Education

1. To what extent do you agree with the issues that the student has raised here? Point out some issues of agreement and possible contention.

I partially agree the points the student had raised in her letter’s content. Firstly, regarding her point about Singapore’s education is training students not to ask “Why” and stifles their inquisitive and curious mind. I do believe that is one of the flaws that education system has. Nowadays, teachers throw tons of information to students and ask them to memorise, but that seems to apply to subject teachers like Integrated Humanities and Geography. Subjects which require memorisation. We cannot deny the fact that these subjects are about memorising, they are not as flexible as other subjects like Maths. Well, can we change History? Yes we can, by using time machine and travel back to time and change the events happened. For Science, well we can use a super device to change all carbons into metallic element. As we can see, they are all “dead” subjects, we cannot possibly change the way they are as they do not possess the flexibility. I still don’t get what the student meant by “students are not taught to ask ‘why’ “, is questioning abilities part of teacher’s job, part of the education’s system? If the students are keen enough in learning and wish to venture more and solve the mysteries lurking in their mind, will the students sit back in class and keep quiet? I don’t think so, one with a inquisitive mind and keenness in learning will ask questions more than they should and question till the teachers are dumb-founded. I suppose students’ disabilities to ask ‘why’ are not teachers’ faults, rather students themselves. Perhaps she meant another way round like: Students are not given the chance to ask ‘why’. If that’s the case, I partially support her. In Hwa Chong, students definitely have the opportunities to speak up and clarify whatever doubts from teachers. If the teachers have no time to clarify our doubts and uncertainties, we can actually approach them after school ends. Perhaps for the other schools, it’s the other way round, thus I can’t clearly make a judgement in her statement. Moreover, I think she had messed up memorising and understanding. Through the memorising process, there are actually skills to it. I don’t know how other people will look at it, but for me, I always read through the notes once and try to understand roughly the ideas, and after that, it actually helps me to memorise faster. This is my key point, memorising requires understanding, we can’t simply memorise everything and not understand the concept behind. If we don’t even understand the contents, what’s the point of memorising? Again, it all depends on the students themselves, whether they bother to learn and understand. If they were to memorise some notes but not devote to learning, then I can say they are indeed “manoeuvre their way around school exams and the education system”. We students are all given the opportunities to learn, to seek knowledge from teachers and schools, but the problem is whether the students are keen enough to treasure the chance given. I believe the student in the letter has the intellectual ability to think is it the education system’s fault, or the students? Teachers are suppose to guide, mentor students to their way up a bright future, not spoon feed students. If she is blaming the schools for not teaching students properly, I Isuppose she is sending a message that the students are not keen in learning, they are not independent enough to acquire knowledge by their own. All in all, I think there are a lot of points that she has to reconsider and think thoroughly one more time.

2. Examine her tone and attitude in this letter. Do you think it’s a well-crafted letter with the appropriate tone?

I think her tone and attitude are not that appropriate in the sense that she is like backstabbing the minister of education by stating out all the flaws in education and stating her own opinion and hope some feedbacks from the MOE. If the MOE was not a good listener and put her views aside, they are just admitting the education system is a failure: students do not have their own voice and students are not given the chance to question and seek clarification. If that is the case, it is clear cut that the education system is exactly what the student had pointed out in her letter. However, I think her letter can be more well-crafted with a more appropriate tone as she seems to put all the blames on the education system and her points are not balance and all are one-sided arguments. There is no rebuttal in her arguments. Besides, she did not consider the feasibility in her suggestions. She said the system is stifling the students’ characters. I want to ask one question: can the system possibly ensure every single student to be all rounded? There are a lot of difficulties in planning the education system, and it is not easy like ABC, it requires a lot of works. The student is rather self-centred, egocentric; she did not consider other people feelings and seems to command the education system to suit her desire. Overall, I think the letter is not well-crafted and lack appropriation in her tone and attitude.

3. If you should write a letter to Minister of Education, what are some issues you would raise? Remember- your intention is to make the system better for society’s betterment via CONSTRUCTIVE ideas.

If I should write a letter to Minister of Education, I will not point out the flaws in education instead I will give constructive feedbacks and suggestions. As a Malaysian scholar, I don’t really know what Singapore’s education looks like, but I can confirm that Singapore has a successful education system compare to other countries. But I think Singapore’s education system can be improvised. Firstly, I think Singapore’s education system should not only focus on student’s academic results and put the weightage on this higher compare to student’s character development and CCA achievements. I think they should be balanced and each has the similar weightage. Grades and results definitely have a significant importance in students’ life but we cannot deny the importance of their character development in terms of moral and good character. It is very typical in Singapore’s schools that the one excels in results will achieve the school’s goal. Thus, competitiveness increase and students become more ‘kiasu’, they will compare each other’s grades and marks and tend to strive hard in order to achieve good grades only. Sooner, students are developed into “graders”, they do not bother about their character development but only grades , grades and grades. These result in stress, these will mislead their lives as they will think that they are failures if they do not excel in academics and to make matter worse, some may even choose to suicide. Hence, I think student’s character should not based on their academic results and grades. Singapore should focus on their character development as well whether the students possess a high morality or not. Their character developments are equally important as their grades in their future. For example, a company is hiring two people; one with excellent grades but with a bad character and one with moderate grades but with a good character. Obviously the company will choose the one with a good character, only with a good character, he or she will commit to his or her works. And surely they can get along well with their colleagues with lesser conflicts between them. In conclusion, I think Singapore’s education can be more balanced in terms of academics and student’s character development. With these two balanced, students’ future can be ensured.

Justice and Mercy

1.Is there true justice? Why?

Justice and mercy is a basic theme in the Merchant of Venice. If reflects the trial scene in Act 4 Scene 1 which considered as one of the most thrilling and exciting scene in this Shakespeare’s play. It shows the different aspect of people about whether they stand on the side of justice or mercy. The trial case and courtroom proceedings are often questioned and analyzed by experts to find out whether there is equality shown in the courtroom. If we follow the laws and the bond between Shylock and Antonio, the proceedings seems to be in pace and fair. Everything was judged according to the law and bond. For instance, Shylock wanted justice and so the court showed him by giving him only a “pounded of flesh” according to the bond. To suit the law and act upon “justice”, Portia disguised as a guy permitted Shylock to take only a pound of flesh, no exceeding or lesser than the one pound amount, without dropping a single Christian blood. This may sound ridiculous and preposterous as how can we claim other people’s flesh without dripping a single blood? But once again, it is according to the bond, the bond do not state Shylock can let blood to drop. According to the law again, if one Jew wants to take the live of a Christian but fail, he must either convert to Christian or be executed. Thus, a Venetian law was enacted during the trial as appose to the fail attempt of Shylock taking a Christian’s live. However, there may be no justice in the court. How can we explain Portia’s disguise as a man to save her husband’s friend live? In fact, female gender is strictly not allowed in the court in that time, however we see Portia offend the law and make judgments on the case, manipulating it. Therefore, overall I think there is justice to a certain extent shown in the scene.

2. Is there true mercy, as expounded by Portia? Why?

There is certainly mercy as expounded by Portia. We can’t wholly deny the existence of mercy that is meted to Shylock and conclude Portia is evil and cruel. In the first place, Portia does show mercy to Shylock three times. However, Shylock doesn’t want to accept the offer and stick to his bond, which he wants justice. The final judgment then gives him the “justice” he seeks, he was forced to either convert to Christianity or choose to die. Again here, Portia shows her mercy and offers him a path to live. There is indeed true mercy by Portia, some of her offers do reflect her soft heart in her, giving chances to a Jew.

3. Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power. Comment on this with reference to the text and other real-life cases and examples.

Justice and Law can be manipulated by people in power. People with high authorities and ranks have the power to manipulate the law such as turning the tide of cases or showing bias to a side. The manipulation sometimes come with some reasons like mercy. As similar, manipulation was done by Portia in the act to show some mercy to Shylock. Portia held on to the authorities and power, thus she was able to manipulate the situation in the courtroom. Strictly speaking, if Portia were to follow the law exactly, in the end Antonio was the one who is going to pay for his longing debt, and Shylock can claim a pound of flesh from Antonio. However, using her intelligence and manipulative mind, she managed to change to turn the tides and reverse the situation to that in the end Shylock is the one who suffers. This shows how justice and law can be manipulated. In order to save her husband’s friend, she twisted the situation a bit and won the case for him. Besides, in the end Shylock was supposed to either convert to Christianity or die but Portia and the Duke showed him mercy and requested him to transfer all his money to his daughter Jessica and son-in-law Lorenzo and tear the bond. To show mercy, Portia and the Duke use their power to adjust the law somehow. In real life cases and examples, there is the Lockerbie bomber case. He had been released from prison recently, and was permitted to go back his hometown as he had prostate cancer and his live was at stake. This decision made by the court inevitably arouse the feelings of some crowds as they believed Lockerbie should die in his own prison to pay the debt of his bombing that cause around hundred of deaths. Still, the authorities chose to let him go and show some mercy, because they think he has the right to visit his hometown one last time before his arrival of death. The judge considers the feelings and trauma undergoing by Lockerbie and feels that he deserve the mercy given. It is certain that people with power do have the abilities to manipulate justice and law, but its often serve with the purpose mercy. In order to show mercy, justice has to be manipulated in some way.

Love and Money

In my opinion, I think that money definitely has its importance in the sustainability of relationship between couples. In this modern world, money has became an essential need to our survival. The world now is very realistic, nowadays more and more couples value money more than relationship. Due to the temptation of money that lead people succumb to it, the sanctity of love gradually vanish over time. Now, love is just a figure, a vague expression towards love ones. Money has literally overtook love, if love is to compare to money, it’s no doubt money will be the first and love comes second. Thus, there’s indeed an upward trend of relationships and marriages valuing money over qualities of love partner. However, I believe pure love shows a greater significance in relationships, as love signifies tolerance, understanding, and attachment between love couples. Money is a medium of exchange which satisfies the materialistic needs of people, while love is a desire for somebody, to actually emotionally want the person be with you, spent the rest of the life with he/she. Money is just a short term satisfaction that gives people a luxurious life, it cannot determine the strength of relationships. Imagine he/she loves the other gender just because of money, how will their relationship sustain? Obviously, when he/she get what he intend to get in the first place, he/she will leave his/her partner as the relationship is based on money not love. However, if love involve in a relationship, the couple will be emotionally attached, they will learn to tolerate and trust each other. The relationship will be in its purest form, as the couple truly love each other with no any dark intentions or aspirations. Hence, love is more important than money, the sustainability of relationship will be higher if true love is what matters.

As I mention above, money is rather important in a relationship. In this society where people work and work to earn money, it clearly indicates how money becomes the priority in life. It also displays the role of money as the highest authority. I sincerely believe that without money, the relationship will not sustain well or even formed. The relationship will be a harsh one, the low financial status of couple may lead to further conflicts. They will have arguments over money as money linked up the basic needs of humans. Without money to support these needs, the survival of a person is not ensured, moreover the sustainability of relationships. These actually contributed to the upward trend of relationships valuing money over other qualities. People start to think materialistically and consider the important element of money that will figuratively fulfil the needs of them. With the possession of money, their financial worries will be minimized. This eventually affect the relationship between people, due to the materialistic mind of people, they will judge their feelings based on other’s financial status. They will actually succumb to it and pretend they love each other. The qualities of partner will not be considered anymore as they think those substances show no importance in their life. More and more people get into relationship for the sake of money rather than the sake of loving each other. A lot of life examples actually support these facts such as the recent case of two celebrities who are TingFeng and Cecilia Chung. Their marriage manage to last for a short period only, and they soon divorce. Why is it that? Is it the lost of genuine in love? In conclusion, love is not sincere anymore, the source of attraction is money not the qualities of their partners behold. Hence, there is no doubt the trend has changed from people value love over money into people value money over love.

How has war evolved from past to present

War has gradually changed in time to time, the revolution of war has been diverse throughout ages. The definition of war is a conflict carried out by force of arms, like between nations or parties within a nation. Some may enquire the origin and evolution of war. It can be traced back till the stone age period or even the rise of mankind. So how has war evolved from past to present modern days? Historians spend years of excavation and attempt to trace out the warfare used in the past. To their discoveries , they found out that people used weapons like swords, arrows, spears, axes etc. During the past times like China dynasty, they recruit a vast number of soldiers and commence war with each other. The weapons are all for melee combat except arrow, hence they mostly have to confront each other, pierce, slash and thrust, fight violently with no fears. In the end, slaughtered limbs and bodies were everywhere, concealing the earthen dust like the land of the dead. Besides weapons, they used horses to strengthen their force by charging their enemies with great agility. When guns and explosive materials are invented, the old traditional way of fighting slowly disappeared and the new era of war arise with gun fires, explosions and destructions, shaking the earth. The upheaval of modern warfare also caused unrest and sufferings among civilians. These weapons hold a huge amount of destructive forces that can easily sweep away a country. Thus, the war now is more destructive and involve a lot bloodsheds. There is also warfare like herbicide which is potentially dangerous to the people, which has a lasting effect on them and maybe fatal. In other words, this warfare cause slow death which is extremely painful and torturing to a human soul. An example of the destruction caused by modern warfare would be Japan, the first country to experience the force of an atomic bomb. Two bombs were released on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in split seconds, the states were completely wiped out and disrupted by the massive force. Though some survived, but they still suffered from illness like cancers possibly because of the radioactive released after the bombing. These show the contrast between the past and present of war in forces and the way war is carry out.

Besides the changing trend of war in style, there was also a significant change in the motifs and objectives of war. In the past, war was carried out when parties try to showcase their powers and abilities or expand their territories by conquering others to increase the strength and force of their countries. To ease the struggle of getting resources, people also commence war on others to snatch their resources, fulfilling their needs. As time passed, it change. Now, people war not because of the lack of resources or showcasing power, rather for some complicated matters in the society or nation. Example, the America Civil war. People fought for justice and equality, and to also express their unhappiness towards issues like racial inequality and inadequate behaviour of opposing party. The war lasted quite long and caused a lot unrests and bloodsheds as well. War has obviously evolved from the past to present either in their objectives or forces. But definitely war has changed.

HBL online work

RAINBOW DEATH

America did not foresee

Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!

Expecting others to pay a high price.Now thinking twice?

Toll on the innocent and unborn.Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.

Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.

All the deceit continues to spread.

Nefariously America led astray -Generations untold WILL pay –

Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson

HBL Task 1

Background Info

Reference: http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Rainbow

http://www.lewispublishing.com/orange.htm

This poem “Rainbow Death” is written by Hubert Wilson. He had been a Vietnam War veteran same like his brothers who served in the USAF Security Service. He participated in the Vietnam war which was a fierce battle between the communists in Vietnam and USA along with non-communists in Vietnam. The Vietnamese fought fiercely and used unforeseen tactics against the American armies, it was a nightmare for the American armies. There were lots of bloodshed and the war was considered as one of the most terrifying battle in America History. Not only that it costs thousands of soldier’s lives, it was also engaged in Herbicidal Warfare – A modern warfare that can heavily affect people’s health. And Hubert Wilson was one of the victims. During the Vietnam War, he accompanied with his friends were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska. Unfortunately, the place was highly contaminated and after a period, he started to have symptoms like headaches and limb pains which cannot be explained. Doctors were unable to indentify his health problem. As days flew past, his healthcare got worse and worse and finally he was not able to move. In his later life, he then turned to writing poems and books due to his mobility issue.

The conflict represented in the poem is the use of a modern warfare that involves herbicide and intoxicated chemicals which is the “Agent Orange”. Agent Orange is a kind of gas weapon used by the US military during the Vietnam War. They started this program when the Vietnamese used a guerilla tactic which they hid in the dense forests and ambushed the Americans. That tactic was repeated and many American soldiers were dead because of that, thus they launched a program which is the Herbicidal Warfare. It caused a lot of horrible and painful deaths of the Vietnamese, also the Americans that came contact with it. The Agent Orange is so intoxicated that it caused 400,000 deaths and disabilities. It also affected the next generation, 500,000 children were born with birth defects. The answer to why is it so incredibly harmful is because it contains TCDD that can cause different kind of diseases, and some of them may lead to death.

HBL Task 2

1. Point of View

This poem was written in first-person point of view by a former American soldier – Hubert Wilson. It is written from his perspective which sufficiently create a clear imagery to the readers. This poem conveys his feelings and thoughts towards the herbicidal warfare America used during the Vietnam War. The way he express his sympathy towards the victims gives an insight of his character. He most probably had experienced the horrifying war and suffered from the effect of herbicide chemical. He shows a great disapproval of America using the herbicidal warfare which had caused lots of trauma and torture to the innocent victim. It is evident from the poem “America did not foresee, Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!”. This shows that America did not consider the effect of the herbicides. And also “Nefariously America led astray –Generations untold WILL pay” shows the seriousness of such warfare and America should take the responsibility and always take the weapons used in consideration seriously.

2. Situation and setting

The situation described in the poem is terrible and harsh. The poem portrays the Agent Orange as a kind of herbicide weapon that creates a lot of destruction not only to the victim but also the side – America who releases it. The usage of Agent Orange have killed a lot of innocent Vietnamese victims and the effects was unexpected. At first America tried to take revenge on the Vietnamese, and conduct ways to make them pay. But on the other hand, they did not foresee that their actions will subsequently create more destructive and sufferings to themselves as well. To make matter worse, the following generations will also be affected. It was a great massacre of the innocents. America had to bear the consequences which the “generations untold WILL PAY” , because of the America abuse their power and authority, it had created ongoing sufferings till now.

3. Language / Diction

The poem’s title is “Rainbow Death”, this indicated the different colors of herbicide which were supposed to counter the Vietnamese guerilla tactics which is the ambush from forests. With the usage of herbicides, millions of people died under the horrible effects of agents. Thus, it’s called the “Rainbow Death”. The poet’s tone seems angry and is blaming the America for the destructions it caused ,”Expecting others to pay a high price, Now thinking twice?”. America wanted Vietnamese to pay back, however in the end even its own people also affected and involved in the sufferings and pains caused by those herbicides. The poet express its feelings of depress and sympathy with usage of words like “toll” to describe the number of deaths and casualties in the war. “Innocent and unborn” also further emphasizes the “execrable” effects of Agent Orange. Overall the poet’s language shows a great disagreement against the use herbicidal warfare and hope America will learn from this disaster.

4. Personal Response

I personally feel that this war has open the mind of people. I think since we are all humans and live on the same planet, why must we start a war? We should always solve problems and misunderstandings between each other peacefully and avoid disruptions. Even though war make two parties suffer greatly in both mental and physical, people still want to involve in war. Isn’t that very ironic, it is like walking into a dead end that leads to nowhere and in the end the innocent people have to bear the consequences and suffer. Hence, we must learn to walk in other people’s shoes and understand each other to avoid such disaster to happen again.

Book Review: Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

This is the third book of Artemis Fowl series. The main character – Artemis Fowl, a criminal genius mastermind is return with a money-making scheme that will risk the entire fairy species underground. In the first and second book, his fame had been widely spread across the world for his incredible mind. Everyone encountered with him had known what’s fear. Although being just a teenager, he has a great IQ that goes beyond a normal person. The first book talks about how he is going to plot the biggest crime the world has ever seen that will involve a group of intelligent species – Fairies. And he is going to make billions from it. Now in the Eternity Code, he attempts to plot one last crime before he embraces his father’s wish to start a new life, forgetting the traditional ways of the Fowl family.

Several months after he saved his father from the kidnappers, Artemis promised his father he will stop his crime businesses. Before he decided to retire, he carried out a last dirty plan that will give him a fortune and secure his entire life. He builds a cube using stolen fairy technology and some of his own intelligence. It’s called the C-Cube. Its function is devastating. It can just do anything to the entire world’s computer systems, technology and even satellites. The cube technology he harnessed is beyond any human technology that can found on earth. With the Cube, he invited a dangerous Chicago businessman Jon Spiro for a little trade. Artemis demonstrated the cube ability to the guy and tries to threaten him to trade a big sum of money or else he will release the cube to the market. Jon Spiro recognizes the cube’s power and it can easily destroy his company. Just when Artemis thought his plan is going smoothly, everything just went horribly wrong. He was fooled and ambushed by Spiro. In the end, he stole the cube and instructed his bodyguard to kill Artemis and Butler, Artemis’ bodyguard. During the escape, Butler was nearly died protecting Artemis. Couldn’t bear to lose a best friend, Artemis tries all sorts of ways to save Butler’s life. Fortunately, lucks go with him, he managed to restore his life using cryogenics and bait Captain Holly Short, a fairy from the LEPrecon squad to heal Butler using healing magic.

The healing turned out pretty well except Butler became older due to a little malfunction in the healing process. Thus, he was unable to follow Artemis and protect him anymore. After reviving Butler, Holly Short wanted an explanation of the incident just now. Artemis then reveal everything happened and the invention of C-Cube. It shocked Holly as the C-Cube may aid the human in discovering the fairy species and by then there will be a war between species. To make matter worse, it falls on a ruthless, evil guy like Jon Spiro. The consequences were very serious. Luckily, Butler had a sister named Juliet who mastered martial arts like him and could effectively protect Artemis. Juliet also agreed to aid Artemis recover the C-Cube. Besides, the LEPecron team and a kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums also agreed to help Artemis retrieve the stolen cube from Jon Spiro. After Artemis plot his mission in breaking into Spiro’s company, Fission Chip, they then began their mission.

Mulch Diggums is a dwarf that is skilled in digging tunnel underground and known for stealing anything he desires. In the mission, he came in useful as he could help to break into the company and clear bodyguards using his dwarf gas which could blast away enemies with high pressure. As for Captain Holly, she had been in contact with Artemis for quite a long time and she saved Artemis from danger for considerably lots of times and of course Artemis trusted her. Dealing with a guy like Spiro was not easy, he was an opponent that worth Artemis’ respects and managed to give Artemis a great challenge. His security was totally mad with sorts of devices equipped almost everywhere in his company. Although having awesome securities, Jon Spiro was still no match for the fairy technology, moreover facing a genius centaur, Fowly who could easily hacked every security systems in the company like CCTVs. With the amount of efforts the team put in, Jon Spiro was finally beaten up. After the team successfully broke into the company and find the location of the C-Cube, Jon Spiro was tricked by Artemis. Artemis first purposely walked into Spiro’s trap and operated the C-Cube, while in fact Fowly actually transferred his voice into the C-Cube. They lured Jon Spiro to go to his industry enemy’s company. Then the team came out from the company surrounded Jon Spiro. Soon, Artemis had the Cube back.

Returning back to Fowl Manor, the fairies thought that Artemis is too dangerous as he knew too much about fairies. With reluctance, the LEPecron had to prioritize the safety of their colonel and chose to erase every fairy related information around Artemis. Artemis agreed to be mind-wiped and decided it's the time to say farewell to the fairies. Of course, a genius like Artemis would not let his memories lost like that, he actually had a backup plan which could trigger his memory back after the mind-wipe. He gave Mulch Diggums a coin that contained every knowledge about the fairies. He acted like he was giving a farewell gift to Mulch but in fact, he tried to hint Mulch to come back and give him the coin to let him revive his memories of the existence of fairies. So what will truly await Artemis in the next book?

I personally feel that this book is very interesting and fun to read. There are a lot of actions and adventures involved in the book. Especially with those cool fairy technology devices and mysterious creatures like mad genius centaur and kleptomaniac dwarf that spits dwarf gas. Besides continuous action packs, there are some humors in the book too. Overall, I learnt a lot of values in this book. One of them is friendship. In the book, it shows how Artemis repeatedly find solutions to bring back his old friend, Butler from death. Although Butler is Artemis’ bodyguard, he have a strong bond with Butler and could not bear to lose his only close friend. I learnt to appreciate friendship more, as they guide us along in our life, motivate us to keep moving in life, never give up.

Post-reflection on The Soldier

National Service is generally compulsory for all males regardless of skin color and religion except for those who have special conditions. Singaporean male citizens will be going through bone-breaking training in a year. However NS has significant importance. This trace back to the past history in the post-independence years. During that period, people were separated into various locations and people have no sense of belonging, they regarded themselves as a race rather than a nation. In order to promote national identity, the government implemented ways like pledge-taking, flag raising ceremony and also National Service. Besides, NS also served to promote social cohesion among races. People from different backgrounds will come together and share the same experiences in NS, they will learn to step in other people’s shoes and understand each other better.

Unlike other big countries like China which has millions of people, Singapore is only a small country that is barely visible on the map, hence people have to be shaped and prepared to defend for their country in times of needs. In NS, teenagers were provided with frequent trainings to build up their physical and mental strength. Proper skills and techniques were taught to prepare teenagers for future needs. In Malaysia, there is NS too but there are slight differences. Not everyone in Malaysia are called to NS, instead they choose people randomly. Besides NS in Malaysia is shorter in period about a few months unlike Singapore which is a year-full training.

Although being a Malaysian, I don’t feel the strong spirit of patriotism in my heart. There are maybe several reasons contributing to it. Partly is perhaps because of the severe racism in Malaysia. Almost everywhere has racist slurs and jokes. People always regarded themselves as a race despite the effort the government put in to encourage racial peace. Even in gaming platforms, there are racist people cursing each other in foul words. The scenes in Malaysia are really sad, very disappointing. Maybe this cause me to lose confident in my country, and make me wondering what for to defend the country when everyone is apart, not united as one? Well, but I do admit that I have love for my country, I respect the national anthem and I certainly will not step on Malaysia flag. No matter how Malaysia recurs as a bad image In my mind, I will still show respect and love to it, because it is my homeland where I was born and nurtured as who I am today. My families and relatives are there, I could not just simply dump them and care less about them. If I was given the opportunity to serve for my country, no doubt I will treasure that opportunity and consider it seriously despite I studied in Singapore as there is one thing that will never change – Malaysia is my forever home.