Dissapointment from the Selection for KBS International Exchange Program

This article was written on 30 March 2010 but left unpublished till this moment I decided to spill it all out.

I was disappointed not that I did badly in the camp. I did well and was very outstanding despite me unwilling to fight for chances to outshine everyone there. I felt that everyone should be given equal chances and treated equally. We are all leaders, the cream of our respective organizations. None deserved to be abandoned at the floor. So I just went with the flow and be myself all the time.

I was sad to discover the true fate all fellow Malaysians. I have expected the selection camp to be very competitive but it turned up to be easy. Speaking in English in a bunch of non speaker, so called young leaders whom have dream of leading our country was the easiest I could get there.

I did not understand why majority of delegates there could not speak in English at all. Worse when I discovered that they have already went through one round of selection at their respective state. How can we send ambassador out to promote Malaysia when this person can't even speak any known language at the international arena more over a total foreign language?

Secondly I was disappointed to know that fellow Malaysian young leaders are shallow. In example, my group was given the topic Education to present on. The first idea that came to my fellow team mates' thought were we should present the good and the bad side of what education can bring to us. For good, just highlight his life during adulthood with good career while on the opposite side we will present how the teenage boy would end up being druggies or 'mat rempit'. Why druggies and 'mat rempit'? Was this all that we have? Was this idea appropriate when we are suppose to be Malaysian ambassador?

I respected them and listened to their ideas. Finally when my comment was needed, I managed to convince them on our role here in representing fellow Malaysian youths. I managed to remove the negative elements from our presentation and drive them to the right direction that was to promote Malaysia Education system internationally.

So we came out with brilliant ideas, making 3 scenes for our sketch. In scene 1, we wanted to highlight the education system we have now and our adaptation in making our education aligned with the IT and knowledge base era. One of the example quoted which was astonishing to me was the 'E-book' program launched at the Terengganu state. At first I was puzzled to learn about the program as my fellow team mates knew about the project at the surface only. They kept mentioning about e-book and quoting the physical appearance of the 'e-book', not knowing about what we called as Classmate PC or netbook in general.

Scene 2 discussion was the most hilarious one. We wanted to present what has education brought to us in terms of R&D achievement. So we brainstormed on the inventions by fellow Malaysians. Believe it or not, one can quote 'Microsoft buat Intel Core 2 Duo. Designer it orang Malaysia'. I almost laughed out loud listening to him. I would not blame him for not knowing who designed the processor but despise him for mentioning anything about Microsoft and Intel Core 2 Duo. Thank god, I was there to correct them on this!

Another invention quoted was a fellow Malaysian created a cure to stomach ulcer from mangosten extract. Someone asked what was stomach ulcer and the answer given was gastric...hahahahahaha. Forgive my shallowness. I just don't know the equation for stomach ulcer is gastric. btw I have not heard of any absolute cure to stomach ulcer nor gastric. I didn't say much about this as I wasn't in health care profession.

Scene 3 was about a foreigner

Youth without independent thinking...barely followers in nature. Just tried to outshine peers, but in real fact all are followers.

On the last day, we have our final challenge. It was a public speaking for merely 1 minute. I was nervous too but still manage to do it spontaneously. Earlier, I prepared a 5 minutes speech on the Government Transformation Program. I expected many to talk about 1 Malaysia but I doubt many knew the true concept of 1Malaysia what more about GTP. However I decided to change my topic to 'How to speak in public and how to overcome stage fright?' after listening to few others. They were trembling and shivering. Many could not speak fluently what more spontaneously. I wanted to help them and I mean it. I have no intention to be the best and fight for a place on the kapal belia. I just wished that these future Malaysia Ambassadors would not embarrass us during the exchange. However it was sad that I have been given too little time to share with them.

16 May: Surprisingly cold

I did a lot of research about California prior to my visit. However weather is just beyond my control...I only brought along a jacket, a shawl and 3 scarves. These were not enough to keep me warm.


We started our day quite late. Worse was we were stuck in the middle of the city due to the road closure for the Bay To Breakers and the Hertz Never Lost system was not helpful at all in this case. We were on the 49-Mile Scenic Drive. We took approximately 1 and a half hours to reach the Palace of Fine Art/Exploratorium.


I really felt in love with the magnificent Roman Greek architecture, Palace of Fine Art. Behind the palace was the Exploratorium. I was as excited as the children here. This place really explained why American kids were so smart. There were a lot of answers to answer to their curiosity. Parents educate their children unlike back at home, Malaysians teach their children and mostly in the copy exactly practice.


We also dropped by golden gate viewing point, Fort Point and the Presidio point. The weather was extreme for late spring. It was so cold at the Fort Point and the viewing point. The Pacific Ocean breeze was super chill.


We were cold and hungry. No decent place for us to fill our stomach. So the best we got were a cold pasta. Another round of meal at Burger King....really a huge burger :P


I was checked into room 313 at Hilton Garden Inn Folsom. This soom has the same setting as the one in SF. I enjoyed the soft bed.

the longest day of my life, 15th May 2010

15th May 2010 was a super long day. The longest day of my life with a total of 39 hours with a total of 22 hours spent on transit and on flight.

The journey was very bumpy on our way above the Pacific Ocean. Luckily my pill took effect and I managed to doze off despite the unpleasing economic seat. It was more spacious on window seat and safe to have the cabin wall and window to lean and look out upon.

Best of all about this trip was that all the immigration and custom clearance procedure seems so smooth...not a single beep from Penang to Singapore then to Hong Kong and San Francisco.

Oh...not to forget, Changi Airport deserved all the extremely good reviews. So much to see and so much to do there. There were activities and spaces for everyone! But Hong Kong airport has more stores for shoppaholics.

I better go on bed now and today is going to be a long day. SF 49 miles scenic here I come!

Am now in Changi Airport

So tired now...cant do much other than surfing the internet and window shopping. Saving all my credit limit for my time in Califonia.

Hope that I can have a smooth flight to SF(best to be without the pills) and may I get immigration clearance smoothly.

Oh yes...I just get my flight ticket issued. Both isle and window seats are out :S I want my window seat so badly for the comfort and the view.

1st day into my postgrad study

I was glad that my postgraduate study finally took off. My first lecture by an old wise man, Prof. Tou was interesting as well as challenging at the same time. He was lecturing on the quantum mechanics, atom, electron and etc. He covered months of form 5 and form 6 Chemistry and Physics syllabus in less than 3 hours. In fact his lecture was more conclusive. Perhaps it was because we now have better understanding of the law of nature.

I am going to have hard time catching up with those lectures while juggling them with my work, family and friends at the same time. May god bless and give the strength and sanity to pursue my dream! I must finish and graduate in the minimum 2 years!