An Immigrant's Patriotism

What do you do when you do not want to be ruled by others? Why, you become the master of yourself.

What do you do when you do not like the way others do something? Why, you do it yourself.

What do you do when you see an unbearable wrong? Why, you set it right.

That is my goal as a Malaysian. When I am old enough and wise enough, I shall be a politician. Yet here lies the conundrum in, not only Malaysian politics but, politics as a propensity anywhere in the world: How does an individiual force seek to go against the stubborn old ways, even if it is for the benefit of us all? How does one break the ranks of those selfishly holding the power and might of money, and not afraid to use it?

You see, I am a girl and there is nothing I can do about it. It's not wrong, of course, but I can't change it either. I can vote now but I don't see any existing party that has rightfully deserved my vote. I have my education thanks to the Malaysian taxpayers' money and I intend to repay them. But how? There is something integrally wrong with the current government. The oppositon is made up of a bunch of fools who think they are clever with catchy namecalling and wavering manifestos. I do not want to vote for any of these people. So what should I do? What should any person who loves their home do?

The answer is simple. Follow Dr. Mahathir's footsteps. Use kindness, compassion, and knowledge as empowerment instead of money. Seek power, not for selfish reasons, but for the good of the people as a whole. Dr. Mahathir climbed his way to the top of Malaysian democracy that way so there is no saying that I can't do at least something in the same manner. That is what I want to be, and will be, Allah willing.

No need to post pleading comments at chedet.co.cc asking for Dr. Mahathir to come back, to do something, to magically whip out a wondorous solution for all of Malaysia's problems. That isn't fair to him. He has served Malaysia well and deserves his rest. Now it is our turn to do something for our country. We need to stop growing fat and complacent on subsidies and hak istimewa. Read, for crying out loud. Do something other than complain or despair.

Understanding the Inevitable

I'm trying to make up my mind about which subject is more boring: Ethnic Relations or Geotechniques.

I had Ethnic Relations two semesters ago. I live in Malaysia where multiculturalism goes hand in hand with daily life and politics. Therefore, I understand the logic in creating a course that studies inter-ethnic relations. However, what was being presented in class was not as much ethnic understanding as it was government propaganda on the justification of 'Hak Istimewa Orang Melayu' (since it so clearly say so in the Perlembagaan...). Needless to say, I learned next to nothing except gained a better conviction of the idiocy of the individuals responsible for the definitions of race, ethnic, and other useless labels as stated in our textbooks.

On the other hand, theres Geotechniques. Last semester's Geotechniques course content consisted of mainly calculations, which was bearable to a certain extent. This semester is mainly theory. Firstly, I don't understand the logic in making us learn calculations before theory. To me, it makes more sense if we had an idea of why we were calculating whatever we were calculating. Anyway, theoretical Geotechniques is a bitch -- endless explanations about dirt, rocks, and walls. Our class had the (good?) fortune to be taught by arguably the most good-looking lecturer in the faculty. Sadly, his exceptional attractiveness doesn't make up for the unbearable boringness of Geotechniques. Consequently, every Geotechniques class is a daydreaming event filled with fantasies of hostile alien life forms attacking the class (sometimes featuring me leaping to the rescue) or other violent and action-packed phantasms as only in a Geotechniques class.

So, I belive I've got my answer. Definitely Geotechniques is more boring. The conclusion is, daydreams' level of ridiculousness is directly proportional to the class' level of boringness.

-The End-