13/8

Went to the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for Malaysians of Melbourne University (MOMU) today.

First problem was they provided no food for us, which was a great disgrace. Actually the whole point I agreed to attend in the first place was because I thought there would be refreshments provided. I think I mentioned about the fact that I’m a glutton. So I was extremely ANGRY about it!!!

So, without the food to begin with, I was sure that the whole meeting wouldn’t go smooth! And aha, as I expected, the meeting turned out to be something like pasar malam... Heard of office politics? What we witnessed today was “club” politics. The committee was broken into two main groups, namely A and B group. Knew that after the AGM, apparently some people talk kind of loud, I know I am as well, so I overheard them saying, “almost the entire new committee is made up of “their” people”. So funny isn’t it? Actually MOMU is not a very big association, compared to other societies like MUOSS or MASCA, but people still seem to be very enthusiastic in getting the positions.

The new president, the person whom we were supposed to vote for, talked about how much money he got from the sponsors over the period he served as the sponsorship manager (ain’t too sure what’s the name of the position) and how close his relationship is with the sponsors. Then I was thinking, “huh? Does it have anything to do with the position of a president?” Apparently yes, as in the end he won the election. Actually, in the end, an election for a club this big, the possibility of winning the post you are running depends on the number of friends you’ve got in the society, as people don’t really judge you through your ability. If I were to say this guy who got elected as the president was because he raised a lot of money for the club, wouldn’t everyone fight for the position of sponsorship manager, as in the end, if you have can ensure the club gets money, you’re the man for the society! Haha, to me, the president position is for people who know how to plan for the whole society, often people who are really great in raising funds for the club can actually remain at their position, since he “personally” knows ALL the sponsors.

Not being sarcastic here, but truth is, a company will not appoint salesperson of sales manager of the company to be the director just because they have the highest sales of the year. It’s about managing that a director does, right? Hehe. Anyway, let’s just hope he can do his job nicely, obviously I am not trying to underestimate him, problem is when you are running for the position of president, what I would really want to hear is what plans you will make for the society, and not how much you’ve done during your last serving period. Of course you can briefly mention some of the contributions you made and how committed you are to the association, but there’s no need to talk about it for the whole 3 minutes. In the end, after the speech by him, I was wondering, is he running for president? Or he just wants to continue his position as sponsorship manager?

Ok lah, hope I can skip all the AGMs next time, have to see them attacking each other, then listen to their (irrelevant) speeches. If I do attend an AGM, I would surely hope for a good explanation on the financial statements of the club. As a lot of people overlooked, and it was mentioned by the ex-treasurer by ONLY ONE SENTENCE, the annual ski trip organised by MOMU incurred a LOSS to the society. It’s such a “huh???” question. Normally this kind of trip will surely bring most profits to the society, yet a loss was incurred. And the treasurer kind of said somehow the club made a loss. No explanations were given whatsoever, and nobody else did ask why did that happen. Ok, this is a secret between us, don’t ask them why there’s a loss since they didn’t want to talk about it. But maybe, just maybe, a post mortem can be done during the meeting on what exactly went wrong and whether THAT activity which brought losses should be continued next year? Oh btw, for Choi Kuan who was elected the position of Vice Pres, congratulations! She deserve the position as she didn’t keep stressing on what she did during her ex-servicing period, but did mention some of “what I will do if I get elected”, which is plausible, for me. And another reason, apart from all the existing supporters supporting her already, her opponent, forgot what’s her name already, acted in a nonchalant way during her speech, making me hardly absorbing what she said, sorry for that, the other contestant. Haha

Aiya, talked too much about this MOMU thingy already. Let’s continue with other subject... Two major events are going on, first thing is Bulan berpuasa, meaning Hari Raya is coming soon. Secondly, ghost month is here. And so, I shall wish all Malays happy fasting and Selamat Hari Raya very soon. Other than that, tomorrow I’ll be going to “Fo Guang Yuan” to chant “Di Zang Jing”. The whole scripture is about the story of “Di Zang Wang”, a very filial person, and how he became a Buddha.

I’m very sure that I’ve left out something to talk about here, but it’s fine, I’ll just update it when I remember.