A resurgent Malaysia Festival of the Mind

Can you solve this addition >27+86+78+99+72+10 >in less than five seconds without punting on the calculator board? While most mortals threw in the towel without trying, one man stood undaunted by the seemingly superhuman feat. West Wong showed why he is not the Malaysia Human Calculator for no reason, which he did at the 9th Malaysia Festival of the Mind held at Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik in UTAR Perak Campus on 15 and 16 June 2013.

West Wong, who is a UTAR alumnus, was invited as guest speaker for a crowd enlightening session which followed the momentous launching ceremony of the 9th Malaysia Festival of the Mind. In what appeared to be a spectacular showpiece from the Math prodigy, West demonstrated his startling arithmetic and calculation abilities, and maintained his cool despite being bombarded with an outpouring of uncharacteristic complex equations from the animated crowd. His ability to produce razor-sharp answers in a hairsbreadth of time has garnered the crowd pleaser widespread adulation.

"I discovered my knack for numbers at the age of nine, and have not looked back since," said Wong, co-founder and tutor of Nexus Learning Centre who is also the bronze medallist in the category of Flash Anzan at the 2012 World Mental Olympics (Memoriad) in Antalya, Turkey. West pioneered a historic feat for Malaysia, bagging the country's first-ever medal in the final showdown of world-class Math wunderkinds. He is now bent on nurturing talents to represent Malaysia in the upcoming Memoriad in Las Vegas in 2016. His parting remark to the crowd was, "Believe in yourself and love what you do!"

The momentum picked up with the arrival of visitors, who flocked the registration kiosk from 10am onwards. The festival went into full gear with the anticipated arrival of UTAR Council and Malaysia Mental Literacy Movement (MMLM) Chairman Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik and UTAR Council Member YB Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan, who was also the guest-of-honour for the two-day event. Accompanying them were UTAR Planning and Development Committee Advisor Tan Sri Hew See Tong, UTAR President Ir Prof Academician Dato' Dr Chuah Hean Teik and senior UTAR officials.

To launch the festival, a heart-pulsating 24 Festive Seasons Drum Performance was staged by the UTAR Wushu Club. Tun Ling, in his opening address, advised the audience to adopt the step-by-step 'AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire and Action' guide in matters pertaining to mental literacy improvement. Meanwhile, YB Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan congratulated UTAR for the successful hosting of Malaysia Festival of the Mind, now in its 9th consecutive year. "I hope that this festival will continue to serve as a platform for creating awareness on the importance of human ingenuity, creativity and innovativeness," he said in his speech.

Apart from a video presentation on the festival, a prize-giving ceremony for the Stretch Your Imagination Photo Contest was conducted. The contest, which required participants to hatch a cutting-edge illustration of the MMLM acronym, saw UTAR staff Cheah Kang Bao emerged as the grand prize winner of an IPad Mini presented to him by YB Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan. Cheah's winning entry portrayed the acronym using a dazzling display of vibrant lights which appeared to have been emitted from the ground. Adding to the melodramatic touch was an air mystery conjured by the enigmatic backdrop.

The annual Malaysia Festival of the Mind is a brainchild of MMLM, and is jointly organised by MMLM, UTAR and Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR) University College. Through its activities, the festival aims to create greater awareness among Malaysians of all ages and all walks of life on how to develop thinking, memory and creativity skills. Admission to the festival, exhibition, talks and workshops are open to the public for free.

Students filling up their particulars at the registration booth

UTAR Wushu Club performing the Festive Seasons Drum Extravaganza

YB Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan delivering his opening address

West Wong (left) demonstrating his giant mathematical ability

YB Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan (centre) presenting the prize to Cheah while (from left) Prof Chuah, Tun Ling and TAR University College Perak Campus Director Dr Choy Siew Chee look on

Tun Dr Ling (second from right) presenting a memento to YB Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan while Prof Chuah and Dr Choy look on

Cheah's entry won the grand prize for Stretch Your Imagination Photo Contest