Universities in the US have produced many great men and women, people who become great scientists, captains of industry, and leaders of countries. And most, if not all of these universities DO NOT impose a dress code on their students.
There has been no credible study that has categorically proven that students are better prepared for the future in the workforce by imposing a dress code on them.
This is opposite of what we are doing in our Malaysian universities, which treat our university students like little children who are being told what they should wear to school. It is an absolute travesty that time and money are being wasted on implementing a rule that has no value for a student, rather than looking at how the quality of education of the university can be improved.
It is an even greater crime to argue that teaching a student how to dress is one of the university’s roles, and masking the fact that a dress code was actually imposed to satisfy some person’s cultural or religious sensibilities. Yeah, Mona Ershadifar, I’m talking about you.
MMU dress code a forward-thinking move
Malaysia is a multi-cultural country. However, while Malaysia is an Islamic country, there are other religions living here as well. The dressing style in such a society differs according to people’s culture, religion and, of course, their education level.
As everyone knows, the universities in every country play a key role in a new generation’s training and this training has a direct impact on our youths’ performance in society. We always expect educated people to have a better understanding of the behavior and actions in society.
It is true that training for a profession and preparing young people for their future are the most important of the universities’ responsibilities. On the other hand, these responsibilities are not limited to the abovementioned factors.
Another important issue that universities are responsible for is to teach their students how to appear and behave in different situations, positions, conditions and occasions. (Klaw: There is already a school for that. It’s called the School Of Life, which this letter’s writer might have had trouble getting admitted to)
Students must learn the way to dress for different events. We expect all students to be aware of this issue since our universities are designed to train students in every field. But unfortunately, many universities are ignoring the importance of this issue.
One of the well-known universities in Malaysia (the Multimedia University in Cyberjaya) announced new rules recently about the students’ dressing and clothing. Students who wear sandals, short skirts, shorts and open and tight T-shirts are not allowed to enter the library any more. This is a good move and we have to congratulate the management of this university for considering this issue in training our future generations.
The students may be annoyed at first but I believe that it is a good practice for them to think more about their roles in society. For example, a businessman never wears swimwear when he is going to his office nor he will wear a suit and tie when he is going to the beach. Every occasion has its own dressing style and standards. (Klaw: A student’s role in society is to be a student. It doesn’t matter how a student dresses)
We should consider this an important point in our daily life. The way people dress for various occasions reinforces their personalities. Students are no exceptions. They have to understand that sandals, shorts and short skirts are not proper clothing for academic institutions.
However, most universities are not pushing their students to dress properly. Some students are mistaking their universities for parks, beaches and fashion shows. The whole point is that students, as adults, should learn the dressing standards for different occasions.
It would be a good idea for the universities to add a new course to teach students about the methods of behaving and appearing in different occasions, just like their other courses on public speaking or on research writing which are really good courses.
I believe the other Malaysian universities should follow this move. We must all step up efforts to make our society a better one. (Klaw: *snort* A better society from a dress code? Have you been smoking weed?)
– Mona Ershadifar, letter to Malaysiakini, July 15th 2008
Our universities should be producing students who base their claims with scientific fact. I am not sure if Mona Ershadifar is a Malaysian university student, but if she were, then I think that she should be ashamed that her university education has taught her nothing. In fact, to make it easier for Mona Ershadifar to understand what I am saying, since I am doubting her intelligence, let me put it to her this way: YOUR ARGUMENTS ARE LAME!
Thing is, if a university student does not already know not to wear slippers and a T-shirt to a business meeting or interview, then that student is an abject failure and should be shot in the head. If Mona expects a university to teach her this, and not based on her own powers of observation and common sense, then she should really shoot herself in the head. Wait, don’t, it’s not right. Oh what the hell, go ahead.
So why would Mona Ershadifar argue that it should be every university’s role to impose dress codes? In fact, Mona Ershadifar should realize that MMU did not do this because it was forward-thinking. MMU did this because somewhere in the university administration sits a powerful person who is in fact a conservative prude, and would like to impose his/her cultural and religious sensibilities on the student body.
MMU can go suck the balls of a caveman, and I say sorry to my countless friends who are MMU alumni when I publicly declare that their university sucks.
Here is my #10 recommendation, which proved extremely popular with the men:
10. Migrate to Venezuela
At RM0.16 a liter, what’s not to like? Hugo Chavez will welcome you with open arms. And Venezuela has produced 4 Miss Universes and 5 Miss Worlds, so your chances of hooking up with a really hot one is exponentially higher than in Malaysia (Zero Miss Universe, Zero Miss World). This is literally like what the Parliament guy says, “Kalau you tak suka negara ini, you boleh keluar!”. That would be good advice in such a time.
Well guys, if you were hesitating before, start packing your bags. The world welcomes another Venezuelan Miss Universe (#5!), Miss Dayana Mendoza.
If there’s one thing I love more than politics, it’s hot women. Let’s see how much it costs to fly to Caracas.
Does Malaysia have a brainwashing organization out to brainwash university students and inculcate hate into their hearts? Apparently, this organization or bureau called the Biro Tatanegara (BTN).
(NOTE: This is an email I received from a reader exposing the latest brain washing tricks deployed by UMNO’s apparatus called Biro Tatanegara(BTN). Mind you BTN is 100% funded by tax payer’s money)
Biro Tatanegara. Does it ring a bell? Government propaganda or honest student development programme? For those who aren’t aware of it, Biro Tatanegara or BTN for short is under the Jabatan Perdana Menteri and it has several modules which all public university students have to attend in the name of “Student Development”.
On the 6th of July 2008 in UiTM Shah Alam, there were three separate talks being held under BTN with the first one being titled “Pendidikan”, second one titled “Ancaman Keselamatan Negara” and the third one titled, “Patriotisma”. Smell anything funny yet? No? Read on. You won’t even have to smell it after you are done reading this. It’ll be stuffed down your throat.
I would like to only focus on the first speaker, Dr. Idris bin Md. Noor. He was supposed to talk about education as that was the title of his speech, but the content was far different. He first went on with the usual introductions but in less than a few minutes, he suddenly touched on the forum on the discussion of social contract in Malaysia that the BAR council organized.
He criticized it with all his heart, saying no one should discuss about it as it is unquestionable. Fair enough, I thought at first. Freedom of speech right? But what if he suddenly accuses the “Malay” speaker in the forum, which I’m guessing is Farish A. Noor, as a traitor to the Malay race as a whole?
And while he was browsing through his files on the laptop which was projected on the big screen, it was no surprise for me that I saw files entitled “Ketuanan Melayu”. He also then went on about the Malay’s obsession with magic and ghosts, he said that it is all wrong beliefs through the perspective of Islam because if they really could use magic and other dark arts for fighting, then they should kill Karpal Singh with it.
There are so many quotable sentences, if only I could remember it all. He even said, “Kalau ular dengan India depan mata, ketuk India dulu.” He then started to become more impassioned in his speech towards the end, like someone campaigning for a political seat yet failed, and resorted to a multi-purpose hall with bumiputra students. He said so many atrocious things that I will list them down in point form.
-Explained how the Malays aren’t racist but others are racist towards us.
-Bangsa Malaysia does not exist, neither does Malaysian Chinese and Indians, only in the strict Malay, Chinese and Indians. (Interestingly, behind a booklet provided to us, one of the objectives of the programme is to produce a -”Bangsa Malaysia”. Obviously, he was ignorant).
-Bahasa Malaysia does not exist, it is Bahasa Melayu.
-Nothing wrong with waving the Keris.
-Bumiputra hanya 55% di Malaysia, give birth more people!
-The University and Colleges Act was partly made to ensure a Malay Vice-Chancellor in Universities which should be the way.
-Blogs are “berdosa” or sinful.
-Christians will not like Muslims.
But that isn’t even the best part. The best part is, he showed a short film on the dangers of Zionism and the illegal occupation of Palestine which was probably the only part of the speech I agreed with and I thought to myself this could be the only fact of the speech but surprise, surprise, at the end of the film, there was a montage of so-called Zionist supporters with the pictures of Anwar Ibrahim, Tian Chua, Teresa Kok, Hishamuddin Rais and Ezam Md. Nor.
Then a question popped up in my head. Is Ezam still a Zionist supporter since he is in UMNO now? Does that mean the government has a Zionist supporter as well as the opposition? And expectedly, the speaker was being more anti-semitic than anti-zionist.
He even explained how the Pakatan Rakyat ruled states are all going down the drain and he says, “this is what you get if you vote for the opposition!” He criticized Anwar Ibrahim and his colleagues so much along with Pakatan Rakyat while being completely oblivious towards Barisan Nasional’s mistakes. As if they have perfect policies.
This was supposed to be a speech touching on education and look how it ended up. It did not even smell anything of education. It was a speech that was not meant for national unity at all. How could it be when you spread hate?
I could only sit and ponder quietly while all this was happening. But the speech was not the saddest part. The saddest part was that the majority of students in the hall were cheering him on. I will type out part of the lyrics that were supplied to us, entitled, “Warisan”.
Anak Kecil main api
Terbakar hatinya yang sepi
Air mata darah bercampur keringat
Bumi dipijak milik orang
Nenek moyang kaya raya
Tergadai seluruh harta benda
Akibat engketa sesamalah kita
Cinta lenyap di arus zaman ini
Indahnya bumi kita ini
Warisan berkurun lamanya
Hasil mengalir ke tangan yang lain
Pribumi merintih sendiri
Melayukan gagah di nusantara.
Who were those words referring to? Foreign powers or non-malays?
Perfect welcome to the new intake of University Students. Please spread this to others. People need to know.
I know you should.
written by A Worried Student,
06.07.2008
I have no way of determining the veracity of the writer’s claims, and will depend on readers who are still in university to verify it. If you’ve had experience with BTN, share it with us in the comments below.
On a side note, I really think Malaysian universities should start treating university students as adults and not children who can be brainwashed. How will such programs and modules be useful to the student’s future?
On another side note, the good Dr. Idris must have been listening to Malaysia’s snakewoman recently. If anyone of you has doubts about Dr. Idris’ existence, look no further than BTN’s official website here, here, and here. Deputy Head of Director (Training) woh.
TheStar’s sources also indicate that the power of prosecution will now lie in the hands of the ACA’s legal and prosecution division. It is said that this would ensure that the public will gain more trust in the agency as it would then be considered independent and not be seen as afraid of the government.
Personally, I think this is certainly good news, but there remains a very important step which is constantly overlooked:
Who appoints the chief of the ACA?
If the chief of the ACA is appointed by the PM, then there will always be a doubt in our minds if the ACA chief is really independent, or only answerable to the PM. Remember the Elections Commission chairman, who is supposed to be independent? The chairman indicated his ‘independence’ by claiming before the March elections that there is no regime capable of running the country except for BN.
I am not insinuating that the current ACA chief, Ahmad Said b. Hamdan is not fit for the position, but I am certainly waiting to see if he can be depended on to lead this newly independent ACA.
Perhaps he should start his good work with the following story about our beloved Royal Malaysian Police:
GEMAS: A policeman has lodged a report against all his colleagues including his superiors allegedly over dissatisfaction on how the monthly bribes from those operating illegal activities was being distributed.
In retaliation, one of his superiors, a sergeant, lodged another police report against the policeman, a lance corporal, for allegedly selling station property to scrap dealers.
A source said the lance corporal, in his 40s, was dissatisfied with his superiors for allegedly taking the lion’s share of the bribes while the rank and file received very little.
“In fact, the complainant claimed that he did not get a sen,” the source said.
The report was lodged earlier this week.
The sergeant, in an apparent tit-for-tat, lodged another report against the lance corporal alleging that he had sold some old wooden and iron furniture from the police station to a dealer.
“His colleagues even know where the dealer is operating from,” the source said.
State police chief Datuk Osman Salleh confirmed that a report has been lodged.
“We are investigating the claims made by the lance corporal. We do not want to make conclusions straightaway as the allegations are serious,” he said.
He said all the policemen were still on duty and have not been asked to go on leave.
He said action would be taken against his men if the claims were true.
It is understood that the Anti-Corruption Agency has also started a probe.
I believe this culture is not limited to the Gemas station itself. How else can you explain blatantly illegal establishments in very public places not being shut down and being in business for years?
For example, look no further than USJ Summit for darkly-tinted electronic gambling centers posing as cybercafes, same as the one in Ipoh Parade. Oh, don’t forget to visit the family friendly entertainment center above the Wooley Food Center in Ipoh as well (or maybe these places don’t exist anymore).
As usual, Bung has denied doing anything wrong, saying that he did not make the said obscene gesture (the typical palm to fist gesture). Instead, he showed reporters the gesture he was actually making:
Bung Mokhtar admitted he was angry when the opposition members provoked him by calling him bodoh.
Chow Kon Yeow (DAP-Tanjung) had earlier said that Bung Mokhtar did not know how to count as there were more opposition MPs than BN backbenchers in the Dewan at that time.
This was following a protest by Bung Mokhtar over the mileage being given to the opposition as responses to their questions were being aired live over RTM.
Asked what he meant with his gesture, Bung Mokhtar said: “I was angry with him, I make like that (hand gesture again). He called me bodoh, I say you bodoh too.”
When told that a lot of people who watched the incident on live television saw it as a lewd gesture, he said: “No, I don’t know what is their interpretation but it was nothing for me, I (just gestured) like that (hand gesture).”
The Chinese will call that the “waterfish” (水鱼) gesture. Well, like they say, let the video do the talking. (Thanks to The People’s Parliament for showing the video)
I read a report by TheStar today that you are disappointed with blogs for spreading rumors and lies through the Internet and influencing people to have negative perceptions of the government. I know, I know, I am guilty of all the above, and it really makes the country look like shit in the eyes of the foreigners (huru-hara dan porak-peranda).
If there are any foreigners reading this out there, I hereby solemnly swear in this letter a.k.a. statutory declaration to retract the following statements:
1) I retract my statement that I mentioned Pak Lah enjoys sleeping on the job, and I am sorry for calling him Sleepy The Dwarf.
I have been reliably informed that all those images of Pak Lah sleeping have indeed been photoshopped, like the following picture:
Photoshopped! Pak Lah is actually checking to see if his fly is open.
2) I retract my statement that the Malaysia is effectively a police state. In fact, the police here respect the people’s rights to a peaceful assembly, and all those reports about police using tear gas to stifle freedom of speech and freedom of movement are false. Additionally, I wish to reveal to the whole world that my episode of being tear-gassed and water cannoned by the police were totally made up, and it was in fact, “air bandung” with copious amounts of “sirap ros”.
I have also been reliably informed that all those images of police shooting water cannons with acid laced water were photoshopped as well.
Photoshopped! Malaysians actually enjoying a nice dip at the KLCC fountains in a hot summer day.
3) I retract my statement that the Elections Commission is working hand in hand with the government to create favorable situations for the ruling BN government. In fact, because the opposition managed to win so many seats in Parliament, therefore it can be concluded that the elections were free and fair and without any interruption by the ruling party. BN won a massive 50.37% of total votes, and they still managed to win 63% of seats in Parliament while Pakatan Rakyat won 46.75% percent of total votes, and managed to win 37% of seats in Parliament (Source). This is extremely normal, really. You foreigners won’t understand such statistical anomalies because Malaysia is truly Asia, and Malaysia Boleh!
Pak Lah,
There are tons more I have said to hurt the very fabric of this nation, especially questioning some of your policies, but the 3 above are my biggest sins against this nation. I hope my treachery will go unpunished, for you are humble and mighty like God himself, and you will surely forgive me.
If I were a Malay man, I would surely be the next UMNO member and blast those opposition bastards to smithereens. But since I am not, I will just join MCA now and help myself to some fat contracts.
In the press, here is what you said:
“I want to tell the blogs to stop all this. They are also responsible for what has happened. The best thing they could do is to stop.”
I hear you Pak Lah, I hear you. I wish to reliably inform you that I will take responsibility and stop.
To show and prove to you I have truly repented, I have dedicated a painting to you, which contains a hidden message (it’s not the really obvious message, it’s hidden!), and is attached at the end of this letter.
I wish you and your family well, especially Jeanne and Khairy, and I hope you will continue to lead this nation the way Robert Mugabe has led his.
Sincerely,
Kenny
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Attached image: I_Love_Pak_Lah.jpg (AVG has determined that this attachment does not contain any viruses)
