maresmart sentral

the four men in the mosque

2007-11-09T16:51:00.000+08:00

a nice,funny story i would like to share. enjoy. Four Men entered a mosque and each busied himself in salah, humbly prostrating before Allah. Each one said the "Allahu Akhbar" after first having made his intention, and began to pray with humility. Meanwhile the Mu'adhdhin came in and gave the call to salah. The first man blurted out to the Mu'adhdhin, "Are you calling to the prayer? Are you sure it is the right time?" The second spoke on the spur of the moment, "You have wasted your salah by speaking during prayers!" The third retorted, "Why did YOU speak? Tell your OWN self how to behave!" The fourth mumbled, "Praise be to Allah! I wasn't a party to their arguments." Thus all the four broke their salat and wasted it. The fault-finders went more astray than the one who made the original mistake. moral: correct yourself before correcting others.

i want to begin a revolution

2007-11-09T16:39:00.000+08:00

Assalamualaikum, sorry peeps! it's been a long time since i've contributed to this site. so now, i want to propose something. let's revolutionize this site. how? easy! we improve our inputs by simplifying them! have'nt anyone realized that our entries in this blog is just sooooo LOOOONG!! please people, make it SHORT, SIMPLE AND SWEET! i strongly believe that it would be much better that way. let's revive this site and continue the MARESMART SPIRIT!! haha (i fell like a cheerleader la pulak.) yours truly, SYUK! p/s: tak pe eh nak mencapub skit..hehe have a nice day peeps!!

Abandonment

2006-12-25T18:16:00.000+08:00

We are, in a state, of Abandonment. So sad. So sad. It's a sad, sad situation. But carrots may still dangle, And the radishes dance, On your ears, And on our new address: http://maresmartsentral.blogrunn.com

Hell-bent on Hate?

2006-11-23T15:09:00.001+08:00

Edited on the 2nd of December for length, objectivity and structure. Much shorter, I think.

Recently, I had joined a rather heated debate in a semi-public forum about some Muslims' hatred against Jews, and how some method of expression for that hatred were not justified. It began with a simple e-mail listing so-called "Jewish Protocols", which tried to connect to a significant portion of the moral problems of the ummah today to Jews, so far as to connect very distant ideas - such as the ability of hypothetical children to memorise Hindi and Siti Nurhaliza songs, and the playing of football by women - to Jewish influence.

While the impossibility (or, at least, the improbability) of such a distant relation was dealt with objectively, the discussion still kept going round in circles. When I first joined the discussion (started it, more like), I had initially thought I was voicing out (not necessarily representing) mainstream opinion, but seeing that the pro-hate bench were passionately resisting any influence from the anti-hate side to the point that the (merely rhetorical?) questioning of another's religious "alignment" began to arise, I started to become a little worried if I should have even spoken out in the first place. I didn't doubt that Islam rejects racism - it was more of a case of me being worried if I was speaking out of line about things I didn't quite know about.

Anyway - to cut an unneccessarily long story short - in the end, I found the answer to my question through direct and indirect consultation, and I remained with my original stand. And so I write this article now to elaborate on the reasons as to why I reject this idea of blaming the ummah's problems on Jews, even if some would so passionately defend it.

For me, the Protocols email drew my protest because it consisted of very specific and elaborate accusations without specific proof or substance for support. We have to realise that hate without reason is, in fact, something for us to fear. The spreading of lies about a people is characteristic of ideologies and beliefs that even the most fanatical of Muslims would despise: racist genocide, and Islamophobia. We don't have to dig deep to realise the shallowness of the concept of Islamophobia, which has very recently led the Dutch legislature to consider banning the burqa and niqab in their country. One of the reasons for the ban was supposedly to "suppress" the spread of "Islamic" extremism in the country. Clearly, the Dutch proposal makes as much sense as the French government's choice to ban religious symbols in schools. I do not see any comprehensible correlation between a woman's choice on how she wants to guard her modesty and acts of extremism (who, it should be pointed out, are mostly committed by men dresed in unconspicuous clothing - in other words, "Western" garb). While I am no fan of the burqa, nor do I personally prefer (or would advocate) the wearing of niqab, it is in fact the idea behind the ban itself that we should scrutinise; an idea that is without a doubt fueled by baseless fear of Muslims and the constant - almost, in itself, racist - connecting of anything even vaguely Islamic to extremism by atheists and secularists.

But I digress. My point is, Islamophobia and racism are both clearly related in methodology. Such hate or fear is a mercantile interaction between the gullible and the hateful - hate bought from lies, lies sold for hate. So, if such an action of spreading accusations or allegations without factual basis is a characteristic of something anti-Islam, why are some Muslims committing a similar offence against Jews?

Secondly, it would be foolish and non-PC to not understand the meaning of the term "Jew" itself, and to also not recognise the distinction between a Zionist, and a regular Jew. Not all Jews are followers of Judaism, not all Jews do not believe in Allah, not all Jews support the cause of the Zionists, and thus definitely not all Jews have a desire to lead Muslims into an abyss of irreversible moral decay. If the Jews are a race, doesn't our attributing a characteristic to them in the sense of a negative stereotypical labelling border towards racism? To blame a whole race - and include the children of that race who are oblivious to the dynamics of politics and religion - as the source of seemingly every single problem of the ummah is disturbingly remindful of Nazi contempt for other races. But, most importantly, it rather reflects a defiant position among some in the ummah, as opined next.

I'm sure we have all heard our share of conspiracy theories about Jewish figures holding influential positions in world politics, and their plans to dominate the world. Regardless of the factual accuracy of such claims, this passion of blaming Jews for our problems reminds me of an attitude of choosing to ignore one's own weaknesses, and instead choosing to blame others for causing the problem.

To clearify, let us take the "even if" stand: say, even if we seek to believe for a moment that Jews (by race and religion) do have a conspiracy to eradicate morality from the Muslim ummah through elaborate mechanisms involving Hindi songs and a Malaysian singer, is it not still - in the end - mostly our own selves that should be blamed for choosing to sin? At the end of the day, the one who invites to sin would defend his position by saying he was only extending the invitation, but it was our own carnal desire that led us to make the choice to sin in the first place.

It is definitely easy and comfortable to blame Jews for causing all of the ummah's problems, especially since, in these modern times, we sometimes unceasingly - and understandably - relate the Jewish race directly to the oppressor Israel. However, we have to realise that such widespread hatred for all Jews in general should actually be a cause for worry to Muslims, because this phenomena fuel the polemics of hate-mongers like D. P. and R.S., who would be more than happy to play their part in feeding the monster of Islamophobia (I can at least say that the former has done so). This baseless hatred may even turn us into a culprit of our own destruction, influencing more people like N.D. to rebel against our beliefs.

It is easy to mistaken the anti-hate for being apologetic of Israel, apathetic of Muslim suffering in Palestine or needlessly sympathetic to non-Muslim oppressors, but the harder thing to do is to understand that this matter - far from being a case of "defending the enemy" - relates more to maintaining an ideal state of relationship with non-Muslims, without us transgressing our limits on both ends of the spectrum. It is important to realise that how we are supposed to interact with non-Muslims (with Christians and Jews in particular) as dictated by the Quran and hadith is not the matter being questioned, but it is this seemingly new trend of fuelling hate through baseless allegations that is actually being brought to the table. Regardless, we should all be quite open to ideas, suggestions, corrections and protests. For any pro-hate readers, you are most welcomed to voice your opinions here, because I personally am very curious as to why the pro-hate is adamant on their case of justifying indiscriminate hatred against Jews. It would help if you could cite third party opinions (that is, relative to our interaction).

Whatever it is, in the end, I believe the most important thing to remember in dealing with this matter, is to know when to differentiate a Jew from a Zionist, an innocent human being from a foe, and to know that fair and just treatment is deserving to both friend and foe.

I end this article with the following translations of a Quranic verse and a hadith (the inclusion of which is subject to your own interpretation, mind you):

Al-Hujurat, 49:13
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full Knowledge and is well-acquainted (with all things).
Volume 2, Book 23, Number 399, Sahih Bukhari:
Narrated 'Abdur Rahman bin Abi Laila:
Sahl bin Hunaif and Qais bin Sad were sitting in the city of Al-Qadisiya. A funeral procession passed in front of them and they stood up. They were told that funeral procession was of one of the inhabitants of the land i.e. of a non-believer, under the protection of Muslims. They said, "A funeral procession passed in front of the Prophet and he stood up. When he was told that it was the coffin of a Jew, he said, "Is it not a living being (soul)?"

On a side note, one thing I would like to bring up on this issue of hating, is that I once heard an opinion that when Muslims hate, it is more a matter of hating the actions or intentions of the sinner, and not a matter of hating the physical being of the person itself, because of the belief in redemption and repentance. That is, one does not hate the thief, adulterer, or muderer, but hates the very acts of thievery, adultery and murder themselves only. So, am I correct to say that we should hate what injustice some Jews have committed against Muslims (in Palestine, for example), but we should not hate their very person or race? It would help if someone could comment on this idea.

Wallahualam. My opinions are my own, and I definitely do not vouche for their infallibility. Please feel free to point out my errors.

I recommend the following online literatures/links for references on the matter: Islam Denounces Anti-Semitism by Harun Yahya, Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism by Alexander Gainem, Islam and Other Religions by Professor Shahul Hameed, The Prophet of Islam and the Jews by Faisal Burhan, Need it Be "Us" and "Them"? by IslamOnline and The True, Peaceful Face of Islam by Karen Armstrong (written for the Time magazine). Thank you to Mr Hasrizal of Saifulislam.com for the following recommendation: Muslims and Jews in the West at IslamOnline.

Beauty

2006-11-04T02:37:00.000+08:00

This link forwarded by a friend opened up a new (re)evaluation of beauty and self-esteem on my part. The preconceived definition was reexamined, and it is somewhat disturbing when you find that your expectations do not match the general concensus. That is neither to say that I have a skewed view of beauty nor an exalted one. Upon casual observation, I still find the attractive attractive, and the less so as they are. But the root of the problem in the study of connection between of beauty and self-esteem, is that, to me, there should not be one.

In the videos forwarded, and in the countless links and forums that followed them, the general opinions expressed hover around the idea to tell these girls that they are beautiful, and there's nothing wrong with their body, face, freckles etc. Note the use of the word "girls", because this problem clearly addresses the female population mainly and directly, and their male counterpart indirectly. My objection to these ideas of accepting beauty (or ugliness as beauty) is that it has a smack of delusion and dishonesty. Understandably, we should not blatantly go along with the convention of beauty in popular, media or in the social circle, but more often that not, these opposites of popular beauty : too skinny, obesity etc are symptoms of uglier problems. Saying a fat kid is beautiful without the right follow-up would mean that he does not have to shed those pounds. And to tell an okay looking girl that she is super hot without the right clarification might lead to vanity in forms of overt amateur modelling activities.

Are we too insecure as a society to say that there are some forms of womanhood that are not acceptable? Are we trying to solve this problem by denying that ugliness is ugly, and try to get rid off that word from any definitions of appearances? Should there not be absolutes just so we won't have relativity?

These small white lies we tell these girls mask the underlying disease of actually associating the worth of someone with their looks. Would we not be better off without that very connection? Would it be more liberating without the beauty=value equation? Self-esteem should not be about being happy the way you look, but about not even thinking about it, because it has nothing to do with your self-esteem.

But of course we should not be that idealistic in defining the solution. Of course we can't change the society's tendency to judge appearances, both on others and in themselves. Men being the pigs that they are, and women, being the sows that they also are (yay equality!), could not help but initially decide based on visual merits. As individuals, a very very high percentage of us decides everyday what to wear, how to look, what could we change about our appearances, because we could not fight our very own judgemental demons. Do we not judge the compatibility of a couple based on their looks all the time? Do we not say that the new girlfriends of our exes are ugly? Do we not put only our best pictures on display?

After much rambling, it would be helpful to state that the point of this whole entry is that the final destination should be the complete elimination of the connection between a person's worth and their looks. This "beauty comes from within" cliche, although absolutely true, without proper usage, would not adequately address the problem. Don't simply blame just the male population or the media for setting these absurd definition of beauty, because they are the effects, not the cause, which is our inherent tendency to judge. Let us also be free to call uggos uggos, not because we are being mean, but because that's the way it is. In an ideal, honest non-pc world, we should be able to go up to a girl and say she is fat or ugly, but that does not mean anything other than she is objectively not skinny and pretty. As darkness is just the absence of light, beauty is the lack of ugliness.

Without a doubt, these campaigns for real beauty are noble in intent, but I still feel we are settling for second best. Hopefully, this is just the first step towards the ideal solution, and a quick fix to solve the immediate problem because even as (if we want to) we are trying to abolish completely the beauty=self-worth connection, people are emotionally and literally dying. As always, we could be part of the solution, and in this case, by supporting these campaigns, just because they are the ones that actually try.

We're moving

2006-10-25T20:07:00.000+08:00

Last updated: 31st October, 2006.

The results for the recent poll can be viewed here. We're moving the Sentral to a new address by the end of this year, where we will be able to accomodate more volunteers onto the Staff to help us run this blogtal. Our new host has the Wordpress interface installed (with tons of new features and spiffy plug-ins not available on Wordpres.com). Re-registration for our contributors will be open by the end of November or some short time later. The actual move has been postponed till late in December because of the admins' study commitments (the new site needs some spiffying up). Finally - would you like to see a change of name for this blogtal? *** We're also considering a radically different theme for the new Sentral. If you would like to suggest a free WP theme that you found on the net, please send us a link to download the theme to our e-mail! The new theme should be very blogtal-ish (or webzine-ish) and appropriate. In conclusion - surprise us. *** To anyone interested, we need a new banner for the new site. Full credit will be given where due. The dimensions are 740 pixels in height (with a black band at the bottom - 23 pixels in height) and 550 pixels in height (template here in gif format). Pictures may vary from anything to everything. Send your submissions to maresmartians0405 at gmail dot com *** Updates still to come - stay tuned!

Slmt Hr Ry

2006-10-22T23:41:00.000+08:00

Oh ya. Raya dah dekat. Di sini ada panduan serba ringkas dan peringatan untuk mereka yang menyambut Aidilfitri setahun sekali. 1.Pada yang pulang ke kampung, menaiki apa saja; berhati-hati di jalan raya. Jalan raya sudah muak bermandikan darah-darah anda. 2.Ketika sampai di kampung, pastikan anda memanggil saudara-mara anda dengan gelaran yang betul. Lama tak jumpa, nama pun dah lupa. 3.Biasanya, bagi orang Malaya, malam raya adalah masa untuk bersuka-sukaan. Selain berteleku di depan tivi, mercun juga adalah satu pilihan. Di tempat saya, polis membekalkan mercun. 4.Pagi raya; sembahyang raya masih dua rakaat. Macam tahun lepas. Khutbah raya lepas sembahyang, jangan bangkit lekas. 5.Kepada yang ingin melawat kubur selepas sembahyang, pastikan anda meratap di kubur yang betul. Jangan silap kubur. Al-Maklumlah, raya setahun sekali, melawat kubur pun setahun sekalilah juga. Ucapan raya? Ehem-ehem-ehem.. Selamat Hari Raya `Idul Fitri kepada keluarga dan saudara mara di Malaysia. Tidak dilupakan juga kepada semua warga MRSM Taiping, KMB dan kepada penaja saya, MARA. Maaf fizikal dan mental. p/s: kepada yang beraya di perantauan, lemang dan rendang lebih sedap dimakan di Malaya.

Lord of Ramadan - Whatever It Means

2006-10-19T13:44:00.000+08:00

Salam Ramadan to all, Ramadan is reaching its end but we should not forget about it as we are in the third phase of Ramadan which is the last 10 days of Ramadan. Yes, some of us might feel happy bacause Syawal is coming, meaning Hari Raya Eidul Fitri is about to be celebrated. Unlike the companions of our beloved Rasullullah(PBUH), where they cried each time Ramadan reached its end. (When will I ever be like them...) I believe that talking about our 'ibadah' in this holy month should be our main concern right now. After all, just a few more days are left for us to enjoy Ramadan. The message here is, don't let go the oppurtunity of getting the blessings in Ramadan.I know I did and I hope to remind you not to do the same. So, lets hear this song to remember Ramadan. I personally think its a very cool video clip. It will be better if it has subtitles in English or somehing. I think they are Turkish, those people in the video. What do you think? Ramadan Kareem...Hope you enjoy Ramadan.

Satira dalam Jerebu

2006-10-18T16:08:00.000+08:00

Before (the rain)

After (the rain)

MALAYSIA, Tues. - As the haze condition worsens in many parts of the nation, the news of the failure of a barrage of memorandums sent in to the Indonesian Embassy by various communal-based political parties are driving some citizens up the wall.

One such person was 56-year old Razak Razak, who said when met today: “I couldn’t understand it – all this time memorandums had always been a miracle answer to our every problem, including dirty public toilets, poverty, civil war and random migraines!

“But now, I feel like the world is falling apart – political memorandums have lost their magic!”

Razak had, this morning, been lifted to safety by firemen from the top of a 50 feet wall he had climbed onto out of spontaneous frustration.

In Taiping, Perak, some students were voicing their concerns about the effects of the haze on their daily lives.

“Visibility just keeps getting worse day by day,” said an anxious Abdullah Abdullah. “Usually, the monkeys from the nearby forest would intrude our school compounds and make a mess in the laboratories every single day. This is almost like a celebrated tradition in our school.

“But ever since last week, there has been a spate of attacks with similar modus operandi in the library, the cafeteria, the guard house and even the toilets, while the laboratories were left untouched.

“Our wardens suspect that the monkeys can no longer distinguish one room from another as a result of the haze.”

“The monkeys are not the only ones affected,” added his friend, Siti Siti, whose deep gash on the forehead was none too successfully hidden by inch-thick bandages wrapped around her headscarf.

“Students have been bumping into walls, pillars, windows, cars, and even into each other ever since the significant reduction in visibility caused by the haze. The sick bay would have been full to bursting with these students if only most of them could find their way there in this thick haze in the first place!”

Their teachers, however, had graver concerns for the students, with the dates for this year’s SPM examinations approaching ever nearer.

According to one teacher, who prefers to remain anonymous, “We’re just worried that if the haze gets worse than this, the students won’t be able to even see – what more read – their question papers in the examination halls.”

Seeing the ever increasing severity of the situation, local NGOs are choosing to take matters into their own hands.

“We have no choice. Unless we ourselves take action, all of us are going to die of lung cancer, conservatism and related diseases in approximately two weeks,” said a spokesperson for the radical activist group, Sisters in Suffocation (SIS), who declined to be named, when met yesterday at the beginning of a politically motivated rally in Subang Jaya.

Shouting passionate slogans like “Make cakes, not haze!” they staged a mostly peaceful demonstration, punctuated occasionally by violent, retching mock coughs by the demonstrators to emphasize the dangers of air pollution.

The group, notorious for their controversial opinions on the right to life of the SARS virus during its outbreak in 2002, shocked the nation yesterday when they announced that they would unconditionally boycott all romantic Indonesian films as a form of diplomatic protest.

“According to our research, there is a direct correlation in the increase of haze severity in recent years with the rise in the quality of romantic films from the country,” said the president of the group, who also declined to be named, as she stomped angrily on a cardboard piece drawn with the cartoon of a random Indonesian forest burner.

“So, naturally, we feel that this is the best decision that can be made, and thus humbly encourage all Malaysians to emulate our wise choice – or else.”

A different scenario was, however, observed in Johor Bahru, where members of the secular fundamentalist organization, Al-Gubra, resorted to burning thousands of effigies of Israeli politicians along a two kilometers stretch of Lido Beach.

Members, each dressed in a beekeeper’s outfit, fanned the resultant smoke away from the beach using large, ornamental fans.

“Because of time constraints, we’ve decided to merge our annual anti-Israeli effigy burning event with this spontaneously inspired and politically cunning solution to the haze problem,” said an organization representative, Mahmud Mahmud. “And it has been an excellent decision indeed.”

When asked about the objective of their act of further air pollution, he replied, “We’re trying to send some amount of haze southwards to Indonesia. The idea is to push Indonesian authorities into action when they realize that some of us are willing to fight the haze with even more haze.”

When one of our reporters pointed out the physical and geographical impossibilities of the venture, Mahmud looked flabbergasted. “We should at least try, shouldn’t we? Because if this doesn’t work, then I honestly can’t imagine what will.”

More memorandums, maybe?

***

For the record, I know the purpose of those memorandums and do not have a personal beef with the practice. This post is entirely satirical - ie fake news - and does not contain a drop of truth, except in very vague references (memorandums were sent, though). For reliable news on the current haze situation, click here. The pictures are for real though, taken from my "condominum" unit.

Judjur

2006-10-08T01:24:00.000+08:00

Pernah tengok barang dijual (selalunya makanan) tanpa penjualnya berada di tempat yang sama? Selalunya penjual hanya menyediakan bekas untuk mengisi wang di tepi barangan tersebut. Dan barangsiapa yang hendak membeli cuma perlu mengambil barang tersebut dan meletakkan wang di dalam bekas yang disediakan. Di KMB, pemandangan ini biasa. Sangat biasa. Kerepek, nasi lemak, sosej dan lain-lain adalah antara makan yang dijual dengan cara pemasaran sebegini. OK, tapi bagaimana dengan pelanggannya? Maksud saya, kita bercakap soal kejujuran. Sejauh mana para pelanggan (kamu) boleh dipercayai? Ataupun dalam bahasa kasarnya, "Kamu ni boleh dipercayai ke?" [Maaf, masih soalan ini] Jujurkah kamu? Jawab tiga soalan ini. 1. Kamu sedang memandu kereta pada pukul 2.30 pagi dan apabila tiba di suatu simpang, lampu isyarat menjadi merah. Tiada kenderaan dari arah lain. (Depan, kiri, kanan atas dan bawah) Soalan: Kamu menekan pedal minyak atau pedal brek? 2. Kamu menjumpai sekeping not 50 ringgit. Tiada orang di sekeliling. Soalan: Duit itu akan berada di poket kamu atau di tangan kamu? 3. Guru kamu tidak masuk ke kelas kerana suatu urusan. Beliau (cikgu kamu) memberikan tugasan untuk dibuat ketika waktu kelasnya tanpa kehadiran beliau. Soalan: Adakah kamu membuat tugasan itu dengan darjah kesungguhan sama seperti kamu membuatnya dengan kehadiran guru itu? Nota: Ini cuma soalan. Ini bukan kesimpulan.

Eager in Egypt

2006-10-05T20:29:00.000+08:00

So, after about more than 2 weeks being in Egypt, I've finally have the courage to go to the cyber cafe to use the internet. Well, the Arab's quite scary and most of them like to cheat the newcomer. I don't often take picture as it will make people know we were new and some places are forbidden to take pictures. I don't want to end up in the underground prison in Egypt... Now, lets start with the first day we arrived in Egypt. The airport is really... err... simple... far away from the standard of KLIA.. that make us miss Malaysia (haiya, so early eh?)

Posing budak comel... kui3. Unsystematic Airport.

After that we were brought to the Dewan Malaysia Abbasiyah Kaherah (DMAK) for our stay before move out to our house. Fr the MARA student, before going to Alexan dria.

Dinding DMAK

Depan air pancut DMAK

Kafe a.k.a mat'am DMAK. Notice the 'kad raya' at the pillar behind them? That's for RTM mock raya recording. This year salam perantau dari Mesir.. Ngeh3

During our stay at the Cairo/Kaherah, the senior brought us the interesting places around Cairo. One of the thing that I like about Cairo is their juice are cheap and delicious. Ade air tebu, ari mangga, straberry etc. And noted that they are pure fruit juice, xde tambah air... Bestt....

Makam Imam Shafie. Notice the shipe-shaped iron on the kubah? Usually kita letak bulan kan? Ni special letak bahtera, melambangkan Imam Shafie penyelamat manusia dengan ilmunya.

Kubuh Salahuddin al-Ayubi (kalau tak silap) di background. Sebelah die Masjid/Madrasah Sultan Hassan yang dibina sebelum zaman Parameswara. Masjid/Madrasah ni hampir mengbankruptkan kerajaan Mesir pada zaman tu... Dalam Madrasah ni ade kelas 4 mazhab, tapi sekarang dah tutup.

Kubu Salahuddin al-Ayubi

We also visited the Cairo university as some of the JPA's students going to study there. On the way, we visited one of the the senior's house

Ugly, old and ancient stairs like Hogwarts. But Hogwarts got caretaker with Mrs Norris.

Secret message at senior's house

These are the situation at the Cairo. Alexandria (Alex) is much better. The moral of this story is i think that our leader have lead the country quite okay. Lucky Malaysia is more beautiful with the nice building.... Egypt money quite old and dirty.. have a bad smell (the small money only) ENd.

Goodness Gracious Me

2006-10-01T14:27:00.000+08:00

I've recently been reminded of this very funny show that used to be shown on (the now defunct) Channel i on Singaporean television. It's called Goodness Gracious Me, a half-hour show of sketches by some really talented British Indians spoofing all things British, Indian, and British Indian, produced by the BBC. Unfortunately, though, the show has stopped with three seasons, although similar shows, one of which was called the Kumars at number-something-something or something, have been produced (in my opinion with lesser success). In fact, I have a feeling that Goodness Gracious Me helped in boosting the recent obsession of the British film industry to produce cliched films centred around British Indian characters. The last time I watched this show, I think I was in the lower Forms of secondary school. I don't think I got some of their more mature "jokes" until now. Anyway, I searched for Goodness Gracious Me on Youtube and what do you know, they had a "few" clips of the show on the internet. So, for your viewing pleasure (warning : the third clip contains mild "British" vulgarity) : Complicated English Names : Chunky Lafunga, Bollywood Star : From India : Rehabilitation : Whoever said the British had no sense of humour must have a seriously mutated humour gene. But then again, the show's stars are all Indians!

Sesatuatu

2006-09-23T20:17:00.000+08:00

Dua bulan lepas: Ketika minggu orientasi, ketika mendengar ceramah yang _ _ _ _ _ , aku berkenalan dengan seorang rakan Malaysia yang bukan Muslim (Kristian). Hye. Saya al-amin, dari MRSM Taiping. "Oh, hye. Saya Will (bukan nama sebenar). Sapa nama awak tadi?" Al-amin. "oh. Al-amin.. Awak ni boleh dipercayai* ke?" Aku diam. Emosi tiba-tiba jadi tak stabil. Tapi, selamat aku rasional sikit. Aku percaya yang dia tu bergurau. Aku percaya. OK. Kembali ke bulan ini. Pope Benedict XVI berucap di sebuah universiti baru-baru ini. Ucapannya itu sedikit sebanyak menghina Islam. Dan aku kembali terfikir. Tiba-tiba aku jadi tak percaya. * al-amin maknanya yang dipercayai

Azam Ramadhan tahun ini

2006-09-22T21:25:00.000+08:00

Apa azam anda untuk tahun ini? (Please leave a comment) (Cerita ini sepatutnya tiada kena mengena dengan sesiapa) Ajis: Weh, esok puasa. Samdol: Ha? Esok dah ke? Aku ingat 2-3 bulan lagi. Ajis: Lahh.. ko tak prepare lagi ke? Samdol: Prepare? Ape maksud ko? Sampai masa aku tak makan, tak minum jadik la. Tu puasa la tu kan? Ala macam orang diet je la. Ajis: Hmm... Boleh gitu. Tapi bagi aku tak enjoy la bulan Ramadhan kalau macam tu. Samdol: Enjoy? Enjoy ape ke bende nye? Perut lapar sure lembik je aku nanti. Ajis: Susah jugak la nak explain. Tapi aku dok bace-bace, zaman Rasulullah dengan sahabat-sahabat dulu, diorang punya la happy bila sampai bulan Ramadhan. Masing-masing ucap tahniah kat satu sama lain. Heran jugak la macam mana diorang boleh jadi semangat sampai macam tu sekali. Samdol: Emm.. Bile ko sebut ni baru aku teringat. Aku pun ade jugak pernah dengan cerita macam tu. Semua orang pun gembira je. Aku rasa la kan. Mungkin sebab katanya pahala pun dapat bonus berkali-kali ganda. Mesti la semua orang semangat. Tambah lagi orang yang macam aku yang banyak dosa ni. Patut nya lagi gembira la. Ajis: Ish engkau ni. Sama je kita semua umat zaman sekarang. Dosa melimpah-ruah. Aku rasa bulan-bulan macam ni la kita nak cover balik ape yang patut kan? Samdol: Terasa bersemangat la pulak aku. Ajis: Jom buat azam nak? Nanti kalau ko nampak aku macam malas-malas, ko remind la aku ek. Samdol: Sett.. aku nak buat azam jugak la macam tu. Ajis: So ape azam ko? Hmm... ape ye azam korang?

Being Politically Correct about Good Muslims

2006-09-15T10:30:00.000+08:00

I read this in the Sun today :

There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim and U.S. President George W. Bush is mistaken in casting his war on terror in terms of a "struggle for civilisation", Malaysia's outspoken former prime minister (Dr Mahathir) says. "What is happening today has got nothing to do with religion. It has got to do with territorial disputes, mainly the dispute over Palestinian land," he told Reuters after a religious congress in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan. "There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim," he said. "We are fundamentalists in Malaysia. We follow the true teachings of the religion and the true teachings do not teach us to bomb and kill people without reason."

People who acknowledge that there are "good, peaceful" Muslims can be too politically correct sometimes, don't you think? When the international media tries to be too politically correct about "good, peaceful" Muslims, then tend to label us as being "moderate". While I do agree that the "good, peaceful" Muslims are moderate in one sense, I have to say that we are also very conservative fundamentalists. Does that sound weird? To call one's self a conservative fundamentalist? The two words that would invoke in some minds images of people strapped with bombs taking a bus and blowing up innocent people, or overtly-strict old men with overtly-strict interpretations of the religion (usually influenced by local culture) that may border towards becoming un-Islamic? Funnily enough, the international media seems to like to term radical extremists as "conservative fundamentalists". Ah, political correctness. Conservative would imply a person who holds on to his religious beliefs very strictly. And thus, by calling a radical terrorist a conservative, isn't the international media - unintentionally, I believe, because of the gnawing wanting to want to be PC - giving a bad impression of Islam towards non-Muslims? That any one of those who adhere to its tenents and practice it fully in their daily lives have terrorist tendencies? Very ironic, and I shall explain why. The most basic definiton of what fundamentalism means to me:

Movement or attitude stressing strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles.

From here. And what conservative means to me is to conserve religious values in our daily life, or Islamic values in the context of us Muslims. So, in that sense, aren't we all - the "good, peaceful" Muslims of the world - conservative fundamentalists? Who adhere strictly to the principles of Islamic mercy and justice? I've met some people who have made up their mind that some Muslims are violent because they follow the Quran strictly. And what I try to tell them is that a lot of Muslims follow the Quran strictly, yet we are not keen on beheading anyone for no apparent justful purpose than to satisfy bloodlust and anger. In fact, for me, personally, my solidarity with world peace and what not is not just simply a matter of personal choice, but also because it is a religious obligation for me to feel as I feel, because that is what the Quran and sunnah and ulama tell me. But I digress. To me, the international media's tendency to tell the world that there are "good, peaceful" Muslims out there by labelling them as "moderates" is, well, commendable at the least, but is not so healthy terminology-wise. By trying to be too politically correct, they are in fact confusing some non-Muslims that indeed Islam is violent at core but only those Muslims who are moderate (not in the way of how we define moderate, but in how they define it) - who practice only certain parts of their religion that conveniences them, and leaves out others - are the "good, peaceful" Muslims. In actuality, whom they term as "moderate" Muslims are in fact mostly conservative who adhere to the fundamentals of Islam - the sort of people who wouldn't dare kill anyone for fear of God's anger. There really needs to be a differentiation on what radical (mis)interpretation is from conservative interpretation. Calling the "good, peaceful" Muslims of the world as "moderates" is not really wrong - it is in fact even "comforting" to know, realise and see that the media do not choose to blanket us all under the same label as terrorists and radical extremists - but isn't the terming incomplete and confusing? It shuns the very conservatism in the "good, peaceful" Muslims that made them "moderates" in the first place. People reading international media might have the notion that Muslim "moderates" are the sort of people who are so nice it makes you all warm and fuzzy inside to be around them - which is all true (generally speaking), but we also pray five times a day, fast in Ramadhan, wear hijabs, go to mosques, read the Quran, follow the prophet's Sunnah and basically, live our lives as how we believe Muslims should. Not that all of this really matters, but it's an interesting thing to point out - that "moderates" are indeed conservative fundamentalists. What do you guys think? --- This article was written purely out of non-political intentions. While the writer wrote this article because he felt like it, this article also serves as an experimental lamb left in the green pastures of cyberspace to see if any sheep feel that the lamb has been made on its behalf a bad decision. Feedback on this genre (opinions on the Muslim society) can be sent to our email.

Majlis Anugerah Kecemerlangan Maktab 2006

2006-09-14T18:54:00.000+08:00

29 Ogos, 2006

Antara anugerah yg disampaikan:

Anugerah WARNA PENUH MAKTAB dan WARNA SEPARUH MAKTAB bagi kecemerlangan kokurikulum dan sukan
Anugerah KECEMERLANGAN KEPIMPINAN 2006
Anugerah KECEMERLANGAN SPM 2005

1 orang 11A1
20 orang 10A1
31 orang 9A1

Anugerah SIJIL PENGHARGAAN SUKAN MAKTAB 2006 ( 24 org)
Anugerah SIJIL PENGHARGAAN KOKURIKULUM MAKTAB 2006 (95 org)

Objektif anugerah ini diberi bagi mengiktiraf kecemerlangan pelajar dlm pelbagai bidang dan juga yang menaikkan nama maktab. Oleh Puan Musalmah Yusof

Ramadhan, Hezbollah and one or two other things

2006-09-03T21:11:00.000+08:00

Bulan puasa dah nak dekat, tapi semorang dah mula cerita pasal raya dulu...haha... Takpelah, raya pun nak dekat jugak. Terbaca kat website SunniSisters :

If you’ve spent Ramadan in a Muslim-majority country, how does the observance and the general “feeling” of it differ from Ramadan in a non-Muslim country? Which has been more beneficial for you as a Muslim, do you think? In a Muslim majority country, it is much easier to remember that it’s Ramadan, because 95% of the people are doing the same thing you’re doing. Sometimes, here in America, I may momentarily forget because everyone’s walking around like it’s a normal day. At the same time, in the US, I personally have never experienced people losing their heads over the “special” programming (soap operas, sometimes religious / historical in nature) that comes on in Ramadan, spending hours of their evening watching these shows instead of going to tarawih.

Kadang-kadang terfikir jugak - camna budak-budak Malaysia yang tengah belajar seberang laut lalui bulan puasa? Ada beza sangat ke dengan cara sambutan di Malaysia? Kongsi-kongsi le pengalaman ya, kitorang curious gak! Haha... lagi-lagi ada beberapa kawan kita yang dah nak terbang ke Russia, Mesir dan sebagainya. Speaking of Mesir, saya "teringat" pasal Hezbollah di Lebanon. Ada saudara kita dari Australia menulis artikle berikut tentang diorang ni :

Clearly, they are a Shi’ite milita funded and armed by a regime that seems to have little real tolerance for Sunnis. In Iraq, we have the precedent of Shi’a death squads, running under the auspices of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, targeting Sunnis. There is naturally a fear that if the Iranian-backed Shi’a of Iraq are behaving in such a way, then the Iranian-backed Shi’a of Lebanon will likewise seize the opportunity to settle 1,000 year old scores if they are able. Muslim leaders across the Arab world have dutifully supported Hezbollah and even the so-called moderate Muslim leadership in Australia are calling for Hezbollah to be de-listed as a terrorist organisation. The principle reasoning for all this support seems to be that Hezbollah are killing Jews, rather than any nuanced or considered assessment of Hezbollah’s political and religious ideology. Yet, before even more Sunnis line up behind Hezbollah and start waving their flag (as many Muslims seem to have been doing at recent rallies), perhaps somebody should ask some questions; beginning with: what on earth are we supporting when we endorse Hezbollah as freedom fighters and heroes? More at the Austrolabe

And, speaking of Australia, John Howard recently made the following statement:

"There's a small section of the Islamic population which is unwilling to integrate and I have said generally all migrants ... they have to integrate."

Mr Howard said during a talkback radio discussion yesterday: "There is a section, a small section of the Islamic population, and I say a small section ... which is very resistant to integration.

"Fully integrating means accepting Australian values, it means learning as rapidly as you can the English language if you don't already speak it.

"And it means understanding that in certain areas, such as the equality of men and women ... people who come from societies where women are treated in an inferior fashion have got to learn very quickly that that is not the case in Australia."

The comments prompted a fierce reaction from young female Islamic leader Iktimal Hage-Ali, a member of the Prime Minister's advisory group. She accused Mr Howard of threatening to further marginalise Muslims. "There's no value in pointing out the minority of the Muslim group," she said.
From the Australian

Macam-macam... Apa pendapat kamu? Ramadhan, Hezbollah dan integrasi kaum imigran Muslim di negara Barat?

It's official: There're only eight, not nine

2006-08-25T21:52:00.000+08:00

Kesatuan Astronomi Antarabangsa atau International Astronomical Union telah mengadakan undian semalam, Khamis 24 Ogos (bersamaan harijadi Azad, Presiden PRS 99/00). Hasilnya, Pluto bukan lagi sebuah planet dalam sistem solar kita.

It is official: The 26th General Assembly for the International Astronomical Union was an astounding success!
The IAU members gathered at the 2006 General Assembly agreed that a "planet" is defined as a celestial body that (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.
This means that the Solar System consists of eight "planets" Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. A new distinct class of objects called "dwarf planets" was also decided. It was agreed that "planets" and "dwarf planets" are two distinct classes of objects. IAU 2006 General Assembly

Bagaimana reaksi rakyat Malaysia agaknya? Pendapat anda?

Sambutan Hari Kebangsaan versi pkpix

2006-08-22T21:35:00.000+08:00

Hmm.. menjelang hari kebangsaan tak lama lagi ni teringat pula kenangan menyambut hari kebangsaan di maktab dulu. Seperti kebanyakan program pelajar di maktab, sambutan kemerdekaan juga telah 'diswastakan' kepada mana-mana kumpulan yang berminat untuk menguruskannya. Kali ini sekumpulan pelajar diketuai Fazlina Jasin (508) dibantu oleh cikgu Suriani sebagai penasihat, telah bekerja keras untuk menjayakan sambutan. Kira-kira 2 hingga 3 minggu sebelum sambutan, mereka telah merekrut rakan-rakan untuk berlakon dalam drama yang akan dipersembahkan. Latihan drama berjalan dengan rancaknya. Latihan yang biasanya dilakukan di dalam Dewan Kuliah itu kadang-kadang dibuka kepada tayangan umum. Macam artis pula! Yang paling diingati ialah semangat dan kerja keras yang ditonjolkan oleh mereka semua. Cikgu Suriani juga tidak kurang penat berjalan ke sana sini mencari kelengkapan yang diperlukan. Tiap-tiap malam latihan, beliau akan turut sama memberi komen dan idea untuk menjayakan persembahan. Tiba hari yang dinantikan, hari kebangsaan Malaysia disambut dengan meriah. Bagi kami, yang penting ialah ingatan kami kepada hari kebangsaan tersebut. Kejayaan sambutan itu bukanlah diukur dari sejauh mana ia dapat menyumbang kepada kemajuan ekonomi negara; sebaliknya kami berharap suatu hari nanti akan ada diantara kami yang akan menjadi tunggak kemajuan negara - dan pabila itu berlaku, sambutan hari kebangsaan itu mungkin boleh menjadi pencetus idea dan semangat patriotik. Siapa tahu. Kemerdekaan pada asalnya ialah bebasnya Malaysia dari cengkaman penjajah - bermakna kita bisa menentukan hala tuju negara kita sendiri. Hari ini, negara kita Malaysia tidak lagi dijajah: bermakna kita punya institusi pentadbiran sendiri, struktur ekonomi dan sosio-politik sendiri. Namun pada zaman neo-kolonialisme kini, penjajahan minda nampaknya tidak dapat dibendung lagi. Akan adakah kemerdekaan buat kali kedua untuk Malaysia? Berbalik kepada sambutan hari kebangsaan versi pkpix, drama yang dipertontonkan menceritakan perjuangan wira-wira Malaysia dari pekbagai kaum, dengan sedikit persoalan ditimbulkan untuk memberi ruang kepada semua untuk menilai apakah makna perjuangan kemerdekaan sebelum 1957 kiranya ia tidak diteruskan lagi oleh generasi kita pada hari ini. Seperti biasa banyak adegan lawak jenaka ditokok tambah terutama sekali tanpa sengaja. Mungkin memang sudah jadi kelaziman, semua orang sukakan lawak jenaka. Majlis berakhir dengan 'countdown' dan acara melepaskan hampir seratus belon di dalam DB oleh tuan penolong pengetua bersama iringan lagu 'Negaraku' dan lagu Sudirman yang dah-lupa-apa-tajuknya-tapi-popular tu. Tahniah kepada semua ahli jawatankuasa yang telah berjaya mengadakan sambutan yang gilang gemilang. Sayang ketika itu tiada kamera video untuk merakamkannya. Hanya memori indah untuk kami kenang selamanya. echopena

MRSM Robofair National Level 2006 7th-10th August at MRSM Taiping

2006-08-12T15:34:00.000+08:00

By Pn Musalmah Yusof Secara umum: Buat pertama kali Taiping telah dipilih untuk menganjurkan robofair ini yang mana telah disertai oleh 13 buah maktab lain, juga terdapat 20 maktab lain sebagai pemerhati yang mana selepas ini mereka juga diwajibkan menyertai. Secara umumnya setiap maktab boleh menghantar max 5 teams. Taiping menghantar 5 teams Proses pertandingan: 4 kagetori iaitu robot adventure, stairs climbing, tug of war n city of environment. Dikatakan proses/procedure robofair ni mengikut piawaian dari Korea. Setiap team diberi robokit/lego set yang sama n pakej aplikasinya adalah robolab. Sebelum pertandingan peserta diberi masa 2 jam untuk buat robot, lepas siap masuk kuarantin(sbb x nak kasi org repair2 masa org lain lawan). Untuk robot dventure n city of environment guna sensor cahaya, jln atas track(line hitam) ada halangan2 n mesti sampai penamat. Tug of war lawan tarik tali, weight less than 1kg. Siapa pandai reka robot yang body kuat boleh menang. Keputusan pemenang:Stairs Climbing 1st n 2nd goes to Taiping. City of environment 1st place also Taiping. Overall winner, of course la Taiping:) (Videos removed by admin because of legal issues. Please contact Puan Musalmah for them!) Secara peribadinya: Mula2 cg Saadah (math. head dept) ckp"Musalmah, awak kena buat montaj utk majlis penutup, nanti saya bagi surat lantikan, buat elok2 tau".I said "k". Actually video ni panjang lagi 9 mins, tp file ni to big so terpaksa dipendekkan. Ini kali kedua buat video klip kasi sumer org tgk,..berdebor juga masa show tu beberapa pengarah dari h/quarters dtg. Lagipun buat keje sensorg, ada pun student tlg masa tutup lampu dlm hall, kasi gelap sikit. FYI dlm main hall ada big screen tgh2 stage, very2 big kalah kedai mamak 24 jam tu. No me in this v.klip, just my car jer awal tu..hmm. next time wat video muka sendiri lak. Cerita masa proses penghasilan. Last scene petang kul 5, pas tu balik amik anak kt nursery anta umah cousin(nk buat keje editing). Original video tu ada 40++ min, so cut it short jadi dlm 9++ mins. Mlm tu kul 9++ ada rehearsel..so siapkan cepat2, test kt dlm hall..hmm, test punya test, mula2 set lagu jepun, tgk sumer org cam x paham jer,ok. Balik dlm kul 10.30mlm gi amik anak, balik umah plan tukar lagu. Pikir punya pikir, kena taruk lagu rancak..hmm tapi lagu apa?..takkan nak taruk lagu dewa-sedang ingin bercinta!..lagu eng x byk dlm pc, cari2 jumpa yg ni jer, so tulah lagunye. Klu ikutkan,shoot mmg bad, cos x guna tripod. Byk gerak2 sana sini, ntah apa2 lagi. Focus pun x ingat, nak besor jadi kecik n sebaliknye. Masa abis closing ceremony tu,boss(pengetua) lalu depan sambil sentuh tgn i dia kata"Musalmah, beres!.." dalam hati (BERES!, teringat lagu kru-gerenti beres). Ok, itulah saja cerita disebalik tabir the making of this. komen la apa2, boleh repair lain kali, yg lain pulak ler.

Pic dgn ustaz Naza, bukan pasal apa masa tu kt lab, dia tugas kat situ (robofair), so x nak nampak obvious sgt amik pic sensorg tu yg panggil dia.

At my desk, bunga tu b/day present. Tu la rupa my desk(bila le nk gi ofis baru), also my own lovely pc..haha.

Pn Musalmah Yusof, a loving mother of two who has recently celebrated her **th birthday, is a very dedicated and youthful Mathematics teacher at MRSM Taiping.

Shah Alam outing

2006-08-04T18:40:00.000+08:00

Meor, Khairil and Hazriq of 2004/05 batch and myself going out at Shah Alam - bandar melayu terakhir. Mula-mula, kita jumpa dekat Syed Bistro Alam Sentral. Then, Meor blah macam tu je sebab abang dia nak tunang dekat Ampang.. (Meor bila lagi? oops..) Then, kitorang makan-makan (Hazriq nak kuruskan badan so minum air saja). Lepas dah melantak, we went for McD's ice cream! Semua Khairil belanja. And then, we all pergi main bowling. Before start bowling, susah jugak nak cari toilet kat Alam Sentral ni. Hazriq tak tahan nak terkucil. Nasib baik free. Best jugak main bowling. The winner was, of course, Hazriq with 115 pindrops. Orang dekat lanes lain semua bising2, kitorang 3 orang je, kalau ramai lagik chaotic! Jom la lain kali ramai2 hang out! :) but somewhere else, please. Lepas bowling, ternampak Karaoke Booth. Hazriq pun belanja nyanyi! Nyanyi 8 lagu terus sampai sakit tekak. Orang lain semua pandang-pandang saja, but we just did not care. Lagu yang paling best was "It's Raining Men" by Ginger Spice! Tapi, Khairil vocally out terus! Hazriq tak cukup nafas, jogging lebih sikit ya? I was the only good one! :)

Voted out, they're none in a million

Later or now actually, we're at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf at Shah Alam City Centre. I bought drinks for everybody. That's all about our outing. Outing of this kind should be organized more often, not only among maresmartians of same batch, but also of different batches. I am glad to be the first from my batch to blog in here. Sara Amelia, 2005/2006

Don't You Dare Judge...

2006-08-01T11:36:00.000+08:00

...what you barely know anything about. Shall I start from the beginning? I was in class. Had a discussion with Person A over the Holocaust of Jews in World War II. Suddenly, Person A says (paraphrased), "The same thing would happen if the extremists in Indonesia were to take over the country and implement Syariah Law. What would happen to the Hindus?" I was... stunned, so to speak. We weren't discussing religion, and Person A was definitely not the sort of person who'd you like to have conversations about religion with (not because of Person A's character, but because I barely know this Person A, so discussing such a deep issue to which I feel very strongly about would be awkward, especially since I have a feeling Person A is not too open-minded in these waters) so having Person A suddenly pop this question out no where caught me by surprise. Since there was little relevance to our main topic of discussion, we in-awkwardly proceeded to further divulge the theme at hand. Now, It was only after the discussion that I realised how annoyed I was (to say the least). I was most annoyed because Person A strikes me as a very well-read person. OK, good. But no matter how well read you are, nothing gives you the right to make judgments of my religion when, in fact, judging by what you said, you barely even know anything about Islam. How in the world is implementation of the Syariah supposed to cause another Holocaust? Excuse me? Was Person A seriously comparing Islam - a religion of peace - to Nazism - an ideology of hate? Now, of course, Person A was talking about extremists here and the extremists will do what they do best, which is practically nothing beneficial in the long-term. But really, if Person A were to word the sentence such as, "What if the extremists were to take over Indonesia?" and not "What if the extremists were to implement Syariah Law...?" I would not be as annoyed as I am now. Tell me - what is wrong with the Syariah Law? Is there anything in Islam that discriminates those of other religions? Two incidents that closely relates to two figures very close to the heart of Muslims - one closer than the other, our Prophet and Umar Al-Khattab - comes to mind. Firstly, the one relating to our Prophet. Below is a translation of a covenant between him and the Christian monks of Mount Sinai (lo and behold, is this what discrimination is supposed to mean?) : Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day (end of the world). Taken from http://muslim-canada.org/charter1.html

(Apologies, but I can't find the original Arabic text online. In case you're having doubts [manalah tau... muslim-canada.org doesn't look very credible], the document is currently in the keeping of the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul [at least it was there in 1987] according to NY Times [assuming that it is the same document, which I pretty much think it is]) And, the other incident, relating to Umar. When the Ruler of Palestine surrendered the land to Umar, he invited Umar to the Church of Holy Sepulchre (a very sacred site for Christians, which, if I'm not mistaken, is believed by them to be the birthplace of Isa A.S.). When Umar wanted to perform his solat, he went outside of the church and performed it there. When the Ruler asked (in my own words, but I think it is somewhat to similar effect), "Why did you not pray in the church? I would allow it." Umar said (again, in my own words), "I did not pray in the church for fear that later Muslims would turn this place into a mosque because they saw me praying in here." Tell me now, How, then, is Islam comparable to Nazism - an ideology that discriminates people and propagates hate? I blame half of this on the disregard for political correctness and detailed truthfulness in international media. I also blame Muslims for not implementing the correct interpretation of Syariah. I assume that the world hasn't seen real Syariah in a long time, even since the fall of the Khulafa Al-Rasyidin. While we love our fellow Muslims, Saudi Arabia is definitely not a model Muslim nation, and should not be regarded as such by non-Muslims. Now, I am not a believer of pluralism, nor am I saying that all religions are equal*, but we have to realise that the moral of the story is: Never make assumptions or judgments of other people's religions, even if we disagree with the religion down to the very last ritual - only believe things of another religion for which the facts are present. There's no reason to pretend that no "funny" urban legends about other religions exist among some Muslims (just as some urban legends - too widespread, unfortunately - exist of Islam among practitioners of other religions or beliefs) - because it is hypocritic to hate the misconceptions people have of us while at the same time, we endorse the misconceptions people have of others. *To any non-Muslim readers: I believe in religious freedom as outlined by the Qur'an, but I have strong faith in the truthfulness of my own religion, just as you might have of your own. However, I do not mean to be provocative or xenophobic in professing my belief that all religions are not equal - it's just something natural for anyone professing any belief to believe theirs is true while others are otherwise.

Mathematic and Science Carnival at INTEC, UiTM

2006-07-19T15:30:00.000+08:00

Today, the Australian Matriculation (AUSMAT) students (the seniors) were hosting a Mathematics and Science Carnival. The carnival wasactually not really as "happening" as our Type III SEM Fest, but we can still gain some knowledge from there anyway. So, let the pictures tell the story!!! The Carnival

Floating plastic bag with alcohol powered fire

Insects colletion

A roller-coster base device (you put the marble to at the track, it will travel till down with 'O' shape track etc)

A surgery has being done to the lab rat

Maresmartian peeps in action

Mior Azmeer flirting.. eh, playing Sodoku

Man Che and Bari teaching visitor how to play Cubric done their pose for camera

___________________________________________________________________

As for others, I saw Nurzatil Sharleeza participate in the Treasure Hunt, Amirah (kelas 506) - I'm not sure if she was also playing, but I saw her while Qamarul Hafiz (Bob Bebeh) eating/resting at the cafe... Me? Got to attend the class... only managed to visit during our break... (we only have a Lunch break) . My course is the only course that was said as having class on that day.... (our chemistry teacher said so)

Pesanan daripada Senior-senior

2006-07-19T13:13:00.000+08:00

Seniors, Batch 2000/01, MRSM Taiping (Obtained in early July, 2006)

Being Tailored at Taylor's

2006-07-17T09:33:00.000+08:00

Firstly In case anyone (or a certain someone) is waiting for pictures – trying to get the photos out of my camera is very leceh so for this moment, I’ll leave this post picture-less until my holidays (coming August 21) where thou shall all behold the life of this acquaintance of thee that has taken a turn for the absolutely unorthodox. Okay, so the low-down – how is Taylor’s? In complete honesty, a large majority of the college students are, of course, completely indifferent to me or the new students. Not that that is anything bad (or good, for that matter), just that it makes making friends more interesting because you don’t live with these people under one roof (literally) like in MRSM. I can sure say that it’s not what most people seem to make of the country’s top private college – that they are too rich and trendy or something – people here are just like people anywhere else. If you are oblivious to the differences, then the differences would be oblivious to you. I was worried about solat and everything prior to admission, but Taylor’s does have a surau (which is much better looking and more comfortable than the surau in the condos where I am staying in – keep on reading), but our schedule doesn’t allow us a time to pray Zuhur until right after 4.00 pm for every single bloody week day of the week. What else, huh? Oh yeah… the South Australian Matriculation Hmm… Well, about what we’ll be learning, it’s called the South Australian Matriculation, which is pretty much just like every other pre-uni course out there. We take five subjects, and then there’s the one or two extra subjects imposed upon us by people we don’t know for the first six months (this will include Islamic Studies and Malaysian Studies). I’m not about to describe what the SAM program is like because I’m too lazy to do so – fair enough, right? You can read more about SAM at the website – www.ssabsa.sa.edu.au Debating Oh yeah, I forgot to say that there are a lot of familiar debaters here at Taylor’s (meaning less than five, which is relatively “a lot” anyway). Syukri, Sheen and Khairil might remember the best speaker from RMC and the second speaker from SDAR – we’re forming a team to join a local tournament soon (people at INTEC, mari dan sorak untuk kami! Hehe…) Well, whether or not that tournament is going to commence it wouldn’t matter because Taylor’s Debating Club will also be organizing an intra-college competition early next month in which I can satisfy this craving to be sarcastic and evil on a platform which will not cause any real offence to anyone or cause me to be judged afterwards. Yay. Ridzuan So, who is Ridzuan? Well, Ridzuan is a what, actually. He is a anti-marvel of architecture built on some ambiguously-shaped piece of land (ambiguous because I still can’t really figure out what the compound is shaped like, because the arrangement of the buildings is rather scattered and asymmetrical) consisting of four separate buildings, three of which are blue-roofed, scrape the sky at a height of over 25 floors and are forever stared at by the glassy-eyed sphinx of a fake pyramid conveniently situated at the side of a busy expressway (that’s a clue for you, if you want to find out where I’m staying at, because I don’t even know the bloody address). It is interesting to be able to live quite independently this early in life. While those of you guys at INTEC are living more independently than our peers in KMS, KMB or KYUEM, living here at Ridzuan gives us a lot of freedom. I think. Again, for this part, I am too lazy to elaborate much (the pictures will tell more than a thousand words, so wait for them). One thing that I need to mention is that I live on the bloody 21st floor! Can you bloody imagine what would happen if the lifts (God forbid) break down? The stairwell looks as if it has only been used many times since never, and you can see a very scary optical illusion of the many, many, many floors below if you stared down the window of my room. The lifts also creak and moan and groan and shake and shudder, and I have interestingly been inspired with a plot for a scary story, having heard a very human-like moan on my way down in the lift a few days ago (which, be assured, is probably me hallucinating, or it could just be the funny squeezing of air or scratching of some of the lift’s machinery or something explicable to a very bored physics professor). Food We’re not served any food like KMB, KMS or KYUEM, and we’re also not allowed to cook. Good food seems scarce here, but what the hey. Conclusion I can debate again. Yay.

the academic classes...

2006-07-08T18:37:00.000+08:00

i've already gone through a week of academic classes.. n i found it ok.. mayb because i still haven't receive any assignments from the lecturers.. my schedule are quite relaxing.. some finished at 10 o'clock, some finished at 12 noon and some finished at 4 p.m but not later than that.. all the scienc subjects are non credited course.. we really concentrate on the usage of english.. i have three english lecturers all together.. reading, listening n writing skills.. alhamdulillah.. everything is still ok.. but i'm still in the state of adjusting myself with the college's lifestyles.. hopefully i'll suit well soon.. looks like i need to work harder now.. no more playing n take things easy.. hmm... continued from "a week at intec..."

Promotional Banners

2006-07-06T22:08:00.001+08:00

We apologise that the admin keeps posting new posts (thus bumping actual content for the blog further down the main page) but what needs be done need be done. If you want to show your support for the sentral, then please do use our banners below! There are two versions - English, and Malay. Currently, we only have banners sized 300x300 pixels available, but narrower banners that would fit in sidebars would, Insyaallah, be invented soon enough (but only if we have the time). Since the banners are bloody big, you are suggested to either allow these dinosaurs to hog a lot of space on your blog/website layout (use it as a footer, or a header, or a pop-up) or, more conveniently, you can just publish it as a blog post! Or, a better method of promotion, is for you to put this banner up in your Friendster profile and do all those bulletin-sending things that only Friendster-using people can know and appreciate!* To my knowledge, the admins do not actively use Friendster, so we won't be of help there and would need your support. The banners below are both in gif format, and take up less than 100kb of space. Help promote this blog - show your support! Our thanks in advance! The link to each image can be retrieved by right-clicking the image itself, and choosing "Properties". The link can then be found under "Image Properties" of the pop-up box in your browser. Edited to add : Against all odds, these narrower banners are done for you guys! These spiffy new banners are only 100x300 pixels, and (I think) would fit just nicely in your blog's sidebar (especially if you want to make it/them permanent). Now, please understand that we really need this promotion, since updates by 0405 bloggers will become significantly lower these coming months now that we need to stuff our faces into these papery things called books and begin studying again. Please link the images to : http://maresmartsentral.blogspot.com/2006/06/expanded-community.html If you have your own banners to share, please e-mail it to us and we can list them together with the rest if we like them. This is a temporary post, and will be merged with our Links section in due time.

Blog: Promosi diri, idea, dan ...

2006-07-05T09:35:00.000+08:00

Hampir semua orang di dunia pada zaman sekarang mempunyai blog. Blog sudah diterima sebagai salah satu daripada cara untuk masyarakat dunia melibatkan diri di dalam dunia maya atau dengan mudahnya, to have bits and pieces of themselves on the Internet. Fenomena blog bermula seawal 90-an. Pada masa itu, blog lebih berbentuk online diary dan agak kompleks untuk dihasilkan. Sekarang? Anda sendiri tahu jawapannya. Blogger.com, Geeklog, Greymatter, Serendipity, Live Journal, dan WordPress merupakan antara laman web yang menyediakan perisian untuk membentuk blog di Internet. Istilah blog sebenarnya berasal daripada perkataan weblog. Istilah ini diwujudkan oleh John Barger pada tahun 1997. Peter Merholz kemudiannya memendekkan istilah ini kepada blog apabila menceraian perkataan weblog kepada we blog pada tahun 1999. Sekarang, perkataan blog telah diterima sebagai kata nama dan kata kerja di dalam bahasa Inggeris. Persoalannya, apakah sebenarnya faedah kewujudan blog kepada golongan muda seperti saya dan anda semua? Jikalau diperhatikan, kebanyakan daripada blog remaja masa kini lebih bertumpu kepada blog yang bersifat peribadi. Kebanyakan entri di dalam blog ini menceritakan kehidupan seharian atau paling tidak, peristiwa menarik yang berlaku pada hari-hari tertentu. Tidak kurang juga memilih blog bernada melankolik. Blog sebegini dibaur dengan pelbagai perasaan seperti sedih, marah, kecewa dan sebagainya. Manusia tidak lagi memerlukan kertas dan pen untuk melepas geram. Andai ditinggal kekasih, semuanya dicurah dalam blog. Kalau kecewa dengan keputusan peperiksaan, berbondong-bondonglah perasaan diluah. Hal ini sememangnya normal tetapi ada risikonya. Kadangkala apabila kita sudah terlalu bercerita tentang diri kita di dunia maya tanpa sempadan, maka sesiapa sahaja boleh mengetahui rutin hidup kita. Hal ini boleh membawa masalah seandainya kita diburu oleh orang-orang yang tidak diingini seperti stalker dan sebagainya. Perlu berjaga-jaga. Tetapi ada juga yang memanfaatkan teknologi blog untuk berkongsi pendapat dan mengumpulkan manusia yang mempunyai latar belakang, minat, atau kecenderungan yang sama. Contoh paling jelas, maresmartsentral sendiri! Banyak juga remaja yang memanfaatkan ruangan blog untuk memberikan idea-idea yang bernas mengenai isu-isu semasa mahupun hal yang melibatkan golongan remaja. Bukan tidak boleh berhibur di ruang maya, tetapi andai ada keluangan, cubalah menjengah ke beberapa blog yang menyediakan santapan ilmu. Sekurang-kurangnya, tidaklah otak kita hanya tertumpu kepada updated profile dalam Friendster atau gambar-gambar rakan di dalam MySpace semata-mata! Kepada yang masih belum mempunyai blog, daftarlah sekarang. Bersama-sama kita berkongsi idea dan cebis kehidupan untuk teladan semua.

Kopi o' peng, one!

2006-07-04T23:53:00.000+08:00

Being overly fed and having too much fun all this while since the day I left the school, has made me less of a human. And so, I went beyond the comfort zone and got a job. It’s a weekend job, actually.

Yeah, I could hardly believe it myself. The job is fun indeed, exactly the one (of the ones) I wanted to do. It’s a job as a “waiter” at one renowned franchised kopitiam, which famous of its white coffee (no coffee for me, though) and kaya and butter toast, just beside my favourite cinema, at a super convenient shopping mall near my place. The cool thing is that it’s a weekend job. I only need to work on Saturdays and Sundays and sometimes, once in a while on Friday. It’s convenient enough and my parents don’t mind as long as there is flexibility with my studies. They did ask quite a few times already, if I am really doing okay with the job. Money wise, it’s not that cool. I get RM 4 per hour in which I work for 12 hours a day and only to be getting around RM400 a month. But what’s more important is that learn about the management of an eatery. I’ve been dreaming of running my own deli café where I can go to at just anytime I want to finish up my work when my KLCC apartment and KLCC office (oh my god, I’ve been dreaming too much, too much!) out of the mood! If it happens to be a reality, I beg you guys not to be a friendly regular who seeks discount and exemption of charges every time. Back to reality, working, there are difficulties, of course. Communication is the real problem. There are 3 Indian nationals, 2 from China, 2 Indonesians, one unidentified (I really need time to speak their languages) and two locals, not including me. It’s much of an issue when the two China nationals, very poor at English (although one of them is studying English at the college I’ll be studying at) and know not a word in Bahasa Malaysia except makan, mati, satu-dua-tiga, nasi, rendang, kopi, nasi lemak and roti bakar. Speaking with them is more like speaking English in France to the French people. Perhaps, a little bit harder.

The thing that I like about this job is the satisfaction when the customers are happy with our service. Of course, sometimes they get dissatisfied when the late-come diners on the next table get the roti before them. To please the customers without being annoying is pretty a difficult thing but you can tell that they are satisfied with your service if you see that enormous smile on their face. The most important thing is to be efficient by doing things right and be effective by doing the right things. The job tires me out every weekend. Every night after work, I would spend the rest of the night on the Ogawa massage chair before going to bed while keeping my eye open watching TV. Customers never stop coming in, most of them are regulars and movie goers having a tea or coffee with roti bakar before having a movie at that favourite cinema. (Hey, it’s everybody’s favourite cinema after all, although there is a new more sophisticated cinema) The legs are the main part of the body which get tired as there is no space and time for me to sit and ease the tension on the legs. Or maybe, I need to lose some weight. You know, F=ma theory.

For whatever reason, I think I gonna keep this weekend job untill I end my pre-U studies. Note: By the time this post being published, the two locals have already resigned to resume their studies. So vacancy is available, any taker?

Assamualaikum daripada Contributor Terbaru...

2006-07-03T10:31:00.000+08:00

Saya mengucapkan jutaan terima kasih kepada warga pentadbir maresmart sentral yang telah sudi mejemput saya untuk menjadi salah seoarang daripada penulis blog di sini. Terima kasih. Sekadar untuk berkongsi pengalaman, saya mengalu-alukan sebarang respon terhadap penulisan blog saya di sini. Andai ada yang sudi untuk berkunjung, saya juga menulis di http://mohamadkhairulnizam.blogspot.com/ Saya merupakan bekas pelajar MRSM Taiping sesi 2000/2001. Ya, sudah tua. Sememangnya MRSM Taiping meninggalkan memori yang indah bagi saya, dan saya yakin, bagi anda semua juga! Saya berkesempaan berkunjung ke maktab pada 1 Julai yang lalu. Terima kasih kepada adik-adik yang sudi bersama-sama dengan kami. Kami berbesar hati kerana dapat berkongsi pengalaman dengan adik-adik semua (terutamanya pelajar kelas 502 yang menjemput kami ke kelas mereka untuk sesi soal jawab). Banyaklah soalan yang keluar, letih juga kami menjawab! Tetapi tidak mengapa, itulah gunanya super senior. Kepada yang bakal menghadapi SPM 2006, tumpukan perhatian anda sepenuhnya pada pelajaran. Sepenuhnya. Masa depan anda terletak dalam tangan anda sendiri. Kepada yang sudah berjaya ke luar negara atau sedang membuat persiapan ke luar negara, tahniah! Jangan lupa, anda duta kecil Malaysia ke mana-mana nanti. Jaga tingkah laku dan peribadi. Semoga berjumpa lagi dalam entri yang akan datang. Syabas maresmart sentral!

Get Firefox, people, now!

2006-07-02T20:21:00.000+08:00

Breaking News from tv6

Di sini kami ingin mendedahkan suatu konspirasi untuk merosakkan lagi mengotorkan kesucian sebuah laman web yang tidak bersalah oleh segelintir pihak yang langsung tidak pernah mengambil lagikan mengaku tanggungjawab menjaga susunan isi-isi website tersebut. Pihak kami telahpun menyiasat dengan menggunakan beberapa komputer untuk memastikan kesahihan dakwaan seorang pengguna yang enggan namanya disiarkan. Menurut pengguna tersebut, sangat buruk rupa laman web Tempat Bermain serta saudaranya Maresmart Sentral apabila dijemput untuk hadir ke monitornya. begitu menyayat hati apabila kami sendiri melihat sidebar blog-blog tersebut dicampak - ah, bukan dicampak, tuan-puan sekalian! - tetapi dibuang ke bahagian paling bawah blog, bagaikan beg plastik bocor yang hina dan tidak berguna lagi. Pihak tersebut langsung tidak berasa kasihan melihat kotak jeritan laman web tersebut, yang juga dibiar terperosok di kawasan terpencil buana digital internet ini oleh pihak yang tidak berguna itu. Pihak berkuasa pula enggan memberi komen terhadap kes yang memilukan ini, malah telah mentertawakan krew kami yang dengan penuh rajin menziarahi mereka di sebuah restoran mamak. Kami dibelikan sepinggan roti canai dan kemudian pula disimbah dengan satu teko air teh basi. Sungguh tidak terkata kami dibuatnya apabila dilayan sebegitu, malah kami hanya sempat serta mampu mengibaratkan situasi ini seperti kata orang-orang tua, "lembu datang hendak makan rumput, kambing pula yang dapat pisang." Sampai bilakah blog ini akan dibiarkan terpampang bagaikan lopak air berlumpur pada skrin monitor anda? Tidakkah anda berasa geram dan jijik melihat kerja penghinaan ini? Tidakkah blog ini mempunyai maruah, atau tidakkah pula blog ini cukup bagus untuk mengenal erti manis kalimah "maruah" itu sendiri? Muat turunlah produk daripada syarikat Mozilla itu sekarang juga, kerana jika anda berdegil, Internet Explorer dengan penuh gembira akan memaparkan blog ini (serta saudaranya, Maresmart Sentral) dengan rupa yang penuh buruk sekali pada monitor anda. Kasihanilah mereka - blog juga mempunyai impian untuk kelihatan tersusun seperti buku-buku di perpustakaan terkemuka. Jika KAMU tidak mengambil langkah untuk memperbaik komputer kamu, siapa lagi yang mampu dan harus memikul tanggungjawab tersebut? Jadilah pelawat blog yang bertanggungjawab - muat turun Firefox sekarang. Akhir kata - supaya tuan-puan semua dapat memikirkan sesuatu yang berguna pada jam ini - saya sebutkan satu pepatah Melayu yang amat terkenal sekali, semoga kita semua menganjakkan paradigma kepada kehidupan yang lebih harmonis. "Kucing yang berlari terkedek-kedek, tikus juga yang tersepit maut di seberang sungai." oh admin, untuk tv6. Dicuri dan diubah dari Tempat Bermain.

This is an administrative announcement, albeit a little more colourful than it should be.

a week at intec...

2006-07-01T17:11:00.000+08:00

i had just finished my orienation week ("minggu mesra siswa") yesterday. not as bad as i thought. the fasilitators are great especially the one who conducted my group. eventhough it was an exhausting week but there was a lot of thing i had learnt and lots of new friends i met. all of them are wonderful people. yesterday i took the placement test. what a brain-blotting questions. the marks that ensure which class i 'll be in. but the 'best' part of all is that i'm staying at the top floor - the 5th floor! i can't imagine if i left something n i have to climb up back to get it. i hope when the classes started it can adapt myself well to the universities systems n syllabus...

An Expanded Community!

2006-06-26T20:05:00.000+08:00

Assalamualaikum wbt, Dear Juniors and Seniors, We have realised that too small a community of bloggers can only keep this blogtal updated every other week, and that being an exclusive blogtal for Maresmartians batch 2004/05 causes our readership to be very limited. So, we now want... More contributors, More variety, More readers! For those of you new to this blogtal, you can read a detailed description of our objective here. We are a non-profit, volunteer-run blogtal cum online magazine for ex-students of Maresmart, now already open to all bloggers from all batches. We would be happy to accept requests from persons interested in blogging here. Please e-mail us your requests (with your full name and batch affiliation included) to : maresmartians0405 at gmail dot com For details on the contributors' job, please direct yourself here. Bloggers are expected to be committed to the blogtal with an at least minimum frequency of posting (once every two or three months, but as the number of contributors grow, this rule will naturally wither like a flower burned by drought). We practise little censorship, and greatly encourage articles of critical thought and writings for amusement. We accept contributions in both English and Malay (dialects included), and even a mix of both. We are now open to accommodating links to blogs by other ex-Maresmartians in our blogroll so as to better serve the new expanded community. This will be a great way to stay connected with each other. To link to us, please visit here. To the juniors who are interested, please make sure you can afford to spare the time to blog through your busy schedule before requesting an invitation. Otherwise, come back after SPM is over - we would still be happy to hear from you! On a side note, we currently only have two female contributors. While we do not practise gender preference, it would be great to have more female contributors so as to make the content of this blog more diverse. We eagerly await your e-mails!

Teateri

2006-06-26T11:31:00.000+08:00

Scene1 Tempat: Dunia Maya Tuan Presiden 1: Ambil semua!!! Bank Negara bayar!! Yah! Tuan Presiden 2: Semua orang, mari masuk tandas aku!! Ada TV Plasma.. Orang Kaya 1:Beli!! Beli!! Aku bayar untuk korang!! Kad kredit aku takde limit!! Rakyat biasa? Rakyat biasa menghadap komputer.. Baca kekayaan orang kaya.. Memberontak apabila perlu..

MRSM Taiping, now and forever...

2006-06-19T12:46:00.000+08:00

[ Based on true stories ~ Isnin, 12 Jun ] Assalamualaikum semua !! Maaf kerana lambat post dekat blog. Agak malas sebelum ni, tambah dgn open house, pegi rumah kawan dan mcm2 lagi... At last, pagi itu kami (me & meor) sampai ke maktab yang tercinta ini. Kami sampai pada pukul 10.20 dan ketibaan kami disambut dengan .. JAMUAN ? Untuk pengetahuan semua, pada hari itu maktab baru je menyambut hari guru dan kakitangan. Kami sampai sejurus selepas tayangan dipertontonkan di dewan. Mungkin video yang dibuat hari tu baru je ditayangkan... Tanpa segan silu, kami pun makan sekali! Sedap, banyak yg x habis.. Lepas je makan bersama BWP & guru2, kami berjumpa dengan pengetua. Dengan wajah yg berseri2 & gayanya berceloteh, ia menyeronokkan! Sebaik saja kami masuk ke bilik pengetua, beliau terus menunjukkan keputusan exam sem 1 dengan bangganya.. Terkejut giler !! NAK TAU?? F5 seramai 14 org dapat 4.0 PNG, 2 org dapat 4.0 TPNG. Tingkatan 4 pula? OH MY GOD! 10 org dapat 4.0 PNG. No wonder pengetua bangga giler! Yg lebih mengejutkan, majlis anugerah pengetua kene buat 2 HARI!Seramai 225 org F5 dapat PNG 3.5 above & 252 org F4 dapat PNG 3.5 above (kalau x silap la). PNG 3.0 x payah cakap la. Bagi F4, PNG bawah 3.0 dihapuskan sepenuhnya!! No more 3.0 below... One more thing, F4 kene blaja dlm BI !! Lagi la susah. Pengetua cakap, sekarang diorg sume bagus. Dah x payah hambat pergi prep macam dulu lagi. Kes disiplin x ade kut, org yg berperangai pelik (bdk nakal) dah dibendung.. Wah, bagusnya diorg!! Kita macam mane pula di mata cikgu?? Hm, fikir la sendiri.. Pelajar MRSM Taiping telah berevolusi menjadi semakin pandai. Pengetua kata " yang memulakan perubahan ini adalah yg terbaik", tapi siapa? Adakah kita atau yg sebelumnya? Kemudian, setelah beredar dari bilik pengetua, kami pergi meninjau ke kawasan sekeliling maktab. Hm, blok pentadbiran baru masih belum siap, tapi ia kelihatan cantik sekali. Kemudian, jalan berbumbung?? telah dibina menghubungkan surau dengan blok akademik. X payah lari lagi mase hujan. Rak beg telah disediakan di surau. Bercakap tentang lab pula, WOW! Segalanya baru! Mikroskop baru, meja baru (cantik!), lantai pun diubah juga! Lab dah jadi cantik. Jeles pulak tengok.. Di sekeliling maktab terdapat banyak taman yang baru dibuat. Cantik pula tu! Banyak juga pokok2 yg ditanam di kawasan maktab. Dapat menikmati keindahan alam sambil belajar. Pemandangan dihiasi taman yang menghijau & pohon yg rimbun. Kelas pula dicat indah. Tiada lagi dinding buruk & contengan. Dinding dicat pelajar & tingkap dicat pihak maktab. DS pula telah bertukar tender. X tau sedap ke x. Headquarters guru di asrama pun hampir siap.. No more timbang!! Yahoo! Cafe dah tutup so cikgu sume kene bawak bekal or makan kt luar. X best sebab mase rehat x dapat jumpe cikgu.. Bercakap tentang cikgu, rata2 sume cikgu kirim salam kt korg sume & wish gud luck & all the best in your future. Sedih la jugak lagipun baru je tengok video tu. MISS U GUYS !! Mereka harap kite x lupakan diorg sbb 'students come & go', diorg je yg masih kat situ. Kalau ada mase, datang la jenguk2 diorg kat sini... Kalau ada soalan nak tanye, tulis dekat comment.

THE END

[Cerita ini telah dipendekkan & pengarang tidak bertanggungjawab atas sebarang kekeliruan yang timbul]

Ada Apa dengan Bahasa Kebangsaan Kita?

2006-06-16T14:36:00.000+08:00

I WAS minding my own sweet business on a car ride home one day when my peaceful taking-in of the boring scenes flashing past the windshield was cruelly interrupted by a statement plastered across a billboard: “Rumah mewah berkemampuan.”

If stripped off the advertisement, the phrase wouldn’t even be able to make a spoonful of sense. Otherwise, in context, I suppose one could make a wild guess that the company behind the unfortunate linguistic nonsense was trying say that they are selling “affordable luxury homes” (although their actual intended meaning still eludes me).

I have no doubt that you too have experienced such irritating (and occasionally hilarious) wordings in Bahasa Malaysia on billboard advertisements and shop names during your own vehicle ventures. Sometimes, these unintelligible brutalisations do not just sound confusing, they could even be embarrassing. It’s like your local 7-11 reopening to suddenly become a “convenient sore” instead of a “convenience store”, or – God forbid – “Pubic Service Department” appearing on the PSD’s website.

We can find these linguistic vandalisms almost everywhere nowadays; unlegislated crimes not just committed by our fellow citizens but even followed suit by some foreign corporations that put up advertisements literally translated word-for-word from English. When they aren’t ghastly works of translations, they’re simple spelling mistakes that could possibly send a kindergartener into fits of hysterical laughter, or cause the hardcore language purists among us to become too transfixed in horror and unbelieving surprise.

Okay, so I wasn’t the least bit infuriated by the said billboard, but that’s not to say that I wasn’t annoyed at all. What those three unfortunate words roused in me during the car ride was not (really) some maniacal crusading urge for grammatical correctness, but they actually poked my reclusive beast of patriotic instincts right in the eye and straight into the depths of the socket.

In fact, I’ve come to realise that the reason why these advertisers don’t care could be because we ourselves don’t care, even though this problem is as obvious as a carbuncle stuck on our forehead with neon signs pointing to it.

I’ve never really been a Bahasa Malaysia purist, but I do feel that it’s just pretty sad to realise too many people practice this blatant disregard for correct use of our national language nowadays, to the point that they could barely even care enough to take the small effort of verifying their advertising sentences, say, with your average secondary school student, who could easily point out any incomprehensibility. Something that should be so close to heart has become a mere daisy in the meadow – who cares if someone bludgeons it to a pulp?

Of course, for the Government to employ rabid creatures of the night to bite the tongue off anyone speaking Bahasa Malaysia that swerves even a degree off its standard grammar would be utterly ridiculous. Patriotism is not written in stone, and not being able to speak perfect Bahasa Malaysia won’t make you any less Malaysian (and vice versa), but at the same time, should we really tolerate and what more accept these abominable scourge of disrespect for the national language by advertising agencies and commercial businesses?

Calls for better use of the language in speech among the people by some seem to come close to being infinitely ironic when these mouthfuls of vandalism are plastered in writing all over the place in advertisements on billboards, magazines and all the empty spaces of the world.

We spend 11 years slaving over textbooks and pens and pencils trying to achieve perfection in our use of Bahasa Malaysia, but in the end, what is the point of this education when – in the “real” world – one can still become rich and wealthy by opening up a “penniagaan” in Malaysia without even realising it was in the wrong spelling?

Maybe we need a constant reminder, but Bahasa Malaysia is our national language – it does not represent a race or just a fraction of our society, it represents our whole nation and everyone in it. It’s a mark of our identity. If it is patriotic to demand that someone take down a tattered, filthy Jalur Gemilang, then why shouldn’t it be equally patriotic to demand that the national language be used in the correct form? If we let our identity become a joke, aren’t we letting ourselves as Malaysians become the joke?

There are more important things plaguing society that need to be dealt with, of course, but this is no less important in its own right. In fact, to suddenly devoutly embrace a “tidak apa” and indifferent attitude when dealing with this just because it seems too trivial is actually the very thing that we should be worried about. Sometimes, the little things matter too – it’s the details representative of our identity that makes a true Malaysian society, not some bland utopia that is only nearly as interesting as a pink thumbtack.

Personally, I wouldn’t welcome a front-page report in the newspaper of how our lawmakers in parliament had been debating with full spirit and vigour if all advertisements in Bahasa Malaysia should actually also make sense instead of just sen(s), because isn’t this something the people – even us snot-covered youngsters – can do something about without having to wave petitions and a tome’s worth of signatures in the faces of our politicians?

Just imagine: If every one of us reading this article wrote a letter to at least one business company advertising in an assortment of vandalistic sentences, we could probably make a change or two. If it’s worth fighting for the things that Malaysia stands for, then it definitely is worth fighting for the things that stand for Malaysia. Wishful thinking, of course, but it would be an interesting little campaign.

But, really, at this rate we’re going with our general disregard for Bahasa Malaysia, it’s not impossible that our children’s children may one day laugh at the idea that we even have a national language. That unfortunate era may still be decades away, though, and, who knows, is evitable, even.

Meanwhile, I’ve decided that the only way I can avoid myself from having to endure the ironic hilarity of these shameful epitomes of disrespect during my car rides is to close my eyes whenever I spot them. God forbid if that happens when I’m the one behind the steering wheel.

Originally published under the title "Honor Thy Language" in Star R.AGE (June 13th, 2006).

A Step Into University Life..

2006-06-08T20:19:00.000+08:00

Assalamualaikum and Hello everyone..I bet everyone right now is busy filling up their scholarship offer form (JPA..MARA? huu tunggu~) and maybe ade yang dah masuk matrix and all such kan. Actually aku nak cite sket pasal university life kat korang, cos I went through it ‘a bit’, and I’m so thankful that I can ‘restart’ it, haha macam main game pulak. Well that’s another different story, tapi ape yang aku nak cite di sini adalah life di university..

Setelah dikongkong selama hampir 2 tahun (or 5 tahun for certain people) di asrama, pasti anda semua rindukan kebebasan yang teramat sangat bukan? Ya, itulah apa yang akan anda dapat di U nanti. At least for me la. Because different university has different rules. Public university = stricter, Private University = less strict. Strict I’m mentioning here is about the rules. For instance kalau IPTA, selalunye ade curfew, gate tutup kul 12 mlm camtu.. But private university? 24/7 boleh keluar sesuka hati mak bapak anda, yihaa..

Hidup di MRSM sangat-sangatlah berbeza dengan hidup di U. di MRSM, sume cikgu memerhatikan ape kite buat. Tapi di U? lantak korang la nak buat ape pon. At U, too lazy to go to class? No worries, just call your friend and tell them to sign for your attendance. (yup, it works actually, at least in UTP) therefore you’ll still make it through the final semester without even going to class (as long as you attend the quiz and test la). And in U, you’ll get to see everything. Couples everywhere, melepak di sana sini. Lagi-lagi kalau U tu ade network connection (internet), lagi teruk, 24/7 chatting, main CS, dota, etc., pastu tido kul 3 4 pagi..

Hidup kat U ni banyak gila dugaan. Kat UTP, since I got my own transport, selalu giler keluar. Even late at night! Go out for a movie, hanging around, pegi Lumut, and just come back before, errr Subuh? The results? Ponteng class the next day, tutorial, laboratory, sume kantoi~ penat weh..and at U, please, choose your friends wisely! Because you are who you friends with. If you have friends who have passion with their studies, good. If it’s the other way around, try to find others la. Life in U is so free~ pergaulan bebas merata-rata (well not all, but it’s more obvious than in school of course). Biler pompuan nampak laki berkereta jer, mula la merengek2,bergesel2, (based on experience, huhu). But kalau dah pegangan iman tu teguh, takkan kacaunye arr, hahaha…

Hurmm maybe ade yang terpikir sapelah aku ni nak bagi nasihat kat orang kan, aku pon bukan baik sangat, sini sana tak cukup..tapi takpelah, at least I still have something to share with others. Kalau nak tanye pape, tanye jer, anything will do (UTP ker, ape-ape jer la), lalala. Peace and thank you.

Rahsia Perindu

2006-05-29T15:46:00.000+08:00

Berhati-hatilah dengan realiti..kerana ia mungkin sebuah fantasi Rakan-rakan! Di sini saya ingin menggalakkan anda semua untuk membaca. Justeru,dalam usaha kerajaan dan pejuang-pejuang bahasa tanah air kita, marilah kita menyokong hasil karya tempatan. Saya yakin ramai tak minat novel melayu (budak laki ar maksud aku). Kemungkinan besar sebab fikir yang novel melayu ni jiwang je lebih. Ayat bunga banyak sangat. So, now, I want you guys to change that perspective, by reading this book. RAHSIA PERINDU by Ramlee Awang Murshid. Cerita ni memang cerita cinta. Tapi, di samping cerita cinta tu, byk adegan saspens dan thriller. Cerita ni mengisahkan kegilaan manusia dalam bercinta.Kesanggupan manusia untuk bercinta. Dan dalam kegilaan ni berlakunya pula pembunuhan. Saya tak nak menceritakan plot atau sinopsis cerita dia sebab that will spoile the suprise. Trust me,through out the whole book, lots of questions will be playing in your head. That's what makes it so irresistable. Dan apa yang bagus tentang penulis ni (Ramlee Awang Murshid), dalam cerita dia, dia selalu mengingatkan pembaca tentang islam. Watak hero dia mesti orang yang digambarkan sebagai seorang yang kuat agama. Kadang-kadang dia ada juga selitkan hadis atau ayat quran dalam tu. Dan bahasa yang digunakan mudah tapi seni nya masih ada. Tunggu apa lagi? mulalah baca buku ni!! hehe.. Hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I did.

AF or AQ, Anyone?

2006-05-28T18:11:00.000+08:00

"Pasti berjaya di Akademii Fantasia.Ooo.." Are you familiar with that? Well you better be if you are living in Malaysia. Even if you never care about it, how could you missed it? I started noticing AF(Akademi Fantasia) during the finale concert of the second season. The one with Zahid, Farah, and Adam. They somehow managed to stick to my mind back then eventhough I'm not a fan of them. Then in the third season, we got Mawi with his favourite trademark word, "World!!!".People forgot about the tsunami that just occured a few months ago and start focussing on "tsumawi". Amazing, how these AF phenomenon managed to make the people forgot about the sorrow and receive joy. Now, the fourth season is starting. 20 new AF star candidates. There were some SPM leavers I noticed. Amirul(a name i'm very familiar with) and Salima(the girl wearing a 'tudung'). I wonder why she was chosen for the show since she wears a tudung. I also wonder whether they got a place in Matriculation or not. Then, one time, I saw a programme at Astro Ria. The host was a woman. ButI don't know her name.I think she's one of our local radio DJs. Anyway, in the programme, they were asking an 'ustaz' about the 'hukum' of AF in agama or something. Hish, then I thought, "Were they trying to 'halalkan' the stuff that they do in AF or something?". Well, I didn't dare to continue watching the programme. I just hope the 'ustaz' said the right thing. I wonder where did they picked up that 'ustaz'. Now for AQ(Akademi Al-Quran)."Ke arah membina generasi Al-Quran" was the phrase for the show if i'm not mistaken. I'm impressed that the show is actually done. I thought it was just a mere suggestion from the beginning. I only watched a few pisodes. Unfortunately, I felt like doozing off since people were just reciting Al-Quran and talk nicely without any surprises. Still, I think it's an educational show where you can learn to improve your Quran reading. In my opinion, AQ is the kind of reality show that actually should reflect Malaysia. Not AF(sorry, dear AF fans). I said so because Malaysia is an Islamic country or at least, a country that is said to be practising Islam Hadhari. "Malaysian people dance alot". That's what I heard from Muslims from other countries(From Iran and Jordan to be exact). How embarassing since Malaysia is the Predident of the OIC, and also said to be an ideal example of Islamic country. So, what do you think of AF and AQ? Which one are you supporting? If you choose AF, be prepared with the money you want to use to vote for your favourite student via SMS. If you choose AQ, be prepared to learn to recite Al-Quran properly wih a true heart. Till then, enjoy your moments in life while they last.

Women, Islam, and Education

2006-05-23T21:36:00.000+08:00

Before you read the rest of the post, please watch the following video first - it's less than 30 seconds, and will (I hope) load relatively quick even on dial-ups. What went through your head after watching that? What questions did you ask yourself? Who made this advertisement? Why did they make it? Most importantly, what is the message the maker intended to give to the viewers? What is the message that we ourselves - as Muslims - can derive from it? I mean, like, isn't it disappointing and worrying that non-Muslims are the ones who notice these things and actually choose to fix that wrong - while we stand by, watch and either nod and keep mum when we agree, or run around burning flags (and assorted flammable items) or shake our heads and keep mum when we don't. Tsk tsk. We should be ridiculously thankful, actually - for our mothers, for our sisters, for our own selves - that we live in Malaysia, where education is seen as the right of everyone, of every Muslim, regardless of gender. It is reported that the Prophet once said that seeking knowledge is an obligation of every Muslim* - meaning both men and women. So what in the world has happened to the Muslim mind in some countries that they deem the female less worthy of education and knowledge? Cultures and un-Islamic traditions in some countries are slowly eroding their Islamic logic and justice, and are causing a dangerous "progress" towards backwardness - which is pretty ironic in more than one sense. Not all cultural traditions are legal in Islam (and, interestingly, even in the secular Western community) but when Muslims practise these things, it sometimes reflects not upon their race or cultural background, but on their religion - like the practise of honour killings in Europe, for one, where some people had the nerve to murder girls (which often times are their own family members) and then use Islam as an excuse. Back to the topic - now, how many of us know that Imam Malik was reported to have had a female teacher? Even Imam Shafie was reported to have learned from Nafisa binti al-Hassan**. How many of you know about 'Amra binti Abdul Rahman, Fatima binti Abdul Rahman, and a lot of others? Aisyah herself, the wife of the Prophet, is one of the most important figures in the study of hadiths. Isn't it ironic that Muslims once controlled the flow of knowledge in the world, and now - today - some of us are trying to get as far away as they possibly can from achieving that goal again?

Allah does not change a people's lot unless they change what is in their hearts. Ar-Rad, the 11th verse Translation by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (source)

You know what? I think I'm going to stop. What I do want is to hear what you have to say on the matter. Leave your comments - if it concerns Muslims abroad, then it sure as heck should concern us too. To stimulate your mind, below is another advertisement - a printed one - from UNICEF on the matter. You can download the original video here. *Full translation and - most importantly - the source cannot be provided since I can't find a trustworthy copy online but I'm sure a lot of you have heard of it anyway, correct? **Sources for reports on both imams unattainable (meaning I was too lazy to find out more about them). So what do you do as a curious reader? Conduct your own research-lah!

Rasa Malas Sangat

2006-05-22T17:22:00.000+08:00

Pagi. Baca surat kabar. Hari ini Noh Omar, Timbalan Menteri Pelajaran cakap, "Bakal Guru Tidak Tahu Nama Menteri Pelajaran" Noh Omar menemuduga seorang calon kursus perguruan lepasan SPM2005 yang datang meminta surat sokongan. Siapa Menteri Pelajaran? Budak itu terkesima. Minta surat sokongan pun kena interview ke? Haha. Noh Omar kemudian menegur tentang kurangnya pengetahuan am dalam kalangan pelajar-pelajar di sekolah. Aku cadangkan kita tambah subjek pengetahuan am dalam silibus di sekolah [selepas pendidikan jalan raya] dan jadikan subjek ini sebagai subjek-mesti-lulus dalam peperiksaan SPM. Pada masa itu Noh Omar bukan sahaja boleh tanya siapa Menteri Pelajaran. Tetapi juga boleh tanya, "siapa saya?"

The da Vinci Code

2006-05-21T12:48:00.000+08:00

(no spoilers) I watched The da Vinci Code on the 18th of May, 2006, the first screening of the film at GSC Melaka. We are lucky that we live in the East, as we have the privilege of watching movies way earlier, compared to the Europeans(or the West). I would say that the movie adaptation is quite okay, but it doesn't live up to the bestseller. Tom Hanks does look like a symbologist, but what's up with the hair? Sir Ian McKellen was great as Leigh Teabing. And I have always admired his acting, as Gandalf of The Lord of The Rings for example. Audrey Tautou, I can't say much about her, but for me, she deserve the role of Princess Sophie. And Jean Reno as Bezu Fache, great. And the albino monk would be great if he's Darth Vader(lol). The critics gave it a C+, if you happen to surf Yahoo! Movies. But that doesn't matter, for we all have our own perception. I won't rate The da Vinci code, for I have no such wisdom to do so. The cryptex is beatiful. I would want one as a birthday present(envious of Sophie), though it wasn't Leonardo's inventions, as told in 'da Vinci Declassified'. I am glad that we get to see the full, no-cuts version of The da Vinci Code, though it is rated 18PL. It is enjoyable. If you loved the book, you'll come to like the movie. But, it doesn't seem to have much detail in it. I would not know if one could understand fully the movie if he/she never touched the novel. Such is the case of the Fibonacci sequence. What is that? I would know, but to those who never read the book, this could be more than a puzzle to solve. Ultimately, this is a film worth your money. And this is a film for those who are curios. Curiosity is important to fully enjoy the movie. -taken from So Not The Drama-

Do I hAve SpEcIaL pOweRs??

2006-05-16T15:51:00.000+08:00

"Have i done this before???" "Hey,that looks familiar!" "I've seen all this before,but not in my dreamz!" "Eh,rase macam pernah tengok situasi nie.." "Rase macam pernah buat semua nie.." "Macam pernah dengar semua nie.." ....BUT you are REALLY SURE that there is NO way that you had the experience before in your life! You felt like you have,but you are CERTAIN you HAVEN'T! Have you ever said or ask the the same thing to yourself?Have you ever had the same experience like that before?Have you,at least once,had the strangest feeling that you are very familiar of something or a certain situation?You felt like you've seen it or been through it before?But you are certain that it was not something you dreamed? Well,if you had the same questions in your head..and you had the same experience as mine..you are certain you are right,but others just don;t bother to believe..calling you a 'wacko' perhaps..or mayb your parents straight away sent you too see a Psychiatrist..have no worries..your friends and perhaps your parents are wrong!They may not experience the same thing as you,but,mayb only you had that feeling.But,don't get me wrong..you're not Superman..or Batman..or any super heroes with super powers..it's something normal..well,at least almost normal..so,if you had the same feeling,youBETTER read on to know what exactly you have gone through..But if the situation never occured to you before,its ok..it is also best for you to read on too..just to extend your knowledge in case you will experience it in the future..or perhaps,if you were the ones who kept labelling your friends as being retarded,then you should know the REAL truth before you start calling people names.. So,here it begins..one fine sunday,a boring one..i watched a movie at astro(final resort to my extreme boredom)..can't recall what's the title of the movie..but Jennifer Love Hewitt was the actress..don't know the name of the actor though..so,the movie was about a guy,who had preminitions through his dreams, that he is about to die in a car accident.So,he is desperately wanted to spend his last moments with her girlfriend(Jennifer L.Hewitt).He told her about his dreams but she didn't quite believe it.He also told his friends,but they said it was just a 'Deja Vu'(the topic i'll be talking about)..so in the end,he died in a car accident..his girlfriend,of course, cried in guilt for not believing in him..well,its fate anyway,no way you can escape death..but that's not the point.. so,after the movie,i was like some of you,who didn't have a clue about 'Deja Vu'..heard of it,experienced it,but never knew it was a Deja Vu..so after that,i quickly went to search for the Deja Vu in the wiki..and so briefly i got to know that "Deja Vu" is actually a french word which means "already seen" or also called paramnesia(which is the answer to all the questions n statements above)..So,in case you guys don't have much time to read it in wiki,i just briefly tell you all about Deja Vu based on wiki...

Deja Vu describes the experience of feeling that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously.The experience of déjà vu is usually accompanied by a compelling sense of familiarity, and also a sense of "eerieness," "strangeness," or "weirdness." The "previous" experience is most frequently attributed to a dream, although in some cases there is a firm sense that the experience "genuinely happened" in the past. The experience of déjà vu seems to be very common; in formal studies 70% or more of the population report having experienced it at least once.

So based on what i've read,Deja Vu is commonly related to an Indian belief, "reincarnation", which is a notion we usually see in Hindi's movies(hindustan),where by if a person dies,he will be bring back to alive in another generation.This concept is almost similar to the Buddhist concept of "Rebirth",but are very distinct philosphically.The concept is basically is that they believe that 'soul' or 'spirit' or others,likely the same(terms,depends on beliefs), exist eternally and when a body of a person dies,the 'soul' will go into the other body and so on.Interesting,but Mainstream Islam rejects the concept of reincarnation. Some sufi groups believe in reincarnation claiming it to be in Quran 2:28:

"How can you deny God, when you were dead and God gave you life? Then God will cause you to die, and then revive you, and then you will be returned to God." (Quran 2:28) (i've checked the Quran already,and yes,the verse above is in Quran and it means the almost the same.)

So,the mainstream Islam rejects this understanding of the verse, claiming that it refers to the worldly human life and the consequent resurrection in the hereafter. So again,many claims that Deja Vu is a memory disorders.Some said we had dreamed about it,but we just can't remember the dream.Some said,it was an event that our 'soul' had been through during the past bodies(reincarnation). So there is nothing certain to it..For me,i have been experience Deja Vu many times!But i thought it was just my silly feeling.So i kept just to myself when suddenly i got to know that many of my friends also felt the same thing(yea,at least i know that i'm normal!) i have always wanted to know what exactly is the thing that i've felt for many years!I don't like just to assume it was just a silly feeling or an imagination that a small kid would feel during their 'fantasy world' or something.I became nuts when i continue having the same feeling when i grew up. So i wanted to know the answers to it..what deja vu really is??does it have any scientific explanations?is it just me having the feeling? is it just me who kept forgetting my dreams?or is it just me who bother to think about it?i don't know..well,have you experienced Deja vu?Don't you want to know what exactly it is?Or it's just something so abstract that no scientifical studies can explain?perhaps only God knows?and should i kept questioning about all this?or should i just keep quiet and live the life the way it is??...hurm..confused..really confused.. i guess,there is more in our life,that we don't really know the answers to it,huh?

Hari Guru 2006

2006-05-15T08:47:00.000+08:00

*** Individual Dedications *** Assalamualaikum W.B.T.. Saya,dan juga semua bekas pelajar kelas 410/510 (04/05),mengucapkan Selamat Hari Guru kepada semua guru MRSM Taiping! Kami juga mengucapkan setinggi-tinggi penghargaan kepada semua guru yang pernah mengajar kami,sama ade secara langsung,ataupun tidak langsung.Terima kasih di atas tunjuk ajar,perhatian dan bimbingan cikgu-cikgu! Minta maaf banyak2 kalau kami terkasar bahasa dan menyinggung hati cikgu. Terima kasih Sir Asri dan Cikgu Linda kerana telah menjadi guru penasihat,atau lebih kepada ibu bapa angkat kami,yang sungguh sporting dan banyak bersabar dengan semua kerenah kami.Thank you for all the wonderful moments we had together.We will always cherish the moments in our hearts forever and ever! Terima kasih banyak kepada Bonda Pengetua(Selamat Hari Ibu-jika tidak terlewat=) ),kerana menjaga kebajikan kami dan sentiasa memberikan yang terbaik kepada kami.Minta maaf kerana tidak dapat memenuhi impian bonda.Kami dah buat yang terbaik mungkin. Tidak lupa kepada cikgu Rizalmi.Terima kasih kerana sentiasa memberi kami motivasi dan inspirasi sepanjang masa.Saya benar-benar teringin sangat untuk mendengar Tazkirah lagi daripada Cikgu. Akhir kata,Selamat Hari Guru kepada semua guru.Semoga Allah memberkati cikgu-cikgu semua. Muhammad Aizat b Mohd Adam <<410/510>> *** Slmt hari guru kepada semua guru2 mrsm tpg trutama kpd cikgu kamisah dan ustazah che som krn telah bnyk membantu kami selama 2 tahun ini drpd Syiimr n pljr 503, 2005 ***

assalamualaikum....kepada guru2 yag saya kasihi....

selamat hari guru....jasa guru2 dikenang hingga akhir hayat.terima kasih banyak2 cikgu,saya tak tau camner nak balas jasa cikgu2 sume....terima kasih banyak2.kerana usaha keras cikgu,siang dan malam mengajar banyak membantu saya dan kawan2.penat lelah cikgu amat saya hargai.....terutama subjek sains....kerana cikgu telah berusaha dengan bersungguh 2 untuk kami...cikgu lain pun sama jugak.,terima kasih conan simba (identiti sebenar tidak diketahui) ***

assalamualaikum.. terima kasih cikgu oh terima kasih, berpenat lelah kerna mengajar kami, kami semua akan rajin belajar, semoga kami akan menjadi pandai.. saya mewakili kelas 408/508 ingin mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih atas tunjuk ajar guru - guru selama ini. sekiranya kami ada terguris hati atau terilap kata, kami mohon seribu kemaafan. ~maaf zahir batin~

nabilla arief tham, 508 ***

Assalamualaikum wbt

Kpd semua ckgu2 MRSM Taiping, Azie ucapkan SELAMAT HARI GURU!!

Rindu cikgu sgt2...

Kami xkan lupa kan cikgu...=)

Doakn kami semua berjaya dlm hidup..

Saya sntiasa doakn kebahagiaan dan keberkatan hidup cikgu2 semua.

TERIMA KASIH BYK2...

Pengetua, Pn Shaariah, trima kasih sb memahami kami dan telah memberi sokongan padu buat kami.. Cikgu mmg Pengetua yg plg BEST!!!

*** *** Khairil Zhafri, 513, 2005 *** "tak ternilai jasamu, tak terbalas pengorbananmu. Terima Kasih Cikgu. Selamat Hari Guru." Yang benar, Meor Solehudin, kelas 504 *** saya mewakili kelas 406/506(04/05) mengucapkan selamat hari guru cikgu.terima kasih atas segala jasa cikgu.semoga para cikgu bahagia di dunia dan akhirat.diharap cikgu sentiasa mendoakan kejayaan kami untuk menjadi insan berguna. Amirul Mohd Sallehuddin, 506, 2005 *** The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with eager feet, Until it joins some larger way Where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say. (an excerpt from JRR Tolkien's 'The Lord of The Rings') I have been contemplating on this rhyme for quite some time now. And to me, it is one of those intriguing songs. It had a different meaning to me 2 years back, and now, I perceive it as a whole new piece. It is very close to my heart. Thus, I dedicate this rhyme to The Teachers of MRSM, Taiping and especially to, The Teachers of Class 04, of the year 2004-2005 of which I owe more than I could imagine. Happy Teacher's Day God Bless You All -Khairul Anwar bin Mohamad Khairi, of Class 04, 2004-2005- *** Happy teachers day n may allah bles u all Fitri, 505, 2005 *** Slamat hr guru n thanks atas sgala pngorbnan guru yg tdk knal pnat lelah Suhanis, 512, 2005 *** I dedicate this "Happy Teachers Day" wish to all my teachers at MJSC Taiping.Sorry and thanks for everything!!!Gonna miss you all so much... Azyan Syazwani Aziz *** Selamat Hari Guru kepada semua guru MRSM Taiping dan Terima Kasih dan Maaf Zahir Batin!!! Mohamad Atif, 505, 2005 ***

To : CikGu Azlinda(math)(homeroom advisor),Sir Asri(eng),Pn Khamisah(chem),Utzh Che Som & Utz Saiful(Gerik)(PAI),CikGu YuSofF(BM),Pn Nor Akma & Pn Rohani(bio),CikGu Zahari(fizik),Cikgu Fauzi(kom),CikGu2 Sejarah,Pn NOrBita & Pn Sabrina(est) that had tought 410/510 members & 2 all teachers & staff of MARESMART ...wish 2 all HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!!!...

ThankZ 4 everything ....-Muhammad Fitri Bin Md Yazid, 410/510(04/05)(04277)..... ***

Assalamualaikum.Saya nk mengucapkan Selamat Hari Guru kepada semua guru-guru MRSM TAIPING yang banyak membantu kami dalam mencapai keputusan yang cemerlang.Saya juga minta maaf kerana tidak dapat merealisasikan impian MRSM Taiping menjadi no.1. Kepada cikgu Hamid,terima kasih kerana menjadi guru penasihat yang cukup sabar dengan kerenah kami selama 2 tahun lepas. Juga kepada Teacher Sab dan Teacher Alaina,sorry because i couldn't get a good result for your subject. Wish me luck in the future.Thank You very much!! Noorul Nadia, 506, 2005 *** Because of an error during the editing of this post, almost half of the dedications have disappeared into oblivion. We have recovered what we could, but apologise for the dedications that will never see the light of day again. Representing those who are either don't have the internet or are having problems in sending in their dedications, we at the Sentral would like to ucapkan to all the teachers reading this post : Selamat Hari Guru! And thank you for everything.

Our launching - in the news!

2006-05-12T19:55:00.000+08:00

Assalamualaikum! Popular international newspaper - Surat Khabar - has featured a report of our launching on today's frontpage. But anyhow, on to more important things... Welcome to all maresmartians0405 and teachers and juniors and all you strangers who chanced upon this blog by chance (and fate)! To keep this short - get the gist of what this blog portal is all about by reading our first two posts. Do leave comments, and give us a jerit in our kotak jeritan! Enjoy your time here!

Mission: Muffin

2006-05-11T13:53:00.000+08:00

Tiba-tiba rasa macam mau masak selepas terencouraged dgn recipe yang diberi Khairul and most of all the last two entries on cooking by Atif. I don't know what to masak because I never masak. I looked for my mom's recipe books. Ada banyak! And I found this very interesting one

Lihat tu, PROFESSIONAL baking tau!

I love to eat muffins so I decided to bake some chocolate chip muffins myself. I asked my maid to help me to get the bahan dan radas and also the definisi secara operasi.

So kids, let's see what do we need to bake mouthful muffins.

1200 g Pastry flour - check!
360 g Sugar - check!
72 g Baking powder - check!
15 g Salt - check!
240 g Eggs (beaten) - check!
950 g Milk - check!
360 g Shortening (melted) - check!
And finally 100 g chocolate chips - ALAMAK!!

Chocolate chips tidak dijumpai. Kakak, the maid and I searched the whole kitchen for chocolate chips but to no avail. Habislah. But with the determination I had in me, I quickly rushed to the local tesco.

I wander around in the hypermart where you can find almost everything under one roof! Fortunately for me, I found what I went there for, the CHOCOLATE CHIPS!!! But which one should I buy?

I stopped for a while to think. Think. Think. Think, think, think! Voila! I made my way to the Kek & Roti section and guess what I found?

Mission accomplished!

Yum... CHOCOLATE!

2006-05-10T21:00:00.000+08:00

I think I will most likely continue this habit of doing image-intensive posts... since they're easier and much more fun to do anyway! WARNING : This post may contain indiscreet and intolerable amounts of chocolate cake, chocolate sauce and chocolate bits and stuff in general. If you have experienced allergies to chocolate in the past, you are then most encouraged to continue reading this post further so that you can moan and sulk to realise what you have been missing out on all your life. On the other hand, if you suffer from severe chocoholism, you are encouraged to avoid indulging in the visually stimulating spectacle that is this post for fear that you may be tempted to eat your monitor in your frenzy. That is the first image to effectively project the theme of this post. The whole idea is to tell you, very briefly, how you can make a chocolate cake. As you can see in the image above - first and foremost - boil some water, sugar and cocoa powder over the stove. There's no need to buy the ridiculously expensive cocoa powders. All cocoa powders taste the same, in my opinion - bloody pahit - so make do with the cheap non-branded (literally) packets. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Once that is done, you're ready to bake the cake! Get your spiffy-crazy batter-battering machine. The ingredients you need : Butter and icing sugar, all campak-ed into the batter-battering machine. Let it spin, baby! Prepare your thick, murky, PAHIT chocolate. It may taste bitter but heck does it look good. Don't worry about it not being sweet enough at this stage. For an extra zing to your cake, go grate some orange skin to get the above. You can perah the juice and add it into your boiling cocoa concoction in the earlier step just for the fun of it. Lastly, of course, some self-raising flour and a small teaspoon of baking powder into that. Oh yeah, don't forget the eggs. Once it's all spun and done, you'll get this chocolatey batter that tastes like chocolatey butter. Campaklah dalam oven dengan penuh girang sekali. Akan menjadi sebegitu selepas beberapa minit sahaja. I can't remember how long this was baked actually, but I think it was for around 45 minutes at 175 degrees Celcius. If I'm wrong and you get a very messy cake as a result, then I urge you to experiment! Butter more batters and bake as many cakes till your cake reaches the point of perfection. The cake meets a knife (not shown for privacy reasons). I forgot to tell you that you shouldn't use ALL of the cocoa concoction - save some for the sauce. Add some susu pekat to give it a sweeter and more rational chocolatey taste. Then kacau sehinga gembira. My mum cut some of the cake and I poured the sauce in a zigzag pattern and voila! A mouth-watering dish! Just to annoy you, one more picture below : And so, after everything is said and done, the cake is baked and you realise that chocolate still tastes good even without enough diabetes-causing, dentally detrimental sweeteners added. Of course, the credit for the cooking of the above cake would be my mum (we were experimenting, in fact)! I was only the over-excited teenage photographer who shouldn't be allowed in the kitchen with a vulnerable stove in the first place. Sorry about the poor lighting in some of the photos - that's the problem with using a digital camera! And no, not all of my posts will focus on cooking instructions. I'll do other things if I get the inspiration. Meanwhile, leave your comments please!

I would cabut away from this country, if you are like the big heads

2006-05-10T01:12:00.000+08:00

and don't say I am not patriotic for not contributing to my own country! I just got back from the mamak nearby, had a roti canai cicah gula and air kosong (because I don't drink teh tarik. But that's not the point) During the lepak session, a friend told me that Amir Muhammad's docu-film, Lelaki Komunis Terakhir has been banned for any release anywhere in Malaysia by the Ministry of Home Affairs although the public screening dated May 18 at major cinemas has been advertised KL-wide, if not nationwide. I don't read much of Berita Harian and other Malay/Chinese/Tamil newspapers and I don't know that this one bloody newspaper has been publishing a series of articles campaigning the banning of Lelaki Komunis Terakhir. So, I went to my grandparents' place, which is just in the nearby neighbourhood because my grandfather subscribes to all newspapers although I don't know if he reads all. I know that some of you, after reading those articles, would might just not care what's happening but I went dropping the f-bombs all over until my atuk came up to this room and thought I was insane. Thank god no ceramah session was held. The articles featured opinions of the writer and partially of other people, politicians, academics, filmmakers such as the chief Puteri UMNO, filmmaker members of FINAS, Prof Khoo Khay Kim and so on. What not can be more Malay? The misleading unfair racist judgmental accusations among others quoting :

Tidak adakah wira Melayu yang boleh Amir angkat menerusi filem dokumentari...

Memang kita tidak lagi menonton cerita Lelaki Komunis Terakhir, tetapi soalnya kenapa subjek itu dipilih? Ini mengundang sensitiviti masyarakat...

Kita dalam dunia filem tahu, filem sebegitu akan dipaparkan dengan babak yang bermain secara psikologi dengan visual dan garapan tersirat. Ini boleh merosakkan pemikiran generasi muda...

Sebenarnya, apa pun alasan diberi, soalnya apa sangat cerita yang mahu menunjukkan kisah komunis dan mahu menghargai mereka yang menjadi komunis?

Eh, I just feel like quoting the whole other articles. Haha semuanya! Sila google sendiri for the website yang sudah lapuk atau tak perlu. Kan tak kisah? Those articles are misleading and judgmentall and racist and extremely unfair because, those people who commented on the documentary have yet to watch the film. How can they say it as spreading the ideology of communism and glorifying terrorist group when they have not watch the film themselves or at least, the writer, if he/she sincere and responsible enough, would quote reviews from those who has watched the film. Maybe it was the title of the documentary, Lelaki Komunis Terakhir or The Last Communist that make those people reveal their immaturity of judging people (and in this case, a film) by the name. Maybe because the Malay title sounds like Erma Fatima's Perempuan Melayu Terakhir which tributing all the Malay-ness of a Malay woman made them think the documentary is would be a tribute to Chin Peng. We are all aware of the sensitivities of the public but somehow it's the matter of how are we approaching to one sensitive issue. We cannot live in negligencee not discussing anything at all about such sensitive issues such as the Malay special rights, religious freedom, etc. We always talk of how multi-cultural we are having radio channels in different languages, having different restaurants serving different kinds of food in a street, having all bahasa-bahasa ibunda freely to be used. The reality is, almost nobody listens to all radio channels of different languages, almost nobody dine at all different restaurants on the same street and it's so uncommon of us to be able to speak the other languages of other local ethnics. Nangis. Eh, merepek pula. From the documentary blog, it's learnt that the Ministry of Home Affairs disallow the screening of the Lelaki Komunis Terakhir is because of "the people had protested." Does an unfair one sided judgmentt published on ONE newspaper on an issue count as a public opinion? Yes, you all, it's the ministry of the same government which claimed the decision to scrap the scenic brdge project as "what the people want" without having the people's opinions equally put in account properly via opinion poll. For your information, it was the same newspaper which provoked the issue of Yasmin Ahmad's Sepet and Gubra as being "pencemar budaya Melayu" and that followed by another talkshow aired on RTM on a Sunday night few weeks ago accusing Yasmin Ahmad's portrayal of Malaysian idealism with the same judgements. I don't cry of how badly our film industry is worsening because nobody of my crony make money from that "industry" but how ridiculous are our people making judgmental reviews on other people and worst of all, on the other our people and to what they do. IMHO, there is no need to ban a documentary that might teach me what school history textbook didn't. Even though there are very few people already pointed out their objection against to anything presented in the film that to them is harmful, it's individual choice to what we want to watch, what we want to read and what we want to see. Does watching porn illegal anyway? Does Chin Peng - My Side of Story was banned? Well, maybe the Berita Harian writer doesn't read. Ahh! It's so unfortunate for all of us to have such a bad newspaper and that sort of leaders and as a result, the people are living in negligence with only having sentionalized news on newspaper as daily consumption. Nangis lagi! Penat aku plan May Madness. Well, ridiculousness does happen in Malaysia. Eh shouldn't it be Malay-punya-sia? Don't cry for me, Malaysia!

Da Vinci Code

2006-05-09T13:24:00.000+08:00

Have you guys read this book? Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. The movie is coming out here in Malaysia on 18th May. It was quite an interesting story and also controvesial as alot of people around the world keep talking about it right now. You can see it by looking at our local newspaper, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic channel. So what is so special about this book? from what I have read, the story is about the history of Christian. Priory of sion, Grand Slam, Holy Grail, Roselyn, Jesus, and many more were some of things being talked about in the story. The story actually said that Jesus Christ, is married and had a child. The story seems to be telling that the church had been hiding the truth of Christian or something. That is why the church banned the book, thus making more people read it. The book is written based on facts. so, some people believe it and people now have been visiting the places mentioned in the book. Some people hated that book and said that it was a big lie. The story of the book was quite long and i didn't undertand the story when I first read it. In my opinion, that book will encourage the chritians to find the truth of their religion. It may effect alot in their believes. At least I think they should. So, am I recommending that you guys read this book?Yes. Eventhough it may not have much to do with our own religion, still, it is an exciting book to read. You can go like "Owh, and Ah". But don't take that book seriously though. the book is kind of weird. If you have read the book, tell your opinion about it.

Cam

2006-05-09T11:41:00.000+08:00

I dunno. Can't make up my cloudy mind. Digi vs Film Digi-cam Pros: cool!, easy(to upload), an mmc is all u need(compared to film rolls yg bertimbun2), sleek(small) Cons: makan bateri maa, zoom not dat good Film-cam Pros: Oldskool!, tahan lama(battery life), great zoom Cons: everytime kene beli satu roll(film), hav to send to kedai to process, quite big(coz ade film) So, all in all, it does look that digicam wins the contest, but i hav this feeling that i wanna go oldskool, yet college life might demand the use of digi-gadgets(for projects n stuff). Hmm, but i do have time, for time is what we all have now(for some), living solo under the rooftop, waiting for news, with hope that we shall succeed, and dread that we might fail.

Never Judge a Person By His/Her Tone

2006-05-08T22:52:00.000+08:00

Pengalaman ini adalah kisah benar yang dialami penulis.

Pukul 11.30 pagi.....

Ketika penulis sedang berbaring di atas sofa sambil baca Mastika, tiba-tiba ringtone handphone Nokia 3315 berbunyi (lagu anda pilih sendiri). Penulis melihat nombor telefon yang menunjukkan pemanggil daripada Selangor/Kuala Lumpur. Pemanggil mengadakan analisa minda dan membuat penakulan pemanggil adalah kawannya, Hadi geli kerana Hadi geli kata beliau berada di Kuala Lumpur.

Penulis: Hello?

Pemanggil: Hello and Good Morning… (kurang jelas, kerana line Celcom tak clear. Penulis tegopoh-gapah membukan kunci rumah untuk mendapatkan line lebih clear di luar rumah)

Pemanggil: Hello? Hello?

Penulis: (menyangka itu kawannya, kerana suara hampir serupa) Assalamualaikum! (mahu memerli ke‘kurang adap’an)

Pemanggil: Err… Good Morning. May I speak with Mr Meor Solehuddin?

Penulis: (Menyangka kawanya bermain-main dengan ber‘speaking’) Oh… I’m sorry, Mr Meor is not available at moment because he having his meeting with his client. He will available in five (5) second.

Pemanggil: Er.. I am from HELP Institute.....(line masih x clear)

Penulis: (terus bermain-main) Weh, ko daftar kat sana ke? (penulis menyangka Hadi geli mendafatar di HELP institute, atau menelefon daripada tempat itu dan sedikit terkejut).

Pemanggil: (Senyap)

Penulis: Weh, ni betul-betul ke main-main (penulis menyangka Hadi geli menelefon daripada HELP Institute)

Pemanggil: Em.. I will call you back.

Penulis: (terpinga-pinga dan baru menyedari beliau telah berlaku bodoh (acting like a fool) dengan orang yang tak diketahui daripada sebuah institusi pendidikan. OH MY GOD!

Semua perkara diatas berlaku kerana line Celcom tak clear dan penulis membuat penakulan palsu. Moral: Jangan main-main dengan telefon. Never judge a person by his/her tone

Mentaliti Orang Kita

2006-05-08T12:24:00.000+08:00

Salam Maaf. Tiada kesempatan untuk menulis dan diselubungi komitmen-komitmen lain. Maaf. Artikel pengalaman aku ini bukanlah streotaip perkauman. Betul .Sumpah. Cuma pengalaman yang ditambah dengan pengajaran. Manusia 1. -Melayu -40++ tahun -Pengetua sebuah sekolah menengah. Aku: Assalamualaikum Manusia 1: Waalaikumussalam Aku: Maafkan saya menganggu. Saya nak minta pengesahan untuk sijil-sijil saya ini. Manusia 1: Baiklah. Manusia 1 dengan bantuan pembantunya(kerani kot) memenuhi permintaan aku itu dalam suasana yang sunyi sepi. Hanya mata-mata dan tangan kami sahaja yang bercakap. Manusia 1: OK. Dah siap. Aku: Terima kasih. Aku keluar dengan mengerutkan dahi. Manusia 2 -Melayu -40++ tahun -Penolong kanan HEM di sekolah yang sama dengan Manusia 1 Aku: Assalamualaikum Manusia 2: Waalaikumussalam Aku: Maafkan saya menganggu. Saya nak minta pengesahan untuk sijil-sijil saya ini. Manusia 2: Baiklah. Manusia 2 dengan bantuan pembantunya(kerani kot) memenuhi permintaan aku itu dalam suasana yang sunyi sepi. Hanya mata-mata dan tangan kami sahaja yang bercakap. Manusia 2: OK. Dah siap. Aku: Terima kasih. Aku keluar dengan mengerutkan dahi. Manusia 3: -Cina -60++ tahun -Seorang pekedai buku Aku: Hye Auntie Manusia 3: Hye.. Aku: Saya nak photostat result spm ni lima salinan. Manusia 3: wokeh Manusia 3 terkial-kial mengendalikan mesin photostat itu demi memenuhi permintaan aku. Manusia 3: OK siap. Wooo.. Lu manyak pandai yaa.. Aku: Owh.. Terima kasih Auntie. Manusia 3: Heh.. Apa tu congratz dalam bahasa melayu? Aku: Owh.. Tahniah.. Manusia 3: OK OK Tahniah la.. (menyebut dengan begitu sukar,kosa kata baru) Aku: Thank you Auntie Manusia 3: Lepas ni mana lu mau belajar? Aku: Tak tau lagi auntie.. Mintak je dulu.. mana dapat nanti saya masuk la.. MAnusia 3: Owh.. OK la.. Lu blaja baik-baik Aku: OK Auntie.. Thank you.. Bye.. Aku pergi dengan senyuman. Aku betul-betul tidak mahukan pujian daripada sesiapa pun. Tetapi aku tak akan menolak jika dipuji oleh sesiapa pun. Tapi, hari tu aku dapat mengenali dua orang yang sebangsa dengan aku yang mempunyai pengalaman yang luas dalam bidang pendidikan tidak memberikan apa-apa komen tentang sijil-sijil dan keputusan aku dan seorang lagi yang tidak sebangsa dengan aku tapi tidak mempunyai kelulusan pendidikan (aku fikir) dan memberikan sedikit komen kepada keputusan spm aku. Tu je. Errr..Korang faham tak? [Artikel ini diambil daripada dosapertama.blogspot.com]

Censorship and Guidelines to Article Content

2006-05-07T23:58:00.000+08:00

Assalamualaikum wbt This a very rough guideline of accepted article content.

Articles should :

Be legible and understandable
Contain adequate substance
Have a clear, non-ambiguous title
Be of average reading quality (length is not a factor)

Articles may not contain the following elements :

Sexually explicit writing/visual or any references to the genitalia and related anatomy
False or unfounded information
Overtly subversive/biased political critiques
Ambiguous religious opinions
Full excerpts of other writers' works
Xenophobic/unjustfully discriminative opinions
Excessive use of abbreviations or text language
Announcements*

*Announcements are accepted as long as they are clearly marked with the statement "This is a temporary post" at the bottom, and are temporal in nature.

The above elements are open to debate in their interpretation but the final word of the administration is exactly that - final. We would like to emphasize that the Sentral is purely a blogtal cum online magazine for ex-students of Maresmart, and should not be used as a platform for the advocacy of political opinions. Please be assured that we try to mantain a policy embracive of free speech and will not censor post content unless they are within breach of our guidelines. As such, blog posts do not go through moderation before posting. Usually, blog posts that need help are not deleted, but are only cleaned of the perceived "errors". All articles should be of at least average reading quality (a long article does not necessarily mean better, nor otherwise - length is not a factor).

In case you were wondering, we do tolerate the following :

Mild swear swords
Minor and common abbreviations (e.g. etc, yg, wbt and such)
Mixed and/or informal language
Articles of critical thought
Personal stories

Any suggestions are welcomed in the comments section!

***

On Socio-political and Religious Articles Articles of religious opinions should remain free of sectarian bias, must be in line with mainstream Sunni opinion, and should work, at most, only as a light reminder, rather than a collection of too many heavy themes. While we acknowledge the fact that some issues need to be addressed to and by the public, the administration mantains that this blogtal is not the appropriate medium for such advocacy. Otherwise, religious articles should also remain free of group- and/or person-bashing, and should adopt a polite, straight-forward tone of writing. Sarcasm is only allowed in small amounts, or in the case of mild satire. Socio-political articles should remain only mildly biased in tone and content. Rather than present the opinions in a manner that is offensive to persons or groups, writers should be wary of readers' sensitivities and present those opinions in a matured, open-minded manner that encourages friendly debate. Writers are also encouraged to adopt a policy of "agreeing to disagree with the opponent" when writing, and advocate the issue at hand in a non-aggressive and non-provocative way. The administration reserves the right to remove any article deemed out-of-line or inappropriate for the blogtal, regardless of whether the rules have been appropriately elaborated beforehand or not. Remember, freedom is a responsibility. *** Update: 11/10/06 Policy of Post Segregation by Semi-arbitrary Means Two consecutive posts should have a gap of a minimum of three days between each publication (the days are counted on the date of the physical publication itself, not the dates as written in the posts). However, Exceptions are made if the preceding post has 7 comments or more, or if one date within that gap of three days is of particular significance to the succeeding post (eg. National Day, Eid Fitr, someone's birthday, etc), or if the preceding post is an announcement, whereby a gap of only two days is required. The purpose of this new policy is to provide enough time for our writers to receive anonymous readership and probably feedback in the form of comments to their articles or personal work, while also ensuring that all posts (deemed as site updates) are more evenly and systematically spaced out throughout a given month. (This policy goes into enforcement immediately. However, as to whether it will become permanent, that is still in discussion.)

Linking To and Linking From

2006-05-07T23:52:00.000+08:00

Linking to us Follow the simple instructions below :

Get our buttons at the bottom of this post, or you use the ones at the bottom of our sidebar.
Don't forget to fill in the forms so you know you've linked to us!

Linking from us Simply :

Drop us an e-mail saying you would like us to link to your website. Your website must specifically be a blog or a site appropriate to our audience, and must be family-friendly.
You can even send us links of blogs or websites that are not yours but you think are a good read.
If you are an ex-Maresmartian, we can include your blog into our blogroll. You will still need to inform us about it, though, because we do not do automatic linking.

***

Only four steps to link to Maresmart Sentral

Maresmart Sentral functions as a blogtal for Maresmartians. If you have a personal weblog or a website and want to link to Maresmart Sentral, just follow these simple steps. Every site that links to Maresmart Sentral will be linked from this blog. Blog of Maremartians will be included in our syndication.

Step One - Your details

Name
Email address
Member of Maresmartians0405?	Yes No

Step Two - Your site details

Site name
Site URL
Site feed URL	(Optional, but recommended)

Step Three - Button link

Please put any of these button links on your site

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Step Four - Finalize the steps

Click finalize all these steps and link to Maresmart Sentral.

The Crew

2006-05-07T19:28:00.000+08:00

Our current contributors are : oh admin aka Atif (admin) khyrel aka Khairil (technical) al_amin aka Al-Amin mee_ore aka Meor chemy88 aka Bella sakurakero2004 aka Naim syamilmazri aka Syamil khairul.anwar aka Kerul sallehuddin aka Sallehuddin keeper22 aka Syukri atun_myself aka Atun miracle_me88 aka Mior izat88 aka Aizat Adam atmostfearr aka Faiz mohamadkhairulnizam echopena aka Taufiq ilyn aka Eileen Firdaus Tarmizi hilmifauzi Naqib (pending) Izwan (pending) *** Assalamualaikum wbt maresmart sentral is always looking for dedicated contributors or permanent bloggers for this group blog. There is no set frequency for you to post, but contributing at least once a month will be most appreciated. Contributors can post entries on any bloggable subject - personal accounts, articles of thought, works of art, poetry - just about anything. We have an e-mail address where you can send in your articles or contributions directly to the administrators. Alternatively, as mentioned above, you can also choose to become a permanent contributor to this blog with access to posting facilities. A prerequisite to becoming a contributor is that you must be a Maresmartian. However, regular non-Maresmartian contributors may also become a permanent contributor through crew's consent. For requests of invitations to become a contributor, you can contact us at the same e-mail address, which is at : maresmartians0405 at gmail dot com Please note the differences between a zero and a letter 'o'. Contributions must abide by the following rules :

Must not contain hate speech, visual explitive, nudity, or material illegal in Malaysia or within breach of Blogger.com's Terms of Agreement, or material that is excessively offensive to the main target audience, being Maresmartians. Matured content must be family-friendly.
Must be original, but contributors are allowed to quote excerpts from other blogs if permission is given by original blogger. Contributors are still obliged to provide their own commentary pertaining to the subject matter, and blog quotes must be excerpts only, and not a copy of the full original article. Contributors are recommended to host any image on their own accounts.
Must be of an average reading quality (ie. no trivial chats or announcements or the like). For examples of accepted posts, please refer to our archives.

We do not edit contributions unless they are within breach of the above three rules, though contributors will still remain 100% responsible for their own contributions (you may read here for a more detailed explaination on content control). We do, however, have special concern when it comes to articles on socio-political and religious issues (direct yourself to the previous link for further details). A note on rule 3, all posts will be subjected to relatively equal content quality scrutiny by the administrators, regardless of the status of the poster (be they peers, seniors, juniors, established writers, royalty, or even teachers). We are really looking forward to your contributions!

Selamat Datang

2006-05-07T14:54:00.000+08:00

Assalamualaikum wbt Welcome to maresmart sentral, another project from maresmartians0405 to benefit anyone and everyone.

This site will serve multiple purposes, mainly :

To connect all maresmartians, regardless of batch, be they bloggers or non-bloggers, for years and years to come
To provide free publication space for the posting of creative writing works and articles of critical thought
To share personal experiences in the form of journal entries, with or without photos
To allow greater connection with everyone and anyone specifically with ties to MRSM Taiping (teachers, seniors, juniors, friends, etcetera)

The advantages of this project :

More lax moderation in terms of critical opinion and post content
Posts will be of at least average quality reading material
Receive feedback on your work
Being able to link your blog in our blogroll
More lax behavioural rules

The disadvantages of this project :

Posters must be registered with blogger.com
Posts must be of at least average quality

That's it! The concept is pretty simple - blogging for friends, blogging for one's self.

For those without personal blogger.com accounts, you may submit your articles or posts to the the admin through e-mail. We are always trying to incorporate all the conveniences of a good blog portal in the html. If you want to suggest to us any improvements to this blog, please visit our template-testing blog below and leave a comment in the shoutbox : tempatbermaindantestingtemplate.blogspot.com Alternatively, you can always e-mail us at maresmartians0405 at gmail dot com Happy posting.

Maresmart Sentral Syndication

2006-05-07T02:32:00.000+08:00

Feel free to put this syndicaton on your site. It will automatically display the latest entries of blogs that are linked to us as well as the entries from the Maresmart Sentral. If you have a blog of your own, do link to us.

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