a comment by a malaysian on http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/dear-mahathir/

If we want to criticise the government for its race based policies, it is only fair we also criticise our own race based mentality. To point the finger only one way is sheer hypocrisy. We have ALL contributed to the rot in some way – with our way of thinking, our actions, our words, our inactions, our apathy. None of us can claim to be innocent.

How many of us see ourselves as Malaysians first followed by our ethnicity? I think we all know the answer is not many. How many of us hold on to age old stereotypes i.e. Malays are lazy & stupid, Indians are untrustworthy & violent, Chinese are greedy & selfish? I think we all know the answer is quite a lot. How many of us then are willing to (to quote the late Michael Jackson) ‘start with the man in the mirror and ask him to change his ways’?

Just as the government is guilty of playing us against each other, we are also guilty of playing ourselves up against each other. If Malaysia is to have any chance of a better future, we MUST change our mindsets. The old way of ‘every race for itself’ is NOT going to work. We need to see ourselves and each other as MALAYSIANS first and everything else a distant second. Then and only then will the wheels of change begin to turn. Until then we will remain stuck in the pit of quicksand that is the past, sinking lower with each passing minute.

There is still some hope left but my fellow Malaysians (yes, MALAYSIANS not Indians, Chinese, Malays or dan lain-lain), voting is just the tip of the iceberg. In the same way we’re all gung ho about getting people to vote, we need to get them (ourselves included) to think or rather re – think. The real change starts much sooner. In fact it starts right now.

“Be the change you want to see” – Gandhi

Setuju! Setuju!

Too long since I last posted here

It has been so long since I last posted on this blog. Looking back at all the previous posts I made, I can't help but feel embarassed by all the crap I spilled out across this blog.

And hence this attempt to refurbish my blog, with an *ahem* two-prong approach. (I've never used that phrase for years. It's not a phrase I like to use in my Econs and GP essays)

1) Remove (some) traces of glaring immaturity, by changing the blog skin, and removing (some of the) irrelevant 'gadgets' at the side of the blog. #Minimalism.

2) Hopefully, I will be able to write more thoughtful posts here. Personal stuff will go to my diary; other stuff here on Blogger, or Tumblr.

I'm now in the next phase of life, post-A-levels and pre-university. And I'll divide this phase into different sections:

1) Before the release of A Level results. One of the most carefree periods in life. I get to find a job, learn how to drive, and chill around, practice my music and exercise.

2) After the release of A Level results. One of the busiest periods of my life. After the emotional roller coaster on results day, after feeling down and discouraged for not achieving my desired results, I really think it's time to move on. After all, my results are not that bad either.

3) After the scholarship and uni applications. I really don't know what to expect here.

There's so much things running in my head now- whether I made the correct decision on uni choices and uni courses previously; whether I am doing enough, whether the decisions I am going to take are reasonable and appropriate.

I applied for Chemical Engineering in UK universities, so if I go UK, I'll be studying the course.

But I am starting to doubt whether I'll like ChemE. The careers it offers are not exactly what I envisioned myself to be in. Petroleum industry - my family is not very keen on this because you get exposed to many health problems; pharmaceutical industry - we don't really support the use of presciption drugs or medicines because of the many side effects they cause. But of course, showing negative support to the use of drugs would be injustice to those that are really required to save lives. Food industry - I refrain from eating mass-produced food as much as possible. My family is quite purist in nature.

Of course these are not the only career paths offered to Chem Engineers. There are some which could be aligned with my interests and values. For example clean energy, waste management, etc. But there are other courses such as Materials and Civil/Env engineering which can bring me there also.

And what about my childhood dream of becoming a marine biologist, a vet, an archeologist, an environmentalist, a nutritionist, a musician, or a TCM shifu? Should I continue to pursue these fields of study? Since making the decision not to take Bio in Sec 3, I've sort of relegated these interests from "ambitions" to "possible past-times".

I would most probably stick with Chemical Engineering.

There are many other things in my consideration for uni courses, but I can't say all of them here. In essence, I feel like I'm going through a mid-life crisis now.