full ahead both engines!

Sounds familiar? Well ,  that was the front page title of new Sunday times yesterday. But today I will take the title to a story of different scope and perspective.

To quote mr kathirasen’s words from page 19 :

Are we wrong to hold universities to a higher standard than schools and other educational institutions?
aren’t universities the apex of our education system where young adults are shaped into THINKING people?
Aren’t universities supposed to broaden the mind of students?
Aren’t universities the grounds from which the next crop of leaders arise?

4 questions to be precise.

From my observations, I may conclude but not generalize and apply it to all the university students(or ex university students). I have encountered a number of  ex-students of a prominent local university. some of them are from my secondary school and most of them either colleagues or workmate.

During my interrogations(normal conversations really), I found out that they lack general knowledge and a proper command of English ,even as a secondary language. Both of this traits are not acquired through drills in class or any other approaches. you just can’t buy language skills.  It is more about reading, documentaries, reading again and the most important lessons from the school of hard knocks, interaction with other people.

Going to university is not about gaining good grades and upon graduation, get the scroll and expecting a good job. That is the impression that have been given by a lot of people. If this shallow perception still exist, no point of getting a degree or diploma when just getting it is the main point, so that other people recognizes you as an educated person.

Which is not.

Trying to answer mr kathirasen’s question, going for a tertiary education is, in addition to gain knowledge, is  to further building character that have been developed during the secondary education stage. it is also to build confidence, creative and cognitive thinking , as well as interaction between different group of society. In addition to that, preparation to face the real and brutal world. Also there is the ability to make the right decisions in a critical situation. That was it.

When we talk about preparation to face the real world, various activities have been done in this level which is to expose them, such example can be seen through community projects, reserve officer training units and so on. If the students(or ex-students) absorbs these elements, the problem never existed. What I see is shallowness and ‘banking on’ petty and trivial matters, making a mountain out of a molehill.

They have yet to see beyond the façade and short sightedness in making crucial decisions in the prevailing circumstances and conditions.

When the ability to see beyond the façade is not there, this reflects their ability to think, which the most important element is being in a tertiary education level. That is why all institutions, when stipulating the criteria of employing people, required the tertiary education, which they assume will make a person a thinking person. Which is not also.

Too sad, but it’s true. No wonder during these hard times, a lot of graduates failed to make it. Because of the values that they adopted, employers don’t require non-thinking people, no matter how many straight A’s these students have.

We might have to go back to the industrial needs. Are those students really interested in that field or just another one coming into the ‘herd’? Normally, the teaching personnel are being brought back from the industry as to instill real working situations to the students. If they are just teaching after they graduated, what experience do they get from the industry?

Experiencing the real world is more important than solely depends on theory, which in turn, make them so idealistic, but that does not apply to the real world. Experience and theory go together, that is the most important part of any professional qualification and training. This applies directly to the industry.

Is it the shortsightedness of the policy makers in making the crucial decisions? Is it just society pressure of merely getting a degree or diploma to be recognised as an educated person? Is it lack of experience of the teaching staff that made the students too result oriented and ‘cut and paste’ method of education? 

Mind broadening does not happens? Does the students just mingled with their own society, with regard to locality, tribal or clan?

Do remember that from these grounds that the next crop of leaders should arise. This is not. We can see that most political parties prefer non-professionals to be their young leader. a lot of young professionals have been shunned because of their education or professional status.

Are we seeing a decline of our own civilization? At one time promoting education as a step to eradicate poverty, and at the same time doing things otherwise?

If these conditions persists, what we see in the years to come that we are going to become another extinct civilization : see Inca, Maya ,Egyptians,Abbasiah, Othmaniah,  Mesopotamia, Mohenjodaro-Harappa, Roman , Babylonian, Greeks, Macedonian, Carthagian, Mongols  and so on.

When knowledge flourished, these empires are very well respected, either in the fields of military, education, culture, science, trade, art or anything that may reflect the advance elements during their period of glory. Ignorance and failure to maintain their standings in their respective fields have made the civilizations extinct, up until there are no records whatsoever of their achievements. Too bad if that happens to us, but then, we are on our way there.

coming back to the sailing series again. in a voyage, a ship must adhere to the sailing program and the passage planning. ETA must be as accurate as planned and as the charter agreement. a charterer might not be very happy if the ship is always behind schedule. due to the engine problem, pump failure, generator failure and all other things that might hamper the smooth operations of a vessel.

when there is a failure, the parts may need replacement . sometimes, they doesn’t need to be replaced at all. as an example, a tanker may carry heated cargoes. the tank’s heating system are made up of steam pipes to hold steam supplied from the boiler. cargo contamination might happen if the pipe leaked. either to replace the pipes or shut the system altogether. just carry normal cargo instead of heated ones.the ship have to move on.

same as our human relationship or any institution. when people inside an organisation does not comply to the main objectives that have been instilled, they are a liability to the organisation. it is  ‘cancerous’ to the whole organisation. it might collapse. so in order to prevent the collapse, the cancerous cell have to be removed. instead of bringing down the whole organisation to collapse, it have to move on.

a partner who is a liability must be removed also to prevent further damages. people have to admit that changes are inevitable. last year,  we paid rm1.00 for toll, today not any more. 10 yrs back we dont need to pay , now we have to pay. the changes are indeed inevitable.there used to be scholarship, but now replaced by loans. when there is no jobs upon graduation, how to pay the loans? parents instead of paying the children through education, still have to fork out money after they graduated. very vicious cycle, but then ,it is reality.

we must be able to change to adapt to the present circumstances and conditions. anything we wished for might be as good as we percepted. we can’t get everything. there must be a compromise. in engineering field, it is known that we can’t get economy for power, or vice versa. there is the compromise. we can’t gain everything.

unless that we are really thinking deep, we have to make sacrifices and also compromise. that is the fact of life. no matter what absurd arguments we are throwing to another party, we have to accept that reality bites.

why some people can’t accept reality? maybe they have watch too much sugar-coated soap dramas in the TV? maybe too much fairy tales? happily ever after? that doesn’t work in real life.  that is the TV where everybody looks good and the actors never aged. have you ever  watch the bold and the beautiful? ridge forrester still looked the same as 15 yrs ago. it is an avenue for escapism. only shallow,non-thinking type of people will accept it is true without arguments.

in the era of globalisation, we cannot just being  shallow,non-thinking as the competition is global. if our benchmark is somewhere in guatemala or afghanistan, we might not worry. but then reality bites again. the competition is fast moving onwards, accepting changes as fast as they changed their clothes. even the closed china have accepted changes and marching ahead at a pace that make even the mighty shivers in their veneered board rooms.

as a conclusion, adapting to changes will make us a better person. it is either being left behind or running with the victor.sink or swim.  the choice is yours.

i was being asked the same questions again and again. are you in the navy? no, merchant navy.  what is merchant navy? the story goes on from here.

in the jurassic period, there was one bright caveman who saw a drifting log passing him in the river and then out to the sea. he was thinking, why don’t i do something with this log. that was when the first mode of transportation through the water being invented.

the question now is, which one  came first, the merchant navy or the navy? well. this is quite complicated.

scenario 1: considering the time the caveman invented the dugout boat, it was peacetime. he was able to trade his wares to the other side of the river/sea. we knew how shallow was the people then. disputes can be big just from petty trivial matters. people fight. this is when the same dugout boat being utilised as ’ship of war’.

scenario 2 : considering there was hostilities back then. one brilliant caveman came out with an idea of creating some sort of transportation to ship them to the other side of the river to attack their enemies. the navy was born. but then, some of the boats might be kept as supply boat, carrying vital supports for their fighting force.

zoom to the year 2007. from these long traditions of sea going people, evolved into various trade: merchant navy and the royal malaysian navy. merchant ships are manned by civilians while the navy are manned by military personnel. both carry the task of carrying their trades on the water: transportation,supplies, nation’s trade and for military, defending the maritime boundaries of the sovereign nation.

that is the difference. being in the merchant navy are not as popular as being in the navy. because of less exposure to the people. both navies wear the same uniform with some difference. the merchant navy’s peaked cap comes with badge without the crown, hence the naval cap badges have a crown, denoting their ‘royal’ status.

the armband of the blazer and shoulder epaulettes denotes the rank of the officer. merchant navy officers wear the stripes with a rectangular symbol denoting the officer is a ‘certificated’ officer, while the navy stripes are a bit different, with a round symbol, denoting the officer is a ‘commissioned’ officer. royal commission from the sovereign of the state.

next time, you will know the difference between both.  both are important to the nation, one is to trade and bring crucial food,fuel and other supplies to our country and another are to defend the country.

i hope this will enlightened the people who read this.

mmmmm. last week i went to times square to watch a critically acclaimed movie : cinta. i am not a movie afficionado , i only watch "selective" film. so, this movie is about love: in malay, love can be described as sayang, kasih, cinta……

this story is about…. love. yes, the description of love that span the whole meaning: love between two beings, either between a man and a woman, a sister to her brother, a grandson to a grandfather, a husband to a wife, a human to another human in distress.

you won’t find a "lovey-dovey-dancing-in-the-rain" or "sugary-chocolatey-i-love-u" scenes in this movie. you won’t find also controversial scene as well. just simple love story. the movie also portrays kl in a different view, well kl simply looks more beautiful than it really is. no flashy cars, no eating-drinking-fresh-orange, it just went way from the normal malay movie mould.

only some illogical scenes, quite questionable. why does amani and pierre doesn’t get caught while in close proximity, they are living together in a house. maybe the "pencegah maksiat" does not like the railway tracks? maybe their code of practice does not involve couple nearby railway track? i don’t know. the big maybe, the director of the movie prevent them from arresting the couple. hehehe…

anyway, as a conclusion, it is a good movie. i enjoyed watching it. this is the type of movie that malaysian, particularly *malay moviegoers might turn back to the cinemas.(*typical moviegoer might not like this type of movie) . enjoy the movie!

last weekend was a memorable one. my youngest sister got married. 16 december 2006 was the date. i am there during the solemnisation with the kadhi, along with my parents and relatives.

the reception was being held at my parents house in taiping.  lots of people came, but we estimated that there are hundreds of them who missed  . there were also other weddings nearby.


the weather was nice, without the "scheduled" 3pm rain that was a routine here in taiping. bless the bride and groom. selamat pengantin baru!

for more pictures, see http:// zulfaag.fotopages.com

engineering feat by human is as vast as the eyes can see. i am lucky to be one of the fortunate people to transit from the red sea to the mediteranean sea through the suez canal. indeed ,the canal was an engineering feat when it was built in the early 1900’s.

what makes it possible to connect the two seas are the lakes in between them, lake timsah and great bitter lake. the ships transitting both end are bound in convoy, northbound and southbound. the northbound convoy entering from red sea and gulf of suez. from the chart we can see the historical mount musa: jabal musa, which i can’t differentiate any. this is because the coastline is just rocky mountains and no vegetation. talk about durian plantation to those people.

oil platforms are built right in the middle of the suez gulf and there is a traffic separation scheme dividing the traffic. arrival at suez(or suweis) ,vessel needed to anchor just waiting for the orders for the convoy.

anchor aweigh entering the convoy. normally the tankers are destined to be at the rear of the convoy. we will start at daybreak because the northbound convoy will anchor at great bitter lake awaiting the southbound convoy to pass. the traffic is one way only.

the canal transit takes total about 12 hours before arriving at port said. along the canal,maintenance works are always being carried out to maintain the depth, remember that the canal runs through total sand. there are army outpost everywhere along the canal. this is because egypt used to be at war with israel : the six day war to get the control of the canal. to be continued

i am back again. last friday 20 october was the day i went for the annual malaysian balik kampung trip: aidilfitri. called my brother and sister on the way back. we are heading to our grandmother’s house in pantai remis.lucky i was just entering the GCE(guthrie corridor expressway). i decided to give the PLUS north south highway a miss this time. exited at the sg buloh interchange and straight to tanjung karang via tennamaram estate, batang berjuntai.

my sister was experiencing "super traffic jam" ,going at the rate of 20kmh at some stretch in the NS plus highway. lucky for me. the road all the way to tanjung karang and sabak bernam was as smooth as silk. we even had the chance to buy some last minute tapioca chips(kerepek ubi),kuih siput(i dont know the name in english=shell crackers perhaps) by the roadside near sungai besar. enjoyed the scenery. even the children enjoyed it too.

questions like: abah, diaorg letak kereta bawah rumah?(dad, they parked the car below the house).you might not encounter this question if following the NS highway,because what you see is the same as the stretch in any highway: palm oil plantantion. i got the same feeling when i was in united arab emirates, on a trip from dubai to fujairah ,instead of palm oil, they planted palm dates along the highway,same view as in malaysia. perak and selangor people are known to build houses on stilts, high enough for us to park the cars, hang the laundry if it’s raining.even there is a nice "pangkin" bench for loafing(lepak2) and enjoying the afternoon breeze.

if following the boring NS highway, there is no such view. lucky for them, daddy is taking the coastal road ruote. so much for the view of paddy field: there ,your rice came from, followed by ooooooooo from the kids. at least i have shown my kids the process of going back to perak from a different perspective. all the way , we are doing 90-100kmh. no traffic jams, no build up. very nice. arrived at pantai remis at 1815 and still have extra time to relax. break our fast later on. unlucky for my friends who are still on the road at 40kmh. sorry for them. they are  still a long way home to alor star, kedah.

i would like to wish selamat hari raya aidilfitri to all my friends. have a nice and safe long holiday and trips getting to and back from your respective hometown.may happiness blessed upon all of you.

interesting topics to come out in ramadhan. about buttercup( farmcows too). my friends have came with incomprehensible terminology , which both have misunderstood. lets name them s and d

i knew both of them to have a very vast vocabulary. suddenly ends at buttercup. buttercup is a type of flower. which another friend(s) said is related to pangkau!(sounds like). d was dazzled by, what the hell is pangkau anyway? s keep on saying pangkau, until the description of the pangkau itself.

to make the matters worse, s told d that pangkau is used to make cakes. d still dazzled. finally, came up with conclusion. what is pangkau? s describes pangkau, which is deduced to farmcows: a brand of butter.

yesterday night was a history in the making. we played  belantara song for the first time. some of the people in the jam studio went blank, what song is that, some remembered.  that song is without an intro. just direct entry and continue until the solo part. our lead guitar, fakhrul and drummer kamarul seems play along to this song very quickly. when i mooted the idea of playing the band’s song, fakhrul came up with pelangi dan nafiri, seconded by kamarul. we agreed last week to play this number.

pelangi dan nafiri

lihat alam sekitar
yang mencabar mata
akalmu yang sempurna
ciptaan yang esa

pancaindera dikurnia
kenalilah warna
pelangi indah berspektra
timbulkan nirwana

awan perak bergantungan
hanya menunggu masa panggilan tuhan….

selamilah hatimu
persoalan penuh jitu
batas perjanjian mu
satu demi satu

dosa noda kelabu
buktikan dikau perlu
agar tujuan duniamu
merdu bak perindu

neraca imbangan amalmu
titian penentu nasibmu….wohohoho….

mari dekatkan hatimu….
mari sujudkan jasadmu….
mari dekatkan hatimu…
mari sujudkan jasadmu…
kau lah yang satu…….

solo

jasadmu meronta dengan dosamu
janjimu menjunjung titah yang satu
jasadmu meronta dengan dosamu
janjimu menjunjung titah yang satu…….