Written by Samiyah Nurhashimah

SHINee fans are shocked by the death of Kim Jong Hyun where he was found dead in his rented flat in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul. The death of 27 year old celebrity is believed due to mental illness based on the note that has been written by Kim Jong Hyun, which he wrote that “I’m broken from the inside” and “The depression that has slowly eaten away at me has finally consumed me, and I couldn’t beat it”.

Mental illness is known as a condition that could affect your mood, thinking and behaviour. Those who are having mental illness might have the symptoms of feeling sad and confused thinking. According to National Alliance on Mental illness (2017), one in 5 adults experienced a mental health condition every year and one in 17 lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia. Looking at the statistics issued, it shows that mental health is an alarming to our society to take care of those who are in depressed situation.

The death of celebrities who committed suicide due to depression has been reported many times before such as Chester Bennington, Robin Williams, Kurt Cobain and the latest one is Kim Jong Hyun. Mental illnesses are usually caused by environmental stresses, genetic, biochemical imbalances, or any combination of these. Suicide could also be reflected on individual’s profound feeling of helpless where they could not cope with the demand of life. It requires proper care and treatment for those who are facing from mental illness.

Retrieved from: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/community/article/2125007/hong-kong-fans-flood-twitter-outpouring-grief-over-death

 

According to Mental Health America sources, those who are having mental illness would show these symptoms as per below:

• Confused thinking
• Sadness or irritability
• Feeling of extreme highs and lows
• Excessive fears, worries and anxieties
• Social withdrawal
• Dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits
• Strong feeling of anger
• Delusions
• Hallucinations
• Growing inability to cope with daily problems and activities
• Suicidal thoughts
• Numerous unexplained physical ailments
• Substance use

This situation could be prevented by paying attention to those who are having mental illness symptoms. The least we can do is by giving moral support, having open and honest discussion and showing your concern to those who are involved in this situation. People should be aware of these signs of mental illness in order to prevent the number of suicide from increasing from day to day.

Written by Irfarina Ahmad Nazli

 

A recent article by Nuri Vittachi in the Sun’s newspaper caught my interest. He mentioned the existence of a law in the United States allowing flight passengers to have their Emotional Support Animals (ESA) next to them!

This means, you can bring along literally any animal registered for your emotional well-being. Luckily for the owners, the airlines is not allowed to charge ESAs for using its services. Furthermore, you don’t need to be physically disadvantaged such as being visually impaired to qualify, nor need trained animals to meet the law’s criteria, but simply be “emotionally fragile”.  According to The Official ESA website, the individual has to provide evidence of experiencing mental health disability and proof that he/she is under a health professional’s supervision.

No blanket restrictions are known in regard to the kinds of animals that could fly with you, and some airlines websites have basically listed a range of species, from cats to dogs to pigs and fish based on the federal regulations. It is up to the airline company to decide on the kinds of animals allowed on board.

An interesting addition to this law is a case Vittachi cited, whereby a woman was on the same flight with 4 dogs said to be ESA for another passenger. The lady unfortunately, was allergic to dogs and had to be escorted out although she paid for her ticket.

With this being said, America can be quite a wonder at times. As it pushes for human rights, incredulous laws have been introduced and implemented to satisfy the needs of every single human. This leaves much for question as from the case mentioned, the rights of the lady were violated in the expense of another individual whom wanted to practice his rights for ESA. Also, who in the end, the flight attendant or the owner cleans up the mess if the animals ever need to perform the call of nature is another question to ponder. There could never be a win-win situation here for both the airlines and its clients in such cases. Perhaps the policymakers need to relook into the idea to minimize the inconveniences to other people and find other means to help those who are really in need.

Photo credit: Google

 

References:

The Sun newspaper (December 13, 2017)

The Official ESA Registration of America (https://www.esaregistration.org/)

Written by Nurhanis Hazry

What is Multitasking?

Multitasking is a skill to settle more than one thing at a time instead of having to cope with various ranges of responsibilities one by one. Multitasking is the skill that is related to the quality in adapting multitasked workloads. This skill encourages people to take in more than one task to their typical workday. In general, multitasking is an apparent human ability to perform than one task, or activity within a short period. For example, multitasked mother can send email to her boss while milk up her baby instead of doing something else (reading a book, workout, talking on the phone and etc.) at a time.

However, working on several things at once possibly creates great pressure on which ultimately leads to the negative impact on individual productivity. Thus, there have been many debates over the pros and cons regarding on these matters.

The Pros of Multitasking

Multitasking provides some benefits for human. By performing huge number of tasks simultaneously, it allows us to finish all those things within seconds. In terms of beneficial purposes, multitasking also:

• stimulate creativity
• helps in managing time effectively
• makes a person not to depend on others
• maximizes the optimization of working hours
• provides better chances of survival than others

The Cons of Multitasking

However, doing many things at once is reflective of diminished focus. This usually comes out in the producing poor cognitive performance of human quality compared to someone who is assigned to do only one thing. It also:

• leads to drop in best productivity
• increases stress levels
• leads memory impairment (repeatedly require constant reminders of what should to do)
• causes lack of focus
• places one person in hurry to finish the task soon

To sum up, we must be very careful and pay extra attention while doing multiple tasks. Allocate more time to the most important things to avoid unwanted issues. With provided pros and cons above, surely too much of multitasking activities reduce our focus, productivity, and even in daily performance. Try to avoid it while concentrate more on the task to give the best of quality of work!

 

References:

1. Aratani L. (February 26, 2007). Teens Can Multitask, But What are the Costs? The Washington Post.
2. Delbridge, K. A. (2000). Individual Differences In Multi-Tasking Ability: Exploring A Nomological Network; Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Michigan.
3. Foerde, K., Knowlton, B. J., and Poldrack, R. A. (2006, August). Modulation of competing memory systems by distraction, 103(31), 11778-11783.

Written by Nur Hawa Shafiqa

Basically, the beginning of technology helps people reducing time constraints, space, and distance. Look further to the existence of technology, the impact may be divided into two which are positive and negative. Today, technology has made major changes in both print media and motion pictures industries.

Long before, print media used Gutenberg printing process which may take longer than expected. During Gutenberg time, the compositors put type together by hand, and skilled compositors could bring together 2000 characters or letters in an hour. This day as the technology evolved, inventors adapted the new technologies to revolutionize the printing process. From steam engine to electrical engines, the new technology revolutionized the printing process.

Some scholars said when the technology takes over the whole print industry, it has no future. Print readers declined themselves from reading anymore, newspaper companies closing and labor experiences being out of work. Nowadays, the struggle of print media against new media is not new. In Malaysia, due to this advancement of the technology, one of the press branch companies, New Straits Times Press (NSTP) in Terengganu was shut down because the newspaper circulation is decrease.

Back then, the printing industry could make profit from the selling point of the newspapers or books. Today, printing industry is depends solely on advertisement to gain their companies’ profits. Unlike print newspaper, digital newspaper provides the journalist with 140 characters or fewer so they should have shortened their stories. The writing somehow should be long which means the whole stories may be disrupted.

Technology allows the printing industry hired limited employees unless they know how to use the new media. Before, the newspaper publication took one night to be published so the time of submission may be little longer, but today in 21^st century, once the story completed, with the approval from the editor, the stories need to be published on the spot. This is due to the terrible economic.

Technology allows people to be connected to each other worldwide. For example, with the introduction of technology, people from Malaysia could reach global issues from the CNN websites wholly. They just need to connect to Wi-Fi or broadband; they are one step closer to search for what they need to know using laptop or portable device like smart phone.

Other than that, the news portal needs to battle with another online news publication. The online news publication; licensed or not usually took the news stories from the main source of news. For example in Malaysia, the stories in Siakapkeli Press were usually taken from BERNAMA as the main source. The situation pictured that the journalist has to deal with the new media ethics. To take someone stories, they could not take it 100% without the person’s consent. What they need to do is to rephrase it using their own words.

The trend of online news this era is the existence of fake stories and news from a person who is no background of writing news at all. Example of a blog in Malaysia is OhBulan. In order to write news, there must be specific guideline and some ethics that must be followed by the writers. With the rise of online news, every person can create their own website and publish any stories without proper guidelines. There are a lot of issues regarding the fake news that has been published and it has gone viral on social media especially.

On top of that, the digitalization of print media can cut the cost of paper. It means that newspaper publication does not need paper at all. It goes digital where journalists or writers write their stories by typing it on keyboard of a desktop or laptop and publish it online. In Malaysia before the digitalization process began, the newspaper industry need paper and ink to print out the stories they wrote. The process however took longer than publish it online.

Unlike print newspaper, print book seems to be okay. Some people might not accept the new trend of reading novels on devices. Malaysia are not out of list for giving the advantage to the primary students in Terengganu where Terengganu government invest millions Ringgit Malaysia (RM) to produce electronic textbook to its pupil. Some years later, the government believed that the method was not successful enough.

While in motion pictures industry, film industry today is much better than the previous one. Older people could mention their appreciation when they could observe the transformation of black and white film to color film. The quality of the pictures getting better and even people could watch film, movies or drama in high definition (HD). The picture is much clearer than the normal version.

The advancement of technology also gives advantage to the film industry where they can create 3D and 4D motion pictures which will be more interactive. 3D pictures allow the audiences to see the picture like real with the added of the special effects. Although technology give quite benefit to the industry, most of the motion pictures agency in United States merged or closed down (Winn).

Unlike Malaysian movie, English movies are better because of the additional of sound effects and so forth. For example, the film of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales used drones to get the scene at sea. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story used air cannon explosion to make the scenes look like real. While filming of The Jungle Book, the filmmakers experimented with virtual reality headsets as a way to see the virtual set created through CGI (Motion Picture Association of America).

In addition to the negative area of technology advancement in this industry, the battle between the filmmakers and piracy has begun. Most of the people, globally, love to watch free movies on YouTube or pirate websites. One of the pirate websites is 123.movies. These days, filmmakers have to fight against piracy otherwise all costs invented to produce one movie are a waste.

However in Malaysia, TV3 and Astro took the chance to create their own website to reach bigger audiences. The audiences could stream freely or some contents should be subscribed. But then again, technology is much faster. Anonymous people took advantage on the advancement of the technology. They still can create another pirate website for their own profits.

Some of the filmmakers are smart. The technology allows the filmmaker to collaborate with the game makers to create a game related to the movie itself. It is also part of the marketing strategy. The game that is related to the movie in Malaysia is J Revolusi. Here, we could see how technology creates changes in motion pictures industry.

Technology is not only can reduce time constraints, space and distance. In print media and motion picture industries, technology can produce better quality of newspaper, book or magazine as well as film. Despite of all the struggles they faced, both print media and motion picture industries are somehow still active locally and internationally. By connecting people around the world, technology is not just give benefit to the people but also it can give unenthusiastic impacts to so many industries.

Written by Balqis Ariffin

Malaysia is blessed with diverse and unique cultural heritage especially its traditional dance, formed from the influence of various races that live in harmony in the nation. Each state in Malaysia possesses their own particular dance routine which makes them distinct from other states. Perak is no exception with its historical Dabus dance that has existed for over 300 years (Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 2003).

Dabus is a word taken from the Bugis language, meaning metal or sharp spear. However, in Dabus dance, an ‘anak Dabus’ is the essential tool used by the dancers when performing. During the dance routine, the dancer will shake the anak Dabus to produce a crackle noise that has a repetitive rhythm. Additionally, anak Dabus is used by the dancers to poke their arm or stab their bodies to signify a warrior’s braveness in battling the enemy. Therefore, the routine in this traditional dance has its own purposes (Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

On the other hand, in the original Dabus dance routine, the tools used are not confined to anak Dabus alone, but the dancers can opt for several other sharp weapons such as a machete, keris, dagger, rope, and millstone (Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 2003).

Numerous theories have emerged on the origins of Dabus dance. Primarily practiced in Perak and Selangor, some claimed that it came from Indonesia, Baghdad and Buginese people, but it was universally agreed that it originated from the Middle East. Interestingly, such form of entertainment was initially a self-defense art but has been forgotten by the current generation as it is only practiced by the elderly (Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

According to folktale, Dabus dance began in the era of Islamic progression, whereby a disagreement on religion between two parties namely Saidina Ali and his foe had led to warfare, prompting the former to create a dance meant to frighten away his enemy, and to prevent division among his followers. Luckily, wounds on the dancer will recover following a spell casted by the leader. It was believed that this traditional dance was spread to the Malay Archipelago by Islamic traders.

However, Tuan Haji Ismail opposed the former assumption, theorising that the Dabus dance was first practiced in Perak, particularly in Tanjung Bidara, Kampung Gajah and Pulau Tiga by Tok Pawang Bakar, a local from Kampung Gajah, Perak. This man was believed to have traveled to Acheh and had learned the dance there. Subsequently, he brought it back to Perak and taught Tok Banda Cu Biduan, who later passed it on to his son, Alang Dolah (Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

Meanwhile, others claimed that the Dabus dance was brought to Perak in 1600 by two Sumatrans traders from Batu Bahara, known as Nakhoda Lembang and Nakhoda Topah. Both men came to Telaga Nenas, Sitiawan in Perak and were believed to have practiced Dabus at night, attracting the locals, and they continued to practice it in their travels to Pasir Panjang, Bagan Datoh and Kuala Selangor.

The history of Dabus in Perak can be traced as far back into the 1680’s, during the Dutch’s colonialism in Pulau Pangkor, at a time when they held control over the local tin industry and built a plant in Teluk Gedung, Pulau Pangkor. In this history, Panglima Kulop Mentok, a man who is believed to be the descendant of King Bugis from Sulawesi, Indonesia was against the colonialist’s ruling. To escape from the Dutch’s cruelty, he built a settlement at Pulau Sembilan with his followers. Later on, he and his followers were said to have attacked the merchants’ ships and plant at Teluk Gedung, which belonged to the Dutch. Some claimed that Panglima Kulop Mentok along with his followers adopted the Dabus practice to combat the Dutch soldiers. Subsequently, Dutch soldiers fled the scene and left their plant behind (Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 2003).

Also in Perak, the Perak government once lent Pulau Pangkor and Manjung to the British government in 1826 and 1274 respectively. During the time when the British government in Penang experienced a threat from a pirate led by Daeng Mentanu in the Straits of Malacca, about 100 Dabus practitioners in Manjung were gathered to assist the soldiers (Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 2003). As of current, this traditional dance is still being practiced in several places around Perak such as in Lumut, Pasir Panjang Laut, Setiawan and Teluk Intan (Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

The number of Dabus group members consist of less than 22 people; comprising of the dancer, the musical instrument player and also a leader that is referred to as ‘khalifah’. Basically, the role of khalifah is to ensure the safeness of the dancers throughout the performance by conducting preparations beforehand, in which the leader will cast a spell on stage, on the anak Dabus, on the dancer, and on the player as well. Furthermore, at the end of the performance, the khalifah will aid the unconscious dancer and heal the wounds from anak Dabus.

In this traditional dance, there are taboos required to be adhered to by its followers, for instance, it is important that the dancer and the place are sanitary, and the player is forbidden from cursing, apart from speaking obscene words and fight with other players.

Besides that, it is necessary for the anak Dabus to be well cared for, meaning that it should not be stepped on or even poked to the ground. Apart from that, outsiders are not allowed to touch the instruments and tool used in the performance. It is alleged that failure to abide by these rules will eventually result in a catastrophic condition (Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 2003).

The ‘anak Dabus cabang empat’ is among the anak Dabus used in the dance, and the four divisions refer to the elements of water, fire, wind, and earth, signifying honesty, confidence, strength, and spirit. Similarly, a symbol of bravery can be seen as the dancer pokes the anak Dabus to their hands without hesitation, and such bravery can be due to the trance. However, its practice is no longer practical due to the influence of Islam which forbids the belief in such elements (Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

In terms of the outfit worn by the Dabus players, the Khalifah or leader holds responsibility in selecting the colour and clothes that is to be worn. Still, adults will usually wear black traditional Malay attire which signifies boldness, while children tend to wear a chartreuse colour.

Besides that, there are three types of Dabus dance in Perak known as Susun Sireh, Ayun Tajak, and Lang Sewah, but these routines tend to start with Susun Sireh. To recognize this dance is easy, as the dancer steps forward three times before sitting down in order to show respect towards the audience before the performance begins.

Dabus dancers are usually paired up regardless of gender, and each will hold a pair of anak Dabus while dancing to the rhythm and song. After the dancer has finished his turn, he will be replaced by another dancer until the performance ends. Generally, the song plays for about ten minutes (Kementerian Kebudayaan, Kesenian dan Pelancongan Malaysia, 2003) and can be in the Arabic language or Bahasa Malaysia, singing praises for Allah, Islam and the prophets:

 

Adam Siti Hawé datuk nenek moyang kité mati di Jedah di luar koté. Batu nisannya

berjanjar tigé. Banyak hari perkaré hari, hari Jumaat yang sebenar hari. Banyak nabi perkara

nabi, Nabi Muhammad sebenar nabi. Budak-budak pergi ke sekolah, lagi mendapat lagi

terpuji. Cukup duit pergi ke Mekah, boleh berziarah ke makam Nabi

(Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

 

Both of the languages can also be sung alternately during the performance, evident from the excerpt below;

 

He Allah he Allah, Hodal hema kheya maulai, He Allah he Allah,

Lana mahbud se wa Allah. Mura di seng Allah mura diseng, Kama la izin Allah mura di,

Mura di yah Allah mura di yah, Kama la izin Allah mura di. (In Bahasa Malaysia) Tuan

Haji berbaju jubah, Pergi ke padang berburu rusa,Orang mengaji memuji Allah, Orang

sembahyang mengampun dosa. Syed Hassan Syed Hussein, Anak cucu Rasulullah, Mati Hassan tinggal Hussein, Mati berperang Sabilullah

(Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

 

Other than that, a poem can be included as the verse of the song, which can be referred to below;

 

Baju putih serban putih,

Lalu dibawé pergi sembahyang,

Allah kasih Muhammad kasih,

Rasulullah terlalu sayang.

Tuan Haji berbaju jubah,

Pergi ke padang berburu rusé,

Orang mengaji memuji Allah,

Orang sembahyang mengampun dosé.

Tetak tebu kilaskan dayung,

Hendak mendayung selat Melaké,

Tuntut ilmu buatkan payung,

Buat mendinding api neraké.

(Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013)

 

Furthermore, the verse of the Dabus’ song consist of two components namely Hadi which refers to the chorus and also Jawab. Basically, the chorus or Hadi is taken from the litany verses of the Arabic language, while Jawab is solely based on the creation of the singer, and is sung in Bahasa Malaysia to praise or give advice to the audience (Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

Both of the Hadi and Jawab sang alternately. The first chorus or Hadi is known as Bishahrin, whilst the second chorus is referred as Tanaqal and the third is identified as Alham. In the meantime, the first Jawab after the hadi is referred as Muradiseng whereas the second Jawab is known as Allahummasalli. This can be seen below;

Hadi: Bishahrin rabieQad bawa nuruhul a’laFaya hab baz badruBiza kal hema yujla.

Jawab: Mura disin, Allah mura disinKamala izin Allah muradinMura diya Allah mura diyaKamala izin Allah muradin.

Hadi: Tanaqal fi adhlabi arbabi sudadinKazal’ shamsufi abrajiha tatanaqqal.

Jawab: Sa..le la mahkota alam Bukit zaman kubur aulia. Mari dituntut besi yang tajam buat penawar besi yang bias.

Hadi: Alhamdulillah hillazi a’toniHazal ghula mal taiibal. Azdani.

(Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013)

 

Basically, the lyrics in Dabus dance are difficult to understand as it is indirect and has subtle meaning, this could be due to the fact that most of the traditional dance’s lyrics tend to relate with magical connotations.

Apart from that, the instruments that accompanies the dance are gong, Dabus tambourines, and anak Dabus in which the gong signifies the tempo, and the dance routine depends on the beat of the gong. Meanwhile, about five Dabus tambourines were used in a dance and only the anak Dabus is played by the dancer to create a crackle noise as the metal is shaken.

The dance routine is commonly performed as entertainment after Isyak prayers as during that time, there are less limitations to the instruments. Furthermore, the primary role of the Dabus dance is to strengthen the relationship between the local people or villagers.

As of current, it is only performed for official events, engagement day, family day and marriage ceremonies. Therefore, such traditional dance is limited to special occasions and is no longer a common tradition of the locals, compared to the past. It is alarming to see its decline among the local people, and it no longer carries the aim of strengthening relationship between people (Sulong, Saidon, & Hashim, 2013).

Western dances have become so prevalent in Malaysia nowadays that traditional dances are disappearing although local dances such as Lion dance, Joget, and Zapin are still performed in public. Other cultural dances namely Ulek Mayang, Kuda Kepang, Mak Yong, Farapeira and so on remain unnoticed by the people as it was rarely seen (Amy, 2016).

Therefore, it can also be claimed that Dabus dance is included amongst the traditional dance that was seldom performed to the public as it was hardly shown to the masses compared to other dances and subsequently, it signifies that Dabus dance has lost its prominence among the public. In addition, it is a sign that such traditional dance will be fading away with the current advent of technology as other forms of entertainment has monopolized the youth nowadays.

Moreover, Alena Murang, a native of the Kelabit ethnic who plays ‘sape’, a musical instrument, tries to promote her culture from disappearing by advocating the idea that culture is non-replaceable. To her, culture needs to be valued by everyone as it draws people closer together as a community, in respect to the ancestors and also a form of cultural identity for the society.

Furthermore, she proposed for the traditional arts to be preserved, perhaps by merging or fusion, to attract the youth’s interest (Seng, 2016). As stated by the Malaysia-China chamber of commerce vice president, Datuk Frankie Liew, tradition and culture are on the edge of extinction due to rapid development. Thus, measures need to be taken to ensure that the local heritage does not fade away (Lee, 2015).

Therefore, local people, the government, and respective parties carry the responsibility of ensuring that the cultural heritage of Dabus dance will not fade, nor forgotten, as it is a loss to ourselves if we lose our cultural identity.

Credit photo: http://www.androidguys.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/pipsqueek-the-first-bluetooth-smartphone-for-kids-video-4a96716cce.jpg

Written by Shafiaina Izhar

Have you ever notice that nowadays, kids are becoming more attached to their smartphones compared to their childhood life. Now, it is such a normal view when we see kids are always with their smartphone in any place and any time. Some parents might even use a smartphone as an excuse to ensure their kids behave and in manner while they are in public place.

But do the parents realize the negatives of early exposure on smartphone towards kids? How are their brain development progressing by just using the smartphone without a limit time every day? How about their eyes condition by watching a videos or playing a games through the smartphone?

If these devices become a predominant approach to calm and distract young kids, will it make them to be able to develop their own internal mechanisms of self-regulation?

A question by question will be point out once we are aware of the effects of using a smartphone towards kids.

Without we realize, the radiation from the smartphones can affect the kid’s brain. Not only that, screen time takes away from learning and physically exploring the world through play and interactions. Doctors and educators noticed that it is worrying that the overexposure to touch-screen technology like smartphones may impact the developing brains.

To add a point, it is reported that kids sleep near a smartphone for average 20.6 fewer minutes of sleep every night. That is why kids’ todays seems tired and weak in their daily life. We will see few kids fall asleep in class during the school time. This happens because of the high levels of blue light emitted by the screen time at night which depletes a hormone linked to circadian rhythm.

As to ensure this generation use a smartphone in a better way, parents especially should monitor their children’s time of using smartphone. Early education starts from the home itself, which means the parent should play a main role to reduce the using of smartphone at home.

Written by Putera Muhammad

When you start on your first year in university or college, it seems like there is a long way to go and a lot of time to think about what to do after graduation. Many don’t begin to consider it until their final year. However, it does not matter whether you have always prepared a plan on what to do after finishing your studies or still blank, it is important to know what are among the choices that you have and which one is better.

First of all, the most basic choice that you should think is whether you want to work in the preferred industry or further study. Within those choice, you also have a number of paths. Career guidance centers and career fairs, either on campus or organized by industry players are very useful. You should join those programs and use the opportunity given to talk to knowledgeable people, gather all information needed and figure out the best route for your preferred career path.

If you want to further studies, find and talk with the people are already in the area of work or finishing their study in the area you are attracted to as it is a good way to make plan for the next step. Universities and colleges usually have former students they can put you in touch with if you are considering to further study, while many companies will be happy to put you in contact with people from their graduate program to tell you about their experience.

Taking that first job

Students surely are happy to see the end of “assignments, exams and student life” after 3 to 4 years of studying. Generally, entering the path of work is the perfect route and it seems this is a good time to be looking for a job.

For those who are going straight from undergraduate into employment, this gives them the opportunity to identify their strengths and weaknesses earlier than others. There are also the opportunity to identify which sector they might want to specialize in, or find out if it’s even the right type of work for them.

There are also the chances to further studies by enrolling in a part-time postgraduate course. Fortunately if you are lucky, your study may be funded by your company and along with getting study leave and bonuses for good performance in exams.

Postgraduate

The people who are still not ready for employment, there is another choice which is the option of a postgraduate course, either course-work or research. Both coursework and a research postgrad can be useful in improving your employability. The important thing is to know which course will help you in the future when you are ready to have a career.

Coursework master’s basically very similar to an undergraduate degree, as one must attend lectures, being given the group works and regular assignments. It is already organized with students are expected to complete a major thesis or dissertation by the end of their programme. It helps to strengthen the student’s self with strong teamwork and communication skills and give them a better understanding on their chosen area. The coursework master usually last one to two year.

For research postgrad students, by collecting data, it helps them to making contacts with the professionals when they are out to do their research. It really increase their chances to get a job after the postgrad.

A research postgrad program also gives the student chances to know and dig more about the area of their research in does not matter whether the location is in the country or internationally. Both of the programs are also a road to become an academician, it helps if the person want to pursue their career to consultancy or being a specialist in a particular area.

Written by Noor Zahra Zamalik

There are thousands of examples of women being exploited in advertisements. Just view the local and international brand ads especially perfume, clothing, food and beverage companies, which seem to portray women explicitly. Since the beginning of entertainment media centuries ago, this industry has objectified women in many ways. In some instances, the images of women are portrayed as being degraded or insulted as well as being the object of sexual desire. According to a quote by Shirley Chisholm, “The emotional, sexual and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, “It’s a girl”. The trend of objectifying women is growing within the entertainment industry, particularly among the society of today. More dominantly, in music videos, movies, television, music where women are the strong focus as sexual objects. However, why does the advertising industry choose to portray women in such ways?

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/controversial-banned-ads-gallery-1

Advertisements are the means of promoting and selling products. In order to get consumers to purchase goods, advertising play an important role to persuade by playing upon emotions such as creating a scenario that could heighten an emotional state of the consumer.  The servicing head of Elipsis Malaysia, A. Ashvin stated in The Star, “Truthfully speaking, who does not want to look at a pleasant picture? Advertisements have to look presentable to appeal everyone”. When people are portrayed in such advertisements, they are either actively involved with the advertised product or service, or are passively decorating and enhancing the advertisements (Sheehan, 2004). Don’t you realize that such portrayals of women are not the real thing?

Source: http://newsactivist.com/en/articles/media-ethics-section-03002-fall-2015/why-do-clothes-need-come-you-pay-attention

What is the ideal image of women in advertising? The woman has to be free from wrinkles, scars or blemishes, showing perfect skin. She has to have smooth, long, as well as shapely legs with a small waist and ample breasts and buttocks. The woman also has to have silky, radiant hair on her head, beautiful eyes whilst her teeth are beyond white, nearing perfection, radiant and almost unreal. This type of woman normally appears in perfume or lingerie ads. Hence, the images are intended to arouse men to desire this type of woman. Do people realize that the players in the ads industry are building a fantasy around the consumer’s life because desire can lead to product consumption or purchase? Advertisements sell values, images, love and sexuality (Dhanyashree, 2015). Thus, sexual explicit advertising is devastating to the self-esteem as it creates unrealistic expectations of gender portrayal such as being beautiful and thin, having make-up and accessories as well as designer clothes.

However, the massive exploitation of women in the ads and media industry is becoming mainstream as many are no longer censoring or taking discretion on what they have displayed for media coverage and the public, as their main focus is to generate profit rather than uplifting the dignity of a woman. The sexual objectification of women is deemed as a social norm for many media and entertainment industries with little concern of the effects it will bring to women. Many ads tend to send mixed messages about gender ideals and body images which affect how women view themselves. Most ads and magazines depict women as beautiful, thin and sexually skilled without realizing this could contribute to eating disorders, low self esteem, depression, and negative feelings regarding sexuality.

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/airasia-removes-sexist-facebook-ad

Scholars agree that these sexualized images may legitimize or exacerbate violence against women and girls, anti-women attitudes among men, and sexual harassment. For instance, Dolce & Gabbana portrayed a ‘Gang Rape’ ad whereby a woman lays on a floor as if she is raped as the man is holding her hand whilst other men are waiting for their turn to finish her. The other ad is by Air Asia, depicting a cartoon close-up image of a woman with her upper chest as well as two-semi circles visible with the caption of “OMG!” (tap to see). Once people tapped onto the indicated area, the full image reveals a woman holding 99 cents in front of her chest which actually refers to the low air-fares. This ad triggered a controversy as it illustrates sexism and simultaneously degraded a woman’s value.

Clearly, there’s not much that can be done to stop advertisers from portraying women in such a way, and it could be a tough road ahead. Advertisers and media players need these irrelevant images to advertise certain products, mostly those targeting men because this could be attractive for them. According to Daphne Iking, a Malaysian television personality who wrote for The Star, the blame does not entirely lie on the advertisers, but the consumers as well. Other than that, product owners have their demands too, leaving advertisers with no choice, says Anton Lim, Creative Director. However, there are several brands such as Dove and Aerie that have tried to move away from the typical images of perfection. The images of their models were claimed to be “Photoshop-free” as they celebrated real and diverse women. The world knows that these debates about women as sex objects would never end in advertising. Selling with sex is brainless but also a no-brainer. Why not create ads that does not rely on sex to lure consumers, but instead, portray good values which will make better and stronger ads in gaining consumers’ attention?

 

References

Dhanyashree. (2015). Objectification of Women in Advertisements: Some Ethical Issues. Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL), 117.

Malaysian Digest. (2017, September 27). Is This Sexist? Air Asia’s ‘Cheap’ Fare Ad Comes Under Fire. Retrieved from Malaysian Digest: http://www.malaysiandigest.com/features/699548-is-this-sexist-airasia-s-cheap-fare-ad-comes-under-fire.html

Sheehan, K. (2004). Controversies in Contemprorary Advertising. USA: SAGE Publication Inc.

The Star. (2013, September 19). Sexualisation of Women in Ads a Social Norm. Retrieved from The Star Online: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2013/09/19/sexuality-women-in-ads/

 

Photo credit: The Star Online

By Amni Ahmad

“Hello, I’m XXX bank officer, you have withdrawn money from your account with the amount of RM10,000. If you did not perform this transaction, please call 03-8888XXXX .”

“Miss, your bank account will be frozen because we have identified that the account was linked to the drug trafficking syndicate, you need to contact this number 03-555XXX to clarify on this issue. You need to transfer RM30,000 to this account (XXXXXX) because your account would get frozen by the authorities. Can we get your account number and Identification Number to check?”

Have you ever received this kind of call? How can they contact you and know about your personal details?

Yes, your data has leaked.

Recently, Malaysian were shocked with the news of the biggest data breaches in the Malaysia history which includes the personal details of 46.2 million mobile number subscribers and 81,309 records from the Malaysian Medical Council, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and Malaysian Dental Association. This issue was first reported on online forum and news site lowyat.net. Based on the report in lowyat.net, the personal data that was leaked belonged to various organisations which are Jobstreet.com, the Malaysian Medical Council, the Malaysian Medical Association, Academy of Medicine Malaysia, the Malaysian Housing Loan Applications, the Malaysian Dental Association and the National Specialist Register of Malaysia and Malaysian Telcos (Altel, Celcom, DiGi, Enabling Asia, Friendimobile, Maxis, MerchantTradeAsia, PLDT, RedTone, TuneTalk, Umobile and XOX).

Lowyat.net reported that the biggest number of data leaked was from the Malaysian Telcos that include over 50 million records. The data includes customer names, billing addresses, mobile numbers, sim card numbers, IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) numbers, handset models as well as Identification Card (IC) numbers of customers. Just imagined that our Identification Card number and mobile numbers are being exposed out there without our permission. IC number carrying a lot of our details. From the IC number, people can identify our birth year, birth month, birth date, place of birth and gender. With all this information, irresponsible people can easily use it for illegal conduct.

(Photo credit: Lowyat.net)

After lowyet.net reported about this issue, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has requested them to remove the article. However, on 20th October, MCMC has issued the statement and approved them to restore the original article. Currently, this case is still under investigation by the collaboration of MCMC and police. People are urged to not make any speculations and disseminate wrong information. Let the responsible authority completed the investigation and may justice prevail.  

Due to this data leakage, people are now are more exposed to the social engineering attacks which are phone and messaging scammers. Malaysian will experienced an increasing amount of getting weird calls and spam messages. Besides that, the more serious consequences is that the phones may be cloned and the culprits might impersonate someone else to apply for a credit card, especially when it involves aggressive agents who will proceed with the application without much verification. Data leakage is not a new thing, getting the call from property agents and loan sharks are something that most of the people have experienced. However, many of us do not realised and taking it lightly. Due to the economic pressure, many people falls into the trap and becomes the victim of such scammer. Thus, people should stay alarmed and prepared of any other consequences.

It is time for us to know our right regarding personal data. Personal Data Protection Act 2010 is a law that protect individual’s personal data in commercial transactions. According to Section 130 of Personal Data Protection Act 2010, there are seven personal data protection principles which are:

1. The General Principle – A data user is not allowed to process personal data belonging to someone else without permission.
2. The Principle of Notice and Choice – Information and destination of data must be notified to owner of personal data.
3. The Disclosure Principle – The purposes of the use of personal data must be disclosed.
4. The Principle of Safety – When processing data of any subject, steps must be taken to keep the data safe, non-modified, misused or given to non-concerned parties.
5. The Principle of Retention – The personal data shall not be kept beyond the time limit required.
6. The Principle of Data Integrity – Any personal data must be ascertained to be accurate, complete, not misleading and meets the intent of being stored and processed.
7. The Principle of Access – A person shall be entitled to access personal data held by a data user, and can also correct and update it.

Based on this principle, it showed that the personal data should not be misused and need to be protected.

As a user, you should know your right regarding your personal details that being given to an individual or organisations for commercial transactions. Even if we go the certain offices, and the guards asked for our personal details, we have the right to not disclose our full information to them.

Know you right

1. The right to know the reason for processing the data
2. The right to access the personal data if necessary
3. The right to correct processed personal data
4. The right to revoke permission to process the personal data if the owner feels it is no longer relevant
5. The right to halt processing of personal data if the owner feels it could cause distress
6. The right to halt processing of personal data for direct marketing
7. The right to refuse computer-generated results on personal data
8. The right to reject direct marketing calls or email

What should you do if you received such call?

There are five guidelines that you need to do if you received call from scammer. These guidelines was provided by Federal Police Corporate Communications Chief, Datuk Asmawati Ahmad as reported in New Straits Times.

1. Be alert and cautious when receiving calls from unknown numbers
2. Do not panic and blindly follow instructions given by the caller without first calling police or financial institutions to check
3. Do not return calls. Instead, get the official number of companies, organisations or institutions that purportedly made the contact
4. Do not expose bank account numbers, automated teller machine card numbers or credit card details
5. Check on the BNM website for latest updates on financial fraud

(Photo credit: Lowyat.net)

 

References

Khairul, A. M., Asyraf, F., Pei Ying, T., & Mior, A. (2017, November 12). Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/news/exclusive/2017/11/302183/dont-fall-these-scams-and-anything-promising-returns-10pc-or-more

Personal Data Protection Act 2010. (n.d.). Retrieved from www.kkmm.gov.my/pdf/Personal Data Protection Act 2010.pdf

Shahrudin, H. S. (2017, November 18). Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/news/crime-courts/2017/11/304546/data-leaked-traced-ip-site-oman

Vijandren. (2017, October 19). Retrieved from https://www.lowyat.net/2017/145654/personal-data-millions-malaysians-sale-source-breach-still-unknown/

Vijandren. (2017, November). Retrieved from https://www.lowyat.net/2017/148361/data-breach-fallout-time-review-malaysian-mykad-number/

 

Written by Anis Adrina

Have you ever heard that China’s space station is going to crash into Earth? Recently, there has been many widespread speculations on social media, especially on Twitter that an 8.5 tonne space station owned by China, namely Tiangong-1 will be crashing into Malaysia and major cities in Kuala Lumpur could be the possible crash zones.

It all started when the Chinese news outlet reported that the Tiangong-1 could possibly crash into countries such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Beijing, New York, Manila, and Tokyo. Such bizarre news came to light after Chinese officials announced in 2016, that the space station had lost control and would crash to the Earth between October 2017 and April 2018.

The China space station, Tiangong-1 or known as “Heavenly Palace” laboratory was launched in 2011 as China’s first space station. It was launched with the mission of pushing China to be a space superpower. This space station has recently shown signs to be out-of-control and descending towards Earth and therefore, is predicted to fall onto the Earth’s surface within these few months.

A tweet about the possibility of Tiangong crashing into Malaysia, shared by 14K Twitter accounts

 

Malaysia as a possible crash site?

As a response to the speculations, many local news agency has reported based on the statement issued by National Space Agency (Angkasa) director-general, Dr. Noordin Ahmad that the chances are very low for China’s space station, Tiangong-1 to crash into Malaysia.

Previously, in an article by Leonard David (2017) published in Space.com, The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS) made a prediction based on the inclination of Tiangong-1, whereby the laboratory will re-enter somewhere in Earth between 43 degrees North and 43 degrees South latitudes.

Therefore, Dr. Noordin Ahmad said that based on the calculations, the width of the area between latitudes of 43 degrees North to 43 degrees South involved many other countries such as Singapore, Australia, the United States and China. However, the possibility of Kuala Lumpur to be the crash site is approximately 0.0000699% as the size of Kuala Lumpur is about 243.65 square km, whereas the possibility for the whole of Malaysia would be about 0.09% as the total area of Malaysia is 329,960.22 square km.

Tiangong-1 expected to crash somewhere in Earth between October 2017 to April 2018.
Photo source: http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Tiangong-1.jpg

 

Will it crash on Earth as an 8.5 tonne space object?

As the “news” became viral on social media, the public are assuming that the large space station with its weight as heavy as 100 kg will fall onto Earth as what is it when it was first launched to space. However, did you know that space objects such as a space station and satellite will get burnt first as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere?

According to Channel News Asia, experts predict that most of the space station should burn up in the atmosphere but parts of the debris could still land on Earth. Hence, when it is crashing into Earth, it will be in the form of small pieces or debris that are less likely to harm living things, nor will it look exactly like the original space station when it was first launched.

However, based on The Guardian report, Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist from Harvard University said that some parts may still be as heavy as 100 kg when they reach the Earth’s surface. Despite the fact that Tiangong-1 debris could weigh 100 kg, the likeliness for people to be harmed by it is considered as highly unlikely and remote as it is likely to crash into sea.