Wednesday, May 24, 2006

I'd rather teach a pig

I don’t think other hosts in this café ever took his class on money and banking or monetary economics. But I did. [Addendum: I forgot, Ujang also took his class]


Few of us who were in his class would deny that he is quite a character. From his cigarette puffing behavior inside class (inside? yes ! inside class) to bashing students for our questions or ineptitude, this man, Anwar Nasution, has absolutely no match.

Ujang and I had an idea to collect Mr. Nasution’s famous, often notorious, quotes. We urge all alumni to document his quotes which perhaps can be published in the future.

As a start, here are some in our memories:

On criticizing state-owned enterprises:
Jangan naik Garuda kecuali urusan kau tamasya” (circa 1991)
“Don’t fly Garuda (state owned airline) unless you are in a vacation”

On ideology:
Jangan cuma bisa Bismillah.. Assalamuaiakum, kelakuan kaya setan” (recently in an interview)
“Don’t be proud of saying Bismillah.. Assalamuaiakum yet behaving like a jerk”

On economics (reply to student answer in his Q&A):
Money supply mamak kau!” (right in front of me, circa 1991)
“Your grand ma’s money supply!”

Mamak kau tingkat bunga! “ (circa 1990 or 1991)
“Your grand ma is that interest rate!”

Babi masih bisa diajar!” (happened in our seniors class)
“I’d rather teach a pig!”

On students late coming to class behavior:
Kambing aja nggak telat masuk kandang!” (happened in our seniors class)
“Even goats are never late to return to barn!”


9 comments:

  1. Okay, I better write a comment now before the Manager wakes up and takes this posting off (it's not going to be the first time we take advantage of this 12-hr time difference).

    I did take Mr. AN's Advanced Monetary and Banking class out of curiosity (and got an A, mind you). So this is from a first-hand experience what I'm about to tell you.

    Once, a fellow student asked a rather lengthy question, obviously one he had prepared beforehand, and had built enough courage to ask. Mr. AN listened attentively, and he smiled. He then started laughing (no sound - just silent laugh), his body rocking. This went on about a minute or so. He then continued teaching. Never answered the question. Contrary to what we're supposed to say when we teach, for him there is such a thing as a stupid question.

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  2. "kalau kau regress itu matahari terbit dan ayam berkokok, dapatlah itu R-square yang besar. tapi apakah lantas matahari terbit gara2 ayam berkokok?"

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  3. Hey, hey, I took his class. Twice! Yes, twice because I failed in the first attempt. And this was his comment to me: "Ah, kau ini. Kalau mau masuk tentara, tak pantas kau ini masuk ABRI. Jadi satpam aja sudah bagus!". I have no idea what he meant.

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  4. never, never, ever took his class... THANK GOD!!! i chose Industrial Organization instead... yeah, the big, fat, bearded guy who always ask "what is natural monopoly and what cause it?" on each exam... bingo!

    however the urban legend says:
    "kalau kau jual tanah liat, tak ada lah harganya. Tapi kalau kau ambil itu tanah liat, kau buat jadi kodok-kodokan, lalu kau ekspor dapat uang. itu namanya value added" *full with accent* --> after my friend attempted to answer his question about value added. mind you, he turned out to be AN's favorites.

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  5. As the Dean, during the heyday of student protest, and before Soeharto stepping down, he once called me to the Faculty meeting, and asked what students wanted and what our plan were.

    I said, we'd go on with the protest (to the streets), and what we needed from the seniors were support of insider information to prevent physical incidents like Trisakti shootings.

    He replied, "Aku ini Dekan, bukan intel" (with accent, too) --liberally translated: I'm the Dean, not a (gov't) spy--, and started laughing with his, well, style :-)

    I went "huh?"

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  6. 1. On the over-use of jargons/hackneyed phrases :
    "....trickle down effect? You tau gak itu artinya apa? You jangan kayak cewek kampung yang cuma ngomong 'I love you, I love you' tapi nggak tau artinya apa!!"

    2. "R-squared does not tell you everything about the model! Do you think if you regress a rooster's Cookle Doo Da on the instances of sunrises, and you get a high R-squared, you can assume that the sun rose because of the rooster?"

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  7. That thing about "cewek kampung" is hilarious! May be a Freudian slip on his part if there ever was one....

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  8. haha, i actually loved this grumpy granpa. Yes, despite the mumbling sentences, the volatile speaking-volume, (and of course the occasional board-hitting and table-hitting movements).

    1. When facing silent answers:
    "diam aja kau ini, kayak cewek kampung. Ditanya mau kawin:diam, ditanya gak mau kawin:diam juga kau!"

    2. When talking about thecrisis:
    "jangan kau pikir kau jadi miskin karna IMF.Itu karna kau sendiri nyolong sana nyolong sini!"
    (mind you, we were all in elementary school during the crisis years, so please sir..we refuse to be blamed"

    3. When i asked him about the possibility of debt forgiveness:

    "Presiden kau itu, sudah jauh-jauh ke Amerika! Tapi diam aja dia, kayak cewek kampung."

    see? a Hillarious genious

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  9. so i took his class twice... the first time, i submitted a term paper and a friend of mine didnt... the result: i got a D, the friend of mine got a B...
    the second time, i only entered class once (only the first class) & DID NOT submit a term paper... the result: B... go figure!!!
    luckily i was 'smart' enough NOT to ask any questions in class... just remember: first, avoid eye contact whenever he asks a question... second, come to class early or not at all when late - 'position' urself well so that it minimizes him making eye contact with u... huahahahahaha...

    liverpoolfc23

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