For the sake of US

I came across Noel's blog on the Annual General Meeting of the Prefectorial Board, 2012. Although I've retired from the board, but there's still something tingling my mind...some significant enough to haunt me. There were some events that left me some pretty nasty scars...a couple years back then....

This is probably the most important lesson ever learnt. This is a story on how a boy learnt to be humble. This is about my prefect life. Also, some nasty secrets.
(as far I've recalled, I didn't tell much about my past as a prefect, as it may be sensitive to some parties)

Back then in Form 1, I was a bloody little immature boy that had no idea what real life is about and worse, had no idea where the school toilet was. I was the first one to attend the interview for a prefect post. Indirectly, this made me the oldest of my batch. I was assigned to a step-brother (a senior), Hoi Fong. I did my duty as prettily as possible. Together with friends, Kok Yee, Arull (yes, they joined prefects the year I did), and the rest of us of the same age, we performed our duty as prettily as possible.

Wen Xin, Wan Er and Gin Nen were the heads of the afternoon session board. There were some sort of politics between them which I have no idea what were they. I never realised that things like this happened to me after that.

He and quite a few joined during the year's 2nd intake.
I was chosen as a candidate of the head prefect together with a few...and after months of probation, I did it.

I told Ruthresh that he'd be the assistant head prefect.
Hey Ruthresh. I know what I've said before. And I'm sorry for some promises that I can't keep. 

I didn't know how the organisation worked and things didn't end there.

In form 2, I persuaded Ting Meau, Yi Fai, Kek Leong, Bryan to join the board. And so they did.

That year was not a really strong year for both me and Arun (he's the head prefect for the morning session). But, Arun was the only person there who helped me out while I was beaten by over 60 people when trying to settle a "gathering" beside the toilet. Wei Huen, the assistant head prefect looked out for me, too.

I thought I was capable in handling stuffs. I thought it was all about the students' discipline. But, it was beyond that. I thought I could make a difference. But there's something called "synergy" and it couldn't be done by only one person. He was the secretary that year and which we all knew he is an important person during a meeting. He didn't turn up to quite a few of the meetings, which then I helped him to type the report under his name. All he need to do is to sign and send the report to the teacher for approval.

Then, I messed up. I messed up big time right at the first place I was in that position. I was too busy on the students, till I did not realised the existence of Pn Lim, our prefectorial board teacher. There were quite some times that I crossed "the line", like staying back for meetings after the assembly etc. That kinda annoyed her, I guess. He and his gang were pretty close with Pn Lim. At least, he could have gave me some advice, right? He knew there was something going wrong and remained silence. I recalled on what his friend (which is my friend, too) said to me that he'd give me support....well just because I was STILL the head prefect.
Back-stabbing? You know I don't like that.

So, things started to become unsustainable. And, I was too late to make any moves. I was stuck. My mum asked me to resign. And so I did. There's nothing worth fighting for...or so I thought that there were nothing to fight for.

You must understand the fact that I had no problem managing the board, just the teacher and her people. And, what are the purposes having a teacher when you don't guide the lost? Expecting the lost would be able to find his way to you? And, of course, then I screwed up.

It was a rainy day when Pn Lim announced him as the new head prefect. Magan and I walked back to class. He looked at me, I forced myself a smile, to ensure everything's fine. Yes, everything's fine now for everyone. Though it didn't end with a happily ever after, but that's how the year went by. I still have my friends, at least. Then, from a boy that thought he could manage things (some say confident), I changed into a quiet personality...and afraid of making mistakes.
Pretending that everything is ok is definitely not ok. 

In Form 3, I wasn't expecting much. My friends were there support me for the Pen. K. Disiplin. The post has the highest chances of becoming the head prefect. Because he went for it, hence I didn't. I settled down at a post just behind him, Pen K Kumpulan A. But, there's a huge gap between these 2 posts.
Imagine if there were to be a vote between us 2? I rather play safe. 

I didn't care that much. I focused on my responsibilities, seriously hard core. My temper was seriously nasty and didn't smile much. Most of the students dislike me, but it worked. By the end of the year, I was pretty convinced that I did my job pretty well. Well, so did he, but in a totally different approach : optimism.

Form 4 was a smooth year. Nothing much happened. Things get more stable now. Our thoughts were more mature. It was this time that they need a successor for the head prefect. Before that, we had an agreement on that we stick to our own supposed-to-be-posts. While some didn't, they got chosen. They were the ones who attended the interview and succeeded.

During the AGM, I was elected as Ketua Kumpulan A directly without voting.

As normal stories would go...with a higher authority, the higher your ego might be. I was then challenged. I was then degraded because what I was before is not what I am now. I remembered Ting Meau said to me that once he was a normal prefect, but now he is the assistant head prefect, a post higher than me. Of course I couldn't react negatively towards that, for it may break our brotherhood. His ego grew. I know I can't whistle. I know my writing is not as good as yours.

Want to know a fact? The reason you're in that post is that I didn't go for it. And you bragged to me about it? 

I know.
I know my limitations.

But, please...you know the boundaries.

I'd like to apologise on the content posted, but this is how I viewed things. I have no such intention on hurting or offending anybody. I must admit that the journey we have gone through was priceless. And I thank you for that.

Solid: Hard enough to hold its weight

Debate Assignment

Wasssup yo ladies and gentlemen. so basically our class had a debate for our assignment. The topics were pretty interesting:

•  i-pad is i-pod touch on steroid, 
• downloading music without permission is a form of theft and is immoral, 
• women make better bosses, 
• HIV positive employers should tell their employers of their status, 
• prospective employers have no business poking on the applicants profile in social networking site (that's my topic!!)  

Maybe I should get used to some formalities in speeches, 'cause I can't even say the greeting part right...which went like this:

I know...I know...it was hilarious. Good thing was the only person laughing was Ms Catherine. But after that, I managed to gain some momentum. I don't know 'bout you, but to me, momentum is fluency. And, unless I'm really hyper, which is quite rare in me, I could master both fluency and the emphasis during a speech. But, for now, fluency should be enough, minus some cursing during the speech. ehh-hem, pardon me. 

There's one 'bout me, I don't really prepare a script. I'll just blurt everything out based on some notes I've scribble. And one more thing 'bout me, if I got stunted, it's quite a possibility that I can't recognise my own handwriting...and they're getting messier by day, like an art piece drawn by the elephants in Thailand. 

Since we were the 2nd group, you can't expect more interesting stuff to happen than to the groups after us. I must admit that show got better and better. 

 

6th UKEC MSLS '12 (Day2) : Part 2

OK...then we had a group discussion regarding important issues happening in the country. Some topics emerged from the mature minds of UK students from Malaysia covered personal rights (focus on the Bersih Rally), education sys etc. It was a really constructive session that I've listened to. Yes, just listening. I tried to voice out my opinion twice, but Adam, our facilitator was kinda busy.
I couldn't remember much about this session.

One thing for sure was I was really impressed on how expressive people could be in expressing their thoughts.

2) Nation Building Session: Shaping National Identity through Arts & Literature

Datuk Lat, Dina Zaman and Datin Seri Jacquelina (hope I didn't get the sequence wrong)

As you can see, all 3 of the speakers have a huge impact in the arts and literature industry. Probably you've never heard of them before, but they are interesting people that are determined in making a difference in this country through their pens and initiatives. 

Basically, it was not a very serious topic. Come on what do you expect from a comic book writer, a blog writer and an actress? Mind you, still, they are important people. As breezy art could be, or how mere they were to be, they are the stimuli that shape our lives indirectly. Something that we don't realise how vital it could be...until we lost it. Taking Dato' Lat for example, the slightest characteristic of the house structure inside his comics of Kampung Boy which setting was based on his old house in Perakis projected as an identity. 

The forum was more towards the exertion of moral values like creativity, fearless etc..which turned out to be not that creative after all. 

3) The Rule of Law: Restoring Faith in the Judiciary  

YABhg Tun Dato' Seri Zaki 

Now that I've lost my memory partially from here onwards....there's nothing much I can tell. 

Tun Zaki, well, was the Chief Justice of Fed. Court, Malaysia. Guess I have to write this post with caution or else I'll get sued. He was indeed giving us a lecture, rather than a speech and regard us as students. In restoring the faith, Tun Zaki had made an impressive leap in getting rid of the enormous backlog of cases, and Malaysia as the highest efficiency country in handling this matter. Such improvements resulted in facilitating the clients itself and also the government in saving costs. Besides, the faith towards the judiciary lies between the people handling the cases, which are the judges. And behind every corrupted judge, there is a corrupted lawyer.  Such abuse of power should be minimised and the judge's personal view should be kept aside. In other words, upholding their own believed has overlooked the term "legislation."

I must say that there were quite a number of accuse directed towards him during the Q&A session...and yeaa...he was ready for a debate. The hall cheered when a member posed a question on "why Tun Zaki was the Chief Justice but also acted as a legal adviser of UMNO (which may affect objectivity)." Tun Zaki responded that he was able to do so (as to maintain his objectivity) as long he is not involved in any of the UMNO cases. After that he waved his hands for the floor to cheer. And so we did. 

6th UKEC MSLS '12 (Day 2) : Part 1

Having finished my first progress test on Assurance now I have some time to type something 'bout the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit held on the 14 and 15th of July, at Inter-continental Hotel, KL. 

I didn't make it on the first day and barely had any idea 'bout it. For more info, visit http://www.facebook.com/ukeconline. The pictures shown below were also retrieved from the page. 

P/S: my English is still kinda suck-y

The 6th instalment of MSLS aims to bring forth issues at hand, allowing the youth to find expression whilst remaining grounded to the realities and challenges we face. This non-partisan forum attempts to cover a broad sphere of topics to unity and nation building.

Among the aspects covered were:

1) Religion session: Islamic State in the context of Contemporary Malaysia

Chandra Muzaffar, Wan Saiful and Dato' Zaid Ibrahim 

As on how we were brought up with, and also drawn in the Malaysian Constitution, Malaysia is an Islamic State. Or so we thought. The panels reflected that Malaysia is not legally an Islamic country, but more towards Islamic culture as an identity. Also, the definition is pretty subjective, depending on the degree of understanding and interpretation of the context.

The topic digs even deeper when the topic touches the implementation of hudud law, esp the punishment of amputation of hands of those who steal. Despite the suitability itself, the implementation of such punishment could be not-so-relevant.

Only eye-witness testimony and confession were admitted. For eye-witness testimony, the number of witnesses required was doubled from Islamic law's usual standard of two to four. Only free, adult Muslim men are eligible to testify in hudud cases. (In non-hudud cases the testimony of women, non-Muslims and slaves could be admitted in certain circumstances). A confession had to be repeated four times, the confessing person had to be in a healthy state of mind, and he or she could retract the confession at any point before punishment.

 However, while these standards of proof made hudud punishments very difficult to apply in practice, an offender could still be sentenced to corporal punishment at the discretion of the judge (see tazir), if he or she was found guilty but the standards of proof required for hudud punishments could not be met.

I overheard a conversation between some law students behind me, that a country/state must be free from poverty in order for execution of the law. Also, Dato' Zaid mentioned that the punishment is not applicable for all levels, which the same punishment is to be carried out against 2 different degree of severity, for example a person who steals $2000 and another who steals $20,000. Hence, we could assume that the idea is not ideal and merely another topic to draw political attention. The panel stressed on what Abraham Lincoln quoted where the person who runs the foundation should adhere to good practice.

If the country were to strengthen the position of Syariah law, it should be part of the constitution which then is exercised at the Federal level. But, it would be only eligible for Muslims. Burhan mentioned that the practice of Islam should be focusing on education, rather than prohibitions and punishments. Dato' Zaid said that what that matters is the system of government, which is democratic, and put every aspect at its best practice, compared to countries of Dictatorship, like Sudan and Iran.

That's the people and me. Sleepy? 

CFAB eXchange

Hello... I know I've not been  doing this for a while, and there're some catching up with my life events of these past few weeks. Frankly speaking, there're several more happenings that I'd blog about, aside from the big ones, like CFAB eXchange and MSLS 2012. But I'll focus on these 2....first. But, I've to say this, that I wasn't playing an important role in these events.

CFAB eXchange.
I suppose I've blogged about it, but was not a complete one, apparently. here we go again.

CFAB eXchange is basically a platform in promoting the CFAB program to secondary students, as many are not well informed about it. the CFAB eXchange program was held in conjunction with ICAEW Malaysia on the 7 July, 2012.

Prior to this, to become a Chartered Accountant of ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) requires you to obtain at least an outstanding degree. CFAB (Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business) is an alternative route to the prestigious ICAEW after SPM. Through the CFAB route, you'll not only be exposed to tough examinations but also the soft skills training as well as the work based learning which fully completes the course.

It was a 600-people-event, and everything must be perfect. The team packed the 600 goodie bags and re-checked them...wow..such dedication... We were to arrive before 6am on that day, and my parents really got pretty furious about this. I went through a hard time negotiating the right time...as to me, the time was not reasonable either, esp when our house is quite a distance from Sunway.

So, I arrived late on that day and I was the only one who arrived late... but was not late for my duties.
Ushering sounds pretty cool, but in fact, what it requires is you to stand on the staircase of the 3rd floor to direct the students up to the Multi Purpose Hall, by saying enthusiastically "Hi Welcome! Please proceed to Level 4. Thank you very much!!" I lasted for about 2 hours and I had nothing much to do and started talking to myself.

Then we stood and helped around with the preparation of meals...4 meals... the interesting part was when they tried to bring the packed food from the cafeteria up to the hall. Trolleys were used...but ya' know, there're lots of food and hence, lots of trolley trips need to be made. Some suggested in bringing the food on the table, but do you have any idea how heavy and bulky it'd be. Plus, the lift won't fit such long table and hence, you have to use the stairs. And here's something, deciding whether to put more weightage of food on the upper or lower compartment of the trolley. Reuben and I came up with different perceptions.
Reuben: Put the food down there to make the centre of gravity lower.
Me: Put the food up here, because vibration is greater down there. Plus, you should put things which your hands are near enough to control them.

i'm sorry I couldn't recall everything....after 12 days. And, my english suckz, I know.

There were lots of talks and I didn't pay quite much attention to them.
But I did enjoyed Joel and Jessica's performance. Joel played the guitar and both of em sang 5 songs (mash-up).

And then, it was out turn for Flash-Mob. It was really a simple one: Chicken Dance (not again!!!) and Macarena.

After that, it was the Xlimpiad...or something that sounds like that. It was a 50 question quiz. I was the facilitator for a group, while other facilitators were handling 3 groups, which made my job pretty easy. With some assistance and "facilitating", my group got the 1st. Hehe...

I ushered them down the stairs after that and went back home. oh...and before that I couldn't access my bag which was locked in a damn room. Asked and asked around for the keys.... and waited outside with the others and finally....I got to go home...

I know my hair looks weird and was not even smiling....

If any of you would like to know more about CFAB, pls do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you....(blah blah blah)

FLORIA Putrajaya 2012

Hello whoeva that is reading this. This is not a really interesting post. But if you're one of those mother nature lovers or, you might wanna check out the pictures below. I don't quite really know the name of the flowers...

A white hibiscus...with a little yellow.

A combo pic.

The theme of FLORIA 2012 : Bougainvillea...Enduring Beauty. Well, in my perspective, I don't really see the significant beauty and attraction of the bougainvillea flower (Bunga kertas)...which I believe most people think like I do. You tend to see more of other flowers, esp orchids. 

ermm...i forgot its name.. But if you have good memory, you should be able to recall it, where we learnt   it in Primary schools.

No idea what's the name either

Ooo..they also have a floating stage with the Wawasan Bridge posing as the background. It'd be more colourful at night.

This is Perdana Putra

Perdana Putra 

Bonsai...it's not big....it's in a pot...

If I die young, lay me down on a bed of roses....

bees would like these..

and the cocky urban boy....

Orchid (white)

Flower

Flower

Flower

Flower

Flower (not really that pretty)

Orchid

Orchid

Putrajaya Mosque

Whheew...it's pretty hot in Putrajaya...that's enough sweat and driving today, I guess. 

And, I've got my P License!

Isolated

Sunway TES's CFAB students will be having an exchange session with students of secondary schools and so far, there've been like about 600 students attending. 

At first, I thought this is gonna sound kinda fun. But then, the process itself is pretty complicated. Maybe it's just me making the whole situation complicated. First, we were required to attend a meeting on a Sunday. Well, I didn't go and I have my reasons, which were from my parents. I wasn't given adequate time to arrange my schedule for the meeting. It takes about 30 min to get to college. Venue and when does the meeting end were not specified until that day. and 3rd, the meeting was on a Sunday. 

I really salute the committees and people striving to make this activity a blast. But, it is just not the way how I (we) handled things back at secondary school. 

Then, to redeem for not attending the meeting, I decided to help out at the registration part. Then, the Head asked me whether do I have or could I borrow a i-Pad or i-Phone as the registration only supports Apple product.    I was pretty amazed by how far technology has leaped, but seriously? Why can't they do something that normal people do? I do not have a Apple device and borrowing one is kinda impossible. Come on...it's a pricey tech product that contains personal info. What makes you think that people would lend you just like that? Should I remid you once again that not everybody owns an Apple product. And if it is the condition, perhaps you should make yourself clear upon recruiting minions.

Blame it on me if I don't cope well or if I don't understand how the system work. 

I'm trying to help out here and be a part of you guys....but are we really that different? 

Like their page: http://www.facebook.com/CFAB.Exchange

Last day of Sem Break!

Goshh...it's the last day of the sem break!!!
Hope that the upcoming semester will not be so hell-ish. Assurance, Business Maths and English III....

Like what mum always say, "try to talk to people and break that cocoon".

This sem, I'll try to make more friends and show more enthusiasm in my studies. Oh...wait...I still have Malaysian Studies to attend to...

All I have to do is to study harder...

Things to do:
1) Prepare Curriculum Vitae
2) Driving license
3) Pass all exams
4) Putrajaya Flora Festival
...

SMK SK Alumni Dinner

There'll be a few points in life that when you look back, you'll still be happy for the things you done. In this post, it's 'bout my old high school. I did not choose to be in this school initially. And I'm still trying to beat inferiority complex the hell out of me, esp around with Subang and Damansara college people. I'm not saying that we're that different. there's just plainly one thing, but the effects are enormous : the environment we're living in.

will talk more 'bout this. no mood now. dad keeps on irritating me.