An Email from Kak Sha

Kak Sha...a postgrad student in ECU since Feb 2008. Here is her email advising me on things to be done/prepared for coming to Australia....

salam,
Well, as promised brg yg perlu bawa.
1. ubat demam, selsema and batuk untuk setiap anak with prescription from the dr. (suruh Dr scrible aje) Ubat2 tu tadi wrap elok2 letak dalam bag besar jgn hand lugguge. Semua bahan2 cecair jgn bawa hand lugguge. Semua dalam bag besar. New rule of MAS. Berat setiap bag jgn exceed 30kg.Ni pun ruling MAS.
2. semua sijil yg ada termasuk sijil nikah, surat beranak anak2 and cert. (termasuk yg translate)
3. Brg letrik rice cooker, iron, blender and kettle (sini mahal)
4. Baju sejuk2 anak2 and appropriate dress for children (x payah banyak boleh beli kat garage sale).
5. Bawa le seliper dari sana. (sini mahal yg tak berbaloi beli)
6. ubat2 panas, minyak angin, gamat dan sewaktu dengannya.
7. Susu anak bawa la 2 tin Besar (declare aje masa sampai, they all ok provided jgn buka mesti yg baru)
8. Jgn bawa apa makanan dari malaysia.(kering or basah)
9. Jgn risau sini banyak Oriental market.
10. ubat gigi, berus gigi kalau boleh beli bayak2 kat malaysia and bawa sini. Sini bukan apa bulu berus tu yg risau.
11.Anak2 make sure ada stokin yg tebal ye. By the time you all sampai dah peak sejuk.
12. Alamat rumah yg bakal you all duduk untuk Julai - Sept - No XXXXXXXX. 4 bilik besar juga la. K Sha dah cakap dengan tuan rumah. Dia kata if you all tak dapat rumah by Sept you all boleh duduk sampai Nov. Nak cari rumah yg sesuai and dekat dengan uni memang susah.........but tak pe kita worry later. Sewa AUD320/wk.........setakat yg k sha tau la. Kat sini sewa dah mahal. Compare dengan Melbourne, kita mahal lagi.

Ada apa2 lagi yg you all nak tahu? K Sha cuba jawab. Actually, Syahrul, kalau you boleh sampai hari Sabtu memang cantik sebab we all semua free masa tu. But kalau tak boleh ubah, nak buat mcmana............kita tgk siapa yg free masa tu. Masalah K Sha and Tuan Zainun hubby we all kerja masa tu. halil.....masa tu pun dia kerja........yg tak buat apa2 Wan kawan dari UPSI............but gkla macamana..........kita org akan bersidang lagi sekali.

Okay la Syahrul, kirim salam buat Imah.

Truly, a friend in need is a friend indeed.....

Thanks Kak Sha!

An Email from Supervisor (24.6)

Hi Syahrul

When are you getting here? Will Rahimah be coming too? I look forward to seeing you all! ........

Malcolm

Some how I started to have mixed feelings about this. Is this for real???

As I've said previously...there is no turning back!!!

I need to face it...

Final Preparations

Everything seems to be in order. For now...

Though our preparations went to a halt for quite some time (due to my eldest daughter were admitted at Pantai Hospital, Air Keroh, Melaka), we managed to picked up the momentum and trying very hard to ensure every single thing is not being missed out.

Scholarship Allowances

I've collected my first 3 months' scholarship allowance today at MOHE's office in Putrajaya. Earlier than that, I have also received the first 3 months' family allowance from UiTM. The next thing is to convert it into Australian Dollars.

Parcels

We've sent 5 parcels to Perth last week through air mail. Yup, it's costly as compared to service by sea mail. Time is essence at this moment. It only took 5 days for the parcels to reach HP's house in Merriwa, W.A. (for sea mail, it will arrived in 2 months). We need to abide to POS Malaysia's parcel specifications.

Air Tickets

Tickets flight have also been confirmed. It's MH 0125, departs at 9.40 am, Thursday, 10th July. I've also booked the seating arrangement with MAS office in KLIA so that the family can get a good view in the plane. Heck...this is their first flight experience!!! My children are excited and thrilled about this....

Tax Clearance

It's settled. We have to personally come to IRB office in Sg Abong, Muar Johor to submit our CP 21 form. The IRB officer in charge of our files have indicated that we will not be chargeable for income tax this year.

Well, that's the beauty for paying the tithes.

International Driving Permits

We have both applied for it at RTD office in Muar, Johor. It cost us RM150 each for the permit which valid only for 1 year. So, we have to renew it each year. The RTD officer mentioned that we may ask our relatives' assistance to renew it for our own behalf.

My Car

We thought that we were able to sell off the car. Yes, it does draw a lot of interest from potential buyers. But, it had caught the attention of one particular buyer, a close friend of us.

But at the very last moment, the buyer decided to cancel it (I've spent RM700 having it auto detailed at Cars International...and another RM500 a month before that!!!).

The option was, to transfer the car ownership to my father temporally, while we were away.

It seems that me and my Honda are inseparable!!!

PTK

8 - 14 June 2008 @ INTEKMA RESORT

I'm currently in Shah Alam attending the TK3 module. It is just for the sake of getting my own personal experience of how the PTK course would be like.

My wife and one of my friends had eagerly asking me to sign up for the course earlier. Well in a way, it's a good move to shift my mind from thinking too much about my preparations to Perth - just to think about the whole preparations - the luggage, clothes and the likes.... pening...pening!!!!

Just let my wife deal with it at this moment... heheheh

Visas - Approved

Alhamdulillah....

The agony is over!!! After filing for application on 21, April 2008, finally, I received an email from the Australian Immigration Dept informing that our visa applications have been approved.

And guess what!! The email was sent to me on the Friday, 30th itself...shorly after I sent the Confirmation of School Placement letter to the Immigration Dept.

It was such a great blessings from Allah the Almighty....

It is confirmed then. Australia!!! here we come!!

OZ...OZ...OZ...

The Meet Up

Mon, 2 June 2008

1st Meeting
Venue - JPbSM, UiTM Malaysia
Time - 9.30 am

Went there to meet with Puan Hasma, the clerk incharged. The purpose was to hand over some documents to her and to enquire some informations pertaining to my scholarships, allowances, air tickets and few other details.

It was indeed a good discussion as my questions have been entertained and clearly explain by her.

2nd Meeting
Venue - MOHE, Putrajaya
Time - 12.30 pm

Finally I managed to see the PIC in person, Cik Arninawati. I emailed her last Fri indicating that I will personally hand over the documents that I have completed back to her. It was just short visit and discussion.

Overall, I am extremely feeling grateful that I have fullfilled all the major scholarship requirements, both for JPbSM and MOHE.

It was definitely a huge sigh of relief!!! All the obstacles, difficulties and challenges that I've encountered so far are nothing as compared to what I may have to face later on - my PhD journey!!

May Allah answer my prayers...

The Hollier Friday

Fri, 30th May.

Indeed it is a hollier day.

Case No 1
Status : Closed

I get my Confirmation of School Placement Letter for my two school-aged daughters on that day! What a pleasant surprise...Quickly, I emailed it to the Immigration Dept to finalise my application for the Student Visa.

Case No 2
Status : Closed

I finally received the said documents from MOHE through courier on Fri, 23rd May. The letter was dated on the 16th. I was required to answer the acceptance letter for the MOHE's scholarship within 2 weeks from the date of receipt!!!

Furthermore, I need to go through with another medical check-up again (For their on record keeping - as what the PIC informed me). Then there are few other documents - Forms of Agreement, Notice of Acceptance, etc, etc that need to be filled up and returned.

For the medical check-up (only at Government hospital or Polyclinics) - I took 2 days just to complete it. The reason - I need to undertake a blood test at Path Lab, Segamat and to wait til next morning to get its result (It'll take one month in Government hospital..)

I managed to fulfil all the MOHE's requirements on that hollier Friday, 30th. Alhamdulillah...

Almost at the end of my tether

I am almost at the end of my patience right now.

Case no. 1:

It has been nearly one month since I applied for my student visa and still the one and only important document is still not within my sight. I just received an email from the officer incharged from ECU regarding the much awaited document and this was how he replied:

Hello Syahrul

I am sorry for the delay in responding to you as I have been away from the university for a while. I will liaise with the Department of Education here in WA and will send you the requisite letter as soon as I have it. I anticipate it will take a few days.

Many thanks

Regards

XX


Case no 2:

I am also currently waiting for the letter of offer and other documentations from MOHE. This is because apart from my own uni, MOHE also will be sponsoring part of my studies in Australia. After emailing (on 2 May 2008) the required suporting documentation to the officer incharged, she then replied to my email (only after four days later, i.e. 6 May 2008)):

wsalam...

saye dah terima dan saya akan proses untuk keluarkan surat tawaran dlm 2 minggu..harap maklum.

terima kasih.

And guess what? 2 weeks had lapsed, and still no words from the PIC! I made numerous call to her office in Putrajaya and was made known by her colleague that she is currently away undertaking a course.....

Time is not on my side...

No worries....

That was how HP pen off when he replied to me in his email (It's one of the Aussie's lingo..)

I emailed to him asking for his opinion on the problem that I encountered currently regarding one of the requirement for the Australian Student Visa.

The one last documentation that I need to furnish to the Australian Immigration Department seems to be too long being handled by the Western Australian Education Department. It is a document confirming school enrolment for my two school-aged daughters.

It felt like ages to actually get this letter from the said department (even HP had the same experience too...). I have made three follow-ups to the ECU International Student Adviser through email requesting for its status...but to no avail.

HP assist me by providing me the email address of the officer incharge in ECU. The response form this officer seems to be very promising.... He assured to me that my case is kept within his sights and will revert to me once he has the update....

The clock is ticking....It is less than 2 months now.

Cyberlynx International

To those of you who have intentions to pursue your PhD studies overseas, you might be interested with the offer from this institution in providing counselling services to prospective overseas PhD students. To decide in which country you want to study, identifying the right institutions, and finding prospective PhD supervisor(s) can be quite a lengthy process and can cost you substantial money too. But, you can rest be assured that you can leave all these stuffs to Cyberlynx International.

Their services, includes:

• critical review of your proposal to ensure that prospective experts/supervisors don’t get turn off,
• identifying the right university (after you had decided the country),
• identifying the experts, convincing and securing your supervisor(s),
• submission of admission documentation,
• follow-ups,
• confirmation on study place,
• pre-departure briefing,
• facilitate Student Visa processing,
• airport pick-up and
• temporary accommodation.
  

Dato' Dr Abdullah Hj Ahmad, the Senior Advisor, in his email to me, stated that, their overall lead-time is very much shorter; i.e. within 10 days for securing experts/supervisors and 4-6 weeks for issuing Offer Letters. Importantly – all are FOC!

For further info, do contact:
Dato' Dr Abdullah Hj Ahmad
Hp: 014-3225001
Office: 03-20953322
Fax: 03-20921357
Email: drabha@tm.net.my

website: http://www.cyberlynx.net.my/v2/home.html

Note: I did my application, uni/visa/ etc all by my own.

Student Visa - Australia

My uni is having its exam weeks now. I am currently juggling my part between marking my exam papers, invigilating two exam sessions and in the midst of applying for my Australian student visa.

I would say that the application for the student visa is a tedious process. You need to fully understand its requirements and prepares the required documents to support your application. The info and its instruction could be accessed in the Australian Immigration's website.

The application could be made either through three ways, either by post, by hand or through online, of which I prefer the latter. The online application is quite easy. The visa cost me for AUS$430, which is paid through online.

The next day, I received an email notifiying the acceptance of my application and requesting for supporting documents (quite efficient!!).

Here comes the tedious parts!!

I need to get documents such as my Marriage Certificate and my children's birth certificates, translated by a Certified Translator. I have to take a day leave to travel to High Court Melaka to get this service. It cost me RM20 per page being translated.

Then, copies of our passports and the translated documents need to be certified by a Commissioner of Oath.

After that, I need to scan these documents in pdf formats and email them to the Australian Immigration office in Perth, Australia.

There are also medical check-ups that my family need to go through. I am currently trying to identify suitable dates to arrange for it. Mind you, the medical check-ups need to be made at the appointed Australian Immigration's panels only. Luckily, the nearest panel of clinics are available in Melaka.

I hope that, my family and I are in healthy conditions and can get through with it. InsyaAllah....

IELTS - The result

I received the result today through pos ekspress mail.

The result is ....... band.

Hint: I don't have to re sit the test...heheh - Alhamdulillah

Pasport Malaysia

Finally, classes are over. I will take a day off this Friday.

I need to bring the whole family to the Immigration Department in Melaka to apply for Malaysian passports. I on the hand, need to replace mine since my passport will expire on 25 April this year.

My wife called the immigration office in Segamat inquiring some information and was made known that in Segamat, the passports will be ready in 7 working days, while in Melaka, within 2 hours...

Time is gold. I need the passports quick in order :

1. to notify ECU on my intention to bring school age children to Australia. The uni need the front copies of my children passports to register them in school at Perth.
2. to assist my application for student visa, and
3. to assist during our medical check-up with the appointed panel of doctors later. We need to bring along the passports during the health examination.

Further info pertaining to application for the Malaysian passport is available at the Immigration Department's website. You can even download the application form (Form IM.42-Pin 1/97) for free from it, else it will cost you RM1 each should you buy it over the counter.

IELTS

5 April 2008 @ Subang Jaya, 8 am - 2 pm

It stands for International English Language Testing System. I registered to sit for the test about a month ago. It cost me RM530 and another RM100 for its Practice Test Kit.

The only reason why my blog is written in English is simply to get me prepared (mentally and physically) for the exam. I have no intention to boast myself by using the English in my blog nor any intention to sideline my own language. As a human being, I know my strength and certainly I even know about my own weaknesses. One of my own weakneses is to converse fluently and flawlessly in English.

I have to admit that, by practicing writing in English in this blog does help me a lot especially during its Writing and Speaking sub-tests. I also make use of the net to search for the IELTS's free practice test. You may find it here and here. I was made known about it from my friends. There are a lot of free test samples actually...try googling it, you may find more useful sites for your IELTS preparation.

Overall, I'm happy with the conduct of the exam, though I admitted that I could have done much better actually (I blamed myself for that):

1. Listening sub-test (30 minutes-40 questions) - I'm pretty satisfied with it;
2. Reading sub-test (1 hour - 40 questions) - it's ok actually - time management is crucial. There are 3 lengthy passages that need to be understood in order to grasp the information to enable you to get the correct answers. I don't think I am happy with the result.
3. Writing sub-test (1 hour - 2 tasks) - I'm happy with it.... Task 1 requires you to describe about two histogram charts in not less that 150 words. For Task 2 - you need to write an essay requiring you to express your opinion for not less than 250 words.
4. Speaking sub-test (15 minutes - 3 parts) - It's ok I guess. For the first part I should have been more talkative, I think.

I'll get the result in two weeks time. I can only hope for the best. Or else, I do have spares of RM530 to re-sit the test...ha..ha...ha....

Kursus Kenegaraan

20 - 24 March 2008 @ Kem Bina Negara, Ulu Seperi, NS

This is another requirement from MOHE. For this programme there were 127 soon-to-be overseas students who came from various Public Higher Learning Institutions (IPTA) as well as those who are from several government agencies.

They will either pursue Master, PhD or Sub-Specialist (for local doctors who would like to become speacialists) programmes all over the world. I met a lot of new friends here, and what amazed me was majority of them aged 30 years and below! (the youngest was 27 years old)

Imagine if an average spending by government to send these students to overseas is RM300,000 per person - for 127 of them, the Government shall fork out a hefty RM38 million!!! This is the cost for our own Human Capital Development...

There were some hard lessons that I learnt throughout the 5-day event - love and protect our own nation.

Pembentangan Peringkat Lembaga Akademik

17 March 2008, @ 2.30 pm

It was conducted by the Faculty's Academic Board for the successful scholarship holders. This is one of the requirements that the scholarship holders needed to adhere.

For this session, there were 9 board members, chaired by the Dean of the Faculty, and only 6 of us at that moment. I was made the third presenter.

Prior than the session, a memo was sent to us indicating the documents that needed to be brought along. I prepared and binded 10 copies of the documents for each Board members. The documents were:

1. A copy of the ppt slide presentation.
2. Offer of Admission letter from ECU.
3. Confirmation of Acceptance from ECU
4. ECoE from the Austalian Government
5. CV of my Supervisor
6. CV of myself
7. Comments made by my supervisor on my proposal.

The presentation went smoothly. There were only two questions directed to me. The Dean seems to be satisfied with my presentation (I hope the other Board members have the same feelings too), as he was basically impressed with my supervisor's background (27 pages of CV!!).

The Dean then reminded each one of us to excel in our studies.

Taklimat Biasiswa 2008

3 March 2008

The briefing session was held at JPbSM office in Shah Alam. It was held specifically for the 2008's overseas scholarship holders, where the purpose of the session was basically to give detail explanation about scholarships arrangements and to hand over various scholarship forms that need to be filled up and returned to JPbSM in various stages (there are a lot of forms to be filled up).

There are those who are bound to US, UK, Canada, Aust, NZ, Japan, India, German, France and even Singapore and Thailand. There is also a Q & A session for those who have doubts about various scholarship requirements.

The session was made formal. Dr ZM, the Registrar, took the stand to deliver her opening speech, where she explained about the responsibilities of a scholarship holders. She cited few cases on how some of these scholarship holders breached their scholarship agreements. She advised that, "scholarship is not your rights, but it's a privilege. So, please honor this privilege..."

Then Prof A, one of the DVCs, presented a paper on reasons why some of the uni's Phd scholarship holders failed to complete their studies. Though their numbers are small, but to date there have been about 100+- cases of PhD casualities (representing 10% from total PhD students to date). The top reason on why these students fail to complete their studies was lack of supervisors' commitment (as claimed by them). The second top reason was lack of family commitment.

She motivated us by saying that the Phd does not requires one to be genius, but one needs to have high perseverance. She cynically reminded us by saying that "don't be part of the samples for my future study!"

Kursus Kaedah Penyelidikan PhD

18 - 22 Feb 2008

The course was organized by iLQaM, Shah Alam for year 2008's sholarship holders. There were about 60 (first batch for 2008) scholarship holders who came from various faculties / departments. The course taught us various elements of research methodologies, such as:

1. problem statement / research questions
2. research framework
3. literature review
4. research design
5. analysis & interpretation of data
6. qualitative research
7. research report & thesis writing
8. research proposal, and
9. proposal presentation sessions

The speakers also took the opportunity to share with the participants on their previous PhD experience . One of the speakers, Dr R (FP's Post Graduate Coordinator) had teary eyes while reminiscing about her difficulties and sufferings while studying in UK previously.

All of the speakers agreed to one thing - do not take the PhD things lightly. Pray hard and pray that "lucks" are on our sides. They reminded that there are so many variables that could make or break your study.

The highlight of the session was a slot for Forum discussion. The organiser invited two successful staff who had completed their PhD studies with flying colors. These staff completed their studies for less than 3 years and submitted their theses without any amendments / corrections.

Overall, it's a worth experience that even money can't buy!

D Day - Scholarship Level

3 December 2007

The candidates from other faculties will only need to get through this hurdle. On the other hand, we, the candidates from Faculty of Accountancy have to go through the assessment conducted by our Faculty level first (conducted on 16 Nov 2007), before we can get through this round.

It was scheduled at 8.15 am. I left my house at the wee hour of the morning to ensure that I can reached there before time. Luckily my beloved wife was willing to take a day leave just to accompany me.

We reached in Shah Alam at 7.15 am. Stopped by at Section 3 Shah Alam to have a quick breakfast and we then left the place heading towards Bilik Mesyuarat Aras 3, Bangunan Canseleri.

It seemed that I was the first candidate who reached there. Nobody else was around at that time. I took the oppportunity to peep behind the door to have a close look how the session would be arranged. At the door, I saw a namelist stating that there were all together about 30-34 (can't exactly recall) candidates from our own faculty. Half of us were scheduled for the morning session while others were arranged for the evening session.

Then the candidates arrived one by one. Some I am familiar with, while some don't. They came from various campuses all over the country. As we were waiting for our turn, I took the opportunity to mingle with some of them while at the same time trying to figure out on my chances to secure this scholarship.

The only advantage that I have is the Letter of Offer from ECU plus with some of my research papers and publications to back me up. From the conversations, I try to figure out from them, information such as where do they intend to pursue their study and whether or not they have been offered a place.

Then two staff from JPbSM arrived and started manning the session. We were told to go into the meeting room in a group of five. I was made the fourth group.

As the first group exited from the meeting room, the rest of us surrounded them to know about the conduct of the session. We were made known that this time around there would only be 6 places bound for overseas.

It was a major setback. I expect that the portion will be more or less similar with last year (about 2/3 from 20 places). At that point of time I thought that my chances were slim.

The first group also mentioned that, out of six places, 1 are bound for UK while the rest is either OZ or NZ. These six places are for full overseas scholarship, which means that the candidates can bring along their spouses and children as well.

The not so good news was that there are also split PhD programs that would be conducted between our uni and a uni in UK. This program only offers single allowance to the candidates (you'll have to go alone). Furthermore, the structure of the study requires the candidates to either spend the 1st year in M'sia, 2nd year in UK and the 3rd back in M'sia or vice versa (from what I've heard from one of the candidates).

As my turn came up, we were actualy made the last group for the morning session. There's only three of us - AH (Shah Alam), N (Terengganu) and myself. The panelists were - Prof I (our Dean) , Dr R (our Post Graduate Coordinator) and the Chairperson was Prof A (a Dean from one of engineering faculties).

In the meeting room I sat between AH and N. The most talkative person would obviously be the chairperson himself. During the session he seems to be interested only with the two ladies, AH and N as compared to me. It was basically an informal chit chat session resolving around - what were our contribution towards UiTM?, Do you hold any admin posts?, do you actively involved in research and publication? Have you been offered a place? Would you consider the split program?, Why do you like to study in overseas? and the likes....

After we exited the room, I said to AH and N, "aku rasa mcm aku tak dapat la..dia macam layan korang aje...." which amused them...

Langkah Pertama

I faxed and mailed my acceptance letter for the offer of scholarship addressed to JPbSM (Scholarship Div) today.

I also thinking to send the acceptance letter for the Offer of Admission to ECU as well. Anyhow, the acceptance form needs to be returned together with its tuition fees and Overseas Students Health Cover.

I contacted the PIC from JPbSM regarding this matter. She informed that her Dept shall prepare the so called Guarantee Letter and she also mentioned that I need to start studying there latest by this June, else KPT will revoke the offer!!

I then emailed to another PIC (as suggested by the first PIC) asking her about the Guarantee Letter. However, the email that I sent keeps bouncing back. Contacted her later to remind her about the problem. She then directed me to email to another staff instead.

What a day!!