Malaysian citizenship can be obtained either by registration or by naturalization. Either way you have to give up your prior nationality as Malaysia does not allow dual citizenship.
A foreigner can apply to become a Malaysian through naturalization. The requirement is to live in Malaysia for 10 of the 12 years, able to speak adequate Malay and have 2 Malaysians recommended.
These question has made me think over and over again.
Should we accept or reject immigrants to be Malaysian citizen? How if Malaysian population overwhelm? Will it affect our nation identity? Should we give them rights and privilege? So, why do we need immigrants?
When we're blaming on the high intake of immigrant worker, government officials have stressed that Malaysians are usually not interested in jobs that involve "dirty, dangerous and difficult" and lower pay work. To summarize, immigrants understand hardship. As a result, Malaysian government has to bring in them in order to fill up the vacancy.
In A thought experiment by Chok Kah Weng, he stated that, "Are we really so afraid of being replaced that we decided to treat immigrants with contempt in this country?"
I asked my father regarding will he accept immigrants, he answered me in an interesting way: "I need to ask Brunei, Dubai and Yemen. If they accept me to become their citizen and get all the privilege. The answer is in them. If these Muslim country can accept us, why not we accept them? But if they can't, why we must? "
In my thought, I do really appreciated them for their contribution and hardworking attitude. Typical immigrants come to Malaysia primarily for better incomes and add value to Malaysia economy. However, they also take away value by weakening the legal national security. Looking at the other side, it's actually a political issues (We all know what's the behind motive). Hence, in my point of view, I stand neutrally. Perhaps in one day, we should give them rights when Malaysia has a comprehensive and effective solution to overcome all the conflicts and enhance the national security environment.
During last MMC tutorial class on 7th of June, we did a role lay regarding the Fahmi Reza's issue which I mentioned on my previous post. He was charged with violating multimedia laws by depicting Prime Minister Najib Razak as a sinister clown. I learned a lot of the early history and the power of the Sedition Act.
At the end of the class, Dr.Carmen has raised up a question which is are the arts, images more dangerous than words? What do you think?
In my thought, it would be yes. :)
Arts can function as modes of communication. Human use arts and images to express and present their feeling. With the assistant of advanced technology, creative idea can be expressed through visual images and presented in various form in media. We can see it from how Fahmi Reza's depictions of Najib went viral rapidly on the internet.
In my opinion, arts and images can express feelings more than words can say. For example, a graphic image of crime and terror on the news would have a greater influence and impact to people by creating a feeling that the world is not safe.
Picture retrieved from https://strifeblog.org/2016/02/18/organised-crime-and-terrorism-part-iii-letters-from-dubai-d-company-and-the-93-mumbai-terror-attacks/
That's why arts and images are way more powerful than words. What do you think?
I'm here to share with you all my experience at KL Alternative Bookfest (KLAB 2016) + Art For Grabs which was happening on last Saturday & Sunday ( 4th&5th of June) at Publika, Kuala Lumpur.
It's the 9th year of #KLAB as it began in 2008 in conjunction with Art for Grabs . This time, they cover more than just selling books, comics, crafts and handmade items by Malaysian indie publishers and local craft vendors. There're also talks, forums, performances and film screenings!
** I was so excited as this is the first field trip of my Malaysian Media and Culture class. =P **
My pretty coursemates and me :D
Art For Grabs Bazaar
Exploring the art for grabs bazaar is what I like the most in this field trip. =D
There are total of 54 booths of arts and crafts & 6 NGOs to promote and sell arts, accessories, bags, soaps, hand crafts, etc.
I'll share all the links/information/contacts of the booth at below if I know. Sharing is caring ngawww :)
Be Good - Natural Body Care
This booth was selling hand crafted cody care product which all made by natural product with no preservative, no artificial scents or colouring.
I bought their handmade Rose Garden lip balm because I love the smell so much and it only costs Rm10. =D
I personally like this booth the most because there're a DIY Wax beads candle section and DIY Soap making section for people to try out and make our own product in 10 minutes. Other than that, their stuff is friendly and helpful.
Their body lotion is made by essential oil which carry different function. I bought the Pure Palma Rosa one.
I'm sure all of my coursemates came to support this booth. I was shocked that Andi Miranti is our lecturer Mr. Anthony's son. Andi is a talented 17 years old boy & I'm inspired by him so much!
Here comes his little story.
Andi is a 17-year-old Malaysian who likes to draw, read, and play on the computer. Besides being diagnosed with autism at the age of two, Andi also had some degree of low muscle tone, so before the age of eight, he was never really excited to write, draw or colour as a young child, even though he was surrounded by art materials and comic books due to his brother’s interests. So from eight to about fifteen, his interest grew and grew and so did the number of comic strips he drew. It was interesting that for many years he continued to draw his characters in stick figures, only drawing them with hands and fingers after the age of fourteen. This development of a more full and complete image appeared to mirror his own cognitive development, as during this period he made many leaps forward in social abilities and a deeper understanding of himself as a person with autism. At fourteen he announced that his latest creation, a comic character named Ned Dickens, who was about 13 years old, was going to be a full-fledged comic book. He also started talking about becoming a published author/illustrator and to the amusement of his parents, was even writing drafts of his “about the author” and “acknowledgments” pages. That was when his parents started researching ways to get his dream to come true.
In the end, his parents decided to self-publish his book. On the advice of a close friend who is a graphic designer, the book was kept in his original handwriting, crooked lines and all. It felt more authentic and also seemed to honour his development in penmanship, since until this very day, whenever he handwrites he forms the alphabets laboriously. It takes a great deal of effort. He applied for and got a booth at Art for Grabs in 2014 when he was fifteen. It coincided with the launching of “The Adventures Blue-Smashin’ of Ned Dickens (Part 1)”. The book introduced the Ned Dickens character as a young teenager who always seemed to get in trouble with his Dad, whom he sees as very irrational. Ned has a brother but his biggest worry is Bill E., a boy who torments him. Ned spends a great deal of time getting in and out of trouble. He also thinks a lot about ways to get membership for a game called "Runescape". Motivated by how well the book was received, Andi went on to continue the story of Ned Dickens’ misadventures in “Ned Dickens Part 2 (Not a Sequel)” which was self-published in 2015. In 2016, Andi finishes the story with “Part 3 “Still Not a Sequel. Part 3 is extra exciting as it includes bonus material such as a chapter-by-chapter commentary section, and a sneak peek at the next Ned Dickens adventure called “Ned Dickens and his Chronicles through Time”. When asked what this new book will be about, he said Ned Dickens travels through time, past and future. When he travels to the past, he punks and makes fun of famous historical figures.
All these are my favorite booths.
Art for Grabs is a very good market to introduce handmade local designs or goods. I enjoyed explore it so much as I'm a typical girl who love crafty and little cute handmade things.
Hope they'll have more of these in the future!
There's many choices of local books in the book fest,. I spent more than half hour on seeing or reading the books until I forgot to capture any picture of it.
Pang Khee Teik is an arts programmer as well as a Malaysian human rights activist on the issue of sexual orientation of gender identity and expression.
He posted a post in Facebook to explain how it happened and his experience in police station with the title- A PARTY AT SENTUL POLICE STATION.
I found this post is well-written and hilarious as he explained the incident with his great sense of humor. I'm impressed that he still managed to being positive and humor during that situation. (I like the SK II part hahaha )
Besides, Utusan Malaysia has also reported the news about the crime court case against Fahmi Resa for uploading the picture of Prime Minister face.
Fahmi Reza is an artist with a brave soul as he doesn't afraid to stand for his art and his right. He use art and design as a weapon to fight against injustice. He said that he wont stop to use his graphics as a tool to raise awareness of Malaysian and to push for change in Malaysia.
A sincerely big respect for his stand, spirit and courage !!
I attended a book launch which presented by publisher Thukul Cetak at around 2pm. They were lauching the book- "Homeless by Choice". It is a project for the homeless and women's narratives and Mislina Mustaffa is the author of "Homeless by Choice".
Mislina Mustaffa
Mislina Mustaffawas an film actress an theatre activist who’s active in
Malaysia. She holds a degree in acting from University of Science
Malaysia.
In early 2012, she decided to go
homeless. She wanted to feel how homeless
people feel. She decided to do it even though Malaysia is a conservative
Muslim majority country.
She loved the journey and lessons she learnt so much and
hence, she wrote a book entitled 'Homeless By Choice'.
She shared her homeless
experience and adventure story during the talk. She said that she was
influenced by a French author and feminist Simone de Beauvoir who
once said that "85% of a women's daily life is spenting on cleaning the
dirt that keeps coming back." She was curious to see what
she'll be doing with this 85% of her time with her statement "when you
hav no house, you have no dirt to clean." Therefore, she began
her homeless journey.
She did a 2 years
research but she failed in the first time. She went back and became an actress
again. After one year, she decided to let go everything that she had included
her house. What she had left was just 4 clothes, a computer for her to write
and a camera for her to capture moment.
She was started her
journey and living outside for a year. After one year, someone sponsered and
offered her to travel around the world for free. She said that she wouldn’t get
this opportunity if she still stay in the house.
During the talk, she has
mentioned that selfish is actually not a bad things, it actually is to take
care of our own self. This statement has made me confused. Should we being
selfish? I was amazed by her braveness decision and she never used any chemical
product and makeup since she started to live homeless. I think that this is an adventure that everyone should go one at
least once in their lives. If there's a chance in future, i'd like to
give a try too!
If u'd like to know more
about her, this is a short film of her which she shared her homeless experience
and adventure story.
Poskod Journalism talks- Funning The News @Black Box, Publika
After done browsing through the booths, I attended the Funning The News Talk which excted y eveyone because one of the speaker of the talk was Harith Iskander! FYI, He is the “godfather” of Malaysian stand up comedian. The another panelist of the talk is Lau Chak Onn, which is the Co-Founder and Editor-in Chief of http://cilisos.my/.
They shared lots of experiences during the talk. Lau mentioned that the difference between Bahasa Melayu and English readers, which is English readers do read the news post where BM readers they dont read but just share the post. This is hilarious and therefore they changed the headlines of the news in order to attract readers.
From this talk, I learned that there's no certain formula in making fun of news and not everyone can take jokes (from Harifh Iskander). It has to depend on a person's race, background and language. Making jokes can be funny but also can make people feel
upset or irritated if u joke over the line. Therefore, we have to becareful when telling jokes. In fact, there's no doubt that making a funny news can grab readers' attention easily than the normal news.
To sum up , the news has always been a fantastic source of comedy. However, in a situation where information is restricted and journalism is under threat, these avenues become more than just mediums for joking. They became strategies of speaking truth to power!
p/s: It's so pleasure to see them in person!
In short, I enjoyed the talks & looking forward to the next field trip (: Bye!
