Palm Sunday: Dare to love?

I was one of the participants that joined the Palm Sunday cum students’ mass celebration in St. Francis Xavier Church yesterday. As I look around and saw the gathering of students around me, I started wondering what had brought me here, what is it so special about this celebration, this gathering of students from various campuses. People were there to meet friends, to celebrate and welcome Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem 2000 years ago. Am I going to welcome Jesus as the others do? Welcoming Him by mere words of mouth or with an open heart?

The celebration begins with the praise and worship session followed by Mass. As I joined the procession into the church where people singing Hosanna and weaving palms, I started wondering, what were the feelings that those people had 2000 years ago when they welcome Jesus into Jerusalem. If they were happy because a great teacher and healer had come, full of hope because the hour had come for a new King to reign, or they were just doing what the others were doing without knowing what’s happening. I tried to search for my feelings that very moment and I found that my mind and heart were not at peace. I do not feel the excitement of welcoming Jesus, I’m not prepared to welcome the Lord!

The homily begins with the sentence “I watched Mukhsin……”, straight in my head I started thinking what would Fr. Chris talked about this movie that he had watched. As he continued the homily talking about how possessive people can be in a relationship, I started reflecting on my own relationships with others. I started to see the signs how a beautiful relationship can change into a nightmare in just a twinkling of an eye. Just a different thought or motive can change the whole meaning of a relationship. What more to say when an action is done. I started then to count the times where I had selfishly wanting people to follow my way, to do things that I think will be the best for them, the decisions that I make for others for the reason that this is the best for you, I love you and I care for you. What nonsense I have done! Not knowing that love no longer exist. Only then I started realizing that I have taken God’s blessings, my family and my friends for granted. How much care and love they had shown me but I treated them like things that I keep when I’m happy and throw when I do not need them.

Everyone longs to be loved and to love as Pope Benedict XVI put it, “to dare to love” as the future of humanity. How far have I being dared to love? I withdrew and give up easily when trials and sufferings came along the way for fear that I can’t go on any further. Jesus loves me so much that He died on the cross for me. Will I be willing to love, to sacrifice myself for others as what Jesus had done for me? I pray that I may have the courage to take up my daily crosses and to answer “Amen” to Him despite of the trials and sufferings of the world for the Lord will be my strength and joy. Praise the Lord.

After Palm Sunday

Hey, Jus wanna say.. It was a great day yesterday. Congratulations again, Alan for your effort and courage. Looking at the number of campuses involved, the Mass was pretty well organised. We sure did have a great deal of FUN and a FRUITFUL day, yup.. i seriously did. Reached Cyberjaya at 8pm. Lepaked at Ming Tien and Tmn Megah Pasar Malam after Mass. Being from MMU and Nat and Alvin both my very good friends, they did very very well for the PnW session. Congratulations! ! It probably took them plenty of courage as well to lead and was so natural.. so themselves.. you two rock!! Oh yeah.. the girl who sang the Responsarial Psalm.. OMG.. her voice!! SOOO Sweeeettttt and sOooOootHingg. Who is she btw? She can go record an album for that voice! and the Sketch! Congratulations to Fiona for bringing us a truly enjoyable sketch.. and Fiona did a great job narrating.. hehe.. it was good and Charles did a great job acting..very natural. and of course the UPM musicians and singers.. the singing and the music added so much difference to a Mass.. how good would it be if all Masses have music like this.. oh yeah.. Well done to everyone who was involved.. the readers (Christina.. well done! you did very well), the gospel readers.. the food prepared by UM.. the offerings.. the powerpoint slides by UKM.. managed to catch a few familiar faces in the pix.. hehe.. would be better if the place is darker coz can't see clearly.. sorry for you all because you all spent your effort preparing it and it was too bright to really see it in its glory.. And everyone for turning up yesterday.. It was raining and all but it didn't deter you all from coming.. GENG! So glad that so many friends from my campus MMU came.. :) Last but not least.. CONGRATULATIONS to Fr.Chris for bringing such a strong message about 'Love' to us with simplicity and profoundness. It was a sermon that probably cleared many of our confusion. Well, at least it did for me.

Anyway.. hope to meet again someday.. :)
All the best!!
If we don't have KLCC meeting.. at least come out yum-cha la.. ok? hehe.. Guess this is all for now.. if i've left you out in anyway.. so sorry.
Happy April,
Mary

After the Coffee Morning

Being the director of KLCC Coffee Morning ’07 was an enriching experience, one that is unforgettable.

It may sound simple to coordinate, but there were some worries like the menu is too small, the profit earned will be too little – was only expecting to make like RM600 – RM700, and being my first time, I didn’t know what to expect.
The objective of this Coffee Morning is to raise funds, and it was so easy to think that as the primary objective – Money. It was clearly the objective; however, the deeper meaning to have this breakfast sale is not solely for money, it was the fellowship, the unity among us students as our fellow brothers and sisters. When I was busy running around the place that morning, I was constantly reminding myself to listen attentively to everyone, and treat everyone with respect and care. It was so easy for me to lose track as there were things to think about, and was so easy to ignore those whom were trying to speak to me, or walk away from those who are speaking to me. Even if we make the highest profit ever in history, it still defeats the purpose if the behaviour to others is rotten.We prayed for things to go well that morning, though it wasn’t exactly according to planned as the food we bought from wasn’t prepared the time we reached there to collect, and we arrived late at HFK. However everything seemed to have fallen well on its place. God answered our prayers. I felt God’s blessing seeing the other CSS students being so helpful, enthusiastic and cheerful. It was clearly God’s kindness manifested in them. The parishioners were all so supportive and kind towards us too, and that reaffirmed us our prayers were answered.

At the end, our profit overshot our expectations. We made over a thousand! Besides the high earnings, we had plenty of fun socializing, selling, and seeing all the students from other campuses once again. Hope everybody really had an educational and fun time. Looking forward to our next KLCC activity!

Tunku Abdul Aziz: (NST 11 Feb. 2007)

Universities must redefine their roles

GREAT universities are not born. They are made, by people who have a clear understanding of the factors that contribute to academic excellence. They also have a vision of the purpose of higher education, both in the national scheme of things as well as in the larger world context.

Even more crucial, in their view, is the need for all to embrace and claim ownership of the core values that underpin their organisations’ culture of ethics and integrity.

Their vision is focused, and not obscured or clouded, by political expediency and other extraneous influences that are harmful to the pursuit of academic excellence. In the context of our public universities, I am not suggesting that the government in Putrajaya should not be allowed a hand in guiding the progress and development of our universities.

"He who pays the piper calls the tune." Our only hope is that the tune is not called too often and that it does not produce too many discordant notes to add to an already confused situation.

Malaysian academics must, in all fairness, take their share of responsibility for the seriously declining standards of scholarship, which is a matter of national concern. The long queues of unemployable Malaysian university graduates speak volumes about both the quality of education itself and the policies that produce a level of mediocrity never seen before.

We have some great universities and outstanding academics to match, but the quality, overall, is patchy. Universities are less about their exterior and more about the quality of work of their scholars. The sooner they reinvent themselves the better before the rot truly sets in.

I agree entirely with the great ethicist, Professor Charles Samford of Griffith University, Australia, when he says in one of his books that "ethical demands fall on all those in public life. It is their ethical duty to serve the ‘public interest’ by helping their institution to live up to its justification".

Senior academics have a clear duty to safeguard and protect the standing and reputation of their immediate university community. In doing this, they help strengthen the ethical legitimacy of their institutions to serve the wider community and the nation, with honesty, transparency, accountability and efficiency.

What is involved in leading academic institutions? A predominant characteristic of a traditional university is "authority vested in hierarchy". However, experience has shown that an uncritical application of authority tends to produce a culture of slavish compliance rather than one of commitment.

If our ultimate objective is to achieve results of a lasting nature, then we have to go beyond mere compliance. Leading men and women successfully requires a range of complex skills, acquired by diligent study, observation and dint of hard work. The rest are, in my view, values inherent in our individual make-up.

Vice-chancellors and other senior academics must be quick to demonstrate that they stand, uncompromisingly, for ethical and principled leadership. Leadership by example is rarely seen in the management of today’s public and private institutions. In the realm of effective management, there is no substitute for values-based leadership at all levels.

University vice-chancellors perform an impossible job. The juggling and fancy footwork required in meeting the many, often, conflicting demands of the Higher Education Ministry and other clients can wear down even the most resolute of them.

Can we develop a profile of effective administrators or managers, because that is what vice-chancellors are in practice? Let me borrow from the experience of the UN Office of Human Resource Management, which focuses, quite rightly, on three main competencies:

• Accountability — Leaders account for, report on, and explain their actions and the use of resources.

• Values — Leaders exemplify and live by their organisational core values.

• Emotional maturity — Leaders must be able to take the good with the bad, and rise above personal pettiness, always putting the interest of their university at the forefront of their actions.

• People management, demonstrating a great capacity to articulate ideas and advance the vision and intellectual excellence of the university community. It also means an ability to cope with and manage change.

Managing our complex multicultural institutions will be extremely difficult without taking full account of, and showing due respect for, diversity.

This means an understanding of diverse world views and seeing diversity as an opportunity to contribute to an environment where different communities and perspectives can thrive in harmony with complete freedom, within the law, to exercise their basic rights. Mere tolerance is what is holding us back from achieving concrete results in our search for "Unity in Diversity" nearly 50 years after Merdeka.

Given the ever changing role and demands made on our universities, vice-chancellors and other academics mandated to provide the moral and intellectual leadership must not forget that they are, first and last, chief administrators, and should not become too immersed in the rituals or preoccupied with the trappings of office. We are all, in the end, judged by our peers on our achievements.

More seriously, though, they have to account for their actions and this means they have to put the interests of those to whom, and for whom, they are responsible at the very centre of their existence if they are to justify their role in today’s terms.

They are under a moral obligation, no less, in performing their duties, to adopt high ethical standards consistent with the expectations of the public at large.

An important underlying principle governing the conduct of leaders is stewardship, which is central to the basic concept of trusteeship. This important principle of duty in the public interest appears to be not understood, or largely ignored, judging from the goings-on which often border on the criminal in many of our national institutions.

Any change of management must come with a clear and unequivocal articulation of the values that a reform or change process it intends to promote. These values should provide the core of ethical standard setting and of judging the success or failure of any organisation.

Today’s universities are not the ivory towers they once were.

The community of scholars that they represent is inseparable from the community at large. They can best justify their existence by understanding the true nature and purpose of higher education so as to be in a position to make a positive contribution not only to our immediate development goals but also to our legitimate ambitions as a global economic and political player.

They will continue to be relevant as long as they anticipate the future social, economic and political direction of the country, and become active partners and change agents in that process.

Tunku Abdul Aziz is a former special adviser to the United Nations secretary-general on Ethics. He now contributes from Kuala Lumpur. He spoke on this topic to a group of academics at a colloquium organised by the International Institute of Public Policy and Management of Universiti Malaya recently. He can be contacted at tunkua@gmail.com.

Zainah Anwar (NST 09 Feb 2007)

Don't curb students' enthusiasm

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OUR students in the UK are, oh, so shy, so unassertive, they keep to themselves, they don’t mix? I am surprised that the Minister of Higher Education is surprised. This is not a new problem.

When I was studying in the US in the 1970s and 1980s, there were "kampung Melayus" sprouting on campuses in several universities in the Midwest. Friends complained of surveillance, peer pressure and anonymous letters slipped under their doors or sent home to the Public Service Department by fellow students if they were seen to be too close to too many Americans.

Even in Indonesia, our students don’t mix. A friend teaching at the Islamic University in Jogjakarta says the Malaysian students on her campus are so totally unassertive and disinterested and pursue the easiest of courses taught by the easiest of lecturers.

They avoid the many discussion groups that flourish on and off campus which bring together students and activists to discuss the latest books, ideas and debate on current issues. They would not take part in the many training sessions on human rights, democracy and women’s rights.

Actually, we the taxpayers are not getting value for the millions of our tax money spent on scholarship for these students who might as well remain in Malaysia if they only want to be "jaguh kampung".

Our young adults are losing out in a competitive world that is hungry for talent. In the end, it is Malaysia that will lose out.

In 1980, I wrote about racial polarisation on our university campuses and how some of the bright and articulate students I interviewed at the University of Malaya called it the Pantai Valley High School.

It was not the exciting, enriching university life they envisaged, but a life restricted and regulated by the Universities and University Colleges Act. In school, they had freedom to write letters to whomever they pleased, be it to make a school visit to a factory or a palace museum.

Imagine their shock when they found out that at university, all letters needed to go through the Dean of Student Affairs. And they were often reminded lest they were hatching rebellions, any unauthorised gathering of more than five constituted an offence. How to be assertive?

And the racial polarisation; everywhere on campus Malay students were with Malays, Chinese with Chinese and Indians with Indians — be it at the canteen, at the library, walking the streets from class to hostel and back.

The students spoke of how they were corralled into racial blocs by their seniors the moment they stepped into campus.

Woe betide those who stepped out of the box. An anonymous letter would be slipped under their door "condemning" them to hellfire and damnation.

My editor was so shocked by my findings that he decided not to publish the story. It does look that after 26 years, nothing much has changed.

When I recently told this story to a professor at the University of Malaya, she said she would be so lucky today to find a student astute enough to even make a remark about a campus life that is more akin to secondary school.

Most days, she says, she feels like pulling up her students by their collars to breathe life into them.

So dear minister, they are, oh, so shy, so unassertive, so not mixing with others on home ground as well. And it’s been going on for over two decades.

There is obvious awareness and concern by the country’s leadership that much has gone wrong with our education system, our socialisation and politicisation that have produced these unassertive, inarticulate, intellectually and socially disengaged, racially segregated and unemployable graduates.

Much hope is placed on the recently launched National Education Blueprint and its many promises, including the promise to produce well rounded students who will think out of the box.

A friend runs a programme that exposes students to literature, music, art, critical thinking and public speaking before they spend more of their parents’ hard-earned money to study abroad.

These are straight A students, whose parents woke up one day to realise that darling Johan and Janine who scored 11 A1s in SPM actually lack the cultural literacy necessary to succeed and get the best out of university education in the West.

My friend and her team of trainers were stunned that these students did not know a single fairy tale. An exercise to rewrite Hansel and Gretel from the witch’s point of view drew a blank; when asked if they knew other fairy tales, they did not. They had not heard of Winston Churchill even though they all got A1 for history.

They had never seen nor met a person in a wheelchair; they had never been to an art gallery or a museum, in spite of living in Kuala Lumpur and enjoying annual holidays abroad. One boy was passionate about studying aviation engineering and wanted to own an airline, but had never heard of Tony Fernandes.

Life for these kids revolved around school, tuition, shopping malls and computer games. What they did not know, they felt they didn’t need to know.

And yet, they wanted to go to Cambridge or Stanford and wanted to do well in their interviews and essays; but they had nothing much to say about themselves and their interests beyond the string of A1s for which they were rewarded and their parents applauded. Eleven A1s and not an ounce of zest to spare does not a successful life make.

At the other end of the scale, I do meet students and young people who are far from shy and disengaged. They have friends from different races and different countries, they read voraciously, they go to museums, concerts, plays, they backpack to the islands off Malaysia and Thailand and through God-forsaken countries of the world, they listen to world music, they speak their minds.

I meet young university students who dare to organise events outside the campuses, campaigning against the UUCA and dirty student elections, giving free tuition to squatter kids, cooking free food for the homeless, hanging out with non-governmental organisation activists and theatre practitioners.

These young people live their lives to the full, ever teetering on a fine balance between family, friends, fun and studies or a budding career of their choice.

What makes them different? For some, it might be class, but for most others, it is exposure.

Whether growing up in a family that eats, reads and talks together, or getting exposed to the works of Alice Walker and Maya Angelou in English class, or having a lecturer who loves the theatre and drags his students to all the plays in KL, or meeting an inspiring aging ex-student leader who wanted to join the university social club but ended up in the socialist club.

By design or by accident, it is exposure to adults who opened up their minds to other possibilities in life that made a difference to the lives of these effervescent young people.

A friend’s 15-year-old daughter complained how the teachers at school (a premier school, mind you) say no to everything suggested by the students — be it to organise a talentime (what would parents say if you kids wear sexy clothes), a Halloween party with the neighbourhood children (oh no, it’s Western culture), dance and music classes (cannot, must "jaga diri"), regular field trips to museums, orphanages, school for the blind (too many permissions to ask, forms to fill and transport to organise).

That many of the shy, unassertive students and young graduates have potential is without doubt.

The tragedy is we adults have failed them as we pour cold water over their ideas or just remain indifferent to their natural instinct to explore, discover, innovate, take risks, be different. It is our fault because we shut the doors and windows on them.

Voice 12:

A Kuching boy – Andy came to Kuala Lumpur since year 2002 to further his studies in one of the private college. He lost his own self after he came to KL especially in his spiritual life. He was very enthusiastic and active in church’s activities when he was in his hometown. In the year 2002, he had gone through lots of obstacles and difficulties where he couldn’t find Jesus in his life. He was a lost sheep.

One day, the Lord called him back through his prayers and showed him a way to start a new life and a new journey with Him by joining Catholic Students Society (CSS) in his college. He doubted for a long period of time before he made the decision to join the society for he wouldn’t know whether it was God’s will or not. He only started joining and participating in activities after few CSS members inviting him. He believed that God not only invites him back to His home through his prayer but also through lots of angels from CSS. Since that day he joined the society, his life changed as he slowly find his way back to the Father. He also became one of the committee members in the society after joining for a semester. Together with the members in the society, they had gone through lots of tears and joy. They also experienced God, for He had done great things in their life.

However, he started become more and more active in serving in church especially in the Chinese group. His willingness of expend lots of time in serving church and help up in societies had gained back a lot of meaningful and fruitful experiences in his life. With his fruitful experiences, he had reform and reestablished his relationship with God. He had started become more mature and more serious into his religious life. Then, he started to search lots of reading materials about God, lay people’s testimonies, cultural background, even faith growing materials. But the only book he have not search is the Bible. His view on the Bible is that the Bible is hard to understand and boring with lots of wording. Therefore, he tried not to read Bible and yet to gain something for his life and his religion.

Unfortunately, through his reading materials he found that lots of referral is from the Bible in order to have better and clearer picture because Bible is the only original source about God and us. Deal to that, he made up his mind to promise God that he is willing to take the challenge to read the Bible. But he does not know where and how to start. Since God love him so much, He introduce a Bible class to him called Disciple class. Disciple class is a journey with God together through Bible and it lasted for a period of nine months. Finally, he took up this course.