w.I.b:warung ikan bakar:
Harap-harap INI KALILAH !
Monday, June 30, 2003
Hey, that's my bike on the internet ! Aisah, one of my coursemates and collegemates, the only one I know who also blogs, has taken some nice pics, starring my sleek-sexy Bicycle. Have a look here ( with thanks to Aisah ).
The ones on my bike ( which look weirdly feminine ) are Elyana ( another sweet crazy girl in my batch ) and Jazlan ( another dirty old guy, just like me in, 6th college. )
Really proud that my bike gets to be on the internet !
Just like Sleeksexycat, I decided not to wait for BlogOut to heal, and I installed another enetation - Backblog. Click on say something? below to give me your input - which is my reward for blogging.
More about commenting, Jeff Ooi has recently complained about some hanky panky in his commenting avenue- Conversations. I agree with him in condemning those who made remarks irresponsibly, and gave the 'credit' to someone else. Shame on you guys.
Sudah agak lama tauke ini tidak menggunakan Bahasa Melayu untuk berhujah dan berkongsi pendapat sejak tamat pengajian Tingkatan 6. Tauke tidak terfikir pun untuk menulis blog entry dalam BM sehingga terbaca komen blogger lain bahawa blog-blog dalam bahasa kebangsaan telah disisihkan. Pada pendapat tauke, terdapat blog-blog BM yang dikunjungi ramai. Saya seringkali ke weblaman seorang penulis yang bernama Nizam Zakaria yang bertajuk Limau Nipis. Isi kandungannya berkualiti dan seringkali Nizam memaparkan interview dengan orang-orang yang ternama.
Back to myself, nampaknya penulisan saya dalam BM sudah merosot, berkarat. Saya ingat lagi masa berada dalam Tingakatan 1, guru BM memuji karangan saya boleh dibandingkan dengan yang ditulis oleh pelajar tingkatan 5. Seringkali juga tauke mendapat gred A1 untuk BM. Pernah juga tauke mewakili sekolah dalam perbahasan. Hai, kerana jarang guna sekarang selain perbualan harian, merosotlah penulisan bahasa secara formal.
Begitu jugalah halnya dengan kawan-kawan saya. Ada yang merosot dengan lagi teruk, sampai ayat-ayat BM yang keluar dari mulut, tiada satu yang betul dalam tatabahasa. Ini kerana bahasa Inggeris adalah lebih sesuai untuk kehidupan masyarakat seharian dan juga untuk institusi pengajian tinggi. Pada pendapat tauke juga, dominasi bahasa Inggeris biarlah diakui, dan dibenarkan berterusan. Malah, tahap penguasaan bahasa Inggeris perlu diperkuatkan dikalangan pelajar-pelajar dan mahasiswa-mahasiswa.
Namun, ini tidak sama sekali bermakna kita lupakan sahaja bahasa kebangsaan. Ia adalah wajar BM masih dijadikan sebagai the official language dalam majlis-majlis istana dan kerajaan. Penghayatan karya-karya dalam BM juga harus dipupuk. Malaysia memerlukan identitinya sendiri, dan BM mempunyai peranan untuk memberi makna kepada identiti tersebut.
Apabila kita faham peranan yang begitu sangat pentingnya yang dimainkan oleh BM dan English masing-masing, maka hilanglah cakap-cakap tin kosong yang merendahkan salah-satu bahasa yang dinyatakan itu. Hilanglah juga sikap memilih bahasa untuk dipelajari dan diguna.
Penguasaan bahasa itu penting, dan semakin banyak bahasa yang dimahiri, tauke rasa, semakin hebat dan bijak pemikiran kita sebagai seorang insan. Saya sendiri kesal kerana tidak cukup matang masa sekolah dahulu untuk mengetahui betapa pentingya juga bahasa Mandarin, bahasa keturunan saya. Sehingga kini, saya masih belum mahir lagi berbahasa Mandarin, dan seringkali ia menjadi sukar untuk berbual dalam bahasa Mandarin dengan rakan-rakan dalam fakulti yang berketurunan Cina. Tauke ini juga susah untuk berbual dengan masyarakat Cina di tempat-tempat yang kurang menggunakan bahasa Kantonis (my first language, or rather dialect) seperti Penang, Kota Bharu, Johor, Melaka dan di kampus. But that's another story....
Two surprises when I update my blog today.
1) Shout Out is closed for maintenance. That means no comments. Aiyah, I love comments. That's my reward for blogging some more.
2) Blogger has changed the layout. Does this mean, they have successfully made some renovations without screwing up my codes?....But I kinda missed the old one.
Last weekend, I was conscripted to be part of the organising machinery for a big gathering of students of ACS from 1998 - 2001. It sounds big, and the expected response is big. Surprisingly, I am looking forward to meet back many many old friends from ACS Ipoh.
But like always, I do have my reservations about reunion. A friend of mine, Teong, reminded me about being pretentious when meeting acquaintances and old friends at such party. It is unlike the relaxed, lepak type of 'minum' session at mamak stalls , with your closest buddies, where you talk about anything under the sun. Being fake, and not being yourself at the gathering is the one thing I want to avoid if the gathering really works out.
Tauke cakap: Aku tak faham diaorang lah, ada kuasa tapi tak bertindak. Kita bloggers ni hanya dapat cakap-cakap, tapi tak berkuasa, maka tak dapat bertindak. Cuma talk first, act later. Rasa saya, orang yang tak betul lah yang berminat untuk bertanding dalam pilihanraya, jadi orang kerajaan semua tau cakap, tak bergerak.
Lee Kuan Yew used to say, "there is no such thing as free lunches". Well, there may not be free meals around, but, there is one place that can offer you an evening of quality movie screening from Asia and Europe ( meaning, no hollywood ! ), for free.
This place would be the Asia-Europe Institute in University of Malaya, better known as AEI to students.
Once a week they would screen a movie that is assured to entertain and to inspire. The seats and is comfy and the auditorium is beautiful. And the best part is, the movies are free from the censorship board - meaning, there would be no ridiculous and senseless butchering. There is some form of tasteful censorship.
I have caught some nice shows in AEI myself - Shakespeare in Love, Malena, Dari Jemapoh ke Manchestee, The Last Emperor, and en Eyptian show which name I forgot.
Anyone who can get to AEI would be welcomed. The AEI building is classy, and this is one of very few spots in campus that makes me proud as a UM boy, and reminds me that I am in university. From my observation, not many realise about this or hardly appreciate such events. So, I am telling you all, especially those staying in or near UM.
Anyone who loves to spend en evening ( most probably Wednesday or Tuesday ) without spending a single sen, AEI of UM is the place for you. Announcements of screening is advertised in Klue magazine.
Baru tadi masa makan, saya tertonton Yusnani menyampaikan dalam Buletin Utama bahawa syarikat telekomunikasi ( Telekom Malaysia-lah ) sedang membuat pertimbangan untuk menukarkan semua telefon awam di negara kepada jenis kad pra-bayar kerana kelakuan merosakkan telefon awam terutamanya jenis syiling, semakin berleluasa sehingga menyebabkan kerugian melebihi RM 60 juta.
Adoi, satu lagi jalan penyelesaian yang kurang bijak dan tidak bertumpu kepada akar-umbi masalah vandalisme telefon. Bukan semua orang rosakkan telefon semata-mata untuk mendapatkan duit syiling yang terkandung dalamnya. Ada yang memang tangan gatal dan ada yang tidak tahu menggunakan telefon
awam dengan baik. Pokok kata, semua yang terlibat dalam merosakkan telefon samalah dengan mereka yang guna telefon semasa menonton wayang, samalah dengan mereka yang berhujah dengan air liuh meleleh di depan orang yang sedang makan, samalah dengan mereka yang buang sampah merata-rata.
Semuanya tidak berminda sivik.
Oleh yang demikian, adakah dengan menggantikan semua kepada jenis pra-bayar, kita akan bebas daripada masalah ini? Ado, bodohnya Telekom Malaysia. Fikirlah baik-baik. Saya dulu selalu guna kad telefon, tapi, masalah sama juga. Sebahagian besar daripada telefon-telefon awam, sama ada syiling atau kad, ROSAK gila. Bila tukar kepada kad nanti, keadaan akan bertambah rumit, lebih-lebih lagi kepada mereka yang habis kredit dalam kad, dan dalam kecemasan.
Kadang-kadang tauke ini juga tertanya sama ada masalah telefon rosak ini adalah salah pengguna dan tukang curi dan tukang vandal sahaja, ataupun kerja penyelenggaran pihak syarikat telekomunikasi memang pada tahap rendah, kurang memuaskan, kurang professional. Pernah beberapa kali, telefon
awam di tempat saya tak berfungsi kerana telefon itu sudah sarat, penuh dengan duit syiling, dan sedang menunggu orang Telekom untuk mengosongkannya.
Hai, apakah dengan kad-prabayar sahaja, semua akan selesai ? Kalau mentaliti dan sikap kemasyarakatan masih buruk, dan syarikat telekom memang kurang 'competent', tukar semua telefon kepada telefon-tak-payah-bayar pun akan rosak juga.
Mahathir told the UMNO delegates yesterday about the bangsa Eropah. I found it surprising that he would speak about this, or even ever have such thoughts about the Europeans. Well, finally, I cannot really rebutt all that he had said. It did make some sense.
I think it all boils down to personal opinion. What Mahathir thinks of the Europeans, especially the ones who are now Americans is absolutely his own views, his perception. We do not need to parrot whatever he said. At the same time, his views should be respected and given attention.
I choose to think that in every race, every nation, there are goodies and baddies. We can blame the Europeans for colonisation and economy-wrecking or even war-mongering, but there are also many good things that come from them. Similarly in Asian nations, there are people who are just as greedy and wicked.
We can have our own opinion and choose our stand, but at the end of the day, one should never be too proud of what he thinks, always keep an open mind, lest he be embarassed by the truth.
In fact, I find that cartoon rather amusing. You see, cartoon or caricature sometimes have to go beyond the scientific or political correctness. Maybe the cartoonist has gone too impulsive, and underestimated the reaction. Well, shit happens. For a writer or a journalist, you can never be too careful. There will be times your writings or creations do not suit the taste of certain parties.
There are 2 mistakes Zunar made :-
1) Pigs are not the vector for SARS - quite a stupid mistake
2) UMNO will harp on any mistakes by Harakah, he should know better.
There are 2 right decisions made:-
1) PAS chose to apologise instead being arrogant
2) Mahathir chose to close the issue and not ban the papers
So, in the end of the day, that cartoon thingy is just a cartoon, made for laughs. Really, Malaysians should learn to laugh about themselves, like the Americans. If you care to observe, there are so many jokes made on Clinton, Bush, Hillary, Powell, etc. It was okay for them. Why not us ?
Anyway, this pig-PM-cartoon issue is not our nation's biggest problem. Small matter only-lah ! Let us instead see how that Najib is going to organise the so-called national service properly. His past performace as the Education Minister makes me sceptical about the whole plan.
I am aware that quite a number of bloggers are very much into anime. I can see why.
Though I am not a hardcore fan myself, I do enjoy japanese animation occasionally. Spirited Away was wonderful, I enjoyed it much more than my younger sister. But, there is one animated movie that I will consider as my all-time favourite. A column in NST today validated my choice.
Takahata's Grave of the fireflies, a 1988 production, is an animated feature on the pains of war, and the love of a brother. The little sister Setsuko, is so adorable ( the animation is just superb ) and when she died of hunger at the end of the movie, I just can't stop the tears flowing.
I watched this movie for the first time when I was in probably, Standard five, from a rented videotape. I found a DVD some time ago, and I rewatched it. And again, the tears just kept coming.
It is really, more than just cartoon. Most anime is more than just that. Many are drawn and produced for the minds of adults and the thinking ones.
In Graves of fireflies, I got to see the other side of WW2. There are so many war movies about the sufferings of American soldiers, the Europeans, the Chinese, and also Malayans. But the baddies of WW2 - Japanese- suffered as badly as the others, especially the innocent civilians. Also, this movie helped me appreciate my sister so much more.
I don't know why I blog about this. Maybe I just feel like sharing to you all how much I respect this movie, and till today, I have yet to find someone who like this movie as much as I do. Anyone out there ?
Recently, many people have jumped on the bandwagon to criticise the mayor of my hometown for the ridiculous byelaw that fines people for holding hands in public. The city hall has erroneously interpreted mere holding hands in public places as indecent behaviour.
But I really really wonder, why no one say a thing about a similarly ridiculous ruling that is prevalent is almost every residential colleges of public universities.
The college residents are not allowed to wear shorts ! They can only wear it in their rooms or along the corridors of their dorm. Now, since when shorts are considered indecent? I am a major fan of shorts. I wear it all the time, whenever possible. I've worn shorts to the lecture hall too, that's wrong. But what on earth is wrong to wear it in your residential college - the place where you stay, for comfort. Adakah tengok orang pakai seluar pendek akan membuahkan perasaan kurang selesa ? Apakah pakaian sebegitu tak senonoh ? Till this year, residents of 6th college in UM has the luxury of wearing shorts without anyone cakap-cakap. I think we are the only college that has remained undisturbed by the shallow ruling. But now, there is renewed pressure for the residents to wear longs whereever they go.
Isn't this a violation of basic human rights ? You tell me, as far as I am concerned, wearing shorts is not something indecent. If people are making so much noise over summoning someone for holding hands, why not make similiar noise over forbidding people to wear shorts in college. I cannot imagine myself wearing jeans and longs all day long, till I sleep. It is simply ridiculous, bordering on stupidity.
tidak lama dahulu,
lebih 100 tahun lalu, tiba Horley perkasa !!
Mengasas sekolah kita,
ACS yang tercinta !
Sungguh baru nian nama , deng deng deng
Panjipanji terkembang,
sedunia terCAnang , deng deng deng deng
oh ACS,.. ACS... negara harap padamu, jeng jeng jeng,
Bertahun di bangku mu, buat b'rani tanpa ragu
oh ACS..ACS...buat brani tanpa gusar....
Kami bangga jadi murid A..C...S....!! jeng jeng jeng...
This is the other name to my blog. Or one can interpret talk first, act later @ Warung Ikan Bakar as: Talk (crap and bitch) all you want at the warung. It's the same thing :- talking, talking, talking, criticising, but doing nothing. Something like the cliche'd coffeeshoptalk la.
After all, isn't this what a blogger or any writer or columinist do ? - just talk but no power to act.
Bloggers like Oon Yeoh can support the Iraq War to the core, ignoring the hawkish-ness of war-dodger Mr. Rumsfeld and the stupidity of Bush Jr. and trying to justify the war by criticising the yes-butters. But his role ends there - at the keyboard. He is not invited to any UN meeting. Hey, even Bush doesn't know he fooled someone in the Malaysian blogosphere.
Same here for the tauke - I can write all about what the Malaysian education would be like if I were the minister, or how efficient and sustainable the government hospitals would be if I replace that lawyer as health minister,... but hey, in the end of the day,- it is merely cakap-cakap....( aiya, we talk talk first la... act later ).
It is somewhat different from NATO a.ka. no action talk only. I think blogger who writes about these things do want to act on it, rectifying the mistakes and reviewing bad policies of the government, if they are given the power.
But that is simply not how the story goes. So, what can we do ? Sit back, and keep quiet ? No, we blog about it.....till one fine day, we can do more than just that. So, till we see that day, - what we do here in blogging is simply talk first, act later
Nope, not resting yet..don't worry Nina... blogging is still fun to me.
However, I feel my recent blogs have deviated from the original purpose of this blog. Sometimes I wonder what's the real purpose of this blog. It started to criticise the medical education and healthcare system. Then, I expanded to more things under the sun, mostly politics. Maybe I should get some feedback. I would appreciate it if you guys can answer these questions.
1) What topics you find most interesting in Warung Ikan Bakar ?
2) Is Fooji the tauke talking too much about UM ?
3) What do you think the tauke talk best about in his blog ?
4) Suggest some subjects that the tauke can blog about.
Please give me feedback via the enetation ( What ? ) below.
I have a weird feeling after reading aboutIrene's moving to MovableType soon. I think as soon as Blogger starts any major revamp and screw up all the codes, I will take a long break from blogging. Not going to do that moving thing... no time for recoding and redesigning..... kinda tired with the blog chores.
I realised there are many great blogs in Malaysia that have remained obscure, while a few others like Volume of Interactions, Screenshots and Transitions getting over-publicity at times. You guys should check out The Durian Report, Dua Sen , and a few others. It's refreshing to read some undiscovered blogs with interesting humourous local stuffs.
Looks like BlogWars 1.0 is over its peak. No more fighting alright !!
The people who blog in Malaysia are generally ,
1) smart
2) language lovers, witty
3) attention whores
4) ambitious, fame-seeking
5) elitist / arrogant
( before you all crucify me, let me admit that this may be a sweeping statement )
I think I'll just accept this fact... this is the very basic nature of a blogger that motivates him/her to spend precious time and money for blogging. Tak payah lah , lawan-lawan... after all, what we all are doing ( blogging) involves no monetary compensation, it's non-profit thingy, fight for WHAT ??!!!
Jangan lah sampai blogger-blogger jiran dari Thai dan Singapore, ketawakan kitaorang.......
A tale of arrogance and ignorance: Part 3 Oh oh... I have been sleeping again... looks like BlogWars 1.0 just started more than 24 hours ago.....finally...
Of attention-seeking, popularity-madness, and jealousy...and the poisoinous tongue.... aren't we bloggers guilty of that.....children..children....
I guessed I must have been sleeping long. I only got to know that there was a huge flood in KL a day after that. At this time also, Malaysian blogging is looking good and energetic, thanks to the blogurus like TV Smith, Jeff and Aiz. Check out Project Petaling Street to know what I am talking about . If you are not blogging yet, you better start... if you are already a blogger, a small time one like me, you better wake up to this new development. I am still trying to comprehend what is going on..........
Another student malady in our premier university by Teong of Ipoh Tauges Online registration in UM yesterday was another let down and blunder to a certain extent. Initially, before yesterday, the fully online registration for this new semester was very much applauded and commended. Unfortunately, the system and management fell short of something. My good friend, Shi Min, who is a final year student, did not quite get to register all her courses and was distressingly bereaved. For all the previous semesters, final year students were given priorities to register their remaining courses in order to enable them to finish their studies in 3 years. Since the online system is ready, it is therefore placed into implementation and operation for this semester. Nonetheless, the registrar or whoever in the administration should have had realised and discerned that problems would occur. Juniors taking seniors' places because using online system, there is no division of which year students are going to register first, which mean final year students are not awarded priorities anymore. I don't know how other universities implement their online systems but UM's one, especially the management of it, doubtlessly, needs to be further redefined and refined.
I wonder how is the registration for "luar fakulti" going to result in. Perhaps, in the first place, is this needed? To produce a more well balanced and well rounded graduates? If this is the objective, I disagree to the utmost! Imagine all the popular courses are fully booked and registered, one has to turn to less popular courses, for example Alam Metafizik offered by the Islamic Studies Academy, I wonder whether the particular student would benefit from this?! Until now, I really wonder and in a state of mistrust regarding the real objective behind the implementation of "luar fakulti". UM want to be different and highly distinguised??!! or it is just a mere conservative, forlorn, and futile system by UM to educate undergraduates??!! why can't UM follow the way other universities implement their policies for students to take elective courses??!! why UM prefer students to fight with each other??!! why UM enjoy seeing chaotic and rampageous scenarios in computer labs during registration??!! is this what a university student needed to sacrifice for study??!! I remember 2 semester ago, me, among many others, was soaked in rain to be a given a number to register a co-curriculum course!!! is this what a university student needed to learn and experience??!! to endure hardship and calamity??!!
Since yesterday, anti-ragging posters were up here and there in the faculty and residential college.
It says: - Ragging is a violation of basic human rights. No one should tolerate the degradation and humiliation caused by raggers.
Such posters made the campus look like in guilt of such acts. Well, it depends on how you look at it. What is the definition of ragging, in the first place ? The seniors here preferred to call it ORIENTATION. According to them, the freshies are being orientated to the "right' attitude to suit the environment and the social setting, to get them to be street-smart in a short time. Also, the freshies will be made to know the seniors well. Such aims are good, isn't it?
But does the end justify the means - which is ORIENTATION that some people tend to call ragging.
My view - there are pros and cons.
1) I think the authorities should not over-react at such things. I understand that ORIENTATION is a tradition, so perhaps even our Vice-Chancellor and deans in their student days have experienced such things before. Maybe those who studied overseas have a more gentlemanly approach. As long as there is no endangerment to the security of students, they should not panic. Nowadays, methods of ORIENTATION are mostly comedic in nature. The seniors just want to have a good laugh. Very few resort to obscenity and vulgarity to gain satisfaction.
2) On the other hand, though the result of ORIENTATION is welcomed, the means of achieving it through "ragging" leaves a rather uncivilised after-tase to the whole story. It looks bad to an observer of the ongoing wildness during ORIENTATION. It just does not seem right for them to bow their head, here and there.
3) But then again, as long as there is no better alternative ( I believe there is )that will yield the same results, but more civilised and professional, the ORIENTATION should be allowed to continue, albeit under supervision, and the seniors knowing their limit, remembering they were once orientated as well.
When you see a senior and junior being good buddies later on, you will realise that ORIENTATION isn't that malignant, although it seems like a violation of human rights.
The internet is a place for anyone, anything, including con-men and gullible people. The proliferation of spams and stupid chain-emails proves that many net users are very gullible. Email ads offering penile enlargement, breast enlargement, love scents, and chain emails that are supposed to bring in good luck and great love life and monetary rewards. How can people be so stupid? And I hate it most when such emails are forwarded to me by some closest friends. Are they also as foolish as others, therefore not able to distinguish bullshit from genuine stuff?
I think such cyber cheating should be stopped, some kind of laws or fight-back mechanism should be employed to make the Internet a more sensible place.
Half of my emails in the hotmail account in the junkbox are about porn ads, boobs and penis enlargement, matchmaking services, and get-rich quick schemes. It is insane, and shameful too.
Has it ever occur to you that computer technology is actually very unreliable ? I am talking about the lower end, the PCs that we use. I can never trust the computer to save my work properly. I can never be rest assured that the computer will not hang while I was using it to analyse something very important or in the middle of writing a paper. Many times it has disappointed me by failing when it matters most. So, actually, no matter how canggih IT can be, it is just not 100% reliable. Errors and jams are bound to happen in these machines, and most of the time when you cannot afford it. I don't know about the higher end ones, the supercomputers, but the PCs are certainly not trustworthy enough. I have become so paranoid that I save my work in 2 disks and in the internet, but still, documents can still be lost. Sigh.....
I have been complaining and criticising all the time. I criticised the health ministry, the university and residential college administration, the student body, my friends, and all. In fact, I have been vocal about my alma mater's management (now, I even criticised the alumni) until I realised I am also not satisfied with the way things are done over here in university. So, is it them or is it me? Am I a pathologic complainer?
Two days ago, we learnt a lesson from our college master, Prof Rohana about administration - student relation that is always spiced up and produced lots of criticisms and complaints, sometimes strongly worded with a heavy dose of sarcasm and impertinence. For the first time, I was shown the situation on the other end of our 'verbal assaults'.
She is right about the ones at the receiving end of our language-lambasting assault. Would they not respond sometimes with anger and scorn, thus reducing the administration - students relation to no deeper than a dispensary build-up?
When I look back, perhaps we should weigh an issue that bug us properly, minus the impulsive auto-rebellion, motivated by selfishness most of the time. Are we being arrogant in our remarks? Are we trying to teach the administration to play their role, when we have none of that kind of experience. Would we have done a better job?
You see, this ikan bakar stall is full of criticisms. The tauke criticises the education system, the healthcare system, the rotting quality of youths, the Bush administration, the university administration. It is as if this blog is for me to exploit for my pathological complaining purposes. Sometimes when these words reach the criticised, isn't it inevitable to get upset and felt insulted?
Is it possible to include humility in a criticism? How do we protest and object decisions of the administration without appearing disrespectful and rebellious? Lip-servicing? This is a question of diplomacy, I guess.
But one thing I learnt for sure, that I should think twice before I open my big mouth again.
Musa oh Musa, are you a limping Education general? It is alright if you are not good looking, but come on, we cannot afford to have an ugly education culture !!
excerpt from Lim Kit Siang's media statement on national education targets. .......Although Malaysia cannot have its own Harvards or Cambridges, why can't Malaysia have at least a world-class university if we are serious in wanting to become an international centre of educational excellence?
In the sixties, Malaysia's sole university, the University of Malaya, was rated as one of the best universities in Asia-Pacific, probably ranked among the top best ten universities in the region. However, three decades later, it had suffered such a serious decline in academic standards and quality that it was ranked a lowly 47th position out of 77 universities in the Asiaweek's 2000 ranking of Best Universities in the region, with two other named universities, Universiti Putra Malaysia in 52nd and Universiti Sains Malaysia in 57th position.
Malaysia does not have a world-class university. Its best university was ranked 47th in the Asia-Pacific. Is our sole strategy to restore, maintain and improve the quality of higher education in learning, teaching and scholarship purely through the presence of quality foreign universities in the country?
What is urgently needed is a Masterplan Plan on Quality in Higher Education to ensure that Malaysia does not just become a regional educational hub attracting 50,000 foreign students by 2010, but is universally recognized as an international centre of academic excellence.
Parliament at its June meeting should declare two national educational targets to reaffirm Malaysia's objective to become an international centre of educational excellence - to have at least one world-class university and an university among the top 10 Best Universities in Asia-Pacific.
Parliament should also veto the Education Ministry's down-grading of the national educational objective from an international centre of academic excellence to a mere regional educational hub to attract 50,000 foreign students by 2010, regardless of quality.
(31/5/2003)......."
sembang kat warung: I have blogged here before about the embarassing quality gap between our universities and the foreign ones, like NUS. And thanks to DAP's website (what the heck are the local dailies doing, offering UMNO and MCA crap for RM 1.20 a day? ), we are informed about the ongoings of national education debates. I totally agree that we, Malaysians, are in need of a truly world-class tertiary institution (albeit USM,UPM and MMU are heading towards the right direction). We do not want some limping, scrappy universities just to cater the hunger of our paper-chasing society. We need thinkers, genuine researchers, and world-class education, producing world-class graduates. Not some sloppy youths who would never make it had they been born decades earlier. Sigh, but then again, all the tauke can do is only open his big mouth and blarh - blarhhh--blah. But at least, I'm doing some talking. I wonder why are most of the professors keeping quiet. Only Prof Emeritus Khoo Kay Khim has ever publicly criticised the education system and the present Malaysian students. Come on, wake up, you education 'gurus' !!
Don't agree with me? Just compare the website of UM and NUS. Click on these two icons
You'll see how embarrasingly far behind we are from them.
What the....It's already JUNE ! Finally, the period of nonchalant days in college has ended. Now, I'm loaded with assignment and promises to keep. It will take a substantial dose of wisdom to keep everyone happy with the limited time I have, thanks to my earlier complacency. Nevertheless, it can be good and productive when you are busy.
I finally manage to come online after 4 days. For a blogger, this is abnormal. Anyway, no regrets. I had a good trip down south to FELDA Palong in Negri Sembilan. A humbling , learning experience down there, while making friends with technologists, experienced nurses, PHd students, and clinical professors. This is the kind of experience I need to motivate studying.
So, for the time being, all I can blog is this tiny personal news. The political glands have atrophied over the past few days. All the tauke was busy doing is measuring glucose levels, blood pressure, and acting like a GP.
*W.I.B is the personal blog of fooji. He works for the ministry of health seven days a week, skips his breakfast and looks forward to a good dinner at the end of the day.
w.I.b:warung ikan bakar:
Seluar pendek - moral cetek ?
Musa oh Musa, are you a limping Education general? It is alright if you are not good looking, but come on, we cannot afford to have an ugly education culture !!
