The new form of peer pressure

Looking at wedding pictures of people my age really makes me feel depressed.

These days, most of my friends have started to book dates for their wedding. They are like, lining up to get married.

This is a new form of peer pressure.

I want to get married too, but not because of the pressure. I want to get married because I want to get married. I want to settle down.

However, due to some inevitable problems, that plan has to get postpone. Urgh~

But it's okay. I am strong right?

Yes, I am strong, strong, strong.

.....that's not working. Let's try doing that again.

I am strong, strong, strong.

Okay, that works.

p/s: This is like, the third(?) time I write about this. Hahaha. I am desperate. Pathetic.



Lagu: Hampir Ke Situ
Artis: Mendua

Aku sadar bukan mudah
Untuk mengejar mimpi indah
Pernah suatu ketika dulu
Ku punya harapan besar
Kini aku tak pasti
Dapatkan ku miliki

Sudah jauh kita tempuh
Kekalkanlah impian lalu
Mungkin ada hikmat
Yang akan menunggu
Di penghujung jalan
Biar nanti kecewa
Setidak-tidaknya mencuba

(korus)
Jika halangan menduga perjalanan kita
Janganlah kau putus asa
Karena ku ada di sisi setia menemani
Andai semangatmu gugur
Genggamlah tanganku
Kita hampir ke situ

Adakala ku terasa
Ketabahan tak setegar
Tetapi apakan daya
Berhenti separuh jalan
Percayalah padaku
Aku yakin kita mampu

(ulang korus)

Biar orang katakan
Rapuhnya harapan
Bukan mereka tentukan lagi
Kau ada aku dan aku punya kamu
Amanlah akhirnya tetap bersama
Oh...

(ulang korus)

Academicians in Malaysia

Story 1:
Last Tuesday I went to my Research Topic class. It is a course for graduate student. I don't really know why they named the course Research Topic because so far I have not felt that I was lectured on how to choose topic for research, instead I was lectured on how to publish paper, how to choose journal, etc.

Anyway, last Tuesday the lecturer was talking something about choosing the right journal, and a little bit on how to write your paper so that it is not rejected. Then the lecturer talked about how to write the methodology section. She said, the methodology section should be detail enough for the readers to understand and to repeat the experiment, but always keep something hidden. She further said that we should not reveal everything because if we reveal everything, then someone else could repeat the exact experiment, and if the person found a better result, what would happen to us? (I think she was saying we would be considered as incompetence)

Anyway, I totally disagree with her statement. I think methodology section should be detail for other researcher to repeat the experiment, and get the same result. If other researcher repeat the experiment and get a better result, that means that maybe we have missed something, or maybe the result of the experiment varies according to the location (for example, my prof told us, the yeast for sourdough bread works only in the bay area, when the bread is done somewhere else, even using the same yeast, the taste of the bread is different..wonder why). And as academicians, we should not be afraid of revealing everything to the other researchers because no matter how the consequences, there is always something to learn. If our result is good, then good for us, and other researchers can do further studies based on what we have found. If our result is not-so-good, then we can always learn from that. Maybe our technique is wrong, or maybe there is something that we have missed. I think we should reveal everything for the sake of the knowledge. And also I think, it is unethical for us to not revealing everything because what if our result is not accurate, and it is used as a foundation for something big, which might effect lives and the planet?

Story 2:
This morning I was having breakfast with my friend. We were chatting and she told me about her superior (a lecturer) who asked her to be lenient when grading lab reports. He told her to give all the students at least an 8/10, not less than that. When my friend said she wanted to check the grammar in the lab reports just for the sake of educating--not grading--the lecturer told her not too. The lecturer also told her that it is okay if she found students who plagiarize.

Okay...what was that?? As a lecturer, as an educator, should he told my friend all those things? Where is his ethics? I totally think that as an educator, as an academician, he should not have said that. A sincere academician and educator will respect knowledge and make sure that all students be graded equally, and the grade that the students receive should reflect the quality of their work. If everyone will get an A, why do we grade in the first place anyway? And plus, saying that it is okay if the students plagiarize? And it does not matter if their grammar is terrible? What kind of graduates do you expect to get from this kind of incompetent, insincere lecturer?

Random:
Another thing that ticks me off is when it comes to writing recommendation letter. I would say, 90% of the time, when a student asks for a recommendation letter from his/her lecturer, the student would have to write the letter him/herself, and the lecturer would just sign the letter. I think this is very unethical. Lecturers are paid to do all these kinda things. And the university/employer who want the recommendation letters do not want to know what the students think of themselves, they want to know what other people think of the students. If we write something about ourselves, that is called personal statement, not recommendation letter.

Sometimes I wonder why some lecturers in Malaysia are so incompetence. I think they are not sincere in doing their job. It feels like they are forced to become lecturers--not because they want to become lecturers--thus, they do their job half-heartedly. As academicians/educators, we should show good examples to the students by being ethical, and by showing the respect and the love to the knowledge. For me, knowledge is something that is too noble to be disrespectful to; it should never be exploited for personal gain. This kind of lecturers really give bad image to the country's education system, and I think they should be brain-washed so that they realize how important and noble their job is, so that they would be more sincere in doing their job.

p/s: praying that I will never be in the same category as these incompetent and insincere lecturers.

Random thoughts (and crap)

Yesterday I was having some backache. My shoulder bone hurts, and the pain crawled to my chest area. I think it was because of this uncomfortable chair that I am using at the office. After work, I complained about the pain to my boyfriend, saying it would be good if I could get a good massage. Then, before I knew it, we were at a massage center at Jusco Setiawangsa. I chose a one hour full body massage. Since I did not want to make my boyfriend wait for one hour, I forced him to get one as well. Haha. Suddenly we were pampering ourselves last night. It costs us RM50 each for an hour of massage. Not that expensive, and I thought it was worth it. However my boyfriend did not enjoy it as much because the guy who massaged him was quite huge (so he was too strong), and he kept on asking my boyfriend, "Sakit bang~," with a Thai accent. Hahaha.

A few days ago I was reading something about the new curriculum for English learning at school. It was said that they would increase the hour of learning by 100%, which makes a total of 30% from the learning time would be dedicated to the learning of English. In addition to that, they would include new module in the learning--English lab, Scientific English, etc. I thought, "Wow, this is good~." Way to go, you have my support.

The celebration of the 100th day of Najib ruling showed quite a number of improvements that he has been working on. On that day, he gave 11 'gifts' to the people, and one of them was a 20% discount to those who had to go through toll gates >=80 times per day. I think it was terrific because people are really burdened by the toll prices. Although I am not in the >=80 times users catagory, I am happy for them.

I think people are slowly accepting Najib's ruling (and also BN). I think his 1Malaysia principle is working, and I personally think it is a good idea since it promotes togetherness. Although there are voices saying some people would take advantage of this principle, I think as long as we understand the basic principle of our country, everything should be fine.

PAS won Manik Urai by only a few votes. This shows how people have started to gain confidence in BN. I only hope for the best for the country.

Recently I have been receiving a lot of wedding invitations. I am under pressure. I want to get married too. If only wedding and marriage processes do not involve parents, I would have been married by now. O well~ Patience. Patience. Patience.

I am hoping everything would be just fine with my research on the first try. Okay, I know all scientists who are reading this would be laughing by now. Hah. Well, there can be miracle when you believe, right? Heh.

I will talk to my supervisor about getting a co-supervisor so that I can do my work in the lab located next to my office building.

This evening I am going for a swim.

I think I should stop typing now. This post has too much crap already.

End.

Culture shock?

I had a 3-hour class this morning. Or more precisely, 2-and-a-half hour.

The class was scheduled from 8-11 am every Tuesday. I wanted to leave the house earlier today, but I woke up late (6:05 am) and had to rush to work. I quickly ate some fried rice at home and brought a bottle of plain water with me so that I had something to push down the fried rice. I left the house at 6:47 am, hoping the traffic would not be so bad.

After about an hour of driving, I reached my office. I punched in, boiled some water to make myself a cup of tea. After drinking half a mug, I rushed for my class. It was 8:00 am.

Reaching there, I was expecting a class full of people (it was 8:05am). Instead, I found myself to be the first one to enter the classroom. The projector was on, but the light was not. I switched on the light, took a seat, and not long after, a few students came in. It was 8:10 am, and the lecturer was nowhere to be seen.

8:25 am: the lecturer still had not come yet.

8:30 am: finally the lecturer arrived, but the class had not started.

8:35 am: the lecturer asked, "Can we start now?" I was like, "Are you serious??" In my mind, of course..

Then the class went on for the next 2 and a half hour..a boring 2 and a half hour, to be exact. It was a 3 credit hour class..so we are supposed to meet for 3 hours every week (unlike in UCD, where 3 credit hour is equivalent to 1 hour lecture or 3 hours lab).

I don't have any problem with meeting for 3 hours every week. The problem is, it was a straight 3 hours. I will be much happier if they split the class into two sessions of 1.5 hours each. And since the lecturer did not have much to say anyway, she kept on rambling about unimportant stuff just to fill that 3 hours. Sometimes she gave like 10 examples (okay I exaggerated) for a point that she was trying to convey. Or sometimes she elaborated an example for 15 minutes (okay, I exaggerated again). But you get the point. The 3-hour class was not properly filled, nor it is used effectively.

Added with the dimmed lighting (the light was off to get a better view of the slide show, and since there was only one switch for all the lights, we had to turn them all off), many of us fell sleepy and eventually fell asleep (or at least, me).

Somehow I felt like I have succeeded in wasting my time this morning. I barely got anything from the class, since I have already learned most of the things that she said during my undergrad life.

A 3-hour class is too long. I am confident to say that the points that the lecturer was trying to teach could have been cramped into a 1-hour lecture. So, instead of having a 3-hour boring and slow lecture, they could just made it into a 1-hour fast (and maybe more interesting) lecture, and gave us assignments to fill in those extra 2 hours.

And plus, I am not used to starting the class late. For me, 8:00 am means 8:00 am, and not 8:30 am (although I came in a lil bit late, because I knew everyone would be late anyway). She said, last week she told the class that she would start the class at 8:30 am since she did not want to rush everyone to come in at 8:00 am (I missed last week's class because I was not registered yet at that time). However, I am sure that 8:30 am means at least close to 8:45 am. Hah.

O well, I hope I will survive this program. I aim to finish in a year, although I know that is a bit ambitious. Hoho.

p/s: I miss the ever-exciting-and-enthusiastic class environment. The students here do not seem too excited about learning. O well, I guess we cannot blame them. Blame the boring class, I would say. Or maybe the learning culture, in general.

p/s/s: I miss the road-filled-with-fast-bicycles too. I miss to see students rushing to their next class. Let it be running or cycling. It's exciting. It makes us want to rush to class too. (And I did. I was literally running to some of my classes. And sometimes I would bike as fast as I could.)

p/s/s/s: It's funny to think that, even without the attendence sheet, the students in UCD were very enthusiastic about going to class, and they would try to come in at least 5 minutes before the class started. But here, even with the attendence sheet, the students would take their sweet time to get to class. O well, again, we cannot blame them. There is no reason to come early anyway. The lecturer is always late. At least 5 minutes.

p/s/s/s/s: Okay, it should have been p/s/s or p/p/s? p/s means postscript, right? So, postpostscript makes much more sense than postscriptscript, right? But I think, there is no such thing as p/s/s or p/p/s. I think there should only be p/s. Hahah.

Problem solved

Finally, no one should face any problem in leaving me a comment anymore. My boyfriend has solved everything up. Apparently he had to add the scroll function in the coding. Tell you I would not be able to do this alone. Heheh.

Feel free to leave me a comment, as it is always good to know that I don't write only for myself. Comments always cheer me up, and make me excited. Hehe.

Anyway, if you still facing a problem, do tell me by sending me a message at nhmp_85@yahoo.com. I will try to fix it as soon as possible.

Till my next post, take care, everyone! :)

The weirdest dream

Last night, I had the weirdest dream ever.

I dreamt my face was covered with fine but quite long (1 inch) hair and small flowers.

Yes, actual flowers. Like they were growing on my skin. There were like 4-5 of them, and they were white little flowers.

In that dream, my friend, Mas, advised me to go for a facial to remove the hair, but she did not say anything about the flowers. Or maybe she did. I think she just mentioned something like, "Eh, there are flowers growing on your skin."

Then I met my boyfriend and I told him with a sad face that I had flowers growing on my face, and that I wanted to go for a facial. Then he laughed a little before saying "Okay."

Then, the dream just stopped, or maybe I woke up.

Fuhh..~ I was glad that it ended. It was the weirdest dream ever.

Or more precisely, a NIGHTMARE :/

My face in my dreams. The short lines are the fine hair.

Apologize for the difficulties in commenting

I have received quite a number of complaints about the difficulties in commenting. All of them involved difficulties in typing in the verification code. Someone said it might have caused by the template that I was using, so I have removed the template and reverted back to the classic template. However, I think the previous template has messed up the whole thing, and so it was not working. My boyfriend added this new template, but he did not have enough time to repair all the damage. I tried leaving a comment on my previous post, but even the comment box did not show up. Hahaha.

O well, just bear with me for a while. I will have my bf repairs everything back to normal. He has a BSc in Information Technology, so he should know (unlike me who is afraid of technologies...hehehe).

Anyway, again, I apologize for any inconvenience. I will try fixing this thing up as soon as possible. Till then, if you feel like commenting, type it in a notepad, or talk to your roommate about it.

Heh.

Math and Science in English?

Logging into facebook this morning and found this article.

This issue about teaching of science and math in English has been going on for quite a while. Some people wanted the subjects to be taught in English, while others thought that the policy is just bullsh*t. So the government finally has made the decision to drop English as the medium of teaching, and go back to using BM/Mandarin/Tamil, starting 2012. Although the decision was said to be final, the commotion is still there. Those who wanted the subjects to be taught in our mother tongues rejoiced, while others were disappointed.

I personally agree with the government's decision. I know some of you disagree with me because of the obvious reasons--the language for science and math is English, English is the language of the world, without English, we cannot go anywhere, yadayadayada. Yes, I agree with those statements, but I have my own reason for agreeing with the government's decision.

My main reason for supporting the decision is, for me, groping the main ideas and basic concepts in science and math comes first before being able to explain those ideas and concepts in English. Science and math are both considered as killer subjects to most people, which means both subjects are difficult to be understood. Even to Americans, algebra is hard. And they learn that in English--their mother tongue. And how can we expect our students to be able to grope and master math and science when these subjects are taught in English, which is our second or third language? Without a strong understanding of the subjects, we still cannot produce good scientists and mathematicians.

I have talked to a science teacher, teaching form1-3 students. She said, when she taught in English, they did not want to listen because they did not understand. Ended up, sometimes she had to explain it in BM just to make the students understand. And although the students have to answer exam questions in English, apparently it is fine for them if they use the wrong grammar, as long as the key word is there, and as long as they examiners can understand what the students trying to explain. (Of course, if wrong grammar would make the answer wrong, almost everyone would fail)

Let's think for a second here. The main reason for teaching math and science in English is to produce science students with a good command in English, and they are hoped to become world-known scientists and mathematicians in the future. However, looking back at what I have written in the above paragraph, this policy does not serve the purpose, since wrong grammar = bad english = bad scientists. Let's try to put this thing in equation so that we can see it better.

(S&M refers to science and math, not the other thing)

Introduction:

English is the language of S&M. Our problem is,

S&M taught in mother tongue => good scientists, bad English => bad scientists

Solution (method):

Teaching of S&M in English

Hypothesis:

Teaching of S&M in English => good scientists, good English => excellent scientists

However, result:

Teaching of S&M in English => cannot undertand S&M => bad scientists

Teaching of S&M in English => does not help in mastering English => bad English, still

Thus,

Teaching of S&M in English => bad scientists, bad English => even worst scientists

Conclusion:

Teaching of S&M in English does not produce better scientists, instead, it makes it worst.

So, what went wrong?

Maybe we have overlooked something. We expect teaching of science and math in English would produce a good scientist with a strong command in English. Our main problem here is our students, even the top scorers in math and science, have a weak command in English. This shows that we don't have a problem with our method of teaching science and math. The problem is in our method of teaching English. Even for the non-science students, their command in English is bad. It has been English all the way. Then why are we trying to mess up with science and math?? We should have been messing up with English!

I think the reason why we messed up with science and math in the first place is because our parents' generation said, "My friends who went to English school, learned science and math in English, and had no problem. They understood science and math just fine. So, what's with all the ruckus?" However, they forgot that those who went to English schools from non-English schools had to do, if I am not mistaken, a year of some sort of preperatory program. Or maybe less than a year, I am not sure. But the point is, they were prepared before learning everything in English. It's the same concept as sending students for preparatory program before flying off to oversea for college--the program that I was in. For at least a year, we were taught the language of the country that we were going to for college, so that we would be well-prepared to learn everything in a different language. We were well-prepared, but these students who have to learn science and math in English at school are not prepared, thus explains the unsatisfactory result.

I am not saying that teaching of science and math in English is wrong. It is not wrong. But the students have to be prepared before they are ready to learn those subjects in English. They have to master English first, before they can learn and master the subjects in English. Or, they can master the subjects first in their mother tongue, master English second, before they can master the subjects in English. Either way, they have to master English.

There, we have come back to English being the main problem.

I am still with my stand. We have to change our method of teaching English. Our current method is not effective at all. The curriculum should focus on all aspecst of the language--reading, writing, listening, speaking--and it should be taught at least for an hour everyday. Make it a habit. Then only we can master English. In fact, this should be implemented to the learning of other new languages as well.

p/s: From my observation, most of the people who want the subjects to be taught in English come from the city, or are not aware of the difficulties that the students from rural area have to face when they are forced to learn science and math in English. We should be aware that the probability of these students hearing/using English in their everyday life is close to zero.

p/s/s: I had expressed my disappointment about Malaysians who cannot speak BM. For goodness sake, they ARE Malaysians. Aren't they ashamed of themselves? However, someone told me that these people cannot speak BM because they do not use BM in their everyday life, so we should not blame them. So, are we saying it is okay for Malaysians to have a bad command in BM, but it is not okay for Malaysians to have a bad command in English? Dimanakah jati diri kita sebagai anak bangsa Malaysia?

Monolog: 9 bulan

(amaran: sesiapa yang tidak berhati jiwang, read at your own risk.)

Mohd Dzulkarnain Zainal Ahbiddin.
Bergambar ketika bersiar-siar di Taman Burung, Kuala Lumpur.

Sedar tak sedar, sudah 15 tahun aku mengenali lelaki ini, dan semalam, genap 9 bulan aku bersamanya. 9 bulan yang aku rasakan begitu pantas berlalu. 9 bulan yang dipenuhi kisah suka-duka dan juga cinta. Ya, cinta.

Apa itu cinta? aku pun tidak tahu apa jawapannya dalam bentuk kata-kata, tetapi yang pastinya aku yakin, apa yang aku rasakan ini adalah cinta. Aku masih ingat kali pertama dia melafaskan kata cinta kepadaku. Ketika itu, kami berdua berada di dalam kereta untuk ke suatu tempat. Pada waktu itu, hubungan kami baru berusia beberapa minggu..mungkin 2 atau 3. Dia katakan padaku, "I sayang you, I cinta you. I taknak menggunakan perkataan 'love' kerana ia boleh membawa maksud 'sayang' atau 'cinta'. Bagi I, 'cinta' adalah perasaan yang lebih kuat dari 'sayang'. Semalam I sedar yang perasaan I terhadap you sudah mencapai tahap cinta. I cintakan you, sayang."

Aku tidak tahu apa yang aku patut katakan pada ketika itu. Lidahku kelu. Tiada yang keluar dari mulutku melainkan ucapan terima kasih. Aku tahu dia tidak mahu itu. Aku tahu dia ingin aku mengucapkan kata-kata yang sama kepadanya, tapi aku belum bersedia. Atau lebih tepat, aku tidak tahu apa itu cinta. Aku tidak mahu melafazkan sesuatu yang aku tidak pasti akan maknanya.

Aku sudah terlupa bila kali pertama aku melafazkan kata cinta kepadanya. Tetapi yang pasti, aku tidak membuatnya menunggu terlalu lama. Mungkin selepas beberapa hari dia menyatakan yang dia mencintai aku. Aku menyedari yang aku juga mencintainya bila aku tahu yang aku tidak boleh kehilangannya, bila aku tahu yang aku tidak boleh hidup tanpanya, bila setiap kali dia menangis, aku menangis bersamanya, dan bila setiap kali dia ketawa, aku ketawa bersamanya.

Selama kami bersama, sudah banyak suka dan duka yang telah kami lalui..mungkin lebih banyak dari segelintir rakan-rakanku yang telah mendirikan rumahtangga. Aku teringat satu peristiwa di awal hubungan kami. Pada waktu itu, aku masih lagi sukar untuk mempercayai lelaki, walaupun lelaki itu adalah dia. Disebabkan oleh sikapnya yang terlalu baik terhadapku, aku sering terfikir, adakah layanannya itu akan kekal sehingga ke tua? Atau apakah ketika aku tidak lagi cantik, dia akan keluar mencari pengganti dan meninggalkan aku keseorangan di rumah? Aku sering berasa gelisah pabila mengenangkan perkara itu. Disebabkan aku banyak mengelamun pada waktu itu, dia sedar akan perubahan pada diriku. Dia cuba untuk mencungkil apa yang ada di benak fikiranku. Dengan rasa yang serba-salah, aku mengaku padanya yang aku mempunyai masalah untuk mempercayai lelaki, termasuk dia. Tidak dapat aku ceritakan bagaimana raut wajahnya ketika itu. Dia sungguh kecewa dengan kenyataanku, lalu menghisap beberapa batang rokok tanpa bersuara. Aku rasa bersalah, aku tahu aku telah melukakan hatinya. Aku tahu dia mengharapkan aku mempercayainya kerana dia mempercayai aku tanpa berbelah-bagi. Pada waktu itu, baginya, aku adalah nyawanya, dan bagiku, dia hanyalah seorang lelaki. Aku menangis di tengah-tengah kesibukan kota.

Setelah beberapa ketika, dia berpaling kepadaku. Dia melafazkan kata-kata cinta padaku. Dia meyakinkanku bahawa dia tidak akan berubah, bahawa dia hanya mencintaiku dan akan terus mencintaiku seorang. Dia meyakinkan aku bahawa dia akan tetap mencintaiku walau kulitku sudah kedut seribu, dan kepalaku telah dilitupi dengan helaian rambut putih. Dalam linangan air mata, dia meyakinkan aku. Aku menggagahkan diri untuk melihat wajah dia yang telah aku lukai. Ternyata dia ikhlas mencintaiku. Malam itu, segala keraguanku terhadapnya lenyap sama-sekali. Aku mempercayainya. Aku yakin akan dia. Aku tahu dia adalah yang terbaik untukku. Aku tahu aku mencintai dia.

Kini, aku hanya mengharapkan dan mendoakan hanya yang terbaik buat kami berdua. Aku berharap, walaupun aku tidak dapat bernikah dengannya pada hari ulangtahun pertama perhubungan kami, setidak-tidaknya dapatlah aku mengikat tali pertunangan dengannya. Aku sudah tidak sabar lagi menantikan detik aku diijabkabulkan dengannya, bergelar isteri kepadanya. Aku tidak sabar untuk melahirkan dan membesarkan zuriat kami. Aku sudah tidak sabar lagi untuk membina sebuah keluarga dengannya. Membina kehidupan dengannya. Kehidupan aku dan dia.

Ya, dia. Dia, yang merupakan
nyawaku,
nafasku,
hidupku,
bungaku,
bulanku,
matahariku,
pelangiku,
sinarku,
penyeri hidupku,
kekuatanku,
doronganku,
wangianku,
harapanku.

Dia adalah segala-galanya bagiku.

Dialah cintaku.

Jika apa yang aku alami ini adalah mimpi, jika apa yang aku alami ini adalah fantasi, biarkan aku enak dibuai mimpi ini. Jangan sekali-kali menyedarkan aku kepada realiti.

Shocking? Surprising? Unbelievable?

I found this article a few minutes ago...

http://utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2009&dt=0708&pub=Utusan_Malaysia&sec=Ekonomi&pg=ek_02.htm

Malaysia jadi 'lubuk' syarikat bioteknologi Korea

KUALA LUMPUR 7 Julai - Malaysia yang kaya dengan sumber alam semula jadi, menyebabkannya dianggap sebagai 'lubuk' kekayaan oleh syarikat-syarikat bioteknologi antarabangsa terutamanya dari Korea.

Negara itu mempunyai minda dan kepakaran yang baik dalam bioteknologi manakala Malaysia pula mempunyai sumber semulajadi yang kukuh.

Sebanyak 22 buah syarikat dari negara itu akan membuat pelaburan dalam bidang tersebut yang dilihat mempunyai potensi besar untuk dikomersialkan.

Malah, Malaysia juga dianggap mampu mencipta pasaran yang baik untuk syarikat-syarikat berkenaan bagi menembusi 10 buah negara sekitarnya yang dihuni 600 juta penduduk dengan Kadar Dalam Negara Kasar (KDNK) terkumpul berjumlah AS$1.4 trilion (RM4.94 trilion).

Menteri Sains,Teknologi dan Inovasi, Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili berkata, kini, syarikat-syarikat berkenaan boleh mengubah lokasi kilang dan aktiviti-aktiviti kajian dan penyelidikan (R&D) ke negara ini.

Katanya, syarikat-syarikat berkenaan boleh mengambil peluang terhadap kedudukan Malaysia yang terletak di tengah-tengah Asia selain terletak di antara pertumbuhan ekonomi rancak negara India dan China.

Selain itu, katanya, Malaysia juga merupakan negara Islam yang memberi kemudahan kepada syarikat-syarikat berkenaan untuk menembusi pasaran negara-negara Pertubuhan Persidangan Islam (OIC).

Jelasnya, OIC kini dianggotai sebanyak 57 buah negara.

''Malaysia kini berada di fasa kedua dasar bioteknologi negara iaitu pengukuhan sumber manusia dan sedang menuju ke fasa tiga iaitu pengkomersialan. Fasa satu merupakan tempoh kajian dan penyelidikan,'' katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian pada majlis menandatangani perjanjian antara Institut Kajian Biosains dan Bioteknologi (KRIBB) dengan Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation (BiotechCorp), Institut Piawaian dan Penyelidikan Perindustrian Malaysia (SIRIM) dan Ultimate Biotech Sdn. Bhd.

Katanya, Malaysia dilihat terlalu pantas melangkaui sasaran bioteknologi yang sepatutnya berada pada fasa ketiga pada tahun 2011.

''Ini merupakan satu petanda yang baik apabila kita berada di landasan yang betul, malah lebih pantas daripada sasaran yang diberikan,'' ujarnya.

Fasa keempat merupakan fasa untuk perniagaan di peringkat global.

Now my biotech friends...do you think this is true? That we have passed the research phase? That we are too fast in the biotechnological development? That we are already in the human capital phase and is going to the commercialization phase? But why almost all of biotech graduates (that I know, at least) ended up continuing their studies because they could not find any job? And why during that BioCareer09, most of the vacancies were for people outside of the biotechnology field, and there were less than 5 openings for biotechnologists? Why, when we are developing too fast in biotechnology, most of biotech graduates cannot find any job (other than becoming research assistant and getting paid less than rm2000/month, or becoming like me, a tutor)? Why? Why? Why?

And that's why I laughed when I went to the BioCareer 09, and also when I was reading this article.

Unbelievable.

updates

I haven't updated this blog for quite some time now. That shows how busy I am lately, although I'm pretty sure there are some people who disagree with me, considering I had so much time before. But as always, all works tend to come to me at the same time. So what have I been doing?

Papers editing

So my faculty decided to make two books, and it just happen that I was selected to be in one of the editorial board. I had to edit undergraduate thesis in order to publish it. Since apparently these students didn't take any scientific writing class, the papers are quite a mess. Results and discussions were being put together, inconsistent use of figures and tables, wrong formatting, direct-translated/informal english..urgh.

Kursus Persediaan Pengajian Siswazah bagi Pegawai Akademik

This was a 4-day course. Monday-Thursday, June 22-25, 2009. We were given talks on how to choose university for our graduate studies, how to choose supervisors, how to publish papers, what to expect during the duration of the studies, what we should do during study leave, etc. Pretty much like a motivational talk, apart of other technical stuffs. It was a good course, but I wish it had been organized earlier. I mean, most of us had already chosen our universities and supervisors prior to the course.

Medical Checkup

On Friday, June 26, 2009, I went to the Student Medical Center for a medical checkup. I needed it for my graduate school registration. After going there, to my surprise, I needed to bring my offer letter for swine flu screening. I wasn't told to bring it, and I had to drive back to my office to take it, so I complained (a lot) to the nurses. Ha! Padan muka

The closing of the 14th International Conference on Thinking (ICOT)

This was held at the KL Convention Center on Friday June 26, 2009. I wasn't asked to go for the closing ceremony, but I wanted to go, so I went. I was able to listen to the final talk by Edward de Bono, and it was interesting and amazing. His thinking was extraordinary that left me wondering how he came out with all of them. Maybe I should buy his book.

Graduate school and class registration

I am officially a graduate student at the Faculty of Biotechnologies and Biomolecular Sciences, UPM. I registered on June 29, 2009. It was a quick process - I took approximately 30 minutes to get it all done (and also to lose RM1600 for the tuition fee). However, I wasn't given any guidelines on when the orientation will take place, which class to take, or even the courses list. After asking around, apparently there aren't any! And so I had to ask around on which class to take, and so on. Urgh.

Higher Education Professional Training Program for Young Lecturers

Earlier last week, I learned that my name was in the list for this program. I don't know how the Ministry of Higher Education pick my name of all people. But since it was an order from the ministry and was compulsory, I went anyway. It was held for 4 days, July 2-5, 2009 at the Grand Season Hotel, KL. 4 days of never-ending food, and talks. It was a good initiative, but some speakers were just boring to death, although there were some who were good. But o well, I got a certificate for it, and am qualified to be a lecturer already! Owh, almost forgot that I need to have a PhD to become a lecturer. Dang.

First day of class

Today is the first day of class, and the lecturer was late. Ha! Also, the shocking truth was, most of the students in the class were dropped from the class, without notice. Apparently there were too many students registered for the class online, but UPM only allow 80 students in each class. To meet this criteria, they restrict to class to only students from the Faculty of Biotechnology and also from IBS (what it is, I don't know). However, instead of telling us from the start, and instead of dropping those who aren't from the two categories, they dropped EVERYONE except for those who gave their names to this one person. How the hell a new student like me would know that?! And they told us about this during our first class. Ha! So ended up I wasn't registered for any class this semester, other than my Master research project (12 credit). Anyway, we went to see the person to give our names during the 5-minute break, but then found out this person was on leave today. Ha! KILL ME ALREADY!

That sums up pretty much all the things that I have been doing for the past couple of weeks (or more). And today I was smacked by another workload. Dush!

Why is today Monday..

p/s: This morning there was a car tail-gating me. It was a busy morning as always, so he didn't have a chance to overtake me. I like to sort of piss off these kind of people by not giving way to them, so I kept on driving without changing to the left lane, and I was able to piss him off for quite some time. After a while, there was an opportunity for him to overtake me through the left lane, and I was like, "urgh~." However, the road merge with a bigger road -- from 2-lanes to 4-lanes. I moved to the most right lane because I wanted to go straight. While doing that, I kept my eye on the car, just to see how fast he could go. Well, he kept on tail-gating on other cars. He couldn't change to the right lane because he was too close to the front car, and ended up, I was much faster than him. 'Haha. Learn from me, Mister. The art of smart-driving, not haste-driving.' *Proud face* Tu la drive gelabah sangat, padan muka lambat. Kancil kecik comot ni lagi pantas dari Persona kau tau!