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May 12, 2005
BTN
Last Tuesday I went to Kem Biro Tatanegara held in Kem Warisan,Ayer Keroh, Melaka. Well, it was actually held during our semester break so many ppl complained about the wrong timing. I, too, went quite reluctantly. However, as things turned out eventually, the camp brought realisation about things that I never thought about.
One fine example was human nature. I’m sure those who were in the fourth seminar that day (Hear! Hear!) would agree with me that the lecturer is an MCP. For the sake of clarity let me spell out his name (if YOU happened to read my blog, go ahead and sue me if you want): Professor Madya Dr. Abu Bakar, a dean in a local university, british-educated, doctorate holder, erudite face. Everyone would think he is a well-defined man on first impression. That’s what I thought too. Hell I was wrong.
First up, being a government servant, he openly made accusations that our parents didn’t perform their duties as taxpayers, hence we should be ‘grateful’ that we were given the chance to study in America using money that our parents didn’t contribute in. What absurd! I assume that he meant well to advice us to study hard so as not to waste our country’s revenue, but making biased and groundless accusations would definitely not punch that message into my head. My loathe for him had just started.
Then he went on with his presentation on ‘Kedaulatan’. What he did was just reading information out of a book, which was given to us later, and making stupid word definitions.
“Apa maksud terbilang?”he asked.
“Maksudnya ternama/terkenal.” Ansary answered.
“Terbilang… maksudnya boleh bilanglah! Apa terkenal! Itu pun tak tahu!”he sneered back.
Hello, according to Kamus Dewan Edisi Ketiga published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, ‘terbilang’ in context means ‘terkenal’, ‘terkemuka’!
Of course I won’t argue further about his more supercilious rantings on definitions of ‘bijaksana’, ‘kesetiaan’ and a dozen more. What irked me most was his biased view on gender issue.
“Lelaki mesti berkahwin dengan perempuan cantik! Perempuan mesti berkahwin dengan dengan lelaki kaya!”
His statement really sparked emotions amongst the girls present. I mean, who wouldn't?
He added, "tak kira perempuan itu tak pandai masak,tak pandai baca, tak pandai akalnya, asalkan cantik, lelaki patut kahwin!"
*chattering*
I can't accept his ideas simply because it's too sexist. Isn't beauty something too superficial to judge a woman? Isn't money too materialistic to judge a man? I can't believe I was hearing all this from an educated man. He should have known and acknowledge that this world has evolved in its complexities that society is no longer functioning as the way it was before. Women now no longer stay in homes being housewives only; they have proved to be as capable as men in most professions,if not more. And men should not be as condenscending as that professor in viewing women's abilities.
For me, I believe that everyone has his/her own abilities. It would be a pity if we let gender to overrule it. Bak kata pepatah, "Apa gunanya kemenyan besar setongkol kalau tidak dibakar?"
Posted by peixin at May 12, 2005 01:07 AM
Comments
At last u r back! haha, i'm ur blog reader, just bumped into here last week.
Like it here,
keep writing gr8 post,
keep up the good work:)
Posted by: thehallowedhornbill at May 13, 2005 12:28 AM
bak kata. fuh.
Posted by: ccymie at May 13, 2005 08:45 PM
hear ye hear ye! :) u missed out the one where he said the malays can throw the non malays out by lucuting their citizenship...lol...
u shld update more often..i like ur blog..i thought ud abandoned ur blog! :)
Posted by: van at May 18, 2005 09:36 PM
Aiyo, this kind of 'Kem' is always like that one lar... I could still remember clearly the 'Kem Bina Negara' I attended before leaving the country... So, how's life lately?
Posted by: Alvin at May 20, 2005 05:32 AM