The Name is Chin Yi Xuan

Culture is not something that is easily changed. This is especially true, seeing how fast a typical term cycle ends and changes hand to a new team every year – it is scary fast. A hasty term simply means one thing – things come and go quickly, good and bad ones alike. Hence, there are many clubs and societies in the campus that enjoyed a short term spike in success, while many never get to breakthrough in years. Ultimately, this led to the problem where no one would like to take up leadership roles in clubs and societies every year. And if you are experiencing this in your society, it is most likely that you are not alone. Many of the clubs and societies in UM face the same issue as well. All of these inconsistencies and underperformance of clubs and societies boil down to one key aspect: Weak Culture. A weak culture within a club or society can be seen when members are not passionate to support their own initiatives, an unresponsive board of leaderships and the most obvious ...

Malaysian youths are always up-to-date with news spread across social media, yet it is so hard to convince them to register as a voter. It is never easy to convince one to do the right thing, and today I would like to try my luck on Malaysian youths age 21 and above. Politics is never a popular topic among youths in Malaysia, which is especially true when some of them felt that their votes will not change anything in the Malaysian politic scene. With the opposition coalition winning the popular votes in the last general election (GE13), yet still losing to the current government, the confidence of Malaysians towards our democracy system is again weakened. Do Not Give Up! Being a youth myself, I understand the helplessness. I understand the frustration, and I call it the 'Political Fatigue' - The feeling that one vote would not change anything. The feeling that one vote would not be enough. The feeling that one vote would not create any impact. True enough, ...

As I am approaching my final academic semester in UM, this is an article that I would like to share with everyone that comes across my blog for Form 6/STPM advices and opinions (I started this blog writing about Form 6), my recent contents on education and politics, or maybe just simply because the topic of this article caught your eyes. So technically, I am 23 this year. I studied Form 6/STPM for Pre-U which results in me lagging at least a year behind many of my peers. For the past couple of years I’d seen my peers and even high school juniors graduated and started their full-time career in their respective industries and my relatives starting to step up the ladder in their career. The outcome from witnessing these events, especially the peers same age as me are getting out to the working world, is a mixed and complex feelings on my current state – 23 and still studying while the peers around me are starting to work and earn. As a result, many questions popped through my mind...

To start, let me say that this will be a long read as I'll go through an interesting journey of politics in Malaysia from the past until the present, and hence, my short introduction:  This is why we are still so racially divided till today.  The introduction of the concept of 1 Malaysia in 16 th  of September 2010 seven years ago marked an important moment in Malaysia, as it aims to build on the concept of inclusiveness which reinforce the national identity through various policies and measurements of all Malaysians regardless of race and ethnicity.  We cannot discuss this issue in concrete without the brief introduction of a few theories: Systems Theory is an important concept in this discussion, whereby it applies the Easton’s Key Concept to describe how a policy is made, and how the outcome of the particular policy can impact the policy-maker. It started off by an input of demand from the community, which in turn supporting the politicians that are able t...

The impact of budget cut on public universities is real. Great and inspiring lecturers are not having their contracts renewed, retired lecturers are not replaced and inadequate learning facilities, just to name a few. As a whole in Malaysia’s Budget 2017, Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) faced a 29% allocation cut compared to 2016 from RM13.38 billion to RM9.5 billion. This is also a continuation from the cut from RM15.78 billion in 2015. Of all, UM and UiTM got a 42% cut of RM268 million and 36.16% cut of RM946 million respectively since 2015. Stepping into my final year of study in UM, I recall having our class delayed in the middle of the lecture because of the projector that was not working properly, WiFi speed that would simply slow you down rather than help in increasing your efficiency, no manpower to replace leaving lecturer for a particular subject and most significantly, faculties being asked to generate their own income to sustain themselves. The outcome? A...

Admitting to your own weaknesses is a sign of strength, and there is nothing to be ashamed of from admitting them. If there were any lessons that I'd learned throughout my time in PEKUMA, one of them would be to admit to your own weaknesses, flaws and mistakes, no matter how hard it is. English proficiency among students of local universities has long been an issue discussed, and even appeared in reports and articles on why local graduates are having such a hard time getting a job and competing with their peers upon entering the workforce. Hence, it was very interesting for me to see the reaction of students when a confession post by an anonymous confessor came out this morning, targeted primarily on the English proficiency of UM FPP and FEP students. Majority of the students stood up against the post. Sarcasm and rage can easily be sensed on the comments, which I strongly think were expressed on impulse upon reading the post. However, it is not of my ...

Time has been tough for Lim Guan Eng, one of the most recognized political leader in Malaysia known for his integrity and success for making Penang one of the most prosperous state in Malaysia. Last month, he was charged with abused of power and corruption over the alleged approval of a rezoning application by Magnificent Emblem to convert agricultural land to residential and over his purchase of his RM2.8 million house from businesswoman Phang Li Koon at below market value of RM4.27 million. In short, since these incidents, political leaders have been using this opportunity to call for LGE to step down as chief minister of Penang, and in mid July, LGE called for a decision to held a snap election in order to allow Penang voters to express their stand on these issues, but at the end of of July, LGE announced the call off of the snap election due to disagreement from PKR leaders. And the politics continue. But this post is not about LGE. It is about what we can see from Pak...