UNITY IN COMMUNITY

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UNITY IN COMMUNITY 
Everything seems to be improbable until you make it into reality. I myself have been dreaming of going abroad since I found out that we are all supposed to be able to enjoy the other atmosphere of the world out there. This programme I joined in Singapore known as YMAC (Youth Model ASEAN Conference) is the one that has benefitted me a lot in terms of camaraderie from 10 ASEAN member states that could only be fostered amongst individuals who are willing to forge a common path in spite of their varied background. Apart from that, it has also made me way more open-minded and tolerated towards the diverse cultures and languages owned by each and every state within ASEAN. It was only a short period of time, only 4 days during the programme, but we made a strong friendship that won’t ever stop just because the event’s stopped. I was under a committee called Economics: Skilled-labour. It was such a great pleasure for me personally to be able to mingle up with intelligent fellow delegates from all over 10 ASEAN countries in Skilled-labour committee. I represented Myanmar and the other two representatives from Myanmar were Singaporeans Shang Yidan coming from Republic Polytechnic and the other gluttony guy Ng Jing Jie from Nanyang Polytechnic, and I was chosen to be the one who had the floor to present the position summary of Myanmar’s current issue on the unskilled labour and child labour. We had six committee in sessions during the programme which was quite intense and scary, although I’ve joined debate thingy quite a lot, but the formal debate and discussion system implemented in the programme is just different. People come from different states of ASEAN and we sort of have different opinions and prespectives on the current issues ASEAN is facing right now esp in terms of Economics: Skilled-labour. To be truthful to you, there are seven committees held by the programme one of which is Skilled-labour and the rest are Economics: Development gap, Security: Cyber Security, Technology: Information Communication Technologies,  Social: Human Trafficking, Social: Connectivity and Cultural Integration. I was under committee of Skilled-labour and the thing that we were primarily focused on was How can industries work with tertiary institutions to enable youth to become more employable and highly-skilled?. We had very wonderful comm chairs and they are Cao Wen Qing & Darryl Goh Sheng En and the other three learning journey leaders one of which is Charlotte Aw (I forget the other two ones I am messed up with the names I apologise, they were probably Wei Sheng and Jun Xiang if I am not mistaken hehe!) We all the delegates and the comm chairs still stay in touch on Whatsapp group of our committee.



Giving an overview of what to do during learning journey
The first of all, I’d like to express gratitude to the sponsor of this programme The S Rajaratman Endowment (SRE) for covering all the tuition fee, accomodation, and all related things during the four-day –long programme. For the record, The S Rajaratman Endowment (SRE) is a non-profit philanthropic organisation, set up by Temasek to recognise Singapore’s first and longest-serving Foreign Minister, one of the pioneering leaders. Its objective is to achieve development, peace and stability in the region by deepening international friendships, promoting regional cooperation, and fostering a greater and common understanding of international rules, based on the twin pillars of good governance and sustainability. Here take a peek of what I did before the killing presentation.



Me, taken the minute before presentation to VIPs and GOH
On the very first day, we were through the bonding session game, the game where we were all gathered in a big hall mingling up with people from all over 10 ASEAN countries, singing along, running and jumping, doing the blindfold game as well, concluded that we had so much fun, joy & laughter. You might want to see some photographs taken during the session? Here they are. Let’s have a look!

Putting so much efforts to solve the puzzle. Hip hip hurray! It’s finally solved! ASEAN flag

When the bonding session was over, we had the intense and hectic discussion and formal debate in the classroom. Debate here was a platform of exchanging of opinions, simultaneously, the resolution at the end of a debate was a reflection of the diverse views and efforts of the participants/delegates involved.
Hours of comm session are governed by established norms, namely the rules of parliamentary procedure. During debates, student-delegates would share their country’s perspective and views with the entire committee (I was representing Myanmar, therefore I shared anything related to Myanmar’s developmental system of unskilled-workers in order that they can be more employable and highly-skilled). How to do it? By making speeches, taking questions (or we call it POI/Points of Informations), taking comments from the fellow committe-mates during the formal debate and caucus session. Four sentences I will always keep in mind are: 1. The chair would like to call the house to order. 2. The delegate of Myanmar would like to yield the floor back to the chair. 3. The delegate of Indonesia would like to yield the floor to Points of Informations from the co-delegates. 4. The delegate of Myanmar would like to have a caucus or anything related. Those four sentences of formal debate during the committee session are completely different from what I’ve gained when I was in a debating competition. This is a whole new experience for me.
I was the delegate of Myanmar and the issues that Myanmar is dealing with right now are child-labour, lost of professional workers and mismatch problem where the demand is hugely not in accordance with the supply of workers and most of the workers are low skilled. Child labour has been an ongoing problem there in Myanmar, most of countries within ASEAN member states are also experiencing the same. Children under age are forced to go to the workplace inspite of enjoying their childhood in school mingling with kids at their age to go through educational stage. This is such a shame. Education is not spreading out evenly throughout the countries. Apart from the child-labour issue, many of labours are lack of communication skill to be competitive.  Communication skill is very much needed in terms of commerce. English language has become the biggest barrier for ASEAN countries to enhance their capability of becoming more employable and highly-skilled.


Taken during the formal debate and caucus
At the end of the day, WE, the Heads of State / Government of the Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations recognise that ASEAN consists of countries of diverse cultures and that one variation comes in difference of language, the lingua franca of the global economics as the English Language, and the proficiency of English Language is a limiting factor in employability among the Youth, more efforts could be made to enable youth to become more employable. Further recognising that quality of education in most ASEAN countries has been poor due to reasons including but not limited to lack of resources, outdated curriculum and under-equipped teachers as well. Acknowledgeing that most ASEAN countries suffer from the problem of skills mismatch, where youths do not exercise their knowledge after completing tertiary education as a result of not being able to find a job in the respective industries. Then we came to a consensus in which we should implement EL (English Language) as the lingua franca  of ASEAN Countries without undermining its cultural language:
a)      Seek commitment to promote English Language as the medium of instruction of the technical and vocational education training in higher institutions in ASEAN Countries;
b)     Seek technological support to promote Advance English Language and Business English Language on an online platform;
c)      Seek budgetary support from the Asian Development Bank for subsidies to be given in respect to each country’s financial status;
d)     Seek technical support from ASEAN Countries to create a committee of qualified instructors will be gathered to deliver English Language lesson to conferences of educators of different ASEAN origins;

The finalised declaration of Skilled-labour comm. Finally hard work paid off.
The learning journey session. We tried to do a jump shot, but we failed miserably.
Alex Edrolin, Decen, Atik, Wing. We got 1 singdollar ice cream to enjoy in the heat. 
If you want to go around for some sightseeing, take this comfy bus.
YMAC being screened on channelnewsasia



Me presenting the declaration to Mrs Josephine Teo, Ministry of foreign affairs of Singapore
I had screen time on channelnewsasia. Me with one of my fellow partner presentators from Cambodia.
Well, the thing that I highlight from the whole conference is that we can solve amount of problems in a huge circle area within ASEAN member states only in four short days. Together we made it, together we solved it. The solution that we came up with is that adopting English as the lingua franca of ASEAN countries without undermining its cultural language. Therefore, English is so important for all of us to learn and master. To be truthful to you, there were genuinely three solutions that we arised, but only one to be chosen to present to the VIPs and GOH and we chose that English language proficiency is the most crucial thing we all should enhance. We all together countries within ASEAN can make it all true, to improve EL for Youths to be more employable and highly-skilled. As the lyrics of the YMAC song convey that: We're one and we're young and we have a voice. Let's stand up for our people and give them a choice. Our voices today, will be echoes tomorrow. Definitely, we are one with our diverse cultures. As the slogan tells, Unity in Community. Thank you ever so much to all the inspiring delegates and anyone invloved. I love you to the moon and back. One last thing to wrap up our jofyul ocassion is this picture of our short togetherness.

See you guys, soon! It’s not the end of the world, we still could meet up in another circumstance. Hopefully soon. Laterssss, until we meet again.  ;)

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Kompleksitas Konsturksi Batin

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Malam pilu menyelimuti hati dan perasaan seorang gadis yang bimbang akan keputusan. Akankah berujung rasa kesendirian itu? Kapankah tiba waktu pangeran berkendara kuda yang tepat menjemputnya? Entahlah. Sebetulnya dia tidak ingin terburu-buru, dan juga tidak begitu peduli akan perasaan sepi yang dia rundung saat ini. Mungkin karena beribu kata mutiara yang dia baca sebelum menjelang tidur agar keesokan harinya tetap termotivasi menjalani hidup. Separah itukah? Dia kini lelah, mencoba melarikan diri dari kandang sampah yang disebut masa lalu. Dirinya bermuka masam, tak menghiraukan apapun, hanya melamun menatap sudut-sudut tembok ruangan berukuran sempit. Dia merasakan kekecewaan yang teramat dalam, terpekik-pekik karena lelaki yang dia puja pergi meninggalkannya tanpa jejak hanya untuk bersandar ke pelukan perempuan lain. Mengapa konstruksi batin manusia begitu membingungkan dan kompleks? Hanya beberapa bulan yang lalu, kali pertama bertemu, lelaki itu bak pengubah suasana. Tapi waktu menjawab, kedatangannya hanya memperkeruh keadaan. Lambat laun, waktu menyembuhkan luka. Akan tetapi, hatinya masih tertutup rapat-rapat. Merasakan pahit masamnya ditanggalkan. Mencoba untuk membukanya, tapi rasa ketakutan masih bersemayam nyaman. Tiba-tiba, bulatan air menyerupai angka nol menyembul dipelupuk mata, dengan sisa tenaga yang loyo Ia mencoba menghancurkan bulatan tangis dengan punggung tangan. Dia bergeming. Tak seharusnya dia meratapi kehidupannya seperti orang edan. Karena adakalanya kesendirian itu cahaya. Cahaya? Ya cahaya yang meneranginya ketika luka hati dan ketakutan itu muncul. Lebih baik sendiri. Dan kado ulang tahun yang terbaik tahun ini adalah kesendirian itu. Sekarang dia berusaha menjadi motivator untuk dirinya sendiri. Biarkan semuanya yang lampau menjadi kenangan. Tidak untuk dilupakan, tidak juga untuk dibenci. Kenangan ada untuk dipelajari. Bukankah itu memang sudah hukum alam? Setiap orang yang kita jumpai adalah hadiah dan cara Tuhan untuk memberikan pelajaran hidup? Dan adakalanya orang yang kita harapkan untuk tinggal dihati malah seenaknya pergi? Memang gadis itu pikir dia tahu yang terbaik untuk dirinya? Yang menjadi perencana indah dan penentu semua yang terbaik adalah Dia, Tuhan. Tiba-tiba senyum kecil terbesit di raut wajahnya yang bengkak dan merah lebam akibat isakan air mata yang tiada henti. Semua sudah terporsi sayang. Sudahlah untuk apa terus mengingat luka hati kalau keberadaanya hanya membuat sakit? Gadis itu berkata “Aku resmi tinggalkanmu, luka, masa lalu. Terimakasih atas rasa sakit. Aku sungguh menikmatinya. Aku bangkit.” Dan gadis yang sekarang bangkit itu adalah aku.

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How I Deal with Solitude

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HOW I DEAL WITH SOLITUDE
I’ll be rumbling on this blog post now. Terribly sorry for the rumbles! This is something that I don’t usually write about and keep it inside. But I feel like sharing it with you. I genuinely could shed tears writing this. But I’ll try  not to. I’ll be the strongest person I can be.
Well without further a do. Questions that have been in my mind for the past couple days. Have you ever felt like you’re all on your own and no body gives you company and fed up of being alone and seeing, in love couples walking through the parks arm in arm and all that? And when you really need help, no body’s there, you’re reluctantly asking for people’s help, and you end up doing anything you want yourself without invloving people in it. That’s what I have been doing so far. Being a singleton and deciding not to be enganged with what sort of ‘love’ thingy and all that stuff. Not denying the fact that sometimes people need companies. Me included. More often than not, it’s got to the point where being single sucks but sometimes it’s a good thing. Having heard from quite many friends of mine moaning about being single and wanting to have boyfriends/girlfriends makes me want to write this sort of thing. Prefer being a singleton to being in love? Which one do you prefer? Do people have preferences? I have no clue. Maybe they do, or maybe they don’t. But this is a tip how I cope with my moment of solitude and overcome any feelings of loneliness. This works for me.
             1. Spend your time with your family and friends. I must admit that my parents are living and working in the capital city of Indonesian which is quite far from where I am studying now. The only way to keep in touch with each other is by communicating through calls/texts/social networks. I’m not very much open to them either, especially when it comes to ‘solitude due to being a singleton’ *laughs*. Not my parents’ cup of tea at all. They kinda loathe it seeing me close to somebody and for the time being their request is me focusing on the studies. When in terms of friends, I have bunches, but there are only a few friends whom I could put my trust and share anything with. Currently they are well-occupied. Therefore, feeling loneliness comes to me very frequently, but I know the ways to escape from it one of which is by getting together with friends and family. You’ll soon be getting accustomed to it and you’ll find out how better it would be if we’re focused on the studies rather than filling our minds with the things that might be a distraction to our academic studies and our platonic relationships with people like friends and family. You’ll soon realise a romantic partnership is not the only one satisfying type of relationship.
             2. The second thing that I now usually do is getting out more. Getting yourself locked in a room with no ventilation and all in pitch dark with curtains closed is not the best way to escape from loneliness. You have a wonderful planet to see, places you need to explore, people you gotta meet up, and events you gotta attend. I’ve come to a relisation that sitting in my flat all day long will do nothing and it just makes me more pesimistic. You’re already blessed with a great life, get out more and go to shop centres and cinemas even on your own or you can take friends if you want to, but being on your own sometimes makes you feel like you’re in your own world with you are the only inhibitant in it, I do this quite often, and realistically I enjoy my own company.
              3. Build your self-confidence. I’ve been doctrined by lots of articles that being in a relationship does not make you a better and more successful person. Then, do not think less of yourself as a person for being single. Rather this might be the best time for me to be even greater and appreciate the little things in life. To make a fresh start and feel better sometimes I treat myself like getting myself a book or a juice or a movie or new clothes or do some running outside or anything. This could make yourself feel much better. This works for me successfully.
               4. Enjoy ‘me’ time. I’m writing this whilst listening to music and singing it along. What could be better than this? Haha. I used to be feeling argh and meh when it comes to loneliness. Now I always try to find a way out what productive thing I could do. Now Now when I feel like company, I either write, go out, or exercise or anything. Being down in the dumps locking yourself in a room all day long will get you nowhere. Sometimes treating yourself is a must. Treating yourself a movie, play, clothes, books, whatever you like to keep you motivated. Something you can enjoy on your own.
              5. This one thing I mostly do to get active and exercise. I’ve come to the point where exercise or working out can be a get away from loneliness and stress. Besides the fact that it’s also good for your health. It can do both. If I’m feeling lonely or depressed I genuinely grab my running shoes and go to the park close to my flat and enjoy my running time. This is good for your body and soul. I got new running shoes the other day and that makes me love exercise more by wearing the new shoes. Hehe Thanks ever so much to mum for getting me running shoes as the late birthday present. This helps me relieve stress and depression. You can also meet running buddies who frequent your favourite running routes. Hehe stay active stay healthy!
              6. Go on a trip! Bali is the tourism spot I’ve been wanting to visit by far. Saving money and waiting on the perfect time/holiday to come. Then soon I’ll explore. Trigger your adrenaline by travelling on your own to new places you’ve never been to. I travel on my own quite often to be perfectly honest. I do like it though. You don’t have to negotiate other people’s companies and all you gotta do is decide anything you want by your own self. It’s challenging. But when are you gunna try if not now? Hehe
              7. Last but not least, try not to idealize relationships. Being in a relationship is sometimes not that easy as it may seem. And sometimes people in couples could be lonelier than singletons. During your solo time, think about what you want from your friends, family, and other relationships in the future. Remember and keep it in mind that it’s way much better being single and happy than in a bad relationship. All I want to say is enjoy every minute of your life. You deserve to be happy for whatever you do in life. You’re worth getting happiness. You’re worth a good future relationship, and everything good usually is worth the wait. Stay positive. Be happy and content within yourself and never think that you are not worthy because you are not in a relationship, or that you're a "loser" for feeling lonely. Neither of these are true! Instead, remind yourself to look on the bright side of life, and that there's a lot of good things to be gained in moments of singleness and solitude. Cheers.

Talk to you later in a bit. I got to go to sleep earlier. Tomorrow I’ll have to participate the ceremony in school. So I'll rest now! good night wonderful people with wonderful hearts and souls! 

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