Category: From My Angle

Just a quick one.

Do you notice that there’s surely firecrackers for all the festivals or occasions no matter which race celebrate them? I’m not talking about fireworks, fireworks are common but firecrackers. Even though firecrackers (or event fireworks) are illegal here but people here are playing with it like it’s no big deal.

It used to be the Chinese people that will have this tradition of playing the firecrackers during Chinese New Year, wedding, and so on. Now, even other races in Malaysia are playing it, it’s rampant when it’s near to the festival season, the eve of festival and during the festival. Do you notice such trend? I must say that it’s very unique, don’t you think so? I guess we can even beat China in this *LOL*

That’s how unique Malaysia is. We are adopting various cultures from various ethnicity in our lives. Hopefully the peace and harmony will last but I have this fear that it will not last because there are many selfish people or extremists around that want to ruin our unity. Agree?

I’m sure many of you are enjoying the holiday even though it’s just one day. The weather is so good today. Great for outing. As for me, I think I’ve just wasted this wonderful day sitting in front of the computer composing this post, Facebooking, deleting spams and etc. Whatever… In fact, I’m supposed to be in Singapore now for holiday but due to some issues the plan had to be canceled.

Anyway, I realize that this year’s Merdeka celebration is very quiet, even the national celebration was done in the indoor stadium at Bukit Jalil instead of having it outdoor. Not only that, it seems like many Sarawakians and Sabahans aren’t really in the mood to celebrate it too, at least that’s what I notice in my Facebook. Almost all(the East Malaysians) said that they feel that it is not significant to them and all they care is the Malaysia Day on the 16th September. To them, they said that 31st August is the independence of Malaya(West Malaysia) and it’s not independence of Malaysia. Well… In a way, it’s logically and correct.

To me, without 31st August, there won’t be Malaysia. Without the independence of Malaya, there won’t be Malaysia. However, saying that 31st August is Malaysia’s independence day is not right. Malaysia was only formed on 16th September 1963 when Sabah and Sarawak joined the federation.

Until this day, I’m proud to be a Malaysian(especially a Sarawakian) despite all the shortcomings of the country. We are so much better than other countries, we are very lucky to be able to live peacefully and for you to able to be here and read this post, it is enough to be thankful of as you are not out there trying to scavenge for food, have no water or electricity, sleeping on the street and so on. We should be thankful for that. No doubt we complain about this and that but that’s just part of life, who doesn’t complain? Everyone has their own opinion on every single thing. We cannot deny that. Furthermore, you can afford to complain about the lousy broadband, the food served in some eateries being not nice, lousy customer service and so on unlike other countries which are war-torn and poor, those people don’t get the luxury of complaining about these petty stuffs.

However, I still don’t get the 1Malaysia thing, sorry. I’m too dumb to understand as we here have been living harmoniously together, at least for this part of Malaysia.

Muslims or non-Muslims sitting together in a non-halal open air market or coffee shop enjoying each other company and eating from the same plate, it’s not an issue.

Non-Muslim eating or drinking in front of the Muslims during fasting month, it is also never an issue. Of course, most will not do it in front of their Muslim friends out of respect but even if it’s done, it’s not an issue.

Muslims and non-Muslims sitting together in an eatery, one having mee goreng and another having kolomee(pork version) is not an issue too! So, 1Malaysia is in a way irrelevant to us(Sabahans and Sarawakians).

Besides that, I’m sure we all notice some fine prints stating “Valid in Malaysia. Inclusive of Sabah and Sarawak” or otherwise. *LOL* OK… Really *LOL* I’m speechless. 1Malaysia eh? Aren’t Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia?

No matter what, that’s what happening around us, that’s parts and parcels of our lives here. There’s still a long way to go for Malaysia, there’s still a lot to learn and grow. It’s never easy.

At least I know I’m proud of my citizenship unlike some people that who are Malaysians but not living in Malaysia because they said that they see no hope and feel ashame with the country at the same time having the nerves to challenge or direct us Malaysians living in Malaysia to fight for our rights, calling us names and so on as if they are living above the rest yet they themselves take the easy way out by leaving the country.

Com’on, if you are so great and so concern of your home country, you should be here to fight for what you think is good and not talk cock and “directing” the people here to do whatever you think that should be done by hiding outside the country! Talk is cheap, anyone can talk. Can you do it? You can’t. Also, commented us for being stupid and so on. You sure have your rights of speech but I do no respect people like you and I’m sure other Malaysians won’t appreciate your 2 cents too. We don’t have to hear from cowards like you.

Just like what some people said, “kalau tidak suka, keluar!“, keluarlah you go… If you can afford it, then why not, right? If you can’t, how? You will have to fight for your survival here. For those that manage to keluar, you don’t have to look down on those who can’t afford to do it, you should salute them for having the guts to stay back unlike you, they are stronger than you are, they make the unfavourable situation works for them. No matter how fuck up their country is, it’s still home for them.

Lastly, hope all of you have a great holiday. It’s back to work again tomorrow.

Well… I really don’t know… There’s always two ways in looking at the matter. I’m not sure how the others will look at it, some might agree, some might not.

As a blogger, I sometimes get invited to attend events. It can be given with free entrance/food/drink/products or with a fee in addition to the earlier mentioned. The latter is rare but there were some. Usually if I am required to cover an event, I was only expecting to blog about it, I’m not required to provide them with the photos or videos that I had taken.

Worst things is that when people did not bother to hire the professionals for the tasks and expecting the bloggers to give them all those for free which usually might cost thousands if they were to hire the pros. Even if they did get the pros, I do not expect to give them as it is way out of my job scope.

I’m not sure about the reporters. Do you release the photos you had taken to the organizers? Maybe some photos I guess depending on your relationship with the person but you are not oblige to give right? As far as I know, you only use the photos for newspaper reports. Basically, that’s my understanding. I’m not your photographer, I’m not your videographer, unless it was earlier agreed upon. On normal case, I’m a blogger, I only blog, nothing more, nothing less.

I do admit that I did release my photos taken for free last time for events because I wasn’t aware of the consequences. Another reason was also because they were friends’ events. It’s similar like how amateur photographers giving free photo shoots or giving their photos up for the sake of building a portfolio.

Let’s put it this way, I think photos or videos are subjected to certain extend of copyrights. If you gave them up for free, if the people that you gave didn’t use it for commercial usage, it’s fine. If they did, then you are really at a losing end. They are earning money from it for long term and you get nothing from your hard work.

Another problem is that once you give out your photos or videos for free, others will expect to get it free from you next time. Correct? When you say you will charge, they will be caught with surprise and think that you are so money oriented. Hmm…

Sometimes people don’t understand or just being ignorance. *Shrug* I don’t know.

I blog for a living, just like the others that work for a living. If you are expecting me to give you things for free without giving anything in return(e.g. barter trade or monetary compensation or at least not asking for something more than my job scope), how am I going to live?

For those who do not rely on blogging as their main source of income, that might be a different story. Then, this might give a wrong impression to the public that bloggers don’t have to be paid to do things. Sadly, many people do think so. There is not enough awareness on this issue I guess…

Really, there’s two ways to look at it. No right or wrong. I guess at the end you are the one that will decide whether you should give them up for free or not.

As for me, it’ll be on a case-by-case basis.

Lastly, I guess I will get less assignments now to cover events because people have to be very careful when dealing with me hahaha… Oh well… What I’m trying to say is that we should be all working together for a win-win situation rather than taking advantages of each other which will not do any good to anyone.

I’ve been getting continuous calls from local colleges/universities(private and otherwise) students asking me to “help” with their web development assignments daily! Imagine that?!?!

Previously I had done a few and I don’t want to take any anymore now. One thing is because it’s not worth it and it will do no good for them, they don’t bother to learn, they just want to be spoon fed which is a serious problem with students nowadays. That’s why nowadays you get many youngsters(as if I’m so old ;p) and also many young adults asked you things that are already stated in the documents or blog posts and so on. They don’t bother to read or find out even though the things are right there in front of them!

Let me share some of my experiences with “helping” them, it’s not an easy task. They told me that it’s very simple to do but when I asked for further details, they had no clue at all! If it’s so simple, then they should know how to do. They shouldn’t be coming to me!

It’s not only about building the website for them, I’m sure all the assignments required documentations. So it will mean, I have to do their documentations for them indirectly even though they told me that I didn’t have to. They didn’t even understand the components and the mechanisms of the thing, how are they going to do the documentation based on my work?!?

Not only that, they asked me to do, fine! I did it based on their question requirements. Then, they showed their lecturers or they didn’t (just used the lecturer’s name to indirectly tell me they didn’t really like the work I did. I purposely did it their standard rather than the pro standard to help cover their ass). They came back to me saying that the lecturer asked to change this, change that, blah blah blah… You get the drift? Then, I had to redo again. Really not worth the time and money. Some more I had to waste time meet them face to face to explain the assignment to them so that they won’t be caught cheating. Imagine, submitting the assignment, do presentation and when the lecturers ask questions, they got no clue on what to say.

Then, there’s even one really bad one. The dad asked me to tutor the daughter, fine… I went and tutored her. Then the next day, she called me and told me that she would pay me to do the assignment because she really didn’t get it and told me not to tell her dad. Fine… I was so sick and tired with her calling me day and night even with the simplest thing(which she knew how but lazy to do one by one, I found out after I went tru’ the work) and her due date was in few days time, I agreed. Thought that it will end there, who knows…

After many many moons, almost one year later, she called me up again, asking me to DO another assignment of hers. After inquiry about it, I found out that it’s not something I know how… I had returned that knowledge to my lecturer already hahaha… I told her I didn’t know how to do, she kept begging and saying it’s very simple assignment. I kept telling her I couldn’t help, I really got no idea, didn’t even remember the basics. Even asked me to introduce other friends of mine that could help. I just told her they were all very busy, no time at all. I got no idea what happened next, whether she managed to hand up the assignment or not, it’s none of my business.

Another reason for me to decline was also there is no point to “help”, it will do her no good. She should look for her lecturer and tell him/her about her problems, I’m sure the lecturer will be able to help her, have discussion with her classmates, and do her own research. If I did it for her, it would mean she’s learning nothing. What is the point?!?!

Then few days ago, called me again! This time I had to declined with various excuses. Same thing, asked me for my other friends that could help, again I told her the same thing. Then, she tried again to make me agree by telling me she didn’t have the software. Of course I told her I got no such software. The truth is I really don’t have. I just asked her to see her lecturer face to face, get help from her lecturer and ended the conversation.

I know such assignment or project “help” is very common among many students nowadays not only in Malaysia but everywhere else. What good is there to “help” them? Graduate without even knowing what they were learning and then come out to the working world demand for high salary because of the piece of paper they got.

Such “help” is really in demand nowadays especially for non-IT students. Sorry to say that but that’s the fact. They are not interested and got no clue at all about these IT stuffs(the very basics) but they have to study it because it’s required in their course. To them, these knowledge got no use and not related to them, they didn’t even bother to learn more about it. The fact is that all these knowledge actually prepare them for the world out there.

For example, you’re taking business course, you need to learn how to use Excel, Access, Power Point, Frontpage, VB and so on, some of these are required in the business world nowadays especially if you are working at a corporate firm and depending on which department you work with, also to prepare you not to be cheated or taken advantage by some IT experts(sad to say, there are). Don’t you even dare to tell me that you don’t have to know all these if you’re studying non-IT course. It’s BS!

Then again, I don’t think we can do anything… We can only do that much, the rest is still up to themselves.