to all my girls of bernadette's convent
class of 2000, but i've no photo of the other angels that i really miss actually.
O my friend,where art thou?
I MISS my oldskool girls!!! today i had this strange but crazy feeling..that i wanna meet each one of you, especially those i was downright close with ( yeah rite, in my dreams). So pathetic....not every one of you girls are here, so many scattered all around the world... when are we to expect a real grand gathering? :( I've heard stories,chit- chat a little, saw pictures but what the heck, we've gotta meet soon, for real! i feel like kissing and hugging and.........( haha, ok ok i'm getting way deep here). Nah...if u girls happen to drop by my blog here and read this particular post, message me right away, or well whenever you girls are free. we've got lots to catch up ya. You girls are always in my heart...let the Convent pride keep on burning.... girls, you rock.
~ nadia~
rendezvous
last two nites was wonderful...i actually was ecstatic when i received a call from a not so long lost friend... Shakila. It's been great to actually have spent some time with her, i guess i've missed her presence after all. A great pleasure it was to rekindle the damaged relationship ( caused by some culprit actually) that we had. to have actually unmasked the truth, i've clarified the disturbing doubt thats been playing in my mind. welcome back girl, we've yet to share lots more together. next week, we've got an exciting event not to be missed..let's just anticipate the night (hehe :P), it'll be all good.
lonely night
hola bloggers n blogreaders,
when the world rejoices and celebrates the most anticipated day of the year when two beating hearts, one female with a bouquet of red roses or perhaps daisies, another a male with lipstick mark on his cheeks, holding hands, patiently enjoying a sumptuous candlelight dinner, later exploring themselves like they've met each other for the first time...( i dont entertain such crap, everyday should be a day to celebrate love & affection, don't you think so? V- day? well Mr V did a good thing helping couples to tie the knot, but NO i wouldn't celebrate a lover's day on the day in history of he being executed ).
So....i would be sitting here at home, looking at the sky above, counting the stars, or probably surfing the net, replaying the song 'que sara sara' all night long in my mind....
(hahaha...so so so lame of me, trying to be melodramatic :P)
~nadia~
Parole in Malaysia: should the guilty go free?
9:34pm, 13th February 2005.
this my very first original critique of an article (hate it when im limited in my writings, freespeech is my passion obviously, so if you are starting to sleep off reading this, haha dont blame me).
so this is the condensed version of it.
not to be enjoyed reading, but to be deeply thought of by anybody,especially fellow Malaysians.
Thanks for the time given to read this.
Much love, Nadia.
[an excerpt of the critique by me of 'accepting them back' written by Abdul Razak Ahmad of the New Straits Times]
Freedom. Control. Second chance. As Israeli soldier and statesman Moshe Dayan once said, “Freedom is the oxygen of the soul”, he is indeed right and when a human being is granted with liberty, to use it wisely is to have self responsibility and self control of oneself. When a person misuses the gift of freedom, only self destruction will follow. These are some of the reflective thoughts intensely connected with the parole system. According to a recent article written on 31st December 2004 entitled ‘Accepting them back’, written by Abdul Razak Ahmad which was published by the News Straits Times, the parole system, an early form of conditional release from imprisonment that entitles the person to serve the remainder of the sentence outside the prison as long as the terms of release are complied with is to be implemented here in Malaysia. Razak indicates it has become a controversial issue throughout the society where they are burdened with a new dilemma over the insecurity of having the ex-convicts and inmates to be set free in the public when the nation’s crime rate is raising high each day.
The major problem here is that the Malaysian society is deficient of motivation, verification and intense knowledge to overcome their negative thinking. What really lacks in this article is that the writer did not cite sufficient relevant facts or evidence such as statistics, ratios, surveys or research throughout history to support the parole idea which could balance the whole article. He wrote this article based solely on direct quotations attached with one study. Supposedly Razak should have researched and find answers to questions like, “how could other countries which have established the parole system for years could be satisfied and gain benefit with it so far and how do they implement it?”, “what is the actual ratio of people against the parole idea and those who agree with it in this country?”, “how severe and how many cases of threats to public safety, and particularly former victims are in record since the accomplishment of parole system in other countries?” and “what are the positive and negative impacts of parole system in other countries?”. The answers to these questions could be critically enlightening to the public and could even change the current perception they have regarding the parole system. Referring to United States parole history, parole was authorized since 1387 beginning in Massachusetts and by 1944 all 48 states had enacted parole legislation. Earlier, there was no trained parole officer and only employer or other sponsors were given the rights to supervise the parolees. Regardless of that, parole system did help ex-offenders have prolific and law-abiding living. Later in the 1970’s parole officers were trained under rigorous standards and it ensured officers did obtain the most advanced knowledge to safeguard America’s society. By this brief statement we can notice the country was able to make a sound parole judgment and have had effective community supervision of their offenders too. Parole increased, it wasn’t halted completely. By now we should be wondering why most of the states in the United States didn’t abolish the parole system during the early years itself. This shows that the states could really control their parole system and their success should be inspiring to us. Now this is what Razak had missed in backing up the parole proposal. Razak claims this article is to examine the proposal, but as a matter of fact he had only touched the surface of the problem without exploring deep into it but made a quick hanging conclusion.
In the first paragraph, Razak expresses his bewilderment towards the country’s decision to allow the parole sytem and in the conclusion of the article he mentions that parole would only be successful if the Malaysian society is absolutely willing to give the inmates the life outside the bars with the parole system. In short it means it depends solely on the society’s verdict. We know this is a democratic country but why didn’t Razak make a conclusion by encouraging the society to accept or reconsider the idea of parole instead of giving them the direct right to choose and make a simple wrapping up as this? Certainly the Malaysian society would only disagree since they have not been educated about this in a more optimistic approach. In a way his conclusion has turned out to be less motivational to the public. The article is not biased, but the conclusion should have had sentences which are strongly encouraging to boost society’s confidence. Alternatively, Razak could have added more proven statistics from different nations in this world which have effectively adapted the parole system for instance according to a recent survey in the United States 45% of parolees had successfully met the conditions of their supervision, while 41% returned to incarceration mainly because of a rule infringement or new felony, and 9% absconded. Obvious here is that success had overcome failure by 4% difference. Another point which could heighten the acceptance of parole is religion. Almost all the religion teaches a man to be good towards others. For example, a translated Quranic verse says, "And feed with food the needy wretch, the orphans and the prisoner, for love of Him" (Quran 76; 8). This particular verse has profound meaning which means a man who loves God, will love the humankind also and he should help those considered appropriate recipients of generosity which includes prisoners too. A righteous man will forgive a wrongdoer and give them that very much needed second chance. This could be added in the article to motivate society in a spiritual approach which could lead them to approve the parole system. In a different method, HBO has produced a documentary called ‘Judgment Day’ which explores the conflicting needs of the victim, criminal, and community while shows the complexity of the Prison Commission in selecting the right parolee. Razak could persuade the society by requesting them to watch this educational show which could influence their perception too.
In the article when Datuk Mustafa said that the main criteria for selection are behavior and character, Razak could have added other ideas to strengthen the already available rigorous rules of possible inmates to be released on parole such as to allow only first-time offenders and those with a completely clean reputation in the prison. Having an ultimate strict rule for parolee’s selection would actually lessen the percentage of selected parolees, thus having a more confident public too. Even though crime rates are increasing, the society should never be selfish or ignorant over deserving regretful and repentful prisoners who need a second chance to live a worthy life outside the bars.
But then,the writer did a fine job in interconnecting direct quotations and making them into a form of logical arguments that led to enlightening answers.
So on the whole, basically this article will grab public awareness since its line of reasoning is important for the public’s retrospection. However, additional essential information is lacking to make this article well balanced with verified information that could curb the society’s negative doubts. A good conclusion can never be made when the supporting statements are deficient. It’s good that the writer chose to publish this article, but the article needs greater facts and evidence to boost its credibility to motivate the reader’s liberal thinking and lead them to be better at decision making.
~ Nadia ~
