Will I?

Thinking back on how fast we have changed, it makes us wonder that we somehow have to face certain adjustments from time to time. Be it good or bad, I always remind myself that I will have to keep myself going and strong.

For the past few weeks, I had started reading a book by Prof Kamil (If you don’t know, then I suggest you go to another planet if you are a Malay Malaysian) entitled “Hadiah Buat Anak” or something like that. From what I read, I could conclusively say that my life struggle is almost the same as him, maybe better than him slightly.

I wished to go to overseas ever since I was a boy. I am always fascinated by the grandeur architecture of historical monuments in Europe and North America. The opportunity to ride an aeroplane for 13-20 hours just to reach the ultimate destination. The natural view of the Alps and Cliff of Moher in IRELAND.

At the same time, I aspired to study at foreign universities. But, due to my own stupidity, carelessness and lack of attention of various applications, I did not manage to get one.

What makes me more disappointed was the fact that some other friends of mine whose results are similar to mine managed to land on a foreign scholarship, enabling them to travel other countries and ultimately posting pictures on their social medias and “Salam Perantauan” column.

I know that Allah will DETERMINE the fate for each of His followers, but the pain was just too difficult to bear on my own shoulders. Imagine your long-awaited visions since childhood just banished in the blink of an eye, no longer to be seen forever.

Going back to MKI, he encountered the same fate when he did not manage to obtain the sponsorship that he thought that he could get. Unfortunately, his own denial and arrogance paid a price for his future when he “failed” miserably (considering the current inflation of excellent results with 30 years of history) and did not get what he wanted, which was to pursue Law in the UK before becoming the Prime Minister of Malaysia in the future.

Due to his own negligence, he did not learn from his mistakes, costing him to enroll in multiple colleges before he finally managed to get the Young Tutors’ Scheme from UITM as a result of his impressive results in his undergraduate study. And 10 years later, he did go to overseas and pursued his study there with his family.

You see, life is somewhat mysterious. It is beyond our control by any means. However, there are 2 things that will help us to get what we want in life.

First, efforts after efforts. Second, always pray and ask to our Superior to grant what we always wish for. He knows what is his best for you, and sometimes with the power of doa, you can still get what you want.

So here am I, in the year of 2016, I am wondering, will I be able to study or work overseas someday? Of course, I want it. It will never be erased from my entire life’s memory for as long as I am still alive. For the time being, I am going to make full use of what I have so that I would not take it for granted when the opportunity is longer there. If the PTD thingy is still available in the future, I hope that I can be a diplomat so that I will fulfill one of my ambitions that I yet to become.

p/s: Insyallah, one fine day.

List of interviews plus "forgot to apply" ones

Interview (updated as of 5 June 2018)

Scholarship

2010

JPA-reject

PETRONAS-reject

BNM-reject

YK-reject

YTM-reject

Not applied

JAD

ASEAN

PNB

SC

SHELL

UEM

YTN

YSD

KPM
MAHB

MEXT

Job

2013-2014

Shell Intern,Phone

Bosch Hangout-reject

2015

Kumon,Jalan Pegawai-Success

GNP-Success

Mext,Japan Embassy-reject

Chem2Hill,Mont Kiara-reject

Sl1m UEM,Mercu UEM-reject

Not applied

2015

Garuda Engineering-Decline

Public Bank-Star Talentcorp-Decline

2016

PTD-reject

Lafarge YEP-reject

AirAsia 1^st round Exam-Decline

Muhaya Lasik-3^rd round-Decline

Lee Motor 1^st round IV-Decline

SPA-Accepted

Taps Jpa-Decline assessment centre

2017

Airasia 1st round exam-Decline

Lhdn- Did not go HAC

Atc- Did not go PAC at AOR airport

2018
Kurator-Decline iv

These are all my interviews that I was supposed to undergo right after my SPM. My tips are: Just apply every single scholarship that is available out there as we do not know which one of them can be ours. Well, it was not that impressive to some extent as I only managed to gain only a little of all that had been offered.

First impression counts. Thus, wear your best attire, complete with a full suite and blazer as to look more formal and professional when having an interview session with the assessors. Don't ever think of not wearing one just to ignore that statement such as "mamat poyo,berlagak lebih pakai blazer etc" because usually these kind of people always feel inferior when seeing others who are far better looking than them.  

Regardless of job interview or scholarship interview, remember to perform your best during that 10-30 minute session. It does not matter whether it is a group interview or an individual interview as the sole purpose of the interview is to evaluate your selling points and personal attributes that are deemed fit and suitable for the companies or the organizations. At the same time, don't try to look as if you are becoming too dictatorship as you need to listen to other's opinions as well. Life is not just about leading people, but also listening to them. Always heed to what your interviewers or your group members have to say regarding certain issues that are being discussed.

Besides, be yourself and don't try to fake into another person. The assessors will definitely know whether you try to hide something or not. That is why early preparation counts when it comes to knowing the background of the company that you will be interviewed. There are, however times when you need to make a little tweak in the way you speak to them so that you will be more outstanding than other candidates.

Besides technical knowledge, know and read a lot about current issues and national events like current economics, politics, governance , education and many more so that it will complement your answer when you are confronted with current issue questions from the interviewers. Newspapers and some light magazines like The Economist, Reader's Digest and NatGeo and Discovery Channel will make do for all. 

Insya-allah with a lot of effort and doa, it will pay off if you manage to impress the interviewers the moment you are asked by them regarding any sort of question.

Things that I need to blog

First of all, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Maaf Zahir Batin 2016.

I believe that I have a lot of stuffs that I can blog about. As such, I will list this down for future reference

1. Student exchange to Taiwan 2013
2. Umrah 2014
3. London Trip 2011 and 2012
4. Previous family trips
5. Singapore Trip 2013
6. Interview Tips- Done
7. Scholarship Tips- Done

Lulus Kepujian Dengan Cemerlang

Now I know that it is so hard to obtain a CGPA of 3.7 and above in Geology. Here are the proof that I found so far. I received this info from the Convocation Book which you can view online on UM Convo website.

http://umconvo.um.edu.my/?pfct=umconvo&modul=convocation_book

Senarai Lulus Kepujian Dengan Cemerlang

2010-0
2011-0
2012-3
2013-0
2014-3
2015-1
2016-More than 1
2017
2018-5

Senarai nama pelajar terlibat:

2012

1. Ling Hwei Chih-Applied
2. Norzarifah Kamaruzaman-Applied
3. Yong Joy Anne-Applied

2014

1. Chong Karthy-Pure
2. Fatin Nurdiana Basir-Pure
3. Muhammad Asyraf Razali-Pure

2015

1. Faherah Hidayah-Applied

2016

1. Ariff Affandy-Pure
2. To be updated.

2017

1. To be updated

2018

1. Hafizah Munirah Mat Raai
2. Muhammad Hafiz Mohd Jaim
3. Muhammad Hazman Muhammad Saleh
4. Yugendran a/l Selvam
5. Muhammad Baseer Khadim Hussain (Pk)

Government Path?

Here is the list as of current time.

PTD

1. Abong-Naimuddin
2. Mat-Rushdan

JMG

1. Sarah
2. Safwan
3. Sya (simpanan)
4. Zariq (simpanan)

Good luck to them for serving the nation in the future. I am sure that in years to come many more from our batch will join the civil service. 

Brexit 2016

This is my first post regarding a more serious event that occurs currently in the world and how it affects our lives altogether.

Most of us would have known, if not all, the Brexit frenzy that has happened recently and in Malaysia, we are not spared from the cascading effect that is caused by this event. To put into a much simpler perspective, Brexit is a set of referendum that is decided by several group of voters and members of parliament and government agencies to determine whether the UK should leave or remain in the membership of European Union, better known as EU. The result was “LEAVE”.

To Malaysians, we might think that it is quite a recent issue in the UK but it actually dates back to 2013 where the soon-to-leave PM of the UK, David Cameron had announced that he wanted to make a referendum to ensure that the voices of the people are heard and the people’s demands are fulfilled.

There are several factors that caused this referendum to arise. 

First, the UK citizens felt that it was time to leave EU as there are too many freedom and opportunities for outsiders to take advantage of what was previously offered for the locals. As EU practice free trade and movement across its members, many people especially from non-English speaking countries seek opportunities to have a better life for themselves and find jobs in the UK. Apparently, this effect was far too cataclysmic in which the locals themselves had to compete with the migrants to get the same level of jobs. This situation is further worsened with the current incoming batches of refugees from war-torn countries that have been afflicted with continuous conflicts like Syria, Iraq and other Middle East Countries.

Second, the currency of pound had declined quite significantly over the past few months that caused many to ponder upon the reliability of EU as an international union that ensures continuous wealth for each sovereign member. Therefore, traders, sellers and the public feel that it is better to leave the EU as the impact of the economic sluggishness could be less affected by being a “stand-alone” country. Since I am not an Economist by training, I cannot elaborate much on that and I can only describe things on the surface of the key issues.

What are the effects of this outcome?

It can be both negative and positive. From a Malaysian’s point of view, I see education and economy are two key issues that will have a significant impact on our country. I agree with our experts in Economics or other analysts saying that the effect would be far too minimal for us to see and feel. However, I have my own opinions as well since Malaysia does import and export with the UK as well and we send our students there to study at top-notch universities for brighter ROI for the future of our country.

Firstly, I see that we are likely to have higher costs for imported products and produce, especially from the UK. This is because the UK no longer relies on EU to do trading of the products and as such, they can set up their own ceiling price and they have the freedom to determine the CPI for each country that the UK exports to, based on the production and manufacturing costs that are devised by them. So, don’t be surprised if the previous cereals from England that you bought at hypermarkets can cost double than the previous ones.

Secondly, our education fees at the UK are likely to soar. Why? Because the funding that was previously done by EU is no longer available and the universities still need to seek its education fund and endowment for its R&D purpose. Thus, the universities have no other ways than to increase the fees for its international students to gain more revenues for the continuity of the institutions.

The issues of Brexit are all about immigration issues and economics’ sovereignty of its people. The people of the UK could no longer tolerate the influx of legal and illegal migrants coming to their country and stealing their jobs and other benefits that only natives are supposed to have. Indirectly, this shows that the people of the UK have a sense of racism towards people that originate from other countries. Even if there are some people who are considerate and thoughtful of the migrants’ hardships and background, they are, at a certain extent, have reached the ultimate maximum boiling point ever since the mass incoming of Syrian refugees due to the escalating violence in the Middle East.

If the UK leaves, the people presume that the country will implement much tighter and more stringent criteria to let people settle in the country. As such, the welfare of the locals are being uphold and taken care of.

I STILL has a lot to say on this issue, but for now, I will just leave the stone unturned and let the readers think of how we view this dramatic change in the political and administration scene of the UK.