The case about the two local university lecturers plagarising earlier, sparked a lot of critics from the nation.

Plagarism, not a stranger to me.

FYP which I completed just last year, taught me a lot about the right way to quote and what not to do in order NOT to plagarise. It is quite astonish to get such a piece of news from the media. Upset, more appropriate.

What have the academicians in the nation has to claim for themselves? And worse of all, being a local public university graduate, I hate to admit that our degree is already some what singled out from those who grad from abroad. Sad but true. And the repercussions of these inconsiderate minorities which would definitely contribute to more of an affect to our local education standards.

I recall an incident where I attended an interview in one of the major local banks with other two Australian graduates. We were chatting in the room before we were called in for the interview. When I told them I am a graduate of Unimas, they rolled their eyes and stared at me as if they didn’t know where was I talking about. Ashamed. Me or them? You may ask. Other incidents, many of my peers, let me stress on… MANY of them still do not where Unimas is. They do not know whether it is in Sarawak or Sabah.

Evan taught me from the very first day what it is writing a thesis of myself is and what it is being a copy cat. Whilst there are so many people out there who are trying their best to improve the standards of the local tertiary education but it is very disappointing to know there are some few who doesn’t think of the aftermath of their doings. Claiming credit on others’ work. Shameful!

What say you? Have you ever copy and paste on your supposed writing?

I am glad I am not one of them, I hope I made you proud, Evan!

The reason of the existence of MUSINGS~ is because I want to have a piece of myself as time passes, reviewing on my own actions, to keep memorable memories and still be able to read it years down the road (I’ll probably be laughing at my own acts at that time!) also, to keep dear ones on my on-goings.

Fact that it is on the internet, you would need to know that it is accessible to anyone, from anywhere. I know that for a fact.

I blog for myself. I blog to remember. I blog for loved ones.

MUSINGS~ a deliberation of my everyday on-goings. The title itself premeditated the purpose of this open journal of mine. Though I know there are a lot of you who are reading silently with full considerations of the purpose of MUSINGS~, there are some who just do not understand the purpose of MUSINGS~.

Don’t get me wrong.

I welcome comments, I appreciate efforts made to MUSINGS~ and I am glad that many of you read this lousy blog of mine but what you know is what you need to know. 

Frequent readers you should know how happy am I when you pop by especially with thoughtful messages or comments left. Yes, you all know that!

MUSINGS~ do not welcome stalkers nor nosy people.

The much talk about 1 Malaysia on bringing a stronger integration among the multi racial in our country has raised many doubts. I have always been very proud of the country, how Malaysians are able to stay united in a country while our neighbour fight among themselves though they are of same race. Back then, I was still very naive.

As I grow older, I learn to understand that things are not as simple as it seemed. Many times, we are made to believe what other’s have to say or rather, they want us to believe what they say.

1 Malaysia?  I ask myself.

An article by Syafique Shuib which I came across earlier took my attention. The stereo-typing on the three major races of the country (Malay, Chinese and Indian) which we all practice either concious or sub-conciously ourselves, is a very realistic scenario which we all cannot deny. I personally feel that it would take more than a mile for the country, the citizens to understand the true concept of 1 Malaysia.

Another scenario I would like to point out pertaining to this agenda would be on the way the particular and detail forms are structured in our country. Have you wonder why would they need to have a specific column asking for one’s race? Tick the following choice which would normally give you the option of Malay, Chinese, Indian  or others (pls specify). Is that really necessary? Does it make a difference whether or not you are a Malay, Chinese, Indian or what not. After all, we are all Malaysians! I often ask myself, you?

While I was in school, I remember a teacher, my Bahasa Malaysia teacher for that fact reminded us numerous times in class to put Malay names into our karangan characters in order for us to obtain better grades during the government exams. Necessary?

While little things like these happen surround me, should I explain further on why I think 1 Malaysia is far fetched?

I admit, I am proud when the nation gets together and shout “Malaysia boleh”  when Datuk Lee Chong Wei go against his opponent for some big badminton tournaments. I am proud on how we rebounded from the ‘98 Asian Financial Crisis compared to our neighbour countries.

Still, 1 Malaysia really boleh? Do your part as a Malaysian!

Earlier this week, saw my sisters and I went through one of our crucial moments in life (okay! maybe I exageratted on that! ;p). Min and Fei both had their STPM and SPM results announced where as I had the FYP’s presentation.

It is the first year that all my three siblings were involved in the government’s exam in the very same year. My brother had his UPSR earlier. They all scored very well, to my surprise. My results were nothing compared to theirs! I received a text message from Min telling me that I was officially the stupidest one in the family *wtf?* My UPSR brother had straight As- which was, I thought no big deal at all. My post SPM sister had 9A1s and 1A2 where as the other STPM sister scored 2As and 2B+ for her STPM. In fact, all of them who conversed with their friends regarding their results all only mentioned about about how many As they scored. It is a total reversed from the classic time of ours’ where we were only concern if we were able to pass (if not, at least a credit). I was impressed with them, I must say. Their As are as if the cut off point; whether A or not an A. Even a B is not good enough!

It kept me wondering… are the younger generation really getting smarter (as shown on their exam results) or is the education system really getting from bad to worse…

Last weekend highlighted one of our country’s major event- the election. Although I have turned 21 years old more than a year ago, I haven’t got myself together to register as a voter. I had tonne of naggings from my mother telling me what an irresponsible citizen I was, but I ignored completely. I believe, like many other youngsters, my “dont’ care” attitude about the election bothered my parents much. But to me, I personally felt that it did not matter me at all.

If voting was a form of democracy in the country, thus, I felt it was also my democracy right not to vote. My parents aside, Yeow was another pain in my as*. It was clear how his vote would have went and he tried to influence me with his decision. I felt that I was not completely wrong not to vote this election.

I must say that post election, made me felt completely different about how I thought about the nation’s election. They always said every vote counts-which I did not really believed in. Until the moment the unofficial results were released, I still feel the same. I got taken a back the next morning when I received text messages from my Dad, informing me that BN had lost 5 states including Selangor. I was assured that everything was fine at home and not to worry about them :) David’s review and opinion about the election was one of the factors which changed my mind too. The votes across the region was no more like the classical “racial” voting system anymore. In fact, people just want to vote for the opposition regardless whether it was DAP, PAS, Keadilan and so forth. It is a real classic which HIT me right at my face and I vow to register myself as soon as the registration opens just in case, I would definitely want to exercise my rights as a Malaysian too!