By Betty Chan
On the 9th of March, 2011, the night was deep, the wind was silent. Everyone was deep in sleep, dreaming and wondering in the Slumberland. There was one person who was awake at an hour when nobody was supposed to be awake: Chan Ai Chee had a mid-night walk, out from the apartment she worked, because this was the day she finished creating Logoanalysis, a theory on Sociolinguistics in English.
It was not an easy task to go beyond the limit of imagination and be dare to be different: being a theorist while she was still studying in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), completing an original theory of language while she was still studying for the Bachelor’s degree. The Journalists’ Project went behind the scene to interview her peers, whom she called as “meus professores” (my professors) in her theory’s page of acknowledgment.
And, unveiling the veil of a professional, The Journalists’ Project had a first-hand- interview on the celebrated theorist in Kampar, knowing the “next great of the 21st century” as a person.
Celebreting Chan Ai Chee as a classmate
Ivy Kho, 23, accepted the interview of The Journalists’ Project as Chan Ai Chee’s friend for three years. She talked about her first impression on Chan, “Mysterious.”
“I was wondering why she was always alone: walking alone, cycling alone.” But as time goes on, Ivy discovered her as a caring friend: there were times of darkness in her university life, and Chan was the one who appeared every time when she needs help.
“There was once when I faced personal problem. Knowing that I need friends and support at that time, she came to me and said she wants to have dinner with me, I still remember.”
“I was so touched at that time. When we went out for dinner, she even sang for me to make me happy. It is so hard to believe that someone so serious can also laugh with me, or share something with me.”
Talking about Chan Ai Chee as someone who is different from others, Ivy commented, “She is absolutely different. Because she can think something other people cannot think.”
Sitting next to a theorist: Ivy Kho, being Chan Ai Chee’s classmate for three years, offered a rare insight into the life of a theorist, private and academic.
As Chan’s classmate for three years, also being her groupmate in many assignments, Ivy commented, “She can look deep into something, no matter how limited the source of information is.”
“She wants to do things on her very own perspectives, which is really different from others. And she can come out with something really unique.”
Celebrating the creation of a theory
Before Logoanalysis was created, the proposal almost went to miscarriage when Chan Ai Chee was not assigned to the supervisor on the field her proposal was written about. As a result, an interpersonal crisis happened around her, between Chan and her classmates due to the changing of supervisors, which is a case which left as a mystery after everything was solved in the office of the Faculty of Arts and Social Science in UTAR.
Winna Lau, 23, being the personal friend of Chan and a leader in their class, accepted the interview of The Journalists’ Project and talked about the incident.
The woman who made sure a theory was born: Winna Lau, witnessing an interpersonal crisis in UTAR regarding supervisors and the theorist’s classmates, was the woman who made sure the theory has a rightful birth.
“At first I heard about rumours that she has personally consulted the supervisors saying that she wants to change supervisors. Because of the rumours, other classmates were affected.”
“They started to criticize her behind the scene. So, I found this as a very dangerous situation. I personally think that I should clarify this to let the rumours stop.”
Many misunderstanding happens, but the truth is not as what it seems. “So I questioned her, and she told me what exactly happened and I found that the rumours and what she told me were totally different.”
As an effective leader in the class, Winna stepped in the incident as a female knight in armour: “I decided to talk to the affected people.
“After lots of explanation I found out that it is a small case, but because of people spreading news, the truth was twisted.”
Because of the role Winna played in a multi-dimensional crisis which involved a theorist with her classmates, and lecturers who taught her, Logoanalysis in Sociolinguistics on English was given a chance to be created.
“I’ve never thought that I had actually inspired her in doing the FYP and creating a theory. I guess the help she refers to is the motivation in the spirit and the support in friendship.”
Face to face with Chan Ai Chee, the celebrated theorist of Logoanalysis
Chan Ai Chee, mysterious as how we have heard, refused to give the information regarding her age. The Journalists’ Project was wondering, how old this girl actually is. As, her voice sounds mature, but her look fresh, and her body language sometimes childish.
She explained to us what Logoanalysis is, “Logoanalysis is the analysis drawn out in pictures. So, Logoanalsyis on Sociolinguistics is the analysis of the English language that is actually drawn out.
“Much like you are analysing the adult’s world and see how they think through the perspectives of a child.”
Why did Chan Ai Chee create Logoanalysis? “First of all, many people don’t understand me. They don’t understand that what you see as a woman is a child who never grows up.
“What the world is lacking of is a dream: that you never grow up, and every day when you wake up, you see things as a child. It is in the innocence of childhood that I created this theory of language.”
Doing a saga work of creating a theory in language, what did Chan expect the world to see?
“As I quoted Turgenev in my own theory, ‘Love is stronger than death and more powerful than the fear of dying,’ it is in a love from the outer space that I felt when creating this theory. It is an… extra… extra-terrestrial experience.
“And I want the world to see that the power of creation is beyond limit.”
Logoanalysis, a theory in dedication to the Queen
Logoanalysis, a theory created after accumulating every knowledge possible in three years when Chan studied in UTAR, is a theory like no others for one very specific reason: It is dedicated to the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II.
Chan shared her thoughts behind this act of extraordinary, “Basically, a gratitude for who she is and how kind she was to a theorist. Not to say that this is some sorts of blessing to me.”
“Then, the representative of the English language itself—on the planet—is Queen Elizabeth. I was thinking, when I created the theory, that I’m the one who gives it a pen. Once the theory is created, it does not belong to me; it belongs to the world.
“If there is any owner of the theory, then I think,” said Chan solemnly, “One, and the only person who is qualified to be its owner is Queen Elizabeth the Second.”
A page of history in language and culture: Dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II, Logoanalysis on Sociolinguistics in English is an original theory written as a research project by a youth in Malaysia.
A theorist in a kaleidoscope world
So the theory was created among the midst of rumours, and finally dedicated to the Queen. Chan talked about the personal crisis she had to undergo when she knew she was going to make it big in her Final Year Project:
“The truth shines even in darkness. It is a test of God to put me among a group of certain kinds of people, and experience: if I could create a theory while living with them, I could handle every kind of tasks, including interpersonal relationship—it was a mess by the time the proposal was settled among the supervisors.”
Then, there must be a challenge in being dare to be different:
“People look at you differently because, you are different,” said Chan.
“In other words, if you live among a group of girls for three months when creating a theory, you have to endure, the… the… the habits of some very sarcastic people around you,” she clarified.
“They don’t have an idea that your speech is different, your facial expression different, and your way of connect is different because, right now you are solving some problems in the universe: in your mind, there is something going on, something the entire humankind has never thought about.”
Luckily, as Chan told The Journalists’ Project, moral support is always around from hawkers who prepared her meals, classmates who helped her in an assignment, and lecturers who forgave her for being late to class—an aftermath of working late for the theory in the middle of the night.
Celebrating the life of a theorist
As Ivy said, if there is no such people like Chan Ai Chee, every journal will be usual:
“No new things, the world will never change,” said Ivy, “There should be new things, new ideas, and new theory.”
“But most of the people follow others, and not coming out with a new theory created by one’s own effort,” she commented, “This is probably because, it is in the nature of human being that people can be lazy in finding out new things.”
Sensitive, successful, and sealed with everyday life of busy work, The Journalists’ Project asked Chan Ai Chee on how she balanced her life.
“On the day I completed Logoanalysis, the Sociolinguistic theory, I went out with a guy.
When asked if it was someone special, she said, “You can say that he is special to a certain extent.
“You know, guys are full of self-indulgence, no matter they are smart or quite the contrary. But this guy, he is special because I never met a guy who doesn’t like himself.”
“Until this day,” said Chan in a mysterious grin, “He has no idea that he went out with a theorist.”
Life is short to Chan Ai Chee, although one may never guess out her age. That is the reason she lives her life like there is never a tomorrow and created a theory, Logoanalysis on Sociolinguistics in English.
