Today is Raya Aidilfitri. Selamat Hari Raya to everyone. It is also a day to celebrate and do good deeds. But while we have fun and visit our loved ones, just remember that there are those who are not able to indulge in the lavish activities that we are used to. Some people even have to resort to living in toilets.
Early this year, the night before Chinese New Year, I was sipping my teh tarik at the usual mamak stall in front of my house when I saw a Chinese family, a mother with her two daughters, eating roti canai when they should be having their big dinner.The mom just watched her daughters sharing a cup of water with one roti canai. It made me realise that poverty is not restricted to certain people when actually it covers some percentage of people in Malaysia, no matter who they are. There are always some people who need help from us, you just need to watch Bersamamu on TV3.
So for this Raya, help those who are in need. Who knows, maybe someday you would need some help too.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Chances.
I was involved in a CSR programme that was organised by my workplace. As I am used to being involved with programmes like this when I was studying, I figured that I might as well lend a hand in helping my colleagues. It was a CSR programme that was held at a primary school nearby where we had some language games and book donations. While we were playing the language games with the students, some students, even the weak ones were very participative. Though they can hardly understand English, they tried their best to give the answers. Partly because we offered some prizes to entice them, I guess. But that is not the point. What the students need is motivation. Some of them see English as something that is so alien, so foreign to them that they can't seem to see themselves to be involved with it. What makes matters worse is when teachers label the students as incompetent thus demotivating the students. Some teachers need to know their students better because that is how we can motivate the students. For example, there are students who like to be praised for them to work hard. While some students prefer to be challenged for them to give their best. But when teachers do not even take their time to engage the students, that is when the problem comes. Sure, some teachers are recognised as the best teacher when they are able to help the students to get as many As as possible. But what is untold is that most of these students are already bright students, teachers do not need to do much to help these students. Meanwhile, students from the remedial classes are ignored because they do not have much hope to score as many As as their more intelligent friends. Sadly, that is the situation nowadays, those who seem to have less are ignored.
I was talking to some of my seniors colleagues when the topic of their younger days suddenly cropped out. Those were days, they said, when it was in the 80s up until the early 90s, when people don't really wear hijab, even for some of the ustazah. Both of them have almost the same story. One of them said that she was not wearing any hijab at that time but she wanted to know more about Islam. But the problem was, the Muslim bodies in her university shunned her because she was not wearing hijab at that time. As she did not have anyone to guide her, she did not wear hijab until few years later. The other one said that her friends who wear hijab also shunned her because she did not wear hijab. But one of the now-outlawed Muslim bodies (it was not outlawed at that time) accepted her and helped her to know Islam and others things related to it. They lamented how easy it was to judge people and have negative perception just because they do not conform to the same set of standards that other people have. They said it would be better to help them rather than making them feel like an outcast. Sure, it is easy to give sermons to those who always come to the mosque everyday. But what about those who do not, should they be left out? Maybe this is why some people gave up and went to other bodies in request for help as even some Muslim bodies prefer to wash their hands of difficult things and concentrate to things that are easier.
Chances. It is very easy to be said but not very easy to be given to those who need them.
Nur Kasih The Movie 2011 PPVRip 01 by daniNor15
I like this scene from Nur Kasih The Movie, watch from minute 25 onwards. It is very much related to what I'm writing today.
I was talking to some of my seniors colleagues when the topic of their younger days suddenly cropped out. Those were days, they said, when it was in the 80s up until the early 90s, when people don't really wear hijab, even for some of the ustazah. Both of them have almost the same story. One of them said that she was not wearing any hijab at that time but she wanted to know more about Islam. But the problem was, the Muslim bodies in her university shunned her because she was not wearing hijab at that time. As she did not have anyone to guide her, she did not wear hijab until few years later. The other one said that her friends who wear hijab also shunned her because she did not wear hijab. But one of the now-outlawed Muslim bodies (it was not outlawed at that time) accepted her and helped her to know Islam and others things related to it. They lamented how easy it was to judge people and have negative perception just because they do not conform to the same set of standards that other people have. They said it would be better to help them rather than making them feel like an outcast. Sure, it is easy to give sermons to those who always come to the mosque everyday. But what about those who do not, should they be left out? Maybe this is why some people gave up and went to other bodies in request for help as even some Muslim bodies prefer to wash their hands of difficult things and concentrate to things that are easier.
Chances. It is very easy to be said but not very easy to be given to those who need them.
Nur Kasih The Movie 2011 PPVRip 01 by daniNor15
I like this scene from Nur Kasih The Movie, watch from minute 25 onwards. It is very much related to what I'm writing today.
Monday, July 11, 2011
The Fish That is Fed
Life is not a bed of roses, no one can deny that. It is a very materialistic world now, that sometimes people are divided between the haves and the havenots.
Funding
I went to Singapore last week, with a hope that I could enjoy myself there. Instead, I had to follow a group for visits to mosque around there. The committee of the mosques explained that they did not get any direct funding from the government. What they got were money from Mosque Building Fund (MBF) and discounts in buying plots of lands for their mosque. MBF is a fund where Muslims in Singapore would have their salary to be deducted and put into the fund. The minimum is 5 Dollar while others can opt for more. This is the fund that is used to buy the lands, build the mosque and for the upkeeps of the mosque. While some mosques received fundings from MBF, there are also those that do not receive them. What these mosques did was they organized programmes, such as selling food and selling items that have been donated to the mosque. What impresses me the most, for them, mosques are more than a place for you to pray five times a day. For them, it is a community centre, where it is not limited to praying only. They have programmes where they engage the community and the youths in liking the mosques. They worked for it as they know that if they do not work for it, then no one else will. In the midst of that monetary hardships, they persevered and did not whine hoping for assistance from the government. Of course, as the minorities, they had to compromise such as they cant use the loudspeakers for azan but they did not see that as a problem as everyone knows that they can still listen to the azan in the radio. These are the examples where you have to persevere and not let the problems to get you down.
Tourist spots.
While the Singaporean Malays persevered, Malaysian Malays prefer to wait for everything to come to them. Very well known for being lazy, all the fundings should come from the government, that is what the Malays have always thought. Thus, they did not actually work for the fundings, they just have to apply, contact some YBs and they will get the fundings. Not only that the mosques are used for praying only, sometimes the main purpose that they are actually built are for tourism. Yes, we can show to the people that we have alot of mosques, but who actually use them? Maybe what should be done is we have something similar like MBF, so that the Muslims here actually feel some sense of entitlement to the mosques because they actually contributed their money to the mosques. Maybe only then, we will work hard with what we have and not being ignorant just because we already have our day jobs and we can put food on our table.
The fault here is when we feel comfortable with our life that we tend to ignore hardships that other people had been through and not to work hard to achieve something that we actually want . Like the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. "
Funding
I went to Singapore last week, with a hope that I could enjoy myself there. Instead, I had to follow a group for visits to mosque around there. The committee of the mosques explained that they did not get any direct funding from the government. What they got were money from Mosque Building Fund (MBF) and discounts in buying plots of lands for their mosque. MBF is a fund where Muslims in Singapore would have their salary to be deducted and put into the fund. The minimum is 5 Dollar while others can opt for more. This is the fund that is used to buy the lands, build the mosque and for the upkeeps of the mosque. While some mosques received fundings from MBF, there are also those that do not receive them. What these mosques did was they organized programmes, such as selling food and selling items that have been donated to the mosque. What impresses me the most, for them, mosques are more than a place for you to pray five times a day. For them, it is a community centre, where it is not limited to praying only. They have programmes where they engage the community and the youths in liking the mosques. They worked for it as they know that if they do not work for it, then no one else will. In the midst of that monetary hardships, they persevered and did not whine hoping for assistance from the government. Of course, as the minorities, they had to compromise such as they cant use the loudspeakers for azan but they did not see that as a problem as everyone knows that they can still listen to the azan in the radio. These are the examples where you have to persevere and not let the problems to get you down.
Tourist spots.
While the Singaporean Malays persevered, Malaysian Malays prefer to wait for everything to come to them. Very well known for being lazy, all the fundings should come from the government, that is what the Malays have always thought. Thus, they did not actually work for the fundings, they just have to apply, contact some YBs and they will get the fundings. Not only that the mosques are used for praying only, sometimes the main purpose that they are actually built are for tourism. Yes, we can show to the people that we have alot of mosques, but who actually use them? Maybe what should be done is we have something similar like MBF, so that the Muslims here actually feel some sense of entitlement to the mosques because they actually contributed their money to the mosques. Maybe only then, we will work hard with what we have and not being ignorant just because we already have our day jobs and we can put food on our table.
The fault here is when we feel comfortable with our life that we tend to ignore hardships that other people had been through and not to work hard to achieve something that we actually want . Like the saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. "
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Privilege
Walking
I was playing basketball last week when I accidentally hurt myself and had a torn ligament. It was not fun. Really. I could barely walk in the first few days and had to wear leg braces. At that time, I had to get people to drive me to places and buy me food. Feeling hopeless is an understatement. I lost the ability to walk for awhile and it hit me how important a simple act like walking can be.
Water
Klang Valley was hit with a major water cut that led to many grouses for two whole days in certain areas. People were suddenly panic because they could not do their daily chores because of the disturbance. Not many actually realised the importance of water before that. Only when there is a major water cut that people go huha about it.
Scholarship
I heard that there will be some changes to the scholarships for SPM students. I think this is long overdue. Some students thought that scholarships are rightfully theirs when you have to be chosen to obtain them. There are already too many scholarship holders who have not returned to Malaysia even after decades finishing their studies. Why should we have more? Only give scholarships to those who got to top universities then we can control the outflow of taxpayers money. How can we keep on bashing the local universities when we do not even send the top students to our local universities? It is obviously a case of which one comes first, the egg or the chicken. The scholarships should rightly be taken away and be given only to those who deserve them.
People go crazy when they lost something, including their insanity. Hopefully we can be like the Japanese, calm and disciplined, during our adverse times.
I was playing basketball last week when I accidentally hurt myself and had a torn ligament. It was not fun. Really. I could barely walk in the first few days and had to wear leg braces. At that time, I had to get people to drive me to places and buy me food. Feeling hopeless is an understatement. I lost the ability to walk for awhile and it hit me how important a simple act like walking can be.
Water
Klang Valley was hit with a major water cut that led to many grouses for two whole days in certain areas. People were suddenly panic because they could not do their daily chores because of the disturbance. Not many actually realised the importance of water before that. Only when there is a major water cut that people go huha about it.
Scholarship
I heard that there will be some changes to the scholarships for SPM students. I think this is long overdue. Some students thought that scholarships are rightfully theirs when you have to be chosen to obtain them. There are already too many scholarship holders who have not returned to Malaysia even after decades finishing their studies. Why should we have more? Only give scholarships to those who got to top universities then we can control the outflow of taxpayers money. How can we keep on bashing the local universities when we do not even send the top students to our local universities? It is obviously a case of which one comes first, the egg or the chicken. The scholarships should rightly be taken away and be given only to those who deserve them.
People go crazy when they lost something, including their insanity. Hopefully we can be like the Japanese, calm and disciplined, during our adverse times.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
My Sungai Lui
I was listening to the radio and Aizat was on an interview. One of the question was about his song, 'Sungai Lui'. He explained that the song is about a man who is successful but still comes back to his hometown, knowing where his root is.
There are many news highlighting about Malaysians migrating for the greener pastures, some of them due to better job offers, not satisfied with the treatment that they received in Malaysia plus many other setbacks that prompted them to choose leaving rather than staying.
Of course, I would be lying if I say that I'm satisfied with the happenings in Malaysia. It is harder nowadays, especially for young people like me who are burdened with loans and other difficulties, to get a good life. There are people who suggested that I should be leaving to other countries where life is better there. But for me, I can't correct the things I want to if I leave this country. I love this country and I will fight for it by staying here.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Reliability of Emails
While I don't want to comment about the 1Malaysia email as there have been alot of comments from other people, I just hope that apart from having emails for ordinary Malaysians, they better have a system where the government agencies actually reply the emails that are given to them. Waiting for an email reply since November last year is not a good thing.
At least an MP actually replied my email promptly.
At least an MP actually replied my email promptly.
Friday, April 22, 2011
How To Know Whether You Are Ready for Postgraduate Studies
I was at the Post Graduate Education Fair last week. Sensing that it is time for me to pursue my studies, I went there with a hope that I would learn few things before I enroll myself into the painstaking world of postgraduate studies. I really did learn alot of things when I talked to the university representatives at the fair there. What I want to highlight here is the experience that I had before going there.
Some people, after they are done with their bachelor degrees, would want to pursue their masters degrees naturally, which is fine with me. Learning is a never ending process. The problem is when they have problems in determining or not knowing how to choose appropriate course to pursue their postgraduate studies.
1. Time
There are people who can't really wait to do their postgraduate studies after they have graduated. While this is not an act of fault, there are some who simply rush into things. Doing a postgraduate study would require you to actually know what you are doing. Taking the time to work after degree, having work experience would really help. For example, in TESL, as this is my area, how would you know whether you are interested in linguistics, literature, TESL, ESL, Educational Psychology or even ESP when you are not actually practising them? By working and practising them, you would know whether this is something that you are really interested in or something that is viable to study and do a research on. Unless, you want to do a master degree just for the sake of having a master degree. This is the reason that I would advise people to take their time in getting to know themselves and what they really want to do in life. Once you know that, by all means, please go ahead.
2. Maturity
Usually, postgraduate studies would require you to make some researches. This in turn requires you to have a critical mind. I have seen some PhD students, not all, just some, who can't even identify their mistake in a sentence. Doing a postgraduate study would need you to be analytical, being able to see what is wrong and what is right. This is where maturity comes into place, where the ability to make deductive reasoning is fundamental. Of course, there will be a supervisor who will check your work but you can't expect him to correct your every other sentence. In short, make sure that you are able to judge your work so that it won't be called an utter rubbish.
3. Reason
Last but obviously not the least. This is one of the most important reasons. Why would you want to pursue your postgraduate study? Can it help you to get a better pay? Or because you want to make researches? Or simply because other people are doing it, so you are just following the crowd? You need to ask yourself, why would you want to do a postgraduate study. Make sure that it is a valid reason. I have a friend who continued his study after he had finished his TESL degree. I asked him, why now? Why right after finishing a bachelor degree? I would always remember his answer, even until now,
"I don't want to teach at schools. I want to teach at colleges"
which offends me much. Being trained to teach at schools, a masters degree means nothing compared to the wealth of experience that some of the teachers have. Obviously, he assumes that teaching at schools is degrading for him. I used to teach at a school for a while and I must say school teachers have one of the toughest job around. So if you want to get a masters degree because you do not want to teach at schools, that is a totally skewed reason. In short, have a valid reason before pursuing your postgraduate studies.
I hope this would help especially for someone like me who used to be unsure on what to do about my postgraduate study.
Some people, after they are done with their bachelor degrees, would want to pursue their masters degrees naturally, which is fine with me. Learning is a never ending process. The problem is when they have problems in determining or not knowing how to choose appropriate course to pursue their postgraduate studies.
1. Time
There are people who can't really wait to do their postgraduate studies after they have graduated. While this is not an act of fault, there are some who simply rush into things. Doing a postgraduate study would require you to actually know what you are doing. Taking the time to work after degree, having work experience would really help. For example, in TESL, as this is my area, how would you know whether you are interested in linguistics, literature, TESL, ESL, Educational Psychology or even ESP when you are not actually practising them? By working and practising them, you would know whether this is something that you are really interested in or something that is viable to study and do a research on. Unless, you want to do a master degree just for the sake of having a master degree. This is the reason that I would advise people to take their time in getting to know themselves and what they really want to do in life. Once you know that, by all means, please go ahead.
2. Maturity
Usually, postgraduate studies would require you to make some researches. This in turn requires you to have a critical mind. I have seen some PhD students, not all, just some, who can't even identify their mistake in a sentence. Doing a postgraduate study would need you to be analytical, being able to see what is wrong and what is right. This is where maturity comes into place, where the ability to make deductive reasoning is fundamental. Of course, there will be a supervisor who will check your work but you can't expect him to correct your every other sentence. In short, make sure that you are able to judge your work so that it won't be called an utter rubbish.
3. Reason
Last but obviously not the least. This is one of the most important reasons. Why would you want to pursue your postgraduate study? Can it help you to get a better pay? Or because you want to make researches? Or simply because other people are doing it, so you are just following the crowd? You need to ask yourself, why would you want to do a postgraduate study. Make sure that it is a valid reason. I have a friend who continued his study after he had finished his TESL degree. I asked him, why now? Why right after finishing a bachelor degree? I would always remember his answer, even until now,
"I don't want to teach at schools. I want to teach at colleges"
which offends me much. Being trained to teach at schools, a masters degree means nothing compared to the wealth of experience that some of the teachers have. Obviously, he assumes that teaching at schools is degrading for him. I used to teach at a school for a while and I must say school teachers have one of the toughest job around. So if you want to get a masters degree because you do not want to teach at schools, that is a totally skewed reason. In short, have a valid reason before pursuing your postgraduate studies.
I hope this would help especially for someone like me who used to be unsure on what to do about my postgraduate study.
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