Boosting brain power

Siew Yik (second from right) with his father Teng Weng Kong and mother Khoo Yee Ling (left) and principal Hannah Siew (right) at the prize presentation ceremony.

TENG Siew Yik believes it was a combination of luck and skills that made him the champ at a memory competition.

“Remembering key facts was certainly the main factor but luck was also on my side too.”

It was Siew Yik’s first competition and he had never expected to win first place in the Random Words category of the Mind Competition, which was part of the 12th Malaysia Festival of the Mind (MFotM).

The 14-year-old student from a learning centre in Cheras, said he enjoyed participating in the competition and would continue to join it again next year to better himself.

“It is a competition between minds where you have to fight to memorise the most. It is not an easy thing to do, but it is a different story if you practice everyday,” he said.

Siew Yik said he was only expecting to be a runner-up and was surprised when he was announced the winner.

He advised those who would like to participate in such competitions to “believe in yourself” and to “practice, practice, practice”.

Leong Thin Seng, 20, from Heriot-Watt University shared Siew Yik’s sentiment.

Leong who won first place in the Dates and Events category, said effort must be put in to achieve success.

“I’ve been spending two hours a day practising my memory skills since May. I believe there are no short cuts to improving memory. As a matter of fact, there are no short cuts in life.

“This competition enabled me to learn many techniques which are useful in my studies and daily life,” he added.

Leong was also the first-runner up for the Malaysia Open Memory Championship in June 2015, and the second runner-up Hong Kong Open Memory Championship in August 2015.

The competition did not only attract students, but alsoworking adults.

Low Chee Fai, 26, a tutor at a tuition centre in Ampang, won first place in the Random Numbers category.

He said he decided to join the competition as he thought it would be good to exercise his brain.

“I took part in the competition because after working routinely for two years, it’s quite fun to step back into the classroom to learn alongside my students during memory classes,” he said.

Low, who won first place in the Malaysia Open Memory Championship this year, added that discipline is required to be good in competitions.

“I make it a point to train myself three hours a day despite working seven hours daily,” he said.

Memory skills trainer and first runner-up for Dates and Events category Kingsley Chew Kin Meng, 27, said the event is very good for youngsters and senior citizens.

“This event not only tests their memory power, but also gives them the chance to learn something new. They will get a rapid boost to their memory just by training for competitions,” he said.

Chew said he hopes UTAR and MMLM will “keep up the good work” and continue hosting the competition annually.

Jointly held by the Malaysia Mental Literacy Movement (MMLM) and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), the MFotM aimed to improve mental literacy of Malaysians.

Themed “Great Mind, Great Future”, it aspired to boost awareness of the significance of mental literacy through the empowerment of the mind.

It was held in conjunction with the Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair (KLESF).

Total cash prizes worth RM55,000 were given out to winners of first, second, third, consolation, best school prize, and special prize for children categories.

UTAR council chairman and MMLM founder and chairman Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik said memory is an important thing to have and that it should be cherished.

“Memory has got a multitude of uses. It benefits everybody from all ages and professions,” he said.

Dr Ling shared some tips for better memory.

“To remember something better, you must picture it, make it funny, and use your imagination. But before that, you must adopt the want-to-know attitude,” he said. The right type of food and mental exercises are also a must to help preserve memory, he added.