As strokes of drumbeats descended on stage, visitors watched in amazement the performance by UTAR Festive Seasons Dance Troupe during the launching ceremony of the 10th Festival of the Mind at Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, UTAR Perak Campus recently.
Tun Ling proceeded to talk about the importance of memory in life. “If you want to remember more, pictorialise as much as you can to get a clearer picture. It will automatically enhance your memory. Picture the subject, give colour to it and you will remember better,” informed Tun Ling.
“The calculator is ready,” hyped West Wong Woon Chieng, a guest performer and star attraction of the day’s event. After multiplying random numbers suggested by volunteers, the Malaysia Human Calculator continued to sweep audience with his lightning speed calculations and prodigious mental arithmetic skills. A showcase on Human Calendar highlighted his ingenious ability to name the day of an impromptu date, be it in the past or in the future. His answer to each equation has been precise and emphatic, regardless of how complicated it is for humans minds to decipher and under normal circumstances, he even outclassed the processing speed of a digital calculator. Wong, also a UTAR alumnus, is, to date, Malaysia’s sole medalist from the prestigious Mental Calculation Olympic or Memoriad. He garnered a bronze medal in the Flash Anzan category during the 2012 Memoriad in Antalya, Turkey.
Wong raised eyebrows further by showcasing the abilities of his protégé from Powerhouse Academy, a precociously talented six-year-old named Djarkariel Antonius Gomez who is also affectionately known as ‘Lapu’ to his loved ones. Despite his tender age, Lapu has demonstrated remarkable calculation and memorising skills that rival most thinking adults.
The annual Festival of the Mind is a brainchild of MMLM and has attracted favourable response from all segments of society, from young school-going children to working adults and retirees since its inaugural launch in 2007. It aims to imprint the importance of mental literacy among the general public and to create greater awareness about the human mind and ways of tapping into and developing one’s brain power. It also aims to introduce and to promote various techniques and skills pertaining to the improvement of mental literacy, such as memory skills, thinking skills, creativity, and personality profiling.
