Monday, October 27, 2008

An Unfinished Argument

A scholar student gave this point to the visiting members of the MMC [Malaysian Medical Council] to our university, the gist of which is, “Dear sirs, we get USD 500 a month. With the rising economy, I don’t think it’s enough.”

Another supported the claim by saying, “Unlike private students, we have to pay for the hostel and air ticket.”

Yes, sirs. It’s not enough. I mean, the scholar stundents go to Benetton and Adidas shop only twice a week. New football season means new original nike boots, jerseys. You have to think about that, sirs.

And sirs, what about the winter vacation, sirs? We want to go to Monaco, Rome, Turkey. Where are we getting to do this money, sir?

Let’s take the average private student’s expenditure. They get 500 ringgit, the apartment or hostel is paid for by the parents. The air ticket is paid by the parents. They go winter holidays to Moscow and St Petersburg. Maybe the occasional Turkey or Egypt once in two years.

Let’s be nerds and do some maths:

500 USD is equivalent to more than RM 1500. Let’s take RM 1500.

The average private student uses RM 500. So the difference is RM 1500 - RM500 = RM 1000. In 10 months, the difference is RM 1000x10 = RM 10 000.

The most expensive hostel costs USD 950. Let’s take USD 1000 so that it’d be easier to count. That’s around RM 3000.

So we take the RM 10 000 – RM 3000 = RM 7000.

Take the air tickets then. The higher end airlines cost around RM 4000. That means, RM 7000 – RM 4000 = RM 3000.

You should tax the private students' parents more so that you can add each of us at least 200 USD more!

Sir, please be considerate. RM 3000 where got enough for our Eurotrip! How to pay for our new jerseys and boots each year? Tell me, sirs! How???!!

I have to borrow this from Patrick Teoh.

NIAMAH!!!

Edit

Apparently, according to government students, we private are jealous of them getting the scholarship. Yes, that's true, it has nothing at all to do with how greedy the very thought of asking more of the Rakyat's money to be spent on their European vacation. Hell, they're like Malaysian Politicians.

Some of them, I do respect. With their USD 500, they manage to give one third to their parents. These are the people who truly deserve scholarship i.e. those who can't afford to study abroad, or even local. But these are the same group of people who didn't complain. The rest are the complainers, the ones who use inside men to get the spots, who care not about those who actually need financial help. These are the motherfuckers I'm talking about.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey jon jon, way to make more friends! Why are you hating so much on them scholars anyway? I mean it's like you got this compulsion with these folks. Are you subconsciously reacting to them not accepting you as part of the family? I'm just sayin' man.

I mean you of all people should complain about the consumption patterns of those people. I mean don't you want them to be well-travelled and experience the rich cultures of the old continent? Would you rather see them wear Baju kurungs and *gasp* pasar malam clothes thus exposing them to the ridicule of the fashionistas? Would you only be at peace when all of them only use 3 year old centrino laptops instead of the latest MacBook pros? Shame on you man for this is but shardenfreude!

I mean there's only the lifetime of debt and measly salary to look forward to, so while the going is good why not just spend spend spend! After all, isn't that how we do things?

Fuzzy A! said...

Dear skoler.

Dude, you think this is about Malays? Sure, malays make the biggest portion of the scholarship student community but I generally hate Volgograd Malays for a whole different reason! Hell, you're racist for grouping Malays as govvies!

Am I sad that I'm not part of them? Sometimes I wonder what life would be like but then, I see how closed up their life is and I thank God for ostracizing me from them.

And I don't hate scholars. I have a lot of whiney friends. I hate their whining but I like those people.

Let's talk about expenditure. What, RM 3000 for ten months is not enough for clothes? RM 1000 shopping spree on clothes is more than enough for two bloody years. Of course, some govvie want only designer clothes. I know a guy who practically beg for food everytime people cook but gets a new Guess or Armani jacket every two months or so.
Some of us oh-so-rich private students don't even HAVE laptops. That's how we're saving up for our stuff. We don't spend excessively on idiotic wants and whatnot. We indulge ourselves, yes, but never too much. We can't afford indulging too much.

You want new laptops? SAVE YOUR FUCKING MONEY. You want expensive holidays? SAVE FUCKING MONEY. I know it's a foreign idea to you but when you don't spend money, the saving become bigger and bigger! I'm not saying you shouldn't travel or be fashionably retarded, I'm just saying: SAVE MONEY!

And I just found out that govvies get allowance during summer holidays. That's another thousand USD!

For your last point let me ask you this. Say you get the increment of 200 USD, ok? Will you give me a hundred each month?

That's what I thought.

It's the same. It's the rakyat's money, you're trying to get. The cost of your eurotrip is being paid by poor saps trying hardly to come by with three little kids. That jersey of yours is from the repair cost of the government hospitals.

Hell, enough money has been embezzled by the politicians. Why are you trying to do the same?

So, ok, ok. You might try to soothe your conscience by saying that the money is not going to these things, anyways.

Ok. So, why the fuck should my parent's tax money go to you? And my future tax money to future students, too?

Scholar students do not have to pay back. That's the whole point of scholarship. No debt. It's not a student's loan. You're thinking of students who took JPA or MARA loans. I have no problem with them. They're paying back their debt. They ask for more, they'll pay more. That's not a problem.

About measly salaries... Yes, because after we get our degrees, there will be a committee separating government students from private and the latter get higher pay! You really think that's how it is? How about us, then? What about OUR measly salary? Why can we get by and not you? How about those who work in factories and are barely able to scrape a thousand ringgit?

I'm sorry, Skoler, for the harsh words but you just sound like a spoilt brat. You might come from a not-so-rich family, but you are definitely spoiled by the JPA or MARA or MinDef.

And no, if people have a problem with my opinion and choose to not 'be friends' with me because of it like I did when I was in kindergarten... well, are these people really worth the effort, even?

Fuzzy A! said...

wah my reply so damn long

Anonymous said...

I can't believe you compared the 'govvies' to embezzling politicians!

In what way do our activities even remotely resemble the wanton corruption those despicable people are involved in?

Here I am, studying my head off, non-stop, for the past 7 years just so I could even think of a university degree, and you have the chit to imply that I am to blame for the country's problems?
I'll have you know that I pour blood sweat and tears into my studies.

Why? So that I can be part of the generation that contributes to the nation-building, opening businesses, creating jobs, and paying taxes faithfully. I will not be merely standing at the sidelines spewing and frothing at the mouth with so much negativity, blaming everything and everyone else for everything that I think is wrong.

Is that not a noble aim? Is that not something worthwhile to work for? Is that not something a reasonable person would otherwise be supportive of?

But no, instead you choose to take umbrage at the way we spend our money on clothes, and holidays, and gadgets.

Look man, we've earned the money.

Why? we've put in the effort, and we will continue putting in the effort, and we should be able to continue spending the money in whatever way we deem fit.

I mean, it's not as if we're blinded by material riches, those new ipods won't keep us from continuing to excel at our studies, so as far as I am concerned we are doing what we are required to do and there is no issue.

And you can't expect future leaders to come from a vaccuum.

There has to be some standard that has to be maintained so that we can be of equal standing to others.

So that we too can stand with pride, and prove to the outside world that Malaysians are not only intelligent people but also sophisticated and cultured. That we know our Burberrys from our Giordanos, our Ports from our Sauvignon Blanc. Do you even know what brie is?

But no you would insist on us to save,save,save and continue living in the backwoods.

Do you know how much a book cost nowadays? For a hardcover it's almost $30 dollars! And let's not even talk about the price of electronics!

I think we're scrimping and saving enough as it is, so excuse us for asking for a review of our allowances (that only comes once every few years) especially in these days of economic uncertainty.

I think you just have to take some time out and try not being so envious of other people.

We're human beings too, so when you give these vicious comments, we will feel hurt. And to others, we will lose face. And what for brother? What have we ever done to you to deserve such treatment from you?

Can't you just be happy for us?

Fuzzy A! said...

Why I compared you to corrupted politicians:

1] You take rakyat's money without doing anything spectacular. I don't argue with your USD 500. I understand, scholarship is a good thing but asking for more for a life in Volgograd?

2] Your comments/public statements are always biting your own ass back. Read back. You actually agreed to what I said, and then repeated the same points. Thus, just saying that you're wrong.

3] You attacked your opposition with unrelated topic. Brie or fromage de Brie is a kind of cream cheese. Don't insult my uppity-ness. I don't go and ask you questions like: who among the realist painters differentiate his Psyche from her lover by the type of wings? Where's Michelangelo in the Last Judgment? Who was Dante's guide through Hell? Why did the rabbits moved to Watership Down? Which sufi asked God to keep her from Heaven and put her in Hell unless she prayed for God? Why was St Peter crucified upside down? And so on and so on and so on. As idiotic as I look, culture is one of my forte.

4] You're giving idiotic reasons as why we/the rakyat should be fucked upside down. You worked hard. Yes, and we don't work at all. We actually lay around all day long and have a 15 hours night sleep, eh?

5] You can't understand what the opposition is saying. I said SAVE MONEY in the sense that you save money, then you'll get to use it to do whatever things you want with it: vacations, fancy schmancy clothes and whatever. I never said you should be 'living in the backwoods.'

6] You accuse people with non-existant flaws. I have thousands of flaws but not one of them is being envious of govvies. Why would I? According to most of you govvies, I swim in cash. To quote Izzat from yesterday, "Diorang boleh mintak duit kat mak bapak."

I respect some of you because even though, apparently, 500 USD is not enough, some of you gave 1/3 to your parents. But others, if anything, I pity you people.

What have you done? You got greedy and ask for more from us. Like it or not, you're here through our money. Maybe a small fraction and yes, it's your money too but our money still have a part in it. It's the rakyat's money. And here you're asking for more to supply things you don't need.

I didn't realize you need more than USD 2000 each year for hardcover books. In that, I'm TOTALLY wrong. You must have a whole library by now, eh? After all, it's been 7 years. That's USD 14 000 worth of hardcover books.

Anonymous said...

Fuzzy A!i seriously salute u!!and sorry my dear fren skoler...u r so not productive, not effective and very vegetative!!!haha...u r seriously like a whining indulged baby to me~

btw, plz read back ur own comment...u r simply juz slapping ur own face...gosh~
- -"~

~An9eL~ said...

I KNEW I've heard this argument before. I just didn't realise it was also from you, only in writing.

You whiner.

*blek*

Fuzzy A! said...

tiun: Hear hear!

Lico: Whine whine whine