Let’s keep it straight to the point. Here are some links for scholarships and loans available for Malaysian students. Pass this around. Hope it’ll be helpful.

1. MARA Scholarship Programs
2. Yayasan Proton Scholarship
3. PTPTN Education Loan
4. The Star Education Fund Scholarship Awards 2007
   
5. Astro Scholarship Award
6. PETRONAS Education Scholarship Programs
7. 2007 MNRB Scholarship Fund
8. OCBC Bank Scholarship
9. Bank Negara Scholarship
10. ABM 50th Merdeka Scholarship
11. Curtin Sarawak Scholarship
12. The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus High Achievers Scholarships
13. HELP University College
14. Adelaide Achiever Scholarships International (AASI)
15. Curtin University of Technology Scholarship
16. Charles Darwin University Scholarship
17. Kolej Disted-Stamford Degree Scholarships
18. Leeds University Scholarships
19. Loughborough University Human Science Scholarships
20. MAAC Scholarship - La Trobe University 2006
21. NUS / Asean Undergraduate Scholarship
22. UCL Pathfinder Scholarships
23. University of Sheffield Scholarship
24. UTAR Scholarships
25. Nanyang Technological University Scholarship
26. Tasmanian International Scholarships
27. University of Malaya Fellowship Scheme
28. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Scholarship
29. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST Discovery Scholarship)
30. Universiti Malaysia Sabah Scholarship

With all the allegations, accusations, and even admissions of racism that is happenning in our country of late, isn’t it time that we all try to press the Pause button, sit back, and give the whole issue another serious thought? Name callings and deragotory remarks have been hurled by both parties in all cases. It is just that instead shouting it to the man standing across the street, it is now being said to the man attending public talks and also the one who’s sitting in front of a computer. Subtlety and snide hintings have lost their ways, and direct anger now seems to fuel everyone’s intent.

By referring to Wikipedia, racism, by its simplest definition, is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Let’s not go into enthnicity, since, well, here in Malaysia, we tend to have our own definitions which may or may not contradict with the United Nations’ definitions and policies. So let’s stick with the term “race” for the sake of discussion, shall we?

Now, if we take into context the definition above, then, our suddenly-famous blogger who was in the news lately, can, in fact, be considered a racist, as she had generalised Indians based on their traits and capacities. What some fail to question here is, whether is she the only bad apple in the whole box, OR, the stink has been there for a while, but it is only now that we are starting to smell it?

Politeness to others in society is merely social duty that everyone undertakes. True, one can assert that they celebrate another culture’s festivals together with friends and they wear each other’s traditional clothing. But, haven’t we still realised yet that man’s true self is presented upon the world at times of great emotional outbursts? You cannot know what is man’s innermost thoughts when he is having a jolly good day. But you will get a chance to have a glimpse of his true self when he is pushed to an edge.

SO, here, we know that racism does not, and can not happen in an instant. There has to be slow conditioning over the years for some person to have such beliefs. AND it blows over when you least expect it. Racism is not something that shows out every day. It happens in sudden outbursts, often with grudging emotions.

The point is to look at the conditioning. How many of us, can claim that we do know about all the other cultures as well as we do ours? I dare not to answer that. And how many of us can claim that we TRY, hard as it may be, to slowly learn by ourselves about other cultures? I dare say I do, as do most level-headed Malaysians out there. Where does the issue begin then? The direct culprit shall always be education. Education, inside classrooms and also outside them. Education from our schools and from our parents and from our friends.

Intra- and inter-cultural education is pivotal. Kids do not see each other in colours of the skin. All they see is another being to interact with and perhaps go play the see-saw in the playground later that evening. Racism is taught. Perhaps a better word for it would be “cultured”. Racism is cultured. In our case, I believe it is more indirect than direct. Our schools do not emphasize on the education of other cultures. True, we do learn about “honesty”, “respect” and “tolerance” in our textbooks, but are they enough? Are our younger generation at schools are being educated on the ancestory and the roots of all the cultures here? Forget about lame facts such as years and dates of events. If one is not proud to have known about his parentage, then how can he stand up to insults about his race? If one does not understand another’s culture, then how can one respect the other without being a ignorant fool?

If we were not educated, and we do not take the initiative to BE educated in this, we WILL be passing our traits to our children. And they to theirs. Thus, the cycle will never end. It is up to us to break free from the mould with our own initiative. Let’s hear your thoughts on the cause and possible solutions. Let’s all take the red pill, shall we?

Disclaimer: Based on an article from a recent Reader’s Digest issue, but certainly not copy-pasted.

In this connected world, how safe is your privacy? Never mind about the perverts and psychos roaming around trying to stalk you. You have an even bigger issue to deal with online. Take a look at you Facebook, Friendster or MySpace profile. Now, put yourself in the shoes of a prospective employer and ask yourself: “Would you hire a person whose profile picture shows him puking in a toilet bowl with a comment saying ‘I got sooooo drunk that day’?”

Employers now have gotten very tech savvy, even more than we give them credit for. All a person needs to do is Google your name, and there pops out your profile page with details on your likes, dislikes, pictures and many more. The question is, are you willing to forsake a future employment offer just to have a cool profile page that chicks/hunks dig (or Digg)? Your online profile says a lot about you even before you take your first step into the interviewer’s room. It’s like a background check done in 30 seconds flat. We don’t need private investigators now, do we?

Employers wanna get to know about their prospective employees’ character early on. And social bookmarking sites provide them with ll the information they need in a flash. So, it is good practice to “clean up” your profiles so that they do not let out too much about your misgivings. Your profile is automatically your own public relations tool.

It’s okay to have pictures of you having fun with your friends. Having a picture of you and your friends having a good drink is fine, cause it shows that you can socialize. Having a picture of you being drunk wearing only your boxers shows lack of judgement. It is how you potray yourself to others. And it depends on what line of work you are aiming to get into. Having a website wth your name, filled with fancy graphics and animations and written in your own brand of satirical comedy bodes well for a creativity based job, but it doesn’t seem much of a bright idea for applicants in the hospitality industry where a person’s polite and clean persona carries much weight. It all depends on where you want to end up.

Keeping your profiles private help a lot. But some people prefer to reach out to a wider group of individuals, thus preferring a public profile. In any ways, you must be able to discern what is proper, and what is not. If you have blogs of controversial nature, it is up to you to have your own disclaimer. Think of it as a pre-nuptual agreement between you and your reader(s).

On a personal note, when I was hired for my current job, my interviewer has access to my blog. His verdict? I obviously knew how to program in PHP, and my offbeat ramblings showed creativity skills for problem solving. Though I’d still recommend everyone to style their online presence in their social bookmarking sites to a more “people friendly” manner.

For a better insight, refer to the June 2008 issue of Reader’s Digest (Malaysian Edition), on the article How To Click & Clean by Andy Simmons.

As promised.

Plenty of comments were put up on tzarina’s post on Malaysian Indians in Malaysian Universities. Since questions were put up regarding the validity of the talked about issue in private universities, I would like to regale my experiences. Furthermore, I graduated from a Indian-majority university, which was set up by an Indian-based political party. I will reserve my thoughts on the university itself for the time being, and would rather, for now, care to explain more about the student mentality there.

Entering an Indian-majority surrounding at 18 years old was a big culture shock, to say the least. Growing up as a minority in the city (so to speak), it felt kinda weird being a majority race for the first time. Since the university was still in its infancy, I got to see a bunch of colorful characters there.

Read more »

I would like to call for another meeting of MINDSBLOG admin, authors, suscribers and readers. The last meeting was in so many ways a success, in the sense that we finally managed to meet each other, and we also managed to discuss a few issues that is very much important to us. So, this time, I was hoping for all of us to meet up again in KL.

I haven’t decided upon any dates yet. Feedback from everyone is very much appreciated so that we may fix a date where many of us will be able to attend. So, guys, any suggestions? Please be aware that the location is also not fixed, but I’m leaning towards Mid Valley coz it’s more centralised and well known.