Kursus Kepimpinan Pensyarah Muda 1/09

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

I have attended a great course over the past week or less. It is a course designed for young lecturers from government universities across the country. So far, there are 20 such universities in Malaysia and each of them have to nominate 5 lecturers below 35 years old to attend the course. I was hesitated to attend because previously the course was held at BTN, which is like in the remote area of nowhere and the training was like semi-military, living in a big dome with poor facilities and so on.

However, this time, for the first time, the course was organised at INTAN, a venue that usually is used for executive government servants like the school principals, professors, senior officers, etc. We were lucky to be placed here where we each were given a room with another room-mate. The room is en-suite and air-conditioned. Really, we have no complain on the accommodation and food here. The facilitators were very friendly, supportive and helpful. Not like the BTN's facilitators that are trained to pressure the participants.

There were a few sessions of talks by various senior government officers from the departments of anti-corruption, national security, diplomat, protocols, islamic affairs and leadership training. We also had a few physical training in groups and daily exercises. The most exciting part is the adventure in the jungle where we did some hiking, crossed some rivers and walked into two caves with the water level went up to 6 feet deep and filled with lime stones. There is also no examination for this course. I really enjoyed it and would like to recommend it to other young lecturers who have not attended this course before.

The most valuable experience in this course is the friendships built throughout the course with all the young lecturers across the country. This is a great opportunity to get to know each other, exchange opinions and update each other about stuff happening around the country. Even a facebook group is set up for all the participants in this course.

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.

Faculty's Family Day

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

For the past two days, I stayed at a resort about an hour away from my house for our faculty's family day. I didn't expect that much from this event because I thought that it really is a waste of time, energy and money. All I can see from an event like this is just to strengthen the bonds between the members of the faculty. We work at the same place everyday and probably see each other like nearly everyday. Although there are more than 150 of us in a faculty, both academic and administrative staffs, it's not like I don't know them. Of course, not that close, that's why I thought that the ultimate goal for a family day like this is to make the relationships between us closer.

Anyway, it was a packed event. We started on Saturday morning with telematch. Before that, I have arranged a few other female staffs to go there in my car to save money and environment! It was a pleasant journey. After the fun of telematch, we went for bowling. This was my second time and my first time was like 8 years ago. I have never been a good bowler and I obviously sent the ball into the gutter a few times and hit a strike randomly, I think that has nothing to do with my skill.

We checked in a big villa together with another 10 bacheloresses (or more precise, single ladies). It was fun staying with just girls because in other 14 villas, each room was occupied by a family, so it's like 5 families in a villa, not that fun. Anyway, in the afternoon, it's the Quality Day of the faculty - a formal function to celebrate the success of the faculty in various fields of academia and non-academic matters. In the evening, it's the Eid Dinner (though it's the end of Shawal, people still are celebrating Eid in Malaysia - it's a month of celebration here, funny Malaysians. Also, Saturday was Deepavali Day or Diwali). I really enjoyed the night cause those in my table were a bunch of happy young tutors and lecturers. We had a big roasted whole sheep! This is the first time I saw a big roast sheep on the table.

The next morning, we played futsal while the guys played netball. My team won the match and now my body is aching and soar all over, after like a few good month not having any proper exercise. On the way back, we dropped by a fishing village to buy fresh crabs. When we arrived, the fisherman just brought in two baskets of freshly-off-the-boat sea crabs. Later, we dropped by Nando's for lunch before we headed back.

This Wednesday until next Monday, I'll be at Sungai Petani, Kedah for a boring and purposeless (or for useless purpose) training - BTN - basically to make you more patriotic to the country by going for a week of camping. It's really a stupid idea, a product of the governing party who think that people can be brain-washed and fixed in just a few days of camping, who think that people will not vote for them if they don't play racial issues, who think that by not voting them means that they don't love the country, who think that they are the only legitimate party to govern this country and plunge the money of the people of this land. Really, I think I just want to fail this camp (yes, they test you at the end) and they can tell my employer about my performance there, so they will never want to send me to this kind of camp anymore. See, by sending me means that I represent this institution. If I failed, and this camp has nothing to do with my job as a lecturer, they will not want the name of UTM shamed. Why not just fail it?

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.

Cambridge, here I come!

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

I can't wait to tell everyone that I'm coming to the UK between 24th November 2009 and 5th December 2009. The apparent purpose is for my graduation on 28th, but the hidden agenda is to see all my lovely sisters in the UK. Miss them all and hope to see them soon. I don't know how to arrange my schedule, but here it is, a very tentative one:

24th - arriving at Heathrow, stay at Dina's
25th - visiting Imperial sisters!
25th evening - travel to Cambridge, stay at Fatima's
26th - Arafah Day - fasting in Cambridge, go to TJ's house in the evening for dhikr
27th - Eid Day! Pray at Kelsey Kerridge Sports Hall as usual, meet all the sisters in the community!
28th - Graduation Day
28th evening - travel to Birmingham
29th - 30th - in Birmingham, visiting
30th evening - to Oxford
1st - Back to Cambridge for a research group meeting
2nd - 3rd - chill in Cambridge
4th - 5th - London, want to see Rihla sisters!
5th - off I fly back to Malaysia.

Not sure if it will work. I just hope that I get to see as many sisters as possible. The graduation is not important, it's seeing the sisters, those who have always been there supporting me, directly or indirectly, throughout my study in Cambridge. The graduation is not for me, but for them. May ALLAH increase them in their rank, deeds, rewards and mercy.

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.

I'm a Chinese Malaysian Muslim... get it? - Part II

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

I can't believe that I have to write this same topic for Part II because just as I went to register as a voter (yes, only now that I register!), the officer at the post office reproduce a confirmation sheet using the information from my Identification Card where she put race as Malay for me and asked me to sign the sheet. I explained to her that I am not a Malay. She said, is it not written in my Identification Card. We checked and there was no such information on it, only my religion - Islam - on it. Clearly, from my very long name, there is no way that she can't believe that I'm a Chinese, especially with my surname 'Phang' on it. Then she said, but your name is a Malay name. I was like - NEVER MIND. I signed it anyway, since the queue behind me was quite long. I was going to say, that is an Arabic name, even your name is an Arabic name, only it is written in English letters.

Is it that difficult to understand the difference between race and religion?

Probably I'm expecting too much.

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.

I'm a Chinese Malaysian Muslim... get it?

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

I have always been reminded that culture can be apart of religion (a way of life) as long as it doesn't contradict with Islamic law. Malaysia is a very funny country, you see. Some people have skewed perception and definition about religion, culture, race, nationality, etc. Just take the Constitution of Malaysia for a start (no intention to insult this man-made constitution):

Article 160 defines a Malay as a Malaysian citizen born to a Malaysian citizen who professes to be a Muslim, habitually speaks the Malay language, adheres to Malay customs, and is domiciled in Malaysia or Singapore. As a result, Malay citizens who convert out of Islam are no longer considered Malay under the law. Hence, the Bumiputra privileges afforded to Malays under Article 153 of the Constitution, the New Economic Policy (NEP), etc. are forfeit for such converts. Likewise, a non-Malay Malaysian who converts to Islam can lay claim to Bumiputra privileges, provided he meets the other conditions.

(From Wikipedia)

Can you see the whole mixture of race (Malay), nationality (Malaysian), religion (Islam) and culture (Malay)? Is there no Malay Malaysian who is a Christian and follows Malay culture? Is there no Indian Malaysian who is a Muslim and follows Malay culture? Is there no Chinese Malaysian who is a Muslim and follows Malay culture? Is there no Chinese Malaysian who is a Muslim and follows Chinese culture?

The first category is those that the Malay Muslims would like to punish, for example, Lina Joy. The second category is the Mamak who open 24-hour restaurants all over Malaysia and are mainly populated in Penang and Selangor. The third category is the Baba and Nyonya who we can find in Melaka. All these three categories of Malaysians speak Malay as their habitual speech. Now, I'm the last category.

My parents are Malaysians and I am born in Malaysia. My grandparents are from China. They are not Muslims. My mother tongue is Mandarin and so my habitual language is Mandarin or to be specific the dialect of Hakka (Hakka is not a language). I learned Mandarin first at kindergarten and primary school, then in Year 2, I started to learn Malay, then in Year 3, English - all in the KBSM syllabus. I have never learned and accepted Malay as my way of life simply because it is too alien for me. I only have 2 Malay classmates throughout my time in primary and secondary schools, and we were never close.

So, who am I? I'm a Chinese Malaysian who is a Muslim and speaks Mandarin as my habitual language. According to the Constitution of Malaysia, I am not a Malay, not in a million year. To put it logically, how can one change his/her own ethnicity or race? If you are born a Malay, you are a Malay for the rest of your life. If you are born an Arab, you are an Arab for the rest of your life. You can't convert from Malay to Arab, can you?

For sure, you can convert from a Buddhist to Muslim. That is me. I change my religion (a way of life) but I don't change my origin. Some people take it seriously about their origin and be proud of it. If you want to promote Islam as the best way of life given by ALLAH to mankind through the teaching and examples of the Messanger, Prophet Muhammad (saw), you can't advertise it as:

convert to Islam = becoming a Malay

If you put that equation in advertising Islam to non-Muslims who are (majority) non-Malays in Malaysia, you are just going to get backfire. That is why it is so difficult to find a non-Muslim family accept their child's conversion to Islam in Malaysia, because you are telling them that they are losing their own child and become a Malay! What a great idea!

Many Chinese in Malaysia don't have a problem for their children to convert to Christianity because it is not associated with any particular race. Buddhist is also associated with Chinese in Malaysia. That's why you can hardly find a Malay or an Iban converted to Buddhism.

On top of all these arguments, why do we need to take races so seriously? Did the Prophet (saw) not remind us that there is no one race which is more superior or inferior than other races in his last khutbah (sermon)? ...No Arabs are more superior than the non-Arabs and no non-Arabs are more superior than the Arabs...

ALLAHU'alam.

Wassalam.

Outstation

Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh,

It was a busy week. With only 3 weeks left before the final exams and a close to this semester (14 weeks!), everything was packed right at the end of the semester. I have to finish the trainee teachers supervisions who were placed far from UTM. It is in Muar, about 2 hour drive from UTM. I used to drove there in the morning and came back late in the afternoon. But seeing that I need to finish the supervision and many of the classes are scheduled at 7.30am, I decided to stay at Muar for 2 nights.

I have been at Muar and stayed there before but that was at my friend's house while I was doing the same thing like now. But then my friend was still living and working in Muar. Now that she has moved to somewhere at Gelang Patah, I don't seem to have any choice but stay at a hotel. It wasn't a pleasant thing for a single woman to stay at a hotel by herself! That was what I have been avoiding but since I had to supervise classes at 7.30am, meaning that if I had to drive from UTM, I will have to start my journey at 5am, which is one hour before Fajr! So, no because it is worse to travel alone at night and stop at any random R & R to pray Fajr.

After surveying with my colleagues who have been staying at Muar for a few times, they recommended Muar Traders Hotel is the best for me because of the location, safety of parking and convenient in looking for food and stuff. When I walked into the hotel, a staff member asked me if I'm a school student! You see, people working in the hotel always think that a young woman (looks young) only stay at a hotel because she has a sugar daddy or what. I had to prove that I'm a government officer to avoid such a fitnah.

Anyway, other than that unpleasant first impression, it was not a too bad experience staying there. The utmost reason is that it has free wireless service inside every room! Alhamdulillah, I still can work while away from my office and chat with friends. The view from my room was quite nice because the hotel is just next to the Muar River. I came back every evening after the supervision and bought some food for dinner. After that, I didn't go out until 7am to the school again.




On 30th September, it was raining and I was driving in the busy town. A car in front of me was reversing from the side street (where it is illegal to park cars) and I had to brake but I didn't make such an abrupt brake, it was a slow brake. And then a loud bang behind me, I didn't feel anything so just moved on as usual. When I looked at my back mirror, I saw a motorcycle and a girl on the street. I stopped my car and parked it aside and quickly walked to the motorcycle. She was sitting on the street with her helmet still attached on her head but the motorcycle's side mirror was broken and the battery was sticking out of the body. I quickly helped her to get up while 2 passer-bys offered to help as well. They picked up her motorcycle and parked it in a building's ally way. I tried to talk to her by asking her name but she was too dizzy or shocked maybe to reply. I asked if any part of her body was hurting, she said her shoulder. So I offered to bring her to the hospital.

While in the car, I asked her name and age. She was only 19 years old and so I asked her to phone her elder brother or sister or father. She refused, maybe too scared, so I drove her to a clinic but they advised us to go to a government hospital. Upon hearing that, she asked me just dropped her at her work place not far from the place of accident. I insisted to go to the hospital and asked her to phone her father. She said she was fine and her shoulder was not hurting anymore. I insisted to bring her to the hospital but she refused and so she phoned her father but he didn't pick up the phone. I asked if her motorcycle is insured, she replied no. So upon her request I sent her to her work place where her father can come and pick her up later.

I didn't take her contact number because I don't think it is a good idea to ask her to pay for my car. According to the law, if you hit a vehicle in front of you, it is your fault even though you may say that the vehicle in front of you made the mistake first. It happened to me once when a lorry came out of no where from a junction and the car in front of me made a sudden brake, I hit it right at the back and I was the one who had to pay. Anyway, in this case, I had to let her go because her motorcycle was in a bad shape and there was no insurance coverage for that, and she is only 19 years old.

There was a significant damage on the body of the back of my 3-month old car. I think that must be where her head hit. That's why she was so shocked. Alhamdulillah, no one was injured in this little accident and I hope she fixed her motorcycle. I travelled back to UTM again on Thursday afternoon in time to prepare for my Eid Open House - a tradition that many muslims in Malaysia do for a whole month of Shawal - which was scheduled on Friday. More than 150 guests (colleagues and students) were invited not just as a celebration for Eid but also to give thank on my PhD completion. Not much were prepared, only normal Malay Eid food like rice, ketupat, beef rendang, lodeh (lontong), nut sambal, watermelon and sirap juice, and of course kuih raya.

Eid Mubarak - still.

Wassalam.