Civic Education: Should it be implemented in universities as well?

Huh...at last. I managed to make my way here...been quite busy lately. But Alhamdulillah. Everything has been moving so well for me as far as I know (I mean regarding my academic commitment..hehe..). Macro teaching dah habis.The nerve wrecking ethics pun dah habis. Language games presentation pun dh habis..The only ones left are my Maths' courses' assignments. Hope I can finish them on time.

So, want to ask those who are keen to make a visit on this page, have u ever heard of Civic education? for my cohortmates i know u all know. Hehe...Actually, i know a little about it..Not much.I only know that our education has started to implement this subject in primary schools some two years ago. It is aimed at teaching values to children. So back to my real question: should it be implemented in universities as well? My personal opinion, it is a so positive YES!!! It should be implemented in universities as well. I don't know. It's just that sometimes I feel, the more people learn, the more amoral they are.Tapi bukan semua oranglah. Well, maybe those people feel they have something to be proud of that they react less sensitively towards others. It has only been like 9 months since I’ve started studying in U but I have encountered so ample examples to support my stance. Tak payah pergi jauh2 or other facs. Just look around my fac cukup lah..Not condemning my own ‘people’ but sometimes i feel they dun have the values as teachers..Let me give one example..me and my roommates came to class on Friday for our ESL. So, after lunch we went straight to our fac's surau to have our prayer before we entered class. SO, the three of us queued up to take our ablution. At that time, there were two girls taking their air sembahyang. Being so unconcerned about us who were standing, waiting for them for almost 5 minutes, diorang boleh bersembang2 opening up their grandmother story sambil ambik air sembahyang..sembang2 sekejap tkpe lagi..ni siap bergelak2 sakan..dah lah dalam surau..Friday some more..can't they just leave their duniawi business for a while?Can't they show some respect in God's home? I know me myself is not so pious but at least I know how to respect some things that should be respected...Hish boleh pulak after that they realised and said "Ek eh..kite ni bleh bersembang2 pulak!Hihihi!!!" Didn't you feel like smacking them? People were looking you know. I just don’t know where did they put their faces.

Then the most critical time was when we want to have our Zuhur prayer every Monday and Tuesday. There will be like a massive jam in the surau. And we (me and my Maths clan) don't have a choice other than going through the jam as we have only 15 minutes before the next class (on mercy of Dr.Syarifah). But I just couldn't understand these future teachers. They see that the surau is so full of people, yet they just make their 'don't know faces' and lepak2 in the surau..Instead of giving little space to people who want to pray..they put their bags, duduk2 and chit chatting with friends.Hello!tk bleh pegi tempat lain ke kot yer pun nk bersembang?!!Kafe sikit punye besar!So can you imagine how value-lacking they are? They should be more considerate and sensitive towards their surroundings.

Bukan nye cikt2 orang yg buat mcmni..Ramai..and some who did those things are more 'pious' than us..You know what i mean..Kurang2 nye my cohortmates even they are sometimes English oriented people, at least they are being so considerate and tolerant to other people. Hmm..i tink now..'hejab' is not a measure to one's behahiour anymore.

Now, a story when we board on to the bus pulak. Sometimes, UM bus every morning is so packed. So, there must be some people that do not get to sit. Hence, they will be like terhuyung hayang when the bus moves or stops. Kalu terpijak kaki kite ker,terlanggar ker or even terjatuh atas kite, not even a word of sorry would come out of their mouths. Don't ever dream of getting one..Is it too much a wish? What's wrong with saying sorry? At least if they nodded their head to us also we understand. Ni macam biasalah..'muke don't know' tu would always be there. As far as I know, my friends agree with what I’m saying here. I don’t know about the rest. Sorry if my words here are too harsh or too being prejudiced or being too over generalizing. Does the same thing happen elsewhere? I really hope not.

Conversely, Alhamdulillah i still think not everyone is like that...there are some who are so rich with smiles, that at least could make other people's day. Here I’m just portraying those who don’t have the thing I’m issuing here..SO, I still believe civic education should be implemented in universities as well…till then…

posted on frenster's blog in april 2007

For all the things I have done

Lately I have been thinking
About those days,
When smile and happiness rhymed,
When sadness and gloom were enemies,
When sounds were all seemed like songs,
Easy to feel,
Pleasant to hear.

Swiftly,
Smiles and happiness did not rhyme anymore,
Sadness and gloom became friends,
Songs would easily cause tears to fall,
Without an unnoticeable reason,
Or perhaps reasons.

But now things have changed,
For better
People just won’t understand
That sometimes things don’t work the way we want,
Sometimes ruthless decision in present will bring kismet in future

People just won’t accept that.

But as long as I know the real truth,
I’m glad I have made a decision,
I’m glad I was able to make a decision,
I’m glad I was brave enough to make a decision.

For all the things I have done to you in the past,
1000 words are not enough to make up a single sorry.
Although it is hard to chew,
Bitter to swallow,
Still I’m so sorry.
For every misery I have caused you,
I am sorry.

root-

Maybe for some of you, when read of this word, you will think about the root of a plant or maybe a glass of A&W rootbeer..hehe..but those are not what I am going to write about. It is about my root.

Before this, I proudly said to people who were keen to know about my background, that I am half Minang and half Bughese. But I know nothing about these two different tribes. Yeah..my father is a Bughese but he can’t utter a word of Bughese. Even his family was like discarding anything about Bughese from their lives, which I can’t explain here the reason why. My mother is a Minangkabau. Better than my father, at least she can speak a little Minang with my relatives on my maternal side. But during this semester holiday, I have got an opportunity to learn more about half of my root, Minangkabau. Yes, I went to the place where this tribe is originated. I went to Padang and Bukit Tinggi, Indonesia.

I went there with my sister and two cousins from Seremban. I can say they were a big help to me and my sister as they have been to those places before. They even have some foster families there, which have helped us with accommodation and traveling. Yeah..only now I know that in Negeri Sembilan, that will be their event of the year to hold a student exchange programme with secondary school kids from Bukit Tinggi. And that answered why my cousins have some foster families there.

Soon as we reached Minangkabau Airport in Padang, we were brought to so many interesting plsces on our way to Bukit Tinggi. We went to their famous waterfall, Pusat Dokumestasi Minangkabau, which I found a picture of my great5x grandfather, perkampungan Pandai Sikek, which is renowned by their fine sulaman and ukiran and we went to a famous restaurant which serves Nasi Padang. I became so ‘jakun’ because at that time only I knew that dishes are served without us ordering. Only dishes that are touched will be charged. Simple hah..hehe.. But during my stay, I ate loads of food..food that I will not take here in Malaysia. I became more like an exotic food eater..hehe..from ikan nila to buffalo meat to satay Padang and even Bakso. Those were nice experiences indeed..huhu!

Then, I even got the chance to witness Minangkabau wedding. We were brought by Pak Hasrat on the very first evening we were in Bukit Tinggi. At least I know now how wedding reception is done by this tribe..loads of rendang, cakes, colourful dais , and you now something, the bride and the groom are needed to be on the dais all day long, so long the reception is still on. Can you imagine how tired they will be?

Anyway, the second day was the full swing day to shop. We got no enough time to go from one shop to another to survey for prices or what not. We grabbed and go only. Tawarlah the price bagai nak giler dekat kedai yang kitorang pergi tu. But I really admire the sulaman there..so fine and teliti…had I enough time, I would spend that day admiring all the kebayas in all shops..hehe..

Anyhow, there were still some interesting places that we couldn’t go due to time constraint and their own nature problems. Yeah like Istana Pagar Ruyong and Lubang Jepun, we can’t visit those places due to the fire and earthquake they had earlier on.

Well I can say things are cheap there..compared to prices in Malaysia. In Padang, my sister went to a saloon to wash and cut her hair as well as to massage. So, boring waiting for her. I cut my hair too. Can you imagine I cut my hair for only RM4.80? I don’t think we can get such price here. Foods also are cheap there. And I even learned new Minangkabau vocabs too. Before this I only knew words like den(me), mamak(uncle) and nakdo (dun have) to name a few. So now my Minang vocabulary has expended a bit. I learnt words like uni(auntie), dima(where), rancak (good), bara(how much) and kaliki(papaya). I learnt those words when I brought things and even from my cousins’ foster families.

I can say, my vacation this time around was full with so many unforgettable experiences. There were so many interesting places which I haven’t mentioned yet. At least now, I know little pieces of information about my root. So my advice, if you guys have some spare money and wish to go on a vacation, Bukit Tinggi and Padang should be made under your consideration..hehe..till then..

It's a new year again!

Hmm...i've uploaded down here a poem that i created for my lesson plan.it is meant fr year 5 pupils..hope everyone who happen to visit my blog might enjoy reading it..hehe...

It’s a new year again!

I woke up late,

It was half past eight,

I saw all things were in red,

“What is happening?” to myself I said,

I hurriedly got out of bed.

I rushed for my mum in the kitchen,

With her new red cheongsam,

She was steaming the chicken.

So, I grabbed her arm,

And asked what happened,

She just pretended she didn’t hear,

So, I walked away from her.

I went to the living hall,

There were oranges, big and small,

In front of the altar, I saw my granny,

Red packets in her hand, she smiled at me.

Suddenly I heard firecrackers,

It came from outside of my house,

Who were those troublemakers?

I ran out like a bullet train,

Only then I realized,

It’s a new year again!

“They are not the best teachers, but they are passionate people.”

Last Saturday, I managed to attend the Seminar Pendidikan 2007 held in my faculty despite of the restless days I had over the week. This seminar was aimed at discussing the ‘Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan’. Actually what fascinated me to attend this seminar with dark circles around my both eyes was that Professor Ungku Aziz was expected to come over as one of the speakers. Unfortunately, upon some professional reasons, he could not attend. But still, my presence to this seminar was not at all a waste. In fact, it gave me a clear understanding of this ‘pelan’ that I didn’t know its existence before..Hehe…

Came as the fourth speaker of the day was the president of HELP University College, Dr Paul Chan. He was also an ex-lecturer of UM. Honestly, I started to get bored listening but suddenly, I was attracted to listen further when he began to tell us his schooling experience when he was a child. I was fond of one of his statements in describing his teachers. He told us that “they are not the best teachers, but they are passionate people.”

When I heard of this statement, my mind automatically reflected the scenario happened in Malaysia now. It’s true; most teachers nowadays do not have the passion to teach. Teaching profession is regarded as a last resort when they couldn’t find any suitable jobs, not to forget, some agreed to settle down for teacher-training course because of external pressure, not because of their willingness to become educators. My dear teacher-trainee friends, is this true? I really hope being in this course for 5 years have made all of you change your minds. I still remember during our orientation week in MPIK 5 years ago. When one of the facilitators asked who were forced by parents to enter this college. I think there were almost 65% of us raising up their hands.

I just can’t understand, until now. Why is teaching profession regarded as a last resort? Should teaching be put as a last choice? Is it too bad? Why can’t people in Malaysia think highly of teachers? Is teaching children a so terrible work? I don’t know… I’m not a teacher yet. But I have a little experience of being a teacher. It’ true, teaching is not an easy job. Teaching is a job which requires a full commitment but rewarded a low salary. Maybe that’s the reason why teaching nowadays is considered as a last resort. Yeah...Compared to Singapore, it’s their culture that teachers should be highly regarded that makes teaching one of the most highly paid job (teachers in Singapore would at least be paid SD4000 a month! Can you believe it?).

And for some teachers who have been working in this field for years, I think they have lost their passion too. They just teach in order to fulfill the requirement of the job. They don’t take teaching as their responsibilities anymore. Whether the children understand or not what she/he taught doesn’t become a matter to them anymore. I hope I’m not too ‘teruk’ for saying this. To compare with teachers in the olden days, it’s definitely true; they are more passionate than teachers we have nowadays. They may not be so brilliant people but they have all the willingness to educate their people to become ‘orang’ one day.

Maybe I’m not the right person to say all these. I’m just a small future teacher with a big hope to become a passionate teacher. But do you believe a manager will die as an ordinary person but a teacher will die as a teacher?

Till then…

I'm back again! (the spirit of Qurban)

Salam...I’m back again...Wow, such a long period since the last time I posted something here.. Well..guess all the assignments and tasks have robbed the rightful space of this blog from my life..hehe..actually I was intending to share with all, my new experience of this year's hari raya haji..but guess it's never been too late for that right? But sorry if my story this time is a bit 'basi' for all to read...just trying to find an ample spare time for this and now only I managed to find one.


Well, this year's hari raya haji was quite meaningful to me. This was because that was the first time i was called to join my parents to witness the Qurban in a mosque near my house. Actually my mum and big sis were performing their Qurban this year and that' the reason I was there. To see my mum and sis's cow got 'executed'..hehe..


SO, it's quite a scary moment to see the cows being sacrificed. The sound of the cows, the smell, even the facial expression of the cows, so 'giving up', i could still remember until now...and to see them dying hard but slow, reminded me that one day, I’m going to experience this too...it's only the matter of how hard or how easy God will make me die, would be the difference. The feeling of sad and gloomy slowly pervaded into my soul.


But still, I was happy on that day. Despite of hearing Malaysian youths have gone astray added with those facing social and moral problems, today I could see the different side of it. I was quite surprised yet proud to see many young men being the back bone for this upacara Qurban. Most of them who were helping out were in their 20s I guess. They were so busy helping the elders, right from holding tight the cows, to melapah, to even dividing the meat. They were so full of energy and spirit. At least now i know, there are Malaysian youths who still possess good values..cayalah orang Pasir Gudang..hehe..

As i don't have an mmc reader with me now, i can't share with all of you some pictures that I managed to capture during this event. Later perhaps...c u again...

Does love mean letting go?

Last Sunday, I got the opportunity to watch the film ‘Cinta’ that everyone has been talking about. Well, looks like newspapers and televisions have really done their jobs very well in persuading me to take an early trip to TGV to watch its first show of the day.
After watching, I think one part that really gave an impact upon me was when Rashidi Ishak left a note to his wife, saying that ‘Love means letting go”. (Earlier Rita Rudaini had told her husband that she loves someone else)

The poem that all of you will about to read has been inspired by this part of the movie. Okey, don’t think I am a ‘jiwang’ or ‘flowery person’. It’s just that, seeing this particular part of the movie reminded me of a good friend of mine. So, here I would like to dedicate this poem to her, hoping that if she happens to read this, more or less, this poem can help her pursue a new hope and life that she has been searching for, for a very long time.


DOES LOVE MEAN LETTING GO?

WHEN WE LOVE SOMEONE,
WE WOULDN’T BEAR TO LET HIM GO,
WE WOULDN’T BEAR TO LET HIM BE FAR FROM OUR SIGHT,
BUT STILL,
WHY DO SOME PEOPLE SAY,
LOVE MEANS LETTING GO?


IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE,
WOULD YOU DO WHAT EVER HE ASKS YOU TO DO?
INCLUDING LETTING HIM GO?
GO TO SOMEONE ELSE?
SOMEONE THAT HE FAVORS MORE?
AT LEAST MORE THAN HE FAVOURS YOU?


IF YOU LOVE SOMEONE,
AND THAT SOMEONE LOVES SOMEONE ELSE,
BUT YOU STILL LOVE HIM,
SO SO SO MUCH,
WOULD YOU LET HIM GO?
IF ‘GO’ WOULD MAKE HIM FEEL HAPPY,
EVEN IF YOU’RE THE ONE WHO WILL FEEL UNHAPPY?


IF YOU LOVE A MEMORY,
A MEMORY OF ONCE UPON A TIME,
AND IT RESTRICTS YOU FROM GETTING A NEW LIFE,
WOULD YOU LET THE MEMORY GO?
EVEN IT IS THE ONE THAT MAKES YOUR HEART WORK?
BACK THEN TILL NOW?


I GUESS,
WHEN I LOVE HIM,
BUT HE DOESN’T REALIZE,
OR HE PRETENDED THAT HE DOESN’T REALIZE,
BY RIGHT, I SHOULD LET HIM GO,
LET HIM GO OUT OF MY MIND,
LET HIS MEMORY GO OUT OF MIND,
BECAUSE OF THE LOVE I HAVE FOR HIM,
MAKES ME THINK AGAIN,
THAT IF I LIKE HIM SO MUCH,
I SHOULD LET HIM GO.
IF THIS COULD GIVE HAPPINESS TO HIM
THE MAYBE I SHOULD.
I SHOULD LET HIM GO.

Seriously, painting is not my job

I was so tired today. I woke up at 8.30 a.m. today, which is considered early throughout this holiday. I brushed my teeth and I washed my face. Then, after taking a cup of Nescafe, I went straight to my neighbor’s house.


Actually, my neighbor operates a room rental service. As she lives in Pontian now, she entrusts her house to my mother to look over. In order to ‘ambil hati’ my mum who has been cooking whatever I want to eat during this holiday, I had promised to help her paint a room of my neighbour’s house. This was because a new tenant would come in. And we need to paint the room to make it look better. Well, this particular room had been unoccupied for too long and the last time my neighbor painted it was about 5 years ago.


Truly said, I was so dead beat. Well, painting is not my area of specialization. And so does my mother. But at least she can paint better than me.


We swept the room and cleaned all the dust. Then only we started to paint the room. My mother said, it would take only two hours to paint the room, but we ended up almost four hours there! Luckily, my father came to help us with the last coating of the painting. I just could not imagine what time our work would finish if my father didn’t come to the rescue.
As a result, my body, face and hairs were coated with drops of paint. Well, this could possibly happen to an unskilled worker like me..hehe..


5th of December 2006

the ties that bind

It’s been so long since the last time I made a visit to my own page. Well, kinda busy with fasting, raya and exam the utmost important. But now, I feel relief that everything has finished. Yeah, raya too. It ended last week.

Now one question. Have you ever found a friend or some friends who can really function as F.R.I.E.N.D? I mean like hanging out together, watching movies, hear your happy and sad stories, help you when you need a helping hand, cheer you up when you feel down, boost your confidence when you think negative about your own selves? Actually, when I was in my primary school and secondary school, I didn’t care much about this. Yeah, I have a clique of friends that can really ‘go’ with me. But, our relationship is confined to school hours, as I was not in a boarding school. But when I finished my spm, got a place in college, I learned how to befriend with people, a lot. Maybe because I lived in hostel and I have no parents to take care of me there. Only friends that I could count on. Same here when I have to live in my rented house. I live with friends. And so far, they have been the wonderful ones to me.

But now I am not going to talk about them. It’s my other clique of friends in my hometown in Pasir Gudang. Actually, some of them I have known ever since we were in standard 1. While some in secondary school. But somehow, we always stick together. Until now. And believe me, once I get back to KL, I will start to miss them. So, every time Aidilfitri arrives, we would visit friends’ houses together. Whenever I get back to jb, I will try to spend at least 2 hours to go makan2 with them. But, arrrghhh…ok straight to the point, I am feeling sad right now actually. And that’s the reason I am writing this post. Guess what? One of them is going to build a new life very soon. What I meant here was, she is getting married! In less than two months time! I just could not believe it. Man, I haven’t prepared to lose her.

Is this a natural feeling a friend would feel for a bestfriend who is going to get married? Too bad, the other four of us also share the same feeling about her earth quaking news.
You see, when friends are getting married, the pattern that I could see is that, they will start to discard himself/herself slowly from us. Although this will be the first time my very best friend is getting married (that’s why I’m putting this as an issue actually), but I could see that kind of situation happened to my other friends, who are less close to me.

It’s kind of happy but sad really. So, we had planned a picnic together, maybe our last picnic together before she moves to a brand new world and role. So, according to our plan, there would be the six of us plus two bodyguards (our male friends). After discussions and plans have been made, too bad, we had to cancel it. Because the one that we are celebrating could not join, with an excuse that she had a tiff with her fiancée for hanging out with us this one particular night. Not really hanging out actually, attending kenduri orang nak pegi haji jek. And to avoid a further argument, she dare not go out with us anymore. She really wanted to go but it’s a matter of not to hurt somebody’s feeling.

For me, like Malay saying, ‘Berat mata memandang, berat lagi bahu memikul’. I try to put myself in her shoes. Ya, truly say, I also don’t want him to quarrel with her fiancée just because of us. I know her fiancée. He’s an amiable person so far that I know. But many people say, once you get engaged to someone, you can’t be free unlike when you’re dating each other. This could be due to the fact that the sense of belongingness is stronger than what it used to be. And that’s why engaged people will have to restrict themselves from doing what they used to like, if that action will cause ‘sakit hati’ to his/her partner. And to even torture my already ailing brain, older people would say ‘tak baik keluar selalu2, darah manis’ Hee…tension tau tak!!! I just can’t understand. Okay consider me bad for condemning this kind of thing but this just doesn’t fit into my head. I don’t know. Most probably because I was not being brought up with abundance of ‘pepatah nenek moyang’ or maybe because I was not surrounded by engaged/married cousins or family members.

So, as how a best friend should be, I feel glad for her. At least I know she will be in a safe hand. And as I’m among the remaining two who are still not working, I offer her my aid in case she needs a helping hand or something regarding her marriage But, I’m kind of sad really. She is not yet married, but somehow, I could really feel her lost.