AnakMelayu.com - Anak Melayu Online!

University education in Singapore- why do people make a big deal out of it? I am a university student but I don’t see how that makes me more superior than others. Many people use NUS, NTU and SMU as a “brand” name to identify themselves. They introduce themselves as “Hi. My name is ….I am an NUS/NTU/SMU student.” Honestly, if people did not ask you what you are doing or whether you are studying who cares whether you are in NUS/NTU/SMU? Macam aksyen aje. Aku pun belajar di NUS tapi tidaklah begitu mengada-ada.

A lot of people think that university life is great and a fantastic place to socialize but the truth of the matter

is, university life is pretty lonely and very, very, very stressful. For those who don’t know the system, basically we have to take 5 modules and clear it in one semester which is about 4 months, after you deduct the holidays and weekends and study breaks. They give us tonnes of readings to do, (for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences), and on top of that, we have term papers and assignments to do. The workload is pretty heavy. So you hope that at least you will have friends to hang out with right? Mimpi aje la! The friends that you will have throughout your university education are the friends from your junior college, pre-university or polytechnic. This is simply because every semester, you take 5 different modules so the friends whom you made previously, may not be in the same modules as you. Everybody on the outside looking in thinks that it is great to be in NUS but actually the system has its flaws too, like every other system. Many people may have other opinions towards university life, especially if they are very involved in other activities but me being the slacker that I am, malas la! Buang masa aje!

A friend once told me that he wants to prove to people that you do not need a degree to earn lots of money. I told him, he definitely does not need a degree to earn lots of money. People have this misconception that you only can be successful if you have an education. Unfortunately, the people in this country have been conditioned to think like that. Don’t get me wrong! An education is definitely necessary to make you more aware of your options in life so that you make better and more well-informed decisions but it is definitely not a pre-requisite to being successful in life. Jadi untuk semua yang tidak berpelajaran tinggi, jangan berputus asa. Berusahalah dengan penuh keyakinan. Kebanyakan orang yang berjaya tidaklah berpelajaran tinggi. Mereke cuma mempunyai keyakinan dan bekerja keras. Sesiapa pun boleh berjaya. Cuba aje la!

A university education is really very costly. I have to pay the bank a total of nearly $20,000, but only when I graduate and over a maximum of 20 years. It’s definitely hard to find a job in Singapore, especially if we are not of a certain race. With a degree, it does not make it easier because you need experience as well to find a job. As much as Singapore is a stable country, there are a lot of people living below poverty lines yet many of us are not aware of this. “Money makes the world go round” is a very appropriate line here…*sings* “Money, money, money must be funny, in a rich man’s world”.

It is quite sad that money is such an important asset in our lives yet many of us do not have enough. Most of us live from paycheck to paycheck. Most of us buy necessities on hire-purchase. Most of us do not realize that the amount of interest that these companies earn from us is enough to buy another three sets of furniture. We have a bad habit of buying new things especially around Hari Raya Puasa. Hey budget la sikit. Tak de duit tak payahlah nak berlagak. Nanti tak boleh bayar, siapa yang susah? Of course it is alright to buy new clothes to celebrate but what is the need for new furniture, new paint on the walls, new television, lots and lots of flowers. I remember, one year for Hari Raya, my house looked like Botanic Gardens because my sister was crazy about flowers. Botanic Gardens!!! Hari Raya is about forgiving and forgetting and about the true spirit of being Muslim and all the wonders of our religion. It is not about being pretentious and showing off the amount of wealth you have by displaying your jewellery and the number of television sets you have. Simpan aje la emas Makcik! Buta juga aku ni!

We should start to break this vicious cycle of getting into debt. We should only buy things when we have the cash to buy them. Getting into so much debt is so stressful and causes so much health problems. It is not worth dying young because of money issues. Marilah kita sama sama kumpul duit!! Our society should help each other and make our race a better one instead of all the negative comments that people inject into our race. Malaysia boleh, Melayu pun boleh!

My next article will talk about how the negative concept towards the Malay race started so that people can start to change their ideas towards our race.