Adventures of an Islander

Sighs, i woke up early this morning just to attend the Dialogue Session with the President regarding the IT Service Fee.

It was quite informative. At least they provided some reasons that I personally deem reasonable for them to impose the fee. On the other hand, some parts of their argument are just stupid.

The Reasonable Arguments:

->Parking Fees was previously imposed to deter students from bringing their vehicles into campus. This is also done by USM and other universities to prevent congestion and traffic in the Uni.

->Tuition Fees was increased last year to cover costs. Personally i heard that the lecturers got a raise last year. Well, it’s reasonable i guess, because seriously the lecturers in MMU are underpaid. Educational Institues like Monash offer three times the amount of salary MMU does. Most lecturers here stay due to loyalty. So, i think they deserve the raise.

->Library Fees was imposed last year. Well, the Vice Finance Director clarified on this one. Apparently, since the first prospectus came out, Library Fee was already written there. It just wasn’t imposed. Last year, they finally imposed it (talk about being cunning). Anyway, if you guys say that there’s no improvements.  Well, think again. The Chief Librarian gave some of the improvements that her library came up with:
- Extended operation hours (especially during exams)
- Bought more books

The chief librarian also did give out some figures. She said that for our university, it was already considered cheap. Universities like Lim Kwok Wing charge RM 500 for library fees. Sunway does something similar too. So she was saying that we shouldn’t complain. (I’ll talk about this later)

->Last but not least, the newly formulated IT Service fee. Apparently we have to pay for this to cover the university’s cost. The only upgrade we can expect: Increased Bandwitdh (still requires time to implement). Oh, good news, this are the new rates that are going to be charged.
- Malacca Students (staying in Hostel) : RM 75
- Malacca Students (non-Hostel): RM 50
- Cyberjaya Students (staying in Hostel): RM 100
- Cyberjaya Students (non-Hostel): RM 75

Why the different rates? Well, the cunning Vice Finance Director came up with these package after hearing complaints about how only Hostel residents would benefit from the bandwidth increase. (WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE). So, that’s the new rate folks. Nothing we can do about it.

->Oh yea, we should thank the SRC. Seriously, they were doing their best during the dialogue session. By the way, they were planning to do something called “Sesi Teh Tarik bersama Presiden”. Ehem, it’s going to be a dialogue session very much like the one i attended this morning that will be done once every two months. Thank you SRC (they did whine about how everyone hates them which i think is pathetic. Even so, thank you for trying your best, we know there’s nothing much you can do if the management still decides to go ahead with it)

Now, on to the next part…

THE STUPID ARGUMENTS:

-> The library thingy. Do you guys know why Lim Kwok Wing charge RM 500 for library fees? Let me tell you why as my cousin did her studies there. Well, simple reason. The books that they use are EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. The most expensive textbook i currently possess costs around RM 100. A simple textbook that my cousin used costs RM 400. (that’s 4 times the price) Moreover, you have to know that the books in their library are mostly imported. Do we have those kind of books in MMU’s Library? Nope, we don’t have. Even if we have them, it would not exceed a few copies. The last time i wanted to borrow the textbook for Computer Graphics, there were only 3 copies. So, the Chief Librarian’s arguments about improvements were half cow dung.

Now, the Chief Librarian also stated that the library have recently purchased 2, 750 new books. Combine this fact she gave and the other fact that the library only allocated a very low percentage of their budget (only RM 300, 000) to purchase books. Now, keep in mind that they would buy more in the coming months. The result would mean that the 2,750 new books that have been bought must cost less than RM 100 (lesser than that). Now my question is, what kind of books do you get for that amount of money? Simple, cheap textbooks like the ones I’m using. As you can see, more books does not mean better library. It’s the QUALITY OF THE BOOKS. Dumb argument.

If you were to go to MMU’s Library, the books there are OLD and OBSOLETE. Some of them are even torn and tattered. Blergh… And the carpet… Ewww… how long have they used it? Must be since the establishment of the uni. They give off this damp smell. Yuck! Spend some money renovating it ler. Don’t be so stingy.

->IT Services. Now this is funny. Both the president and the head of departments that were present kept on stressing on the IT Services. They now link the fact to servers and stuff. One of them even started using Data Com jargon to try and go off topic. These are a few things they said (my refutation is given in brackets):

- Cost to maintain MMLS (for 10 years how come didn’t charge anything?)
- Cost to maintain servers (for 10 years how come didn’t charge anything?)
- Wireless Service (Does anyone actually use this? Maybe less than a 100 students out of the 20 000 students. Logically, if it costs too much, scrap it.)

- Increased Bandwitdh (MAIN ARGUMENT)

This i have a lot to talk about. Currently, Melaka Campus has a 34 Mbps connection. It was recently upgraded from the previous 16Mbps connection. They plan to increase it to 100Mbps connection. Thanks but no thanks! Hello! I don’t even step foot in the lab this trimester! So what does that has got to do with me? Faster connection is useless. Moreover, 100 Mbps is just the download speed. The upload speed which is the most important (since students are accessing MMLS and the other systems from their home) still wouldn’t increase much. The download speed would only be abused by Hostelites.

Secondly, if the equipments suck, it does not matter how good your bandwidth is. No point in having such a huge bandwidth when the equipment cannot fully utilize it. That’s just stupid! The computers in the labs are SO VERY lousy. Pentium 3! OMG! It’s like you have an excellent horse but the jockey is an old lady.

Sighs, many more things were being said but at the end, it boils down to the money ($$$ ka-ching $$$). We still have to pay. I get it. But i do hope next time they decide something like this, they will have a discussion with the students first. At least today i understand some things that i didn’t know before.

Some students were doing a straight comparison between MMU and other unis. Today I learned that you can’t do that.

If you are going to compare with Public Unis:
They get subsidised RM 60 million per year by the government. Not to mention other benefits.

If you are going to compare with UniTen(Universiti Tenaga) or UniPen(Universiti Petronas):
UniTen and UniPen get subsidised by their parent company,  Tenaga Nasional and Petronas respectively. Petronas gives an anual subsidy of RM 2.3 million and allows UniPen to operate at a loss of RM 5 million per year (Hey! Isn’t that the rakyat’s money?) This fact was given by the president this morning. New revelation, don’t know whether it’s true or not.

So, you can’t just do a straight comparison like that. MMU does not get subsidy from Telekom and has to strive to make ends meat on its own.

SOME FUN FACTS

One thing i don’t understand is that according to the Vice Finance Director, MMU students owe MMU a troublesome amount of RM 50 million. Now, how did they manage their finances? That’s just ridiculous.

According to that man, some of the students who owe the money can’t afford to pay and so they beg him to allow them to continue studying/take exams. So, because he pities them, he allowed them to stay. This is again ridiculous. Let’s take an example of logical deduction.
- Person X owes the uni RM 5 k
- Person X can’t pay
- Person X does a plea and is allowed to continue another sem
- Person X now owes the uni RM 10 000
- Person X is now worst off as he now owes double the amount
- Person X can’t pay
- Person X does another plea
- The cycle repeats for about 3 trimesters (Which would accumulate to about RM 15 000)
- Person X wants to grad but he couldn’t pay, so he pleas and is approved.
- Person X is a fresh grad. He earns a monthly RM 2.5k (assuming that he’s a good student)

How long do you think it takes Person X to repay that RM 15 000? That is a question that i wouldn’t know how to answer. Now, assuming that there’s a minimum of 5 person who does the same thing as Person X did every trimester. Maybe that’s how the students came to owe MMU RM 50 million. THIS IS CALLED MISMANAGEMENT.

Have a nice day and get ready RM 50 to pay the management. Maybe we don’t have to pay. The SRC was still fighting for our rights when i left the main hall.

Today, i went to the MMU’s SRC (Student Representitives Council)’s blog after being notified on the bulletin board that MMU was planning to impose an additional fee of RM 100 for IT Services.

Of course, i don’t agree with the proposition as it is absolutely absurd that one should suddenly pay for something that has been provided for free over the years.

IT Services should come under University Facilities. Overseas, the universities provide them with excellent facilities and in return impose facility fees on their students. The key thing here being, they provided excellent facilities first and then only impose fees on students.

Sadly, what is currently happening is that, MMU wants to charge us first, and in return ‘HOPE’ to provide us with better facilities. This motto of ‘Pay first, talk later’ would prove unfruitful simply because it would be a repeat of the past. Last year, students were imposed RM 60 for library fees and after we paid (as if we had a choice), nothing happened. Not a single extra table or chair in the library. The computers there remain ‘Under Maintainance’ and the list goes on. Hence, it would be deja vu if we were to believe their ‘Show us the money and we’ll show you the results’ statement. Not to mention that all those services were provided for free for the past 10 years.

Yes, i do understand from an economical point of view that the university has its own reason on imposing the extra fees. Maybe the hike in the price of fuel has caused certain commodities to cost more than they used to. Maybe there are other reasons. I do understand all of these but it would help if the management would give us reasonable reasons, justify them, and explain them to us, the customers who are absorbing the costs. Without any of these, it’s unprofessional and barbaric to simply impose additional fees. This is a civilised and structured society where people are supposed to act like civilised being. Give us numbers and figures and explain the need to impose the additional charge. If your numbers and fugures are justifiable, students would have no reason to object the extra charge because it is reasonable. Hiding facts and figures, assuming that we won’t understand is as if you’re treating us like little kids who will not understand. I mean, come on, we do learn stuff like accounting and economics. We are beings capable of reasoning. Surely your reasons are justifiable are they not? If they are, then don’t hide them from us.

Lastly, the university recently incremented our tuition fees. That was already horrifying to the students who are financially challanged. The extra fee would prove a further burden to them. Many students are on scholarship or on loans. They must be taken into consideration too. Then you might argue that RM 100 isn’t really much. Well, that is true for some, but also untrue for others. Consideration of ALL students should be taken into account when making decision. That is what intelligent and considerate people do.

That is all i have to say about the additional charge. I am not in favour of it. I wouldn’t want to even pay a single cent unless there are justifiable reasons being provided.

Now, on to the next topic.

Dear MMU Students,

Please mind your language. Seriously, while browsing through the numerous comments that was written, i was reading in horror. Most of the comments are not even comments. I would call them ‘remarks made by punks’.

Why? Well, simply because most of the comments aren’t constructive and are written solely based on hatred and retaliation. Please understand that whatever that is written on the Internet can be read by the whole wide world. The way you comment is almost similiar to the ways of a street punk and not like a university student. Please behave yourself.

Seriously, i mean, what the SRC wants is constructive criticism. They are planning to write a report and submit it to the management. Can your ‘F MMU’, ‘Stupid MMU’, ‘Shitty MMU’, ‘Money Making U’ and calling the president with derogative phrases be submitted in the report? The answer would be a big no no. So, please stop being immature and if you want to give comments, please be smart enough to at least contribute ideas. I am not an SRC member nor do i support them, but i also do not like people who just blatantly curse and complain without without providing any assistance. You can complain and grumble all you want, but if that report that the SRC is trying to make fails, then you would still have to pay the additional fee. So, start thinking and contribute ideas.

Just found out about something sad. So, this is in dedication to that someone.

Why?
Why is this happening?
Why is it repeating?
Can it never cease?
This cycle of Death!

Nay, i say
It will never stop!
It will never cease!
For as long as there is Life
There will always be Death

But why?
Isn’t there a God?
Isn’t He all merciful?
Isn’t He all powerful?
Isn’t He the healer?

Yes, There is a God
Yes, He is all merciful
Yes, He is all powerful
And yes, He is the Healer

Then why?
Tell me why?
For i am filled with questions
For something has been taken
And that someone was precious

There is a God no doubt
And in His infinite ways
There is a plan and a future
Even though something was taken
Even though someone was precious

A plan and a future?
Are you kidding?
Even though something was taken?
Even though someone was precious?
After all this you still believe?

Yes, a plan and a future,
Yes, even though something was taken,
Yes, even though someone was precious,
And yes, after all these, I still do believe

Why such foolishness?
Do you not have a heart?
Do you not feel the pain?
Do you not feel the emptiness inside?

I do have a heart,
I do feel the pain,
I do feel the emptiness of a life lost,
But if i say that there is no God because of this
Then i really am a fool
For only a fool says in his heart
That “there is no God!”