First Week in Bristol

When I first arrived in Bristol from Heathrow, a taxi driver told me Britain is a good country except its weather which frustrates and demoralises its people, I could not accept that. The first day was perfect- warm and sunny. This continue for several days up to the point where I saw a few umbrellas blown away by ferrocious wind.(You don't believe this, i know!) The weather here is totally unpredictable, which explains why it is a main topic among the local people. Apart from that and the hilly terrain in Bristol, everything is fine for me.


Bristol is more British than most of the big cities in UK. You can still find Asians, Europeans and other nationalities on a street in Bristol, but still, not that often. Bristol and generally, the South West of England have always been regarded as the most scenic part of the country. Well, after my first week in Bristol, I can testify that is absolutely true. Having a balanced combination of comtemporary and 1800's buildings, it is certainly the place to be.

There are 2 significant landmarks which deserve to be mentioned here.

1.) Clifton Hill House

CHH as it is known, is the only catered hall of residence in the city centre. It is located in Clifton, which is comparable to posh areas such as Bangsar in KL. Of course, the rental is astronomically high- 140 quid per week for term time, and 68 quid per week during vacation. It is definitely not worth it to pay that amount if not for the fantastic food served by the dining hall staff. In brief, there is a wide selection of top quality, healthy, well-balanced food. On top of that, a lot of interesting activities are organised here everynight - school uniform disco, barn dance(cowboy dance) etc. It is just too lively!

2. Clifton Suspension Bridge

Bristol is never complete without this scenic landmark. Looking from far, it's like 2 cannons connected together by elastic strings, pointing upwards. Although it is obvious the bridge is very old with walls eroded by centuries of downpour, it still remains majestic and is, a class of its own.



So far, I truly enjoy and appreciate the time spent in this great place. Although there were many things such as opening a bank account, registration (university + faculty + department + library + sports hall) to be done, not to forget heavy lectures coming up next week, i absolutely have no complaint whatsoever.

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Negaraku

Negaraku- sungguh malu. Honestly speaking, if u just read any news over the last few weeks, or even the last few days, what come across your mind? Streams of baseless accusations, personal attacks, falsification of facts filled the sky. Now, we don't know who tell the truth anymore. Neither government nor opposition can be trusted anymore. What has happened?

Stop the bickering and finger-pointing. Who cares about a senior politician sodomises a 23-year-old? Is it our concern? Who cares about who kill the Mongolian model? These are all none of our business. What we want is just a better life, with a little bit of extra pocket money to spend. Who cares about which party will be the government tomorrow? No, stop publishing those personal issues in the mainstream newspaper. Let the bread and butter issues be the headlines. We are not interested in any personal matter at all. We just yearn for a better life, a safer and more comfortable place to live in. It's just as simple as that. Let's be simple, don't create unnecessary, nonsense, troublesome issues. Think : simplicity

Give us back the Malaysia once I loved so much in the 90's before the financial crisis. Everything seemed so fine then. Oil price was RM1.10 or even lower then. Of course, many could argue that oil price should increase in line with inflation. But, RM2.70? What do u think? Everyone can afford that price? So, who to blame? The people who do not bother to utilise the public transport? Or the government who cannot even provide a decent public transport system? I am not talking about the Japanese standard, but just an efficient, on-time, clean, safe system.

Now, the future is so uncertain. Every country is catching up slowly, but inexorably. Malaysia is still harping on succession, corruption and power abuse issues. The confidence level is at the lowest level. Brain drain is at its worse. The rivers are polluted. The air is always unclean. The birds are dying while the people are suffering. So, what is left in Malaysia? You might ponder.

Everyone is talking about change, change and change. But, the system is so complicated, intertwined that a minor change is almost impossible. The critical mass of change is not there yet. Any call for reinvention, re-engineering, transformation is simply turned down by the powerful majority. Calls for reform is still at a slow pace.

So, it's time for the "silent minority" to act. Let's see what we can derive from the next Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS). If nothing powerful, progressive, effective and straight-to-the-point is suggested there, I can't and i don't dare to imagine what will happen 10 years down the road. What does the future hold for us?
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Terengganu - Wonderful Paradise

Now that everyone is fed up with the current political gimmick and economic recession, i think it's better to take a break now. If i always post those serious stuff, it's not surprising i will lose all my readers soon, hehe. So, let's focus on something more personal, something relevant here. My hometown- Terengganu.

Of course, I must admit that the islands- Redang or Perhentian- is the main reason people visit Trg. It's just the same as the famous analogy : Where's Malaysia? I know Penang and Singapore, but not Malaysia. But, there are so many things besides the islands. For instance, the food, the wonderful scenery, the people...(oh well, u would say maybe excluding me, ;P)

That's why I have been receiving some frens since i came back to my hometown. And I haven't had proper rest because of this;P. And I expect more to come between now and September. But never mind, I won't complain... :)

The most recent one was the visit by Hazman. The visits served 2 purposes, actually. The main one was to meet Ayah Pin(ShahRiduan) whose mum passed away a week ago due to lung cancer. Although everybody hates that Big C, early detection is so, so, so crucial. I can't emphasise that anymore. Pin's mother was just diagnosed with a fourth-stage cancer and there wasn't anything the family could do. So, she succumbed to the terminal illness a month later. What a pity, she was 47 years old. We went deep into Paka, about an hour from KT and you will be shocked to see the condition of the house and the surrounding area. It is worse than the normal "Kampung Hut" in your imagination. The whole village is built with those wooden huts with no proper toilet. The description is not complete without a picture, but too bad, we didn't bring a camera that day. But, this is somehow balanced by a beautiful river behind the house. Still, the life of the people there is really tough... I am glad that Ayah Pin studies really hard to change the life of the family. And I really hope that his wish to open a successful tuition centre will materialise later.

So, generally, i cannot deny that apart from KT, Trg is still very rural and isolated.

Let's go to the fun part. After that, we visited the just completed elegant Crystal Mosque. Considering Trg's capability, the architecture can be considered awesome.



Crystal Mosque



The mosque under the blazing sun




















Luke Skywalker?



Shuib(left) and Hazman

Dear Sultan Sulaimanians, if u could remember, Shuib was in our school from Form 1 to Form 3. He was in the Ikram classes all the way before going to MRSM Berseri in Perlis. He was one of the great footballers :)



Look at Hazy's greedy face! :P

Talking about food in Trg yeah, I would recommend you to go to a Thai seafood restaurant - Chilada Seafood. It is located just beside the bus stop in front of SMK CHWS.

We had an appetising dinner that night, especially with that "Siakap - Tiga Rasa". Sweet, Sour and Spicy (Triple S :P )

Well, I didn't expect the "service" to entertain my friends to end there. I already received a request from a college friend to be a tour guide on this wednesday. Well, that's the only disadvantage of staying in KT. Otherwise, it's fine. :)

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JPA scholarships

Firstly, I am sorry that I have remained idle for more than 2 months, being so busy particularly with the A-level exams. :P However, when I was going through my physics notes in the Resource Centre, a friend of mine showed me a letter that described the frustration of a very bright scholar of not getting the JPA scholarship. His list of achievements is obviously very impressive, ranging from being an athlete at the state level to the Head Prefect. So, what went wrong?

Talking about the scholarship matter, it make take me days or even weeks to analyse it thoroughly. So, I'll just divide the parties involved into 3 separate groups, namely the government- in particular JPA, the scholarship applicants and not forgetting the parents.

The Government
I will deal with the method of awarding the scholarships first. The latest move by JPA to award this year's scholarship to 1100 places to bumiputeras and 900 to non-bumiputeras has sparked so much controversy and different reactions. The breakdown of 55/45 is vastly different from the previous ratio of 80/20 a few years back. Just for your information, JPA scholarship was only offered to only a few non-bumis (maybe not more than 10 fingers) in the 1990's. The question of whether the allocation of places with the current ratio of 55/45 is FAIR is really difficult to answer. It must be noted that the allocation according to race, fundamentally, goes against the principle of meritocracy. Does it really reflect the true situation whereby the bumis and the nons deserve that number of places respectively? We will not get the answer as long as JPA keeps the list of award recipients and their scores every year. No one knows how the scholarship is awarded really apart from the mark system, of which 60% is for academic, 15% co-cu, 15% interview and 10% family background.

A simple improvement which can be made is to reveal the breakdown of the components, especially the extra co curricular part. Maybe a personal statement can be introduced in which the applicants have to state how they experience and what they benefit from the programmes they have participated in or contributed to. IMO, this is so much better and meaningful than the point system that encourages students to be involved in activities for the sake of accumulating more points. On one hand, it can gauge how effective an applicant can express him/herself and assess some of the inner qualities such as leadership, teamwork and time management skills. On the other hand, personal statements can be very subjective and may discriminate against the rural students, who may not get the appropriate help and guidance to "enhance" their personal statements.

The second issue is the approximately RM1 billion used to fund the 2000 scholars every year. RM1 billion is not a small fund and this is the tax payer's money. So, do the taxpayers really benefit from the scholarship programme? One can definitely argue that the experience, knowledge and the fresh ideas that a scholar can bring back to the country.

Based on the statistics published by (http://educationmalaysia.blogspot.com/2008/04/abolish-jpa-scholarships-for.html), most of the JPA scholars DO NOT return to Malaysia to serve JPA after their studies either due to unavailability of jobs appropriate to their education standard or the lack of enforcement of JPA officers to chase after those who default the scholarships. So, why invest when u can't get the return?

We can't totally put the blame on the scholars if they are not satisfied with the environment where corruption is rife or their colleagues are not fully committed or not serious about their jobs. Another issue is the salary. If a gold Olympic medalist can be given RM1 million reward, I don't see why the salaries of competent civil servants could not be raised. But, the penalty of default should be increased by 2 or 3 folds so that the scholars are not easily lured by foreign companies' offers. A solid framework, if properly laid down, will definitely ensure the country benefits from the billions ringgit of investment on education.

The Applicants
If you do a simple research, you will find that while there are more than 4000 straight A's students each year, the number of scholarship places is limited (2000 places in 2008). This is not inclusive of those students who despite not getting straight A's, ace the co-cu and interview components. So, obviously the competition is very,very intense. It has turned into what the management consultants call the Red Ocean, where everyone fights and blood is spilled.

So, how to survive the competition? Adopt the Blue Ocean Strategy to reduce, if not avoid, competition. Academic excellence is a must but apart from that, do something different to make yourself special. I can't really specify what you should/should not do because everyone is different and unique. What i can advise is focus on your strengths and passion, or anything that is for the others to follow. For example, you are a qualified hairstylist. It may not appear in the co-cu list, but you can certainly mention that in the interview and imagine the the expression of the interviewer once you mention that!

The Parents
It must be stressed that getting JPA scholarship -as mentioned by JPA director-general- is not a right.The government's resources is not limited and obviously not every straight A's applicant is guaranteed a scholarship. You may lament that a richer neighbour next door gets a scholarship but your son, who is brighter, more active, more articulate doesn't get one. Generally, there must be a reason behind that and it may vary from cases to cases. For example, the performance during the interview,etc. Even so, I can't exclude the possibility of a student under-declares his family's income which is unfair, but unfortunately, has become quite common.

However, not getting a scholarship does not mean the end of the world. There are plenty of opportunities out there. In fact, STPM is one of the most widely recognised qualifications in the world due it its depth and rigorousness. Work hard and try to get into the top universities in Malaysia,ie. UM and USM. If that fails too or the first choice of course is not granted, just get a degree first. What matters most, after all, is the process of getting the degree, not the type of degree.

In short, I have the confidence that the government will not only make the selection process more transparent and fairer but also tighten the enforcement. Let's hope for a better future. ;)
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Prestige or Quality? City/Campus?

Well, well, well..... the crucial time of the seniors in KYUEM has finally arrived with many undecided which university they should place as the FIRM one. The decision has to be made really carefully as it is where you gonna spend 3 years of your life there! 3 long years....... What if you are first inclined to a prestigious uni just to find that it's not the kind of life you have always yearned for? But, doesn't prestige mean everything, especially in Malaysia? U bukan Oxbridge ka? U BALIK la.. The common perception is always that Oxbridge gonna give u a headstart in your life, but can that be sustained in the long term? and LSE? wow, it LSE wei!

For the actuaries, it's really a difficult choice between City and LSE. The former gives 8 exemptions and the latter,7. Not much difference.... So, what make all the actuaries opt for City, a not-so-famous relatively new Uni rather than the well known LSE? It's the teaching quality, dude. If you just ask a senior in LSE, he can tell u many LSE actuarial science students are attending classes at City. Or as stated by a senior, "Indah khabar daripada rupa la" Can u believe that? Probably not. Afterall, LSE has produced so many Third World Countries' political and business leaders, and also George Soros, the famous investor. Has the teaching quality in LSE really dropped drastically? Besides, City's business department Caas has been consistenly ranked as the top 5 business school in England. So, as fas as i know, all the BNM actuarial science scholars have chosen City as their first choice. This is further reinforced by the fact that a BNM scholarship department officer gave her full support and make her preference clear : City.

Another group that is in a dilemma is the mathematicians. The options are Warwick and Bristol. Both are outside London and equally excellent universities. The key difference is the lifestyle: one is completely campus-based, another one is located in the city centre. If u ask around, especially the expats teachers-Mr Oldeson, Mr Highton, they gonna give u the same reply, Bristol is a BEAUTIFUL city, it's scenery is awesome, what's more it combines the best of both old traditions and modern architecture. However, many locals, mainly the current students, complained that the uni's funding for libraries and academic facilities is insufficient and fear that Bristol will not be able to keep up with the other universities. On the other hand, Warwick is improving steadily to become the academic powerhouse outside the Cambridge-Oxford-London triangle. It's ranking is slightly higher than Bristol too(like 7th to 8th). But, it's a CAMPUS, understand? It's quiet environment is the main selling point, but are you willing to spend 3 years there? It's true that the campus university is fully equipped with arts centre, sports ground etc. However, many will agree with me that university life entails more than that. 70% of the time spent in university is outside academic, so it's important how we gonna fill up that portion. It's about being able to lead a balanced life, understand the locals' culture and making the 3 years there worthwhile.

Again, it totally up to an individual to decide his/her future, no one else have the right to decide for u. To those who once trapped in this difficult position- Bhanisha, Thava, Hwee Yin, Anu, Amy- I can only hope ur choices are the right ones. To quote Dr Foord- those universities are really GREAT, so we shouldn't make a fuss about it. Think about those medics who don't even get an offer, aren't we fortunate to have at least 2 offers? While for me, apart from the pressure to get staight As, I am all for Bristol now! :)
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Nik Nazmi - KYUEM Legend

It has been a stressful exam week.... But, on last Friday, the Student Council 07/08 organised a traning camp at Felda Trolak Residence, a plantation area-turned-resort. But, the camp was slightly political as we were joined by a new 26-year-old YB. We were so fortunate to have Nik Nazmi, the 3rd batch Student Council President to attend our camp and share his toughts. He is the current political secretary to Selangor MB cum ADUN for Seri Setia. His talk was basic, simple yet inspiring to the point everyone lined up to take pictures with him after the talk. Of course, i had the chance... otherwise, i wouldn't have created this post :P

As compared to last year, he talked more about his political experience and his involvement in the British Student Union's politics. He was actually picked to contest in the recent election just days after the Parliament dissolved. However, he gave it a try and put in the energy, time, money....and it's has been proven to be worth it. When asked about why he ran on an opposition ticket, he answered frankly that he has been inclined towards the opposition since his student days, with a bit of influence from his father. Well, his advice was, no matter which party you are attracted to, just do what you think is right. He is a down-to-earth person, and has very good PR skills. Nevertheless, in our conversation, he tried to avoid political topics and preferred to talk about my university application.

The thing about him is he is young, energetic and compassionate. When he was active in the UK politics, he joined a programme to help Form 4 students in Besut, Terengganu. But, he admitted with a smile that teaching F4 mathemathics was a bit too tough for him. So, right now, he is conducting a mini tuition for underprivileged kids in his constituency. His main target is to help those students to perform better in math and sci, especially now in english. Already some of my colleagues planned to help him at the tuition centre after the A-level exam. Wow! You can feel the influence he had on my frens and what's more, the feeling you expect to get at his ceramah!

Later, we speculated that Hizami, the 7th bath SC president, might follow Nik Nazmi's footstep too. He is also doing law and sponsored by PNB. These people are the legends of KYUEM, and don't be surprised in just a few years time, they appear as the shakers of the country!

The other 2 KYUEM alumni members who helped us out are Lopez(president) and Ope. They are working at Accenture and PNB, respectively. They, too, share their thoughts and experience as former SC members.





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Review irrelevant courses at IPTA?

Just days after the appointment of Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin as the new Higher Education Minister, a new initiative was introduced to identify and review non-relevant courses at our public universities(IPTA). Some of the so called "non-popular" courses will be phased out eventually. This, according to the Minister, is to produce IPTA graduates that meet job market requirements, or in other words, more employable. The method to be used to assess the relevance of a course is to determine the percentage of employed graduates of a particular course. For instance, 200 students are studying petroleum engineering at an IPTA but only 20 are offered jobs, compared with mechanical engineering which also has 200 students with 100 targeted by future employers. Then, the petroleum engineering department will be allocated less subsidies by the ministry, and mechanical, more.The question is, is this action a viable option and will it chart a brighter future for our graduates? Is the employability affected by the relevance of a course alone or other factors as well?


It is quite true that several courses have lost the popularity and attention they once enjoyed. An obvious example is Information Technology(IT) related courses. If you conduct a survey among Malaysian adults who are in their 30's, you will find that a considerable percentage studied, or at least, thought of studying computing or IT courses. This was party due to the wide-scale promotion of the then Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir to develop the Multimedia Super Corridor(MSC) which was projected to provide thousands of job opportunities for the locals. But, for now, the common perception of the public is that there is an oversupply of local graduates in the IT sector. So, if we assess the situation, we might obtain a bad figure for the employability of graduates in the IT sector and as a result, subsidies for this course may be reduced? Is this justified?

We will get a clearer picture if we delve deeper into the IT issue. The reality is, as stated by PIKOM's CEO in a February 2008 newsletter, we still do not have enough IT graduates.,<--U may not believe this. ;) "The ones who are unemployed are those who do not meet the industry requirements. Malaysia's ICT industry is still facing a serious shortage of skilled IT professionals despite several key measures to tackle the problem." So, the "percentage" method used to judge whether a course is relevant is not that accurate after all. The root of the problem is not the relevance of a particular course, but lies in the skills, both hard and soft, possessed by a graduate. Much has been said about the quality of the graduates produced by our public universities. This can be attributed to poor communication skills, lack of critical thinking and creativity,etc. Also, they do not have the entrepreneurial spirit to face new challenges at the workplace. Therefore, I would say that tackling these critical problems should be the MAIN focus of the Ministry of Higher Education. A letter was sent to TV3 by Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia in response to the statement by the Minister.

"Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia (PKPIM) mahu memastikan semua kursus yang ditawarkan di Institut Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) menepati pasaran kerja. Namun demikian, PKPIM berpandangan, dengan menukar semua kursus supaya menepati pasaran kerja bukan suatu keputusan yang tepat. Menurut Presiden PKPIM Mohd Hilmi Ramli situasi hari ini bukanlah disebabkan masalah kursus yang tidak relevan dengan pasaran semasa, akan tetapi program pembangunan sahsiah dan ketrampilan mahasiswa yang memerlukan suntikan segera. "

I would agree with him that "sahsiah & ketrampilan" should be given priority. A lot of MSC-status companies have the view that Malaysian graduates have high knowledge of skills but fail to project them in interviews and discussions. Worse, they are not ready to face unknown situations and very afraid of taking risks. The government should therefore, inculcate "the thinking culture" in our education system, which at the moment, emphasises so much on rote learning. Students are trained to solve a problem based on a certain set of skills, but not challenged to explore beyond the curriculum, think outside the box. While soft skills are of prime importance in finding a job, integrity ought to be emphasised too. I once attended a leadership course and was lucky to listen to a speech by Datuk Nazir Razak, the CEO of the CIMB Group. He said when he interviewed prospective workers, he looked for 3 criteria - Intelligence, Energy and Integrity, with Integrity being the most important one. Gain the trust of your future employer first before showing that you are a performer.

However, in my opinion, giving attention to relevant, critical courses like medicine, dentistry, engineering will be well-received. the minister added that reviewing irrelevant courses is more important than to make our universities ranked well. But, I think both can be done in tandem because there is a correlation between maintaining relevant courses and the ranking of a university. Let's assume the irrelevant courses are phased out and better ones are given more subsidies. Given that the teaching quality and infrastructure improve as a result of better funding, then better graduates can be produced. This will further increase the score of peer review and employers review which constitute 40% and 10% respectively in the assessment of the ranking of universities by The Times.

So Minister, if and only if the implementation of your plan goes well, the employability and the ranking of Malaysian universities can only get better. Good Luck!
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