Some lil' history on Israel

Israel is the only country on this planet Malaysians are not allowed to visit.

Why? I think I don't need to say it here. I know it, you know it.

Okay, by now everyone knows there are a lot of conflicts going on in the Middle East especially between Israel and other Arab countries. Well, the conflict is said to have started back in the biblical times.

And the conflict started again when Israel gained independence on 14 May 1948 after The United Nations granted independence to Israel as a country in its own right within the Middle East.

On the very same day when Israel gained independence, the armies of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq attacked Israel. Hence, the 1948 Arab-Israeli war began. The war lasted for about a year. The Israelis called it the War of Independence that claimed 6,000 Israeli lives.

If you want to read more, read it here.

It was a surprise attack but the Israeli army was well-equipped. So not surprisingly, Israel won the war and it occupied more neighbouring territories as a result. Of course, that led to more trouble as you know it today. And the conflict never ends, until today.

Dinner at Hard Rock Hotel

I was invited to a sponsored dinner at Hard Rock Hotel recently and the food was really great.

I was here five years ago as well for a company-sponsored dinner. That time the hotel was known as Casuarina Hotel. Casuarina Hotel was very laid-back and it gives you this 70s feeling when you entered the hotel. However, the hotel was then bought up by Hard Rock Hotel and the entire place was renovated, refurbished, and re-opened last year.

A typical chinese set dinner was served. That's the menu.

Thankfully, it is NOT a shark fin soup. It is a crabmeat soup. Ladies and gentlemen, please do not ever request/order/consume shark fin soup, if you are a socially responsible human being. If you are going to host a dinner, please do NOT ever request for a shark fin soup.


My favourite - deep fried boneless chicken. Yum yum.



It changes colour!

That's a nice guitar I would like to own.

Hard Rock Hotel at night.

There is a gigantic guitar right at the entrance to Hard Rock Hotel.

Is WOU's CEMBA recognised overseas or not?

Is Wawasan Open University's Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration (CEMBA) recognised overseas or not?

The above question is very misleading. Allow me to clear this up.

1. An MBA is not a professional degree. It is an academic degree.

So, there is no such issue as whether Singapore, Australia, US or whatever countries will recognise it or not. It is because an MBA is not a professional degree. There are no professional bodies like a professional accounting body or a professional engineering body to validate certain degrees from certain universities from certain countries.

In fact, even ACCA allows everyone to study ACCA regardless of you having a degree or not. If you have a degree and upon inspection of the syllabus of your degree, then you might be given exemptions by ACCA.

2. MBA is usually taken by those wishing to advance their career in the corporate sector.

No matter where you work, no employers will outright reject you just because your MBA is from WOU. WOU is an accredited university in Malaysia, so why would anyone wants to reject WOU?

As long as you don't BUY your degrees from some Internet sites representing some non-existing universities, your degree is accepted whether it is from WOU, USM, UM, UKM, UPM, Limkokwing, Multimedia, Uniten, etc.

But of course, some employers may prefer to hire candidates who graduated from a certain top ranking university but this is a totally different issue. This is just their recruitment criteria. This is not a recognition issue, definitely.

3. There are also people who studied MBA as a stepping stone to pursue their PhD provided the MBA has a research project component.

This is my personal opinion. I have friends who have studied coursework Masters (even from overseas universities) that do not contain any research project components. If they wish to continue their studies to a doctoral level, then I believe they would face problem in conducting a doctoral research.

If that's the case, the university may require these students/candidates to do a MPhil (Master of Philosophy) or an Honours degree programme as a prerequisite to their PhD research. Then, they would have to spend probably a year or two years before they can begin their PhD research.

Again, this does not mean that a university does not recognise your Master. You are still allowed to continue your studies provided you complete their prerequisite course first. To be safe, study for one which contain a research project component

4. In my opinion, an MBA with a research component is much better compared to an MBA without a research component. WOU's MBA has a research project component.

In my opinion, the WOU's MBA should be good because there is a research component in the syllabus which requires you to do a research project using either a quantitative method or a qualitative method. This would prepare you well for a more thorough and comprehensive doctoral research.

MBA recognised or not recognised. Let me clear this up.

I think one common question that everyone would like to know is whether Wawasan Open University's (WOU) MBA is recognised in other countries or not.

For example, someone asked "Is WOU Commonwealth Executive Master of Business Administration (CeMBA) recognised in Singapore"?

And a lawyer (I don't know this lawyer, thankfully) once gave a statement, "Why study in WOU when the courses are not recognised overseas"

I don't mean to be rude but the above picture exactly depicts what I felt on hearing especially that statement by the lawyer. I find it funny that the ignorant lawyer could say such thing when he himself cannot practise law outside Malaysia.

Let me clear all this confusion.

First to the question on whether WOU's MBA is recognised overseas or not. Seriously, I don't know how to answer this. If you asked this question, does this mean that if you have an MBA from WOU, no employers would hire you just because your MBA is from WOU? Don't you think that's nonsense?

Also, I have heard people saying that Malaysian's public universities degrees are not recognised in Singapore. What nonsense. So again, if you graduated from a public university from Malaysia, no employers would hire you just because your degree is from a Malaysian public university? That's nonsense, don't you think so?

I will drone on this misconception in a new post above.

Buffet at Bayview Beach Resort

Last Sunday, a close relative gave my family a nice treat to a buffet lunch at Bayview Beach Resort. We had a great time to bond ourself with each other on a nice Sunday lazy afternoon. I remembered coming here five years ago for a company sponsored team-building training. Now here I am again five years later.

Bayview Beach Resort is located in Batu Feringghi, Penang. It is located just next to Hard Rock Hotel. Yes, they are neighbours. And both of them are by the beach.

We had the buffet lunch at the La Veranda Coffee House. There is a huge variety of food. Salad, fried rice, fried bee hoon, ham, wantan, vegetables, porridge, duck meat, beef, chicken, pizza, sausage, fried squid, tempura, and the list goes on...hey it's a buffet!

Mmm mmm...yum yum. The food was really awesome.

You saw it right. There are satays! There are roti canai, ice kacang, ice creams, puddings, fruits, and cheese cakes. I was so full that day that I could not sample all of the food there. I wish I could go there again.

The pool is just next to the coffee house. I feel like dipping myself in the pool.

I took a nice walk down this path. Just beautiful.

There is really a big garden just before the beach.

A hotel by the beach. Just splendid!

The common cold - It's so common

Ever had a runny nose, sneezy, fever, and cough? It must be the common cold. It's so common that everyone will get it from time to time.

Many will blame the cold weather. But hey, the common cold is not caused by the weather. It's caused by a virus. I repeat - it's a viral infection. It is not caused by the cold weather or the food you ate recently. That's what the book said.

The common cold is not the same as the influenza (flu). A flu is a more serious viral infection like H1N1 or the bird flu.

A person with the common cold could infect you when he/she sneezes or coughs near you. You will also be infected when he wipes off his nasal secretions with his hands and touches you.

How to cure it? Sorry, until today scientists have yet to discover any anti-viral drugs to cure it. But the good news is that you will recover on your own within two weeks. So, just take a good rest and drink plenty of fluids if you have the common cold.

Most importanly, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze. Please practise cough/sneeze etiquette.

But if you are coughing for more than two weeks, remember the important rule!
Think TB unless proven otherwise. Go see the doctor immediately if you are coughing for more than two weeks. And please no, not the chinese sinseh.

Now you learn something.

A man chasing a dog

Last Friday night, while I was doing my assignment, I heard a straydog barking, at the backlane of my house. I didn't really bother about it because the dog would usually bark at something.

Previously, many times I have looked out from the window but I saw no one or nothing. I guess the dog was just barking at some ghosts. So, this time I didn't bother. Furthermore, I am rushing to finish off my assignments.

A couple of minutes later, I heard someone running. I opened the window and saw a man chasing after the dog! Not only he was chasing after the dog, he was splashing some water at the dog (not sure where he got the water from).

He was chasing the dog like a mad man from one end of the backlane to the other end of the backlane.

Well, I felt suspicious. It was already ten something at night and what was this guy doing at the backlane? And why was he so angry of the dog that he wanted to chase the dog away from the backlane.

I opened the backdoor and I lost him. He dissappeared at the end of the backlane.

First of all, there were a couple of minor theft cases in the backlane of my house a few months ago. Someone has actually stole an electrical appliance from my house by removing the window panes. I was not the only the victim, some of my nearby neighbours also fell victim to this thief.

Now I am wondering, was he the thief? Now I should be more cautious whenever the dog at the backlane starts barking. Dogs are natural guards!