The Shithole Is Getting Shittier
Jan 15th, 2008 by Clare
Sidenote:First of all, thank you all for your prayers and messages (and support too) in times of grieving. The messages you guys left in my comment box helped to cheer me up all the time. May God bless you all!
I finally got back to the university (aka the shithole) a week after my grandfather’s demise. I checked in to my residential college a week late which could subject me to a fine of RM5 per day of late check-in. I was excused from paying the fine because I gave a valid reason in black and white. When I was handling my check-in procedure with the clerk, a busybody stood nearby and attempted to read the letter I was holding.
Busybody: Ini surat? (Is this a letter?)
Me: Ya? (Yes?)
Busybody: Ini surat? (Is this a letter?)
Me: Yalah. Kenapa? (Yes, it is. Why?)
Busybody: Ini bukan cara untuk tulis surat. (This is not the way you write a letter)
Me: Ini surat pemberitahuan. Saya ada attach dokumen dengan surat ini. (This is a letter to inform. I’ve attached a document to it)
[I almost said: Aboden? You want me to handwrite the letter is it?]
Busybody: You ni mahasiswa. Ini bukan cara you tulis surat. (You are an undergraduate. This is not the way you write a letter) *smirked and left*
Me: *rolled eyes*
The best way to deal with idiots is to ignore them. I have been writing my letter that way all these while and only when I almost graduated someone actually tried to be a smartass. Oh, I nearly forgot, that species is only good at writing letters. I am a student, for goodness’s sake, and you expect me to have my exaggeratedly designed letterhead and a fancy signature and company stamp at the bottom of the letter is it? Didn’t ‘To whom it may concern’ tells you anything? You want ‘Dear sir’, is it? Bugger!
That was still nothing compared to another farker that I met today. I will explain from the beginning so that you can understand where I am coming from. You see, in this university shithole we have a week (usually the first week) of add and drop courses. That means we can add or drop any courses or subjects to our preference (we can do it online). After a certain date (which was announced), you could not do so. If you still want to do that, you must see the dean of faculty, and if he approves it, you can add or drop subjects.
In my case, I was not here during the add and drop week due to my grandfather’s demise. There was a subject that I wanted to change - from a Malay class to an English class. Therefore, I have to see this dean today to change it.
Man: Are you local?
Me: Yes.
Man: Then why do you want to change class? You can understand BM.
Me: Because I understand better if the subject is taught in English.
Man: Cannot! There are no more place in there.
Me: The last time I checked, there are TWO more places!
Man: No! No! No! Don’t have!
Me: Yes, there are TWO more places!
Man: Fine. [Asking the clerk] Type tengok ada tempat tak.
Clerk: Dua tempat.
Me: Nice! Then you can just add me to that class.
Man: Cannot! Cannot! English classes are for international students!
Me: But there are TWO places now!
Man: What if there are international students wanted to add the class?
Me: You can just add them in.
Man: What kind of selfish person are you? You are choosing the lecturer for all I know. Who is your lecturer?
Me: I don’t know! I haven’t been attending classes last week.
Man: I have been here for so many years, you must be choosing the lecturer!
Me: (I almost said: Didn’t I just tell you that I haven’t been to classes for the past week?)
Me: Look, there are TWO places in that class and I have every rights to get one of them.
Man: Who say you got right? Who give you the right?
Me: As a student, I can change to that class because it still has TWO places!
Man: Who give you the right? I am the dean here!
Me: (thinking: Oh, you are the dean! So? Dean so tai sai ar? Can use your status and power to instill fear in us ar? I am so scared I almost peed in my pants! Dean wor! So scared wor!) *kept quiet but still staring at the guy*
Man: Okay, I’ll give you the place. But if there are international student asking for the place, I will change your class again, alright?
Me: *continued to stare at the guy* (thinking: I don’t want to agree to that! You are abusing your power!)
Man: (to the clerk) Ok, tukar kelas dia. Kalau ada international student nak add, kita drop dia.
Me: (thinking: Farker!)
Clerk: Ok, dah!
Me: OK? Done? Alright. Thank you! *smiled sweetly at them all and walked away without turning back*
At least I still have the courtesy to say ‘Thank you’ in the end. What is with this uni? I mean, yes you are the dean, so what? That does not subject you to bullying. That is power abuse, man! Oh, just for the record, I have a copy of my time table saved as well as the vacancies available for that class saved in my laptop. Just in case two days later he changed my class saying that there are international students wanting to add, I will save another copy of the current vacancies and make hell lot of noise! You are messing with the wrong person, dude!
I searched for his profile and found the idiot mentioned:
[picture removed to un-pollute my blog]
Only now that he has very short hair. And the information about this guy could also be obtained:
[profile removed because the idiot does not deserved to be mentioned]
Did I tell you that we were arguing in front of some international students as well as the staff there? I am not a university debator for nothing if I don’t put the skills to good use, i.e. defending my rights in this case! Another thing I learnt here was that you have to argue to get what you want here because some people here obviously have ego bigger than their heads who tend to take advantage of their status and power over a weaker you!
Still, the best way to entertain idiots is to ignore their antiques and insist on what you want.
aiya, typical la, he must have graduated from some other shit hole university too. “i am the dean here” a learned professional intellect wouldnt have said that in an argument… plenty of these kinda bias idiots everywhere in malaysia.. btw, he look like my college’s bus driver.. LAWL!
Speaking of which, I thought he was the CLERK there at first, that’s why I dare to argue with him. After he said he was the dean, I lagi syok! Doesn’t he sound like the minister guy who went on BBC to you? He sound exactly like syed albar, only stupider
You are really a tough lady. I know if I am you, I will probably have shaky legs liao. Sometimes, we really need to be louder to get what we want, to get our right. And I hate this kind of dean. That always think so high of themselves and bully the undergraduates. See many of this cases when I was in local uni.
I have seen a lot of students including international students being bullied by these so called more-powerful-than-thou people in the uni. But this is the first time that I encountered it myself. My knees shook though, but being a debator had trained me to keep my voice steady. Hehehe!!
I don’t like that he asked for the reason but don’t want to change you. It’s seems like he is either want to kepo, or he is insulting you as a chinese malaysian. If he alreayd plan not to accept any local student to the english class, why bother asking for reason? Kepo!
Yalor! And when I asked the reason why he cannot add the subject to me, he couldn’t answer and kept accusing me of being selfish.
what’s up with his moustache….
Don’t know! I wanted to pull them off…LOL
Like bargaining fish price in the market
Interesting U’s life you got there.
Local uni is very interesting indeed. I can’t wait to get out of one.
ok i got his picture ledi, next i need his hair & i can do the bomoh thing!
But he doesn’t have hair lor now. This picture might be taken ages ago wan. Hahaha!
kam yeong hai professor????????
Sohai professor lor…
I think he “sia ka se sai” till become “sai” also
Bin also kanasai hor…Jing jing li sia ka se sai lor, kong no miang tu li chiong sai
Jia you Jia you!! Haha! We need more people like you in Malaysia.
Yes, but most people don’t want trouble…
Dear Clare,
What a very interesting argument you had with your dean there… Well, I believe that to some people ‘Power’ and ‘Status’ are their keys to all the doors in the world. Now, he was using one of the keys to lock certain doors, just to show you the attitude of ”Hey, I’m the biggest fish in the pond.” Now, what worrying me is that, since when Malaysia has become India or even Indonesia? I thought we are practicing democracy here, where every one has right to say ‘YES and NO’. Again, I don’t want to overgeneralize, but commonly this is done by a group of people who think that they are always ‘Superior’ than the rest, which I think they are not, at all. If you can remember well, a few months ago, we did talk about how certain so called intellectuals who think that they are superior because of their status thingy, I did mention about one serious issue which is ‘ATTITUDE PROBLEM’. That is the answer to all of these, Clare…
Well done to you….
Ramon
It’s incredible how you elaborate this post to perfection. Very good nonetheless. It’s good to see you having a responsible and healthy bashing post. I like how you think he is ridiculous because I honestly feel that way too. Quite simply, he is just not qualified as a dean. A dean is supposed to aid students where possible, like how the polices are supposed to aid and protect the citizens. The fact that he chose to ignore your predicaments for his own benefits of the doubt is just not good.
Also, what is with the discrimination among local and foreign students? If anything, I think local students should be given more privilege. If there are more foreign students wanting English class, they should have offered more English classes in the first place and not just one! When I was down South, the locals were given more privilege than I was. I am not complaining because I was treated pretty well there, but isn’t it good to see that their government are supporting their own people? Their own people are not forbidden for taking a certain classes just because of some international student, no such bull. I would say it was quite equal.
As much as I’d like to support my own people, but this dean just deserves to be demoted. Far from even being fit to be a dean, in my humble opinion. Then again, my voice is not enough. It takes the people to wake the government up to see what is wrong with our education system and start doing something about it before complaining why our universities are not among the top 200 universities in the world. I think the answer is pretty obvious here.