Tuesday 7 April 2015

How?

I used to think working with her in a group is quite a pain. Tough. Stressful. I thought she had an attitude problem. Well, I kept mum and I avoided working with her at all costs.

I thought I was wrong about her. Boy, was I really wrong about what I thought was wrong. A course mate of mine had her in the group. She wanted things to be done her way. She wanted to do all the tough and difficult titles. True, as university students, we ought to pursue stuff that's tougher so we all end up learning something. One catch, though. What is the point of choosing the tough titles if we don't end up understanding what we are doing? Some of us cannot even understand the title itself! (well, not me, one of my friend complained to me about this). And today, another friend came to me and she told me working with her is indeed tough. She wants it done her way (see the same pattern?), and the titles she chose for the assignment is way too difficult for an average student to understand (she is a perfectionist after all, even I can't beat her with my level of perfectionism).

Well, how do you cope with a perfectionist-egoist coworker? Tell me. ;)

Wing

Saturday 4 April 2015

What's wrong with you people?

So today, I was looking at an article that my friend shared. It says that there are two doctors, more specifically, a surgeon and an anaesthetist, that volunteered themselves to carry out limb amputations in the light of the recent hudud enforcement in Kelantan. I was really taken aback by this. So, in the first place, did they even take the Hippocratic Oath. Even if they did, did they mean what they say?

After sharing the news on my own profile (along with a thought-provoking or rather just provoking statement) some Muslims commented on it and I found their replies very disappointing. To sum it up, it plainly say: If you know nothing about hudud, shut the hell up. Well, I am human enough to know that to amputate the limbs of others off is totally barbaric and heartless. Their reason for their support of hudud is that it is a form of deterrent to would-be criminals. Does this mean your people are so horrible that normal laws cannot govern their behaviour? I discussed the issue from the viewpoint of a rational human and they insisted I understand Islam before saying anything. In general, I would also say many non-Muslims also find hudud a little too extreme. Rather than forcing it down the throats of non-Muslims and calling us "kafir" and "jahil", why not take a little effort to understand our viewpoints. Don't Muslims call Islam the so-called religion of peace? If yes, then prove it. Take some time to ask around. All I can see is: You are a non-Muslim, what the hell do you know? What's more heartbreaking is, on social media, any Muslim that does not support hudud (just look at the comments in articles related to hudud on Facebook) will be branded "government ass-lickers", murtads and all kinds of insults. What Muslim are you when you call your own brethren such sickening names? My main concern regarding hudud is how it claims to not affect the lives of non-Muslims. I have to arguments I can make regarding this. Assuming hudud to be laws practised in Muslim countries, then let me take Turkey as an example. In the era of the Ottoman Turks, the Jannisary (Jannisari) was a special group of soldiers, supposedly elite soldiers with excellent backgrounds and especially in Islam. I came across a book in my university library while looking for information for my assignment. Lo and behold, I came across an ugly truth. In those days, firstborn males from Christian families are taken forcefully and are also converted to Islam forcefully, and they are then made to serve in the Jannisary. Secondly, in the pursuit of jihad, houses of worship are not to be harmed in any way or another. Then, why is Hagia Sophia converted into a mosque? Why wasn't it left as it is? Does this mean it was taken away by force from the Roman Catholics during the fall of the Roman empire? Why bring this up? The Medina Charter guarantees safe coexistence between Muslims and those who are not of the religion. However, one of the most successful Islamic empires have gone against simple rules written in the charter itself. Those were great Muslim heroes that have gone against the essence of the charter, so what more of Malaysian Muslims then, who do not have a history in Islam as old as the Turkish people? Could they guarantee that the rights of the non-Muslims be FOREVER protected? I doubt so. Let's also not forget that Malaysia is a multiracial country and it was never agreed upon that Islamic laws were to be used to govern the nation. Thus, in my opinion, EVERY citizen has the right to disagree upon hudud should they find it too harsh a law to be used, not just Muslims themselves. Muslims in Malaysia should prove that Islam is a religion of peace, not just claim it by mouth. If the Prophet can practise "musyawarah" then why can't you?

If this goes on throughout the nation, I am going to leave to another country. I can't stand seeing the minorities being suppressed. Perhaps, we should all move. I am far too disappointed with what I am seeing now. Oh, have I mentioned about GST, too? Not yet. End of rant for today.

Wing

Friday 3 April 2015

Nasty two-week ordeal!

In every semester (well, for me at least), there is this special two-week period that seems to bring hell onto the surface of the earth and that's the time where the phrase "all hell breaks loose" seems to be the most suitable phrase to describe it, quite literally. Assignments, tests and presentations all come in deadly waves, threatening to break you down with every hit. Being a workaholic, somewhat a perfectionist and a paranoid all put into one, you might be able to anticipate my reactions to all these stresses.

Hell broke lose last week, during the first test. Thank goodness it was rather simple. Then things started to look bad. Economics lecturer misprinted the pages, so instead of having 40 multiple-choice questions to answer, it was scaled-down to 20, from 1 mark in the test to 0.5 mark in the total assessment ratio, it was changed to 1 mark in the test to 1 mark in the total assessment ratio. It only means we risk more marks being sent down to the bellies of the earth with every question answered wrongly... Wow. Then came organic chemistry. Our beloved lecturer gave us questions that she did not teach in class. She says this: Everything you have learned in your previous semesters can be used in this exam. I sat there, thinking to myself, what would I do if I flunked this test. Become a janitor? Waiter at a restaurant? Who knows. And last came thermodynamics. I couldn't complete the test in time (thank God I wasn't alone, 80% of the class had the same dilemma). What a way to end this two-week hell. Assignments are still dangling in front of me and no, it doesn't look enticing at all...

What makes this hell week worse? Demons from hell. No, not literally, I'd shit my pants if I saw one, or maybe half, or perhaps just a ghostly finger. Okay, demons from hell means mad people you say in your daily life. This particular incident annoyed me a lot last week and this isn't the first time such incident is happening. Now, here is the scenario: You have a social media account. You know very well that, unless you adjust your settings to be private or restricted to a specified group of audience only, then your social media account is virtually accessible for all to see. With that, I can now further explain what happened. There was this guy that I followed on Facebook and he had a mutual friend. And through that mutual friend, he asked this mutual friend of me and why did I even follow him in the first place. Then, he proceeded to block me. I went berserk. Firstly, who do you think you are? I am following him because I think he'd be a nice person. Turns out, he is just another asshole who thinks he is so popular that people are dying to get to know him. Please, don't be too full of yourself. It's not like you're some celebrity. Even if you are, I'd just show the magic finger in your face for being such a jerk. Secondly, if you are so afraid of people following you, there are functions in Facebook that prevents people to access your Facebook if one does not has proper connections. Also, do yourself a favour and inactivate the "Follow" button. Blame others for one's own stupidity and inability to use social media is just so silly. Well, I guess stupid people have to exist or else it's difficult to have people that are above-average.

This week is coming to an end and I am seeing the end of the tunnel (no, I am not dying) and yes, whatever I can see now looks good. Get the assignments over with and we chill like there's no tomorrow.

Wing