Eid in BFM

Listen to the podcast recorded by BFM from the Moneywise segment on 30 July. There are 2 parts, listen to first part here:



and second part here:



Enjoy!

p.s.: Eid - you rock, bro!

Meeting 01/0809 Report

The new semesta86 Exco (minus the KB reps) had their first meeting since the last election. The meeting was held in the Royal Lake Club, KL and was duly attended by me, Daq, York, Along and Raihan. Taja, Ma-g and Yuzli were not able to attend. The meeting started at around 11:00am and adjourned at aroung 1:00pm.

2 main agendas were deliberated at length:

a) Family Day
b) Funding issues

Family Day

It was noted that the last Family Day was held in 2006 in Cherating. It was a huge success taking into account that it was the first time we did such an event. However, we also noted that whilst we managed to keep the costs down, we had to do a lot of things ourselves and great efforts by some of the members.

For the Family Day 2008 (FD08), we proposed to do the event in a more relaxed but enjoyable manner. 2 proposals were discussed; an excursion trip, or 'family day'-like trip. On an excursion trip, it is more like 'makan angin' trip, a guided tour to interesting places plus our own games/events in between. Places suggested includes Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), Kuching (Sarawak) and Penang. The 'family day'-like trip will be similar to the one we had in Cherating, except that we propose to do in a more exciting places like Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort, Cameron Highland or maybe Pangkor Island.

The main issue relating to this event is the cost. Whilst we plan out the details of the trip, we would like to get consensus from all members as to how much can we consider as reasonable cost per person for such trip (a 3 days/2 nights stay for 50 adults and 60 children). A trip to Sabah/Sarawak would cost around RM1,100 per person whilst to Pangkor maybe much less than that.

Funding Issues

The Exco believe that semesta86 needs to be a self-sustained group. While we can line up a number of activities each year, the fund to operate the event is pretty much comes from the collections from members. We need to fill up our coffer not just by the collections from members, but also other means of revenue. However, before we can legally solicit funds, we need to be a legitimate body. The quickest way is to alligned ourselves with the Semesta Induk and use their organisation to do fund-raising events, or we \get ourselves legitimate (not to say that we are 'kumpulan haram' since we are not doing anything illegal...), example; by forming a co-op or running a company.

However, this issue will be deliberated further in order to determine the viability of the idea. However, we also like to seek members' opinion on this issue and perhaps share a thought or two regarding this matter.

Please post your comment or participate in the yahoogroup's (members only) discussion.

Welcome 2008

Each time a new year comes, everybody will start charting his or her own new resolutions. Some may carry forward, though many will write-off those resolutions which are not fulfilled. Some are not new at all - they are just an old resolutions in a new name. In an accounting sense, new resolutions are like annual budget. Not all expenses budgeted in the last period are spent, though many were overspent. Come new budget, some expenses are carried forward (capex items especially), and some are budgeted just to give a buffer for 'just-in-case' situations (which in some cases, were religiously defended during the budget challenge meeting).

Oh well, happy new year (both the Gregorian and Islamic calendar) to all of you.

Majlis Perpisahan Presiden di Star KTV, Bangsar

One for the album (not in the pic: Sue, Chah & Daq)

It was a coincidence that this event was organised exactly one year since we did our first Family Day in Cherating, last year. It was indeed a memorable afternoon attended by more than 30 of us (+ family members) with the guests of honour from KB; Mat Ju, McJas & Sue.

The guests were entertained by our very own artists and the kids were treated with fun and games. It was truly a historic event for Star KTV as I don't think anyone ever organised such event there.

Some of us have not met with each other since we left school 20 years ago. Some didn't recognise one another sampai naik satu lif pun tak cam - buat donno aje. Maybe dalam hati duk tertanya2.. macam cam je, tapi sape ek?

The food was admirable, too. The spread was fantastic and the lamb was succulent and the kids were treated with ice-creams. So far, nobody complaint about the food. So I guess everyone was happy.

Mat Ju gave his last speech as the President, reminding us all the need to be closer and give our support to Jenal and the future President. He's pretty good in giving speech, maybe dia selalu buat speeches masa menjalankan tugasan dia. We presented a token of appreciation to him and wished him the best of luck in his studies.

For the record, when he pass his PhD (in about 3 years from now), he will be the FIRST MALAYSIAN to get a doctorate in his field. Imagine that! We have a record in a making. We are all proud of him and hope he will claim that crown soon.

Anyway, I have placed a slideshow below for all of you to enjoy. Hopefully we can have another get-together someday. Maybe a BBQ hang-outs for a more relaxing spirit....

SMSTMFP di antara yang elit

Pengumuman yang dibuat tak lama dulu memang boleh sangat dibanggakan. Apatah lagi bila sekolah kita ditaraf bersekali dengan MCKK, TKC, SAS dan KIK. Dengan pengiktirafan sedemikian, bolehlah SMSTMFP dinobat bersama-sama elit SBP yang memang terkenal sebelum ini.

SMSTMFP telah dipilih sebagai salah sebuah SBP untuk merintis program Kelompok Sekolah Cemerlang, atau lebih dikenali sebagai Sekolah Kluster. Program Sekolah Kluster adalah selaras dengan usaha kerajaan untuk melonjakkan kecemerlangan institusi pendidikan setaraf negara maju.

Konsep utama Sekolah kluster ini memberi 5 kuasa autonomi dari segi:

1. Pengurusan Sumber Manusia (guru, kakitangan dan kepakaran luar)
2. Mewujudkan Dana dan Tabungan Sekolah
3. Pengambilan Murid (sehingga 10% dari jumlah kemasukan)
4. Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran (P&P)
5. Penilaian dan Peperiksaan

Walaupun ada terdengar suara kritikan tentang keberkesanan program ini, apa yang penting ialah usaha dan sumbangan kita sebagai bekas pelajar untuk menjayakan program ini. Sememangnya mungkin ada kepincangan dan kelemahan dalam sesuatu program kerajaan, tetapi kita tidak seharusnya menolak begitu sahaja. Sama-sama lah kita melihat dari sudut yang positif, dan kita fikirkan apa yang kita mampu sumbangkan dalam usaha untuk manaik-taraf prestasi dan mutu produk keluaran SMSTMFP. Mungkin suatu hari nanti, anak-anak kita sendiri akan belajar disana.

Konsep Sekolah Kluster ini pada hemat saya adalah satu langkah positif kearah memartabatkan sistem pendidikan negara. Kita sendiri dapat melihat sekarang bahawa produk dari sistem pelajaran yang sedia ada tidaklah memberangsangkan jika dibanding dengan negara-negara maju yang lain. Yang penting, kita janganlah sekadar melihat dan mengkritik usaha-usaha kerajaan tanpa berbuat apa-apa.

Saya berharap pihak pengurusan SMSTMFP akan lebih dinamik dan kreatif dalam melaksanakan usaha-usaha untuk menjayakan program ini. Penerapan awal nilai-nilai kualiti kedalam minda para pelajar haruslah diberi keutamaan supaya nilai-nilai ini menjadi asas panduan kecemerlang mereka. Ini menjadi lebih penting kerana dalam usia yang muda inilah asas-asas sebegini membentuk keperibadian seseorang pelajar.

Kita juga patut berterima kasih kepada sekelian ahli-ahli SEMESTA yang tidak putus-putus menyumbang tenaga dan masa untuk sekolah. Mungkin juga peranan mereka ini menyumbang kepada pemilihan SMSTMFP untuk merintis program Sekolah Kluster. Jesteru itu, marilah kita bersama-sama bergandingan dengan ahli-ahli lain SEMESTA untuk turut sama menyumbang kearah meningkatkan mutu produk SMSTMFP dan seterusnya memartabatkan sistem pendidikan negara kita ini.

Saat Paling...(part 2 of 2)

Saat paling memalukan tu banyak berlaku bila budak2 form 1 sudah pandai menjaga hak mereka dengan mem'padlock'kan selipar mereka. Jadi, abe2 hok beso ambik selipar oghe lain dengan selamba menyahut kaki ko selipar jenis ni akan terkantoi dan jadi bahan lawak semua orang...

Saat Paling... (part 1 of 2)

Mat Daq ada scan some important pages from our majalah SEMASA sedikit masa dulu.

Antara kartun-kartun yang pernah disiar didalam majalah SEMASA terbitan tahun 1986 itu adalah olahan kartunis terkenal batch kita... Mat Seh. Episod "Saat Paling..." ini mengimbas kembali peristiwa-peristiwa yang tidak dapat dilupakan sepanjang berada di SMSKn dahulu.

Anybody remember this event?

Terbaca blog post from Sheih "Kickdefella" about his reminiscence of his days when he was in SMSkn (follow the link above). The year was 1983 and it was Friday morning - inspection day and one student from his batch was tercirik sepanjang corridor. Anyway, go and read his story yourself-lah. Cuma nok tahu, did anyone of us remember this? I'm sure ni satu kenangan yang susah nak dilupakan eventhough tidak terjadi kepada batch kita sediri.

Anyway, his reference to a prefect named Zambri - I think we all know him by his pet name Zambri Buchit...