Projek Amanat Negara

The first two months of 2012 are really busy ones since all my formative essays are due, the Cardiff's Festival of Diversity, Projek Amanat Negara and lots more. In less than a week, I will be performing in front of a 700 hundred crown in one of the prestigious halls in Cardiff together with all other performers. Nerve wrecking,I know. Well, as per usual, practices became more frequent and more tense. All the normal stuff, but the spirit we have is still high. I guess we shall see what happens next Saturday :)
I think I would like to talk on the Projek Amanat Negara which was held in London last week. I was so glad that U had the opportunity to be there and experience what the students in Malaysia don't get. The first speaker was by Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz who talked on career and opportunities. I personally liked her speech. It was not the usual boring talk but rather an interesting one as she included jokes but in a way was still relevant. I felt that it was an informative one as we students, either we like it or not, are going to face the job world sooner or later. Her point on not to have intellectual ignorance is really good as I believe that is one of the reasons for the unemployment problem. How the graduates nowdays turned down jobs as they felt that it is not up to their expectation or academic qualifications. Well, everywhere you go, you will not get a high position in a company or have a very high salary straight out of universities. It is not how it works. There are a lot of other qualifications and criteria such as work experience and soft skills to be considered. So graduates, please don't be ignorant and learn to start from below.


The hot session of the day was of course the open debate between the political parties in Malaysia. This is exciting cause even in Malaysia we don't have this kind of open debate parliamentary style. Maybe one of the reasons is that we, the Malaysian students studying abroad are not bound by the AUKU. The two speakers were YB Khairy Jamaluddin representing UMNO and Barisan Nasional and the other is Rafizi Ramli, representing PKR. From my observation, the students here adore Khairy. But, truthfully, I really do solute both speakers for being able to deliver the debate in such a respectful and calm manner despite their partisan background. All the issues discussed were relevant and crucial. The issues brought up were Vision 2020, AUKU, the abolishment of ISA, the Media Act, phantom voters in Sarawak, unity in Malaysia and respective party's vision and aim. Each spoke with significant and relevant points supported by facts and statics. Both speakers even joked with each other.



As I mentioned earlier, this is not available back in Malaysia as the students are bound by the AUKU. Personally speaking, I do support the abolishment of AUKU. But in order to do so, all the students need to show their maturity in handling certain issues especially the sensitive ones. How do you expect the government to trust you to behave and do what is right when you're active in politics when you yourselves proved how immature you are? You said you want to be treated as adults, maturely, to be taken seriously, but you actions in the course is contrary to what you're asking. If you want something, ask or discuss nicely or give memorandums peacefully. Don't do protests and riots. That only shows how monkeys you are. You claimed that in the past, our ancestors did street marching in order to claim independence. Yes, they did. But did you observe the manner of the street march? It was peaceful, very proper and respectful to the local authorities such as the police. That was how they did it and compared to you? Its a big difference. Do you want our country to turn up like Egypt or Libya? Yes, they got reformation, but what happened next? It was a total chaos on the government. And how many needed to be sacrificed? Hundreds of thousands? I'm not saying that what you claim for the AUKU to be abolished is wrong. In fact, it is the right thing to do. But makesure that you're mature enough to handle it. I observed how the students all around UK and Eire responses during the debate. None shouted like monkeys over each other. All were calmed, listened attentively, did not make any one-sided judgements and they respected both speakers regardless of which party they support. That is how mature you need to be to be able to prove to the government that you are ready for the politic arena. Plus, we cannot only base our judgement with the stories from only one side or the party. Make an informed decision. Read everything. Than you can judge it for yourselves.
But this is only my point of view. I'm open to any contradicting views as we need to listen to all and not just one.