Afiq's

Pakatan Rakyat States Boycotting Utusan??!?

Election's over and stuff. Results have been discussed to death.
The thing is, politics in Malaysia doesn't seem to change anyway. I read this piece of news in the star today,
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/19/nation/21587399&sec=nation
http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/arkib.asp?y=2008&dt=0528&pub=utusan_malaysia&sec=politik&pg=po_08.htm&arc=hive
Basically, Opposition parties are starting to become what they sought to change.
Yes, we all know the perspectives people have on Utusan on it being pro-government and stuff. The thing is, it seems that the Opposition are just doing what the Government has done before to Harakah and the rest. The thing is, even Harakah is freely distributed these days. So it doesn't seem to make any sense for the Opposition to now ban newspapers of their choice. What happened to democratic principles they were championing. If people feel something is good or bad, they will make the choice of buying or not. The same argument goes for all newspapers and also blogs for that matter. I thought the Opposition loved the fact that there is free flow of information on the net and that people will ultimately judge on their own what is good or bad. By doing this, the only conclusion I can come to is that they are turning into nothing more than the next Barisan (not in the good sense).

PS: People would note that I can be a bit biased towards Utusan for obvious reasons but still, the point stands.

Missing all of you! I mean it!

Hello everyone who knows me, it's been a while. True, we may have caught up recently or some, we didn't get to meet. I suddenly felt a strong urge to write this entry thanks to an email from a dear dear friend. This is a tribute to all my friends and friendship. I'm sure all of us are leading our own lives at the moment but one thing I hope, even if we don't meet each other ever again, we cherished the friendship we had regardless the size of the impact it had on our lives. I wish everyone nothing more than the best of lives that they can lead. Hopefully, our paths will cross a whole lot more in the future. Love ya!

Life before exams!!!

This is it. Something I shouldn't be doing at this moment as I have an exam tomorrow with less than twenty four hours to study for and I'm blogging but I just felt like doing it. Been joining Facebook recently and liked it a lot as it has so many applications. I know you're thinking, why bother? Why not stick to one? It's because I can't force people to get into Friendster, so I went to Facebook to check it out and it is so fun. (small advert). Anyway, to those whom have not known this yet, I will be going back home to Malaysia on 15 June 2007. Hope to see my dear friends back at home. I feel guilty that I may be going back due to debate but hey, it's the fact I'm going home that counts right. To those who saw my pic with the trophy and do not know what the trophy is for, it's for the Best Speaker award for the Internal Debate Competition at ANU. It was one of my proudest moments. I got a $30 gift card which I then used to pre-order the next Harry Potter book, yeay!!! Australs is coming up soon which is causing me to not be able to study as I constantly am thinking of going on the flight home countless times which is also why I'm writing in this blog at this very moment too, haha. That's about it for now. Btw, had a smashing surprise birthday party with almost all Malaysians gathered in my tiny room. It was great guys, thanks to the oganizers and everyone for attending. Thanks to Arjun also for his efforts to keep me in the dark as well as Ali, Teng Shan, Winnie and Lyon. Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. And thanks to Maha, Hardeep, Akram, Idzham, Ali and Arjun again for playing the Marie Antoinette game with me only to end it with a makeover of my hair with flour. Love you all!!!

Easter Holidays!!!

I must say, other than debate, easters was a great holiday for me. This was mostly thanks to Danni, Amir and Chuah for helping me out most of the time and also individuals whom I got to meet up to catch up on old times because friendship is precious, too precious to let go. Anyway, for this holiday, I was able to go to the Sydney Easter Show to get myself a Spongebob hat and also another hat for Cat's birthday. The show was very similar to the Canberra show except that the scale was much much bigger with even an exhibition on jacuzzis that look like big boom boxes. We then met up with a whole lot of INTEC acquaintances at Darling Harbour where a long photography session ensued. We finally walked back to the uni and I was at that point walking with an extremely full bladder for almost two hours. Guys, I'm sure you know the feeling, brrr(it was a chilly night I might add). That was all on Danni's turf. Oh, I really liked Sydney's domestic airport as all the important MNCs (read: Krispy Kreme, Boost, etc) was at hand to be bought. I also discovered the wonderful food called Pide which I now have a penchant for, once in a while which is a problem as Canberra does not have that many Turkish or Lebanese food.

Then, we flew to Malbourne. Melbourne is basically less hectic as Sydney as Sydney was a bustling city whereas Melbourne is more of a planned one with not that much traffic. It was a city ran by trams. I went around Melbourne to discover more MNCs (read: Nando's Subway, Max Brenner, etc) which made the trip worthwhile. Btw, if you're wondering, Canberra also has Nando's and Subway, it's just that I'm glad Melbourne had them, haha. Visited Melbourne uni and realized that both, Sydney and Melbourne uni were way bigger than ANU. Quality over quantity, I say, no offence meant. Also visited the market which had a lot of interesting stuff which I didn't find interesting but is interesting for others. I also went to Chapel Street to meet up with Cat and friends to go shopping with at Chapel Street. Chapel Street was said to be the high end but I wouldn't really know since I didnt't shop in the end. Further on in this trip I went to shop at the factory outlets to get clothes. I then realized that Canberra also has a factory outlet that's similar which made me feel more appreciative towards Canberra.

I also got to watch 300 at the IMAX theatre for the first time. It was a great feeling for me. Regardless that the plot and script of the movie wasn't magnificent, the atmosphere was so good that I enjoyed the movie including the conspiracy theories that it was trying so blatantly to sell. Subsequently I also watched Sunshine which had Michelle Yeoh in it. You can read my review of it at my friendster page.

There was also a party by Pan which me and Danni crashed (as we weren't locals). It was a good party with good food which is always an important element as when the stomach is happy, people complain less. Thanks for the food and drinks, girls!

There was a whole lot more that happened during the trip but I feel would take me too long. Therefore, I'm going to end this entry by saying thank you to all who made the trip a great experience. I managed to meet new people and got to know friends better. You know who you are and I just want you to know that I appreciate all of you. May my next trip be as great if not better. Ciao! 

My First Easters

Thus ended my first Easters. It was one great tournament. Sure they could have served us more edible food but, what the heck. First, the summary of the debates. We were against Melbourne 4 and lost due to a strategic error. This was followed by a string of wins against UNSW 3, UQ 3, Monash 2 and Melbourne 2. After going against almost all unis, I commented to my mates that we haven't gone against the hosts. Lo and behold, we were up against Sydney 1. We lost that round but we felt we did good.
After the debates were done, break night beckoned. The listing of teams was made up of mostly UQ, Sydney and Melbourne. Then, we heard ANU being announced. I didn't hear the team number but everyone said it was ANU 2. I'd have to concede that I was depressed as I was, to a certain extent confident to break. Danni came by to congratulate me for breaking. I told him I didn't break. After sitting around thinking of my non-breaking, me and my teammate felt we should get some feedback from our silent round judge. After talking to our judge, we felt that we might have had good speaker points. There was doubt in us, so we went to the tab director to check on the breaking teams.
I was so shocked to find out ANU 3 were the ones who broke. I was repeating OMG! over and over again. We then went to sleep early in hopes of achieving something.
Next morning started well and we had to go against Melbourne 7. After 1 win and 1 loss against Melbourne, there was a 50-50 chance to actually win this octo-finals.
Unfortunately we lost to them for lack of engagement with the affirmative. Therefore, that ended our hopes of actually defending ANU's title last year.
Regardless of the loss, the experience helped a lot in my debating and getting to know people. The event was made great with some UWA girls doing a lot of crazy stuffs that even the ANU kids didn't do for scav hunt. Also watched a drinking game that was made so freaking funny as everyone were debaters. When people had to name countries, people started questioning about the legality of using Taiwan and Palestine. The game became a wacky game as as it turns out, people weren't tired of debating yet and would probably have done more if the game hadn't ended. In the end, the event was made great as I got to know people, even those from ANU even more as I have to admit that I haven't even met some of them before coming to Easters.

Till next time,

Ciao!

UPDATES!!!

Hello people of Earth!

I have not updated a lot of stuff on this humble blog of mine. Firstly, roommate's changed. Kim went out to seek a room with females in it and was replaced by Scott from Sydney. And then, we (ali, arjun and me) received another roommate namely Robert from China. Now that the power of five is complete, the adventures continue. I, being the insufferable debate enthusiast began a search for a new start on this foreign piece of land. God smiled upon me (at least in my perspective) and gave me the break to get into team 3. This, I hope will present a ray of light to a great debate career (i know this makes me sound like a debataholic, you don't have to tell me). Other than this activity which many find boring yet intriguing, I have begun also my journey for academic success. The lectures and tutorials have been great and may bring me to new and greater heights of clarity. I'm kind of having a writer's bloc now. I knew I should planned this before typing it. But what the heck, may everyone's lives be better in the future!

Ciao!

Arrival

Arrived safely in Canberra on the 7th of Feb 2007. Settled in a room on level 5 originally but changed to level 2 to stay with Ali. Currently, 4 of the 5 inmates have registered and everything seems great. My apartment mates are Ali, Arjun from Johor and Kim from Melbourne who also happens to be our senior (yeay, someone to help us out). Cooked eggs only so far and have planned to cook pasta but not initiated yet at the moment. Hope to do it soon but there's almost no reason to cook as breakfast would be cereal, lunch would be the free halal bbq and dinner would be served. So, life's pretty simple here. Guess times would be more trying in the near future after orientation week ends. Wonder how others in Australia and New Zealand are doing. Hope you guys are not facing trivial times. That's all for now. Ciao!!!

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

Goodbye Malaysia! It's been a wonderfully great time serving this great nation of ours and hopefully after my overseas stint, I'll be more than prepared to help this country achieve its magnanimous vision.

On a personal note, thank you to all who came to my farewell gathering. They say a person is identified by the people he/she is associated with and if this is true, I cannot say how proud I am of being associated with you guys and girls. To those who couldn't make it, I understand the many complicated matters that we have to deal with in our life. Hopefully none of you hold me in contempt for if it is so, please correct my ways.

It's going to be a sweet sorrow experience as this journey will open new doors for me and new experiences to cherish. Its sorrowful though to leave my dear country and countrymen and women behind. May God save us all.

Canberra, here I come!!!

Australia National University, (ANU), my soon to be alma mater. Wonder what awaits me there. Some people may have known of my want to go to Melbourne but after much thought, I have accepted my fate. I am now busy boasting and defending ANU and Canberra with all my heart and wondering how much I can know about a place I haven't even been too, haha. Anyway, it's a whole new start and I'd be lying if I said I'm not sad to leave Malaysia. Sure, some may have heard me say I can't wait to leave Malaysia but such is what people say to hide their fear. The fear of gaining new comrades, acceptance, friendship. It's not really the simplest thing to do. Even with past friends, it's been hard to keep relationships together and who knows what's in store. Still, it's something I hope to go through well. Not mentioning the cooking and also the walking.  You sort of wonder how you've been surviving all this while. It's a wonder, huhu.

Anyway, to end this entry with a light note, to those who are still in the dark, my farewell gathering's on the 2nd Feb 2007 from 5pm till nite. RSVP me please. See ya!

To the Editorial Board of AUSMAT 17

Since I'm in the mood for blogging, what the heck. "Alang-alang seluk pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal lengan" or something like that (never was good at remembering proverbs).

Anyway, this was an overdue tribute dedicated to the AUSMAT Editorial Board of 2006. The magazine's finished, hurray! Even if a problem occurs in the process in the future, I dont' care because as far as I know, at this point in time in my mind, the magazine's finished, hurray again! And all this was due to the hardwork of the Editorial Board. I know it may be too early to sing praises for them as some critics out there might just lambast the magazine as soon as they get it but I know the Board is satisfied (I hope). Therefore, I'm going to mention a few names here for two reasons; to allow people to sing even more praises to them and for people to know who to blame if the magazine sucks (kidding, just kidding. maybe not, hehe). The first award would be to the great team of designers that helped finish the magazine's utmost important part, the looks of it. People are shallow and thus, the appearance of the mag is very important. Ergo, I would like to applaud the designers (in no particular order) namely Paku, Saira, Amir and Ara (also part chef) for a job well done. These people put up with my demands and lunacy to finally construct the basic forms of the magazine. The next award would obviously go to my great editors, Mr. Belwael and Ms. Nazneen. These two helped made sure that, as much as AUSMAT students believe their English is good, the reports made sense. (Safety clause: If it still doesn't make sense after this, I'm sorry but we tried our best. The report may have been beyond help). The two of them put up with my taunts and constant disturbance in the force to finally get the end results. The subsequent award goes to the miscellaneous workers; the reporters, Azreen and Syafinaz. These people had to go through hell by listening to my often crazy requests which they dutifully did in the end. The special task guy should also not be forgotten namely Stuart/Stewart/Syafiq (I never did get your spelling correct). Now, this guy was not supposed to be under my jurisdiction at all but due to my twisting of arms, I got myself a worker who performed the impossible tasks I asked of him. Without him, there won't be a picture that I keep in my wallet and the speeches of a few important people. He might just be called the ambassador for his task of wooing the bigger powers that be to produce touching and tender words of wisdom for us all to read and learn from. Hats off to you. But of course, there's also the paparazzis; Chuah, Mango and Calvin. In the end, they didn't really do the paparazzi stuff much but they actually contributed in very subtle ways. Chuah made sure there was a publisher. Mango did photography while Calvin went out of his way to get me a speech. Thank you to the trio of you. I've also not forgotten the other side of this project namely the management team. Thank you to Liana and Izy for finding sponsors. Also thanks Liana for the email list. Izy, you made sure my reporters didn't go insane and that helped a lot, thanks. At this point, I would also like to thank Afiqa for helping out as well. The others would also be Ezmah, Sean and Ellina for getting funding for the magazine which I may also include Wong, Yeam and Thuaibah at this juncture for doing the basic groundwork making sure the magazine is lawfully allowed to exist. Without you guys, there would never have been a magazine. At this juncture, I would like to pay special tribute to the Chief Editor who spearheaded the project and bravely took on the role to make the magazine (I'm not trying to butter him up but it never hurts to praise). Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the Chief Editor, Mr. Fauzul. With that last award, this glitzy affair has come to an end. Hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did. Before I forget, (it's always required to say this) thank you to all who directly or indirectly helped to make this magazine a success. Love you and until we meet again, (I can never get out of this publishing business) Avviderci.