“…ALL UKM STUDENTS ARE LEADERS…”- Prof.Madya Dr. Aminuddin

Prof.Madya Dr Aminuddin Mohd Yusof was recently appointed as the new Dean of Pusat Pembangunan Mahasiswa , UKM. Nadi Bangi reporter, Ati Hasmila Ahmad Tajulddin was able to interview him.

N.B: Assalamualaikum , thank you and we are very glad that you could spend your some time with Nadi Bangi for this interview. Congratulation to you, on your recent appointment as the new Pusat Pembangunan Mahasiswa (PPM) UKM,Dean.

DEAN: Waalaikummussalam, thank you …Insya Allah I will give my very best for this interview.

N.B: For the first question, can you elaborate on what is the functional or responsibility played by this center?       

DEAN: PPM is the newest name for the center previously known  as Pusat Pembangunan Pelajar, but the word Mahasiswa  was better and more fitting for a university. Actually, this center was expanded to enhance the management of student development, which was handled by The Student Affair before. We aim to develop better students informs of image, personality as most important academic achievement. PPM also co-operate with faculties in developing student who can contribute more effectively to society. Another of our responsibilities is to help a student develop their own potential, especially in terms of academic and personality aspects.

N.B: Our Vice Canselor ; Prof Dato’Dr Mohd Salleh Mohd Yassin in his speech session on Minggu Mesra Mahasiswa said that UKM leaders must ready themselves to be a ‘Student Centric’. So, what is your opinion on this concept?

DEAN: This concept is practiced in UKM. I think that to build a mature students leader, we must give them opportunity to be mature. So, I was agreeing with the ‘Student Centric’ concept. This concept will help create more mature students.

N.B: What is your vision and mission as a new PPM Dean?

DEAN: I’m not making changes in policy and organization target as the new Dean. The differences there may be lies in style but the target is still the same that is to help UKM develop the best students. This is important to creating successful students. It will help them become more in their occupation. I would like to say that PPM is helping develop students who will be role models for society and are highly motivated to achieve success. All students are leader. UKM products must not only look good but also can contribute to the society. So, they must create themselves as a leader.

N.B: What a changes will you make to PPM?

DEAN: I’m still holding on to the original and the same leadership structure as before. But, what I had done is make divide this center into4 structural functions. 1st ‘Student Development Training, 2ndStudent Development Assistant’, 3rd is ‘Student development Coordination’ and the 4th is ‘ Student Development Research’. I am making this rearrange and structural changes for more clarity and clarification for all. Other than that is managing pre – academic activities like cases studies.

N.B: Can you give your opinions about why society has this perception that  UKM  graduates are of a  lesser quality?

DEAN: Actually, outside society lack the basis of good measurement of quality. Comments by outsider interest me because its came from generalization of isolated cases. It’s came from UKM histories that put Malay language as the main language in the study process. Negative comments came not only from non – Malay but it also came from Malay people. It is a common thing in Malaysia for people to feel that “what others have is better than what they have”. This is stereotypical case. This prejudice affects UKM graduates but there is nothing to show that UKM graduates are of less quality compared to graduates of other universities or colleges.

N.B: If that perception of graduates is true, how do we solve this problem?

DEAN: The most important solution must come from them. Graduate students must rebel that prejudice. They also must run away from negative behavior like ‘Anti – Establishment’ and embrace modernization with. By becoming ‘Anti – Establishment’ it shows that they are isolated  from globalization and the modernized world. This is negative .So, forward thinking is important.

N.B: What is your personal perspective on the quality of UKM graduates?

DEAN: I think that UKM students do good quality research work. For example in Psychology Field, UKM student was showed that their research works are more systematic and better than other college graduates. In academics UKM graduates have good skills in their field, but I always hear the perception by outsider say that UKM students are better in theory only. Maybe it’s true but I think they are also good in practical work and they have dedication in their tasks.

N.B: As the PPM Dean, what would you say to all UKM students? Can you tell us your hopes and advices?

DEAN: I hope that our students develop themselves into quality people. They should struggle to be more modern in thinking and develop better attitudes.

N.B: Thank you again for this interview session for Nadi Bangi. We hope that it will be informative to our readers.

DEAN: Thank you.

Cyberjaya On-line TV: The first on-line TV in Malaysia
By:  Anna Chuah Lee Ee

MALAYSIA has launched her very first on-line tv in cyberjaya, the intelligent city. It has been operating since a few days before the beginning of fasting month.

The Head of IP Services of SH Technology operator’s of the Cyberjaya on-line tv, Azharin Khamis said, the whole idea of on-line tv is to create alternative for the audience. He said the idea of setting up a on-line tv in cyberjaya is to market and promote  the facilities and the concept of intelligent city. They aim to promote cyberjaya to the rest of the world through on-line tv. The objective is to get more people interested to come and to invest in the intelligent city.

Cyberjaya on-line tv went on line after five years of research and development. It is essentially a tool to introduce people to the manpower, facilities and infrastructures in Cyberjaya. This intelligent city has the technology of broadband and fiber optic infrustructure, and more importantly it has nice environment. Azharin also said that the reason of setting up on-line tv in Cyberjaya is to promote creativity. Inspired by Tun Dr. Mahathir’s call for the creative use of IT in developing Cyberjaya, www.cyberjaya.tv came into being. Initially as a promotional tool for Cyberjaya.

“This on-line tv is a on going thing. It is a test pad application. We are experimenting with and learning new technology. After all, Cyberjaya on-line tv is an experimentation,” said En. Azharin.  They have done research, made statistic and surfed the Internet to see how other people operate their on-line tv.

The official launching of the Cyberjaya on-line tv was a few days before the month of fasting. They however had been operating for six months before the launching. One month before launching, they presented the complete on-line tv for pre-view. After the official launching, they began operation, but they are also still experimenting with new ideas.

The whole team that consist of ten staff members and they are trying to achieve their own unique style. The first on-line tv in Malaysia is currently operating on a small scale with a staff of ten which includes administrative, technical, sales and marketing personnel. The two main presenter in this on-line tv are Suhaimi Sulaiman and Tengku Elida Bustamam play a part to provide contents to the on-going of the whole on-line tv programmed.

They are also the partners of this Cyberjaya on-line tv. According to En. Azharin, on-line tv is very different from the traditional media. People go on-line everyday to get new information and on-line tv is an alternative for them to look for new information. People are encourage to think about certain issues that are discussed in the forum.

This on-line tv provides opportunities for people to have discussions. Unlike  traditional television where the information is very restricted and there is not much discussion going on. On the other hand, on-line tv is not really a source for entertainment. In terms of censorship, the on-line tv censorship is pitched at the general audience. They aim to provoke those who join in the discussion.

People are free to give their opinions as long as it is according to the norms of the society. They need the people that join in the discussion to think together with them about certain issues. “The Cyberjaya on-line tv is very much depend on the advertisements. Investors however are still skeptical to advertise because it is new. Moreover Cyberjaya tv cannot rely entirely on support from their parent company, so they have to come up with exceptional ideas thus they are constantly brain wash for new ideas, “ said Azharin.

Finance is certainly one of the challenges of this on-line tv. Other than that, they too strive very hard to sustain the content of the tv, they must make sure the contents are always new and fresh, to distinguish and presenting their authenticity of their programmed. As the head of the Cyberjaya on-line tv,  Azharin hopes that the revolution of on-line tv will one day be widely known.

For him, until the world knows Cyberjaya on-line tv, they cannot sit back and watch, rather they must stir and get involve. On- line tv is an on going process to invent and create something new for the world to see. To start something new is not an easy task. The Cyberjaya on-line tv need support from all the Malaysian. Together  we  bring our nation into a new venture of technology and creativity.

HIGH RESOLUTIONS FOR A CLEARER PICTURE
By: Chuah Lee Ee @ Anna

Making Resolutions Count

If you’re like most of us, you’ve probably experienced the sudden burst of motivation that comes in with late December and early January.

“This is the year!” so the resolution goes, “That I vow to keep my temper under control.”

Now, doesn’t that remind you of something that came out from your mouth a year ago? And what they are often worthy resolutions they are. Sadly, New Year’s resolutions are notoriously short-lived, if not completely forgotten by February. The trick to making resolutions work is to follow the same steps required to make any goal work, which are as follows:

Those who never dream, will never have dream come true

1. Choose the Right Resolution

Many of our resolutions fail as we, more often than not, set resolutions for the sake of setting them. Therefore, the first trick is to choose the right resolution and for the right reasons! Give a thought as to what you really want and why you want it. What do you hope to achieve or receive? Is a weight loss resolution to improve your self-esteem? Attractiveness? Vitality? Longevity? Identifying the “why” helps you avoid setting goals for the wrong reasons.

Be specific about your resolution and make it official, include a command and a warning. For example, a resolution “to keep my temper cool every single day” is much more effective than the ambiguously phrased goal “to be cool-tempered”.

Once you’ve decided on the wording, formally commit it into your heart. Write the goal down and pin it up on your notice board or stick it somewhere you would see often. For even more commitment, look at yourself in the mirror and state the goal out loud. This may sound corny, but it works. The important thing to remember that a resolution is fundamentally a commitment to yourself.

2. Create a Plan

Most resolutions fall because people stop once they’ve made the resolution. It is crucial to harness New Year’s temporary motivation into something that will carry you through an extended period of required effort. Upon clarifying and declaring out loud the exact goal that you are setting, create a plan for how you intend to accomplish you goal.

With original plan, it is always a good plan to identify the exact steps you will take and assign due dates to the steps in your plan. Coming up with a comprehensive list steps is not always easy. If you encounter difficulty, the solution is to get help, such as going to someone who can and will help you through the planning process. They can help you identify all of the obstacles that stand between you and your desired goal. Once the obstacles have been identified, it is fairly easy to generate a comprehensive to-do list for accomplishing the goal.

3. Stay On Track

With a good plan in hand, making significant progress towards your goal may require very little discipline for those who live strictly by daily planners and love nothing more than checking off items on their to-do lists.

Another way is to get two piggy banks! And label them “I kept my cool” and “I blew my top”. And every night, look at them and ask, “did I keep  my cool or blew my top?” then drop ten cent coin in “I kept my cool” if you didn’t lost your temper that day.

At the end of the month, if you see that there are more coins in “I kept my cool”, great! Take the money and buy a little bar of chocolate for your reward! If you have more in “I blew my top”, take the money out and buy something for your friend. Let your friend be the one who receive unexpected gift from you who fail to keep cool.

For those of us who can use a little help with staying on top of details, the answer, once again, is to seek outside help. The idea is to find some external thing that keeps you motivated, such as a rewarding yourself after you have accomplished your resolutions!

4.  Remain Flexible &  Keep on Going

Understand that your approach will need to be continually modified – sometimes even changing or abandoning a goal altogether because circumstances beyond our control crop up at the most unexpected and inconvenient times. Don’t you just simply dread that?

Expect short-term and long-term priorities to change. So long as we build flexibility into our expectations, we can simply adjust things as we go. A little flexibility will do the job. It is best to periodically reevaluate our goals and plans.

Firstly, make certain that the goal itself still exactly reflects what you want to do. If it’s not, adjust it! Next, go through your plan and identify any portions that aren’t working well, even if it means giving yourself more time to complete a particular task or milestone.

Keep in mind that missed due dates do not necessarily indicate a problem with your performance; it might simply mean that your plan was too aggressive, or that your environment was changed in some unexpected fashion. Either way, simply adjust your plan and continue onward. Persevere!

Finally, the flip-side of setting difficult resolutions is that you must remember to acknowledge partial success. Keeping your temper for most days in a month is cause for celebration, even if your original goal was to keep cool every single day. If you are just one step closer to your goal, then you are definitely better off than before you began. Pat yourself on the back and keep on going!