Political Climate in Malaysian Universities: A Case Study: An Inside Look Through an Eye of A Necromancer

(artikel dari Mohd Hafiz Md Hanif)

Reading the title above, may make you wonder what kind of eye does a Necromancer possesses. Well, according to Wikipedia, the word Necromancy is defined as : Necromancy (Greek νεκρομαντία, nekromantía) is a form of divination in which the practitioner seeks to summon "operative spirits" or "spirits of divination", for multiple reasons, from spiritual protection to wisdom. The word necromancy derives from the Greek νεκρός (nekrós), "dead", and μαντεία (manteía), "divination". Thus in this article, I will be chanting a few charms to summon the ugly-truth of the undead-plague, to expose to some of you who has not yet realized the true phenomenal climate that was and is still plaguing our higher thinking society in this very second you read this word.

Universities, as we know, are the higher level education institutions that are available to the society. Regardless of where you came from and what you are majoring in, universities have always been the core attention for the society in which the ideology of highly-saluted-personnel-to-be in the society is embedded. Thus, with this expectation comes another challenge; conforming the expectation. Confronting the situation, the administration divides themselves into several parts in order to retain the bureaucracy and the formality thus enhances the image of the institute to a higher level. Now on the other part of the country comes the ISO thingy… (I will not delve into the ISO thing YET. Just wait for my next post, if I have the time to do it la… ) So, between the divided sections comes the students committee… Well, this is where my article will start and carries with it a serious tone. So if you are tone-deaf, please stay away from this article because it will hurt your ears. You have been warned. Thank you. Due to the time constrains and other related issues, I will zoom into the one thing that still hinders my understanding over the system.

Changelophobic

The term that I’ve created just for fun. No, I’m serious. I will tell you why I have created such incomprehensible word. To begin with, I would like to bring you back to where I stood. I was one of the students committee members in a college and I particularly dealt with the handling of wires, microphones, lcd projectors, name cards, DSLR cameras, Sony HVrZ1 camcorders, designing buntings, banners, montage, posters… all sort of things… etc. Being the guy who handled all those things made me a very observant person. Less talking, more action kinda guy. With me stood a very steady steering committee. A very versatile I would say. Everybody was really into the things that they did. And others will back him/her up. This was also because we were led by a wonderful person that I think is quite similar with our ex prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir. He was really far sighted and always, what we did, were against the current. Against the current here means against the present state of the university political climate then. Not to say that we were against the university policy. In fact we did boosted up the university’s name a lot of times by hitting the paper like striking-the-iron-while-its-hot thingy. BUT, the fact that we were several times in the HEP’s good list made other colleges kinda irritated.

The repercussion of the ideology that we’ve brought forth was never to be imagined. Accused to be the ‘pembangkang’ in the university was the hardest hit that was laid upon us. We could never imagine that they would go that far. But its politics, and people often forgot who they are and the real purpose of living here on the earth. Like the Malay proverb says: Friend eat friend… Those who were friends with us kept their distance. All of this just because we brought forth changes that were far from their reach. All we did were a few high impact programmes, introduced few campaigns that will boost up the quality of products the university was producing among other things. With those activities, we were labeled ‘elite’. The fact that we were in TNC HEP’s good grace several times made them even madder than before.
Now, can you relate the word ‘Changelophobic’ with my explanation above?

Changes that we brought forth, thinking that it would benefit the university, made us suffer for the whole 2 semesters. Now, they are still practicing the way they practice their practice of politics the same way they did before we took the throne. Hurmm… talking about changing the future? Ehehe… I’ve been there…

P/s: This post was written to inspire people who are now on the throne and have the power to change everything to a better state. Be inspired! Don’t listen to others because when you played your cards in politics, other players have their own. So be careful, but don’t be too careful until you did not do anything that was necessary to do. As for those who are still don’t have clue of what I’ve written up until this sentence, you have been warned earlier.

~Salam

Kecemerlangan dan Keterbukaan di Kampus Kita,Wujudkah???

(oleh : pelajar yg gemuk V)

“Dasar-dasar negara harus disesuaikan dengan keadaan semasa dan tuntutan zaman. Namun kita meneruskan dasar tutup pintu yang memandang ke belakang yang mempertahankan budaya lama yang tidak menekankan kecemerlangan dan keterbukaan”

Petikan Risalah Agenda Ekonomi Malaysia oleh Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim

Asalammulaikum dan Salam Sejahtera,

Petikan diatas saya ambil dari blog sahabat saya. Saya mengambil masa utk menelaahnya dan dapat merasakan rasionaliti yang digunapakai oleh Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim dalam membentang hujah beliau. Tetapi saya tidak ingin mengupas semua mengenai agenda tersebut. Saya hanya tertarik dengan petikan diatas dan saya merasakan ianya ada kaitan dengan mentaliti siswa/siswi UNITEN kita.

Saya sangat bersetuju dengan nukilan penulis agenda mengenai dasar-dasar negara harus disesuaikan mengikut keadaan semasa. Jikalau kita lihat keadaan di Kampus Putajaya yang indah ini,jika kita melihat keadaan service provider iaitu Kelab/Persatuan?? Saya amat bersetuju yang keadaan atau dasar-dasar yang digunapakai utk mentadbir Kelab/Persatuan samada oleh pihak HEP ataupun MPP atuapun pemimpin Kelab /Persatuan perlu disesuaikan mengikut kehendak semasa.

Jelas dan tak perlu bersuluh lagi.keyakinan siswa/siswi UNITEN terhadap organisasi pelajar yang wujud sekarang sudah terhakis,jumlah penyertaan yang membimbangkan,kewujudan sekelompok pelajar yang “berada dimana-mana sahaja”,keberkesanan program yang kian menghakis,dan hujung minggu Kampus kita yang umpama perkuburan,mati senyap dan sunyi.

Oleh itu saya ingin menyeru semua pihak yang berkenaan agar mengambil tindakan segera dan serius dalam mengatasi permasalahan ini. Saya secara tegas menyarankan agar dasar-dasar pentadbiran digubal,diteliti dan sesuai. Kepada pemimpin-pemimpin Kelab/Persatuan,sesuaikanlah budaya kerja kalian,dasar-dasar pertadbiran kalian agar kalian boleh memajukan organisasi kalian. Kalian diharapakan dapat menyemai budaya berkongsi peluang dengan semua pelajar dan kurangkan politik pejabat yang saya dapat lihat secara halus menakluki pemikiran pemimpin Kelab/Pesatuan kita.

Petikan diatas juga ada menunjukkan sikap dan budaya masyarakat Malaysia yang kini sedang berputik didalam diri siswa/siswi kita. Kebergantungan terhadap budaya lama,mengamalkan dasar tutup pintu,memandang ke belakang dan tidak bersifat terbuka dan pantang dikritik.

Saya ingin menarik perhatian pembaca mengenai perkaa ini. Saya amat percaya kepada konsep jikalau tidak dipecahkan ruyung manakan dapat sagunya,jikalau kita tidak mengambil risiko bagaimana kita hendak mendapatkan kejayaannya. Tiada benda didalamnya boleh diperolehi dengan mudah. Cuba pembaca bayangkan,kenapakah kita mesti meragui kemapuan diri apabila kita sudah mencapai sesuatu standard??Cuba bayangkan kenapakah kita mesti berundur kebelakang balik sedangkan pilihan utk bergerak maju sudah ada didepan mata?? Kenapakah kita boleh alpa dan lupa yang kritikan dapat mendewasakan kita??

Saya juga menemui satu sifat yang perlu dikikis didalam jiwa siswa/siswi UNITEN, Takutkan Kritikan. Rakan-rakan siswa sekalian,berkenaan dengan mengekalkan budaya lama,saya sering menjelaskan,kita perlu berbangga dengan identiti kita dan kita kekalkan identiti kita,tetapi jangan lah sampaikan perubahan-perubahan utk kepentingan dan kemajuan organisasi disekat kerna alasan yang identiti telah terhakis.

Sudah panjang agaknya nukilan saya.Sebelum mengundur diri,saya menyeru golongan-golongan yang sedang berada di tempat yang membuat keputusan agar menilai balik dan memikirkan apakah kita sudah bangga dengan apa yang kita capai??Saya menyeru agar kita jangan mudah berpuas hati dan teruskan menuju kearah kejayaan yang lenih gah lagi di masa depan.