Ramadhan 2016

It’s the first day of ramadhan of 2016. It is the time of the year where most people, if not all will try to concentrate on doing their obligations to Allah for hereafter. It’s quite unprecedented that it has been exactly one year after I had my ramadhan of 2015 with my family. It just went too fast given the fact that I just celebrated my 24^th birthday here in KL.

Insya-allah,I will make the most of it for my own good and insya-allah good news will keep coming during this month. I will always be waiting for good news all this while.

CGPA wise,leadership wise,interview wise, I did not screw up along the way and I had prayed my best and even made a nazar to myself which is end of year umrah. I even greeted them with the right salutation (Dato’ SPA and Tuan JMG). It was just the specimen part where I did not guess correctly but I correctly described them. You can’t just expect someone to know straight away in less than 10 seconds just by holding that specimen and not getting any clues whatsoever. Dato SPA gave a very good remarks, "Baguslah awak ni,tau pasal isu semasa". Well, I was just deeply interested with what is happening around Malaysia and the world, be it economy, politics, social, education, culture, entertainment, science and religions.

Dear Allah, give me this chance to repay all my parents’ sacrifice and financial assistance. I will perform my second umrah with my family this year if I got it. And I will treat my close friends as well for the day and for this iftar as well. Make this ramadhan one of the best moments of my life that 

I will truly vividly cherish for the rest of my life. Plus, I had never achieved much other than the Taiwan exchange program thingy and the Kong Zhi Music Competition thingy.

Dear Allah, only to you I surely rely and must get help.

Qoute of the day,

"One book,one pen, one table and one teacher can change the world"-Malala Yousofzai, UN Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2014

P/S: I hope I can be a geoeconomist one fine day and finally working at Bank Negara Malaysia in Economics Department, where most of the national policies and agendas are made by the experts.

Kijang scholars 2016 (using SPM result)

32 scholars. Not including 3 kijang emas scholars.

INFO: SPM Scholarship

Note: Last updated on 31st May 2016. Will be updated from time to time,at least annually.

Hello, I have compiled every scholarship provider and I hope that it will be of good use to all. This is strictly for SPM leavers.

The list will be updated from time to time. (It will be updated at least annually). 

Sponsorhip includes:

Scholarships-You don't need to pay,but most sponsor will give a bond to work at that company/entity after you graduate. But it doesn't mean that you are confirmed with jobs because there will be cut off points or requirements as well in order to fulfill the contractual agreement.Depends on sponsors.

Convertible loan-Mara/JPA/petronas(you need to pay 20% if you don't get to work with petronas, correct me if I'm wrong). You need to pay back some,if not all amount. You pay back based on some conditions. Mara is based on academic performance. Jpa is based on whether you get to work with the government after you graduate etc.

In general there are:

Overseas and Local scholarships

The application can be either through:

Website portal of the scholarship provider

Email (as in JCORP)

Manual handwriting (download forms from the company's website and send by post, as in MAYBANK AND PNB)

For post SPM scholarships, most of the sponsors, if not all, will provide the preparatory college for the pre-university programme especially for its overseas programme.

For more details, you can inquire the staffs for each sponsor through phone or email as they will know more about the entire process of selection.

For MARA,JPA and YPM JAD, you guys can just google it up. Because those are some general scholarships where most people will apply. The list that I provide here is more towards other corporate or companies that you can get sponsorhips/scholarships as well.

Malaysia Government/Statuory Bodies/GLC/Private Malaysian Companies sponsorship (Mostly open few days before/on SPM result day/after result day), Only open for a short duration etc BNM/Petronas-only open 1 week after SPM result)

JPA (including JPJK,PPN,Bursary)

http://esilav2.jpa.gov.my/

MARA (inculding MARA SPC,JPA-MARA)

http://www.mara.gov.my/

YPM JAD

http://www.jadypm.edu.my/index

Bank Negara

http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=en_misc&pg=en_career_scholar&ac=1097

https://careers.bnm.gov.my/psc/escholarext/EMPLOYEE/HRMS/c/BNM_SCHOLARSHIP.BNM_SCR_EXT_LOGIN.GBL?FolderPath=PORTAL_ROOT_OBJECT.BNM_SCHOLARSHIP.BNM_SCR_LOGIN.BNM_SCR_EXT_LOGIN_GBL&IsFolder=false&IgnoreParamTempl=FolderPath%2cIsFolder&

Khazanah Nasional (Yayasan Khazanah)

http://www.yayasankhazanah.com.my/

Maybank (Maybank Foundation)

http://www.maybank.com/en/careers/students/scholarship.page

Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB)

http://www.pnb.com.my/aset_m.php#inline6

Securities Commission

http://www.sc.com.my/scholarship-award/

Petronas

http://www.petronas.com.my/sustainability/education/educational-sponsorship-unit/Pages/default.aspx

United Engineers Malaysia (Yayasan UEM)

http://www.uem.com.my/scholarship.aspx

Telekom Malaysia (Yayasan TM/YTM)

http://ytm.tm.com.my/

Tenaga Nasional (Yayasan TN/YTN)

http://www.tnb.com.my/scholarships/scholarships.html

Sime Darby (Yayasan Sime Darby/YSD)

http://www.yayasansimedarby.com/

Yayasan Peneraju (YPPB/Peneraju Tunas Potensi)

http://www.yayasanpeneraju.com.my

Johor Corporation

jesp@jcorp.com.my

Look up at local newspapers for JCORP's ads and its website for more info.

Astro
Link will be provided later

Yayasan Dayadiri
Link will be provided later

Institution Scholarship

Taylor's World Class Scholarship
Link will be provided later

Taylor College High Achiever/President Scholarship Award

UWC-for MRSM students and Khazanah scholars???(unsure)

http://uwc-my.org/UWCNew/?page_id=58

Foreign government sponsorship-for SPM LEAVERS AS WELL

Asean Scholarship(Singapore Government)
Link will be provided later

Japanese Government/Monbukagakusho/MEXT Scholarship
Link will be provided later

Turkish Government Scholarship (Turkish Burslari)
Link will be provided later

International school sponsorship-only cover for pre-u studies (A LEVEL/IB)

Epsom Libra Foundation

Link will be provided later

Penang International School Uplands

Link will be provided later

Sri Kdu International School

Link will be provided later

Iskl

Igb

Mckl

Ucsi

Nexus

Institution that accepts Trial SPM results(not scholarships)

UTP March intake
Link will be provided later

UWC
Link will be provided later

KYSB

Link will be provided later

STATE FOUNDATION/STATE ISLAMIC COUNCIL/YAYASAN NEGERI that offers overseas scholarship programmes

These only applies for candidates from each respective countries. Outsiders cannot apply)

YAYASAN TERENGGANU-for anak terenganu,send to KYUEM

Link will be provided later

YAYASAN SABAH-for sabahan,send to KYUEM

Link will be provided later

MAJLIS AGAMA ISLAM KELANTAN(MAIK)-for anak kelantan,send to KYUEM,

Link will be provided later

FELDA-for anak or cucu peneroka Felda,send to kyuem


TRIAL SPM SCHOLARSHIP

Malaysia National Reinsurance Berhad (MNRB)
Link will be provided later




Scholarships no longer available or at least remain mysterious.

Exxon Mobil Special Interships
Malaysia Airport
Axiata
MMC
Felda Global Venture-(only for pre-university leavers to apply for local undergraduate degree program)
KPLSPM-Program Pelajar Cemerlang-(language/maths/science/etc)

Time line of scholarship results

Usually the result of each scholarship using Actual Spm result will be announced as early as end of March and as late as early July.
For scholarships using Trial Spm result,it is usually announced as early as December until March the following year. However,these trial scholarships do have minimum expected requirements for actual Spm results. This is to ensure that the successful candidates have maintained the same consistency for every examination.

Here is the time line that I made based on the actual result related in 2016. Generally it will not change much over the years.

March
BNM Kijang Emas
Ypm Mjhep Jad

April
BNM Kijang
Petronas

May
Ytm
Ytm
Jcorp
Yppb
Uem
Mara
Jpa

June
Maybank
Pnb
Seccom
Astro

July
Sime Darby

KE & PPN 2016

2016

KIJANG EMAS 2016
SPONSOR: CENTRAL BANK OF MALAYSIA

Total application: 146
Shortlisted candidates: 22
Final recipients: 3

PROGRAM PENAJAAN NASIONAL 2016
SPONSOR: PUBLIC SERVICE DEPARTMENT

Total straight A+ (approximate): 210
Shortlisted candidates: 100
Final recipients: 20

2017

KIJANG EMAS 2017
SPONSOR: CENTRAL BANK OF MALAYSIA

Total application: 80% out of 102 students (84 students)
Shortlisted candidates: 16
Final recipients: 3

PROGRAM PENAJAAN NASIONAL 2017
SPONSOR: PUBLIC SERVICE DEPARTMENT

Total straight A+: 102
Shortlisted candidates: 102
Final recipients: 20


It's not fixed all year round but you can see how tough it is even for top scorers nationwide. The world is getting tougher day by day.

Hoping and praying

Starting a new hijrah, at a new place called UKM. It was rather unprecedented as I myself just got back from the PAC assessment in Kemaman. Registering all by myself.

Nevertheless, I believe that the result will come out by few weeks, most likely on 16th of March 2016. The idea was that I need to spend some few days here for the lecture and related stuffs. I was hopeful of the cadet interview, which is the final stage for all this selection. 

I need to keep my head up and ask to Allah so that he could offer me the best that I can have. Insya-Allah, people always say, "Kalau rezeki tak kemana". So it was a simple and yet meaningful catchphrase which I believe that if others can get it, why not us?

PAC 2016

It was very heart palpitating because all the candidates there were very excellent in whatever things they ventured in. So far, what I could say is that I just hope for the best.

Held in INTIM, it was located in Kemaman and was by the beach of Monica Bay to be exact. I had tonnes of fun there as well. Accommodation wise and food wise, they were nothing but perfection. It was very comfy to be in an air-conditioned room to ensure that we had a good night sleep before the following activities on the next day.

Long story short, 

I manged to pass the UKJK or the National Physical Fitness Test and endured two days one night of essay writings, group discussion and public speaking session.
At first I was rather unsure of myself as I was skeptical of my BMI. Nevertheless, I kept praying to God and He granted my wish on that very day,

For the essay writings and public speaking, we could not simply be too arrogant yet too humble. I myself tried my best to remain calm and speak coherently to ensure that I did not stammer along the 5-minute period. For the group discussion, just don't be too dominant and overshadow other people's points. The assessors want to see a leader who can listen to others,not simply acting everything on his own. Just "pandai-pandai" on how to actively engage in a group discussion.

Here is my topic for essay and public speaking and group discussion:
Essay BM-Kesan negatif media sosial terhadap rakyat Malaysia
Essay BI-How oil prices affect Malaysian customers?

Public speaking BM- Impak kenaikan kos sara hidup
Public speaking BI- Home cooked food is more hygienic
Group Discussion-Urban Poverty

I enjoyed all of them as I was a debater before and debating will always be my passion for the rest of my life.

You could never underestimate all other candidates as they could speak both Malay and English pretty well.

p/s: from certain source, about 2800 managed to undergo the PAC program. Next stage, only 600 ROUGHLY will be selected for interview stage. Ya-Allah, do give me this very opportunity as I only want to make my parents and myself happy other than for the sake of Allah.

My classmate 2

The one with the red scarf

Bunbun. She is the most excellent student in our batch with 3.91 CGPA. Well, it seems that she is the only one who could consistently obtained Dean's lists for every semester throughout the programme. She married with one of our batch mates as well in 2014. 

She is an avid kpop moviegoers. If not studying, she will be watching Korean dramas endlessly until she falls asleep in the thesis room at the department. She was active in PGCE or AAPG stuffs. Well, responsibilities come along with wit I guess. 

Currently she is preparing for her study at Bristol Uni under SLAB scheme for her PHD progamme in paleontology. Fast track student, no need to take master. I bet over the time, she will be the next head of department of geology at UM. I wonder if I could get in at that time, well at least in a more friendly way and yet having the qualifications at the same time.

p/s: I wonder if there are other batchmates who would end up in UM as lectures one fine day. There must be, because there are several students who had already started their Master research.

Miley is back

Needless to say, I still like to listen to her songs ever since Hannah Montana back in 2006. But, it seems that this girl proved that she can't be tamed up until now. With this song release, the Hands of Love music definitely proves that she is still a talent though tainted with numerous controversies.

p/s: 2006 to 2016. What a short 10 years time.

My classmate 1

As of 2016, I had decided to make a tribute or rather a snippet of all of my classmate, one person for a post. So, I'm gonna start with the first one as of today. Pehe, as everyone would call him.

The one on the right side

He is one of the "creme-de-le-creme" students of the batch. Academically gifted (second place in the batch, with CGPA 3.66), he is also pretty excellent and active in sports(Futsal primarily) and leadership activities. He is also a "Maahad" product, thus signifies his strong adherence to religious duties and responsibility for the "ummah". He preaches in a rather indirect way of relating time with death despite his humorous personality. Yet, he remains humble and acts as if he does not a clue about what he had studied in the class when he decided to ask something to someone. Being a Kelantanese, he insists in using his dialect whenever conversing in English and Malay.

Frankly speaking, he is a gamer of DOTA. Even with his gaming habit, it still does not deter him from having an excellent record in each semester, and emerging as 2nd best student of the program. Going back to academics, he got into Dean's list multiple times and he was good in any subject that he had taken in each semester. As of now, he is working with a Geotechnical and SI company (Geosolution, I believe) and he started his job right after his final examination. 

p/s: Done with first one.

Recap of 2015 and Hello 2016

2015 has ended and still I have not made any recaps of the year so far. As such I would describe 2015 in a very concise manner. 

1. Graduated with top 4 of the Class of 2015
2. Studying for a postgraduate program at UM,but ended up withdrawing from the program
3. Working as a Kumon assistant, which I strongly felt that the education philosophy should change as it is not suitable for Malaysian students
4. Going for multiple interviews and managed to land a job offer.
5. Meeting a lot of excellent and superb people with diverse skills and professional acumen

However, 2015 was not that "all joy and fun" as there were setbacks due to mass slump in oil prices and the decline of Malaysian ringgit value against the greenback(US dolllars). Nevertheless, I would remain steadfast along the way and must hold true to reality as life is always harder than it seems. I would expect 2016 to be even tougher as the global conditions are always unstable and full of uncertainties.

I hope that 2016 will be better than previous year despite all the challenges that remain ahead which I must face inevitably. With all the PTD exams, interviews and UKM thingy, I do hope that I can make my future to be a better one.

p/s: 2016 is supposed to be the start of the so called "renaissance era" of myself.

2015

2015. What a year it had been. As for me, 2015 was the most frustrating and challenging year for me so far. I just could not hold to my maxim of living life to the fullest simply because the opportunities were slowly diminishing from my sight.

However, I keep reminding myself that maybe God has something better than what I had planned previously. But, the question of the day remains, for how long do I need to stay strong holding myself from feeling deeply disappointed for net getting what I have wanted thus far.

So, I presume I need to look around at all opportunities that are available. But, given the current oil price route, declining ringgit, and persistence absence of job intakes in the Government and Private Sector, surely all these factors have so far hit me down towards the bottom of the ocean. Again, I need to stay strong and contain that sad feeling so that I can remain steadfast on this long-winding road as what life calls it.

This study program is just not that giving me the persuasion or the pathways that can lead my future to a better state nor the jobs are easily available during this current situation. Only Allah knows this feeling. Only He that I could express all my regrets and sadness after all these months or years of intermittent challenges.

There are not much things that I want to achieve in life as per career wise. I opted for medicine, pilot/airport management, diplomats/ptd, and central bankers/government investment funds officers (finance-related). All of these options were no longer present as time had left these behind. But I do believe in the power of Him as He can redirect you anywhere that he wants. And so I pray that 2015 would never ever happen again the future.

And even if it happens, I would make sure that I know that I can learn from experience as I grow older day by day.

I do hope 2016 will give me a new hope and faith in life.

Master UM

Well, it has been 4 weeks already and the works start to get more and more being piled up. This is somehow what I need to expect in the net few months. A not so interesting journey but this is so far the only option apart from applying jobs from time to time.

I need to pray more and pry more opportunities so that I know that I have done my best in this ever-changing and challenging environment.

On another side note, I managed to be among the top 5 of my class. Not bad for an average student like me. I do admit I was not that hardworking during my undergraduate years, especially in the second and third semester.

P/S: All the best for me and my batch.

My study life 1.0

Assalamualaikum and good day,

This serves as a reminder of what I have been through as an undergraduate student. So I am going to talk about my first year only in this particular post.

As the first semester commenced, I had no idea what was geology all about other than studying about rocks and the planet Earth itself. So, I went to the first class, and lecturer introduced to all of us(the first year student) the courses and options that we are going to face as a geology student.

The subjects are mainly about the introduction to rocks, minerals, fossils and the basic concepts that are classified under various subdivisions of Geology. At first, I did not manage to understand all the subjects quite well, but I took the initiative to raise hand to ask a question if I did not understand something during the lecture session.

However, some modules did offer practical and laboratory time slot and thus, we were able to apply what we have learned during the theory classes. This includes mapping, and basic rocks, minerals and fossils. It was fun overall.

Even if I did not find it easy to comprehend, I started my own initiative to pretend to ask a question that I might already know the answer. This serves some sort like a check list to ensure that I have grasped the right understanding and not from a different school of thoughts. All the basic concepts of geology, classification of rocks,minerals and fossils, basic definition of certain terms and the list goes on and on.

In the end, when the final exam approached, I fully gathered my strength to persuade myself to keep studying to achieve the best result as possible. As a result, I managed to get a CGPA of 3.57. However, I got a "C+" in Basic Rocks because I suddenly lost my thoughts and memory during that exam period. Luckily I did not fail and thus, that was the worst result I ever had for my undergraduate years. In semester 7, I retook the paper and I got an "A" for it. My redemption for that subject had finally been paid with my own effort.

I may not be the best student in my batch, but to be able to emerge as one of the Top 10 STUDENT is already a significant achievement for me. Like seriously, how many Geology students in Malaysia achieve a CGPA higher than 3.60? I am not trying to condemn others but what I am trying to imply is that geology is very difficult, even much more severe than the amiable medicine. I doubt those with straight A+ and 4 flat can even achieve 3.50 for the total CGPA for the geology course, let alone 3.70.

So later onwards, I will keep you updated with my memoirs of my study and co-curricular activities during my time in university. I believe life is not just about straight a's and CGPA, but still, it one of the important aspects that most employers look upon as early preliminary selection for jobs or even scholarship application.