Politics among Malaysians (2)

I'm currently listening to Jay Chou as I am writing this. (yes Chialing, he's a really good and hardworking artist - not some faggot whose disability is failing to smile in front of a rolling camera like what I used to assume him as)


To get into the whole MSS AGM politics, we need to review some basic background on the club. Firstly there's a tradition that assume the first years to be taking over the committee, not second or third years. Yes, it is particularly hard for a first timer to be spear heading a whole society but then again they get the benefit of actually achieveing lots of events in their first year. The good with the bad, to put it simply. For this AGM, a second year and a third year decided to run for president. Both of them were friends and shared the similiar experience, both of them were in the committee before. And thus the battle began. Both of them trying to rally as many votes as possible. All the Malaysians were callled to vote for them. Amongst all the campaigning and promoting, one certain group of people were not that keen on breaking the tradition. They were against the idea of letting such a great opportunity fall into the hands of anyone older than a first year student. There were the current MSS committee. My guess was that they tried to encourage a first year to run for the president post, but let's face the facts - no one would stand a chance running against people more senior in terms of experience. And so, left with nothing else to do - the current committee waited, for the AGM to come.


The AGM began...
To be honest, I was late for the AGM. I believed sleep caught up with me and so I was pretty late for the AGM. Upon arriving in the room, I was surprised to see some of the committee members checking for the members' names to ensure that they were eligible to vote. Trust me when I say that this wasn't a normal procedure at all. I checked my name and got a seat in the middle of the room. At the sight of the many people around me, I was sure that Tension had already had Its grasp in the room, I just didn't expect it to be that tight. Apparently they started to tick name because the third year who was running, Melissa, had apparently rallied the inactive Malaysian in the LSE to vote for her. This led to about 40 people signing up to the club right before the AGM. Saarvin, the second year running for the post, wasn't impressed at all. A few people protested saying that this wasn't fair at all - the newly registered people would definately tilt the favours to one side. The new group defended themselves saying they didn't have the time to register prior to this day and reaffirmed their rights as a society member to vote. Politics was once again happening in this room. In the front stood someone influential in the LSE. The General Secretary of the LSE Student Union, Fadhil, was specially called to this AGM to settled the current problem. During which, he said that this was the most controversial conflict he'd ever faced in the LSE. Unfortunately this was caused by Malaysians. At one point, some even wanted to postponed the AGM to 2 weeks later - but the 'let's get it over with' Malaysian attitude was obvious and that motion was rejected eventually. It took one hour before the voting for president began.


The word President was scribbled on the whiteboard, only two person stood in front and only one would be elected as president. They gave their speeches, Saarvin clearly being the more outspoken one while Melissa seemed intimidated by the Student Union officer present, who was rushing for them to finish their speech. The SU officer wanted the voting to go as smoothly and quickly as possible. She gestured for the candidates to exit so that the voting could commence, but this was stopped by a third year. He apparently argued that the President was an important post and so more questions should be asked. An obvious move to waste time. To my opinion, all the third years there were there for one reason - to vote for Melissa. If their minds were already made up, why waste time in such pointless acts? I was right. When the votings were done, Melissa won by a landslide, probably thanks to her many last minute voters who just registered on that day. Some of the current committee of course, voted for RON (Re Open Nomination) but that proved to be futile. I sat there with only one thing running through my mind - the politics was utterly disgusting and a waste of time. It wasn't like this at all last year. Last year, at the Malaysia Club AGM and MSS AGM, it was competitive but in a positive way - we enjoyed ourselves and discussed the many issues about the club/society. It was during times like these that I feel politics can ruin something beautiful, a tradition that has been carried out for years - destroyed, so that some individuals could reap the benefits from it.


But that's life, that's the world as it is. There will be people like that, they will come and take away the beautiful things in life - then leave you with the memory of what was once elegant and pure. Life goes on that way. After the vice president was voted, I left, but not alone. I guess many people felt what I felt. About two third of the room left the same time as I did. I just wanted to leave the politicians to themselves and stay out of it. As I walked out of the room, the voice of the chairman of the AGM echoed : Where are you going? The AGM isn't over yet!
For me... it was long over.

Politics among Malaysians (1)

London School of Economics Student Union's Malaysia Club and London School of Economics Student Union's Malaysia Singapore Society bear many similarities in most aspects. Both of them host a charity event every year (they both even consider it to be the highlight event of the year), they host eating out events, clubbing events and the annual visit to Nottingham for the Nott's Games. Many in the past have asked the same question over and over again - Why are there two clubs/societies that not only bare the same country name but do the same events throughout the year?

The answer would be the same or some what similar. In some point of the answer, the history of both the clubs would be told. There would be many different versions to the history of both these clubs/societies (this would include mine) but altogether there wouldn't be much room for biasedness (probably because of the lack of history).


The History

In the early days of the LSE (I'm not that interested in typing out the full name of the uni, it should be understood by now, though I could have typed it out instead of this explanation, ah nvm) , the number of Malaysians and Singaporeans were too small. It could be the very fact that during the time, not many could have the pleasure of affording to pay for the expenses in studying in the UK. Because of that and the possibility that Malaysians and Singaporeans were kiasu and didn't want to be left out from not being in their own club, the Malaysia Singapore Society was formed. And they lived happily ever after. Temporarily that is. Years passed and the numbers of freshers from both the countries increased. Soon enough they found out that the club was getting too big for two countries. This led to the formation of Singapore Society and Malaysia Club. And that brings us to the present day. The Singaporeans (well, most of them anyway) opt to join the Singapore Society and not participate in MSS (you DO know what that stands for right?). The Malaysians however didn't quite have the same thinking. They chose to run both the clubs/societies. Year after year, Malaysians were torn up into two groups, these were the committees for both the clubs/societies respectively. And so that's about it for the history part.

The day came. One that I have been anticipating for a long time. The Malaysia Club AGM - the event that will see me step down as Project Director of the Committee Board. As I walked to the room in which this event of great importance will take place, I had to admit that a sense of hope started to build up in me. A sense that the new committee will take over and perhaps perform better as a team than my fellow collegues. As these things passed through my mind, I realised that I have arrived at my destination, the only problem was that this wasn't the right place at all. Apparently our president (of the MC) had not officially booked the room for the AGM. In truth all he did was just send an SMS to book the place. As a result the Kenya Society was using that room for their own AGM. The Public Relations and Careers Officer (PRCO) had to write a note to change the venue. Prior to this, every member of the club were told to go to the former room.

Feeling a little irritated (but this was expected from the president), I walked towards the other room. The room was almost filled by the time I got there, with Malaysians all chattering away in the typical Malaysian way. After they were somewhat settled down (I personally don't think its possible to get Malaysians to settle down properly), the AGM was started with the president being the chairman of the meeting. First off, the appetizers. The president showed slides of what MC was all about (during this time I wasn't really paying attention) and details about the positions available. After the explanation, the president (alright fine, his name is Roslan), wanted to start the voting part when he was abruptly interrupted by WeeJon (the ex president of the MSS). Apparently WeeJon wanted the financial report for the last academic year. Faezah, the running treasurer at that moment, couldn't present the slides of the budget breakdown for the past year due to the very fact that she saved it onto a memory card and not into a pendrive. Thus, the crowd started to get agitated upon hearing this (actually it was just about 10 people at most, we had an attendance of probably 40-50 that day). Many question were hurled at her, it looked like people were competing to throw stones at the poor girl. The fact that she misunderstood the concept of when the financial year ended only made the situation worst. Many people were trying to voice out and be heard. The situation suddenly felt like the Malaysian Parliament (thank goodness chairs weren't thrown around). At this point of time, Roslan was also being convicted of numerous things. The tension in the room begun to build up but it wasn't quite enough to scare the first years from running for a position.

The Q&A session was postponed, mainly because it was taking up too much time. (I felt that the only person the members wanted to question was the president, no one else ,omit the treasurer, was put in the spot light) And so the voting commenced. I shan't elaborate on the voting part because it seemed fair and normal enough to me. The new president, treasurer and secretary was picked. Then (for some unknown and poorly picked time), the president decided halt the voting of the committee members and resume the Q&A session. And so the firing resumed. Firstly, Faezah went up and clarified her mistake, made a public apology and promised to send the budget breakdown to the members via email. The crowd responded positively and seemed a little more considerate (or perhaps they were just waiting to attack the president). Here comes the main course. For the next 30-40 minutes, Roslan stood in front of a group of second, third year students and graduates trying to defend himself as well as explain the quality (of the lack of it) of his performance during his serving period. Many issues were brought up against him and frankly his answers were just pouring more oil into the crowds flaming anger. At one point, Jonathan (committee member of the MSS) wanted to call a motion, one that would remove Roslan as the chairman of the AGM and elect a new one. This was based on the fact that the chairman of the AGM was implicated and that would stop the AGM from running smoothly. Of course, Roslan didn't like the motion at all and assured that the voting would continue and the Q&A session would be postponed till after the new committee was chosen. Right after that word of assurance he tried to explain himself again. Many people were saying that he was abusing his authority as the chairman.

In respond to those comments, he continued the meeting. As I stood in that room, I could feel the tension going on around. This time it was more than enough. The first years were either afraid to run as a committee or were unsure about the club as a whole. Suffice to say the rest of the posts after that were uncontested. Voting became pointless as only one person went up for each post. And thus we had our new committee. Q&A session was expected to resume but Roslan quickly dismissed the crowd by announcing that the AGM was over. Frankly, I thought it was a good way to run away from things. And that ends the AGM of the Malaysia Society.

(I'm continuing this with a headache, please pardon the spelling errors)
On that night itself was a Malaysian Clubbing event in a club somewhere along the bustling Oxford Street. It all went well of course, I was there with Michelle and some of my mates - just chilling, drinking and dancing the night off. Little did I know that there were some politics already going on prior to the MSS AGM the next day. Apparently some of the people intending on running were going to call more supporters, possibly not from the LSE, to get more votes for themselves. This raised concern among the current MSS committee. Mainly because then new committee might not be picked because of their merit. Frankly, I was surprised to see the extend in which people will go to get a post in a non-career related society.But let's face it, those were just talks - we would have to wait till the next day to really see what would happen . . .

(I'm sure you're all tired from reading already, I'll continue this later ^^ )

Back to reality

Today marked the beginning of my uni life once again. Lectures and classes resume as usual and the familiar feeling comes back to me. To see everyone rushing for lectures and classes respectively, to head people screaming out to promote their usual activities, to walk down Houghton Street with busy chatters all around me. All of these felt so familiar somehow. Somehow, I feel that I've come home. Malaysia is still my home somehow, just that London feels so homely somehow.



Home home home, I'll take pics of my new place once I get my camera back from a certain someone. My dear michelle that has also entered the LSE and thus has taken my camera to some unknown place and hasn't returned it to its rightful owner since. or maybe she thinks she's the owner now -_-



Currently reading the economist - someone else told me that Fortune magazine is apparently better at presenting information, can anyone relate to that? Cause I can't seem to find that magazine around here.

Coming back to the economist, after a while it gets really boring - and my mind drifts off wondering of something else...

*taken from a site*

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why women can't put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?

Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?