Enjoying the view of Kuantan from a Different Perspective

On a rainy Sunday, I woke up early to prepare myself before going for an event organized by the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development in conjuction of the National Consumer Day.

A cycling tour from the Municipal Hall's field to the well-known Bay of Chempedak aka Teluk Chempedak.

It's an eight kilometres journey to there.

We were escorted by the traffic personel on duty to prevent any accidents from occurring during the event.

At the beach, we were asked to teamed-up to clean the lovely beach.

After an hour of cleaning the beach, I went to the Mc.Donald Drive-Thru Restaurant to get a Sundae Cone to treat myself.

Then our lunch were served. It was chicken rice cooked by the Red Crescent First Aid Member.

We left Teluk Chempedak a quater to one in the afternoon.

At the Municipal Hall Field we were presented certificates of participation and a lucky draw event was done. It was not my day, so no prizes for me.

Hope that I will be able to join such adventerous activity in the future.

J.Z.Wong

Back to Then...

Last week, I saw the news about reverting the language of teaching for Science and Mathematics back to our national language, Bahasa Malaysia at Petronas Petrol Station of KM26 Gambang.

Honestly I felt that the step of reverting back to Bahasa Malaysia is not a wise decission done by the cabinet and the minister of education himself.

I'm not in a state of opposing the decission of our governmernt but to express my feelings on the action done as a student of the second batch that undergoes the transition plan done by Dr. M or known as Che Det.

In year 2002 when the government announced that all the teaching of Science and Mathematics will be done in English, I felt reluctant about it since I'm from a non-eglish-speaking-school(Sekolah Kebangsaan Yacob Latif) before entering a Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Bintang Utara where most of the students uses English as their second language after their mother tounge.

After undergoing the plan for five years, I felt that I'm lucky to be born in a right year since Science and Mathematics were taught in English because it has improved my command in English tremendously.

Besides it also transformed me from an introvert to an extrovert and more outspoken person.

When I entered university, I found it to be easier for me to learn compare to my seniors that studied their 'Sains dan Matematik' in Bahasa Malaysia.

I had even discussed this with my fellow friends from the rural areas of Sabah during my national service in Tawau, they supported the idea of Che Det because they said that this enable them to improve their ability to converse in that particular language and set a platform for them to prepare themselves before entering tertiary studies where most of the references are bountily in the language once became our lingua franca before independance.

If the natives of Sabah like Kadazan-Dusun, Suluk and Bajau where they are away from the norm of using the language felt the importance of the language as an instruction language for these two subjects, why citizens of Penisular Malaysia need to complain about when we are living at a region blessed with plenty of resources of knowing the language better.

If the government wants to revert it back to our national lingua franca, I think that we should wait for a few years to see the effectiveness of PPSMI. At least see the product of the first batch graduating from university and secured their jobs. In conclusion, politicians should not use education as a tool to please the RAKYAT to gain their votes.

Listen to the opinion of individuals that are professionals in the field of Science and Mathematics not the professionals in linguistic.

I hope that the decission done by our government is right and it will not ruined the future of our nation.

J.Z.Wong

My Resting Zone in University

'Home Sweet Home', that's a phrase that is always in my mind wherever I travel.
I'm not a person with home-sick disorder like most person has although I share some of the symptoms of home-sick.
By using the phrase above, I try my effort to make my room as sweet as possible.
A person normally spend the most time in his/her room.
Therefore, room is the best place for us to reminisce our home when we are away from it.
It is important for every individual to have a lovely and comfort room.
It is very subjective to define a person's comfort towards his room.
That's why I'm using my effort to transform Room 4 of House 3 of Row K into a place I call comfort zone.

J.Z.Wong

The Next Level of My Journey

On the 27th of June 2009, I went to Kuantan along with my parents. It took me, two and a half hours to travel from my house to the house of a friend of my family at Kuantan.
We overnight at his place since it is not easy for us to find accommodation in the heart of the largest city in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia after dusk.
The next morning, I woke up as early as half past six to finish up my final preparation before entering the gate of the institute that that I'm going to reside for three years.
At the guard house we were ushered by a few seniors to the registration center for new students.
Before entering the building to register, students were screened to ensure that there are no one infected by the swine flu a.k.a. H1N1 so that the university ground is free from that fatal influenza.
The registration took about three hours because there was a black-out occurring at the campus. For your information, all the registration are done via online thus none of the registration can be done till the electrical supply is restored.
At noon, I checked into my room and placed all my belongings accordingly.
In the evening, we had our first activity for our induction week for the new students(MIND'S @Minggu Induksi Siswa).
We were told about the vast difference in between the life of an undergraduate with a high school student.
Our MIND'S runs well for the whole week.
Yesterday I had my first lecture class at UNiversiti Malaysia Pahang and it's English for Communication.
I hope that the next level of my life will be smooth.
Lastly I would like to wish good luck for all my readers.
J.Z.Wong