Posted by Bobby Ong on Nov 21, 2007 in
Current Issues,
Diary,
Ramblings It is really disheartening to look at the latest universities ranking provided by Times. As an 18 year old, my focus is just on the top 20 universities in the world - to look at it and make a decision in 1 year time on which university I should go to.
Because it is the school holidays now, I have cut down on reading the newspapers from daily to every few days. And I did not realise that the universities ranking had been released. That was till I talked to a Malaysian friend in NUS (National University of Singapore) yesterday.
He told me about how NUS had dropped down the ranking from 19 to 33. And how Malaysian universities – UM, UKM, USM had dropped even further down the list. It’s so bad that now not a single Malaysian university is in the Top 200.
Looking forward to find out how bad the situation was, I hopped on to Lim Kit Siang’s (Malaysia’s opposition leader) blog to got a fuller picture from his post.
It’s really shocking to see the extent of mediocrity that Malaysian universities have come to. Reading the comments on the post is even more depressing. Skimming through only a few of the comments is enough to make me feel sorry for my own country.
I’m now in Singapore doing my A-level under the ASEAN scholarship. My exams are at the end of next year. Although I could have done Form 6 which is equally hard (mind you A-levels in Singapore is NOT easy, it is super hard), I feel really bad that my own home land is doing so bad.
Over here in Singapore, everyone is striving to be the best with talks of globalisation, competition, talent being the talk of the town (government, teachers, students etc) daily.
I can’t help but feel sorry about Malaysia’s universities. I knew from last year when I was doing my SPM that I will never ever set foot on a Malaysian university. And with the new ranking list out, it’s becoming real evident that entering Malaysian university is not really an option.
The brain drain is for REAL. Young people like me, we are going away. I’m already technically out of the country. I’m going to pursue an overseas education in US or UK or worse come to worse in Singapore. And whichever country that I study for my university I’ll stay there for a few years to work. Only after that I’ll consider coming back to Malaysia to work.
I’m still young. Years of patriotism lessons in schools had certainly had in impact on me. It has certainly instilled a sense of love for holding on to the Malaysian citizenship. Although I must say I’m ashamed to talk about my country’s state of education or politics whenever we have discussions in my school or hostel with Singaporeans or other fellow international students.
I don’t like to discriminate people, but what do you want me to tell others of our Government’s policies? Yea I know History text books will say it is like our safety net to ensure racial stability, but why are young Malaysians feeling left out in their own country?
Staying in Singapore undergoing their intense public education system definitely puts great stress on a young person. It is really hard work, hard work and hard work over here.
You can see students working so hard to chase success. You can sense the hunger and desire to be the best, to chase for glory. Everyone is in a race. You are either in it or left to rot at the sidelines of society.
I can certainly feel the heat of global competition over here, albeit with mostly Singaporeans. Recalling back my secondary days in Malaysia, I can barely feel all these heat.
Education and life in Malaysia, where is it heading?
Posted by Bobby Ong on Nov 15, 2007 in
Diary,
Funny Heya. I’m back again with Part 2 of my rocking scholars’ trip to [tag]ECP[/tag]. For Part 1 of the trip, click here. Ok. maybe it’s just the 3 of us who had real fun coz we were photographing like crazy wit all our crazy shots.
kinda weird the way yao long jumps…lol
maybe my [tag]jump[/tag] is weird too…
yao long! stop doing that to me. i still wanna live my life (oops, what life is there as a jc student in sg?)
tell u what…i’m very sure i’m gonna win the limbo king game…wanna challenge me?
i like this shot….walk to the light…lol (should have added the saint thingie on my head)
aiya….if only got a very plain background then this would have been a perfect portrait shot of me….
yao long n wern chia
again i like this pix….seems like we are really deep in [tag]meditation[/tag] (or do we not?)
haha….the next time u go to ECP, try fitting into this small bowl…
that’s all folks for this time. i have another batch of photos from our trip to ECP. it’s a story of how we scaled 3 tall poles. the tallest pole being 10ft high? or probably higher…. n how the 3 of us managed to sit on top of the poles like we are at the top of the world.
Posted by Bobby Ong on Nov 12, 2007 in
Diary Argh! I’d just realised I have holiday homework….and lots of them. WTH?!?! Can’t the school let us off without holiday homework just like in Malaysia? At least we get our December holidays to ourselves.
One month had passed since the promos exam. And I find it very tough to do the holiday homework. I’ve forgotten so many things! HOW? HOW? HOW?
Screw it. I dun really have much choice. Gotta do it all….Have to pass it up to Council teachers by 28th December. Screw holiday homework…..
Posted by Bobby Ong on Nov 9, 2007 in
Diary,
Funny Last Sunday, our Malaysian ASEAN direct scholars decided that we should have an outing together after a long while leading out own lives in separate junior colleges. So we decided to go East Coast Park beach to chill.
I spent my time mostly with Yao Long from Temasek Junior College and Wern Chia from National Junior College. And we ended up taking lotsa crazy pixs. Here’s the pixs, photoshopped for effects. Yao Long n Wern Chia, can you spot the difference from the original pixs other than the wordings? 
Nice patch of green grass rite? dun u all agree wit me?
Wern Chia n Yao Long said i looked like a reindeer in the pix…do u think so?
i din noe this pix was taken….lol
we tried some jumping shots….
n more jumpin shots…lol
n the best pix of all….the 3 superheroes pix…..(pixs adjusted levels on photoshop)
the superheroes still standing….
and standing sumore……
and still standing!!! wah! so much stamina ah?
Anyway, that’s part 1 of the many many pictures that we had. Stay tuned for part 2……gotta do resizing n minor editing on photoshop……come back soon!!!!
Posted by Bobby Ong on Nov 1, 2007 in
Diary It’s finally over! [tag]Project Work [/tag](PW) is over! Yay! No more meeting with friends to discuss project work…No more Dr. Yunus….No more late lunches!
Oh btw, I think Project Work is quite useful unlike many people who thinks it’s a useless subject. I feel it’s like the most useful subject in Junior College. I feel it has the most application to later in working life.
I feel like I’ve picked up many important skills in the Written Report - especially doing the substantiation of ideas. Oh and Oral Presentation is pretty important too….I see myself trying to sell my ideas in a presentation in a few years time….That’s why I believe it’s the most important subject….
Anyway, since PW is now over, I’m really free. I have nothing to do except to ermm……dunno waste my time off?
Ok….a short post here…Probably I shall start writing a more detailed experience soon about PW….And since I’ve so much time with me now, I think I shall also start writing some post about Asean Scholarship for any people who are considering taking up this scholarship since it’s nearly a year since I set foot in Singapore…..
Posted by Bobby Ong on Oct 30, 2007 in
Diary It’s unofficially the school holidays for me already. Meaning I don’t even need to head to school for assembly and the likes of it. I like the free time that I have now. So great.
But kinda weird that having too much free time makes me bored too….Weird. I have nothing much to do in school already. There’s only the[tag]Oral Presentation[/tag] on Thursday to make, then some make-up lectures the following week and it’s officially the school holidays.
I am so bored today that I decided that well, let’s run out of hostel and go down to the city centre. I brought along my laptop and here I am blogging with the free wireless access at the whole CBD. [tag]Wireless@Sg[/tag] speed here is fast. Much faster than my hostel’s internet connection. And the best part is it’s free. I’m so sick of paying S$1 per hour for unreliable internet access. But what choice do I have right?
Well, the scene here is pretty nice. I’m sitting at some sidewalk at the middle of the city. I’m surrounded by tall buildings. On my left is OUB building, on my right is Chevron House. I have two weird looking artifacts in front of me. And two large screen TV with sound mounted on the two buildings. One TV is showing music videos and advertisement, the other Bloomberg….
Somewhere at my back, some TV crews are busy interviewing some passersby. People are walking in front of me non-stop going in or out of the MRT station…..
Interesting scene to be in I would say…. Till then signing off… 
Posted by Bobby Ong on Oct 22, 2007 in
Diary I was walking home back from college some days back and my classmates and I bumped into this huge large snail….
Nice rite?
Posted by Bobby Ong on Oct 21, 2007 in
Diary Remember the designs I showed on my blog a few posts before? Well, I’ve sent them for production. I made 40 pieces - 20 for each design. Got them back in a week. I guess it was Wednesday. Started selling to a few of my hostel mates…..Real fun stuff going around…This is what I love doing. And now in less than a week, it’s almost sold out. Here’s a picture of me and Julian - my 1st customer in the t-shirts that I made:
I’m left with 10 t-shirts (mostly large sizes). I made a mistake of ordering a little too many large sizes..Tomorrow, I’m going down to have a second reprint. This time, it won’t be maroon colour anymore…It’s gonna be dark blue….
