The Sentiment of Malay Business

Before I start, allow me to apologize as what I will be saying here might hurt some people. I mean well and may this be a lesson to us all. What I am writing here is just my opinion and what I have been observing for a very long time. I know some of you have parents who runs family business and some of you might run your own business, but still this still runs in our veins.The stereotypes of Malays running a business is setting a bad impression. When talking about the Malays, some might relate it to Islam. Be advised that I am not writing this to put down anybody's business or to defy the Holy Teachings. Again I am writing this because I want to share my thoughts and readers are welcome to comment. I am sorry once again.

This morning (25/3/12 0730) I went to Shell in Nilai. The station is my frequent as I visit the station on a weekly basis. I might as well know the faces of the employees at the station. As I made my way to pay for can of coffee, the employees are talking to each other, about their off days and their politics. There are three people behind the counter, two Malay ladies and a Pakistani guy. The guy seems nice enough to smile at me (as I really needed a friendly smile in the morning). As i want to make my payment, the lady behind the counter is still talking to her colleague. Without even looking at me and greet me as a customer. She seemed very engaged in the conversation. As a customer I felt I was not important as my business there is not needed. Who am I as a customer? Her off days are more important to her than her employment and her responsibility as a customer service agent. It took precious few minutes just to wait for her to stop talking and realize that I was standing there for a good five minutes. The five minutes can be used to serve me as a customer and I could be on my way to work happily.

This is just one situation from hundreds of encounters with Malay business agents.

In my opinion, Malays are more laid back than any other races in Malaysia. As a Malay myself i feel neglected. You are running a business and you did not appreciate your customers. Who are you to judge and treat us like the customers are nothing. As a saying from my own friend who runs 'alah..sorang terlepas, ramai lagi yang nak beli.' This cannot be. I have been working as a customer service myself. We are taught to treasure customers as customers are the source of our income.

• Berniaga itu adalah Fardhu Kifayah
• Berniaga itu adalah sistem muamalat iaitu sistem memberi
• Setiap perkara berniaga wajib berlandaskan dan rujuk dengan hukum syarak.
• Islam pandang tinggi pada peniaga dan usahawan.
• Dalil Al Quran tentang perniagaan ,Firman Allah "Wahai orang2 yang beriman,janganlah kamu makan(gunakan) harta2 kamu sesama kamu dengan jalan yang salah(tipu dan sebagainya) kecuali dengan jalan perniagaan yang dilakukan secara suka sama suka diantara kamu,dan janganlah kamu berbunuh bunuhan sesama sendiri.Sesungguhnya Allah sentiasa Mengasihani kamu."(An Nisa : 29)
• Sabda Rasulullah s.a.w "9/10 rezeki adalah datangnya daripada perniagaan".(Riwayat Tarmizi)
• Rasulullah s.a.w berniaga dan sebelum usia baginda mencecah 25 tahun baginda telah pun bergelar jutawan.

  Extracted from: http://wanmerah.blogspot.com/2012/05/perniagaan-sunnah-nabi-saw.html

To be continued...

When it comes to writing...

What is writing?

Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium through the use of a set of signs or symbols (known as a writing system). It is distinguished from illustration, such as cave drawing and painting, and non-symbolic preservation of language via non-textual media, such as magnetic tape audio.

Writing most likely began as a consequence of political expansion in ancient cultures, which needed reliable means for transmitting information, maintaining financial accounts, keeping historical records, and similar activities. Around the 4th millennium BC, the complexity of trade and administration in Mesopotamia outgrew human memory, and writing became a more dependable method of recording and presenting transactions in a permanent form. In both Ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica writing may have evolved through calendrics and a political necessity for recording historical and environmental events. The oldest known use of writing in China was in divination in the royal court.

Writing, more particularly, refers to two things: writing as, or is, the thing that is written; and writing as a gerund, which designates the activity of writing. It refers to the inscription of characters on a medium, thereby forming words, and larger units of language, known as texts. It also refers to the creation of meaning and the information thereby generated. In that regard, linguistics (and related sciences) distinguishes between the written language and the spoken language. The significance of the medium by which meaning and information is conveyed is indicated by the distinction made in the arts and sciences. For example, while public speaking and poetry reading are both types of speech, the former is governed by the rules of rhetoric and the latter by poetic.

1. Peter T. Daniels, "The Study of Writing Systems", in The World's Writing Systems, ed. Bright and Daniels, p. 3

1. ^ a b Robinson, 2003, p. 36

1. ^ Wells, H.G. (1922). A Short History Of The World. p. 41.

1. ^ Smith, Frank. Writing and the writer. Routledge, 1994, pg. 142.

A person who composes a story or message in the form of text is generally known as a writer or an author. However, more specific designations exist which are dictated by the particular nature of the text such as that of poet, essayist, novelist, playwright, journalist, and more. A translator is a specialized multilingual writer who must fully understand a message written by somebody else in one language; the translator's job is to produce a document of faithfully equivalent message in a completely different language. A person who transcribes or produces text to deliver a message authored by another person is known as a scribe, typist or typesetter. A person who produces text with emphasis on the aesthetics of glyphs is known as a calligrapher or graphic designer.

Writing is also a distinctly human activity. Such writing has been speculatively designated as coincidental. At this point in time, the only confirmed writing in existence is of human origin.

When it comes to writing the most common problem that a student would face are:

1. Day dream too long (especially when it comes to tests and finals)

2. writer's block

3. no sources and no opinion

4. language barrier.


For the teachers/ lecturers that teach languages (no matter what language) face these problems when it comes to writing. So, what is the best solution to help the students to improve? Should the solutions come from the students or the teachers? Who to blame?

Writing should not be a problem. writing is always easy if you can generate a system. Then again, writing is about creativity. It should not be rigid if not it would be boring. Writing is always about putting out what you want to say and not about caring what other people think. I always ask my class this question. "Why do you think writing is important?" The answers are interesting at times. There should be no reason why we need writing and writing should always comes from the heart.

My system is simple(yes i have a system, to help beginner writers write better!). First and foremost of all is that u understand and understood fully what you want to write. Consider a simple title for your essay or your 'piece':

1. what you want to write about?

2. what you want to discuss?

3. consider the right format, i.e story telling or documentary..

4. who is your audience or who will read you 'piece'?

5. what is your time frame when writing?

With all these elements in check, we can begin writing.

Here I am again..

So I have decided to write again. But the question is what should I write?

I have asked this question on FB (facebook mind you) and one of my students suggested that i should write about people I care about. *Hurm~*? that is a tuffy. People I care? There are alot. And if I miss anyone it would hurt. SOOOOOOOOOO......

I have decided to write about trivial stuffs. Perhaps it would give basic ideas for my next BEL120 class where the students need to write a blog.

So my common question of the day would be...


So whats chasing you? It is a simple question. What is chasing me?

My answer could be that hot chicks are chasing me. huhuhuhu..I wish its true. How awesome would that be?

See its simple. Trivial stuffs are much better to write than any other topics in the world. I can just write stuffs that I choose and nobody can say NO. I will be keeping this blog updated with other things too. I promise..

P.S you can always leave you comments on notes, my vlog or the blog itself to help me improve.

What if..(part 2)

What if you were dating two people at the same time. How would you choose the best person for you?

The situation is simple. Both people have the same qualities (i.e money, influence, good looks, etc) but different in personalities (i.e hotness level from scale 1-10).

Who would you choose?

Adapted from the movie 'This Means War' (2012) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596350/

What if..

This post is an experiment to enhance critical thinking skill among students. The objective is to let the students imagine based on the the topic given and provide response either verbally or in writing. Please give your comment at the comment section below the post and then further discussion will commence. 

What is your life is a movie?

You would be the main character and you choose the genre of your movie either romance + comedy, bad romance, horror, action adventure...

For example; you met somebody out of the blue while you were at a cafe. That somebody can be a hot steamy girl with luscious lips and inviting eyes or a hunk of a guy with mysteries, gentleman and handsome (sorry due to my nature i dont know how to describe a good lookin guy..huhuhuh)

As the story progress, you fell into that person's trap. The trap is dangerous. (trap of love/ money/danger.) And towards the end of the story..you are happy with the your choice..

So..what is your choice? How would you write your movie? Please comment...

Simple, Complex and Compound Sentences

Simple, Complex and Compound Sentences

Experienced writers use a variety of sentences to make their writing interesting and lively. Too many simple sentences, for example, will sound choppy and immature while too many long sentences will be difficult to read and hard to understand. 

This page contains definitions of simple, compound, and complex sentences with many simple examples.  The purpose of these examples is to help the ESL/EFL learner to identify sentence basics including identification of sentences in the short quizzes that follow.   After that, it will be possible to analyze more complex sentences varieties. 

SIMPLE SENTENCE

A simple sentence, also called an independent clause, contains a subject and a verb, and it expresses a complete thought. In the following simple sentences, subjects are in yellow, and verbs are in green.  

A. Some students like to study in the mornings. B. Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon. C. Alicia goes to the library and studies every day.

The three examples above are all simple sentences.  Note that sentence B contains a compound subject, and sentence C contains a compound verb.  Simple sentences, therefore, contain a subject and verb and express a complete thought, but they can also contain a compound subjects or verbs. 

COMPOUND SENTENCE

A compound sentence contains two independent clauses joined by a coordinator. The coordinators are as follows: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. (Helpful hint: The first letter of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.) Except for very short sentences, coordinators are always preceded by a comma. In the following compound sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the coordinators and the commas that precede them are in red. 

I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak English.  B.  Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping.  C.  Alejandro played football, for Maria went shopping.

The above three sentences are compound sentences.  Each sentence contains two independent clauses, and they are joined by a coordinator with a comma preceding it.  Note how the conscious use of coordinators can change the relationship between the clauses.  Sentences B and C, for example, are identical except for the coordinators.  In sentence B, which action occurred first?  Obviously, "Alejandro played football" first, and as a consequence, "Maria went shopping.  In sentence C, "Maria went shopping" first.  In sentence C, "Alejandro played football" because, possibly, he didn't have anything else to do, for or because "Maria went shopping."  How can the use of other coordinators change the relationship between the two clauses?  What implications would the use of "yet" or "but" have on the meaning of the sentence?

COMPLEX SENTENCE

A complex sentence has an independent clause joined by one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence always has a subordinator such as because, since, after, although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that, who, or which. In the following complex sentences, subjects are in yellow, verbs are in green, and the subordinators and their commas (when required) are in red.

A. When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give the teacher the last page.  B. The teacher returned the homework after she noticed the error. C. The students are studying because they have a test tomorrow. D. After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to the movies. E. Juan and Maria went to the movies after they finished studying.

When a complex sentence begins with a subordinator such as sentences A and D, a comma is required at the end of the dependent clause. When the independent clause begins the sentence with subordinators in the middle as in sentences B, C, and E, no comma is required. If a comma is placed before the subordinators in sentences B, C, and E, it is wrong.

Note that sentences D and E are the same except sentence D begins with the dependent clause which is followed by a comma, and sentence E begins with the independent clause which contains no comma.  The comma after the dependent clause in sentence D is required, and experienced listeners of English will often hear a slight pause there.  In sentence E, however, there will be no pause when the independent clause begins the sentence. 

COMPLEX SENTENCES / ADJECTIVE CLAUSES

Finally, sentences containing adjective clauses (or dependent clauses) are also complex because they contain an independent clause and a dependent clause.  The subjects, verbs, and subordinators are marked the same as in the previous sentences, and in these sentences, the independent clauses are also underlined. 

A. The woman who called my mom sells cosmetics. B. The book that Jonathan read is on the shelf. C. The house which Abraham  Lincoln was born in is still standing. D. The town where I grew up is in the United States.

Adjective Clauses are studied in this site separately, but for now it is important to know that sentences containing adjective clauses are complex.

How to Generate a Thesis Statement-very important..

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is not Assigned

Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.

A good thesis statement will usually include the following four attributes:

• take on a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree
• deal with a subject that can be adequately treated given the nature of the assignment
• express one main idea
• assert your conclusions about a subject

Let’s see how to generate a thesis statement for a social policy paper.

Brainstorm the topic.
Let’s say that your class focuses upon the problems posed by changes in the dietary habits of Americans. You find that you are interested in the amount of sugar Americans consume.

You start out with a thesis statement like this:

Sugar consumption.

This fragment isn’t a thesis statement. Instead, it simply indicates a general subject. Furthermore, your reader doesn’t know what you want to say about sugar consumption.

Narrow the topic.
Your readings about the topic, however, have led you to the conclusion that elementary school children are consuming far more sugar than is healthy.

You change your thesis to look like this:

Reducing sugar consumption by elementary school children.

This fragment not only announces your subject, but it focuses on one segment of the population: elementary school children. Furthermore, it raises a subject upon which reasonable people could disagree, because while most people might agree that children consume more sugar than they used to, not everyone would agree on what should be done or who should do it. You should note that this fragment is not a thesis statement because your reader doesn’t know your conclusions on the topic.

Take a position on the topic.
After reflecting on the topic a little while longer, you decide that what you really want to say about this topic is that something should be done to reduce the amount of sugar these children consume.

You revise your thesis statement to look like this:

More attention should be paid to the food and beverage choices available to elementary school children.

This statement asserts your position, but the terms more attention and food and beverage choices are vague.

Use specific language.
You decide to explain what you mean about food and beverage choices, so you write:

Experts estimate that half of elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar.

This statement is specific, but it isn’t a thesis. It merely reports a statistic instead of making an assertion.

Make an assertion based on clearly stated support.
You finally revise your thesis statement one more time to look like this:

Because half of all American elementary school children consume nine times the recommended daily allowance of sugar, schools should be required to replace the beverages in soda machines with healthy alternatives.

Notice how the thesis answers the question, “What should be done to reduce sugar consumption by children, and who should do it?” When you started thinking about the paper, you may not have had a specific question in mind, but as you became more involved in the topic, your ideas became more specific. Your thesis changed to reflect your new insights.

How to Generate a Thesis Statement if the Topic is Assigned

Almost all assignments, no matter how complicated, can be reduced to a single question. Your first step, then, is to distill the assignment into a specific question. For example, if your assignment is, “Write a report to the local school board explaining the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class,” turn the request into a question like, “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?” After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, compose one or two complete sentences answering that question.
Q: “What are the potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class?”
A: “The potential benefits of using computers in a fourth-grade class are . . .”

OR

A: “Using computers in a fourth-grade class promises to improve . . .”
The answer to the question is the thesis statement for the essay.