Archive for November, 2007

UUM Graduate Sharing Experience On Dress Code

Published November 29, 2007 in Malaysia oh Malaysia. 3 Comments

Two (or three) days back, I received a very long comment for one of my older posts. The post is titled, UUM Students Faced With Immature Dress Code. The person who left the comment is a graduate from UUM. (S)He shared his/her experience studying and living in UUM with such strict rules for three years.

Since the comment is really long, I wouldn’t want to copy and paste the whole thing here. Just click this link to read the comment. From the comment, it is really difficult to identify the gender of the person who left the comment. At first I thought it must be a guy but then it could end up either way.

Below are some quotes from the comment.

It wasn’t too bad for the guys. It got from bad to worse for the girls, though. It went from formal attire, knee-length skirt to (in my final semester) long-sleeve only plus long pants for the girls. I even heard a couple of cases where girls who didn’t wear long-sleeved attire were barred from going into the library and being “disciplined”.

Some college administrators, on the other hand, seemed overzealous in imposing the rules. I have been reprimanded once, quite harshly, by the administrator of a residential college because I was wearing shorts to fill in water (the water dispensing machine was located just outside the college cafeteria) at 11.30 pm. Sure, there’s a 12am curfew (yes, there is) and I’m wearing shorts, but I’m just filling water. It’s not like I’m doing anything downright illegal! I have had to consciously remind myself to put on trousers every time I had to step outside my block for three years!

I spent three years studying in UKM and have never come across such ridiculous dress code ruling. I am truly thankful for that. There isn’t such a thing as a curfew but guys are not allowed in some areas (usually girl’s block) after a certain time (eg. 10pm). I’ve walked out of my block to the canteen way after midnight and there will still be people studying or just hanging around.

The way UUM implements their dress code makes me feel they are more like a military school instead. It is acceptable if they want their students to dress up smart (as in no torn jeans, micro skirts, super low cut jeans, mighty low cut blouse, etc). However, to go to the extend of “long sleeves only” is asking too much.

All I can say is thank goodness I didn’t choose to study in UUM.

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Politics Is A Subject I Can Never Understand

Published November 25, 2007 in Malaysia oh Malaysia. 6 Comments

First, it was the BERSIH rally on the 10th November. Hindraf organized another peaceful protest that brought forward more traffic jams caused by roadblocks setup by the police. The march was scheduled at about 10 am today. Unfortunately, tear gas and chemical-laced water was fired into the crowd in an attempt to disperse them as early as 7.40am as reported by Malaysiakini.


This is a very sad story to me. Not that I am taking any sides but to read and see things like this happening in Malaysia is beyond my comprehension. I guess it could be true that I have been sleeping in the Matrix for a little too long. Time to wake up, maybe?

In the video, P Uthayakumar, Hindraf legal adviser mentioned that the government of Malaysia tried to stop 100,000 people from gathering today by setting up roadblocks. People from all around the country were prevented from joining by having bus permits cancelled. Below are some other quotes by him taken from the video.

“They are even going into hotels, asking hotels not to accept Indians to stay in the hotels.”

“We also have information that the police are going to raid the hotels to lookout for Indians.”

UPDATE:
You can check bmahendran.com for more updates on this march, that is if his server could handle the load. There are almost 200 visitors on his page the last time I checked.


Al Jazeera report

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ShutterAsia Portrait Challenge

Published November 25, 2007 in Photography. 2 Comments

After finally getting my Nikon D40x, I was determined to learn more about photography and ways to take better photographs. Even after taking thousands of photos with my now retired Panasonic DMC-FZ3 for the past three years, I realized that I still do not know much, if any about photography at all.

Take for instance the mode on the digital camera. Apart from taking “macro”, portraits, landscapes and some other preset modes, there are P, A, S and M. I have always shot in the P mode because that was what I was taught when I first got the digital camera. I never knew what the other modes do and what difference they make. I guess I wasn’t that enthusiastic to learn about them back then.

I have since joined ShutterAsia to learn more from the other shutter enthusiasts. There are many great tips and photos uploaded by the forum members that I find very interesting. When I was going through the forum looking for more information on the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens, I notice a thread inviting members to participate in photography challenges. There will be a different challenge every month where cash vouchers and other prizes await the one who comes up with the best photo. This month’s theme is portrait.

I was very interested to join the challenge but hesitated in doing so knowing that it would be a head on collision between Kancil and Mercedes-Benz. After considering the idea for a while, I decided to take up the challenge anyway. It wasn’t for the prizes but to challenge myself to experiment and learn more about taking presentable photos.

The rule of the challenge is that the submitted photo must be taken within the challenge period (1 November to 25 November). I went to the beach and my local mini zoo to take some photos last weekend. There are two photos that I am quite happy with. Thankfully, the organizers mentioned that portraits of animals are acceptable. This is my submission to the challenge.

Monkey warning taken at Teluk Cempedak

The photo above was taken at the Teluk Cempedak beach. I spent around 10 minutes taking over a dozen photos of monkeys at close range. The monkeys were hanging over my head only a few feet away. I was worried that one of them may suddenly decide to jump on my head and start chewing into my skull. Anyway, I didn’t have an alternative since my kit lens isn’t capable of a further zoom.

There is nothing special about the photo, really. Apart from being lucky that one of the monkeys decided to stretch its jaws and having a glimpse of its balls, there is nothing much to it.

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Buy Nikon D80 Kit At Only RM3,480

Published November 23, 2007 in Photography and Personal. 13 Comments

I had a nice long chat with Jason two nights ago about him having problems with his VMI card in PayPal and some other stuff about digital cameras and photography. Only then did I realize that the price for a D80 kit was only about RM3,500.

All this while, I thought the Nikon D80 was at least RM4,500 an above. If I know about it before I bought my D40x over two weeks ago, I would have definitely opted for the D80 instead. I will only have to pay less than RM100 extra per month. Furthermore, the D80 is more powerful and (if I am not mistaken) do not have problems with auto focus in older lenses that the D40x has.

Boo-sheet betul.

Anyway, it is my fault for not researching enough. Sheeeetttt!

If you want to know the latest prices of digital cameras in Malaysia, you can check out this price list of digital cameras in Lowyat.

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Maybank Charges Small Business RM10 For Using Maybank2U

Published November 23, 2007 in Malaysia oh Malaysia. 2 Comments

Maybank used to provide their E-Banking service (Maybank2u) for free to individuals and companies. From my experience, the website becomes very slow or almost inaccessible in the daytime. I have always thought that they should upgrade their servers to accommodate the increasing number of users.

Maybank charges small business to use Maybank2U

Unfortunately, Maybank has chosen a different approach to “solving” this problem. Only a few weeks ago, Maybank started charging small businesses — partnerships and professionals — a monthly fee of RM10 to use their E-Banking service. This fee will be automatically deducted from the customer’s account monthly until they wish to cancel the service.

As an alternative, those who do not want to be charged an extra RM10 monthly can use their phone banking service instead. They will need to apply for this service at their local branch. The number to call is 1300-88-6688. Unfortunately, I have been trying to call that number for the past hour but it is still engaged.

I am starting to feel very negative about Maybank now. They better improve their services. Maybe they should start at improving their staff’s morale. The protests by Maybank’s staffs in a few states just over a month ago aren’t doing any good to their image either. You can view some of the photos of the protest too.

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