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..