I am a graduate of UPM.
Carina messaged me a little after office hours just yesterday, with a short alert.
'Claire, did you see the UPM scuffle video?'
I had not as I had been tied up with meeting after meeting and had only just got the time to do the usual mail-checking and etc, so she showed it to me. And I agreed with her description, 'It's very disturbing.'
Indeed, the video is so disturbing that several people had chosen to sensationalize the video, make it big, plaster it all over, question, 'What kind of university churns out students like this?'
For people like Carina and I, it's a little more than disturbing. Because both Carina and I went to Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Bad hats exist in every nook and corner of society, every community, every niche. In a university that boasts over 20 000 students, there will always be the bad students. But so will there be good students. There are students who excel in everything they do, they get brilliant grades in their papers, they represent the country in competitions, they contribute to the school in several avenues available, including the societies and occasional university functions that UPM is always very active in organizing. These are the good ones, but we don't really see the stories of that ex-UPM who won the Chevening scholarship to do his Post Graduate studies being circulated like wild fire around the Net, do we? Remember that Star Interview with TNB former CEO Ani Arope that was hotly circulated around the Net? How come nobody wanted to publicize the fact that Tan Sri Ani Arope is a proud graduate of Universiti Putra Malaysia, and still contributes to the development of this university via its Pusat Alumni UPM?
Instead every year we have to deal with newspaper articles questioning the credibility and qualifications of students who graduate from UPM. The numbers are telling, because many UPMers are unemployable graduates, and several employers openly question the quality of education that is available from local universities like UPM. These are but one of the bigger challenges that needs to be addressed by the university's administrators.
Now UPM has another bigger challenge to tackle. Hot on the heels of that controversial Ethnic Relations text, we have the circulation of a mob-video, apparently filmed in the grounds of Kolej 12, UPM (I recognized the cafeteria area, I used to stay there in my first semester). To add salt to the wound, we have someone who proudly holds the placard of 'Responsible Citizen, Sensointrovert', among many others, jumping up and down and posting updates after another, cut-outs after another of that unfortunate video. Not only that, our friend here is spreading his wings wide, hotlinking the exclusives that OTHER responsible citizens have chosen to redisplay, that repeat screening of something that is not meant to be sensationalized the way these people have chosen to. He is provoking people to speak and to speak up in the way he has spoken up.
This, I can accept. What I cannot accept is the way these bloggers, Sensointrovert in particular, has decided to instigate those of us who choose to be silent and continue to blog about personal issues, deemed insignificant and non-contributing to the 'country's better good'. They question the absence of the story in the mainstream papers, accusing the media of masking he things that matter. That the so-called huge-presses have opted to keep their mouths shut, and 'pretend' that all things are fine and dandy in bolehland, that the general public does not need to know about it.
They question our choices merely because they want to believe that responsible citizens should be molded in this cast. THEIR CAST.
Well, I'm sorry I didn't blog about it then because I have been rather busy with my work, and it took sometime before I was aware of the video. Perhaps, it is a fortunate thing that I don't trust the blogosphere as a reliable source of information, no thanks to the many irresponsible posting that is so widecast in this sphere.
What are you doing, my friend? In your quest to show the world just how awesome the students in UPM might turn out to be, you're also flushing down the drain, the list of good things that UPM has proven to produce. The brilliant, responsible students who choose not to exhibit their successes because they believe in humility, and they trust in patience and tolerance. SO MANY students go to Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and other local government-funded universities. So many of them have built their careers since graduating from university and these are not people to be frown upon, to have their diplomas and degrees mocked at. These are successful corporate figures, doctors, scientists, all having had their first taste of varsity life in what is now being widely instigated as a mob-producing university. No thanks to the blogosphere.
You know, you guys are no better yourself. Yes, the bunch of people bullying the sitting students in that video are a disgrace to UPM. They were jumping up and down, and singing hooligan chants that did more than disturb both Carina and me, and the scores of other UPM graduates and ex-graduates.
And yet at the same time, when I see the repeated pings to PPS questioning the integrity of this university by continuing to circulate that video, I am further saddened. This is almost like a mob, and who are you hurting? You're not really standing up to the bunch of hooligans who bullied the students. Instead you're damaging the reputation of an institution of higher learning that has been around for ages, that had produced batch after batch of successful graduates who still look back upon our years in this university with pride and reminiscence.
Local graduates leave our convocation ceremonies with more than a bated breath. From the moment we decided to pick up our degrees from a local university, we have to live with the widely accepted stigma that 'we will not be as good as our foreign university counterparts'. This is the kind of label that society has given unto us. We walk into university, highly doubting the credibility of our lecturers. We take exam papers that may seem like peanuts compared to what private universities and international world-reknown institutions require of their students. Yes, some of the courses in university may be questionable. Our education system has a lot of improving to do, and books like that Ethnic Relations text should have undergone more stringent editing.
Yes, I feel that that book was not necessary and uncalled for, but this is because I personally believe that societal integration starts from ourselves, not pseudo academic texts that places down articificial knowledge in a printed, bound copy. And that the rot started somewhere else, not with the government, nor did it start with the system.
It was human beings that built the system, and that rot stems within the human nature. You can have the best system in the world, tightened with the best screws and knots of a fair judicial system, but the underlying currents will always be there as long as we continue to fight each other because of our differences. The idea of peace is to keep the currents underneath, not to stir the murky waters and provoke an earthquake of tsunamic proportions, because there is no such thing as perfect filtration in this world. The fact is the muck will always exist, but it is in our duties as responsible citizens to keep the peace.
So here, I'd like fellow UPM-ers to speak up. Stand together against this other mob, this online mob that wants to tell the world that our alma mater is a lousy university, that the students who come out from that university learn nothing but bullying tactics. Give a voice to the students who are still pursuing their dreams in this university, share with them your confidence in the system (however weak), that it can still contribute to their education. Show them the importance of going beyond the books, of participating actively, of demonstrating integrity. If you want to talk about its shortcomings, go ahead, but be fair, tell the world about the good things, go beyond the idiotic curfews, and the silly courses that we had to do in school. Discuss the people you met in university, the ones who made a difference.
I'll start: UPM is the place where the dean of my faculty was kind enough to personally ensure that my application for a course transfer was approved in the shortest time possible. It is the place where I first joined AIESEC and met students from other universities like UM, UKM, USM, UUM and UTM. It has widened my social circles, introducing me to students who have inspired me in many ways, and who have carved their own names in the work that they have chosen to undertake.
I have had a mixed-bunch of lecturers during my time at university, not all good, but even the lesser qualified have had their impact in my pursuit of higher learning. UPM is the place where I first learnt how to write a good thesis, how to go out and market a product, how to conduct myself well in a job interview, how to write well, and how to keep learning as a priority focus throughout my life. It is the place that gave the friends who patiently helped me complete that stupid jigsaw puzzle for me to win back my boyfriend's heart. It is the place that has given me the friends that I hold most dearly to. And for all its shortcomings, I am very proud to be an alumni of UPM.
And to those of you who choose to delude yourselves in thinking that you pressured me into posting this, think again. I choose to post this because I say you are no better than that mob who bullied the silent protesters sitting at their tables giving out handouts. What you are saying here is not display of responsibility. Responsibility goes far deeper than sensationalizing issues that should not be sensationalized, it goes further than jumping on the bandwagon in order to get more hits, get the word around. Responsibility sometimes means that recognizing that undercurrents will always exist, will never be dispelled. It means you have to do what it takes to keep the underground water calm and prevent the event of a catastrophic volcanic eruption. And I will do whatever it takes to maintain that calm.
Related Links:
July 22nd, 2006 at 9:58 am
i am a UPM graduate. i do not condone the violence displayed by the people on the video. the UPM i knew was peace-loving and friendship was based on the worth of the individual, not race.
and of course, fbmk was always the hippest faculty, wasn’t it?;)
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:02 am
ABSOLUTELY!! HEHEHEH… and we did that awesome poetry recital (gawd the photos, the photos!)
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:17 am
the poetry recitals aren’t half as strange as the theatric plays! haha…
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:38 am
Hi minishorts, unfortunately, I am not a UPM graduate. But I’ll explain why many bloggers are blogging about this situation in the negative way. I think it’s because we as humans react to fear so much so that we allow anything that instigates insecurity to be passed on to others so that others are aware and are hence safe.
The blogosphere reacted to the UPM mob moreso because bloggers were warning others about situations where people may not have ever seen before happenning in our local universities. It is sad, but like you said, there are good guys and bad guys. The only problem here is that the bad guys are on a higher level (apparently, one of them was the president of the student body).
Likewise, this is only what I feel. In general, I doubt the credibility of many local universities as well as a great many international universities in America, London and Australia. That’s just me tho
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:08 am
1) I’m not from UPM and I graduated from a local college. While I may accept the fact that my alma mater churns out non-talented people, I’m also never quick to brush EVERYONE with the same paint. That’s not being smart. That’s just being stupid.
2) Prominent bloggers owe NO ONE anything. Just because some of us choose not to address this issue doesn’t mean we don’t give a damn; doesn’t mean we aren’t contributing anything. If anything, being a prominent blogger is about taking a step back from the shit-throwing and asking yourself whether you’ll add to it or not. Blogging for the sake of blogging is ridiculous and does more harm than good.
If I must behave like this people, then I’d be nitpicking about how they address specific issues like this without little to no practical suggestions on how to solve the problem with TACT and DIPLOMACY.
You see what’s going on between Lebanon and Israel? Do we want to create another “tensed” situation that would go out of proportion just because people cannot take a step back and look at things without blowing their top and resorting to verbal violence/violence itself?
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:44 am
I won’t deny your claim that some bloggers have agenda of their own for circulating the video.
Fact is, they are some bloggers that sincerely want to share the issue for good sake.
I read the original article a few days back and after I read a post from one of the victim saying that nobody cares about the incident (apparently most prime media decided not to report it).. I decided to write something about it, I do care.
I am a UM graduate, yes I have some great time studying there and it pretty sucks when I see some bad things circulating UM.. but covering up this kind of hooliganism just for the sake of protecting the public universities’ reputation? I can’t agree.
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:04 pm
Jee, i said nothing about covering up hooliganism. what i did say is, do not assume that people who choose NOT to blog about in the way that they have chosen to sensationalize the issue are irresponsible citizens (as instigated by several bloggers who have jumped on the bandwagon).
That said, how many bloggers who chose to spread the video actually said something constructive about the issue? nah, so far its bash bash bash bash UPM lousy, lousy system, lousy government, racism. did you see anything constructive? No, we have people who \’care\’ yes, but waste no time in bestowing monikers like \’University Producing Monkey\’s onto UPM. Pardon me, yes the varsity has its share of ugly inhabitants, but you have also successfully lumped the group of students who are innocent and peaceloving into your nice label. Don\’t come back to me and say that labelling is not as a bad as hooliganism. Hooliganism has got to start somewhere. It begins when people are angered and have no clue as how to handle anger properly. It begins, sometimes, with slander.
As Philters has so clearly put it, discuss yes, talk about it yes, but do it constructively, NOT in this silly manner. This takes it down another level, because ill-behaviour should not be reciprocated with ill behaviour.
Alerrr.. anyway I\’m going to a workshop from Sunday to Tuesday, and will be back on Wednesday. You guys have fun with the slaughter fest, it seems like that\’s the most taken-up trend in this side of the world anyway.
July 22nd, 2006 at 12:46 pm
UPM PWNS ALL.
July 22nd, 2006 at 1:42 pm
hi!
you’re AIESEC alumni too? thatz awesome! i’m an AIESEC member in australia and i must say that AIESEC is good stuff!
Anyway, about your post, i do agree that ’sensationalising’ the issue without providing and constructive comments/input is not helpful at all. and this incident is unfair for the rest of the UPM community.
but i do understand why some people have perhaps panicked and gone overboard. when bad things happen to minorities in malaysia, most of the time the mainstream news wont cover it, and so it is up to the victims/victims supporters themselves to spread the news, so that such injustice can perhaps be curbed in the future.
i am 100% sure that some local grads are superior to some foreign grads. we make ourselves worthy, not our universities.
character and leadership qualities dont come with a degree..foreign or local for that matter..
but i am hoping that it comes with the AIESEC XP!
cheers!
daniel.
July 22nd, 2006 at 2:45 pm
im still in upm now… if u joined more activities, you will know this is really an UPM agenda… well..the video of coz are showing the violence by SOME barbarians, but the story behind really were sad stories.. and now the higher mustapha(minister) is giving authorities back to lower mustapha(upm nc) to handle this case… YEAH YEAH.. say congrates to UPM.. and be ready to say BYE BYE to this hot news d… next week can change the blogsphere back to siti and datuk k again.. Do you think upm will fined or “buang” those aspirasi members who are UPM’s NC SUPPORTORs??? I already need to thanks them if those few chinese ppl not being fined or BUANG…
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
‘join more activities’? What, you mean like a certain race-centric ‘unofficial’ society I know of? been there, done that, I’m afraid.
funny thing is, I hung out with Chinese, Malay and other races while I was in UPM, and frankly, I’ve never had a problem with anyone of any race.
What I really don’t get is when people of a certain race just bunch together all the time and don’t bother mixing around and speaking something other than their own mother language. that’s not ‘looking out for your own race’. It’s called ‘not being open minded enough to accept other races’.
July 22nd, 2006 at 3:43 pm
heyo! my response here!
July 22nd, 2006 at 4:17 pm
Not a UPM student so, it’s not my place to accuse a university I don’t know anything about of condoning something like this but I certainly have this to say - majority of all students are basically peace loving and just want to focus on their studies and to do help people.
The gang of bullies are a minority, I believe out of the big group, only about three or four are probably the nasty ones and the rest are just the hangers-on and blind followers. They are cowards and we shouldn’t let cowards get the better of us. Don’t let the irresponsible antics of some tarnish the image of your alma mater.
July 22nd, 2006 at 4:50 pm
The issue now isn’t the bullying.
The issue now is how is the bullying incident going to be handled by the UPM administration ?
That will confirm to the world the quality of UPM especially in how the admin handles the situation.
Last I check, it was all covered up, with farcical display of handshake from various races and no one was punished or warned.
This alone tells you what kind of quality staff UPM is made up of.
It stinks of hypocrisy.
The aftermath is what matters.
Saudara Lim Kit Siang gave a very good articulation on this issue, so you guys should hop over to his blog and read it there.
July 22nd, 2006 at 6:32 pm
i’m currently a UPM student in Bintulu. I was last batch before the Hubungan Etnik subject was introduced. NO one should judge a university based on some isolated stupid incident committed by a bunch of monkeys. I’m hoping this kind of thing will never repeat, ever.
July 22nd, 2006 at 6:32 pm
I did a post on the incident also, not to belittle UPM, but to point out the fact that mob rule seems to becoming an easy/lazy way of putting one’s opinion across. Of course done in an offbeat, Walski kinda way. If you read it, and it was offensive to you, my apologies.
There’s always a feeling of hurt when your alma mater gets involved in an incident as unsavory as the mob attack. Or when you alma mater gets denigrated in any way. UPM is a sister university to where I went to school, and so I fully empathize with you.
But the fact remains that there serious problems with the local universities (not just UPM), sporadic incidences like this are symptoms of a bigger problem, and are not specific to UPM.
The way some have highlighted the incident (and the Interracial Relations course fiasco), like Senseintrovert, could be misconstrued as picking on UPM, but my personal view is that the real reason is the concern for what direction our nation is heading. In this I share the same concern.
PEACE!
July 22nd, 2006 at 7:57 pm
Wow, so fast Tuesday already. Minishorts has nice cute backside, and not so long hair, but very cute face.
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:05 pm
I am not a UPM grad. I am a UTM grad. Like you, I am a product of the local uni system and quite happy to announce it. Despite all its flaws, real or perceived, myself and most of my compatriots turned out quite well.
I have many friends who went to UPM and I can vouch that most UPM don’t do the kind of thing we see in the vid. For that matter, most normal people don’t do this kind of thing.
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:11 pm
A gentle bow to Minishorts.
http://ilovemalaysiasomuch.blogspot.com/2006/07/goodwill-post-dedicated-to-minishorts.html
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:30 pm
huuuurr…
Media Blackout for 6 days from major newspapers(except the Sun) with no coverage at all on this incident, hence majority of bloggers feels ‘responsible’ for what happened at UPM and provided a ‘voice of disapproval’ on this. We blog about this ‘coz we care not because we’re trying to ‘fan’ these anger and resentment into the blogosphere. We know the risk of these kind of engagements everytime anyone of us start typing.
In fact I realised we did something unheard of eversince blogging took off, we actually provide enough attention to make this incident heard. This is exactly what Uncle LKS has been trying to tell our spin-doctors in the Parliament regarding our education system’s short-coming. Without the bloggers, this incident would be swept under the carpet. Bloggers do have their own way of showing what they think of the thuggery incident but please do realised every blogger that commented/blogges did make a difference, including you with this article.
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:39 pm
Put it this way la.
Yesterday, some bloke in a local uni somewhere made a major breakthrough in his PHD thesis.
Last week, some other bloke in another local uni organised a major event that went so smoothly without hickups - so much so that some professional event planners would have been proud of it.
Last month, a group of students somewhere did some charity thingy and raised loads of money for a good cause.
Judging from the logic that some people have…..
The mainstream media isn’t doing their job by not highlighting all this! They are sweeping these issues under the carpet! Uncle LKS and Godpapa Jeff should be outraged! Why, why are we hiding all this from the ‘rakyat’??
Travesty, I tells ya!
If these so-called journalist wannabes want to highlight ’social political’ issues and other mumbo-jumbo, then shouldn’t they be fair by highlighting the good things as well as the bad stuffs?
This is why I keep saying…mainstream media and social commentary bloggers are the same bullshit, only a different lie.
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:45 pm
It is simply because the negative news that occured recently has an impact on the social stability of this country in the future. It is paramount that we highlight and prevent such issues from recurring, and that people can learn from the mistakes and not repeat them.
It is a matter of public interest.
July 22nd, 2006 at 11:47 pm
The whole UPM fiasco will give people misconceptions about local universities, and publicising the matter wont make it any easier for the students, or postgraudates from there.
Yes, sure, the incident is highlighted, but how many malaysians will see it as “a case of bullying between a small group and an even smaller group in UPM”, rather than “UPM bullying and discrimininating against other races”? I believe this is what minishorts is trying to highlight.
Like it or not, the standard malaysian is not as matured as the very select few that I’ve observed, not even me because I do tend to generalize with blanket statements and assumptions. It took this article to shake me off from the generalization against UPM students and local universities. The standard malaysian person will take one look at it and label “UPM is evil”.
and now we get people saying that because we dont blog about it, we’re sweeping it under the carpet. OMG WHEN DID BEING A BLOGGER HAD RULES??!!11
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:53 am
And for all its shortcomings, I am very proud to be an alumni of UPM.
very obvious shortcoming indeed when it’s so-called 1st class degree english language holder cant even differentiate between “alumni”, “alumna” and “alumnus”.
or maybe she rather liked to be considered the WHOLE BODY of students with her injustifiable huge ego.
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:56 am
And for all its shortcomings, I am very proud to be an alumni of UPM.
very obvious shortcoming indeed when it’s so-called 1st class degree english language holder cant even differentiate between “alumni”, “alumna” and “alumnus”.
or maybe she rather liked to be considered the WHOLE BODY of students with her injustifiable huge ego.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:41 am
[....]This is exactly the sort of attitude we see in USA and Israel. They are arrogant. Nothing they do is wrong. No one can say anything bad about them, otherwise they will be known as Axis of Evil. Nothing can be said abuot these hooligans otherwise you will be branded by Minishorts as MOBSTER.. lol.. not MONSTER.. MOBSTER… lol.. i also wonder why moNSTer does not take on this issue. neither did NST. The star took on some today. [...]
July 23rd, 2006 at 4:19 am
eyeriz.. more act means involved more to UPM and its authorities and rules.. i do understand ur point above.. that some are just cant mix with others and join some so-called racial group, and fight for them.. but bear in mind that these guys do play their part well.. if these group of chinese society not existed in UPM, what will happen to Chinese warefare ?? i once bought a aplication form for JPA loans, but it never arrived at my hand, when i asked the seniors who is incharge of our orientation days, guess what answer i get? not that i didnt get the answer, but im being butt off and scolded.. wtf.. i pay, i didnt get, i asked for help , and get scold?? which means i paid to get scolded??? of coz got many malays are good, but trust me, those who joined politic party in uni, none of them are good,, yes..they are good for nth.. im trying to get my club registered to UPM now also.. in a good progress with MPP help.. but why i blogged about the MOB?? because i cant stand there doing nth seeing the minority being bullied by a majorities that supported by UPM authorities.. do u think those guards really afraid to those those barbarian?? they being trained to be guard, sure have some gut with them.. but the point is UPM are the boss that pay them… why offence boss then.. tats why at the end.. chinese pulak yang kena tolak…
July 23rd, 2006 at 4:36 am
Haven’t really have the time to follow even the main stream news back home, so tabloids?? Not even a sniff of it. All I can say is that everyone or even any institution (in this case UPM) has it’s pros and cons. It’s the human nature that always promote the negatives.
I had seen methadone addicts helping a small kid to get back he’s bike after being taken by some bullies with my own eyes… so are the methadone addicts good or bad?? I wouldn’t know, but the general public will just look at them as if they are junk because they are protrait as a drug addict.
Same case with UPM, the good points will always be overshadowed by the the negativity.
Anyway, I have to admit, I do, at times, fall into the trap of seeing the cons and only the cons only.
P.S. Kudos for minishorts to raise the issue here.
July 23rd, 2006 at 9:33 am
I agree with your viewpoints and suggestion. However, you had not been fair to sensitrovert. He had highlighted what was and is, nothing more.
Have you considered that if you were the girl that the sniker shoes were tossed at your nose with 50 people clapping and shouting with delight, what would you have blog?
I truly agree that the matter must be resolved in the best interest of the nation as a whole and not to incite any further insidious issues that could trigger a clash of civilisation.
You had been an erudite writer. Why should you throw stone on an intellect?
Have you heard of the forum in Uitm that propounded heavily on a “Fact” that the drug problems of Malays were entirely due to the vicious plan of another race? That those pendatang came to grab their land and wealth and make them poor. Ya, it was a small group of chauvinist of hundreds in numbers as compared to the tens of thousands of students there, so your line of coolant. But if such line of discussions and propagation continues for the last 10 years, there would have been thousands of converts.
What I am saying is the university are doing nothing to stop these racial incitement and no newspaper had highlighted the issues. We need the authorities to act to protect and prevent the nation from driving towards the age of uncivilisation and clash of civilisation.
Apologise for the berating.
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:00 pm
In blogging, the dictum, imho, “To each his/her own” applies. I’ve often found grounds with Howsy on some of his VIEWS, but that’s what makes an intellectual forum interesting. There is no basis to accuse Howsy of “over-palying” the video incident — when you fight corruption or drugs, is there such a thing as “overkill”?
Of course, minishorts is correct to say that UPM has produced many fine graduates. Any university with anenrolment of 20,000 evey year would produce SOME “outsnading” grads. majority “competent” ones (to find employment), and also some “dungus” who are totally unemployable, even after more post-grad training. But by the definition of “news”, it’s INCIDENTS, like Nazri’s outburst against the Ethnic Realtions book — Bravo, Mr Minister! usually negative or spectacular (like Siti cum Datuk K! Congrats feeding the lighthearted soap-opeera minded Malaysians!), so the silent majority of “doing well” grads don’t get covered — that’s the nature of news plus Blogging-biggies eh?
I belive if we stick to the ISSUES, we’ll be alright, it’s when LABELS are wantoinly thrown about — which I think that Howsy’s indeed guilty of! and I’m speaking as one of his regular conversationists! — the fireworks will be there. Maybe we still ENJOY aMore!
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:02 pm
oopos, first sentence words omitted…found grounds “to differ” with Howsy… Minta Maaf!
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:09 pm
I graduated from UPM. I’m disgusted with the incident and I hope the authorities take severe action against the perpetrators but i agree with Minishorts, lets not be too hasty in labelling people. Its just childish. But adequate exposure of the incident is required, but let not the blogosphere denizens be too big-headed and self-righteous that they take it upon themselves to ensure that justice is served.
July 23rd, 2006 at 1:37 pm
“let not the blogosphere denizens be too big-headed and self-righteous that they take it upon themselves to ensure that justice is served.”
How are they gonna do that ? Put out a ‘wanted: dead or alive’ on the perpetrators? hahahaha.
Blogosphere denizens can’t and won’t do any more than spreading information and notifying the proper parties.
If that is considered “too big-headed and self-righteous that they take it upon themselves to ensure that justice is served. ” then you obviously have not seen what a real vigilante is capable of.
As long as the blogosphere denizens doesn’t get involved with any physical/violent methods of getting justice served, I don’t see any problems at all.
They can say, blog whatever they like, it’s their right, their blogs. No need for anyone to lecture them on self-righteousness.
July 23rd, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Social commentaries.
Forgive me if my blog of lately has taken on a different kind of mood. You know, the whole pet-care business, comment on WC and other so-called not-important things in life.
Forgive me if it seems like I don’t really care enough to highlight issu…
July 24th, 2006 at 10:38 am
My wife is from UPM… I was educated abroad. She was there some 10 years ago… we randomly drive around the campus on weekends. After hearing much of her stories… I too began to fall in love with her higher education learning experience at UPM. Forget about all the talk about local U’s being inferior… my wife is a superwoman and she is a product of our local U. She is balanced in every way… and I respect her more than any other woman I know.
Watching the video clip really made me feel sad. I felt sad for her because I know how much she loves UPM… I also felt sad because not too long ago, I saw similar type of behaviour at my old secondary school. Poor social planning and structuring… racism meets gangsterism sort of thing (that was at my secondary school). Those kids weren’t even 16… after some yelling from outsiders and adults… they kids ran off…
I guess the really disturbing part is I don’t see the authorities taking serious long-term action and committing to it. A lot of talk… a lot of “we’ll set up an independant committee to study…”… a lot of talk… a lot of TALK! Really bothers me that a lot of these offenders are getting off with a slap on the wrist… no proper long-term repair/penalties, with good foundation to repair on.
I am a Malaysian… proud to be one… but every time I see something like that… it makes me sick in the stomach. I know violence breeds more violence… but honestly if I saw my kids being treated like that… truly, I believe it is going to be hard for me to restrain myself. I believe that any man (even from upper echelons of society)… would do anything in his power to defend his loved ones… even with bare fists.
… so authorities/Government please do something. Action needs to be taken. Something much much more severe and of significant impact… National Service is just not going to cut it…
a very sad…
AWM user
July 24th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
We are a group of UPM students running a blog for Indian students. Like you, we are condeming any msg/info which is being spread without any investigation.
As we hv mentioned in our blog, we will be no different than those pathetic souls who hv no idea what is this whole thing is about.
==mahasiswa==
July 24th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
If anything, the compounding of a ridiculous coursebook on ethnic relations with this video scandal have made people put two and two together. What sort of reaction did anyone seriously expect? We all sit around and make happy cakes with poppy seeds and such?
Even if we assert that conflating a heavily-skewed coursebook with the thuggery in UPM is insupportable, I doubt few people will fail to make the connection between the attitudes that engendered such a coursebook and the now-infamous fracas between some students.
Was howsy wrong in bringing up the issue? Well, now that you know that UPM was his alma mater also, maybe things look slightly different.
(Btw, quite laudable that you’re standing up for your alma mater; I would too. In fact, I’d write a stinging letter to your Vice Chancellor demanding why he was allowing such attrocious behaviour in UPM if I were you; you have as much right to the good name of your university as any current students.)
July 25th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Storm in a teacup if you ask me, it’s all overblown.
July 25th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
It is sad to see that some students care more about politics rather than being a learned individual, when being at varisity. Personally, they are merely pawns of political parties of this nation. Their passion for such nonsense indeed is disturbing as they are allowed to berate others without fear. Such imbecilic behaviours must not be condoned and those responsible should be severely punished for disturbing the peace and harmony that should exist in institutions of higher learning be it here or anywhere else. I would think that in other institutions overseas, expulsion would be the way to deal with such radical behaviour.
I say no to such behaviour.
July 26th, 2006 at 5:53 am
Your piece is a classic case of shooting the messenger which is equally bad as blaming the victim.
This is clear a case of racism,these little brats copying their kris waving older brothers,a microcosm of the political reality in Malaysia.
The authorities and some government politicians may try to whitewash this incident or give it a different spin.You guys should not be in denial.You may now have good jobs and good lives but what of your children? You are still young and you have the option to get out.Please act now.
July 26th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
sexyman, i heart you! you seem so smart….and sexy too!
July 31st, 2006 at 8:38 pm
Hi, your comments are brilliantly constructed. I believe that there are only a minority of bad hats out there but these guys actually needs to be dealt with utmost stern action. You see, I believe these bad hats are like ‘cancers’ simply because, their actions may instigate others to be the same. I would like to emphasise the word ‘may’. Individuals differ in their thinking but there are also other’s whom would follow the crowd. If these students are not shown that stern action will be taken against them, I believe there will be others who will think that the uni’s heads are all toothless and hence, UPM will lose respect and control on their students. Without respect and control, these so called graduates will move on to be ‘graduated mobsters’. Do you seriously think that the nation will benefit from these guys?
As for those bloggers which mentioned that those whom did not voice out about this issue, I guess they may have gone a little overboard BUT, they do deserve their merits too. Blogging is a good way to spread this issue out to the widest audience possible and hence, try to prevent the incidence of sweeping this issue under the carpet. Their intonation may be wrong, but I guess they did made a lot of people know about this issue. As you can see, there is not event a hint of news what had happened. WE as rakyat have a right to know what had happened because the FUTURE of the country lies in these bunch of supposedly graduates. If they can create mob rule in the UNI, I believe they can be mobs in their corporate life.
You mentioned too:
‘Responsibility goes far deeper than sensationalizing issues that should not be sensationalized, it goes further than jumping……
I would like to ask, were you not ’sensationalising’ your issues too? Here is an example from your blog:
‘So here, I’d like fellow UPM-ers to speak up. Stand together against this other mob, this online mob that wants to tell the world that our alma mater is a lousy university, that the students who come out from that university learn nothing but bullying tactics……’
Were you not a mob by saying those words above?
To be truly neutral in comments is actually not to speak anything at all. This matter had been brought up and being highlighted to the public by the relevant parties. Actions had been taken too (I hope they did because there is not even a followup as to what had happened) and I guess, there is no further point for us to shout at something which is the past. I do not profess to say that I had always looked at issues on a balanced manner but then, I always try. Both you and the bloggers were right and wrong in certain ways. Those guys were wrong and they should not had berated the others but then, these words will mean nothing unless you seriously think that what they say is right. Ani Arope did not think so and certainly, you should not too.
The job of lifting up the uni’s name does not rest on your shoulders. It is the job of the head of uni and all the lecturers there. It seemed to me that you were so agitated by those monickers you failed to see that they are actually plain foolish by saying such things.
At the current moment, it seemed that this issue had been conveniently swept under the carpet but then, it will never be resolved. Why? The uni is too afraid take any stern actions fearing they may incite a racial/political issue hence, giving in to this barbaric act. It may seem to be ‘resolved’ on the surface but beneath it, we would have to ask ourselves:
Will another such similar case happen in the future taking advantage of the uni’s non confrontational stand?
Is our inter-racial tolerance that fragile?
How does a bunch of students with such barbaric thoughts manage to get into universities?
Are political parties brainwashing the students?
How would you have felt if the victims turned out to be our children?
Think Again….
August 1st, 2006 at 8:16 am
uncle. old news adi lah… stop commenting when it’s a week old.
i’m closing comments.