Came across this site - phdcomics.com, which publishes comics regarding the life of PhD students.
Interesting. Even 1 month before I actually start my PhD, I'm already starting to 'feel' some of the comics. Here are some of my favourites.
1. On academic salaries, i.e. your salary prospect if you complete your PhD and then work in the academia.
2. On the life ambition of someone pursuing PhD.
3. On why people would pursue PhD.
4. On the vicious cycle that I'm already in right now.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The day earth stood still...
I like the theme of the movie. Here are some of the quotes from the movie...
***************************************
Human: Why have you come to our planet?
Klaatu: Your planet?
Human: Yes, this is our planet.
Klaatu: No, it's not.
Human: But, you said you came to save us!
Klaatu: No, I said I came to save the Earth.
Human: OMG, you came to save the Earth from us?
"People change on the brink of extinction"
***************************************
But the ending was abrupt and disappointing. All it takes to convince Klaatu (Keanu) to change his mind is Jacob (Jaden Smith) crying in front of his father's grave?
I thought Klaatu said that the problem is us? That we, humans, cared for nothing but only for our own species. And that even among our own species, we fought. And that we must show that we're capable of change before the aliens would decide against destroying us. So when Jacob cried and when Helen (Connelly) held him in her arms didn't they do it for ...erm...our own species? Where did they show that they cared for Earth or other species?
Face it humans, we're selfish!
***************************************
Human: Why have you come to our planet?
Klaatu: Your planet?
Human: Yes, this is our planet.
Klaatu: No, it's not.
Human: But, you said you came to save us!
Klaatu: No, I said I came to save the Earth.
Human: OMG, you came to save the Earth from us?
"People change on the brink of extinction"
***************************************
But the ending was abrupt and disappointing. All it takes to convince Klaatu (Keanu) to change his mind is Jacob (Jaden Smith) crying in front of his father's grave?
I thought Klaatu said that the problem is us? That we, humans, cared for nothing but only for our own species. And that even among our own species, we fought. And that we must show that we're capable of change before the aliens would decide against destroying us. So when Jacob cried and when Helen (Connelly) held him in her arms didn't they do it for ...erm...our own species? Where did they show that they cared for Earth or other species?
Face it humans, we're selfish!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Applying to grad school in US or UK
Some juniors have been asking me for advice on this matter recently.
Since I've been applying to grad school for some time now and not to mention my dreaded VISA application experience, I think it's fitting for me to write a thing or two about applying to grad school in the US or UK.
Many undergraduate have a mixed feelings of fear and enthusiasm when it comes to pursuing a research degree. It is understandable because research is after all quite different from what we do in our undergraduate days. Some people prefer research, while some prefer studying text books, working on tutorials and dislike situations where what you study do not have a definite answer.
So before you embark on the (long) journey of grad school and research, let's make sure that you really know what you are up against and that you are still interested.
For grad school, especially Masters degree, there is usually two types - Taught programmes and research programmes.
Taught programmes are very much like undergraduate courses except that the content will be a bit more advance. Students who are unsure about the research interest, or have no intention to further pursue their education into research degrees, or would like to have an open, more flexible option after completing the Masters degree should opt for the taught programme. Such programmes, of course, include popular programs such as MBA.
Here, my blog will concentrate more on the latter. Research programmes are especially useful for those students who are already sure that they want to pursue a PhD degree. There are a few things one should know about research.
1. People who like Phd and research are people who like to dig deep and try to understand the roots of the problem. It is those people in the class who keeps on asking "Why, why, why?". In the industry, people are more concerned about costs and speed. The industry wants to get the design out to the shelf ASAP with as little cost as possible. Therefore there is usually little time for one to go into the very root of the problem. If Phd candidates are those that ask, "Why, why, why?" then industry people are usually people who says, "As long as it works, I don't care how." So if you like looking into problems at a more in depth level, you may like research.
2. Research could be a lonely job. Only you would know the answers to the questions in your research because if anyone else knows about it, you are either copying from them or they have already beat you to it. Even your supervisor would only be able to give you guidance, and not answers. So, most of the time, you'll be working alone.
3. Most of the things that you work on, do not have answers. Unlike in the undergraduate days when the answers are always at the back of the book, you'll have to learn to live with it, i.e. that some things just don't have answers. For those that have, you'll have to find the answers yourself.
4. The first few months could be very tiring and scary.
- Tiring, because you would have trouble understanding any bit of the journal papers you are reading. You'll start reading the reference, and then the reference of the reference, and then the reference of the reference of the reference. You'll find yourself backtracking a lot just to understand a single journal paper. This is normal. It could be weeks before you could actually proceed beyond the first paragraph of the journal paper. And this is especially true for a physical science research degree.
- Scary, because all the idea you thought was novel has already been thought of. They are either disproved, proven or work in progress. Given that thousands of people are taking Phd degrees across the world at any one instant, this is not surprising. In the end, you realised that a novel idea can only come up when you've read sufficient journal papers and understand where the trend of the research is. This is why literature review is important.
5. Doing a research degree is obviously tough. But for some, it's an intellectual challenge. And you'll find that your peers who are doing their research degree will have similar passion as you. But if you are not sure if research is for you, try the Masters degree first. The research level at Masters degree is quite enjoyable and relaxing. All you need to do is add a little transistor here and there or make a tweak here and there for your dissertation. However, at the PhD level, there is a huge quantum jump.
If you are already sure that grad school is what you want. Then these are the steps you should take now:
1. Identify the area of your research interest. The better you can narrow this down, the better it is.
2. Identify Research Centers, Universities or professors who are renowned in your research area.
- Some lowly ranked universities could be exceptionally good a a particular research area. e.g. Univ. of Southampton is not ranked top 10 in the UK but its electrical and electronic engineering research is outstanding.
3. Understand the admission process.
- This can be particularly tough as Universities have different criteria and admission process. Some can submit application online, some can't; some requires GRE, some don't; some requires 2 referrals, some requires 3; some requires TOEFL/IELTS, some don't. So you have to make sure you understand all the requirements.
- But most important of all, take note of the admission deadline! For most top ranked UK or US universities their admission deadline is usually in December of the year prior to your admission, i.e. if you are entering in Sept 2009, the deadline would be Dec 2008.
Taking the required exams and the first 3 steps mentioned above would already usually take up months. So prepare early!
4. Preparing the documents. This can be very ANNOYING.
- Usually, you'll need to send the ORIGNAL transcript, which we obviously only have one at the point of graduation. So more needs to be requested at the university registrar. And remember, it has to be in English, otherwise a certified translation would be required.
- Writing your personal statement is probably the toughest. Many Malaysians loathe this because they feel like it's writing something to boast yourself. But he/she couldn't be more wrong on this. No matter how bad your GPA is, and how bad you feel about yourself, there are always postives in yourself that you can find. The admission officer is not looking for a perfect person, but a person who is confident in himself/herself. For example, my whole life in secondary school is nothing but Chinese debate. Although I learn a lot from this activity, I couldn't pin down what exactly I have learned. I felt inferior when I wrote my personal statement. That is until I saw a personal statement written by the Stamp Club's president (yes, you hear me right. there's actually a stamp club. a club that promotes collecting stamp. yes, those stamps that you lick and paste onto your letters). Stamp Club's president obviously had little to do or learn, but the personal statement was written as though he/she could bring stars from the heaven to earth. And you know what, he/she is now in a prestigious US University. Now, I'm not asking you to lie. But one can be truthful and yet be confident of his/her own postives. e.g. you may not be able to get a good GPA, but you are always intrigued by tough questions in the exams and you are usually the only one who is able to solve that question, then this is something worth bragging about. Or if you do not get good grades because you are actively involved in multiple student acitivies or political activities, you may still make a good political science student. In short, prepare your personal statement early and proof-read it many times.
- Gettting referrees to write you a good letter is not as easy at it sounds either. Referrence letters are the single most important documents that you could submit with your application. Your referrees may take time because they may be busy and if we try to push for it too hard, chances are that your referrees may just simply write you a letter. So inform them early, and send them a kind reminder from time to time. Also, most people you approach for writting this referrence letter would usually ask you to send them a 'draft' so that they could use it as 'reference'. I'm not sure if this is right, but this is definitely common. So it has no harm if you could prepare a 'draft', just in case your referee needs it. (Note: Some Malaysians feel 'shy' to persistently bug lecturers for a reference letter, but remember it's their duty to do so. So do not be 'shy'.)
* the funny thing about applying to Cambridge is that although they are using online application, your reference letter is still submitted in written form. And what more is that you are required to send in the reference letter 3 weeks from submitting your online application. A very short time indeed. Unlike for the US Universities, your documents can arrive anytime before the admission deadline. Furthermore, after registering your online application with Cambridge, you'll be given a 'self-service' account where you can check all your application details. Again, this portal is far from being user-friendly. I just have to say that in terms of the ease-of-use of the online application, Cambridge is still quite far behind compared to the US Universities. And I do not understand why that the US Universities could do much better job at the admission process than the UK counterpart. But to be fair, Cambridge is one of the first few Universities in UK who uses online application and it started only a few years back. Whereas US has been using online application for almost a decade.
5. Search for scholarships. There are already a multitude of websites on this. The popular scholarships available are Maxis, King's scholarship (JPA), Bank Negara, Yayasan Khazanah, Chevening, Fulbright, Sime Darby, etc. The only thing that I wish to remind the applicants is that some of these scholarships are only opened for a very short period of time, i.e. 2 weeks (and they give very short notice too). So prepare all your documents and statements beforehand and check their websites/newspaper ads regularly, particularly during the months of January to April.
6. For US you can go to MACEE for more information. For UK you can go to MABECS for more information. These two organisations are very friendly and provide a lot of information about studying in the US or UK.
Lastly, I would like to say that these are just my thoughts. They may not reflect the actual thoughts of the admission officers. After all, I still did not get into Stanford (which is my first choice) despite getting (what I reckon is a) very good score for my GRE. So, the problem probably lies with my personal statement and my reference letters.
Applying to grad school was never easy. But it may be worth the effort. To some, PhD degrees are intellectually rewarding. While some of my friends pursued a Masters degree just because they wanted a break from their everyday work, or simply they wanted to experience life in a new country.Whatever the reason may be, to all those who are applying, good luck!
Since I've been applying to grad school for some time now and not to mention my dreaded VISA application experience, I think it's fitting for me to write a thing or two about applying to grad school in the US or UK.
Many undergraduate have a mixed feelings of fear and enthusiasm when it comes to pursuing a research degree. It is understandable because research is after all quite different from what we do in our undergraduate days. Some people prefer research, while some prefer studying text books, working on tutorials and dislike situations where what you study do not have a definite answer.
So before you embark on the (long) journey of grad school and research, let's make sure that you really know what you are up against and that you are still interested.
For grad school, especially Masters degree, there is usually two types - Taught programmes and research programmes.
Taught programmes are very much like undergraduate courses except that the content will be a bit more advance. Students who are unsure about the research interest, or have no intention to further pursue their education into research degrees, or would like to have an open, more flexible option after completing the Masters degree should opt for the taught programme. Such programmes, of course, include popular programs such as MBA.
Here, my blog will concentrate more on the latter. Research programmes are especially useful for those students who are already sure that they want to pursue a PhD degree. There are a few things one should know about research.
1. People who like Phd and research are people who like to dig deep and try to understand the roots of the problem. It is those people in the class who keeps on asking "Why, why, why?". In the industry, people are more concerned about costs and speed. The industry wants to get the design out to the shelf ASAP with as little cost as possible. Therefore there is usually little time for one to go into the very root of the problem. If Phd candidates are those that ask, "Why, why, why?" then industry people are usually people who says, "As long as it works, I don't care how." So if you like looking into problems at a more in depth level, you may like research.
2. Research could be a lonely job. Only you would know the answers to the questions in your research because if anyone else knows about it, you are either copying from them or they have already beat you to it. Even your supervisor would only be able to give you guidance, and not answers. So, most of the time, you'll be working alone.
3. Most of the things that you work on, do not have answers. Unlike in the undergraduate days when the answers are always at the back of the book, you'll have to learn to live with it, i.e. that some things just don't have answers. For those that have, you'll have to find the answers yourself.
4. The first few months could be very tiring and scary.
- Tiring, because you would have trouble understanding any bit of the journal papers you are reading. You'll start reading the reference, and then the reference of the reference, and then the reference of the reference of the reference. You'll find yourself backtracking a lot just to understand a single journal paper. This is normal. It could be weeks before you could actually proceed beyond the first paragraph of the journal paper. And this is especially true for a physical science research degree.
- Scary, because all the idea you thought was novel has already been thought of. They are either disproved, proven or work in progress. Given that thousands of people are taking Phd degrees across the world at any one instant, this is not surprising. In the end, you realised that a novel idea can only come up when you've read sufficient journal papers and understand where the trend of the research is. This is why literature review is important.
5. Doing a research degree is obviously tough. But for some, it's an intellectual challenge. And you'll find that your peers who are doing their research degree will have similar passion as you. But if you are not sure if research is for you, try the Masters degree first. The research level at Masters degree is quite enjoyable and relaxing. All you need to do is add a little transistor here and there or make a tweak here and there for your dissertation. However, at the PhD level, there is a huge quantum jump.
If you are already sure that grad school is what you want. Then these are the steps you should take now:
1. Identify the area of your research interest. The better you can narrow this down, the better it is.
2. Identify Research Centers, Universities or professors who are renowned in your research area.
- Some lowly ranked universities could be exceptionally good a a particular research area. e.g. Univ. of Southampton is not ranked top 10 in the UK but its electrical and electronic engineering research is outstanding.
3. Understand the admission process.
- This can be particularly tough as Universities have different criteria and admission process. Some can submit application online, some can't; some requires GRE, some don't; some requires 2 referrals, some requires 3; some requires TOEFL/IELTS, some don't. So you have to make sure you understand all the requirements.
- But most important of all, take note of the admission deadline! For most top ranked UK or US universities their admission deadline is usually in December of the year prior to your admission, i.e. if you are entering in Sept 2009, the deadline would be Dec 2008.
Taking the required exams and the first 3 steps mentioned above would already usually take up months. So prepare early!
4. Preparing the documents. This can be very ANNOYING.
- Usually, you'll need to send the ORIGNAL transcript, which we obviously only have one at the point of graduation. So more needs to be requested at the university registrar. And remember, it has to be in English, otherwise a certified translation would be required.
- Writing your personal statement is probably the toughest. Many Malaysians loathe this because they feel like it's writing something to boast yourself. But he/she couldn't be more wrong on this. No matter how bad your GPA is, and how bad you feel about yourself, there are always postives in yourself that you can find. The admission officer is not looking for a perfect person, but a person who is confident in himself/herself. For example, my whole life in secondary school is nothing but Chinese debate. Although I learn a lot from this activity, I couldn't pin down what exactly I have learned. I felt inferior when I wrote my personal statement. That is until I saw a personal statement written by the Stamp Club's president (yes, you hear me right. there's actually a stamp club. a club that promotes collecting stamp. yes, those stamps that you lick and paste onto your letters). Stamp Club's president obviously had little to do or learn, but the personal statement was written as though he/she could bring stars from the heaven to earth. And you know what, he/she is now in a prestigious US University. Now, I'm not asking you to lie. But one can be truthful and yet be confident of his/her own postives. e.g. you may not be able to get a good GPA, but you are always intrigued by tough questions in the exams and you are usually the only one who is able to solve that question, then this is something worth bragging about. Or if you do not get good grades because you are actively involved in multiple student acitivies or political activities, you may still make a good political science student. In short, prepare your personal statement early and proof-read it many times.
- Gettting referrees to write you a good letter is not as easy at it sounds either. Referrence letters are the single most important documents that you could submit with your application. Your referrees may take time because they may be busy and if we try to push for it too hard, chances are that your referrees may just simply write you a letter. So inform them early, and send them a kind reminder from time to time. Also, most people you approach for writting this referrence letter would usually ask you to send them a 'draft' so that they could use it as 'reference'. I'm not sure if this is right, but this is definitely common. So it has no harm if you could prepare a 'draft', just in case your referee needs it. (Note: Some Malaysians feel 'shy' to persistently bug lecturers for a reference letter, but remember it's their duty to do so. So do not be 'shy'.)
* the funny thing about applying to Cambridge is that although they are using online application, your reference letter is still submitted in written form. And what more is that you are required to send in the reference letter 3 weeks from submitting your online application. A very short time indeed. Unlike for the US Universities, your documents can arrive anytime before the admission deadline. Furthermore, after registering your online application with Cambridge, you'll be given a 'self-service' account where you can check all your application details. Again, this portal is far from being user-friendly. I just have to say that in terms of the ease-of-use of the online application, Cambridge is still quite far behind compared to the US Universities. And I do not understand why that the US Universities could do much better job at the admission process than the UK counterpart. But to be fair, Cambridge is one of the first few Universities in UK who uses online application and it started only a few years back. Whereas US has been using online application for almost a decade.
5. Search for scholarships. There are already a multitude of websites on this. The popular scholarships available are Maxis, King's scholarship (JPA), Bank Negara, Yayasan Khazanah, Chevening, Fulbright, Sime Darby, etc. The only thing that I wish to remind the applicants is that some of these scholarships are only opened for a very short period of time, i.e. 2 weeks (and they give very short notice too). So prepare all your documents and statements beforehand and check their websites/newspaper ads regularly, particularly during the months of January to April.
6. For US you can go to MACEE for more information. For UK you can go to MABECS for more information. These two organisations are very friendly and provide a lot of information about studying in the US or UK.
Lastly, I would like to say that these are just my thoughts. They may not reflect the actual thoughts of the admission officers. After all, I still did not get into Stanford (which is my first choice) despite getting (what I reckon is a) very good score for my GRE. So, the problem probably lies with my personal statement and my reference letters.
Applying to grad school was never easy. But it may be worth the effort. To some, PhD degrees are intellectually rewarding. While some of my friends pursued a Masters degree just because they wanted a break from their everyday work, or simply they wanted to experience life in a new country.Whatever the reason may be, to all those who are applying, good luck!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Finally, I'm going to Cambridge
After 3 applications and 2 appeals (5 attempts in total) and dozens of 'farewells', I've finally got my UK Visa.
Yes, my friends have thrown in so many farewells for me that they lost count and lost hope. They even suggested having a farewell 'anniversary' for me since my first farewell was in April. Every time I attend a wedding dinner all my friends will stare at me for seconds and then asked, "Why the hell are you still here?". And believe me, that's the most difficult question to answer.
I was suppose to go there in April. So there is delay of 8 months. If I had not resigned from Maxis, I'd have got my stock options this October and then I'll have plenty to invest during this economic low.
But I did many things during this 8 months that I wouldn't have do if I have not resigned. I guess there is reason for everything that happens. As my previous post said, "God work in a mysterious way!".
One of the first things I did was to start this blog. When I was working in Maxis, I was so indulged in work that I did not bother about this thing called blog. I always thought that it would take up a lot of my time (and it did). But setting up my own blog wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. And as a result of this, I've met a lot of new friends. Also, I've become a frequent blog reader these days.
Secondly, I've worked as a part-time lecturer at UTAR, which gave me a glimpse into what a career would be if I ended up as a lecturer at a local university instead of a multi-national corporate.
Thirdly, I've witnessed two losses and one wins for UM debate team, which I played some part in it as one of the member of the coaching team.
I attended 'Kursus Kenegaraan' and understood first-hand what is called a govt. brainwashing session. But the friends I met there are awesome!
I've traveled to Bali and Hong Kong (again) and had a good time.
And most importantly, I've spent more time with all my loved ones.
Thank you to all of you who have been organising these farewells, and supporting me when I was sad over the failed Visa application. Also thank you to Dr. Flack and Penny Patterson from Cambridge and Siew C J for assisting my over the appeal/application with the UK Visa.
Just in case if you ask, my flight is on 6 Jan 2009.
Yes, my friends have thrown in so many farewells for me that they lost count and lost hope. They even suggested having a farewell 'anniversary' for me since my first farewell was in April. Every time I attend a wedding dinner all my friends will stare at me for seconds and then asked, "Why the hell are you still here?". And believe me, that's the most difficult question to answer.
I was suppose to go there in April. So there is delay of 8 months. If I had not resigned from Maxis, I'd have got my stock options this October and then I'll have plenty to invest during this economic low.
But I did many things during this 8 months that I wouldn't have do if I have not resigned. I guess there is reason for everything that happens. As my previous post said, "God work in a mysterious way!".
One of the first things I did was to start this blog. When I was working in Maxis, I was so indulged in work that I did not bother about this thing called blog. I always thought that it would take up a lot of my time (and it did). But setting up my own blog wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. And as a result of this, I've met a lot of new friends. Also, I've become a frequent blog reader these days.
Secondly, I've worked as a part-time lecturer at UTAR, which gave me a glimpse into what a career would be if I ended up as a lecturer at a local university instead of a multi-national corporate.
Thirdly, I've witnessed two losses and one wins for UM debate team, which I played some part in it as one of the member of the coaching team.
I attended 'Kursus Kenegaraan' and understood first-hand what is called a govt. brainwashing session. But the friends I met there are awesome!
I've traveled to Bali and Hong Kong (again) and had a good time.
And most importantly, I've spent more time with all my loved ones.
Thank you to all of you who have been organising these farewells, and supporting me when I was sad over the failed Visa application. Also thank you to Dr. Flack and Penny Patterson from Cambridge and Siew C J for assisting my over the appeal/application with the UK Visa.
Just in case if you ask, my flight is on 6 Jan 2009.
Monday, November 24, 2008
trying your best...
God always work in mysterious ways...
If you prayed hard enough,
you might not get what you prayed for,
but you may get what is best for you.
So, as my dad always say, "Try your best, God will do the rest!"
If you prayed hard enough,
you might not get what you prayed for,
but you may get what is best for you.
So, as my dad always say, "Try your best, God will do the rest!"
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
ISA and the separation of powers
It's really surprising to me that a lot of young people these days, who are politically aware, lack the history knowledge and the reasoning power to be in the politic arena. This is dangerous but not surprising since our education system pays very little attention to history that really matters. One such group are the young people advocating the use of ISA.
Very often, the advocates of ISA say that it was necessary because there will be time when we need ISA such as to apprehend communist, terrorist or religion extremist. They would further emphasizes that what is happening now in Malaysia is merely the abuse of ISA, but ISA in itself has merits and therefore we should we refrain from abolishing it. How should we justify the existence of a particular law? If a law is susceptible to abuse, should the law remain? If the law is susceptible to interpretation errors, should the law remain? If the application of the law is solely dependent on those that are in power, should the law remain?
First, let us go back in history and try to understand how our modern political structure has evolved and why such structure is the best the civilization has to offer so far.
Centuries ago, Monarchy is the dominating political structure. All the power to govern a nation is in the hands of the king. There isn't anything wrong with all the power in the world in one person's hand. In fact, history have shown that there were good leaders that used this power to the benefit of the country.
The problem is that it takes only one 'suck-up' corrupted leader to ruin the whole thing. Once this 'suck-up' leader gets hold of the power, he/she would never let go the power, undoing all the good that the previous leader had done. Simply said, such model is just not sustainable. Countries using such model are resting their fate all on one person, and knowing that a person's character is always susceptible to greed and difficult to predict, the country's fate would then be a matter of dice-throwing. For historical reasons, it is obvious now that this system fails.
Democracy, as many of us know, means that the power is in the hands of the citizens instead of the king. The elected leader should be 'of the people, by the people and for the people'. So many thought, since the power is now not in the hands of the king but in people like us, this should be good! But that is not why democracy prevails. For if the citizens, through election, has chosen a leader that has absolute power, then the situation is exactly the same as above. The only difference being the name of the leader. Instead of being called the 'king', he/she is now called president/prime minister.
Therefore it is important to introduce another concept - the separation of powers. The French philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea that the power of governing a nation can be separated into 3 distinct groups - legislative, judicial and executive. By distributing such powers among different group of people we will ensure that no single entity will have absolute power. Through such distribution of power, check and balance will be achieved.
The important of check and balance can be understood in a more simple manner. Anyone can and will make mistakes in their lifetime. But the chances of 3 different entity of different views making the same mistake at the same time is slim. And the purpose of check and balance is to have this 'self-reparing' mechanism, to ensure that a stupendously grave mistake is avoided at the country's highest decision making.
Obviously, such system is by no means the most efficient system. Monarchy is more efficient because what the King says, the country do. No debate necessary, no discussion necessary. On the contrary, for even a single thing to move in democracy, countless debates and discussions and revisions are required. Slow, but at least it ensures that mistakes are minimised.
Recall again why historical reasons have led us to democracy and separation of powers. We would rather have a less efficient system than a system that is fast and efficient but will doom us all.
In Malaysia, our prime minister (executive) is the leader of the majority party in the Parliament (legislative) and he chooses the Chief Justice (judicial). So where's the separation? Every four years, aren't we just choosing another 'King'?
Surely, until this point you must be pondering what has this to do with ISA?
ISA gives the right to the leader of this country to capture anyone who is deemed a threat to the country. The interpretation of this 'threat' should be done by the judicial arm of the country. But in Malaysia, it's the executive. As far as ISA is concerned, it's a complete overlap of executive and judicial powers. Again, how does this differ from the Monarchy system that we once had? The 'King' or the leader of the country, has at its own discretion decides who is a threat and order the apprehension of anyone in this country.
I have no qualms on the nature of the ISA, as its initial intentions may be good. As always, initial intentions of all things are always good-natured but somehow, someway along the history, things turn sour. Such is the case for ISA too. Since the end of the emergency in Malaysia, the ISA has been numerously invoked in the name of peace for the country, but in reality it's for the self-perseverance of a certain political party. The interpretation of the law is so subjective that it is easily susceptible to abuse. Granted that no law is free of abuse, but if a law such as ISA have in the past shown to have been severely abused more than it has been properly used, should not we re-consider?
If a law is susceptible to abuse and its application to the benefit of the country is solely dependent on the good-will of our leaders, why should such a law still exist? Isn't this going back to the 'good-old' Monarchy days when the fate of a country is solely dependent on the King? Hasn't history already shown that this will not work (in the long run)?
There have been calls for the ISA to be invoked only upon approval from, perhaps, the Chief Justice of Malaysia. But where would the Chief Justice get the information/advice from? If it is from the Police or the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, the result will obviously be the same because the source of information is the same (albeit the interpretation may be different). If he/she has to go through a series of investigation to make a decision to invoke ISA, then why not go through the normal procedure of prosecution instead of ISA? If that is the case, then ISA is only ISA in its name but not in its nature, for its initial conception was to be used for apprehending a person before he/she is proven guilty.
Either way, it is clear that there isn't a need for ISA in Malaysia, at least for now.
Very often, the advocates of ISA say that it was necessary because there will be time when we need ISA such as to apprehend communist, terrorist or religion extremist. They would further emphasizes that what is happening now in Malaysia is merely the abuse of ISA, but ISA in itself has merits and therefore we should we refrain from abolishing it. How should we justify the existence of a particular law? If a law is susceptible to abuse, should the law remain? If the law is susceptible to interpretation errors, should the law remain? If the application of the law is solely dependent on those that are in power, should the law remain?
First, let us go back in history and try to understand how our modern political structure has evolved and why such structure is the best the civilization has to offer so far.
Centuries ago, Monarchy is the dominating political structure. All the power to govern a nation is in the hands of the king. There isn't anything wrong with all the power in the world in one person's hand. In fact, history have shown that there were good leaders that used this power to the benefit of the country.
The problem is that it takes only one 'suck-up' corrupted leader to ruin the whole thing. Once this 'suck-up' leader gets hold of the power, he/she would never let go the power, undoing all the good that the previous leader had done. Simply said, such model is just not sustainable. Countries using such model are resting their fate all on one person, and knowing that a person's character is always susceptible to greed and difficult to predict, the country's fate would then be a matter of dice-throwing. For historical reasons, it is obvious now that this system fails.
Democracy, as many of us know, means that the power is in the hands of the citizens instead of the king. The elected leader should be 'of the people, by the people and for the people'. So many thought, since the power is now not in the hands of the king but in people like us, this should be good! But that is not why democracy prevails. For if the citizens, through election, has chosen a leader that has absolute power, then the situation is exactly the same as above. The only difference being the name of the leader. Instead of being called the 'king', he/she is now called president/prime minister.
Therefore it is important to introduce another concept - the separation of powers. The French philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea that the power of governing a nation can be separated into 3 distinct groups - legislative, judicial and executive. By distributing such powers among different group of people we will ensure that no single entity will have absolute power. Through such distribution of power, check and balance will be achieved.
The important of check and balance can be understood in a more simple manner. Anyone can and will make mistakes in their lifetime. But the chances of 3 different entity of different views making the same mistake at the same time is slim. And the purpose of check and balance is to have this 'self-reparing' mechanism, to ensure that a stupendously grave mistake is avoided at the country's highest decision making.
Obviously, such system is by no means the most efficient system. Monarchy is more efficient because what the King says, the country do. No debate necessary, no discussion necessary. On the contrary, for even a single thing to move in democracy, countless debates and discussions and revisions are required. Slow, but at least it ensures that mistakes are minimised.
Recall again why historical reasons have led us to democracy and separation of powers. We would rather have a less efficient system than a system that is fast and efficient but will doom us all.
In Malaysia, our prime minister (executive) is the leader of the majority party in the Parliament (legislative) and he chooses the Chief Justice (judicial). So where's the separation? Every four years, aren't we just choosing another 'King'?
Surely, until this point you must be pondering what has this to do with ISA?
ISA gives the right to the leader of this country to capture anyone who is deemed a threat to the country. The interpretation of this 'threat' should be done by the judicial arm of the country. But in Malaysia, it's the executive. As far as ISA is concerned, it's a complete overlap of executive and judicial powers. Again, how does this differ from the Monarchy system that we once had? The 'King' or the leader of the country, has at its own discretion decides who is a threat and order the apprehension of anyone in this country.
I have no qualms on the nature of the ISA, as its initial intentions may be good. As always, initial intentions of all things are always good-natured but somehow, someway along the history, things turn sour. Such is the case for ISA too. Since the end of the emergency in Malaysia, the ISA has been numerously invoked in the name of peace for the country, but in reality it's for the self-perseverance of a certain political party. The interpretation of the law is so subjective that it is easily susceptible to abuse. Granted that no law is free of abuse, but if a law such as ISA have in the past shown to have been severely abused more than it has been properly used, should not we re-consider?
If a law is susceptible to abuse and its application to the benefit of the country is solely dependent on the good-will of our leaders, why should such a law still exist? Isn't this going back to the 'good-old' Monarchy days when the fate of a country is solely dependent on the King? Hasn't history already shown that this will not work (in the long run)?
There have been calls for the ISA to be invoked only upon approval from, perhaps, the Chief Justice of Malaysia. But where would the Chief Justice get the information/advice from? If it is from the Police or the Prime Minister or the Home Minister, the result will obviously be the same because the source of information is the same (albeit the interpretation may be different). If he/she has to go through a series of investigation to make a decision to invoke ISA, then why not go through the normal procedure of prosecution instead of ISA? If that is the case, then ISA is only ISA in its name but not in its nature, for its initial conception was to be used for apprehending a person before he/she is proven guilty.
Either way, it is clear that there isn't a need for ISA in Malaysia, at least for now.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
On education and knowledge
Systems and processes are there to prevent our evil;
Education and knowledge are there to bring out the very best in us.
- sl, Nov 2008
**************************************
Systems, like legal systems are there only to prevent us from any wrongdoings and to maintain security. They are the fundamental, but not the pinnacle of human civilisation. Law can be made to prevent people from killing people, but only education and knowledge can make people to love other people.
Processes are there to ensure that organisations will continue to work even when there is a large flux of people coming in or going out. But education and knowledge makes us rethink our processes into better ones.
So, invest in education and knowledge. It's worthwhile.
Education and knowledge are there to bring out the very best in us.
- sl, Nov 2008
**************************************
Systems, like legal systems are there only to prevent us from any wrongdoings and to maintain security. They are the fundamental, but not the pinnacle of human civilisation. Law can be made to prevent people from killing people, but only education and knowledge can make people to love other people.
Processes are there to ensure that organisations will continue to work even when there is a large flux of people coming in or going out. But education and knowledge makes us rethink our processes into better ones.
So, invest in education and knowledge. It's worthwhile.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
