearer picture whether this kind of activity would be suitable for students as well as to avoid any dissatisfaction once the programme has been carried out.

I wonder whether I can just collect my statistics data using the Facebook when I want to do my PhD in the future.

This is fun. There will be more surveys coming up for all the people in the friends' list. But I do need more participants in trying to make the result more valid and reliable.