Singapura, Singapore! Part II

Day 02 (18 March 2008)
Another day with various talks by some top academicians, including Dr. Dennis Wu, a Malaysian who is now attached with the Institute of South East Asian Studies. Well, nothing much that I can share here because most of the facts are those obvious facts.

Thank God, the afternoon session was occupied to visit to the Tourism Board and the infamous Sentosa Island. According to the official from the Tourism Board, there are many interesting projects on the plate for stimulating the tourism sector in Singapore.

Once again, Sentosa Island is not as impressive as other island destinations, but it is run professionally and branded successfully.

At night, I had a dinner with my ex-classmates, Azhan and Sabrina at an Indian restaurant. Azhan came with his wife, Zuraidah. Thanks, Azhan for the lovely dinner.

Singapura, Singapore!

I know I'd promised to update my fieldtrip on a daily basis, but unfortunately my itinerary was just too packed! We've lectures and talks from 9 to 5, and it took us awhile to get to the city centre since the university is NOT connected to the MRT line. The nearest MRT station is Boon Lay, which is a few kilometres away. By the time I returned to where we stay, it's already midnight and I was too tired to sit in front of my laptop. Once again, sorry!

Nevertheless, here is the summary of my Singapore fieldtrip.

Day 01 (17 March 2008)

We had good lectures on Singaporean economy and their success stories given by the Permenant Secretary to the Economic Development Board and another two top academicians from the National University of Singapore.

In summary, despite of those obvious advantages, Singapore does have several inherited disadvantages:

• few natural resources
• small domestic market
• heavy dependence on trade
• dependence on foreigners
• price taker in international markets
• impotence of traditional monetary & fiscal policies
• vulnerability to external shocks

However, the Singaporean government, so far, has put in place an unorthodox demand management and pragmatic policies such as growing second and third wings.

Lunch @Mayflower Restaurant

Talk on multiculturalism by Dr. Norman Vasu

Jalan-jalan in Ochard Road

Jalan-Jalan to Night Safari

At night, I led a group of 20 students on a challenging trip to the city centre. Why I said challenging is because we never short of dramas. From taking a bus to buying MRT ticket, we distruped the efficiency of Singaporean public transport!

Thank God, our big group was then divided into a few smaller groups and this time I led a group of Chinese students strolling along the infamous Orchard Road.

At exactly 8pm, my six Chinese friends and I were joined by 10 more students at in front of Hyatt, to take a bus to the Night Safari. To whoever who have been to a safari, Night Safari in Singapore is not as impressive as other safaris elsewhere, especially in terms of size. Nevertheless, this safari is professionally run and its marketing arm has successfully created a considerable brand. I guess this is another area that Tourism Malaysia could learn from their counterpart.

Hello Merlion!

Alhamdulillah, I've safely arrived in Singapore last night at about 10.30 pm. So far, Singapore is as efficient as the last time I visited her in 1998. May be the Custome and Immigration Department else where (specially in United Kingdom and Malaysia) could organise a fieldwork or lawatan sambil bekerja as it called by PAS to learn how efficient their counterpart in Singapore are.

Another quick and limited observation at the Changi International Airport, in general the stewardesses looked less glamourous as their counterparts observed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

I will write more about my Singapore fieldtrip at the end of each day so that I may adequately make current and spontaneous observation. Until then, let me share with you some pictures that I took on the day before I arrived in Singapore.



This picture is taken in front of my flat. And I suspect it's a funeral of a person with considerate wealth, or at least the deceased has a wealthy family. But I was wondering why there were two caskets. One is in the black car and another one was pulled by the two horses. Were there two dead bodies?

This reminds me how excited I was during my childhood time every time I heard the sound of "dung dung ceh, dung dung ceh!" My two sisters and I will run to our compound and wait for the lori mayat to pass by which followed by a big and loud entourage. Some played musical instruments, some wore special attire made of sacks and walking with sad faces. While one or two threw away rectangular yellowish papers with chinese character, a couple of young boys carried sugarcanes which were tied with red cloth.

Do they still do this in Melaka?



The above picture was the dinner served on the Emirates, and the picture below was the lunch. I personally think that in terms of food, MAS and SIA serve the best and the tastiest food on board. However, in terms of service, MAS stewardesses are the best and no wonder they keep winning the World's Best Cabin crew for seven years in a row. Emirates' was just at par with JAL and BA but uncomparable with MAS and SIA.

I was so shocked to found that a British lady was doing this in the same flight that I was in. Well, no manners are now officially applies on British too!

Pengumuman! Announcement!

In less than 72 hours, my class and I will be flying to Singapore for a four-day field trip. This field trip is part of the Master degree program, which aimed at learning the practical experience of a developing country in undertaking its national developmental agenda.

This field trip has courted so many controversies and dramas, as majority of the students questioned the appropriateness of Singapore being picked as the case study. Some argue that Singapore is too unique to be applied to other countries due to her size, population, historical background and political and economical conditions. Others claim that Singapore is not even a developing country to start with.

I've to admit that I was a bit disappointed when I first found out that our program is going to Singapore. Well, I've nothing against Singapore, but I was hoping to go to Latin American countries or South Africa because I believe these countries might have similar conditions as Malaysia and it would be more interesting to learn more about them.

In fact, when I was looking around for a suitable micro finance institution to be assessed for my coursework last semester, I looked high and low to find a MFI in these countries, but unfortunately I was made handicapped by the language barrier. Most of their websites have limited, if not NO at all, information in English.

Coming back to the field trip to Singapore, I have a feeling that our class will have more to learn if we come to Malaysia instead!

Anyhow, looking from another perspective, at least I get to go home free. Well, not 100% free, since the school disallowed us to alter the return flight ticket. In that case, I've to purchase a new ticket to fly back to England, which I did and, insya-Allah will be flying home on Sri Lankan Airlines flight. That's the cheapest that I can get and it includes an overnight in Colombo!

I don't think I will post any updates for the next two or three days, until I've settled down in Singapore. Oh, by the way, my classmates and I will be staying at the Executive Club in the Nanyang Technological University from 16 to 20 March 2008.

While the other 44 students plus five or six academicians will be flying home on the early morning of the 21 March 2008, five of my classmates and I will be extending our stay for another 10 days. The five of them will be taking train to Kota Bahru before riding a speedboat to Pulau Perhentian, I on the other hand, will be taking coach to Melaka to visit my parents. Insya-Allah, will also visit some of my relatives who I missed the funerals of their beloved ones. I will only be in Kuala Lumpur on the next weekdays, before meeting my classmates there and bringing them to Melaka for an enjoyable weekend, insya-Allah.

Guys... if you would like to meet me in Melaka or in Kuala Lumpur for whatsoever reasons, please send me an email or SMS. I will try my best to accommodate such requests in between of running for errands like appointments with my dentist and GP, meetings with my Deputy Director regarding my research, lecturing the management company of my apartment on professionalism and mannerism, and last but not least, filing for my income tax!

And syyyyhhh.... three birthday surprises for two boys and one girl.

Now, please allow me to continue packing my luggage with all those barang2-kiriman-kawan2-yang-mengirim-dengan-air-liur-sahaja.

Ja mata!

Tales of Villa Cafe, e-KT and e-Jerlun

I had a late night out last night. My friends and I went to Villa Cafe for our supper as well as catching up of what's happening around since the last time we met. Well, not that long. If I'm not mistaken, a month or two.

At first, we wanted to go to Rotana Cafe but Sharil's persuasion for us to pick Villa Cafe was too strong to resist. In addition, none of us but Sharil of course have been there. So, if it turned out to a bad choice, at least we have a scapegoat to be pointed to. Hehehe.


We picked the top floor and thank God for that pick. Well, our first impression was just so-so and we can't stopped picking on Sharil by exaggerating some of the shortcomings that we found out, like its weird armless rattan chairs and the cheepoh-looking and berlobang-lobang coffee table. Nevertheless, Dini and I were agreed to each other that the crowd was not that bad. And they didn't play the Middle Eastern music videos as loud as Musicana Cafe.

The biggest spoiler of the night is its "rude" waiter. Well, the word "rude" might be too harsh but basically the waiter has no friendly intonation and could be a one-sentence kind of person. But that didn't stop us from having fun talking about our stuff plus, and most of us were quite surprised that we did centre our conversation on Malaysian politics. Or could it be that Fendi was trying to be sarcasm. Anyhow, it was a "productive" talk especially when you have people with diverse political belief. Some are pro-BN and some are pro-BR and some, although are indifferent yet have solid principles.

However I don't to bore you with politic talk. But, please allow me to say something about one of the candidates in the recent general election. I pick Tok Mun aka Puan Maimun binti Yusuf.

As most of you know by now, not only she lost the contest, her deposit too. To me, 10K not a small amount and that doesn't include the expenses of running her campaign. Alhamdulillah, a couple of youth have decided to help out and are running a campaign to raise fund for Tok Mun.

If you feel of doing your part here, feel free to visit http://maimunbintiyusuf.blogspot.com/ to learn more on how to get involved in the said fundraising. According to this blog, soon they will publish the account number of Tok Mun (yeap, Tok Mun's own bank account) and you may donate generously. Until that, you might want to send an email to maimunbintiyusuf@gmail.com to plegde an amount to this fundraising. Don't get me wrong, the idea is not to "menunjuk-nunjuk" but merely to create a stimulant or to motivate people to donate generously. Hopefully, Allah will bless this effort and the money raised will help Tok Mun in her daily life. Aamin.

Also, please help yourself to be a member of Tok Mun Group on facebook and get in touch with about 400 people who are touched by the courage and determination shown by Tok Mun in pursuing her dreams. There are also links to stories or coverage on Malaysia's (if not world's oldest) oldest candidate in a general election by media worldwide.

Maybe RTM would want to feature her in their IT song clip!!

Good samaritans that have been campaigning for Tok Mun

Dini asked me why I's so passionate about Tok Mun story. I don't you guys, but I feel so inspired by her decision and struggle to contest in the general election. Well, I might not agreeing to her idealogy or some of her principles, but Tok Mun had proved to all of us that it's worth trying our very best to pursue betterment in life. Definitely, it is going to be a good message to pass down to the younger generation. The message of hard work, determination and dedication and age is just a number.

Before I go, allow me to share a couple of printscreens from Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir's blog - RantingsbyMM.

In case you can read the messages written on both screenshot, here is the transcript for your information, please.

arenaKu uKanera said...
i wonder why you and your sister-in-law wore selendang in jerlun? hmmm...
March 6, 2008 7:51 PM


MarinaM said...
Arenaku Ukanera and Jay, ALL the women wear tudung or selendang in Jerlun. To have not used one would have been considered disrespectful.
March 7, 2008 12:42 PM

Again, I choose to elegantly say, "No further comment".

Election, election and election!!!

Don't worry, Mus... I'm not going to write about Malaysian politics or politics in Malaysia. Trust me, the last thing I want to do is to torture you with the topic you hated most.

And you too, Zetty. I'm not going to list down all those annoying things in our colourful life, including those power-hungry youth.

What I'm going to write today is the Students' Union Election.

"Choose Your Vote Carefully", cried the front page of Student Direct. This weekly paper, which is run by students for students, also claims that UMSU (University of Manchester Students' Union) is the largest students' union in UK and is renowned for being one of the most politicised and having one of the largest sums of money at its disposal. 4.3 million pound sterling, beb!


The election runs on three consecutive days since last Tuesday and today is the last day to cast our votes. At first, I was not that tempted to vote. I only have less than six months here, so why bother. However, after finished reading the manifesto of those candidates running the election, I feel kind of guilty if I don't lend my support to some of their noble causes.

I'm not sure whether or not you could read the manifesto from the snapshot of the said paper. Anyhow, let me list down some of them which grabbed my attention:

• Action against lazy departments holding back exam marks
• Against war and the arms trade
• Against the Nazi BNP
• Against climate change
• Bring on a green university
• Develop a world class intellectual facility
• Keep Wednesday afternoons free
• NO to Islamophobia, racism, sexism and fascism

And there are also some campaigns which I'm not that sure whether or not to support, such as:

• For free education
• For a woman's right to choose
• More funky, jazzed up club nights in the union
• Keep sex column on Student Direct

Before you guys get wrong impression of me, allow me to elaborate on my uneasiness of the above motions.

While I'm a strong believer that education should be made free to ALL, on the other hand I'm a bit concern if I support this motion, the UK government will be left with no other option but to raise the tuition fee for international students. Currently, we, the international students already paid three times of the fees paid by home students!

On the second issue, as a Muslim, I'm obliged to respect all rights of a woman. And I totally believe that a woman's right is not the same as a man's right. However, this does not mean a woman or a man should be made any worse in any situation. When I dig further the description of this campaign, it also includes a right for ABORTION. Hmmm... to me this part is very, very tricky. A blanket approval to this may lead to uncalled consequences. While I'm okay for rape victims to abort, I don't convince for other cases unless on health ground. Hmm... does this make sense?

For the last two motions, I chose to elegantly say, "No comment".

There are a couple of things that I learned from this election. Firstly, by publishing the views and struggles of each candidate, this facilitates the voters to make an informed decision.

Secondly, there are so many issues that concerned students and a campus election is a good training ground for students to learn and appreciate more about politics. To me, it is a pity to hear youth, including my friends such as Syed, Ril, Zali and Fendi to utter this phrase "politik-politik ni, I tak minat". And these are people with brain, not any Tom and Dick! Can't they see it beyond those undi and peti undi? Can't they see the bigger issues like democratisation, human rights, climate change, globalisation and poverty?

Entahlah... I guess all of us see things differently.

Campaigning outside the UMSU building

A queue with a view

The face of an ethusiatic voter?

Voting papers: To vote or not to vote

Hanya Di Mercu

I don't know what's going on but I was shocked to find out that there was no coverage about the finale of the One In A Million 2 by Joe Lee on his blog. Well, I know it's his blog and it is his sole right to write whatever he likes on his blog. It is just weird for me that a well-versed entertainment journalist like him opted to ignore one of the better singing competitions in Malaysia. Unless, there is something going on which escaped from my limited observation of local music industry.

Or he might too busy with the more glamorous, Akademi Fantasia 6. And, I was also told by a friend of mine, there is no coverage from Vernon too. Hmmm...



I personally think that last night finale had the best top 2 finalists, after the legendary top 2 - Jac and Dina, in so many ways. And I hope it's not too much to say that it was a fight between better vocal and attractive package. Thank God, the one with better vocal won the competition at last! To me, 8TV almost lost its credibility after two mediocre contestants won its last two competitions - Malaysian Idol 2 and OIAM. Hello, Daniel! Hola, Suki! Where are you now?



It was a pity that Sarah was voted off at the beginnng of the show and I guess it would be more interesting to see Ayu competes with Sarah rather than Shila. No offence to you, Shila because I really think you're a promising singer, it is just that you lack of originality and like what Paul said before, it is a bit difficult to take you seriously.

While I really, really like Sarah's rendition of Fantasia Bulan Madu, I was not that impressive with the new single specially composed for her by Audi Mok. I don't know, was it because the song or her performance or the song is the still new, and it requires more time to grow in me. I hope it is the latter.

On the other hand, I like both compositions by Aubrey Suwito and I believe both will do well in the local Pop charts. I tried to download Ayu's single on Bluehyppo, but unfortunately I can't find it on the said website as per Awal's announcement last night. Apa ni, Awal! Hehehe.

A snapshot of last night performance:

In the first round, Ayu sang the song picked by the judges i.e. Samudera with full of emotion. Vocally, it was better than her previous performance, if I'm not mistaken in top 12, however, her high note was still raw and rough to me. Shila on the other hand, sang the Spanish song which impressed us all in the top 4 episode, only this time it didn't do the same wonder as it did before. I don't know, may be because it was exactly the same as the previous one which might not be suitable on a bigger stage.
Verdict: Ayu 1 - Shila 0

In the second round, I was so touched with Ayu's rendition of Ceritera Cinta (a duet by Jac and Rio) and I really, really think that performance is much better than the previous one in top 8. It showcased her range effectively and again, she connected with the audience with an emotional singing. Shila, however, was a bit struggled with the new single composed by Aubrey. It turned out to be a dragging song.
Verdict: Ayu 2 - Shila 0

It's Ayu's time to showcase the new song composed by Aubrey for her in the third round. Although she started quite well, similar to Shila, she was a bit struggled too. Shila decided to finish the night with a creative medley of Stuck and Ops... I Did It Again. The performance was very entertaining and showed the real Shila is. However, it also proved one of her disadvantages, which lacks of originality.
Verdict: Ayu 3 - Shila 1

Congratulations to Ayu and welcome to the Malaysian music scene. Yes, Syafinaz... Malaysians are ready for new talents like Ayu.


Note: Pictures taken from gua.com.my and oneinamillion.bluehyppo.com