Life

Suggestion and Recommendation for CL

1. Reduce the Articles

The rules of ten is a fun thing to do, but with too much articles to be covered, it will be so stressful for the students. From my opinion, I think that two articles for assignment (1) and two articles for assignment (2) is the best option. By doing this, it can lighten the stress and increase students' focus  level on particular articles especially on assignment (1) where they need to cover three articles. 

2. Increase the Duration for Mass Lectures

Mass lecture is not that boring, at all. If lecturers can provide a few five minute breaks for students during the lectures, it can help them not to feel so bored during the lectures. They can either go to toilet, drink or eat something that can make them feel not sleepy. Two hours class of rules of ten every week is more devastating rather than two hours of mass lectures. 

3. Answer Scheme Comes From the Book, Not the Slides

One thing that I didn't really satisfied is about the answer scheme for tests. This is because the answer scheme come from the slides during mass lectures, not only from the book. Sometimes students didn't really recall or remember what are being shown in the slides during mass lectures, but they surely do have the book. Most of the time, students studied for the test using the book, not from the notes they wrote during mass lectures. I also think that the printed version of the slides included in the book could be a good idea. 

4. Increase the Number of Articles

There are only four articles for assignment (1) and two articles for assignment (2). The limited number of articles can increase the possibility of plagiarism since everyone is doing the same thing. If the articles were added, it will be difficult to plagiarize other's work since it can be detected more effectively. Other than that, it can also increase students awareness about what is happening around them since there are more issues that they will read.

I really hope that my concerns for the sake of love for CL can be taken into consideration by the lecturers. It is an interesting subject, lets make it more interesting.

A Muslim or a non-Muslim?

“The latest incident about a BFM newsreader being threatened with death, rape and being burnt alive by those whom I assume to be Malay-Muslim netizens brings forth serious questions for this country. Is this country safe for our children to live in? If a simple point of view is raised against such issue as hudud or even such issue as democracy and clean elections can produce outburst of murder, rape and burning people alive, what does it say about our country, its citizens and our leadership?” 

The statement came from Professor Dr Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi. He is the father of a BFM presenter, Aisyah Mohd Tajuddin who faced death and rape threats over the video of her questioning about Hudud. I have watched the video myself on YouTube and understood what is the message she tried to deliver. Below is the link of the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAr-8YGeRH4

First of all, what is Hudud? Hudud is law that have been decreed by Allah himself in the holy al-Quran. Implementation about Hudud have been mention a few times in al-Quran, for examle in al-Isra verse 32 about forbidding adultery and al-Maidah verse 38 about punishment for thief. Here, I would like to belief that Aisyah Tajuddin is a Muslim herself, according to her name.

There are many who questioned about implementation of Hudud and some non-Muslim claimed it as a cruel punishment. But that is okay for them to question about Hudud since they are not Muslim and they didn't believe in Allah and al-Quran. Muslims people will not get angry over a non-Muslim questioning about Hudud and believe me, many will try to explain to them about Hudud so that they can understand it. But the issue here is about a Muslim herself questioning about Hudud. She asked about how Hudud can improve the economy or help the flood victims or fill our stomach. It is like she questioned about how solat  can help the economy, how fasting in the month of Ramadhan can help the flood victims and how  performing haji in Mecca can fill our stomach. It is the same! Why? Because all that have been mentioned above are orders from Allah to all Muslim and as a Muslim, who is she to questioned it? Is she smarter than Allah himself?

Islam is peace religion. Even the word Islam itself comes from salam, an Arab word which mean peace. But what she did was really insulting; not the pride of Muslims but Allah himself. Even though I do not agree with the threats, but if we look from a positive side, the threats could be a wake up call for her to take back what she said. Hudud is not a politic issue, but an order that must be obey. It is a matter of iman and aqidah which are the foundations of Islam itself.

To Aisyah Tajuddin, please, I beg of you. Please take back what you said and do the taubat while you still can. I am not going to threat you and even if you ask me to kneel, I will. Just please do not devastate our Islam for it does not belong to either you or me alone, but it belong to all Muslim  as well.

Should Woman Be Behind the Wheel? Or Should Not?

Be it woman or man who drives, accidents still happened anyway. But we can clearly see the differences between how man and woman drives. There are a few aspects or woman's driving that might lead to a state of generalization which said woman shouldn't be behind the wheel.

1. Unstable Emotions
Every woman has a similar emotions syndrome which is known as Premenstrual Syndrome or PMS. According to White (2014), common symptoms that appear during PMS are depression, headache, sadness, clumsiness and high temper. During driving, this symptoms may cause woman to loss focus on the road. For example, she may lose control of the car due to sudden depression and sadness. Her mind, at that time; is not totally on the road but on the other thing as well that can lead to loss control of the car. So when she loses control of the car, it can bring danger to both herself and other drivers as well.

2. All Pedals Are Brake Pedal
In a panic situation, a woman will hit all the pedals she can instead of the brake pedal. This is because woman mostly can't handle the situation of panic thus loss control of the car. Of course there is a reason to this. Most woman will likely choose an auto car instead of a manual one since it is easier to drive. Yes it is easier since you don't have to use all your hands and legs like manual cars. One hand on the steering and one leg on the pedals is enough. But since it only need one leg and one hand to drive, they tend to put their leg and hand on a relax position thus when something bad happens, their limbs is not on a ready position to act.

3. Voice That Control the Movement
Once ago I went out with my girlfriend. Then I was so tired so I let her drives while I take a nap. But suddenly I heard a scream that woke me up. The car has nearly went down a river! I asked her what happened and she told me that she nearly loss control of the car. Then I asked why scream? Then she said she didn't know why she just felt like screaming so she screamed. Then I realized that in panic situation, woman mostly will try to control the car using their voice instead of using their hand. As if the car is going to stop if she screams "STOP!".sigh*

Maybe one day when someone invent a car that has no steering but using voice to control the car, or a car that can analyze panic situation and brake itself, or a car that can detect the PMS and give a warning for woman in PMS to not driving, then woman can be considered good driver as good as man. But until it happen, I think that better let man drives, unless if there is emergency or urgent matter. I will not say woman shouldn't drives because it is everyone's right but it is not advisable for woman to be behind the wheel.

Reference
Cynthia. D. W. (November 11, 2014). Premenstrual Syndrome. Retrieved from https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001505.htm

What Is My Expectation for Critical Literacy?

I started to hear about CL or Critical Literacy when I was on semester 3. A lot of my seniors in semester 4 talked about how stressed they are about the subject and some of them claimed that they have somewhat a love-hate relationship with the subject. If we look at the name of the subject, it is just frightening as it sounds. First of all, the word critical itself contain a scary meaning to those who are students. You need to be a critic and on top of that, it is about literacy! Even if the subject is divided into two different subjects which are Critical and Literature, it is still so hard. The two subjects combined together is like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi play on a same team when they both are already two greatest footballer in this century. It brings a trembling fear to those who are up against them and the chances are; they are already lost even before the match start! That, is Critical Literacy, and students are the opponent. But they are also some who claimed to have a love-hate relationship with CL. They said that they hate it but love it in the same time. Wow that sounds almost like a wife. My perception changed a little after I heard that. Well maybe its because a wife doesn't sound that bad I guess. But on top of all the opinions from the seniors, one is above them all. She said that she has completely fallen in love with CL and when I asked "If were CL would you marry me?" shockingly, she said yes! Now I'm beginning to wonder whether she really is a Decom student or not. It is indeed a difficult subject but as a wise man said, "impossible is nothing". It motivates to not give up, even for CL.When I was in semester 2, some seniors also said that ITTL is very hard subject, but when I experienced it myself, it is not as hard as they claimed. So I think that they were exaggerated about the subject and that is the same as CL.