WTF I'm Not A Bumi?

Overzealous officials in the Ministry of Education could not interpret the Article 161a of the Federal Constitution

Summary: Marina Undau, a 9As 1B SPM Sino-Iban scorer with an Iban dad and a Chinese mom, was denied access to matriculation. Apparently Iban was not mentioned as one of the Bumiputera in the constitution. If Iban, one of the largest ethnic group in Sarawak is not recognized as a Bumi, then what does Melanau, Bidayuh, Kelabit, Lun Bawang and other smaller ethnic groups are? And apparently this problem is faced by all children of mix marriages. What happened to the system "If your dad is Bumi and your mom is Chinese/Indian/Other non-Bumi, you are still a Bumi by default.

This misinterpretation explains a lot why my sis, 9As 1B SPM scorer of Sino-Melanau decent was not accepted into ANY of the local institutes she applied. Kesian her because she struggled half-dead for her successes in the silly kiasu race and willing to travel all the way to Kuching for the interview alone. As for me, I don't mind not being accepted as I didn't fare as well as she did so I didn't question the ministry's decision then. However revising the constitution reveals;

• Peninsular Malaysia "If one of the parents is Muslim Malay as stated in Article 160 (2) Federal Constitution of Malaysia; thus the child is considered as a Bumiputra"
• Sabah "If a father is a Muslim Malay or indigenous native of Sabah as stated in Article 160A (6)(a) Federal Constitution of Malaysia; thus his child is considered as a Bumiputra"
• Sarawak "If both of the parent are indigenous natives of Sarawak as stated in Article 160A (6)(b) Federal Constitution of Malaysia; thus their child is considered as a Bumiputra"

Source: Legal definition of Bumiputera

After 21 years, I just found out I'm not a Bumi under the constitution. The most shocking discovery after finding out I need to renew my IC upon reaching 21 years old. Then what the hell am I?

And there you go, being Sino-Bumiputera automatically makes you a non-Bumiputera, even if your dad is Bumi. "The constitution says so, you're not Bumi", explained the officials. Even so isn't there a quota for non-Bumi for such tertiary education? Racists.

What a load of bollocks. Way to go promoting 1Malaysia, when even the education system is racially-unfair.

Something is wrong with the system.

Read more:
MP fears for future of children of mixed marriages
Being ‘mixed’ is no privilege
To Marina: Nothing can keep a good lady down

Students Bid Farewell to Stress, Assignments

TEHRAN: It was the time of the semester again, hence the reason why there were no updates for the past few weeks. Owh well, I managed to survive and continue to blog another day.

Despite only having 2 days of class this semester with 4 units, I never felt so WTFBBQed by the amount of final year workload. Before I knew it it's already Week 12, the last study week. Whatever happened to the past 11 weeks remains a mystery.

Just completed my take home exam, which means I have finals for another 3 units. And next week is revision week followed by finals the week after. Time to destress for a bit, then hit the books when my body system and chemistry switched to final mode. Wishing all a happy finals, and may the Force be with you.

KFC @ e-Mart

Finally there would not be any need to drive to Boulevard to eat KFC anymore :)
Too bad I might won't be in Miri by the time it opens. Oh well, KFC after finals aite?

Credits to dearest for the pic :)

Fixing My Aspire 4520

Operating on a laptop-wife is as exciting as watching Scrubs and House

This is my fourth attempt to operate on my Acer Aspire 4520, and this time I was successful. Here's the chronology of all the operations:

• 1st attempt: She overheats easily lately and hence I suspect it was her heat sink. An triple bypass operation to reach her heat sink was unsuccessful due to unfamiliarity with 2008 Acer models.
• 2nd attempt: Another attempt to reach the heat sink. Stopped halfway when I got hungry and remembered there is an assignment due tomorrow. I needed my wife and abandoned the operation. Her screen begins to flicker.
• 3rd attempt: Direct attempt to fix her flickering screen problem. It worked but unfortunately I did not manage to reach the illusive heat sink. To make things worse the keyboard was rendered useless. Bought a RM35 external foldable keyboard to replace the defunct one.
• 4th attempt: Used my previous experience on a Compaq nx6120. This time I reached her heat sink, cleared the clog, cleaned her other dusty compartments, fixed the keyboard and is now a happy man :) Typing out this post using the built-on keyboard and can feel the air flowing from the cooling vents again.
  

My tools of the the trade. Time to play House, MD :)

Me reaching the heat sink (poking the hole, somewhere there). The sight of finally reaching the sink after almost 1 semester was exhilirating & exciting.

It may look overwhelming. But laptops come in very few and simple parts like car engines. It has a motherboard, disk drive, RAM, heat sink, DVD drive, wireless card, LCD screen, keyboard and the rest are frames & casings.

Crikey! Look at that beast! DUST BUNNIES! CLOGGING MY COOLING FAN!

Urgh more clogged compartments. These bunnies have been living prosperously in my laptop to the point of slowing her performance. Sorry bunnies. Time to go.
My 3rd attempt left me with 3 extra screws. Thankfully this time I have 1 left. Not sure where it belongs. Oh well hope it's no biggie.
"SHE LIVES!" exulted Megatron. My Aspire 4520 now feels like 2 months after purchase. Cheers mate!

Why clean the heat sink? Read this older post.

Pick & Save Mart

DPS (Dua Puluh Sen Discount Store) is now known as Pick & Save Mart. Everything is now more expensive by a few sens. And more green & yellow.

Why I: Wear Black Gloves

So a lot of people have been asking the question. All the answers will be explained below:

Reasons:

• I usually leave campus by noon. The car is well heated by then, burning my ass and providing hot stuffy air for free. To add insult to injury the steering wheel is hot. You know la kan Miri's coastal heat. Hence the black gloves.
• I have a bad habit of clenching tightly on my steering wheel out of stress/anger/road rage. Every time I do it I tend to burn my palm. I needed to do something to allow me to continue let go of all the rage WHILE doing it safely. Hence the black gloves.
• Morning classes with a fully-blasted air conditioning is a delight for anyone. Too bad it can get too cold in some rooms especially if it means studying in that room for 8 hours straight. Hence the black gloves.
• It looks cool. It matches any of my jackets. But I ain't a mafia's black hand or anything. It just looks cool. Hence the black gloves.

Mormon Missions @ Senadin

There's a thin fine line between a door-to-door salesman and a door-to-door handsome couple preaching about Jesus in South Americas...

I've started to see some Latter Day Saints, or fondly called Mormon, missionaries in action mid this semester in Senadin. The Miri-variant are good looking males just like in other regions, clad in their trademark white shirt, dark pants and black ties while walking house to house bringing good words from the Book of Mormon.

There are some young female students in Senadin who would not mind these missionaries, but I can find them to be a bit too invasive and annoying. So to politely counter them you can fight holy scriptures with holy scriptures (and facts!);

1. Alma 7:10 says Jesus was born to Mary in Jerusalem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem not Jerusalem as mentioned in Matthew 2:1. Although they will say it's to generalize the region as the two places are not far apart, you can argue again saying "bro, it's like saying I'm born in Kuala Lumpur when in fact I'm born in Sibu. Yes they are in the same Malaysian region, but those two are totally different places."

2. Ether 2:3 says honey was introduced in 2000 BC. Look, I've been playing too much middle-age games especially the unbiased and historically correct Medieval Total War II, (I think) and babe honey was introduced in the 15th century or 1400s AD, not 2000 BC.

Cheerios~

Apocalyptic Storm

Gloomy pre-doomsday weather with horrific wind and storm is usual nowadays...

Miri was battered by many storms during my 3 years of studying here. I'm not sure if it's just Parma, the typhoon that got promoted to Super Typhoon status, but whatever this is it's kinda scary and exhilarating. It can be scary when anything less than 5kg start flying randomly around you, and yet fun when you think of using the killer storm as a valid reason to postpone the assignment submission date. I guess this is what end-of-the-world weather is supposed to look like.

Take care out there.

Please Clean Your Heatsink

I was servicing another laptop the other day, when I found out a typical pattern in the old laptops I was servicing; they are all clogged.

A typical complain is that the laptop starts to shut down on its on after a few hours or even seconds after start up. Instead of panicking about a virus attack, blaming Barrack Obama or thinking you have chosen a cheapskate brand, try to look INSIDE the laptop.

Like humans, laptops grow old and gather dust as they age. What we need is to dissemble it and go to the life source of the laptop: the heat sink.

Basically the heat sink is where your internal cooling fan is located. If it's clogged with dust, the laptop is unable to cool itself and eventually die of a heat stroke.

Fixing it is simple. Simply reach the heat sink (personally or via professional assistance, lots of screw to unscrew) and use toothpick or cotton bud to prick out the collected dust at the heat sink (see picture, that one is the size of a Kit Kat bar). Just like a standing fan, after cleaning off all the dust the laptop should return to 100% operational capability. If you want to learn how to dismantle and reach the heat sink, just Google "how to disassemble (laptop model)" e.g. "how to disassemble HP nx6120"

So don't trade in that old laptop just yet, just show it some love and unclog its arteries and be amazed as it becomes 2-3 years younger :)

Prom Nite 2009

Had my last prom this year (next year graduate edi pok...) at Eastwood Valley on Friday evening. Brought along some familias who were all bumped from the busy study week (not me anyways). I'll just let the uploaded photos from various friends in facebook to show how the prom went.

The food could improve though, as I ended up eating hot dogs at Mat Magic in Senadin late past midnite. What a romantic way to end the nite :P

P/S: Oh and I enjoyed the last dance in the parking lot in the (after)storm :)

Driving at Dawn

When was the last time you wake up by 6am?
This is the earliest time I woke up this semester (and perhaps this year) to actually go outside of the house and drive. The 6am air is so fresh around here, it reminded me of the old days. The old days when I was a wee little school boy who usually wakes up at 6am to shower and prep to go to school in 30 minutes. Eat simple bread & jam with tea, sit down at the dining table and read the newspaper's comic section. Comb you hair and tuck in your shirt. Check your fat bags full of thick textbooks. Then have one of your parents to send you off to school before class starts at 7am. Ahh... reminiscing the good simple times...

And look at us now. Mostly sleep at 3-4am or later and wake up complaining at 8am or 12pm classes. Appearance? Bah whatever la why need to dress so smart like school days. Unless it's presentation day. Books? All online assessment nowadays, just need to print out some online tutorials or lecture notes. Either wake up 1 hour earlier to catch the bus or wake up late and drive at high speed to reach campus in time. Life changes drastically.