Can ethnicity take a break?

By Aaron Rao

Malaysia as we all know is eminent for our many races and wealth in diverse cultures and heritage. Not only that, Malaysia is praised for the unity of its citizens. The spirit of unity is a value in which our government has been encouraging the rakyat to live out and believe.

Therefore it is essential that the learning process starts from the upbringing of the country’s young generation. Thus, schools and education institutes whether it is primary, secondary, or tertiary, has a vital role to play. Now here’s the problem, according some chats I had our senior citizens which I’ve spoken to, all of them stressed out that during their heyday co-curricular activities is the time where by every student work together and learn more about each others cultures through interactions.

Motor vehicle ban in science university

By Ng Eng Kiat

Please mark reporter Sobana Damodaran’s prophetic opening remarks:

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) akan ‘mengharamkan’ sepenuhnya penggunaan motosikal dan kereta di kampus dalam tempoh lima tahun lagi.

Will the Vice-Chancellor be cycling to work in five years?

Lantern Festival@USM

By Nur ‘Aainaa

Hey guys, I have this quiz for you.

“What comes in different colours, different shapes and different sizes but have lights on it?”

Guess what? What? Wrong! Wrong! You don’t know? Are you sure? Should I tell you guys?

Centralising corruption

By Shamala Suresh Kee

This week, I’m tempted to touch on an issue that bugs me at all times.

The E-Kesihatan program highlighted by the Sun recently caught my attention and in my opinion it is right for all the doctors and medicine practitioners to stand up and speak out their frustration on another scheme brought by our government to centralise a service that would bring more good than harm, to put it gently. What bewilders me is why all the service and programme should be centralised into a certain organisation or commission which in turn provides opportunities for corruption and white collar crimes to infest and wreck the nation?

History can be so cool

By Syarifah Hadli

I was late again. At times like this, I wish I can operate TB 2828 and stop relying on others to bring me around in their car. I hate waiting and this is what I’ve been doing for the past one month. Waiting. And waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting. So, I was walking faster than everyone else. I knew I missed it, I missed the opening of the Freedom Film Fest. Darn. I can’t blame out chauffeur for the day, can I? Anyways it’s not my car, so I can’t bitch. Period.

I arrived with a wide grin but my Julia-Roberts-smile is greeted with cold stares from some of the fest organisers. One of them even eye-f***ed me. I was like, whatever maaan! Shouldn’t these people be welcoming us instead of making us feel like we were so, err, unwelcomed. F*** ‘em. Still grinning widely, I went to the counter and to our surprise (duh), it was full house. What did we expect being 40 minutes late?

Adakah aku tahu?

Oleh Sitinurul Zahra

Baru-baru ini negara kita baru menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan yang ke-50. Banyak program yang disusun untuk memeriahkan lagi sambutan. Nampaknya banyak program yang dibuat itu tidak pun memperkasakan masyarakat mengenai cabaran mahupun mengenai tanggungjawab mereka terhadap pembangunan dan ketenteraman negara. Program yang dijalankan hanyalah bertujuan untuk menghiburkan dan melalaikan masyarakat sahaja.

Sebagai seorang individu yang merdeka kita perlu tahu mengenai apa yang berlaku dan dapat membuat penilaian terhadap perkara yang memerlukan perhatian. Lebih-lebih lagi sebagai warga institusi pengajian tinggi. Kita tidak seharusnya akur dengan segala perintah yang diberi.Kita sepatutnya mempersoalkan perintah tersebut.Ini kerana kita bukanlah haiwan mahupun pelajar sekolah. Seharusnya mahasiswa dan mahasiswi dapat berfikir secara kritikal dan mengutarakan idea yang bernas mengenai sesuatu yang diutarakan. Dengan ini pelajar institusi IPTA haruslah banyak membaca, bertanya dan berbincang.Ini membuatkan seseorang itu dapat memahami sesuatu topik itu dengan lebih jelas dan mendalam.

The most crucial week this semester

By Aaron Rao

For those who are reading this article on Friday, I am now at KL Assunta Hospital.  This week started just like any other week in campus with assignments pending and a load of unsettled tasks.  It would also have been the most crucial week of my semester so far because I will do my first ever video shooting for my broadcast assignment.  But life is really filled with its surprises.  Just one day before I am to start my shooting, I received bad news from my hometown.

1. My beloved brother is admitted to the hospital suspected and now confirmed Dengue fever.
2. My sweet loving grandmother is also admitted and is in dire need of blood.

Campus polls irrelevant… Not!

By Ng Eng Kiat

Malaysians are living in interesting times. In a democracy where we become democratic once every five years, the buildup to the next orgasmic democratic moment, i.e. elections, in our history cannot be less exhilarating.

For us students, campus polls offer a training ground for democracy every year but sadly, we find ourselves increasingly desensitised when it comes to preserving, much less feeding, that basic responsibility of ours. We are so often told that “politics is dirty” and somehow forget democracy isn’t, nor should it be, dirty.

For the casual observer, campus polls might be a pointless, almost meaningless, fight between highly charged political infants. Some would say these students are but chess pieces on the larger national chess board – representing not students’ interest, but serving, with utmost loyalty, their political idols. It really doesn’t get any more ludicrous than reading that the most prestigious university in the whole of Malaysia this September conducted a “SULIT” survey asking students to rank their favourite “personalities” in a compulsory form.

USM Syndrome?

By Nur ‘Aainaa

Pic: This is the smallest, most civil crowd you’ll see around our buses on campus

I just want to share a story with all you guys about ‘USM Syndrome’ (I’m the one who named it). Well, I’m not sure when and how this syndrome started and spread, heck, I’m not even sure it’s limited to USM. Anyway I just want to be a storyteller, so sit back and enjoy this fairytale.

Once upon a day, oh well, it was yesterday when the sun was at its happiest, smiling away and turned me into shrimp grill (well maybe chicken grill because I have dark skin). Gosh, I’m so going to be dehydrated especially due to the fact that this is the fasting month. Darn! I was also already running late for class (Girls don’t spend 5 minutes in front of the mirror, ok?).

The struggle to make myself count

By Shamala Suresh Kee

I couldn’t agree more with Syarifah on the identity thing. Only, she was in the opposite spectrum if compared to my case.

I myself had faced that sh*t. To be totally honest, I am a truly-yours science stream student. Up till Form Six that is. I even accepted an offer to do Applied Biology at our beloved Universiti Sains Malaysia. Now, what made me end up here in Communication, you might ask? Don’t worry, you are not the only human being haunted by that question. *Expletive*. The whole campus wants to know about it. And, didn’t I had a wholy pleasant affair of explaining away the reason in my second year? Probing questions on my decision come uninvited. People tend to size us up by taking our education and wealth generating potential into consideration. The only flaw is this, they do that with prejudice. And very unforgivingly. It seemed to them that I had done a great sin for opting to something other than the Great Science. Alas, I’m settling into my niche. I love Mass Comn.