Haven of Thoughts
Am back again in Langkawi after enjoying my 11 days holiday in my hometown – Penang. 11 days is definitely not enough but am definitely delighted and have made full use of it.
Updates to come soon after I sort out the pictures I have taken during the 11 days. Currently I have no mood to do the sorting. Feeling a lil home sick already. T.T
Finally after my 2 days without internet, peace is finally restored! My connection is now back to normal and I can again dwell in my cyber world! Time to go watch some youtube videos and play some online games! ^^, I will post something again later tonight ^^,
Ok, I do not know how long this shit is going to keep going, but in my opinion, debating about a womens’ attire isn’t going to solve a bloody thing about raep! Period! And I do hope those who made these kind of comments do some homework before speaking and make a fool out of yourself!
This below is extracted from The Star Online :
Thursday May 22, 2008
School uniform sexy, says group
KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian group condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex.
“The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,” National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement.
“It becomes a distraction to men, who are drawn to it, whether or not they like looking at it,” she said, calling for a review of uniform policy so that it did not violate Islamic ideals.
In multicultural Malaysia, home to majority-Muslim Malays as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians, female students at government schools have a choice of wearing a white blouse with a knee-length skirt or pinafore.
They may also wear a “baju kurung” and a headscarf is optional for Malay students.
Munirah said that “covering up” according to Islamic precepts was important to fend off social ills, including “rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex.”
“This leads to babies born out of wedlock and, to an extent, even prostitution,” she said.
“Decent clothes which are not revealing can prevent and protect women from any untoward situations,” she said, suggesting that girls wear a blouse of a different colour or with an undergarment.
However, the girls themselves also came in for criticism, with the association saying that some used the white blouse to lure men.
“This is the source of the problem, where we can see that schoolgirls themselves are capable of using this to attract men to them,” Munirah said.
“This could see them getting molested, having premarital sex and all sorts of things.” – AFP
And below are some reactions about the comment. Also extracted from The Star Online :
Friday May 23, 2008
Islamic group’s uniform comment slammed
By LISA GOH
PETALING JAYA: Something must be seriously wrong with local men if the sight of girls in their school uniform turns them on, says Sisters in Islam.
Programme manager, Norhayati Kaprawi, describes claims made by National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia that the school uniform worn by girls at government schools “encouraged rape and pre-marital sex” as baseless.
“I totally disagree with the statement. What? Even wearing baju kurung is still not enough?” she asked.
“As for the white blouse being too transparent, Malay women who are in mourning wear white baju kurung. Even Umno women wear white baju kurung. So what is the issue?” she said when contacted Thursday.
Dress code debacle: An Islamic group condemned girls’ school uniform, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex.
The student association’s vice-president Munirah Bahari had stated that “the white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction to men, who are drawn to it, whether or not they like looking at it.”
She also called for a review of the uniform policy so that it did not violate Islamic ideals.
Women’s Aid Organisation executive director Ivy Josiah said what was needed was ”a review of misguided beliefs about women’s attire,” not a review of the uniform policy.
“Statistics and research has shown that all women – young, old, women clad in tudung (headscarf), miniskirts, even babies in diapers – have been victims of rape and sexual assault.
“It is entirely irresponsible for anyone to suggest the idea that rape is a result of attire. Rape is not about attire, it’s about power that perpetrators feel they have over their victims,” she pointed out.
Even men spoke out against Munirah’s logic.
Men’s Action Network Against Violence (man.v) member David Anthony said such statements stereotyped men as people who don’t see women as anything other than sex objects.
“It’s the wrong attitude … it’s perversion,” he said.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen declined comment.
Friday May 23, 2008
Teachers and students scoff at ‘baseless’ statement
By TAN EE LOO
PETALING JAYA: Some teachers and students have hit out at National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia for saying that the uniform worn by girls at government schools is “sexy” and “a tool to lure men”.
One male teacher even suggested that instead of debating the sexiness of the uniform, more focus should be directed towards male self-control.
SMK Assunta Sixth Form student D. Presana was appalled by the group’s comment that the uniforms “encouraged rape and pre-marital sex”.
“Pre-marital sex has nothing to do with what girls wear to school. It is the couple’s mentality and the spiritual guidance they receive that influence their behaviour,” she said.
The association’s vice-president Munirah Bahari had called for a review of the uniform policy, saying that some girls used the “transparent” white blouse to lure men.
A teacher at a girls’ school in the Klang Valley said Munirah should not have made such baseless statements.
“She should carry out a study and see if our school uniform is indeed a factor that contributes to rape and pre-marital sex,” she said.
The teacher added that it was compulsory for female students at her school to wear a camisole under their baju kurung and only white and skin-coloured bras were allowed.
A Form Five male student of a school in Penang said the suggestion that female students “cover up” might not be a smart move, as it is hot and humid in Malaysia.
“It would make them feel even more uncomfortable studying in our hot weather. And I have not heard of any complaint from my female schoolmates that their uniform (with the pinafore on) is transparent,” he said.
A Malay teacher in Malacca, however, suggested that thicker material be used to make the white blouse.
And below is what our Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has to say :
Monday May 26, 2008
Nothing sexy about girls’ school uniform
PALOH: There is nothing sexy about the school uniform now worn by girls in government schools, says Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.
He said he personally felt it was unfair to blame the students or their uniform for sexual crimes.
“From what I have seen, clothing is not the main consideration of those who commit despicable acts. Usually, there is an underlying problem, such as a disease, that makes them behave that way,” he said.
The National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia recently condemned the uniform as being too sexy and encouraging rape and pre-marital sex.
Hishammuddin said although he believed that changing the school uniform would not reduce sex crimes committed against schoolgirls, he would refer the matter to experts within his ministry to listen to various ideas before making a decision.
He also said that the uniform, which has been there for so many years, would not change very much in the next few years.
“It is unfair to punish women and children and the clothes they wear for the act of rapists,” he said, adding that he could not allow such stereotyping to continue.
I find the comments made very very very stupid. School uniform sexy?? At least do some statistical research before making such a stupid comment. And the best thing about this is school uniform encouraged pre-marital sex? What the hell? I don’t see how this is related. Do you?
Below is what I extract from Nation Master about raep(per capita) :
Crime Statistics > Rapes (per capita) (most recent) by country
Showing latest available data.
Rank Countries Amount (top to bottom)
#1 South Africa: 1.19538 per 1,000 people
#2 Seychelles: 0.788294 per 1,000 people
#3 Australia: 0.777999 per 1,000 people
#4 Montserrat: 0.749384 per 1,000 people
#5 Canada: 0.733089 per 1,000 people
#6 Jamaica: 0.476608 per 1,000 people
#7 Zimbabwe: 0.457775 per 1,000 people
#8 Dominica: 0.34768 per 1,000 people
#9 United States: 0.301318 per 1,000 people
#10 Iceland: 0.246009 per 1,000 people
#11 Papua New Guinea: 0.233544 per 1,000 people
#12 New Zealand: 0.213383 per 1,000 people
#13 United Kingdom: 0.142172 per 1,000 people
#14 Spain: 0.140403 per 1,000 people
#15 France: 0.139442 per 1,000 people
#16 Korea, South: 0.12621 per 1,000 people
#17 Mexico: 0.122981 per 1,000 people
#18 Norway: 0.120836 per 1,000 people
#19 Costa Rica: 0.118277 per 1,000 people
#20 Venezuela: 0.115507 per 1,000 people
#21 Finland: 0.110856 per 1,000 people
#22 Netherlands: 0.100445 per 1,000 people
#23 Denmark: 0.0914948 per 1,000 people
#24 Germany: 0.0909731 per 1,000 people
#25 Bulgaria: 0.0795973 per 1,000 people
#26 Chile: 0.0782179 per 1,000 people
#27 Thailand: 0.0626305 per 1,000 people
#28 Kyrgyzstan: 0.0623785 per 1,000 people
#29 Poland: 0.062218 per 1,000 people
#30 Sri Lanka: 0.0599053 per 1,000 people
#31 Hungary: 0.0588588 per 1,000 people
#32 Estonia: 0.0547637 per 1,000 people
#33 Ireland: 0.0542829 per 1,000 people
#34 Switzerland: 0.0539458 per 1,000 people
#35 Belarus: 0.0514563 per 1,000 people
#36 Uruguay: 0.0512295 per 1,000 people
#37 Lithuania: 0.0508757 per 1,000 people
#38 Malaysia: 0.0505156 per 1,000 people
#39 Romania: 0.0497089 per 1,000 people
#40 Czech Republic: 0.0488234 per 1,000 people
#41 Russia: 0.0486543 per 1,000 people
#42 Latvia: 0.0454148 per 1,000 people
#43 Moldova: 0.0448934 per 1,000 people
#44 Colombia: 0.0433254 per 1,000 people
#45 Slovenia: 0.0427648 per 1,000 people
#46 Italy: 0.0402045 per 1,000 people
#47 Portugal: 0.0364376 per 1,000 people
#48 Tunisia: 0.0331514 per 1,000 people
#49 Zambia: 0.0266383 per 1,000 people
#50 Ukraine: 0.0244909 per 1,000 people
#51 Slovakia: 0.0237525 per 1,000 people
#52 Mauritius: 0.0219334 per 1,000 people
#53 Turkey: 0.0180876 per 1,000 people
#54 Japan: 0.017737 per 1,000 people
#55 Hong Kong: 0.0150746 per 1,000 people
#56 India: 0.0143187 per 1,000 people
#57 Qatar: 0.0139042 per 1,000 people
#58 Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of: 0.0132029 per 1,000 people
#59 Greece: 0.0106862 per 1,000 people
#60 Georgia: 0.0100492 per 1,000 people
#61 Armenia: 0.00938652 per 1,000 people
#62 Indonesia: 0.00567003 per 1,000 people
#63 Yemen: 0.0038597 per 1,000 people
#64 Azerbaijan: 0.00379171 per 1,000 people
#65 Saudi Arabia: 0.00329321 per 1,000 people
Weighted average: 0.1 per 1,000 peopleDEFINITION: Total recorded rapes. Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence. Per capita figures expressed per 1,000 population.
SOURCE: Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 – 2000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)
Well I was browsing in youtube and I stumble across this video which I find it quite interesting. If I remember correctly this issue has been reported before in the newspaper long long time ago. But still no harm right. ^^,
For me I think that if raped cases were so easily solved, it would have been solved bloody long time ago. And I think the factor that contributes to raep does not come from what a women wear.
Well something interesting here which I got from DannyChoo, where the following excerpts is copied from the comment section from fellow member pkick:
International rape statistics courtesy of nationmaster.com
.
Japan’s rate: 0.017737 per 1,000 people
Great Britain’s rate: 0.142172 per 1,000 people
USA’s rate: 0.301318 per 1,000 peopleEven if you
(1) assume the worst about Japan and believe that only 1 in 10 incidents get reported, and
(2) assume the best about the Anglo-Western nations and believe that every single incident gets reported,
Japan’s rate is _still_ remarkably low. Even more so considering its widespread reputation for perversion.
Japan certainly isn’t perfect, but I don’t think this is one of their major problems.
Everbody knows about Japan very well. They have all sorts of eroge products that you can imagine and yet the statictics. I do not think that what a women wear will contribute to raep cases. So I guess it all comes to the individual and moral values of the nation. Not what a women wear.
I guess he did not do his homework before giving the speech.
Well my math exam is just over about 2 hours ago. So now I only have 4 exams left!! But sadly I can’t relax yet cause tomorrow I still have Logic and Semiconductor paper to go. T.T
Anyway after math exam, we decided to do have our lunch before heading back to hostel. So we decided to go to McD since it has been some time since we last ate McD. So we drove there and went straight to the drive through lane. We were queuing up and the line seems to move at a very fast rate. So we thought – “Wa, McD service so good ah. Very fast lo.”
So when it’s finally out turn to order, instead of the usual “Welcome to Mc Donalds”, we got “Hi sir, currently there is an electrical disruption and we only have pies left”. So we were like =.=” . And there it goes, down the drain our McD plan. So instead of McD for lunch it Mc Economy Rice… =.=” p
Such were the day, when we plan to hentam some McD, McD got no electricity. Kinda made me think of the song by Blink 182 – Dammit. lol (^w^)/
The study week has finally begun and as usual its filled with boredom as there is nothing much to do in the hostel and with the heat, its not really pleasant staying in the hostel. Especially for me who sits closest to the window. It feels “great” somehow.
I should be studying now. Which I am now doing “seriously”. I am studying multiple integrals on my Thomas Calculus until when I saw on my laptop that I have a connection to the internet, so I thought to myself, well lets relax a little >.<” . I have 9 days to study, including today to cover 4 subjects which means I only have about 2 days for each subject. Which is nearly impossible to do so. My exam schedule is really stupid. Out the 5 subjects that I take 4 of them are on the first week of the examination. On the first three days. Then there will be a one week gap in which I will take my final paper which is the Japanese Finals on the 30th. Don’t even know who is the one who set this stupid schedule. Its very very packed. All subjects on the first 3 days. But we are lucky in a way that on the 3rd week we don’t have any more exams, so we can opt to go back early.
So for this one week my schedule would be to study and study and study till I am about to explode then find time in between to slot in some gaming session with my fellow friends. ^^,
Ok my finals are coming and I need to pay my fees before I am able to print out my exam slip. So today I went to the Chancellery to pay my outstanding fees which is RM329.oo. Getting to the place isn’t easy as it is situated on top of a hill, so I will have to endure climbing lots of steps before I am finally there.
Thought that after reaching there everything would be easy. But I was so wrong. The whole building is like a maze and finding my way to the Treasury Department did take some time. But thanks to my friends who accompanied me, that time is reduced. Upon entering the Treasury Department there is also no instruction on the proper procedure to pay our fees. We have to go to a counter to get a slip before proceeding to pay at another counter. Again its thanks to my friend that I am able to settle my fees in a flash.
What I don’t understand is that why PTPTN did not deduct from my account the total fees instead deduct just three quarter of the fees and made me went all the way just to pay RM329. For those who got the full loan they don’t need to go and pay as PTPTN has already deducted from their account. As for us who got the half loan, even after the deduction for the full fees we still have about RM200 in our account. Why don’t they just deduct the full amount??Instead they deduct three quarter of the fees and we have about RM500 in our account. Isn’t it the same just to deduct from our account instead of us withdrawing the money from the bank or get the cash from our parents and then go pay ourselves? It just creates more hassle for us students.
I do not know whether this is the loop hole on the university’s side or the PTPTN’s side. I do hope that they change this system as I feel it is ridiculous. Because I do not see if there is any difference in doing so. It just creates double-work and more hassle for the students. Also more time is wasted.
How fast time passes and this is already my second semester in university. Can’t really imagine that I would have completed my first year here come the beginning of May. I can still remember the scene here when I first came into the university. Everything was so new to me. Going from one place to the other seems to take ages(it’s extremely huge here) and with the sun shining above your head, it ain’t helping.
Ok since this is already my second semester here, I reckon I have seen quite a few stuff that has been getting on my nuts. First on the list **drums beating**
——-> The crappy food here!!
Well its not that I am very picky on my food. But seriously the food here is total crap. I bet I can get better food from roadside hawker. Why I say its crap??Its because after you have been eating at the canteen for sometime, you gain this special power from the food where you can start to predict(or should I say know) what will be on the menu even before you stepped into the canteen. Because why??Because they cook the same damn thing everyday. Its chicken everyday and occasionally you get to eat fish cake. And the best is they seldom cook vegetables here and if they do, it is either brown in colour(due to overcooked) or it is bitter or taste not like vegetables. You go to the canteen and you see a variety of colour on the menu and you thought to yourself…hmmm…colourful…must be good…and when you looked closer…aiks..curry chicken..fried chicken..braised chicken..steamed chicken…and the chicken list goes on. What you can virtually get here is “How to cook chickens in many ways”. At first its ok but after two semesters here… well all I can say is when I hear the word chicken I feel like vomiting. I see KFC I go “no more please!!Mercy on me!!”
Second on the list **chickens dancing**
——-> Not-so-good Bus Services and the Not-so-good Passengers
Our university did purchase new buses to ease the stress on the few buses which ferry us to our class. Good effort on that!!But the problem here is the bus drivers. This semester it has improved a lot but during the previous semester, it was terrible. Although there is a fixed schedule for the buses, it was not followed. So when the schedule says 7.30 bus, you can expect not to see a bus but birds on trees. Then another problem is that its always packed with people. The bus is sometimes so packed with people that it can’t really climb the hilly road in our campus and walking seems to be faster. Occasionally it became so packed until the door of the bus can’t be closed or sometimes you see the student’s bag got clipped between the doors. But luckily so far nobody has suffered any major injuries. One more thing about the bus that gets on me is that nobody lines up to board the bus. I thought university student would behave and line up but what the heck?!They would just slip in front of you or if they are not in front of you they would play the push of war game which is very very annoying.I just don’t understand why they don’t have the patience. I don’t see any gorillas or bulls behind them. Even when the bus is empty and when there is enough space for everyone,the slip-up and push of war game is still continues. There is even once when I missed three buses and was nearly late for class because I lost in the slip-up and push of war game.
Third on the list **buses honking**
——-> Lack of Trash Cans and Newspapers
To throw rubbish here you need to walk to what I call rubbish-dumping checkpoint(which is very far). You cant find trash cans along the sidewalk when you are walking from say the lecture hall to the library(sometimes I eat while walking from class to class). It is frustrating sometimes from the lack of trash cans and you need to carry it for quite some time. And even at the library and other rubbish-dumping checkpoint, it is still difficult to even find one trash can. Even in lecture halls there aren’t any trash cans. I dunno but last time in my school, there are trash cans in my classroom and at various strategic spot where throwing rubbish away is just a few steps away. But surprisingly, although it is lack of trash cans here, it is still quite clean.
One more thing that is missing from here is newspaper stall(I know you can get it outside but what about those living inside the campus?). There is newspaper in the library where you can read for free but its always “dissected” if you get what I mean or it is torn. And with the transportation problem, getting to the library can be a daunting task. Its so hard to get updates here. We don’t even have television in our canteen or other common area where we can perhaps watch news to keep ourselves updated. And with snail like internet speed here its really really hard to know whats going on in the outside world. A university without a newspapers.Imagine that. Even my National Service camp has a newspaper guy who comes into the camp everyday to sell newspapers.
The last on the list **Rubbish and Newspapers Cheering**
——-> Internet issue.
I guess I have been complaining so much about the internet here that you know its crappy. Ya I know we don’t pay for our internet here but at least I feel if internet is provided for the students please at least let it be something which is acceptable. The speed here most of the time is slower than a 56k modem. Even when there is nobody in the common hall the internet speed is still terrible. And they blocked off stuff like MSN. Maybe MSN takes on a lot of bandwidth but again it frustrates me. I used MSN to chat with my friends to get updates and infos and also sometimes I used MSN to call my dad over VoIP to reduce me handphone usage. But apparently now I can’t do that anymore. Uploading stuff here is also prohibited I think. Whenever I tried to upload a photo to my Flickr account, my internet automatically gets disconnected or the website is blocked.
Well I guess thats about the stuff that gets on my nuts here in UMS but other than that, Sabah is a pleasant place with all the green scenery, the seas and the mountains. Beautiful place for vacationers. I always see a lot of tourist here especially Japanese and Europeans.
What about you guys in your university?Any complaints?Ant praises?
Its been over a week since I last update.Been very busy with lots of stuff – Entrepreneurship, Japanese Mini Test, Mid-Terms, Open Fencing Competition and lots of other stuff thats drains me out.
Actually I tried to update on Tuesday but because I can’t upload some photos which I wish to show you people, I did not update. And I actually get very frustrated because I always get the “Server Not Found” or “Connection to Server Has Been Reset” message whenever I try to update or load pages. I have lots of stuff which I wanted to post to show you people but the crap internet speed here obviously prevented me from doing so. So mostly I can only update with text which also proves to be a ridiculously difficult task with the frequent disconnection and page-load error.
So now I am not in a really good mood and have been very frustrated because I always get error when loading page. I know its no big deal as many people in this world get worse connection than what I am getting but I just feel frustrated somehow. It just gets to me every time I saw the “Connection Being Reset” or “Server Not Found” screen. Every time I see this screen I just feel like walking to the main router with a baseball bat and give it a good beating. Arghhhhh!!!!
And the worst thing is it rains here almost everyday in the evening although it is sunny in the morning. So I did not bring my umbrella( I can’t also as my umbrella has been stolen) and its very hard to get back to my hostel because the rain here is really crazy. Every time it rains, it feels like a typhoon has hit Kota Kinabalu. The wind is so strong that if you walk in the open you will literally be walking diagonally and if you walked with an umbrella two things might happen to you : one is your umbrella would break or being torn apart(as the fate of my first umbrella here) or two, if your umbrella is strong enough, you might actually take off and fly(although I never actually seen it happen before).
My next update would be when I can upload the photos that I wanted to show you guys or if there is anything interesting which I wish to share with you all.
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